I am a Hindu and I am not!

Much row has erupted in Indian political circles when the Congress Party’s Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the famous Somnath Temple in Gujarat in an effort to solidify the Hindu votes for the forthcoming Gujarat state assembly elections. His name has been entered in the temple register which requires the non-Hindus to make the entries. Rahul Gandhi himself along with his party later claimed that he is a Janevu Dhari Hindu (A customary thread tied along the neck and body by Hindu Brahmins) and a devotee of Lord Shiva. However, interestingly Rahul Gandhi was earlier never found visiting any Hindu temple as a routine or during any Hindu festival.

Is Rahul Gandhi a real Hindu or not? The question is not relevant as Hinduism does not issue strictures and demands that a Hindu should essentially wear a Janevu or visit a temple. Hinduism is an open religion without any specific command from a super religious authority or a super scripture which makes one a devote Hindu. Hinduism does not bind to superficial rituals and worships but the true Hindu religion liberates one from the bondage of traditions and customs. The rituals, customs and traditions are for ignorant people and are suggested only to the ignorant to adhere to the path of purity as a guide towards the Supreme reality. The Huffington Post in one of its article on Hinduism says that the Hinduism is an open source faith. It also says that “the word “Hinduism” itself is a total misnomer, as it basically refers to the sum total of spiritual and religious thought and practice that has taken place on the Indian subcontinent over the past 5,000 years. And let’s just say it’s been a busy 5,000 years.” As such the Hindu religion is truly free from all manmade scriptures or dogmas.

Then who is Hindu? As per Wikipedia, the word Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically been used a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. Wikipedia further states that Hinduism is an Indian religion or a way of life widely practiced in South Asia. It has been called as the oldest religion in the world and some practitioners or scholars referring to it as Sanatan Dharma, the “eternal tradition”, or the “eternal ways” beyond human history. Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions with diverse roots and no founder. The Supreme Court of India has also ruled that the Hinduism is a way of life and a state of mind, not a religion.

Form the above stand points, anyone conclusively can say that, “I am a Hindu” or “I am not a Hindu.”

So I am a Hindu and am not! How does it matter as long as you believe in the universal truth? Swami Vivekananda said beautifully, “I am a Hindu. I am proud to belong to belong to a religion which has taught the world both the tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration but we accept all religion to be as true.”  This is the real Hinduism and not mere going to the temples and committing cruelty and dishonesty in real life.

What is true Hinduism? I would like to say that it is the true essence of all the world religions. The universe is one, the creation is one and therefore the creator also has to be one. The reality and the truth of the one world have to be one only. We may call it with different names but the truth can’t be different. If any truth is different for the same universal reality, then it can’t be a truth. The Indian Upanishads say; “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti.” This aphorism means: “That which exists is ONE sages call it by various names.” This idea from Upnishads is ingrained into the civilization of India for thousands of years resulted in the extreme tolerance of Hindus on the whole. And the principal idea behind “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti” is the whole of Hinduism, you may name it or don’t name it so.

The true Hinduism believes in one universal god, a true God, the Supreme Spirit, you can name it anything, the way you like. It even says that the God is nameless, colorless, and sexless, pervades the whole universe and is the cause and essence of all creations. Hindus believe that the God is present in every person as the eternal spirit or soul. In Hinduism, there is no supreme authority dictating on how to worship God, when to worship or how to attempt to realize the God. There is no one authoritative scripture which is binding on Hindus so as to be a real Hindu. The inner faith is given more importance in Hinduism and it is left to individual to seek God through a Guru, a teacher, through study of a scripture, through worship and devotion or through a trial and error method, by self exploration. Thus, there is no particular defined code to be a Hindu. And frankly speaking, the Hinduism is quite liberal in its approach towards the people and gives enough freedom to them to travel on the faith independently and know the truth in his/her own way. Thus, the religion Hinduism is quite open and encompasses all ideas, peoples and their beliefs which lead one to the destination called Bhagwan, Ishwar, Lord or God.

