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morning this thought should come to the mind. The progress of our life in spirituality
can be judged from the first thought that occurs to the mind in the early morning when
we get up. What is the first thought that comes to our mind the moment we wake up
from sleep? That will give us an idea as to what we have been thinking throughout the
day. The conscious mind remains suppressed and the impulses alone work in the deep
sleep state, and these impulses will thrust up certain ideas the moment we get up. It may
be something which is connected with this world or something which is related to our
sadhana. It may be a thought of anxiety or it may be a thought of freedom. It may be a
thought of anything, depending upon the thoughts during the waking state. From this
we can have an idea, an inkling as to how we have been conducting our thoughts.
The Upanishad tells us that we have to meditate in this manner throughout the day. As
much time as we can spare for this purpose, we must utilise. We have to grow gradually,
stage by stage, to that state of Being, when we will be able to give all our time for
meditation. Many a time we have difficulties in finding time for meditation, because of
the vocations of life. So, in the earlier stages, the advice is that as much time as you can
spare should be set apart for the purpose of meditation, even if it be only for half an
hour or forty-five minutes, or even less than that because it is not easy for the mind of
the neophyte to accept that everything that it thinks can somehow or other be reconciled
with spirituality. It always regards the ordinary life of the body and the senses and social
existence as different from spirituality. This is the habit of the mind, although it is not
The Chhandogya Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
168
correct. This is what it believes. In the beginning, therefore, it is necessary to give some
time to meditation conveniently, of course, not with great effort and hardship on
oneself. The life of the spirit is not one of suffocation or stifling of the mind. It is a
gradual growth of the mind spontaneously, like the growth of a baby into an adult
without any kind of stifling of functions. We should give as much time as is conveniently
possible, with satisfaction to the mind. Then the time has to be increased by reduction of
external activities, sleep, and the unnecessary things that we do in life which are not
actually essential. You may be going to a club or to a picture, or you may be having a
chat with some friends. All these can be gradually curtailed, because they are not
essential. Essentials alone should be maintained. And still later on, in a more advanced
stage, we must learn the art of seeing no distinction between our ordinary life and
spiritual life. That is what is actually expected of us as spiritual seekers.
There is no such thing as an unspiritual life, finally. This has been told to us again and
again in the Upanishad. Things look unspiritual on account of our peculiar way of
evaluation. The idea of I-ness and my-ness is the cause of this peculiar notion in the
mind, of there being a distinction between the ordinary life and spiritual life. We should
not however do things which we regard as wholly unspiritual, or irreconcilable with our
ultimate aim. We should not do also that which is wholly irrelevant to our life. We
should not have any kind of despondency or diffidence in our heart that the most part of
our life is spent in unnecessary work. There is always some connection between our
work and the spiritual purpose that we are having in our mind. But the wisdom lies in
understanding what this connection is. The connection is one of non-distinction.
Though this connection is there, we are not able to keep its awareness. When this
awareness arises we enter into a flood of an all-comprehensiveness of approach through
every aspect of our life.
So meditation should be a continued practice. How long should we continue the
meditation? We must continue until we attain Self-realisation or until we die, whichever
is earlier. Whoever has such intense faith, as is mentioned here, shall get it. If we have
intense faith we will get it. You should not have a shaking mood of the mind. There
should not be any doubt or suspicion. Am I fit for it? Will I get it? What is the good
of it? this kind of doubt should not arise in the mind. I must get it. I am doing the
best possible thing. I am putting forth all my effort to the extent of my possibility. I
am doing my duty. Such a doubtless attitude should be maintained throughout life. If
one has faith of this kind, one should certainly attain it. There is no doubt about it. This
is what the whole Upanishad is teaching, which is compressed in this vidya called
Sandilya-Vidya. Though it is very short, yet it contains everything.
The meaning of this vidya, meditation, is very profound. The more we think about it,
the greater and deeper are the meanings that we will discover in it. And these meanings
will be discovered as we go deeper and deeper into meditation. So here, we have got in
the Sandilya-Vidya the whole subject of the Upanishad clinched, as it were, kept inside
our fist for the purpose of daily habituation of the mind to spirituality and God-
awareness.
This vidya contains the art of adjusting the mind inwardly as well as outwardly in the
beginning by alternate processes, and then finally grasping the comprehensiveness of
Brahman, the Reality in its simultaneously dual aspect of universality and individuality.
The Chhandogya Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
169
Adau brahmaham-asmityanubhava udite khalvidam brahma pascat, is a passage from
Acharya Sankara s Satasloki wherein he makes a reference to this vidya. He mentions
how the consciousness rises gradually from the level of individual perspective to the
universal one. It is not easy to understand the meaning of what Acharya Sankara is
saying here, because of the fact that we cannot distinguish between our personality or
individuality and the Atman, to which reference is being made. We always mix up the
two. The Atman is myself and we know very well what we understand by the word
myself . It is an inveterate habit of the mind to think in terms of the body. So whatever
be the thing that is associated with individuality is at once identified in meditation. The
kernel that is within us, the essence that we are, is to be separated from the body that we
appear to be, in this technique of meditation. In the beginning, there is consciousness
that one s own self is all. Now this is not merely a statement that is to be studied
grammatically or linguistically, but is a matter of experience. One s location in all things
in addition to one s own body becomes a revealed truth in the advanced stages of this
meditation. There are some examples to show how this happens.
It is something like the space within a vessel realising that it is everywhere. Just
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