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From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • August 28, 1998 


A correspondent wrote to me:

   Dear Sri Mani,

   This is with respect to your post on how to concentrate. As you have
   rightly pointed out, the mind just would not stay still, would it?
   I went through so many responses and was quite amazed to find
   references to:

   1. Sri Ramakrishna
   2. Sri Sankaracharya
   3. Sri Ramana

   and their teachings/notes on dhyAna. Moreover the commonality among
   them is that all are advaitins propagating the ashtanga yoga process
   for self-realization. (References to pranayama techniques, etc.)

   Why is that Sri Vaishnavas have to refer to all these saints for
   successfully situating themselves in dhyAna? Are there no references
   in Swami Desikan's literature on this subject matter?

A very valid question, and one to which I have no response.
Why is there such a paucity of information concerning such
simple matters as sitting down and concentrating on God in
our sampradAya granthas? Or perhaps are there such texts
for beginners, and they have not come to the light of day
yet?

Members in the know are requested to respond.

Mani