Q&A with Swami Brahmananda: II

Q: Does the kind of food one eats, have a direct or indirect bearing on the seeker’s thoughts and spiritual aspirations?
A: Yes. The food you take has got tremendous effect on your thinking pattern. Therefore a seeker should go for sattvik food. (Which is pure, not stale and smelly and does not excite the senses.)
Q: Some people chant multiple mantras to various deities before meditation. Is that alright, or should one focus one’s mind and mantras only on one’s Ishta Devata (your personal God) right from the beginning?
A: Before marriage a boy usually has got many girlfriends. After marriage one has to live with one’s spouse only.
Q: Some seekers have had the experiences of a light or a steady flame in the centre of their foreheads whenever they have been able to steady their minds well. Why does this happen? Is this an indicator of some purity or steadfastness achieved?
A: Anything you see or hear at the seat of meditation has nothing to do with the purity of the mind. Any object you see, remember, it’s all the play of your own mind. To see any object you need not close your eyes and sit down for meditation. Do not give any serious thought when you see any object in the seat of meditation.
There are some people who keep their Ishta Devata’s form in their mind at the time of meditation. This is ok. As a beginner you need one form or the other to tie down the mind.
Poojya Gurudev used to say that in pole vault the one who wants to jump higher takes the help of the pole but once he crosses the bar he has to leave the stick.
Prarthna Saran, President Chinmaya Mission Delhi. From the interview of Poojya Swami Brahmanandaji in 2007, New Delhi.