Hariharananda / Needs of the Self
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 3 years before Aug 13, 2016
MiBeloved 3 years ago
Due to assisting one of his students, Swami Hariharananda was around on the astral side this morning. He asked me to advice the student to focus on pranayama practice in easy postures in the early morning, when he will try to meet the student astrally to be present during the session and the meditation thereafter.
Then later in the day if the student has time, the student should do the more difficulty asanas with pranayama practice. This will cause the student to focus more on the breath infusion while doing easy postures in the morning and can then go into a meditative state more easily.
At least this is the Swami’s view.
Hariharananda wanted to discuss the problems in meditation which arise because of a failure to admit the nature of the personal self, the jivatma. He said something to this effect:
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When all is said and done, the personal self needs association. There is no doubt about it. There are so many theories about the spiritual self but when all is said and done you are left with yourself needing reliance and need to express a concern for someone. This is definitely the nature of the self, something which no self can transcend effectively.
In meditation this has to be dealt with at some stage.
Usually this reliance and concern nature of the self is dealt with in terms of becoming a spiritual master and also being a disciple of someone. In the position of spiritual master, the caring impulse is utilized. You act as a parent to a disciple. Then as a disciple of a guru, you express your reliance nature by being the ward or dependent of the teacher.
So this is going on.
But when there is internalization, that system may fall apart. For one thing you certainly won’t be taking care of disciples when you really internalize. That is out of the picture. You may still be linked to a guru, getting the concern or grace of the teacher but you certainly will not be taking care of disciples when you internalize properly.
Now suppose the guru says to you, ”I do not want to be bothered. I will be secluded. Do not contact me.” Then what do you do?
So this is where naad sound goes in handy. It is the kind of caring teacher who will always have time for you. It does not have to do its own spiritual practice. It is always available to you.
Okay, that takes care of your reliance need. You can rely on naad, lean on naad, take shelter in naad. Naad is itself a transcendental grace. It is God’s gift to the sincere yogi. For some reason the mother is not there. She had to run an errand. But she left a bottle of milk for the infant. Milk in a bottle is not milk from a mother’s breast but still that milk is better than hunger. It will do. In the meantime until God comes personally, that naad sound will do. Many other yogis used it and got success by it. Krishna gave it freely to Uddhava. He told him, “Look I am not going to be here physically with you. You do not have spiritual eyesight as yet. In the meantime, reach naad sound. That will connect you with me. Go and do it now. There should be no delay. Just do it. Take sustenance from naad.”
What about the impulse to care for someone or something else? What do you do with that urge during meditation? There is no disciple there. You cannot pretend there that you are good enough to teach someone during samyama process of meditation. There is no time for that. What do you do with this need to care for someone or something? The need is there, it has to be utilized or it will hamper the process.
Well you can turn it in on yourself. That is what you do with it. You fold it in on yourself.
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Krishna described it in these words in Gita:
यदा संहरते चायं
कूर्मोऽङ्गानीव सर्वशः।
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्
तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥२.५८॥
yadā saṁharate cāyaṁ
kūrmo'ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas
tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā (2.58)
yadā — when; saṁharate — pulls; cāyaṁ = ca — and + ayam — this; kūrmo = kūrmaḥ — tortoise; 'ṅgānīva = aṅgānīva = aṅgāni — limbs + iva — like, compared to; sarvaśaḥ — fully; indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas = indriyani — senses + indriyarthebhyaḥ— attractive things; tasya — his; prajñā— reality-piercing vision; pratiṣṭhitā — is established
When such a person pulls fully out of moods, he or she may be compared to the tortoise with its limbs retracted. The senses are withdrawn from the attractive things in the case of a person whose reality-piercing vision is established. (2.58)
This could mean two practices, one is where the searching interest is withdrawn and there is no more interest to hunt for sensual pursuits and get their fulfillment or frustrations.
But the other more important part of this is to put the caring interest to the self itself instead of to another person.
For pratyahar sensual energy withdrawal this practice has to do with withdrawing the searching interest. But for samyama practice this has to do with applying the caring interest to the self itself. This is self-caring application.
First we deny that the self has any needs and we pretend that we are absolute. This is necessary in the beginning to have some self-esteem. It is nonsense but it will serve the purpose initially. It is like a pacifier. The child cannot get any milk from it. It is a con, and yet the child is pacified by it, for the time being.
The real milk will have to be served at some time, or the child will starve to death feeding on that rubber thing.
So like this initially one says that one is absolute, which is total nonsense. But it works for a time. And then one has to admit that one is relative and that one has needs. Then one can be honest and deal with the real issues.
Alfredo 3 years ago
It seems to me possible that Mahayogis like you can internalize on and off.
It looks like you have done that several times.
It is also a fact, very clear to me, that in the process of helping a disciple or student, specially one-on-one, the master is degraded, at least temporarily, for in the exchange, he must come down to the lower level of the student and neglect his Tapasya.
Providence sometimes deals us a short period of, like Hariharanandaji used to say, centripetal force. A bothering student, social conundrums, having to move around. It won't be long.
That expression of the self of concern for others is definitely intrinsically human. It is also a positive quality overall. However, it can definitely be dead weight around the neck, when the final run for liberation is affected.
