VI: 13, 14

Chapter 6, Verses 13, 14

"With upright body, neck and head,
Posture steady and unmoving,
Inner gaze still,
They rest
With heart and mind
In harmony,
Focused on my oneness,
Absorbed in me."

Swami Shivananda:

You cannot practice meditation effectively without a firm posture.  If the body is unsteady, the mind will also become unsteady.  By daily practice, you will attain mastery of the posture.  When you keep the body, head and neck erect, the spinal column will also be erect; and the Kundalini will rise up steadily through the nerve-channel called the Sushumna.  Visualize your own chosen form of God, and feel the living presence.

Swami Satchidananda:

There's another advantage in keeping the spine straight.  The entire weight of the body falls right on the base.  You find your center of gravity.  Your seated position becomes quite steady.  When you sit, note where your weight is falling.  If you are leaning forward, your weight is on the legs.  If you lean back, you feel your legs coming up.  It is optimum if your weight falls right in the center.  Once you find your center of gravity, the whole body very easily becomes still.

Sit comfortably.  Find your center of gravity.  Then make a firm assertion to your body.  "Listen to me.  I'm not going to budge, even if you complain.  Know for certain that I am the master.  You will listen.  Obey me, and then I will give you your freedom."  It's a transaction.  Prepare well, and good meditation will follow.

Sri Krishna Prem:

Utter purity of aspiration is essential.  It is to be purely directed to the one Self.  Under any other circumstances, the practice of meditation will give rise to hallucinations, plunging students into a whirlpool of psychic illusion that may even delude them into fancying that they are Avatars.  Such delusions are common in India and elsewhere.  True wisdom is found in the Atman.

Paramahansa Yogananda:

Meditation involves the withdrawal through the spine of life-currents from the sensory nerve branches.  A straight spine is important.  If one adopts an improper posture with the body bent or the chin tilted up or down, the crooked vertebrae will pinch the spinal nerves.  This pressure will obstruct the reversed flow of mind and Life Force from the sensory channels to the spine, impeding the cultivation of the power to experience omnipresence.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

This is a state in which there are no disturbing elements.  It is unlike the state of deep sleep, however, because in deep sleep the sense of Being is lost.  This is a state where the sense of peace is profound, and the sense of Being is not lost.  It is a state of pure awareness.  The mind has shifted from the field of sensory experience to awareness of the Self, which brings profound peace.

Sri Eknath Easwaran:

Growing up means taking on life with all of its responsibilities and facing whatever comes our way with courage and calmness.  All fear dissolves when we experience the higher power alive in everyone.  Fear exists only when there is a division in the mind.  There are deep crevices in the mind where little bugs of selfishness and separateness live, thriving on all of the minor irritations which occur day in and day out.  To reduce our separateness we need to serve others by embracing in our consciousness not only those who support us, which is easy, but also those who provoke and attack us.

Meditation practice gradually transforms the propensity for resentment into the positive capacity to move closer to our family, friends and finally our enemies.  By overcoming the obstacles of selfishness and separateness that come our way daily in so many shapes, from little irritations to big storms, we eliminate fear from our consciousness and move closer to the state of profound peace, which is union with the Lord.