7. Sālambana-Dhyāna

Bhadraṅkaravijaya-gaṇī (1903–1975) was initiated into the Tapāgaccha^[1] and was a member of the Rāmacandrasūri (1897–1992) group (samudāya). He was a scholar as well as a monastic practitioner of meditation and the namskāra-mantra, and was designated a special rank of mendicant, a ‘paṅnyāsa’.^[2] He was thought to be endowed with special qualities of insight, and never searched for a guru or a guide for meditation. Self-inspired towards meditation, he spent one year living in an unknown place (ajñātavāsa) fully dedicated to spiritual growth after his initiation.^[3] He learnt some meditative practices from scriptural texts (śāstra). Through his own personal experience (anubhava) he was able to understand and unearth meditational practices from medieval Jaina yoga literature and imparted training in his meditative practices to Bābubhāi Kaḍīvālā^[4] (1924–2003), a lay follower (śrāvaka). Kaḍīvālā presents a huge list of medieval and pre-modern texts in support of his meditative practice, which is evident that he presented most of the practices from these texts.^[5] De Michelis (2005: 198) notes that Bhadraṅkaravijaya received training of yogāsana from Iyangar during 1953.

The same information is proved by Iyangar:

In October 1953, I had the good fortune to teach one of the most respected Jain Gurus, Shri Bhadrankarji Maharaj. The Maharaj was a very pious soul with profound knowledge. He derived such benefit from asanas and pranayama exercises that he wrote to his followers that he got more benefit from pranayama practice than from his study of Jnana Yoga. I was teaching Guru Maharaj on weekends… (Iyengar, 1978: 66).

However, the above mentioned training of yogāsana and prāṇȳāma is not stated in Bhadrankaravijaya’s books and felicitation souvenir. These sources did not contain any information about his yogic training from Iyengar; this is an area that needs more research.

Through Kaḍīvālā’s book Sālambana Dhyāna Prayoga (Practice of Support Meditation) (1987), it is possible to understand that Bhadraṅkaravijaya made in-depth use of medieval and pre-modern Jaina yoga literature^[6] in the formation of meditative practices. Bhadraṅkaravijaya was a well-known ritualist and authored books on worship (pūjā) and produced literature on Jaina rituals. However, Kaḍīvālā discusses in detail how, for nineteen years (1958–1976), he was trained by Bhadraṅkaravijaya in support meditation. During this time, Bhadraṅkaravijaya shared his meditative experiences with Kaḍīvālā. Having received Bhadraṅkaravijaya’s insight, Kaḍīvālā organised many sālambana-dhyāna camps (śivira) for Jaina ascetics and lay followers from 1983.^[7] Though Bhadraṅkaravijaya neither wrote about meditation nor gave a title to his meditation, he organised many namaskāra mantra meditation camps for ascetics and lay followers. It is intriguing to ponder why he did so. Perhaps, it could have been his mere detachment from modernisational venture or being a famous traditional Mūrtipūjaka monk he did not want to appear to be pro-meditation and so continued to motivate people in traditional pūjā and also perhaps, if he had written about meditation, traditional pūjā practice could have been affected. It is likely that he made Kaḍīvālā a medium for the dissemination of his meditative practices. Although the book “Sālambana Dhyāna Prayoga” was published by Kaḍīvālā very late in 1987, Bhadraṅkaravijaya imparted training of these practices earlier than other modern teachers. Most of Bhadraṅkaravijaya’s practices seem to be a deritualisation of pūjā in a meditative form, i.e. he recommended the mental performance of pūjā. The book contains ten chapters, which catalogue thirty-four types of meditative practice.

The title he used for these practices is sālambana, which is a common yogic term. Normally sālambana meditation is accepted as a preliminary practice and later on, at a higher stage, sālambana-dhyāna, meditation with support evolves into meditation without support (nirālambana). These themes support various practices and therefore it is appropriate to call them ‘sālambana-dhyāna’. Kaḍīvālā found the sālambana technique in the Siri Sirivāla kahā (story of Śīripāla) composed by Ratnaśekharasūri (14^th c. CE) to be signficant. What is the necessity for support (ālambana) and why it is needed in meditation? It is mentioned that “the subtle level of consciousness (bhāva) is also a facet [subject] of the mind. It is very difficult to overcome these without support (nirālamba). Hence, to control the mind, meditation with support (sālambana) is recommended.”^[8] These forms of meditation are object–directed concentration.

