Merit
Question
Hello, I would like to ask 2 question refering to merit making that confuse me and 1 about siddhis.
1-Do the practice of pure brahmacharya and yogic meditation helps you gain merit?
2-Some masters tell that sometimes only through charity you gain more merit?
3-ABout siddhis, Swami Sivananda clearly wrote in a book: "Your only duty is to practise concentration. You have taken this physical body to practise concentration and through concentration to realise the Self. In another book he wrote: "Moreover, one has to perform great austerities to acquire siddhis. These siddhis are automatically awaken after a certain time. Trataka belongs to a high order of sadhana and deserves to be practised to increase oneยs mental power and to attain self-realization." What is your opinion about the origin of siddhis?
Answer
1. Yes; but one should not think about such merit or pursue activities for merit as merit concerns the Ego and not the self.
2. Whether merit comes by this means or the other, how does that matter to the honest Yogi intent on the self? All merits and demerits concern the Ego and the body which you are not. So why bother? That which comes or goes is not real and therefore not worth pursuing. That which is real, always is. It is unchanging and complete. That alone is the absolute truth and one's real self, while everything else is an illusion.
3. Siddhi-s, like merit or demerit concern the unreal Ego and body. Desire for Siddhi-s is an impediment to realize the self. The wise Yogi does not bother about them or let them bother him. He ever focuses on attaining to the self, setting aside all other distractions.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)