Roopdhyan Meditation The Pran of

Sadhana

What is the importance of meditation in sadhana? How to practice meditation and become an expert?
What is Roopdhyan Meditation?
There are many questions that arise when one hears that meditation is the prana of sadhana. In this
article by Swami Mukundananda, all aspects of meditation are clearly described for users to follow.
Roopdhyan meditation is a technique where you have to imagine the picture / image of your beloved
God and retain it in your mind.
Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj has composed one of the best teachings for a Sadhak (spiritual
aspirant) in SadhanaKaruPyare which literally means, Practice Sadhana my friend. In verse thirteen
and fourteen, he explains the importance of dhyan. The acharyas or great sages speak to enlighten and
not entertain. To ensure that the principle sinks into the heart of the reader, they keep repeating the
same principle again and again. In these verses, he repeatedly says that dhyan or meditation is the prana
or life of your sadhana. Pran is the life air. As long as the life air is in the body, this body has value. The
very moment that life air leaves,this body is only worthy of being eaten up by animals. Similarly, the
pran of your sadhana is dhyan, the meditation that you will be doing. If you do not do the meditation,
your sadhana is lifeless.
So, how to practice meditation? Shri Maharajji says in verse fifteen and sixteen that you must bring the
form of Ishta Dev, your worshipped and beloved form of God into your mind. Recall and place that
image before your eyes and then do your meditation. When you have the image in front of you, your
mind will have a basis to rest upon and a basis to love. You wish to practice love for God. That love is so
easy when you keep his form in front of you. Without the form there is only light. Your mind will react, I
have never seen him, I dont know what he looks like or what he does. How can I meditate on him?
The mind refuses to go there. Its not easy to love a shining beam or a source light but it is very easy to
love somebody with wonderful qualities and lovable activities. If you keep Shri Krishna in front of you,
your meditation will turn into a breeze. This is Roopdhyan meditation, which is meditation upon the
form of God. Some people ask, I have never seen God how do I bring his form to mind? Many people

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have a husband or a wife, a son or a daughter, father and mother. We love them instantly by recalling
their picture or form in our mind. Loving God is very much the same.
We have never seen God, how do we imagine him? Kripaluji Maharaj gives us the solution. He says,Do
not despair; you make a form of God as you like. His original form is divine; you cannot bring it to your
material mind at this stage. Wherever your mind goes, it is the realm of Maya and God is beyond Maya.
Hence, as a person under the control of Maya (Mayadhish), how will you recall him (God) in your
material mind? It is not possible.
Some people recommend meditating on a source light. That meditation is on a form that is material.
Although we are meditating on light, that is also being imagined or made up by the mind. That light is
not the divine light. The divine light cannot be imagined with the material mind, whether he is formless
of with a form. He (God) is beyond your mind. Yet, he is causelessly merciful. God says, It does not
matter which form you choose. You imagine a form in your mind. Use it as your basis and increase your
love.
God says, When your meditation develops to the highest level, at that time I will bestow my grace upon
you and your material mind will be divine.It is with the help of that divine mind, a seeker can have the
divine vision of Shri Krishna. You will see him as he is and not an imagination of the mind.
This is the highest stage and will happen later on. At the moment, in the early stages, the matter of
interest is, How do I purify my mind?The simple answer is, Imagine Gods form as you like.
Everybody has got different tastes. If five people go to select a piece of cloth, they will all have different
choices. One person asks for a light color while the other says make it red. The third says, No, make it
saffron.The fourth says, Saffron? You want to become babaji? Make it green.They all have different
choices. Why? They all have got different tendencies which are called sanskars (conditioning) which are
accumulated over endless past lives. Similarly, in the direction of God, everybody has got different
choices.
If Shri Krishna says, You only have to meditate on Ganesh (the form of an elephant God). Many people
would say, The mind does not get attached. What do I should do?Hence God says, It does not matter.
I have got infinite forms and names. Those infinite forms include the form that you will make with your
mind. So, you make my form and increase your love.
This is why Kripaluji Maharaj says Make Shri Krishna sit in front of you and then do sadhana.
Whenever you are doing a kirtan, try to imagine that Shri Krishna and Radha ji are there with you. The
guru is there and then do kirtan. It is only then your mind will remain absorbed. You will feel the
connection. You will experience the love grow. You will experience the result of sadhana and you will
move forward in your journey towards love for God in leaps and bounds.

, [13]

Dhyan hi haisadhanaka, pranajivanpyare [13]

, [14]

Dhyanbinu sab sadhanahai, pranabinutanupraye [14]

, [15]

Man kojobhayebana lo, rupvaisapyare[15]

, [16]

Samneharikobithakar, sadhanakarupyare [16]

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