Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamin

Chapter 8 - Meditation on God

One morning in January/February 1934, when His Holiness went to offer His namaskaras to His Guru during the latter’s ahnika, the senior Jagadguru suggested a simple method to practice deep meditation on divine forms – “First direct your gaze to the middle of your eyebrows. While doing so, you can chant a mantra such as ‘om’. Turning the eyes upwards can well be done with the eyelids partially closed which is more convenient and equally effective. You will experience a tingling sensation between the brows. After you mentally apprehend a light in that region for some time, picture the divine form that you wish to meditate on. Then, focus on that form. You may, when you feel like it, use this method even in connection with the visualization of a form during your usual japa.”

Deciding to try out what the senior Jagadguru had taught Him, His Holiness went a little later to Goddess Sharadamba’s temple. There, He followed the method suggested by His Guru and in seconds He could feel a tingling sensation between His brows. This increased in intensity gradually and He began to see a blue disc of light that was diffused. He then visualized a diminished version of Ambal’s idol emerging from the disc and occupying the lotus of His heart. As He focused on the form, His chanting of ‘om’ stopped.  Moments later, He opened His eyes. Actually half an hour had passed. During this time, He was unaware of His body and surroundings.

That evening, at the Kalabhairava temple, His Holiness focused on Goddess Bala as described in the dhyana shloka of Balatripurasundari mantra. The form was clear. The meditation lasted for 45 minutes and as before He lost awareness of His body and surroundings. For several days following this, His Holiness had been meditating only on the forms of Bala and Lakshmi Narasimha and that too in keeping with the dhyana shlokas of their mantras.

One evening, without any premeditation or effort on His part, the form of Kṛishṇa as described in the Bhagavatha Purana emerged from the light that He apprehended between His brows and entered His heart. The next morning, His Holiness spontaneously beheld a form of Vishnu as a child lying on a fig leaf, and in the afternoon, Vishnu appeared with eight arms adorned with various ornaments and carrying His weapons. The next morning, His Holiness perceived a form of calm and ornamented Vishnu holding just a rosary, while later in the day, the form was that of the Lord bereft of ornaments and weapons and holding just a rosary. The senior Jagadguru later pointed to Him a portion of text in the Vishnu Purana that advised meditation on the very forms of the Lord in the same order that His Holiness had done.

After these experiences, He started meditating on other divine forms – Shiva as seated with Parvathi, as Ardhanarishvara, as Dakshinamurti and as Naṭaraja; on Vishnu; on Rama; and on Gaṇapathi.

Sometime in the period April-July, 1935, one morning, when He was about to visualise the form of Lakshmi-Naṛasimha, the form of Goddess Bala appeared and He meditated on Her. That afternoon, He felt a strong urge to meditate upon Her as remaining in front of and facing Him and did so. When He commenced His evening meditation at the Kalabhairava Temple, while He was focusing as usual on the full form of the Goddess, His mind suddenly locked on to Her feet. He vividly beheld the Goddess’s feet; the sense of reality of the vision was intense and left no room for doubts. This was His first experience of savikalpa-samādhi. During this samadhi, He almost totally forgot Himself and that He was meditating; Goddess Bala’s feet alone manifested.

After remaining for one and a half hours in savikalpa-samadhi with His mind locked on to Goddess Bala, He regained awareness of the body and opened His eyes. He could literally see Her in front of Him within the temple. He reached out and touched Her feet with His hands. A few moments later, She disappeared. His next four savikalpa-samadhis had, without any premeditation on His part, Lakshmi Naṛasimha, Kṛishna with a flute, child Mukunda and Vishṇu with eight arms as the objects of focus.

His Holiness reported His experiences with meditation to His Guru on several occasions. The senior Jagadguru expressed His satisfaction and approval.