Meditation is the most elevating spiritual practice. A mind that is sufficiently purified through bhakti and yoga gains deep introversion. The mind that was used to flowing towards the objects of the world through the senses, now gets habituated to turn inward towards the Heart. This state of mind is the real meditative state, referred to as antarmukha—inner-faced. This is indeed the impact of Divine Grace. In this state, the mind begins to sense the Divine within. Renouncing its affinity to the seen, the introverted mind starts sensing the seer within. The power of pure Consciousness—Chit—starts playing upon the mind. This touch of pure Awareness, the Gita calls Brahma-samsparśa. This bestows profound happiness—atyantam sukham.

From here begins the yogi’s real journey of meditation on the Atman, nididhyāsana. A mind that has gained sufficient purity senses the inner Self naturally. The Bhagavata says, “It intuits the aroma of the Atman—ātmānam anujighrati.” This is a rare mystical usage. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi too has used it. In one of the verses in Aksharamanamalai, the Sage says, “As a dog traces its master by the scent, the mind takes the scent of the Atman and goes inward.” This is nididhyāsana. Here onwards, the focus is purely on one’s own Self; there is no more mental analysis. Some level of analysis happens—consciously or unconsciously—even during śravaṇa and manana—listening and contemplation. During the manana period, the analysis is—‘I am neither the body nor the mind; there is something else which is not the body-mind’. But, in nididhyāsana, one no more ‘feels’ the body or the thoughts; here, the inner-sense has pushed itself into a deeper realm. ‘Like a honey-bee, the mind is inebriated by the nectar of the Inner Being’—this is a metaphor used by the Upanishad.

In this phase of nididhyāsana, the mind is under the sway of the Atman and is constantly ‘innering’, pushing itself with all its force, to sink and merge in the Self. It dives deep into the Heart, where the feel of the holy drench happens. The same process takes place in deep sleep too; but there it happens unconsciously; a higher power forcefully sinks the mind in the Self. In nididhyāsana, the mind takes to this inner travel consciously. The Bhagavata calls this avijñāta-gati—a journey that is imperceptible to outer view. This is the journey from where the pilgrim returns not. The mind goes inward, inward and inward, and ultimately merges in the Being, and the ‘I’-sense disappears.

In the initial stages of nididhyāsana, though the seeker can feel the Self very clearly, yet there remains the prison-house of the body. When he comes out of his meditation, he feels—‘Yes, I know the Self. The Self is neither the body nor the mind. But now I again feel the body, mind, and the world.’ This waking up—vyutthāna—that happens when pushed out by the inner vāsanās is almost similar to waking up from sleep. However, the difference is that when the yogi wakes up from nididhyāsana, there will be a recollection of the Self—the state in which he was. The undercurrent of this recollection gains more and more clarity day by day. It is only when the vāsanās—the force that pushes the mind out from the Self to the sensory gates—get extinguished that nididhyāsana culminates in the ultimate Experience. Vāsanās are the clouds of emotions and thoughts that are the symptoms of ignorance. As nididhyāsana progresses, the yogi ultimately intuits that he is the Self ever, everywhere.

The Self is like the space inside a pot; the belief that the pot is there and the space is imprisoned inside the pot is only ignorance. The pot and the pot-space are mere illusions. There is neither the pot nor the pot-space; only the infinite space—the mahākāśa—exists. Similarly, there is neither the body nor the mind nor the limitation of the jīva-bhāva, the individual-sense. There is no ‘I’ even to claim ‘I am the Infinite.’ The Infinite alone exists. Once this supreme intuition dawns, he becomes brahmabhūta—one with Brahman. The Gita says that such a one who has cast aside the illusions—that the body exists, the mind exists, the individual-sense exists, the world exists—and has touched the deepest core
of his being is supremely placid—prasannātmā. He is totally free; he has attained Brahma-nirvāṇa or Brāhmī-sthiti—these are the words that the Gita uses. Nirvāṇa means extinguishment. Everything else is extinguished in the fire of Jñāna. Only Brahman, the pūrṇa-vastu, exists.

“brahmabhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati (BG18.54)—The one who has found his infinite nature grieves no more.” One who has reached this state has crossed the borders of grief. (तरति शोकमात्मवित्। Ch.Up. 7.1.3) He has no more expectations from life, no desires—na kāṅkshati. Such a one is a free soul. When the yogi wakes up from that state, he is absolutely serene and placid—prasannātmā. A great restfulness descends on him. He has woken up from the hypnosis of ignorance that the body and mind have something to do with him. No doubt, when he wakes up, he sees the world; he is aware of the body, the mind and the individual-sense. This waking up is called prārabdha, the beginning of the mere functioning of the life-force or past karma. Even while awake, he knows with certainty that the body-mind does not have any absolute reality. Whatever the suffering in the waking state, there is no suffering or ignorance in the deep-sleep state.

Similarly, this is a mysterious state for the yogi, where his old personality persists in the waking state, and the leftover destiny that he must undergo is waiting to take over the body-mind. But at the same time, even in the waking state, there is an undercurrent of that supreme peace, Awareness, prasannatā, prasāda. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad calls it samprasādaḥ—immensity of the serene Awareness. It is like sitting on a threshold with immortality on one side and mortality on the other. At the body-mind level, the yogi appears just like any other human being. Parallelly, there is an incessant current of a river of Awareness in him. He does not put any effort for this; no more meditation. His meditation has culminated in Realisation and extinguished the meditator too. There is nothing to meditate for, achieve, or attain. There is just the infinite, boundless, incessant awareness of that ‘Tranquil Whole’.

This is the illumination, and that illumination is ever waiting in everyone’s bosom as their own Existence, as their own ‘I’, the source of ‘I’, the implied meaning of ‘I’. This is Jñāna. This awakened state is the sacred goal of the meditator. This is jīvanmukti; this is what the Gita terms sthitaprajñā. The prajñā—his spiritual experience, the meditative state—has become one with his Being. Rather, his Being alone is predominant in his experience. The mind and the senses are seen just like a mirage in the desert. Such a one is free while embodied. His embodiment is only for the onlooker. In his experience, neither the body nor the mind exists; neither birth nor death exists. na abhāvo vidyate sataḥ (BG2.16). His experience of the Sat—Existence—is incessant. Until he enters into this holy land, his imperceptible inner journey must continue.

To a sincere seeker who meditates, the Upanishad wishes him all the best to be free of the clutches of māyā, “O Meditator! All good wishes for you to cross over the vast ocean of darkness!” स्वस्ति वः पाराय तमसः परस्तात्। Mu.Up. 2.2.6

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~ An excerpt from Chapter 6 of Srimad Bhagavad Gita | Elixir of Eternal Wisdom by Sri Nochur Acharya

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