Sālambana-dhyāna is a mental practice that consists in concentrating on the “gross forms” of mantras, hymns (stotra), statues (mūrti) and diagrams (yantra). Here, “gross forms” indicate an outer support. In contrast, when one meditates on subtle or inner forms these relate to concentration on various aspects of consciousness, which are known as subtle levels of consciousness. Kaḍīvālā mentions that the purpose of these meditative practices is to experience the soul (ātmā). He explains that the importance of sālambanadhyāna is that, through meditating on, for example, the enlightened one (arihanta), the practitioner becomes an embodiment (paramātmānā abheda) of him (Kaḍīvālā, 1987: 17). The thirty-four types of meditation that comprise sālambana-dhyāna mostly revolve around meditating on arihantas, using different supports.

The first meditation is simulation of the quality of the arihanta bhagavāna’s compassion, as an antidote of all worldly miseries.^[9] The crux of this practice is that one can make the qualities of bhagavāna a part of one’s own being, through visualisation and constant thinking. The second meditation is very similar to concentrated meditation on the fire element (āgneyī–dhāraṇā) as a negative habit of the mind.^[10] The third meditation is, likewise, concentrative meditation on the water element (vāruṇī dhāranā) as a way of cleansing and gaining.^[11] These meditative practices are already introduced by Śubhacandara (11^th c. CE) in his voluminous work Jñānārṇava, which exhibits Tantric influences. The fourth meditation presents an analogy of the sun’s rays coming from the body of the bhagavāna and is compared to the modern X–ray device, which scan the body.^[12] These rays are instrumental in the purification of the self. Finally, a state of separation of body and self (bheda-vijñāna) is experienced, as gross bodily elements are removed to reveal the pure soul. This is also an essential aspect of the popular Jaina meditative practice of abandonment of the body (kāyotsarga).

The fifth type of meditation describes the bhagavāna as a fountain of love, compassion, bliss, energy and knowledge.^[13] Kaḍīvālā records that this meditation is from uādhyāya Yaśovijaya’s Gujarāti hymn of Mahāvīra. All of these qualities are now vibrating in the meditator who becomes god-centric rather than self-centric.

Below is a summary list of these thirty-four meditations. A detailed description of all these meditative practices is attached in an appendix.

TABLE 9 -Thirty-four Meditational Practices of Sālambana-Dhyāna

1) Meditation on the compassion of God (bhagavāna);
2) Meditation on compassion as fire;
3) Meditation on visualisation of qualities of God;
4) Meditation on visualisation of aspirant’s pure self;
5) Meditation to turn consciousness towards God;
6) Meditation to merge with qualities of God;
7) Meditation to establish friendship (maitrī) with all living beings;
8) Meditation with colours on five supreme beings (pañca-parameṣṭhī);
9) Meditation of navakāra- and arham mantra on the lotus flower;
10) Meditation on navakāra mantra with twelve variations;
11) Meditation of namo arihantāṇaṃ with an eight petal lotus upon the navel;
12) Meditation on gazing on the idol of arihantas with open eyes (trāṭaka);
13) Meditation based on gazing on the idol of arihantas with closed eyes;
14) Meditation on imaginary rites of worship (pūjā);
15) Meditation on visualisation of travelling in pilgrimage;
16) Meditation on singing of prayer (stavana);
17) Meditating on nectar (amṛtakriyā);
18) Meditation on self-realisation by eight stages of the devotion of God;
19) Meditation on father-child relationship;
20) Meditation on rite of eightfold worship (aṣṭaprakārī-pūjā) of navapada;
21) Meditation on nine petals (navapada);
22) Meditation on the circle of perfection (siddha-cakra) in the image of a pot (kalaśa);
23) Meditation on the circle of perfection (siddhacakra) in the image of a wish fulfilling tree (kalpa-vṛkṣa);
24) Meditation on the circle of perfection (siddha-cakra) in the image of a wheel (cakra);
25) Meditation on various worldly sufferings;
26) Meditation on dwarf (vāmana) and supreme-being (virāṭa) on Bhaktāmara stotra;
27) Meditation on all vowels and consonants (varṇamātrikā);
28) Meditation on the wheels (cakra);
29) Meditation on Guru Gautamasvāmī;
30) Meditation on arham;
31) Meditation on remembering the name of the God (nāma-smaraṇa);
32) Meditation on the body (piṇḍasthadhyāna);
33) Meditation on abode of liberated soul (siddhagiri/siddhśilā);
34) Meditation on Mahāvidehakṣetra;