Alas! The religion is much abused and maligned word by the vested interests world over for selfish gains and political maneuver. The ignorant people world over are used by the fanatics to exploit their emotions to divide the people and use them as political tools. No violence and bloodshed greater than the violence and bloodshed have been inflicted by fanatics in the name of religion world over. Pope Francis has said that “No one must use the name of God to commit violence. To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman.

Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Somnath and other temples in Gujarat is part of this politics only to impress few ignorant Hindus. The other political parties are no less guilty as they too have resorted to the evil of using religion, caste, creed and race to divide the people and reap political crop.

Humanity can survive with mutual love and trust, not by building walls of pseudo religions. When political leaders will practice this in their political life is another question.   

Readers may also read my other blog: Open Source Code of Hinduism at URL:

http://www.indianspiritualityandpolitics.com/2017/04/open-source-code-of-hinduism.html

 

The Divine Virtues – Daivi Sampati

Scientific evidence suggests that the closest relatives of modern human beings should have been evolved around 4.6 to 6.2 million year ago and anatomically modern human would have been evolved about 200,000 years ago. During the process of the evolution of the human beings, they have undergone huge progressions from the point of development at anatomical to mental level. There was a time when man used to eat raw animal meat and eating even human meat was considered as normal need. There was little difference between the animals and human. However, as the time passed and mind developed more and more, the man started cooking food and changed habits to forbid eating human flesh. The man also started to give rise to feelings, emotions and sensitivity for fellow human beings and to respect others rights to live. The idea of live and let live was accepted. The ancient India decaled that the world is a family by saying; “Vasudhev Kutumbakam (the world is a family).” As the mind progressed, the idea of good and bad act was subjected to scrutiny and punishment. This process was part of development of human minds and inner self which lead to rise of the internal voice of the human being for judging an act as good or bad. The concept of good and bad too differed from place to place and region to region. Few hundred years ago, Europe had a tradition of having only one wife as a part of good act whereas in India, having more than one wife was not considered bad. The society is still evolving and what one considers good today, might be termed as a bad act tomorrow.

PIC: purefreedom.org

It would be pertinent to note that the idea of good or bad has been evolving from the inner voices of human beings and when it finds acceptance by majority in the society, the same become the societal norms. Working against the societal norms is prohibited by law and draw punishment from the governing authorities. This leads to the division of the society in two categories of the people: the good and the bad; moral and immoral. Ancient India called the knowledge to discriminate between the good and bad as the real wealth. The good qualities fall under the domain of daivi sampati (divine or Godly wealth or virtues) and the bad qualities fall under the domain aasuri sampati (demonic wealth or vitues).

The daivi sampati and aasuri sampati have evolved from the belief system of the people. The people who believed that the human system consists of only the physical sensory system, will try to find pleasure through the sensory system only. Naturally such people will always be in a situation of conflicts with other as everybody will act to please their own senses disrespecting others rights. Such a society will certain face violence, greed and other evils giving rise to more and more aasuri sampati. There are other set of people who believe that there is something beyond the sensory system which is the real self, a pure spark of the Divine. Though such people consider the physical sensory system as aids to maintain and operate the physical body system in the world, they strive to go beyond the sensory system and sensory pleasures to reach something higher. Such people who strive for the higher powers beyond sense perceptions are considered to be endowed with daivi sampati.

This age old division of the people with aasuri sampati and daivi sampati is found in every religion. The people who are endowed with the daivy sampati found the heaven here itself on this earth and they are the real devas (the Gods). Similarly, the people possessing aasuri sampati live in the hell, here itself on this earth and they are the aasuras, the demons. The heaven and hell exists here itself and similarly the devas and asuras too exist on this earth simultaneously. The percentage in the two categories may differ from time to time but the humanity as a whole is striving to increase the daivi sampati. The people though always face dilemma and switching over from one quality to other but at the end realize the futility of possessing aasuri sampati and try to reform at some point of time in life.  

Lord Krishna in Shrimadbhagwad Gita explains the nature of the two kinds of people with the daivi sampati and aasuri sampati in few verses under chapter 16. Here, we will discuss the daivi sampati which leads human beings to liberation from the bondage of in the worldly influences.

