Teachings of Lord Shri Krishna and Santmat

Pravesh K. Singh

Today the whole world is celebrating the auspicious occasion of the incarnation of Lord Shri
Krishna who has been described as Mahayogeshvar (Mahayogeshvaro HariH) the Lord who
brought the Yoga to light. The solemn message he gave to his dearest devotees & cousins namely,
Arjun and Uddhava was that of practising Yoga (Union) or inner meditation. And the Yoga he
taught very closely resembles the Yoga taught by rishis and sants the Santmat. The four main
stages of meditation taught by sants consist of Jap (chanting), Manas Dhyan (internally visualising
the form of the desired deity), Drishti Yoga (Yoga of Inner Light) or Bindu Dhyan (Meditating on
the Infinitesimal Point within) and Nadanusandhan/Nada-Dhyan/Surat-Shabd-Yoga (Yoga of Inner
Sound). Lord Shri Krishna has given clear hints of this inner meditation in both the Shrimad
Bhagvad Gita and Shrimad Bhagvat the two most important scriptures related to exploits &
teachings of Lord Shri Krishna. This article attempts to find the points of convergence between
Lord Shri Krishnas teachings and Santmat.
Driving home the significance and status of Manas Jap (internal chanting) Lord Shri Krishna says
in Shrimad Bhagvad Gita:
Yajnanam japayajnosmi
[Among various kinds of yajna I am Jap Yajna.]
Jap is done with a view to collect the mind, to prevent it from straying to numerous other subjects
and objects so that it could be geared up, prepared for the greater tasks that lie ahead of Manas
Dhyan (mentally visualising the form of the desired deity or Guru) and Drishti Yoga (Yoga of Inner
Light) that call for even greater concentration or focus.

Meditation on the infinitesimal point within is done in the inner sky or void. This process is also
known as Meditation in the Void or Shnya Dhyn (shnya meaning void or empty) or Bindu
Dhyan (Focussing on the Infinitesimal Point within) or Drishti Yoga (Yoga of Inner Light). Hints of
this can be found in the Sixth Chapter of Shrimad Bhagvad Gita, for example:
Lay a neat seat/mat in a sacred and secluded place.
That should neither be too high nor too low.
Sit on it firmly and practice yoga with a steady mind.
Sit still holding the trunk, neck and head erect in a straight line.
And stare steadily in the front of the nose without looking
in any other direction.
Lord Shri Krishna here hints at looking in the front of the nose abandoning looking in any other
direction. This cue needs to be understood well. For one, looking in front of the nose does not mean,
as is often interpreted, looking at the tip of the nose or front portion of the nose. The phrase used by
Lord Krishna is nasagra (front of nose) and not the nasagrabhaga (front portion of nose). It
becomes further evident when we pay attention at Lord Krishnas instruction of not looking in any
of the directions. If we try to look at the tip of the nose, we would be looking downwards which is
one of the ten directions. Furthermore, it is not possible to abandon looking in any direction while
ones eyes are open. So, the above instruction of Lord Shri Krishna also hints at closing the eyes
and then looking ahead right in front of the nose.
What would we see upon closing our eyes? Quite naturally, most of us would see vast expanse of
darkness or dark void ahead. Whosoever can still ones gaze in this dark void, as directed by the
Guru (a person adept at the skill), accomplishes single-pointedness. This is why meditation in void
(shnya-dhyna) is also called Meditation on the Absolute Point (Bindu Dhyna).
Shri Krishna, in the 14th Chapter of the 11th Canto of the Bhgvat, has elaborated this topic even
more clearly to Uddhava Ji:Sit on a level seat with your body held erect in an easy,
unstrained way.
Keep your palms one above the other and gaze in front of
your nose.
However, it is extremely difficult to be able to focus ones gaze in a point. It requires extreme
concentration of attention and, therefore, necessitates some further preparation before the task is
taken up. Manas Dhyan is the preparation needed for the purpose. Hence, before attempting Drishti
Yoga we should first practise Manas Dhyan which involves concentrating our attention within at the
form of the deity or person we revere as a perfectly sacred one. Lord Shri Krishna also agrees. He
instructs Uddhava to first concentrate on his whole body and then upon his face only, thus making
the sight or vision more and more collected progressively. He tells Uddhava Ji in Shrimad Bhagvat:

Pulling out his senses, guided by the mind, off their objects,
A wise person should focus his attention solely on all parts
of my body.
Further, he should shrink the mind scattered in all
directions and focus it in one place.
And then not paying any attention to other parts of my
persona he should concentrate on my smiling face only.
Thus far it is meditating on the gross form. Subsequent to this, Lord Shri Krishna instructs Uddhav
Ji to practice meditation on the subtle form, i.e. bindu dhyn, as is obvious from the following:
After having successfully fixed his attention at my face,
he should then shift attention from there also and focus
instead in the void (inner sky) that lies ahead.
The reference here is quite obvious. To avoid looking at any part of the face would necessarily
imply looking in the shoonya (void) ahead, in the inner sky.
To focus ones attention in the inner sky or void means focussing or stilling ones gaze at a point
in the sky, or in other words, to practice bindu dhyn. Bindu dhyn, if performed perfectly,
automatically precludes all gross forms and all directions. (Swami Achyutanand Ji Maharaj)
The Bindu dhyan or meditating at the infinitesimal point within is also called as Drishti Yoga or
the Yoga of Inner Light the first of the two modes of worship taught by sants or rishis. That Lord
Krishna, in fact, implied Bindu Dhyana by this is also lent support by the following hymn of
Shrimad Bhagvad Gita:
One should meditate upon the Supreme Being, the one who is
Omniscient, the Most Ancient, the Controller of everything,
Smaller than the smallest, Maintainer or Sustainer of all,
Beyond all material conception, Inconceivable, Refulgent like
the Sun, and Beyond all darkness.
He who, at the time of death, is able to fix his life current
(alert attention) in front of the centre of the eyebrows, and

by the application of Yoga, with a motionless mind, engage himself

in the unbroken remembrance of the Supreme Lord, attains to
the very Supreme Person or Godhead.
The second part of the above also hints at the need to remember God to ensure passage into safety
post death. Now, the question is how such a state could be attained wherein one could think of
meditating or remembering God while Death is staring into ones eyes? It calls for constant
remembrance of the desired deity or Guru for the whole of our life even while attending to regular
daily chores for the simple reason that what we keep on thinking most of the time is bound to
return, to haunt us , to hijack our mind during meditation or in the face of death. So, what is needed
is to keep chanting (Manas Jap) or remembering the deitys or Gurus face (Manas Dhyan) even
while discharging our routine work. Lord Shri Krishna asks Arjun to remember him even in the
thick of such a fierce battle as that of Mahabharat where even the slightest lapse of concentration
could simply mean death. Lord Shri Krishna commands his dearest friend, cousin, brother-in-law as
well as devotee Arjun, mamanusmar yudhyacha (Remember me and also fight the battle).
He, quite interestingly, also teaches Arjun to relinquish all religions and move exclusively into his
refuge:
sarva dharmani praityajya mamekam sharanam vraja
The historicity of the Battle of Mhabharat locates it at least five thousand years from now. No major
religion except Vedic Religion is known to be in vogue then. The oldest of the recent religions
including mainstream Christianity and Islam are the Buddhism and Jainism and even these two
(Buddhism & Jainism), in their present form, go not before 2600 years from now. So which dharma
(religions) was Lord Krishna talking of that needed to be forsaken? Maharshi Mehi would explain,
dharma is directly related to karma (actions). There can be no dharma without karma. Hence,
he who would wriggle himself free of all karma would also free himself of all dharma.
We perform any action with either or all of the three mind, word and body (organs of action)
any action first takes place in the mind. So long as we were tied to our body, mind, intellect etc, we
could not be liberated from dharma of these. It is only after the Soul has risen beyond all the nonconscious spheres (Sthool or Gross, Sookshma or Astral, Karan or Causal and Mahakaran or Supracausal) that is it able to directly visualise the Supreme Soul or the God. So, should we desire to
meet Lord Krishna, should we desire to see Him in His original Home, we must rise beyond all
kinds or layers of body. Lord Krishna himself provides the address of his real abode in Shrimad
Bhagvad Gita:
na tadbhasate suryo, na shashanko na pavakaH.
yad gatva na nivartante taddham paramam mam.
[The Sun does not shine there, neither does the Moon nor the fire.
That is my own abode having reached where all compulsory transmigration ends.]

Karma (done with a sense of doer-ship) is the seed of rebirth as we have to keep coming back to
different life forms to enjoy or suffer the fruits of the actions we perform. God is not bound by the
rules of transmigration. He is beyond life & death & rebirth & re-death. He is eternal. If we long to
meet and merge with Him in His own realm, we have to rise beyond karma/dharma. This is not
possible unless we have moved beyond the sphere of Karma that is, the Supra-causal sphere. That is
the rationale of inner meditation, for meditation is the only way to shed grossness and rise into
pure-consciousness (Kaivalya) and ultimately even beyond consciousness (Kaivalyateet) where the
Lord alone is. And, the need as well as the way for accomplishing that loftiest ultimate goal has
been clearly laid down by Lord Shri Krishna. Lets us assiduously follow his teaching!
HAPPY SHRI KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI !!!
Source : Article by Pravesh K. Singh