Listen Carefully

A discourse by Hari Prasad Shastri, given September 24th, 1950

O Varuna, Thou art the object of our worship. Remove our shackles—physical, mental, and those caused by the unseen agencies—because the shackles of the world in the form of infatuation lead to the degradation of the soul. O eternal God, enable us to obey Thy command so that we may be freed from all limitations, and may enjoy the bliss of Thy contemplation. OM
(Prayer from the Rig Veda)

I offer you a few hints on meditation. The texts of meditation are ideas, not thoughts, because thoughts arise spontaneously and are not governed by any visible law. Ideas are set and fixed, and they are like seeds planted in the mind. When we meditate, we take an idea, and it has a two-fold benefit. First, it comes from a source which is enlightened, and its meaning is very exalting; secondly, it has the quality of the enlightened source. And it may be added that certain meditations are selected for us, to be undertaken by us.

Then, meditation is an idea and it is to be planted deep. The mind is a field in which you can plant ideas, and therefore the meditation, which is an idea, is to be planted in the mind and held in the mind. The process is twofold. First, to make room for the idea by suppressing desires. Our mind is very often choked with desires; to ‘make room’ means to suppress the desires by telling the mind that they are useless, that their conception does not lead to any real good. Then secondly, to exercise the power of the will to plant the idea and to hold it there. To hold it, it is helpful to use a keyword, into which all meditation condenses. You may take ‘OM’. Many meditations begin and end with OM.