There are two types of dhyana in the Bhagavad Gita, vishaya dhyana (meditation on sense objects) and brahma dhyana (meditation on the Self). In vishaya dhyana, one forgets God, being attached only to the sense objects and jumps repeatedly into the same pleasures.
Meditation on the Objects of the Senses Ordinarily the mind is always after the object of the senses. The eyes want to see pleasurable sights; the nose wants to smell something good. Ordinary people also meditate but they meditate on vishaya or objects. The simple meaning of dhyana is to repeatedly think of the same thing. If you are contemplating on anything or anyone, it is also dhyana. When one does vishaya dhyana what happens? By repeated thinking of something one gets sanga. Sanga means contact, not physical contact but contact by thought. Sanga is attachment.
dhyayato vishayan pumsah sagasteshupajayate (Gita 2-62)
Attachment develops by dwelling upon objects. Desire is born of attachment and from desire anger is born. Anger results in delusion, loss of wisdom and the destruction. (Gita 2-62)
In practical life we carry a heavy baggage of thoughts in our brain. We are living in society. We have to use our sense organs. God did not create the sense organs to cause us trouble. Eyes should see, ears should hear but the mind that directs them is the cause of trouble.
Carrying the Load There were two brahmacharis sitting by the bank of Ganga to meditate. They saw a young lady who was drowning and struggling to survive. Both knew how to swim. One thought; ' I am a brahmachari. How can I jump in and touch the lady to save her?' The second one thought; "I am first a human being. I will jump in and save her" and so he jumped. He caught hold of the lady and swam to the bank and revived her by artificial respiration. She became conscious and thanking him for saving her, went her way.
Now both the brahmacharis were coming back to the Ashram. The one who did not jump in, said to the other, 'Oh God, what did you do? Being a brahmachari you touched the body of a woman." The first brahmachari replied; "I saved the woman and forgot about the incident and left her on the banks of Ganga but you are carrying her with you into the Ashram." This is what most of us do. We carry such a big load of our past, good or bad and so life becomes miserable. By thinking of something again and again you develop attachment.
We carry many things in our brain. Our brain is more powerful than any super computer. It contains the memory of not one life but of millions of lives. All the animal and human qualities remain in our brain. If we use the memory and senses in a proper way life will be beautiful but if we are always doing vishaya chintana, we develop passion. Thought creates passion and that gives rise to kama. If you split the word, ‘ka’ means happiness and ‘ama’ means raw. kama means crude, unbalanced or unripe happiness.
Ripe and Unripe Happiness When we desire an object as an object, we see some happiness, but it is unripe happiness. Let us understand the difference between ripe and unripe happiness. If we have a ripe mango and an unripe mango – a ripe mango is sweet and an unripe mango is sour. The senses are to be used for happiness, but you have a choice to use them for unripe or ripe happiness. If you look at an object as an object and get tempted by it, this becomes unripe happiness. If you look at that object as the presence of God, it gives us ripe happiness.
Meditating on the Self Look at objects as the manifestation of God's power. God is all pervading.
dhyanat karmaphala tyaga Gita(12-12)
Use the senses when they are needed, the purpose is not to kill them but to utilize them properly. Take the simple example of eating food. Everyone eats food. You eat food. I eat food. Realized people like Ramakrishna or Lahiri Mahashaya also needed to eat. Even Rama, Krishna and Jesus ate in order to feed their body. Food is vishaya or object. The sense organ is the tongue. The food and the tongue are common to all but the approach to food is different. A realized person eats in God consciousness.
A practical example is that of Lahiri Mahashaya who went to a devotee's house for food, along with a disciple, and was served fish. Lahiri Mahashaya who normally does not eat fish was so absorbed in God consciousness that he ate the fish. Some time later the above-mentioned disciple invited him to his house and also made fish and served him. Looking at the various preparations Lahiri Mahashaya said ' I do not eat fish'. The disciple was surprised.
When we take food we should close our eyes for a minute and offer the food to God and then take it. I see some people here walking while eating and drinking. Food should be taken in a proper way relishing the taste in God consciousness. When done in this way it will not be vishaya dhyana. Looking at the food as an object, if you eat more than you should, it will cause problems. Take food in brahmadhyana with love for God and only as much as you need.
When I was in College, my room was filled with the pictures of many deities like Rama, Krishna, Durga, Lakshmi etc. When I was in University class I removed all the pictures and I had many sayings that filled the room. When I was doing my Masters, even the sayings were gone and only the picture of my guruji was there. I am telling you this because these are the three stages we go through.
We have to practice what we know is good. If we know what is good and do not do it then as my guruji says; "We are conscious devils and educated fools." You know the meaning of devil. To do evil is devil and to do good is God.
Practice is Important In the Bhagavad Gita there is the description of habit yoga - it is called abhyasa yoga. Bit by bit action becomes a habit. Apart from the names of the eighteen chapters of the Gita that end with the word yoga, Lord Krishna mentioned three other yogas, - abhyasa yoga, buddhi yoga and sannyasa yoga.
The Choice is ours If we get up early in the morning every day, it is a good habit. If we lie there awake and not wanting to get up, that is also a habit. Do we want to be conscious devils and educated fools or loving divine persons? After teaching the entire Bhagavad Gita the Lord said; yadecchasi tatha kuru (Gita 2-63)
“I have taught you the power of discrimination - to know what is good and what is bad. Now you do what you like.”
God has given us intelligence and some free will. Remember whatever you do, the fruits will come to you. Be careful. Be God conscious and discriminative in the use of your senses.