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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Hidden Treasure Series-Part XVI- On Prayer, meditation & Samadhi


My Dear friends,

Most of pray to God or some like me to God-particle, don’t we? Well what is prayer? Can it have a commercial or utilitarian motive? Well, let’s all walk-the-talk with the friendly sage we happen to know.

Ravi: Happy evening Shri. GRK. Kindly make us understand what is the meaning and essence of a ‘prayer’?

What is not a prayer?

GRK: Happy evening to you and to our friends. Well, Prayer is not a bargain. It does not have utilitarian purpose or commercial motive behind it.

Ravi: Awesome. But many of us pray to primarily seek favors from God or God-men/women!

Prayer is a song of sublimation

GRK: Ravi, Prayer is a communion with your higher self or nature or God. It is the consecration of yourself to the unknown, to the nature or to the God. Prayer is a song of sublimation. Unfortunately, many of us have made it so mechanical, so dry and so routine-like that the prayer lost its thrill, its joy and it’s ecstasy. Many of us carry our daily anxieties, care and cravings to the prayer hall. As a result, we fool ourselves that we are praying but actually we do not pray.

Ravi: Shouldn’t we surrender ourselves and self and society imposed image when we pray?

What is the meaning of a TRUE prayer and meditation?

GRK: Prayer is a reflection of our self, nay an introspection of our self. It is and unfolding, rather surrendering of oneself and one’s ego before the altar of the higher self. Prayer is a highest sacrifice, nay, a renouncing; it is a quest for identifying with, nay merging with universal spirit or cosmic soul.

Ravi: Many a time I try to pray, I get disturbed by external sounds. That’s why I don’t pray in an organized way.

GRK: Ravi, you need not have an organized set-up to pray. That’s a skewed notion.  A true prayer needs a ‘still’ brain. A ‘still’ brain is a vacuum state of brain or a zero frame of brain. A ‘still’ brain is a meditative mind. Highest form of meditation is prayer. This prayer itself is an ecstasy or bliss.

However, a chattering brain or a roaming brain like yours, full of strivings, desires and conflicts cannot pray. Nor does praying with a material purpose behind it. No prayer with a commercial or material longing, is a true a ‘holy’ prayer.

Ravi: The corpus collosum connects the RIGHT and the LEFT brain. If we want to still the brain, we do know that meditation helps keeps the corpus collosum ‘still’ so that both the brains are made ‘still’. How about this new-but-no-new understanding from brain scientists perspective?

GRK: Awesome understanding of understanding of meditation from the brain perspective. Neuro science is evolving and many of us cannot understand. However we can experience.


How did our elders pray,THEN?

GRK: Our elders prayed that “Sarve jana sukhino bhavanthu.“ “Let happiness and prosperity be to all”. That prayer reflected the highest concern and the greatest compassion to all, which made it a holy consecration. Thus, Summum-bonum or the substance of prayer is ‘peace’ and ‘bliss’.

What is samadhi state?

Ravi: What is Samadhi state, THEN. Is it something when we get to the grave?

GRK: Not at all. This perpetual ‘bliss’ through ‘stilling’ the brain is Samadhi.

Thank you for this understanding Shri. GRK. Shall endeavor to ‘still’ my brain to at-least 10 minutes to start with! My prayer would be “Let Universal Love and compassion to anyone and everyone engulf this beautiful world, to make it a better place”.

With Love and prayers for all.

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