Study of the Bhagavad Gita in Santa Math
What is called Santa Nath is the practice and exposition of the holy shastra of Advaita by simple folks. They do not indulge in polemics or high dialectics. Their methods are simple, their beliefs are simple, their ways are simple but all most effective.
They receive from their Guru a favourite chapter of the Gita. All other chapters ought to be studied and are important, but they choose one as dictated by the Guru as their favourite chapter. That they know through and through. They leave no word unexplained. They know the prose order of the verses; they know the commentary on them and then they absorb their mind in the verses of that chapter. These are their following methods which they recommend to the most serious of their pupils.
- Take two or three verses of the favourite chapter. Read them two or three times. Then stop. Withdraw.
- See that these verses are inscribed in Akasha in words of light.
Of course they see them in Sanskrit, but those who do not know Sanskrit (and many do not) they take Hindi or Urdu or the language of their province like Bengali or Panjabi or Narathi. They see that the translations they adopt are correct and according to the tradition. They see these two or three verses in imagination written in letters of light in Akasha, spread out from horizon to horizon and they read them and they meditate on their meaning.
It is not a difficult process. First they realize a rainbow which they have seen and they meditate on it. Then the rainbow is withdrawn and the verse is taken in the place of the rainbow, which is easily superimposed. Sometimes it is only for a few seconds that you see the verse, but by persevering you will see it longer and longer. But all the time that attempts are made to visualize the verse in light in Akasha, the verse is sinking into your subconscious and taking possession of your soul.
- Each disciple has his Ishta-deva, his favourite deity. Some Vishnu, Krishna, Jesus, some may have even Buddha. And they try to realize an image of the deity, all sparkling with light. Not a strong light, but soft and subdued light. And they meditate on it. They then place the verses of the Gita on the forehead of the deity, on the heart of the deity, on the arms of the deity, and meditate on it. When this state is reached a high stage in concentration and meditation is reached, and so many upliftments of the soul follow, leading the soul to the meditation of the one without a second as the Self.
- Finally, there is another practice. They inscribe in letters of light one or two verses, one on their own forehead and one on the heart, and they visualize their own body and the verses and they concentrate on it. Slowly the body is negated and only the verses remain, hanging in the Akasha written in light, and they end by identifying their being with the verses and their contents.
These are the three methods recognized in Santa Nath and these three contain all the benefits of Shravana, Manana and Nididhyasana. If they are viewed in the light of modern psychology then they are sublime methods for changing the personality both conscious and unconscious into great advantage.