अभयं सत्वसंशुद्धिर्ज्ञानयोगव्यवस्थिति: |
दानं दमश्च यज्ञश्च स्वाध्यायस्तप आर्जवम् || 1||
अहिंसा सत्यमक्रोधस्त्याग: शान्तिरपैशुनम् |
दया भूतेष्वलोलुप्त्वं मार्दवं ह्रीरचापलम् || 2||
तेज: क्षमा धृति: शौचमद्रोहोनातिमानिता |
भवन्ति सम्पदं दैवीमभिजातस्य भारत || 3||

śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
abhayaṁ sattva-sanśhuddhir jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitiḥ
dānaṁ damaśh cha yajñaśh cha svādhyāyas tapa ārjavam
ahinsā satyam akrodhas tyāgaḥ śhāntir apaiśhunam
dayā bhūteṣhv aloluptvaṁ mārdavaṁ hrīr achāpalam
tejaḥ kṣhamā dhṛitiḥ śhaucham adroho nāti-mānitā
bhavanti sampadaṁ daivīm abhijātasya bhārata

Meaning:

The Supreme Divine Personality said: O scion of Bharat, these are the saintly virtues of those endowed with a divine nature—fearlessness, purity of mind, steadfastness in spiritual knowledge, charity, control of the senses, performance of sacrifice, study of the sacred books, austerity, and straightforwardness; non-violence, truthfulness, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, restraint from fault-finding, compassion toward all living beings, absence of covetousness, gentleness, modesty, and lack of fickleness; vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, bearing enmity toward none, and absence of vanity.

In the above three shlokas (verses), Lord Krishna describes the twenty six virtues of daivi sampati. These virtues are required to be cultivated by constant practice in the spiritual journey by the mankind and to achieve emancipation from the bondage.

1.     Fearlessness: Lord Krishna advocates fearlessness from the ups and downs of life. With fear, man cannot face the challenges of life and uplift self. The fearful person cannot conduct him/herself with morality and can fall prey to evil. Surrendering the self to almighty lead one to a state of fearlessness.

2.     Purity of mind: The purity of mind is achieving inner cleanliness; the purity of thoughts leads to purity of speech and purity in actions. The message is simple; allow only the pure thoughts to dwell in the mind, speak the truth and do the right things.

3.     Steadfastness in spiritual knowledge: One has to constantly remind to the self that come what may, the path to the spiritual knowledge is foremost and is earnestly adopted in life as a part of daily living. This will help one to be always on the right path avoiding the pitfalls in the journey of life.

4.     Charity: Charity means giving alms and helping the needy for good cause. This way one is contributing to the society in uplifting the needy and removing their cause of suffering. Charity should not be done with selfish motive or with a feeling of superiority. You are only playing a small role in God’s plan by way of charity and nothing else. Never expect anything in return.  

5.     Control of the senses: The physical senses must be kept in check and lure for sensory pleasures should be avoided as they are the part of aasuri sampati and gateways to the hell. Remember that they may give short term pleasure but will lead you to long term pain. The restraining of senses is essential on the path of spiritual journey.

6.     Performance of sacrifice: Sacrificing for the cause of society and truth is essential in the spiritual journey to accumulate daivi sampati and to please the God.

7.     Study of the sacred books: The knowledge is the truth and the knowledge is the power. In the divine journey, the knowledge acquired through the study of sacred scriptures illuminates the path of spiritual journey and helps in maintaining the pace of the journey.

8.     Austerity: The austerity signifies avoiding unnecessary sensory pleasures and voluntary acceptance of hardship of life if one has to face it. This helps us in maintaining purity of body and mind.

9.     Straightforwardness: Straightforwardness in speech and action is essential in spiritual journey. Manipulative thoughts and action leads one to aasuri sampati and takes one away from the right path.

10.  Non-violence: Non violence is non-injury to others in true sense through the thoughts and deeds. None has right to curtail other’s right to live and killing others are the gateways to the hell and aasuri sampati. The world today is full of crimes and murders and is gravely inflicted with the heinous acts of terrors. Therefore, it is the principle of non-violence (Ahimsa) which can only save the humanity from disaster.

