DHYANA 1

In the last post, we heard Sage Vasishta tell the tale of King Janaka to Prince Rama. We shall recap the story.

After coming by the Siddhas and listening to their song, the Siddha Geeta, King Janaka went into deep contemplation thinking about the impermanence of life and how small a soul he was and how minute his lifespan was compared to the vastness of the universe out there and its age. Brooding long about life, Janaka realizes, "All my dangers and calamities are the net, woven by the hundreds of threads of my own desires and ambitions." Caught in this net, he says he had enough of this weaving, and enough of this bondage. "Let me take resolve to rest in my inner chamber. Now I have at last been awakened by this high souled Siddhas. From now on I shall heed my soul, follow the Atma, which is the only sure means to attain freedom and supreme bliss. Let me sit alone and withdrawn. I shall win quietude in my own soul and find all my peace and contentment therein." 

Just as he resolves to withdraw within, his minister came to announce he had an appointment with some dignitaries. Janaka pondered for a while. At that moment, he realizes that the soul neither can benefit from action nor beget harm by inaction as it is pure and immortal. Janaka decides then that life has to go on but without attachment. He has to do what he has to do without attachment. He then decides, "Let me rise up. Let the body pursue whatever it has been used to. To restrain it all of a sudden will be wrong and damaging. If the mind remains desireless the results of actions done by the body and its limbs will be taintless." He leaves to meet them.

Having reflected thus at length Janaka attended to all his duties and work relating to his kingdom. He was neither over concerned nor worried. He was dwelling cheerfully in the present accepting whatever that came to him as an event or duty. From then on Janaka became a Jeevan Mukta.

R.Kuppusamy in his "Kadavul Vignanam", explains how Ramalinga Adigal saw these various states of observation and identification. In coming to Dhyna three things exist initially: the object, subject, and the seen.

As we progress, the object disappears or உருவம் அருவமாகும். Continuing with Dhyana, the subject disappears too. Only the seen or காட்சி exists. This Ramalinga Adigal calls Jnana or Uyir Anubhavam, (ஞானம், உயிரனுபவம்).

In "An Introduction to the Philosophy of Ramalinga Swami" by Dr C Srinivasan, published by Ilakkia Nilayam, Tiruchi, 1968 this is known as Guru Sakiram or Shiva Sakiram, where perceiving God in the form of light, the soul is saturated with compassion and love; it experiences divine life (Uyir Anubhavam); attains purity of the body or golden body (Sutha Degam, the extent of achievement is dependent on the grace of Arutperunjhoti). Uyir Anubavam in Sudha Degam, where transformation to pure body; love incarnates; universality of love in all fellow beings arises; oneness in life is achieved; he/she sees the divine in all life forms; sees the smallness of oneself and greatness of God; and experiences the spontaneous flow of God in him/her. The spiritualist sees divinity in all creatures; he/she sees God in the form he/she is ready to receive; he/she enjoys supreme grace (Arul Anubhavam).

The "I", that is lost, reveals the Atma or soul that becomes the watcher without registering the sights, sound, and thoughts. This state, தியானம் சித்தியானதன் அடையாளம், that of experiencing Jnana upon completion of Dhyana, is called Atma Anubavam (ஆன்ம அனுபவம்). Para Turiyam or Atma Tarisanam or Supra-mental perfection, where tasting God; and the glory of Arutperunjhoti; the soul is charged with divine grace; the spiritualist realizes the greatness of God's grace and his smallness; self-realization or Atma Tarisanam on the soul as an atom as brilliant as the sun takes place.

Pursuing further even the seen disappears. Only the experience of Brahmam exists. This shall be known as Samadhi. But Ramalinga Adigal does not settle for Samadhi but aspires to come back and serve. Rather than lose oneself in Samadhi, rather than dissolving in Brahmam, rather than sitting lifeless, he chooses to come back to serve others with compassion in what is called the Sahaja Samadhi, something that Tavayogi told me he shall attain. This is karma yoga. 

When in a state of continuous Dhyana, even in waking hours, whatever is consumed changes its state (தியான மயமானால் பொசிப்பு மாறும்). We understand now how the food taken by Agathiyar is not taken to sustain him but for the elementals around. In https://blog.good-will.ch/WordPress/2010/10/23/rishi-agastya-a-little-miracle-and-some-stories, we read that Agathiyar loves to cook and to serve.

Through serving food he likes to spread himself into the people and thus to adjust any imbalances in the mental, emotional, and physical bodies. He lives in tune with the universal consciousness and in such a tune-up the food is given to all the elementals around him with himself as the channel.

And as for fasting, he says, "In so far as you don’t feel that you are eating, it is fasting.” Just as Agathiyar did not think that he was eating, Neem Karoli Baba too tells Ram Dass that, "To take them (LSD) with no effect, your mind must be firmly fixed on God." We understand how the handful of LSD pills requested from Ram Dass and taken by Neem Karoli Baba did not kill him. The story is told by Ram Dass at https://www.ramdass.org/ram-dass-gives-maharaji-the-yogi-medicine/

In 1967 when I first came to India, I brought with me a supply of LSD, hoping to find someone who might understand more about these substances than we did in the West. When I had met Maharajji (Neem Karoli Baba), after some days the thought had crossed my mind that he would be a perfect person to ask.

