Meditation on the Inner Divine Light and the Holy Quran!!! - Pravesh K. Singh (facebook/groups/Santmat) References to the practice of inner meditation that are aplenty in the Vedic & Sants literature can also be found in the sacred scripture of all major religions of the world including the Holy Quran. The 11th Surah Hud of the Quran, for instance, in a terse statement, says: Akim wajhak liddini hanifa [Looking in one direction freeze your face; let it not move to the front, back or sideways.] It bears a surprising resemblance to what has been taught by Lord Shri Krishna as seen in the following lines of the Shrimad Bhagvad Gita: With your trunk, neck and head erect in a straight line sit still, without moving. (And) still your gaze in the front of your nose (`nÄsÄgra) without looking in any direction. The Shahrag of the Sufis or the Sushumna of the Rishis or the `Single Eye of Bible (`If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light - The Bible) is the kind of door or opening that allows passage from the gross level of existence into the subtle or astral creation, from darkness into light. This experience has been so beautifully articulated in an Urdu couplet by a Sufi mystic: Oh! That spectacle of the needles tip is yet so vivid in my memory. My vision started to shrink and lo! a sudden burst of dazzling light filled me completely! As a matter of fact, so long as we live in the gross sphere, in the sphere of darkness, we remain under the spell of delusion, of ignorance, as Guru Nanak has observed, As long as we live in (the body of) nine doors/gates, we can never have peace and have to keep running from pillar to post (in search of peace). The way to our own abode is found as we enter into the Tenth Door. This Tenth Door being extremely minute has, therefore, also been referred to as Til (sesame, small particle, the least bit). In fact, this Tenth Door or Shahrag is an absolute point that appears, or is seen within when we make the currents of vision (consciousness) in the two eyes meet in the inner sky that is seen ahead upon closing the two eyes. This is the Absolute Point in the strictest sense of the term. Such a point it is impossible to draw in the outer (gross) world with the best of efforts, with the finest of tip of a pen or pencil, or even with tip of the thinnest hair for such a point would surely have some dimension, some area howsoever small whereas a point ideally should have no length, breadth or thickness. An absolute point can, thus, be seen only in the inner sky by confluence of the currents of vision which are straight lines possessing merely length but no width or thickness. It is not possible to draw even such a straight line in the outer world which is why we are constrained to make do with assumptions like: `let A be a point, `let AB be a line, `let lines AB and AC meet in point A etc, for a real point and a real line can but exist in the astral realms only. This infinitesimal point has been said to be the seed of the `drishya/roop jagat, the visible Nature or the Creation with form, as the Upanishad says, beejaaksharam param bindum... (Bindu or the point is the seed of the alphabets/letters/forms) Views of Sadguru Maharshi Mehi Paramhans Ji are worth noting in this regard: ...a point is defined as that which exists but does not have any length, breadth or thickness. A mark made even with the tip of a hair will surely occupy some space, albeit extremely small. Therefore, a point cannot be formed by approximation. That which possesses merely length and no width or thickness is termed a line. Even a line cant be drawn by approximation, because a line drawn with even the narrowest hair-tip would surely have some breadth. Two lines intersect in a point. This (drishti Yoga) is the only technique that can make the two currents of sight converge in an absolute point. It is not permitted by Guru to detail this method further; this skill can be learnt from a true adept and only then the true import of the term `nÄsÄgra of Shrimad Bhagvad Gita can be understood correctly & exactly. - Maharshi Mehi Paramhans, Ramcharit Manas Sar Sateek Just consider how do we write a letter or draw a shape! We first place the tip of the pen or pencil on a piece of paper, bark etc. As soon we place the nib of the pen a point (not an absolute one) is created and whatever is drawn or written thereafter is nothing but a collection of infinite number of points and when we finally lift the pen/pencil off the paper to end drawing or writing, we again do so by making a point. Thus, wherever there is form or shape, point is at its root; point is the source or seed of form of whatever kind. This is the secret of `bindu dhyan or `drishti yoga or the Yoga of Inner Light. He who has focussed his gaze within and made the radiant bindu (point) appear climbs atop the formed creation, acquires the ability to see anywhere in space, say Scriptures, and, consequently, gains control over the Nature with form (`roop jagat). Swami Achyutanand, the living octogenarian teacher writes: Vision gets collected or focussed by bindu dhyÄn. Ascension which is a direct corollary of collection enables the practitioner to pierce or rise above the cover of darkness and behold divine radiance. The practitioner arrives, thus, at the centre or the point of origin of the gross realm. He comes to wield total control over the entire gross universe. He acquires supernatural powers called riddhis and siddhis. -Swami Achyutanand, Yoga of Inner Light and Sound, page 24, 2011 edn. We find an interesting discussion in Islamic literature regarding the importance of the point: A further example of the Sufis approach to the Quran is to be found in the teaching traditionally