11.  Truthfulness: Truthfulness is Godliness. One should desist from untruth and follow the path of truthfulness to achieve the daivi sampati and overall good of the society.

12.  Absence of anger: When anger takes over a person, he/she loses the powers to think rationally and truthfully and leads one to degradation. Avoid the anger, remain calm and take the right action to reach the God.

13.  Renunciation: The materialistic opulence is not bad but excessive possessiveness and attachment to it is the cause of worry and degradation of daivi sampati. The wealth and opulence should be utilized for the service of the society and the God.

14.  Peacefulness: Peace is the joy and peacefulness is the constant state of joy within. It helps in maintaining inner equilibrium despite worldly setbacks and hazards in life.

15.  Restraint from fault-finding: The world is full of good and bad qualities. Do not focus on the bad qualities of the people and get diverted from the path of truth. Seeing the bad in people leads us to downfall and seeing the virtues has a purifying effect on us.

16.  Compassion toward all living beings: See the self in others and treat them the way you like to be treated by others. Compassion is virtue which helps us in rising above the self and helping in eliminating the suffering of the society.

17.  Absence of covetousness: Greed is the hunger to accumulate more and more than what one actually needs. People adopt unfair means too to accumulate wealth illegitimately in spite of the fact that they do not know when the time will snatch them from this earth. One should free oneself from this covetousness and lead a life of joy and contentment.

18.  Gentleness: The crudeness in thoughts and behavior is to be avoided on the spiritual path. The gentleness is a sign of spiritual progress and enlightenment.

19.  Modesty: One must perform himself/herself as prescribed by the scripture. Arrogance and false pride leads nowhere. History remembers that the mighty British Empire where it is said that there was no sun set ever, collapsed at the hands of time.

20.  Lack of fickleness: This is avoiding diversions and digressions from the path of spiritual journey. Avoiding the temptation and remaining always on the prescribed path is daivi sampati, a divine virtue.

21.  Vigor: Purity of mind and determination to remain on the path gives the body and mind the much needed vitality in the spiritual journey. This brings power and ultimate success.

22.  Forgiveness: Forgiveness is not weakness but a strength and ability to tolerate the mistakes of others without a feeling of retaliation. Else, the mistakes of others will continue to haunt one and inflict greater injuries to the body and mind.

23.  Fortitude: The inner determination makes one to make the impossible possible. Never lose the hope and continue to walk on the prescribed path. Goal will be constantly coming nearer and nearer to you leading to success may not be today but certainly tomorrow.

24.  Cleanliness: Cleanliness is Godliness. The inner and outer cleanliness is equally important. Your external purity reflects the internal purity too. Purity and cleanliness is a great virtue, the daivi sampati.

25.  Bearing enmity toward none: No one is your friend and no one is your enemy in this world. You have come alone and will go alone. Everybody is on his/her own journey pre-decided by the individual karmic account. Don’t accumulate hurt and hatred in your heart. If harbored, it becomes big impediments in your journey. Be free from it and achieve spiritual progress.

26.  Absence of vanity: Arrogance, self pride, boastfulness, ostentation are the enemies on the spiritual path. What you possess is the gif of God and therefore, it is your duty to be grateful to Him for it. Remember, even the God does not glorifies Himself in spite of being the creator, the sustainer and the dissolver of the universe.

In the next article we will discuss the aasuri sampati which leads humanity to the demonic state, degradation, destruction and bondage. 

Readers may also like to my other blog: Learning from Bhagwad Geeta, the Song Divine, Song of God at URL: 

http://motivateyourselves.com/learnings-bhagwad-geeta-song-divine-song-god/

Is God a Reality or a Creation of Human Minds?

 The entire creation in the universe is made of matter and non matter. Matter is one which in scientific terms does not have life and non matter is one that has life; though visibly it also has matter as a constituent but there is another additional invisible constituent which is called consciousness that pervades through it. We, the human beings possess that consciousness and so the animals and other creatures too. The matter is inert and does not have consciousness. However, in spiritual terms the entire creation, the matter and non matter have come into existence through the same common Supreme Consciousness, the Supreme Source which we human beings call as the God. Since we ignorant people and every spiritual master say that the creation, and the entire universe has come into the existence from the God, this raises a doubt whether we have created the idea of God or the God has created us through His own idea. 

