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.

Hidden Treasure Series-Part XIV- On Self, Peace, Serenity and Bliss

My Dear Friends-on-Mother-Earth,

Happy Friday evening to you folks.

Well, as we all strive hard to be in peace; in a world full of “races” among man’kind’, thought would be prudent to really understand the TRUTH behind Self, Peace, Serenity and Bliss , many striving hard to attain that ‘state of the brain’, using various “templates”!

Ravi: Wonderful connecting with you again. Post the visit to Anandashram in Jan’12(what they call ‘An abode to bliss’), these 6 months in almost near hibernation did made me stronger, more relaxed and at ‘peace’ with myself first. But still, maybe due to genetic disorder, that dysfunctional anger still remains and I tend to “smoke-out” especially “Atrociously  selfish” people.

Well, DO we all have to go Ashram’s to be in peace?? Let’s understand the ‘juice’ behind this ‘state of brain’ with the friendly sage we are blessed to know.

GRK: Hey, glad to walk-the-talk with you again. By the way, how’s the climate in Chennai?

Ravi: Well, there are only 3 climates in Chennai – They are hot, hotter and hottest! Our body is hot and hence our brain is also hot. No wonder you would often find verbal skirmishes for nothing!

GRK: Let’s understand the TRUTH in ‘peace’ first. ‘Peace’ is NOT merely absence of sorrow NOR absence of suffering.  A human may NOT be peaceful EVEN with all the comforts and luxuries of life. He/she may NOT be happy as well as peaceful with all the pleasures. Haven’t you noticed?

What is peace?

Ravi: Absolutely. So, what is peace THEN?

GRK: Peace is a sense of fulfillment. It is an attitude of our brain–a state of brain, nay a quality of brain. The sense of fulfillment is possible when only we have contentment-contentment of wants, desires and aspirations. Thus again, contentment is a feature of peace, which in turn is a state of brain OR a condition of brain after so many years and may be births of ‘collective consciousness’ stored in the brain.

Ravi: Well, sounds interesting. Could it be possible for us, the human beings, with the flimsy, fragile and sentimental brain-stuff, to ‘still’ the brain to attain peace? If everyone has to go Ashrams to find peace, what would happen to humanity? Disaster, gentleman as God-men and God-women would rule our lives?

GRK: Hah Ha! Not to bother. The brain is always restless and oscillating. It is nomadic and all the time; wandering and roaming, rather straying in all directions without any purpose.  Only a ‘still brain’ can experience peace; for peace needs calmness of brain and NOT a wandering brain. A calm-and-composed brain is a ‘still brain’. It is not restless and does not have many longings. It is serene and serenity is a condition of peace, nay an aspect of peace. A peaceful brain is a steadfast-brain. In other words, peace is ‘steadfastness’ (‘stilling’ the anxieties, desires, feelings). It is anchoring of the brain-NOT hovering.

Ravi: Does contentment alone sufficient to attain a peaceful state of brain?

GRK: Peace does not only require contentment but also a brain which could withstand and resist against the daily hurts and injuries of life. The brain has to insulate and immunize to all the daily agonies and sorrows, which are unavoidable part of life and it has to develop a capacity to resist against daily onslaughts on peace.

Thus, peace is an unperturbed state of both brains, rather a culmination of it. For this, human beings need an intellectual courage, an extraordinary courage to face life as it is and its daily trivialities of suffering, with an equanimity or ‘detached-attachment’.

What is Bliss?

Ravi: What is bliss, then?

GRK: When the ‘self’ forgets itself in a rapturous joy of life experience, it loses identity and merges with the experience itself as a part of communion with the cosmos, it experiences ecstasy. (A ‘self-forgetfulness”) This ecstasy itself is bliss, a thrill and an extraordinary joy. It is a highest form of peace and everlasting too. Attainability of bliss is a greatest benediction to man and mankind.

What is Self?

Ravi: ‘Self’ forgetting itself! What is ‘self’, then? Does this ‘self’ mean our name, our caste, our sex, our age and our religion?

GRK: Yes, it means all these and much more. Self means ‘i’, our identify, our self-consciousness. I am so and so, my level is this and my status is this etc. it means status and the level.

Ravi: Is ‘self’ then a divisive force?

GRK: Absolutely. ‘Self’ in other words means an image of oneself. It means attachment to certain things. It is a divisive force. It divides ‘i’ from the rest. It leads to choice making. It is subjectivity leading to angles in one’s perceptions. Thus it leads to contradictions, as self-versus others. In understanding, it colors, nay blocks our understanding. Self is ego, it is pride, it is estimating of one self, often self-conscious estimate. Thus it leads to conflict with on self, with others, the surrounding reality and with the whole nature itself. Hence, ‘self’ leads to sorrow-contradiction-conflict-agony and peacelessness. 

Ravi: So, what’s the way out for mankind?

GRK: The only way is to be aware of the self, to sublimate the self, to raise above the self, to forget the self; nay to erase the self itself. Where there is no ‘self’ there is no contradiction, no conflict and no sorrow –no colored perception and no understanding based on choice.

Ravi: Awesome learning. Easy to understand, difficult to practice as we all are conditioned to dogmas and our own doctorates! Thank you for your time. Look forward to our talks again next week.

Folks, I guess we need to understand this deeply to get the juice. Take your time and one may get the juice by reading and re-reading and pondering over it. Let’s all aim to be in bliss which GRK says is the greatest benediction of man’kind’.

Wishing you all a blissful weekend with your near and dear ones!

Kind Regards

G&W Ravi