The next day after having that thought, I was called to him and he asked me immediately, “Do you have a question?” Of course, being before him was such a powerful experience that I had completely forgotten the question I had had in my mind the night before. So I looked stupid and said, “No, Maharajji, I have no question.”

He appeared irritated and said, “Where is the medicine?” I was confused but Bhagavan Dass suggested, ” Maybe he means the LSD.” I asked and Maharajji nodded. The bottle of LSD was in the car and I was sent to fetch it.

When I returned I emptied the vial of pills into my hand. In addition to the LSD there were a number of other pills for this and that–diarrhea, fever, a sleeping pill, and so forth. He asked about each of these. He asked if they gave powers. I didn’t understand at the time and thought that by “powers” perhaps he meant physical strength. I said, “No.” Later, of course, I came to understand that the word he had used, “siddhis,” means psychic powers.

Then he held out his hand for the LSD. I put one pill on his palm. Each of these pills was about three hundred micrograms of very pure LSD - a solid dose for an adult. He beckoned for more, so I put a second pill in his hand - six hundred micrograms. Again he beckoned and I added yet another, making the total dosage nine hundred micrograms -certainly not a dose for beginners. Then he threw all the pills into his mouth. My reaction was one of shock mixed with fascination of a social scientist eager to see what would happen.

He allowed me to stay for an hour - and nothing happened. Nothing whatsoever. He just laughed at me. The whole thing had happened very fast and unexpectedly.

When I returned to the United States in 1968 I told many people about this acid feat. But there had remained in me a gnawing doubt that perhaps he had been putting me on and had thrown the pills over his shoulder or palmed them, because I hadn’t actually seen them go into his mouth. Three years later, when I was back in India, he asked me one day, “Did you give me medicine when you were in India last time?”

“Yes.”

“Did I take it?” he asked. (Ah, there was my doubt made manifest!)

“I think you did.”

“What happened?

“Nothing.”

“Oh! Jao!” and he sent me off for the evening.

The next morning I was called over to the porch in front of his room, where he sat in the mornings on a tucket. He asked, “Have you got any more of that medicine?” It just so happened that I was carrying a small supply of LSD for “just in case,” and this was obviously it. “Yes.”

“Get it,” he said.

So I did. In the bottle were five pills of three hundred micrograms each. One of the pills was broken. I placed them on my palm and held them out to him. He took the four unbroken pills. Then, one by one, very obviously and very deliberately, he placed each one in his mouth and swallowed it - another unspoken thought of mine now answered. As soon as he had swallowed the last one, he asked, “Can I take water?”

“Yes.”

“Hot or cold?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

He started yelling for water and drank a cup when it was brought. Then he asked, “How long will it take to act?”

“Anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour.”

He called for an older man, a long - time devotee who had a watch, and Maharajji held the man’s wrist, often pulling it up to him to peer at the watch. Then he asked,” Will it make me crazy?”

That seemed so bizarre to me that I could only go along with what seemed to be a gag. So I said, “Probably.”

And then we waited. After some time he pulled the blanket over his face, and when he came out after a moment his eyes were rolling and his mouth was ajar and he looked totally mad. I got upset. What was happening? Had I misjudged his powers? After all, he was an old man (though how old I had no idea), and I had let him take twelve hundred micrograms. Maybe last time he had thrown them away and then he read my mind and was trying to prove to me he could do it, not realizing how strong the “medicine” really was. Guilt and anxiety poured through me. But when I looked at him again he was perfectly normal and looking at the watch.

At the end of an hour it was obvious nothing had happened. His reactions had been a total put-on. And then he asked, “Have you got anything stronger?” I didn’t. Then he said, “These medicines were used in Kullu Valley long ago. But yogis have lost that knowledge. They were used with fasting. Nobody knows now. To take them with no effect, your mind must be firmly fixed on God. Others would be afraid to take. Many saints would not take this.” And he left it at that.

When I asked him if I should take LSD again, he said, “It should not be taken in a hot climate. If you are in a place that is cool and peaceful, and you are alone and your mind is turned toward God, then you may take the yogi medicine.”

When the divine comes within, all that is consumed by us turns into medicine for the body. All that we consume is offered as Neivaidyam and consumed by the divine. As Agathiyar stressed on the need of food to us too, and as is written in Bhuvaneswari Kavasam, என் உணவெல்லாம் உனக்கேற்ற நைய்வேத்தியம் ஆகுமம்மா, Thomas Moore in his book "Care of the Soul", HarperCollins Publishers, 1992, too says, "Communion, union with divinity, is accomplished by means of food. Taking food into the body is a ritual way of absorbing the god into oneself."