PIC: answersingenesis.org

This builds a new premise which can claim that the God is just a creation of the conscious minds of human beings, the non matter. Or is there really a creator, a Supreme Power which is the ultimate creator and the cause of everything, the matter and non matter both? Sometimes it appears that only the human mind is the source of the creation of the idea of the God. The materialistic world also believes in this. They say that the creation of the universe and the life is merely a result of an accident of the nature called the Big Bang and there is no real force or a God behind it. If so, then is it the fear of the conscious human minds that has invented God as a support system, a fall back mechanism to get a mental relief from life's uncertainty and constantly looming crisis? All the living creatures like human beings, animals, birds etc.  face constant uncertainties and dangers in life. Animals and other creatures whether in forests or elsewhere face dangers of hunting and slaughtering every day. Animals have not invented God to save them from hunting and slaughtering but they fight till their last breath. However we, the human beings with more developed minds and power of imagination have created an idea of God as an escape route to fall back on a support system or to make an excuse and conveniently blame it for our miseries.

And when we have created the God, a Supreme Power, we try to please Him by worshiping, praying and making offerings as per our own rituals and traditions, which also have been formulated by us only. We even slaughter animals and sometimes human beings too and offer them to the deity we worship in our efforts to please our Gods. Is it not a pure irony that we try to bribe the God by sacrificing His own creatures through our offerings to fulfill our wishes? Is He, the God so corrupt and selfish to accept our offerings to get pleased and fulfill our wishes and deny it if we don't make such inhuman offerings? If so, He cannot be A God!

It is also true that we, the blind believers of the God many times will not perform our assigned Karmas, (our prescribed duties) and instead pray to the God sitting idle to help us and come to our rescue. Animals never act in this manner. They always act as per their basic instincts in their own natural ways and in case of any danger to their life; they either fight till their last breath or take a flight to save their lives. However, for us, the human beings, there is a Karma philosophy scripted by spiritual scriptures that the human beings are supposed to perform their duties well and leave the outcome to the God. The very often quoted statement that the God helps those who helps themselves also reminds us that we need to perform our prescribed duties first to reach to  our goals in life. It means that we should not become slave to rituals and past evil traditions for fulfillment of our wishes.

Then, what is the reality about the existence of the God, the Supreme Power? Is it just a mere  idea, the creation of human minds or is it a reality that He exists but since we are ignorant, we can’t see his presence or He is beyond our perceptions. The spiritual masters and the God realized souls say that no one could realize and reach the God through the logical conclusions. God is a power which can be realized through truth, devotion and surrendering one to the ultimate reality. Many Masters’ claims to know the God but we, the common people try to build logics in our search of the truth. We generally try to derive the presence of God or deny it totally; or may remain even in a confused state.  Swami Vivekananda, the Indian Yogi and Hindu monk at his very young age as Narendra was in search of a spiritual master who could tell him the truth about the existence of God. But he faced disappointments repeatedly. Nobody could give him answer satisfactory. His question to the masters used to be whether they have seen God. His restlessness for God was increasing day by day. One day his quest led him for the first time to Ramakrishna Paramahansa at the Dakshineshwar Temple at Calcutta, the modern day Kolkata. He repeated the same question to Ramakrsihna. He asked; “Sir, have you seen God?’ Paramahansa emphatically replied to him saying that; “Yes, I have seen God. I see him as I see you here, only more clearly. God can be seen. One can talk to him. But who cares for God? People shed torrents of tears for their wives, children, wealth, and property, but who weeps for the vision of God? If one cries sincerely for God, one can surely see Him.” When Narendra heard this answer his was astonished. He was facing a man who was very categorically asserting that he has seen God. He was hearing for the first time in his life from somebody that the God could be really seen. There was no question of any doubt in Narndra’s minds as the words came from the depth of an inner experience of Paramahansa. Paramahansa sensed the relentless stirring of the earnest soul of Narendra and decided to open the door of the spirituality for Narendra. This incidence became the turning point in Narendra’s life and set the foundation of the relationship between Ramakrsihna and Vivekananda. His quest for finding the God has made him a great monk who later became Swami Vivekananda.

