Blending of experience of 'Om Sai Ram' Namasmarana and Awareness-I japa-dhyaana

Last updated on 18th Dec. 2023

My post: Viewing Awareness-I as essence or part of God in my meditation and trying to dissolve or merge into God (experience oneness with God), https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2023/06/viewing-awareness-i-as-essence-or-part.html , 7 Jun 2023, covers how I now view Awareness-I as essence or part of God in my meditation practice. Now it is around one to two months that I have been regularly using this practice.

I continue to do my Namasmarana practice of "Om Sai Ram" too - so for some time I do "Om Sai Ram" chanting and for some time I do Awareness-I japa-dhyaana (chanting-meditation).

It was a natural step after viewing Awareness-I as essence or part of God (nameless and formless God) to view my Awareness-I as essence or part of Sai (Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and Bhagavan Sri Shirdi Sai Baba) while I was doing "Om Sai Ram" namasmarana. Nowadays when I chant "Om Sai Ram", most of the time, automatically the attention shifts to the Awareness-I within me! So "Om Sai Ram" chanting blends with being in Awareness-I! Many times, I can be in Awareness-I watching me doing the "Om Sai Ram" chanting. If the mind is calm with very limited thoughts or almost no thought, this blending of experience of "Om Sai Ram" namasamarana and Awareness-I japa-dhyaana gives me peace and joy.

I recall the teaching that paths of devotion (Bhakti), action (Karma) and wisdom (Jnana) all lead to the same destination. After this blending of experience of "Om Sai Ram" Namasmarana and Awareness-I japa-dhyaana that I am having, I have an improved understanding of this teaching. 

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Given below are some of my comments from my Facebook post associated with this blog post,  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0eYV8kGEU2oZM679vBdUqdvPJEXXfoUfDFLthHi9AS5bQbmJMYd9mtaLeytzahTNel :

A person shared a quote of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I browsed the net and found the discourse for that quote. I am sharing below the entire paragraph of that quote. From 20 July 1997 Guru Purnima discourse, https://saispeaks.sathyasai.org/discourse/manifest-divine-within-you :

In this context one has to understand the implications of oneness with the Divine. One desires to merge in God and achieve Moksha (liberation). How is this to be secured? God is formless. He is the source of all energy. He is effulgent. Eight kinds of potencies have been attributed to God. He is the source of all sound, all motion, all light, all speech, all bliss, all excellence, all illusion and all prosperity. How is one to realise such an omnipotent Divinity? Water can integrate with water. Air can combine with air. Fire can merge with fire. As God is formless, to become one with God, we have to become formless. What does this imply? It means that we have to get rid of the attachment to the body. This is achieved through dhyana (meditation). While retaining attachment to the body one cannot hope to achieve oneness with God merely by praying for it. You have to become formless to realise the formless Divine. As God is the embodiment of effulgence, you have to make your life effulgent to experience God. You have to realise that the light of your life has come from that Param-Jyothi (supreme source of all light). This individual flame should merge in the Supreme Divine effulgence from which all other lights have emanated. Meditating on the Param-Jyothi, the individual has to merge his individual effulgence in the Supreme Effulgence.

--- end quote of Bhagavan and extract from sathyasai.org ---

I responded to the comment (having part of above quote) (slightly edited):

very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Sai Ram.

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It is this part of Bhagavan's quote that is very interesting to me, especially in the context of my current sadhana / spiritual practice: "As God is formless, to become one with God, one has to become formless. What does this imply? It means that one has to get rid of the attachment to the body."

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The person then shared a personal experience of hers with God. To that I responded (slightly edited):

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

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[I thank sathyasai.org and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]