Siva Gita – Chapter 12 – Instruction on Meditation – Slokas 1 – Slokas 41, Uttara Khanda, Padma Purana

Prabhu Shri Rama uvācha, “O Lord! The God of the gods! The great ruler of the universe! Prostrations to You! Tell me, the rules of meditation, its place and time also.”

 

Shri Bhagawan uvācha, “O Rama! I will tell you about meditation, its time and place. The bodies of all the deities are but the limited manifestations of Mine.

 

Those devotees who worship the gods rather than Me with faith do not realize that they too worship only Me without following the conventional rules. O king of Kings!

 

Therefore, this universe does not exist apart from Me. I am the enjoyer of the fruits of all actions. I am the bestower of the results of all actions.

 

In whichever form the mortal beings meditate on Me and Me alone. I appear to them in that form and grant their wishes.

 

Whoever worships Me with devotion either according to the tenets as prescribed or not, I present Myself to them and bestow on them the fruits. There is no doubt.

 

Even if one of wicked conduct worships Me and thinks of Me alone and nothing else, then he shall be deemed to be a good man. It can be said that he has taken the right course of action in doing so.

 

Even great sins like Brahma hatya do not taint one who knows Me alone as his own Self and abides in that alone thinking of nothing else.

 

There are four kinds of meditation laid down by the wise namely sampat, āropa, samvarga and adhyāsa.

 

The meditation on an inferior object as endowed with qualities belonging to objects superior to it is called sampat.

 

The āropa meditation is on the subsidiary or supplementary by superimposing the principal on it.

 

When the superimposition is done with the full knowledge of what it implies, then it is said to be adhyāsa. 

 

The mode of meditation deemed similar to the function is called samvarga. The cosmic air known as samvarta withdraws all the beings into itself and makes them one at the time of deluge.

 

The meditation done self-consciously sitting close to the deity who is worshipped as one within oneself is called inner meditation.

 

Meditation is the attainment of oneness with the deity meditated upon through the continuous contemplation on that deity without interruption by another thought.

 

In the case of external meditations as mentioned earlier, the attainment of the steadfastness of the mind is the goal. At that time of performing rituals as prescribed in the Vedas, meditation is the fundamental aspect. I will tell you about the meditation on the nirguna Brahman and saguna Brahman. Listen carefully.

 

A dwija should abandon the interest of pilgrimage to holy places and to holy waters. Wherever he gets one-pointedness of the mind, he should sit there.

 

He should be seated on a woollen blanket or any soft spread or on tiger skin in a solitary spot and keep his head, body and neck in a straight line.

 

One should go beyond all the conventional rules and instead control their sense organs, offer prostrations to their Guru with devotion and should hold their breath as instructed by their Guru to withdraw themselves into the Self.

 

For one who is not in possession of true knowledge and whose mind is deluded, his senses are not in control like wild horses that cannot be controlled by the charioteer.

 

For the enlightened man, the mind along with the senses is under control by effort like the obedient horses who are controlled by the charioteer.

 

One whose mind is vacillating and unsteadfast, though pure but not yet possessed of true knowledge does not attain the state of release and attains only the cycle of birth and death.

 

One who however is steadfast in the mind, ever pure and possessed of true knowledge attains the state of release. Therefore, he is not born again.

 

One for whom reason is the charioteer and the mind is the reins of the horses crosses the difficult way and reaches My supreme abode.

 

Reflecting on the heart lotus as blemishless, pure, clean and bereft of sorrow, mediate on Me, the Supreme Lord abiding there.

 

I am the Brahman, the cause of the world, the unthinkable, unmanifest, infinite, immortal, devoid of beginning and middle or the end and bliss.

 

Meditate on Me as wearing the tiger skin, of blue throat, with three eyes, with matted locks, wearing the moon on the head and adorning the snake as the sacred thread.

 

May you meditate on Me as wearing the tiger skin as the upper cloth, the chief of all beings, the bestower of fearlessness, bearing the axe and deer in My raised hands, adorned with various ornaments and all the parts of the body smeared with sacred ash.

 

Thus, the person sees Me by repeated practice of meditation wherein he makes himself the lower arani wood while making the Omkara, the upper arani wood.

 

I am not attained by mere Vedic chanting nor by learned texts nor by mental thought. One who chooses to reach Me by continued meditation, I always choose him.

 

One who has not desisted from bad conduct, who has not developed tranquillity, who has no concentration and whose mind is restless cannot attain Me even if he claims to be in possession of knowledge.

 

Knowing I am that Brahman which is manifest in all the worlds of waking, dream and sleep, one is liberated from all bonds.

 

I am the experiencer, the experienced objects and the experience itself; am the Witness in all the three states of waking, dream and sleep; the undifferentiated Consciousness; the eternally auspicious Shiva that is self-effulgent.

 

One should meditate on Me, radiant like billions of the noon sun, cool like billions of the moon, having the sun, the moon and fire as the three eyes and a beautiful expression like a lovely lake.

 

One Lord is hidden in all the beings, all-pervasive, the inner Self of all the beings, the one presiding over all existence, one who lives in all, the witness, the intelligence, the non-dual and attributeless Reality.

 

The wise men who concentrate on the One Lord who is the indwelling Self of all beings, the controller and who makes one seed and constantly keep Him in their mind is Me. For them there is eternal peace, but not so for others.

 

Just as one fire entering the world assumes various forms of the objects, similarly the One Lord who is the indwelling Self of all beings is not touched by the sorrows of the world and is outside them.

 

One who knows this Supreme Person here in this life itself who is of the hue of the sun and beyond darkness is alone a wise man and becomes immortal here. There is no other path known for release.

 

I created the Hiranyagarbha and taught him the Vedas. One is released from the jaws of death when that person knows with all certainty that I am that Supreme Person, ancient and to be worshipped.

 

In this way, one who knows Me in entirety and is possessed of tranquillity is freed once and for all from the continuous sorrow and merges in Me alone at the end.”

 

[Siva Gita – Chapter 12 – Instruction on Meditation – Slokas 1 – Slokas 41, Uttara Khanda, Padma Purana]