27th April 2009
Axaya-tritiyā

Blessed Immutable Self,

I offer my earnest wishes on this very auspicious day of the soli-lunar calendar. This day of Vaishākha-shukla-tritiyā, or the third lunar day of the bright half of the soli-lunar month Vaishākha, is known as the Axaya-trityā. Spiritual practices, including meditation and genuine giving, become immortalized, and hence the name “Axaya” or imperishable.

Kindness (dayā), charity (dāna), restraints (yama) and observances (niyama) make up the bedrock of Dharma or right conduct (āchāra). However these cardinal principles are ultimately meant to support the path of wisdom through sequential and progressive use of discriminative enlightenment (viveka). This enlightenment process is greatly aided by the meditation or intense spiritual practices that progressively arrest the miseries paining the experience of life.

Sustenance itself includes creation, decay and maintenance. And sorrow is inherent in the decay due to the mutable and transitory nature of the external world. The mind that cognizes the external world is also mutable like the objects of the external world. And the mind cannot hold on to any object and tends to be distracted and hence wanders among the fleeting periods of happiness.

Strength of mind and spiritual depth are attained by the use of appropriate meditation practices. Various levels of meditation based on the objects of concentration (including unflinching devotion to God) are available from the Sanskrit scriptures. Fixity of mind (dhārana) and meditation (dhyāna) leading to intense concentration (samādhi) require a methodical spiritual practice suitable to the level of inquiry. Both knowledge (jnāna) and willpower tend to become abounding for an experienced meditator proficient in repeated and reproducible states of intense concentration.

Regular practice in arresting the mental modifications leads to the fruits (siddhi) of intense concentration. Primary practices using subtle objects of concentration include meditation on the continuity of the sound current, upward sensation in the spine, happiness from effulgent space, meditation on the internal feeling of joy by remaining aware of the process of breathing or a combination of these. Secondary steps harness the happiness from keeping the mind from willing and wandering, thus reposing at the source of thought. An even more advanced level involves arresting the mutation of ego ultimately leading one to repose on a subtle feeling of “I am.” Higher steps of confining the mind on the atomic sense of the immutable self culminate into effortless concentration and usher the falling away of miseries. Persistent practice purifies the mind (chitta), brings about tranquility and thus makes an irreversible impression of overcoming sorrow.

On this auspicious day, may you embrace the path of discriminative enlightenment realizing yourself as the immutable self (purusha) distinct from the mutable nature (vikruti) of your ego (I-sense) and mind. Let your days be filled with the wisdom of a life divine.

With my abounding holy blessings,

Swami Vidyadhishananda