Swami Brahmananda - Teachings

Teachings

Practise a little Japa and meditation every day. Never stop for a single day. The mind is like a restless child, it wants to run away. You must bring it back again and again and apply it to the meditation on the Lord. Go on this way for two or three years, and then an inexpressible joy will fill your mind. Meditation and Japa appear dry in the beginning. But still you must engage the mind in the contemplation of the Deity, like swallowing a bitter medicine. Slowly spiritual joy will grow in you. People work so hard to pass an examination! To realise God is even easier than that. Only let them call on Him with a calm, cheerful heart.

Initiation into a Mantra helps concentration of mind, otherwise your mind will change and fluctuate; today you will like Kali-form, tomorrow the Hari-form, and the next day perhaps the formless aspect of God. And thus your mind will not be concentrated on any one.

Pranayama and other Yogic practices are not suitable to the present times and conditions. One must observe complete Brahmacharya in order to practice them. One’s food must be absolutely pure, Sattvika, and one must be guided by an expert teacher.

Practice is the means of concentrating the mind. Pranayama, breath-control, is also one of the means. But it is not safe for a householder; if one is not continent, one falls ill. Moreover, one must have nutritious food, a fine place, and pure air. In order to have meditation and concentration, you must practice in solitude. The more you will try, the more you will achieve. Wherever you find conditions favorable, say if there is a fine serenity, sit down and meditate.

God is with form and is also formless and He is also above form and formlessness. What does Vedanta mean by saying that "Brahman is true and the world is false"? That, the world as we see it now is false. The world vanishes in Samadhi, but you feel that you are experiencing a great joy.

There is a spiritual eye of wisdom between the two eyebrows. When its vision opens, a fountain of joy is released. The whole universe is seen to be merged in bliss.

This apparent universe, which you see, is within the domain of the mind. The mind is the author, the mind has conjured it up. It cannot go beyond its own domain. Behind the mind, of which we are aware, is a subtle spiritual mind, existing in a seed form. Through contemplation, prayer, and Japa this mind develops, and with its unfoldment a new vision opens. This subtle mind also cannot reach God, the supreme Atman. But it leads you near to Him. At this stage, the world loses all its charm for the aspirant. He remains absorbed n the consciousness of God. Next comes Samadhi. The experience of Samadhi is indescribable-beyond is and is not. In this blessed experience there is neither happiness nor misery, neither light nor darkness. All is infinite Being, inexpressible.

The mind is susceptible to suggestions. It learns whatever you teach it. If through discrimination you can impress upon it the joy and fullness of life in the spirit and the folly of worldly attachments, then your mind will devotee itself more and more to God. Everyone must have an ideal firmly established in his life. This ideal must never be lowered. The supreme ideal of human life is to know God.