The quest for God in the human mind is the beginning of spirituality and beginning of his journey towards the Him. When human mind starts struggling with the questions like; “who are we, are we our name, are we our bodies, where did we come from, where will we go, why we are here, what is the purpose of our life, what is within us that gives us consciousness, what happens after we die, do we come back again and take rebirth, who is behind the universe who runs it smoothly with predefined laws? And finally does God exist?

God is and God exists!

We are amazed to see the reality of world around us which makes us to accept the fact that the God really exists. The intelligence created in the every cell of body and the entire universe is not amazing? It is marvelous, beyond the capabilities of a human being! Who is the designer behind this intelligence? We know the reality that if we see a paper and there is a line drawn on it, we have to believe confidently and claim that there must be someone, some force who has drawn that line. We might have not seen him or we might not know him. The entire intelligent and orderly universe has been drawn like this line on the canvas of the time and space and there is somebody, a Supreme Force who has drawn it. What is it within our body that gives us consciousness? What is it that when leaves our bodies, we become motionless, a heap of matter only and we die. We must be a tiny part of the same Supreme Force. And He must be always and eternally working through our bodies and our consciousness. He is the God. God is and God exists!

The Hinduism believes in the theory of Karma. If we perform good Karma, we get rich dividends of better life, in this life or the next one. If we perform bad Karma, we will certainly have to bear the burden of the same, again either in this life or the next. The cycle of birth and death continues till our past transactions of Karmas remain unsettled. We are here only to settle our past transactions. We take birth; get parents, family, friends, acquaintances and other people only to settle our past mutual transactions. What is the cause because of which one is born with a golden spoon in his/her mouth and one is born as a beggar? Why some people in spite of lots of hard work fail in life while some with very little efforts greatly succeed? Why some children, even in the same family are born as super intelligent and healthy whereas some are physically or mentally handicapped? The ultimate reality is that the universal law of the governance of the entire universe prevails. The laws of cause and effect prevail and the laws of Karmas prevail. And the all these universal laws are the creation of the ultimate reality, that is the God. And, yes! The God is and the God exists! The God is a Reality and not a Creation of Human Minds?

And as in any worldly mission, one has to make efforts to achieve the desired results; one has to make efforts in the pursuit of finding God. Many masters have realized and seen the God; so we can also realize and see the God. Follow your Dharma (the righteous cause) and do your Karma. Think of the God and tune yourself with him. He will certainly catch the signals and appear before you, in one form or other. He is Nirguna (formless) and Saguna (with form) both. He is in a 'dot' and so is in the entire universe. He is in you, me and everyone. He is here, there and everywhere. Trust Him. He trusts us. And in God we trust.

The Sacred Symbol and Sound of ‘ॐ’ – Om

PIC: mysteryofindia.com

The symbol ‘ॐ’, written as Om or Aum is well acclaimed as the most sacred and powerful word-symbol in not only in Hinduism but Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. This symbol has a deep spiritual meaning signifying the pure Atman or the Brahman, the Supreme Reality. The symbol Om is also known as Pranava Akshar, Pranava means which pervades life and Akshar is syllable. Hinduism regards Brahman or the realization of the Self as the ultimate goal of human beings where one can aspire to attain the supreme joy and peace. The seekers meditate on the sound of Om to reach this ultimate goal of life. We cannot reach or realize the Atman directly using our bodies are sense organs like eyes, ears, tongue, nose and skin. Neither can we realize the atman through emotions, thoughts or using the mind power. It is a state of self realization beyond expression. Many people try it by worshiping idols, a symbol of the Supreme. The Om syllable is also a form of an idol or a symbol. The sound of Om is pronounced as the most natural, most potent sound by ancient Indian yogis and sages to realize the pure Atman.

