Continuous Meditation

Sri Annamalai Swami

Q: Is it important to have a Guru at this stage - the period when constant effort is required?

AS: Yes. The Guru guides you and tells you that what you have done is not enough. If you are filling a bucket with water, you can always add more if there is still space. But when it is completely full, full to overflowing, it is pointless to add even a single drop. You may think that you have done enough, and you may believe that your bucket is full, but the Guru is in a better position to see that there is still a space, and that more water needs to be added. Don't rely on your own judgment in this matter. The state you have reached may seem to be complete and final, but if the Guru says, 'you need more sadhana', trust him and carry on with your efforts.

Bhagavan often used to say, "The physical Guru is outside, telling you what to do and pushing you into the Self. The inner Guru, the Self within, simultaneously pulls you towards itself."

Once you have become established in the inner Guru, the Self, the distinction between Guru and disciple disappears. In that state you no longer need the help of any Guru. You are That, the Self.

Until the river reaches the ocean it is obliged to keep on flowing, but when it arrives at the ocean, it becomes ocean and the flow stops. The water of the river originally came from the ocean. As it flows, it is merely making its way back to its source. When you meditate or do sadhana, you are flowing back to the source from which you came. After you have reached that source, you discover that everything that exists - world, Guru, mind - is one. No differences or distinctions arise there.

Non-duality is jnana; duality is samsara. If you can give up duality brahman alone remains, and you know yourself to be that brahman, but to make this discovery continuous meditation is required. Don't allocate periods of time for this. Don't regard it as something that you do when you sit with your eyes closed. This meditation has to be continuous. Do it while you are eating, walking and even talking. It has to be continued all the time.