Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Accordingly I wrote it down. I am now sending it to you along
with other letters so that you can see if it is all right.

At 4 p.m. on the 28th of last month you sat near
Bhagavan when you had a discussion as follows:
You: “In Gayatri it is stated ‘Dhiyo yonah prachodayat’.

What is its meaning?”
Bhagavan: “Dhi means buddhi (intellect); yah-that, lustre;
nah-our; dhiyah-the intellect; prachodayat-teaches. That is the
meaning, is it not? It is by the Intellect that the indriyas (senses)
are induced to all action.”
You: “For sadhana (practice) is pranayama necessary?”
Bhagavan: “Yes, yes. Before starting any work you begin
with pranayama, don’t you? One says, ‘Achamya, pranayamya’.

That means you begin with achamana,* then gather the pranas
(vital airs), and proceed with sankalpa (i.e., the purpose of
the worship) and recite the time, date, place, etc. You must
first do pranayama and then only do the Gayatri Japa. It is
the same thing for every Japa. You must first do pranayama.

But then you should not stop there. If you keep the vital
breath under control and then do japa continuously for a
long time, you will realise what japa really is.”
You: “Some say there is not much use in practising
pranayama.”
Bhagavan: “That is so. For immature minds, it is stated
that they should control the breath to meditate or to do japa,
but for mature minds, meditation is the main thing. If one
inhales and retains the breath and thereby tries to control
the mind, one gets choked and upset on that account.”
You: “That means it will be like ‘Jala Pakshivat’ (a bird in
a net).”
Bhagavan: “Yes, that is so. But for an immature person,
the mind cannot be controlled unless he practises breath
control. That is why it is said that it (control of breath) should
be practised until you get control of the mind; even after
that you should not stop it. For mature persons the control
of breath comes of its own accord. That is because what mainly
is, is the act of breath. It goes on of its own accord. The
mind remains concentrated whether you do japa or meditate.

When that happens, the breath becomes controlled
automatically. All the sadhanas are for the concentration of
the mind.”
You: “When one meditates, the whole body appears
overheated. Why so? And is it good?”
* Achamana means taking three sips of water before religious
ceremonies from the palm of the hand.

Bhagavan: “Yes. Would it not be so? When the mind
gets concentrated, the act of breathing stops involuntarily.

When that happens, the body does feel overheated. What of
that? In due course one gets accustomed to it.”
Your wife, who was there at the time, took up the thread
of the conversation and asked, “Are japa and dhyana the same
thing?...”
Bhagavan said, “Yes. As you go on doing japa continuously
for a long time, you will know what japa really is. That is called
dhyana. When vritti (movement or action of mind) becomes
audible (sabda) it is called japa: when there is vritti alone, it is
called dhyana and knowing of the Thing is called jnana.”