The first word in that thought for the day is many. If many think that concentration is the same as meditation, they are wrong and due to that misunderstanding they take the wrong path. And what if we don't know the difference?
He explains that we use concentration in our daily normal life, it is part of life and if it is already there, why do we need to practice? We have to get from concentration to meditation, from below the senses to above the senses, or from a state in the senses, going beyond the senses, transcending the mind.
Many think that concentration is the same as meditation and take to the wrong path. Concentration is below your senses, whereas meditation is above your senses. We use concentration involuntarily in our daily, normal routine life. When concentration is part and parcel of our daily life, why then do we need to practice it? What we have to practice is that which is beyond these normal senses. We must rise from being below the senses (that is the state of concentration) to the senses (the middle position called contemplation); and from there we must rise above the senses, which is called meditation.
But he doesn't tell us how. He doesn't mention the mantra Soham, as he usually does. Thoughts for the days are quotes of Baba speeches, therefore, probably he will talk later about it.
We are contemplating his words. He as well tells us that only he can give a transcendental experience, because he is beyond the mind and the realm of transcendence, as it is above the senses and related to meditation. Many think that concentration is the same as meditation and take to the wrong path.
Concentration is below our senses, whereas meditation is above our senses. We use concentration involuntarily in our daily, normal routine life. When concentration is part and parcel of our daily life, why then do we need to practice it?
We have to understand it right. When we talk about the level in the senses it is our realm as it is in the mind, when it is above the senses, it is his realm as it is beyond the mind. When we call him the doer, it is because he is beyond the mind and we are in the mind, we therefore, cannot know. What we know is in the mind, never beyond the mind. The mind cannot understand the reality beyond the senses, therefore, we listen to his words and get to a right conclusion and that is how we grow in that wisdom which is beyond the senses and the mind.
Between concentration and meditation there is an area which covers both and that is contemplation. To be in that area of contemplation is to free yourself of routine attachments of the world. When you have completely broken away all your attachments, you break through this area of contemplation and you get into the area of meditation.
He mentioned that he revived the four doors of Veda. Sathya, truth, Dharma, right action, Shanti peace and that which cannot be transcended anymore, Prema, pure love.
When I began to observe, I used four principles I read about it in a book and I thought that it was great and helpful to keep that in mind, it was, to know, to dare, to want and to be silent.
What I liked most was the silence part, because I didn't have to engage into discussions anymore, we had lots of troubles in my parent's house because of loud discussions, therefore, I hated it and I tried to find a way getting out of it and that was the way. When I heard Swami tell us that he revived the four doors of Veda, I remembered those for words, it had been my focus.
And with that focus it established the observer, because we get careful about every word we tell when the ideal is silence.
We talk only if we have to and when we think we know, otherwise, we don't talk and the same with action, we act only when we are sure, we didn't dare to act if we didn't know. The knowledge and daring to act or right action, Dharma, were directly connected.
And we know from Swami if those two exist together we have peace; we need those principles to be in a state of peace.
But the fourth door of Veda is pure love and it reflects the presence of the other three. Pure love we cannot transcend, silence we cannot transcend, therefore, if we experienced pure love in his presence, we have transcended the mind. If we experience silence, we have as well transcended the mind.
A mantra is a way to transcend the mind, we repeat it in our mind and it doesn't matter if we forget it, if there are thoughts it is part of it, but when we get aware that we are in thoughts and not with the mantra, we go back to the mantra. That is usually what we did going inside to transcend the mind if we meditate with mantra. Understanding is as well pure love, it means if there is a right conclusion and right understanding, we as well transcend the mind and that is what we are doing here in thinking over his words.
It is in the understanding the transcendental value, in the pure knowledge. It is uplifting the mind and there is positive energy created by right insights and correct understanding.
We find it in the Patanjali sutra.
"For correct understanding we need direct perception, inference and the written or spoken words of a self-realized authority."
Direct perception is the experience of it, we must do it. Meditation is a state beyond the mind. If we reach pure love or silence or right understanding, we have transcended the mind and it feels like Prasanthi Nilayam in the heart and that is the existence of it. It is as well a state of pure love and therefore, a transcendental state, we have silence, pure love, understanding and existence. That is what I found about Sat-Chit-Ananda.
The Sat we find in his words, if it is about truth, absolute being or existence, we find it in his words. And the Chit is the understanding, the right conclusion and the right comprehension and it grows by doing, by thinking it over the understanding is growing and the Ananda is bliss, a state of happiness and joy. We get to the conclusion that we are only one, we are all the same self, there are not two, there is no duality, only oneness.
- Sat: truth, absolute being or existence-- that which is enduring and unchanging
- Chit: consciousness, understanding and comprehension
- Ananda: bliss, a state of pure happiness, joy and sensual pleasure
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