given by Imam `Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, in response to a question from some of the Companions of the Prophet. They asked him what the Prophet had meant when he said: `I am the city of knowledge and `Ali is its gate? `Ali replied that all the Divine knowledge within the books of the prophets is contained within the Quran, and that all that is in the Quran is contained in the meaning of the Opening Surah, the Fatihah. That which is in Fatihah is itself contained within the opening phrase `Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim. The secret meaning of this phrase is hidden within its first letter, the letter `B. That which is within all and everything is in the diacritical point beneath the (Arabic) letter `B. He concluded by saying: `I am the point. When the Companions heard this they asked how it could all fit into a tiny dot, `Ali replied: Knowledge is but a point. It is the ignorant who increased it. Writing about this many centuries later, in his book, Inspirations, Shaykh Badruddin of Simawna (d.1420?) explained further: When the pen touches the paper, before it moves and writes a book, it first produces a dot. That point is the beginning and the essence of all the letters and words within the book. It contains them all. A place is entered through a door. Once one has passed through the door, one is in that space. This is a secret. If the mind understood it, it could stop thinking further... (Shaykh Badruddin of Simawna, Inspirations, 74) Writing of `the dot in the twentieth century, Shaykh Ahmad al-Alawi (d. 1934) said: `Everything is enveloped in the Unity of Knowledge, symbolized by the Point. -Baldock John, The Essence of SUFISM, pp 34-35, ARCTURUS, 2004 Arent the resemblances striking? Describing the experience of the seeker who tries to concentrate his attention within, Maharshi Mehi Paramhans writes: A scintillating point-light is sighted in the Sushumna (the centre of the AjnÄ Chakra, the Tenth Door) | Behold (this point), O brother, with the curtains of your eyelids down ||1|| (The spiritual practitioner) who stills his sight in the Third Til (Sushumna, or the centre of the AjnÄ Chakra), | Moves beyond his body and enters into the macrocosm (BrahmÄná¸). ||2|| The inner sky, studded with sparkling stars, is laid open (to such a practitioner). | Light resembling that of the earthen lamp-flame (that is seen within) dispels the darkness (of the inner sky). ||3|| The inner horizon is illumined with incomparable moonlight. | The dazzling divine light of the youthful (mid-day) Sun brightens up the inside. ||4|| Melodies of myriads of sounds and the primeval unstruck sound | Are grasped by the surat (individual Soul) that has acquired the divine supernatural vision. ||5|| Catching hold of such (divine sounds) with the focussed attention (which is referred to here as the string or thread of surat), | O soul! Walk back to your true home (the Soundless State where God alone dwells) ||6|| I have essentially revealed, says Maharshi Mehi, the secret (of the way to Gods Abode) | One, who serves his Guru, attains to the Supreme Soul (God) who does not need any base or support. ||7|| Sant Kabir also makes a mention of sighting the moon and sun within: Within this very body is the Moon; the Sun is within this very body. Resound countless melodies within this very body . Guru Nanak Dev also writes: I hopped onto the star... This star is a reference to that very infinitesimal point and has been referred in the compositions & sayings of numerous sants. And further, Guru Nanak Dev says, Sun and moon are sighted within this body as also are heard sounds of musical instruments within Mandal Brahman Upanishad says, Initially it looks like a star...Next is sighted the sphere of Full Moon...then illumined sphere of nine gems and beyond that is the sphere of Mid-day Sun. And if we scan through the Quran, the Seventh Surah (Surah al-Anam) describes Abraham (Ibrahim) as saying: 74. And (remember) when Ibrahim (Abraham) said to his father Azar: Do you take idols as aliha (gods)? Verily, I see you and your people in manifest error. 75. Thus did we show Ibrahim (Abraham) the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he be one of those who have Faith with certainty. 76. When the night covered him over with darkness he saw a star. He said: This is my lord. But when it set, he said: I like not those that set. 77. When he saw the moon rising up, he said: This is my lord. But when it set, he said: Unless my Lord guides me, I shall surely be among the erring people. 78. When he saw the sun rising up, he said: This is my lord. This is greater... (dar-us-salam/TheNobleQuran/index .html) So we find that the Yoga of Inner Light (Drishti Yoga, or Bindu Dhyan) and Yoga of Inner Sound (NÄdÄnusandhÄn, or Surat Shabd Yoga) find their place in all religious systems. In fact, it is not possible to realise the true nature of our own Self or the God without practising these two forms of inner meditation. It is why these forms of meditation find the highest place in the precepts of Santmat which compares the Light and Sound metaphorically as the two hands of the God; the seeker who grasps the two hands of God - Inner Light and Sound - moves into the protective embrace, so to speak, of the God and thus is saved from all the trials and tribulations of transmigration, from the seemingly unending excruciating Wheel of birth and death. Therefore, it is the supreme duty of every human being to regularly practice the Yoga of Inner Light and Sound with utmost devotion and unwavering faith. Jai Guru!
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 09:46:43 +0000
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