The Nature of the Mind :15.2

Just as gold is purified by heating it on the fire, so also mind is purified by the fire of meditation.

Yoga is in its strictest sense Meditation on the Absolute Reality. The way to such a meditation lies through suffering and pain.

The road to bliss always passes through self-sacrifice and self-purification.

Gold becomes lustrous when it is purged of all dross and the self shines in its own Nature when it is disciplined through meditation.

Spiritual meditation is practised through constant affirmation of one's being identical with Brahmam.

Thereby the mind returns to Peace.

When the Self is asserted to be in tune with the Great Expanse of the Reality the mind which is a shadow of the Self turns back to its substance, the Self.

The mind being annihilated, the vital currents or the Pranas stop their activity, because the Prana is only an appearance of the power of the mind.

The practice of deep affirmation of the Supreme Tattwa subordinates all other spiritual endeavours to reach Brahmam.

Swami Krishnananda

To be continued   ...