The syllable Om is often found at the beginning and at the end of chapters of Holy Scriptures of Hinduism like Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and many others. The sacred syllable is chanted before and during recitation of spiritual texts, during worships and offering prayers to the Lord. It has deep philosophical significance too. The chanting of Om is proven to have extra ordinary effect on human beings. It is a deeply revered symbol chanting of which helps one to attune with the Eternal Being. Chanting of Om is the part of ancient knowledge hugely beneficial to human being and as such it appears to be a purely misconception that one should relate it with any religion. It has been well accepted that the Om syllable is the most universal syllable which comes naturally to everyone, belonging to any religion and to even atheist too. Om is the symbol of ultimate reality and we, the people of the world must understand that the ultimate reality can be only ONE and can‘t be different for the people of different religions. Also, it has been found that even prayers in different languages end with the words like Amen, Ameen which are similar to Om. Science has no religion and scientific studies related to time frequency analysis of the Om chanting reveals that wave form is improved with regular spacing with almost perfect symmetry and harmony. The study concludes that the participants witnessed dramatic improvement in focus, concentration and steadiness. The participants attained higher level of peace and calmness reducing the mental stress.

PIC: jagran.com

The sound of Om is also associated with the concept of cosmic sound. There are reports that NASA is able to records the sound coming out from Sun which also resembles with the sound of Om. It is also said that Om is the sound of creation, the primordial sound. The sound of Om constitutes of three sounds from the three letters, A अ, U उ, M म. In Sanskrit language, A अ and U उ coalesce to form O. The three letters when read together forms the symbol Om. It is a wonderful fact that even a mute person can also produce the sound of Om easily. The syllable A is guttural sound which emanates from the throat, U is the sound which is produced through the mouth and M is the sound produced when the lips are closed. There is no sound beyond that and therefore the sound of Om covers the full range of sound. As such, the syllable Om is the only sound which is found to cover the entire phenomenon of sound. Mere rhythmic chanting of sound Om produces vibrations leading to peace and harmony.

The sound of Om syllable symbolizes the pure consciousness that pervades waking, dream and deep sleep states. The three sounds emanating from the Om, the ‘A’ signifies the waking state, the ‘U’ signifies the dream state and the ‘M’ signifies the deep sleep state, a state of nothingness. When the person meditates on the Om syllable it signifies that he/she is meditating on the three state of the human consciousness, which is supported by none other than the Lord, the Supreme Self.

Om is a powerful tool for meditation. The rhythmic chanting of Om during meditation comprises of the long chant of Om syllable followed by a silence and again rising to the chant of Om. One cycle of chanting of Om and a brief silence signifies a state of flow of thought and a state of thoughtlessness respectively. When one chants Om, the thought flows with it and when the silence takes place, the thought ceases. It has been experienced that during the state of peak of the meditation, the Om chants gradually ceases and only the silence sets in, meaning thereby that the meditator reaches a state of thoughtlessness. In such a state, the pair of thought and silence merges into deep silence and finally ceasing the intellect.  This state is called the supreme state of self realization where the meditator transcends both the mind and the intellect.

The sound of chanting Om produces positive vibrations in our body and mind. The science says that the vibrations are nothing but energy. The nature and the universe too are a set of vibrations. When the vibrations of Om chanting are tuned to the vibrations of the nature and universe, we achieve the universal consciousness. As a result, we accrue many benefits of Om chanting and meditating on the syllable Om. It includes attaining a feeling of happiness and inner joy, creating a positive aura around us, achieving overall wellness, improving focus and concentration, purifying the environment around us many more.

Happy ‘ॐ’ - Om Chanting

Meditation is doing nothing but...

We, the human beings stand out supreme amongst the creation and all the living beings as we possess the power of intellect. Though all living beings possess certain amount of intellect; which is just a gross intellect but they are mostly governed by their basic instincts. However, the humans possess the wisdom, the power of discrimination which makes them supreme as compared to animals and other living creatures. The human intellect is the faculty of thinking, reasoning, judging and deciding which operates through the mind. The mind and thoughts are interrelated but are separate entities. The mind is merely a continuous flow of thoughts. If thoughts are stopped, the mind still remains but it is in a inactive state. When we fall in deep sleep, the thought patterns cease but mind continues to experience a state of deep rest and only the pure consciousness remains. In the awakened state, the world is experienced though the mind. When there is no mind, the world disappears.  

