THE SWAN FROM MANASAROVAR: A STORY

A luminous swan, a resident of the great and sacred lake Manasarovar high in the Himalayas, once grew curious about the localities beyond that divine range of hills.

One day, he spread his silver wings and rose above the peaks and flew down towards the villages and hamlets of the plains.

He flew for hours and then, on seeing a pond at the center of a village, descended there.

As he relaxed touching the muddy water and surveying the environment with curiosity, the storks who were wallowing in the mud scanned him with amazement.

"Who are you, stranger?" one of the older storks asked him.

"I am a swan."

"Swan? We understand d. We have heard of swans. Where do you live?"

"The heavenly Manasarovar is my abode."

"Where is that?"

"In the inner ranges of the god-souled Himalayas, overlooked by Mount Kailash."

"Is that lake different from this our pond in any way?" asked another stork.

"Well, very, very different, I must say!"

"In what way? How much do you know about this wonderful pond of ours? At least a dozen cows and buffaloes bathe in this, apart from a dozen or two men, women, and kids. Can your lake break this record?" asked a young stork aggressive.

"No cows, buffaloes, men, women and kids live around our lake. Only nymphs and fairies, gandharvas and kinnaras, apart from gods and goddesses, come to bathe there," replied the swan.

"Do you have such water-creepers as we have - sporting such tiny flowers?"

“No. But we have lotuses radiating a golden hue."

"What do you eat?"

"The lotus-fruit and lotus-nectar."

The storks looked at one another meaningfully.

"Do you mean to say that you live without eating insects, leeches, froglings, worms and fish?"

"What are they?" asked the swan.

"What are they? You ask what are they? That means you have never even tasted them and you still consider your life worth-living?" asked several of the storks in chorus and then all of them burst into a shrill, screechy laughter.

The swan from the Manasarovar took off and spread his wings heading towards his Himalayan abode.
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It Must Become So Deep Rooted

Q: What should we meditate on?

M: Who is the meditator? Ask that question first. Remain as the meditator, then there is no need to meditate. It is the sense of doership that is the impediment to dhyana.

Q: What is to be meditated on?

M: Anything you prefer, but you should stick to one thing. Contemplation involves fighting. As soon as you begin meditation other thoughts will crowd in, gather force and try to sink the single thought. The latter must gain strength by repeated practice. This battle always takes place in meditation. Peace of mind is brought about by contemplation and through the absence of varying thoughts. Once dhyana is well-established it cannot be given up, but will go on automatically even when you are engaged in work, play or even sleep. It must become so deep-rooted that it is natural. Dhyana: Successful meditation. Meditation through deliberate mental effort. Repetition of a mantra or name of God with devotion.

Bhagavan: Objects of meditation Hypnotic methods are not advisable for inducing yogic samadhi because light-gazing stupefies the mind, producing temporary catalepsy, and secures no permanent benefits. A mental image of a deity may be used as a meditation object until the meditator merges into the Self. Then the image will fall away of its own accord and the deity will vanish as part of the world-illusion. Only the supreme Self is to be the object of meditation. Truly speaking, meditation is remaining rigid in the Self. But when thoughts cross the mind and effort is made to eliminate them, the effort is termed 'meditation'. Remain as you are. That is the aim. Meditation is negative only inasmuch as thoughts are kept away. The practice of keeping God in your mind as everything around you, becomes dhyana. This is the stage before realization which is only in the Self. Dhyana must precede it. Whether you practice dhyana on God or the Self in immaterial; the goal is the same.