A close study of these thirty-four meditations reveals that some of Bhadraṅkaravijaya’s meditation techniques are based on the Jñānārṇava of Śubhacandra (11^th c. CE), the Yogaśāstra of Hemacandra (12^th c. CE) and Yaśovijaya’s (16^th c. CE) divisional songs (stavana) whilst some of them are a kind of visualisation of various worship rituals. Jambuvijaya (1923–2009), a Mūrtipūjaka scholar monk, comments in the prelude (prastāvanā) of Sālambana Dhyāna Prayoga that this work is an expansion of the meditative practices of past ācāryas’ such as Haribhadra, Hemacandra and many others (Jambuvijaya, 1978: 35). Out of these thirty four practices, two are on navapada^[14], two on pilgrimage (tīrthayātrā) method, three on siddhacakra-yantra^[15], three on devotion to god, three on the idol worship, four on the namaskāra-mahāmatra, seven practices are focused on the self (ātmā) God (paramātmā) relationship and the rest are on various other aspects. The above mentioned objects are means of support (ālambana). The last meditative practice is related to an imaginative journey to Mahāvidehakṣetra^[16], which can be described as a region where conditions are always suitable for a tīrthaṅkara to be born and attain liberation. At present, Sīmandhara Svāmī is a living tīrthaṅkara in Mahāvidehakṣetra.

It may be noted that sālambana-dhyāna falls under the category of virtuous meditation (dharma dhyāna), one of the four canonical categories of Jaina meditation discussed in detail in chapter 2.

Sālambana-dhyāna and prekṣā-dhyāna share some common aspects. The meditation on cakras (number 28 in the table above) also exists in prekṣā-dhyāna albeit with some changes in terminology. The cakras mentioned in the sālambana-dhyāna which are based on haṭha-yoga are referred to as psychic centres in prekṣā-dhyāna and are backed up by scientific and Jaina textual sources. It is stated that “the system of thirteen psychic centres is a comprehensive attempt to connect the Tantric subtle body with the nervous and endocrine system” (Qvarnström and Birch, 2012: 375). These practices are presented with a full focus on Jaina devotional cults.

Some sālambana-dhyāna practices include Jaina mantras, others are based on temple worship rituals, a few are related to very general aspects of prayer recitation, and the veneration of God. It is not easy for anyone without a background in Jainism to follow Bhadraṅkaravijaya’s meditative practices, whereas prekṣā-dhyāna does not need any prior knowledge of Jainism. Sālambana meditative practices have Jaina religiosity as their main focus without scientific correlations whereas prekṣā-dhyāna presented a scientific background for its practices with no rituals included. The main objective of sālambana meditative practices is self-purification with no other benefits documented, whereas prekṣā-dhyāna presents physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits for its practices. Sālambana practices were developed subsequent to prekṣā meditation without a system as such, whereas prekṣā-dhyāna is a far more systematic practice with its eight limbs (see chapter 4).

