meditation 63

Similarly as with eyes closed

concentrate on darkness

with eyes open

and allow darkness to expand

and envelop

your whole being . . .

You are one with Totality.

Notes:

Verse 88

Darkness tends to quiet the mind because it offers the mind nothing that encourages the formation of thought structures.

A Vedic Seer whose sense of sight was obstructed, who was blind, is considered the greatest among the Vedic Seers.

The Vedic Rishi Dirghtamas, though blind, is considered to be one of the most profound of the Vedic Seers. He is renowned for the riddles and paradoxes in his Vedic cognitions. These tend to induce the same sort of mental impasses that Verse (No. 112) focuses on.

There are 112 dharanas in the scripture. Does this Verse 112 offer a shortcut to the goal of them all? Does it get to the very essence of the scripture, of all of the 112 dhāraṇās, while leaving all excessive mentation aside?

Yes. It most certainly does. And in his comments early in his Manual for Self-Realization, Swamiji warns us that Divine Awareness is not an object of perception that can be grasped by the mind: it is the Knower.

He thereby avoids selling water by the river.