PIC: artofliving.org

The habit of our mind is very peculiar. It cannot stop wandering from one thought to the other continuously. It usually remains totally in chaotic state. The thoughts wildly run in all directions, jumping from one thought to the other constantly like a wild monkey. It is like a whirlpool. The thoughts consume energy. Greater the whirlpool of thoughts, the greater the energy consumed. This creates an agitated state for the mind resulting in lots of energy waste in unproductive thought patterns. As a result, such person feels always tired and drained. This agitated state of mind can be stilled by constant practice and the waste of unproductive energy can be saved which then can be deployed in achieving certain greater goals in life.

How, to still the mind?  The process of stilling the mind is called the concentration. Concentration is directing the mind to do nothing and focusing on an object. Doing nothing but directing it to a focused object of choice is called the meditation. Thus meditation can be defined as doing nothing but focusing it on certain object of choice which can be the Supreme Lord. The meditation is the art of maintaining the mind in focus upon a chosen thought and excluding all other thoughts. There are many ways to focus the mind. The focusing of mind is the process of paying attention or concentrating the thought on certain object. One can focus on the breathing, keenly paying attention to the inhaling and exhaling process. Gradually, one would notice that the breathing gets rhythmic and slows down and down. After certain amount of practice, it is experienced that the attentions is automatically settles on the breathing without much efforts and a sense of deep relaxation sets in. One can also focus the mind on particular chanting like the sound of ‘Om’ by whispering it mentally. While doing such chanting mentally, it is again experienced that the chanting finally ends in silence and a sense of deep relaxation sets in. The silence, the sense of deep relaxation is the pure experience where the thoughts are ceased. And the cessation of thought flow results in a state of being-ness, a state of self awareness where the mind is extinct.  This is the state of pure consciousness and unalloyed joy. This is the state of realization of the pure self which is also called the Brahman.

Here we should notice that the flow of uncontrolled thoughts and focused controlled thoughts, both are nothing but the thoughts themselves. Uncontrolled thoughts are undisciplined mental indulgence while the focused and disciplined thoughts lead to mental concentration and meditation. Though both are the thoughts but the uncontrolled thoughts produce chaotic conditions while the focused thought, the process of meditation produces deep joy and self awareness. Chaotic thoughts lead to increase in desires and mental instability while the meditation leads to control and ceases the desires.

Meditation is a scientific technique invented by the great Indian sages over thousands of years of practice which leads one to exhaustion of the thoughts, a thoughtless state and ultimately uncovering the supreme self within. The beginners find it very hard to focus the thought on any particular object as the mind frequently and without any warning slips into different directions. Let it happens but be aware that the mind has slipped and just with full awareness bring it back to the desired track. After a prolonged practice the mind would be able to settle on the object with less frequent diversions. One has to use the intellect to bring the mind back to the meditation. This is a disciplined approach to practice meditation and after sufficient practice one would find that the meditation is just happening as soon as one sits for the meditation. It will result in the state of doing nothing mentally and joy of meditation will increase day by day.

The meditation is a process of purification of the clustered or wounded mind. It is also called the process of healing of the mind and the self. However, one cannot start the process of healing just by jumping in meditation and without altering and purifying the activities during the rest of the time while you are engaged in your daily chores. You cannot tell in meditation that speaking the truth is good for you while practicing the falsehood rest of the time. By practicing such hypocrisy, you will neither be able to heal the mind and the self, rather will incur harmful results. Purity of the body and mind is essential before the start of meditation if one really wants to gain the benefits of the meditation.

There are all-round benefits of practicing meditation. It increased overall mental and physical wellness. The person practicing it is always filled with joy and happiness. It leads to increased focus on the work one undertakes, greater efficiency in the work, happy family life and greater success. It also helps in lowering blood pressure and curing many physical and mental ailments. It helps in establishing the true relationship with the self and the world. Moreover, all these benefits come free, the only investment required is time, mental preparedness and purity of mind.