Kaḍīvālā started ‘Ādhyātmika Saṃśodhana Ane Dhyāna Kendra’ at Surat, with the purpose of the dissemination of sālambana-dhyāna, and he organised many meditation camps. He reports that more than 100 meditation workshops were organised and attended enthusiastically by lay followers and some ascetics. Bhadraṅkaravijaya and Kaḍīvālās’ efforts united a four-fold community (caturvidha dharmasaṅgha) in ritual free worship ritual. However, most of his meditations are related to pūjā ritual. Normally Mūrtipūjaka ascetics do not perform dravyapūjā^[17], but they take part in internal or mental worship (bhāvapūjā). These meditative practices are a kind of bhāvapūjā and through sālambanadhyāna, it is a practice whereby lay followers take an active part in simple meditation without the complexity of long duration ritualistic pūjās. Young people feel more connected as a part of an activity, which is closer to their understanding.

Pūjā-mantras are composed in the Sanskrit language, and so are not easy to follow for ordinary Jaina followers, whereas in sālambana meditation instructions are in Gujarātī, which is spoken widely. Here I return to the argument of the equal appeal of this form of modern Jaina meditation to the monastic as well as lay community. It shows a shift in monastic attitudes from a strict code of conduct to a more open space, which includes meditation training to lay followers for its dissemination. Bhadraṅkarvijaya and Kaḍīvālā both worked for local and Gujarāti Jaina communities, however occasionally Kaḍīvālā also travelled abroad and worked in the Jaina diaspora. Now, however after the death of these two pioneers, there is no further group practice available at public venues. We are informed by Vimala Kaḍīvālā^[18] that, after death of Bābubhāī Kaḍīvālā, the organisation of meditation camps has almost stopped. During his lifetime he passed on some techniques to Vimala Kaḍīvālā. However, alternatively, it had very limited appeal and never expanded unto a mass movement. Its limitation is that it has been neither translated into Hindi, the national language of India, nor into English for diasporic Jaina.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Tapāgaccha is a Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjaka mendicant lineage. It was founded in Chitor (southern Rajasthan) by Jagaccandrasūri in 1228 C.E. After seeing the intensity of his austerities (tapas), king Jaitrasiṃha of Chitor gave him the epithet “Tapā”. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Tapāgaccha broke into a number of different independent and semi-independent groups. Today, the Tapāgaccha is the largest of the Mūrtipūjaka mendicant lineages (Wiley, 2004: 209–10).

[2]:

paṅnyāsa is a Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjaka mendicant rank, which is equal to a group leader (gaṇi) (Cort, 2001:208).

[3]:

Interview with Samakita Śāha who is a grandson of Bābubhāī Kaḍīvālā with the researcher on 5 July 2015.

[4]:

Bābubhāī Kaḍīvālā was a devout lay Jaina follower (śrāvaka) and a famous Jaina worship performer (pujākāraka). He was very knowledgeable in the matters of worship (pūjā) and religious rituals. He performed a number of pūjās and installation ceremonies (pratiṣṭhā) at various places in the world. Kaḍīvālā practised meditation every day for several hours. He wrote many religious books and performed a variety of pūjās, specially the siddhacakra-pūjā for the last 40 years of his life.

[5]:

According to Kaḍīvālā, Sālambana meditation is said to be supported by the medieval Sanskrit yogic texts and Pūjā manuals.

[6]:

Kaḍīvālā noted a huge corpus of yoga literature; more than sixty texts were used in these practices which is self-evidence of Bhadraṅkaravijaya’s broad study area related to Jaina yoga.

[7]:

A Gujarātī text describes in detail the training of Bābubhāī Kaḍīvālā by Bhadraṅkaravijaya in ‘Bhadraṅkarvijayajinā Sāniddhyani Divya Palo’.

[8]:

(Kaḍīvālā, 1986: 2) bhāvo vi maṇo visao, maṇaṃ ca aidujjayaṃ nirālambaṃ to tassa niyamaṇatthaṃ, kahiyaṃ sālambaṇaṃ jhāṇaṃ.(Siri Sirivāla kahā, 21)

[9]:

Prayoga: 1. Think of bhagavāna who is full of compassion. That compassion he is showering on to us and we are totally filled with it. It is helping us to get rid of our old habits and we are now totally free of any miseries, fear, disease, worries and so on. Now I will be totally in this state. Thus this technique is to help a person to be free from miseries and become totally blissful like arihant all the time (Kaḍīvālā, 1987: 24–28).

