Supreme Secret of Equipoise
Saurabh
Dubai (U.A.E)
Sadashiva samarambham Shankaracharya madhyamam.
Asmadacharya paryantam vande Guru paramparam.
Our humble Prostrations at the lotus Feet of Maaji!
Whenever Call-Talks are organized, I always look forward to going deeper into the topic of Call-Talks. I try to think on what this topic is all about and start preparing and reading on the same. This time too, I tried to do some research on the words ‘Dissolve’ and ‘Evolve’. To evolve means to elevate or develop or gain a higher experience within oneself; but to get evolved, we need to first dissolve. Dissolve what? My mind was inquisitive about what is Maa is going to speak about! Is it about dropping the ego? Deconditioning myself? Surrender at His Holy Feet? Destruction aspect or what is it?
We are indeed so blessed to have a virtual online Call-Talk from Maaji on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivraatri. I felt as if Maaji took us through a tour of the entire Brahmaand / Cosmic tour during the Call-Talk ‘Dissolve to Evolve’! Maaji spoke about so many aspects about Lord Shiva, about the importance of Maha Shivraatri, Mutation vs Meditation, Abhishekam, Bhajan on “Daya Karo Bhagwan Shankar”, Symbolism of the form of Lord Shiva and the Q/A session. Maha Shivraatri is one of the most auspicious and important days, for any seeker on the path of Vedaant philosophy. I was so delighted to know, that it was on this auspicious day Maaji was initiated on the revered path by Gurudev H H Swami Chinmayananda ji. We are indeed so blessed to be a part of this lineage under the guidance of HH Maa Purnananda ji.
Let me share my understanding on the same. About dissolution, it starts with self-analysis, introspection. It is about being observant in our day-to-day activities, while speaking or while doing any work. Maa ji gave an example of Mobile Phone, how that Mobile has become an unnecessary obstruction in today's life for all of us, when we try to connect with the Divine. But today in this lock-down situation, the Mobile Technology has given us this wonderful scope of Call-Talks as well. So, there are advantages and disadvantages of technology. Now whenever I try to connect with Divinity, I will ensure not to attend any calls as connection with “Divinity” is definitely of utmost importance. Maa ji talked about the importance of Kshama Praarthna – ‘Prayer to seek forgiveness’.
It is important for us to dissolve. Dissolve all that is unnecessary from our life. But after dissolution, either there will be ‘Creation’ or ‘Evolution’. If there is creation, then it will be due to our Gunas/desires/bundle of Vaasanas and that becomes our Praarabdham, bringing us back into creation and the cycle continues. So our Rishis have given us the method of evolution that is through ‘Meditation’ and they analyzed that the evolution of human beings will depend on conscious and positive efforts, not towards the desire oriented life, but towards Divine oriented life.
We must be diligent and sincere in our practice of ‘Meditation’. But having sat on the seat of Meditation, what exactly should our integrated mind and intellect do? Our focus should be to withdraw ourselves from ourselves and seek our identity with the Infinite and to build a wall of discrimination around our inner personality. To keep such disturbances away is to discover the equipoise in ourselves – without which no progress or growth is ever possible.
For this Maa ji has recommended us to channelize our mind in the right direction. Then the mind becomes user friendly, and a friendly mind is supportive to the creative intellect. Hence, if we wish to own such a mind, then we have to pray to Lord Shiva as Lord Shiva wears moon on His locks. Then Maaji took us through the symbolic significance of the bhajan - ‘Daya Karo Bhagwaan Shankar…..’. I feel this bhajan is so contemplative, that if we try to contemplate and meditate sincerely on it; we are sure to evolve so some extent.
The Q/A session with Maaji has clarified my doubt on Chapter 8- Verse 18 & 19. It speaks about Pralaya, ‘Dissolution’:
“From the Unmanifest, all the manifested proceed at the coming of the 'day', at the coming of the 'night' they dissolve verily in That Alone which is called the Unmanifest”.
“This same multitude of beings is being born again and again and is dissolved (into Unmanifest Brahman) “helplessly”, O Partha, at the coming of 'night', and they come forth again at the coming of 'day”.
Day in day out we need to observe what are we doing. When we sleep at night, the last thought with which we have slept will be the first thought in the morning when we wake up. This shows our inherent tendencies have so much impact on us! In the night after dissolution, it was possible to remain dissolved, but the moment we wake up, it gets created. It’s not only about day and night but every moment, we create some thoughts, and dissolve, and again after some time the same thought comes up “helplessly”. This cycle at the micro level gets magnified and it becomes the one day & night of Brahma ji at the macro level. To establish the change and come out of this cycle, requires self-effort. For that we need to learn the Scriptures under the guidance of Sadgurus, to live those Virtues in our day-to-day life to help us have a check upon our Gunas and evolve out of this cycle.
It was indeed an enlightening session! We pray and surrender ourselves and meditate on the auspicious day of Maha Shivraatri at the Holy Feet of Sree Mahadev for the evolution and for the strength to overcome our Gunas as we are so incapable of dissolving ourselves because we are identifying with falsehood. This is to be dissolved by Him alone and it is possible by His Grace only.
We are very grateful to Manish ji for his selfless and continuous efforts for the evolution of all sincere aspirants and seekers towards the ‘Divine and Auspiciousness’ in us.
Pranaam
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Hari Aum Tat Sat.
Humble Prostrations at the Lotus Feet of Maaji.