Ideation in the World
With a long train trip ahead of us, my friends and I decided to practice a little meditation before lunch. It was my first time on a train in India and I was enjoying the adventure.
Part way into my meditation I heard someone chanting. He was coming up the aisle behind me, chanting words I could not quite catch. It sounded like “Gooooooh Pah Kammmmmm Pah Kooooh Liiiiiiim Kah“... over and over it went. I did not need to open my eyes to know that someone was chanting the names of God. It was probably a traveling mystic, a yogi with matted hair, part of a tradition thousands of years old.
Knowing that these were ancient names of God thrilled me, despite the fact that I was not familiar with them. To think that these travelers were blessed by saffron-clad saints while just riding a train made my mind go up and up. Thinking only of God, I had a meaningful meditation.
After finishing my meditation I looked about for a glimpse of the saint, who, unfortunately, was no longer present. Disappointed, I engaged in quiet conversation while enjoying the passing view out the window.
Suddenly, from the back of the train, I heard his holy chanting, repeated with reverence, “Goooooh Pah... “ I turned and looked down the long aisle of the train.
There I saw neither a tall yogi, resplendent like a silver mountain adorned with the crescent moon, nor a renunciate with saffron robes or prayer beads. I saw a small man wearing a faded sleeveless t-shirt and a dirty lungee (cloth) tied around his waist. His broken teeth and lips were stained red from chewing betel nut. He was carrying a bucket with three varieties of soft drinks, the names of which he loudly advertised in a slowly chanting voice, “Gold Spot, Campa Cola, Limca,” over and over again with a thick Indian accent.
Bewildered, I stared as he approached. The Indian man in the seat across the aisle from me motioned with his hand and the little man stopped. I openly stared in a kind of mute horror as he took a bottle from his bucket, removed the cap, wiped the mouth of the bottle on his filthy cloth, and handed the bottle to his customer. I had to restrain myself from shouting, “No, don’t!” as the customer raised the bottle to his lips and drank. I was completely repulsed and disgusted.
It is our moment-to-moment choice to see the world around us either as a divine manifestation or as something mundane and crude. As long as I felt I was hearing the name of God, my mind was elevated. When I heard the same sounds with a different association, my mind contracted and went down.
The yogic technique for training the mind to see all as a manifestation of consciousness is called madhuvidya (literally “honey knowledge”). Through its continued application and practice one comes to feel every experience as a divine play. In this way, our daily interaction with the world becomes part of our spiritual practice, a moving meditation that complements our sitting meditation practice.