[10]:

Prayoga: 2. Think of the bhagavāna who is nothing but full of compassion. That compassion comes in the form of fire and burns all the anger (krodha), ego (māna), deceit (māyā), greed (lobha), violence (hiṃsā), lies (asatya), stealing (asteya), passions (kaṣāya), afflicted meditation (ārtta-dhyāna), wrathful meditation (raudra-dhyāna) and all our bad deeds. This fire is very strong. It burns all the bad habits and when there is nothing left the fire is extinguished slowly. We have become very light, as all the bad habits have been burnt down to ashes (Kaḍīvālā, 1987: 28–31).

[11]:

Prayoga: 3. we gaze at the bhagavāna and think, you are full of good attributes and I have none of those. I beg you to fill me with such attributes. As soon as we say this, each of his limbs rain down those attributes upon us. We get bathed in them and get cleaner and cleaner. Not only does that happen but that rain also enters through our head into our body and we become totally clean inside out. Just like him, we are full of equanimity, respect, love, compassion etc. (Kaḍīvālā, 1987: 28–32).

[12]:

Prayoga: 4. the bhagavāna is still there in front of us. We ask, with the above three processes, I have become very pure and light; now I really wish to realise my own soul so that I can be in total bliss. He listens to our wish. With the very bright rays coming from bhagavāna's body (just the way sun rays do), we are surrounded with full bright light and in that light, our soul is being x-rayed! Only the pure soul not the body! Not even the soul with the karmic particles but the pure soul! And we visualise that pure soul. So full of total bliss! We look the same as bhagavāna and we get lost in that total bliss of soul. This experience makes you realise that our soul is different to our body (Kaḍīvālā, 1987: 32–38).

[13]:

Prayoga: 5. We make bhagavāna sit in our heart and meditate on him. He is full of love and compassion and that love comes out as a fountain and fills our body with it. We also become full of love and compassion. He is full of bliss and that bliss is comes out as a fountain and fills us with the same and we feel full of bliss. He is full of pleasure and all the pleasures come out as a fountain and fills us up, and so we are full of pleasures. There is no pain whatsoever. He is full of energy and all that energy comes out as a fountain and fills us with the same. We feel completely energetic. He has total knowledge (kevala-jñāna) all that knowledge spreads within us with the fountain and we feel full of all that he has. With the above exercise we become somebody special from just the ordinary being. Our conscious becomes God-centred from soul-centred (Kaḍīvālā, 1987: 41–46).

[14]:

Navapada is a Jaina tantric ritual diagram.

[15]:

Sidhacakra yantra is a diagram carved with Jaina mantras used for worship.

[16]:

Jambūdvīpa-prajñapti, 4.102, kahi ṇaṃ bhante! Jambuddīve ṇāmaṃ vāse paṇṇatte? Goyamā! ṇīlavantassa vāsaharapavvayassa dakhiṇeṇaṃ, ṇisahassa vāsaharapavvayassa uttareṇaṃ, puratthimalavaṇasamuddassa paccatthimeṇaṃ, paccatthimalavaṇasamuddassa puratthimeṇaṃ ettha ṇaṃ jambuddīve mahāvidehe ṇāmaṃ vase paṇṇatte. According to the Jambūdvīpaprajñapti (4^th c. CE), Mahāvidehakṣetra is a part of Jaina cosmology which is referred to as being “in Jambu island, a Mahāvideha region is located in the south of Nīlavān Varṣadhara mountain and in the north of Niṣadha Varṣadhara mountain. It is in the west of eastern Lavaṇa Ocean and in the east of western Lavaṇa Ocean”.

[17]:

The type of pūjā in which the idol anointed (abhiṣeka) with several types of substance (dravya), and recitation of mantras and sūtras performed by lay followers.

[18]:

Vimala Kaḍīvālā is grandson of Bābubhai Kaḍīvālā. He was interviewed by the researcher on 10 June 2015. Vimala informed me that Kaḍīvālā never charged any money for these meditation camps. “Even today if we serve people with these techniques we never charge any money.”