Regarding Meditation and Prayer

[Guest guest]

Dear Sankaranarayanan,

 

Namaste. You are a srividyopasaka and should have used the the jargon

" begging " for prayer in a more polished way.

 

Prayer forms an integral part of one's spiritual pursuit. It is a process of

dissolving one's EGO. Is not the entire srividya upasana a BEGGING FOR

ILLUMINATION - a BEGGING FOR FINAL UNION WITH PRAKASA RUPA SIVA.

 

with regards,

sriram

 

S Sangaranarayanan <sangarsai wrote:

 

 

: mahapratibhawan: Tue, 29 Apr

2008 06:44:02 +0000 Meditation is beyond all activity

 

Few words about topic:Meditation is beyond all activityWhen soul doing, soul can

do great, or little, and this depend only outof: whereby is in present moment

involved of real intention to followtruth or isn't

 

<SNIP>

 

IN ONE WORD - MEDITATION IS GETTING AND PRAYER IS BEGGING; ONE CAN CHOOSE THEIR

OWN WAY.

S.Shangaranarayanan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring your gang together. Do your thing. Find your favourite Group.

 

 

[Guest guest]

I agree the words were used not very correctly. But I beg to disagree that

anything is begging in upasana. Its more correct to say that it is striving to

attain what is rightfully ours.

 

But that does not include kaamya upasana that seems to be the aim of many.

Kaamya upasana is permissible with all its concommittant baggage. If it were not

permissible it would not have been there.

 

venkata sriram <sriram_sapthasathi wrote:

Dear Sankaranarayanan,

 

Namaste. You are a srividyopasaka and should have used the the jargon " begging "

for prayer in a more polished way.

 

Prayer forms an integral part of one's spiritual pursuit. It is a process of

dissolving one's EGO. Is not the entire srividya upasana a BEGGING FOR

ILLUMINATION - a BEGGING FOR FINAL UNION WITH PRAKASA RUPA SIVA.

 

with regards,

sriram

[Guest guest]

Dear Sriram,

 

Why anyone want to always ask for favours from Divine Mother which is nothing

but begging, when you can have Her totally through the Upasana. Simply

worshipping the Idol or doing havan cannot take one to the goalof mergence with

her, because She is energy without form. She exists without our body but we

cannot exist without Her energy. Therefore " having " is more appropriate and

there is no other way to reach her than Meditation (Dhyana). Please read Sri

natha Navarathna mala of Bhaskararaya which will give more and appropriate

method to reach Her through meditation and inteaction for interaction without

intercourse (body and mind contact).

Regards,

S.SHANGARANARAYANAN

 

 

: sriram_sapthasathi: Sat, 3 May

2008 06:29:02 +0100 Regarding Meditation and Prayer

 

 

 

 

Dear Sankaranarayanan,Namaste. You are a srividyopasaka and should have used the

the jargon " begging " for prayer in a more polished way. Prayer forms an integral

part of one's spiritual pursuit. It is a process of dissolving one's EGO. Is not

the entire srividya upasana a BEGGING FOR ILLUMINATION - a BEGGING FOR FINAL

UNION WITH PRAKASA RUPA SIVA. with regards,sriram

[Guest guest]

Shree Gurubhyo Namah:

 

Friends:

 

Feel the divine dance in your hearts. Feel the awesome sense of humility that

comes with that feeling. Then you will know that all of this Srishti is indeed

by the divine mother's grace. Therefore begging for Her grace is such an honor.

We are fortunate that we have taken human birth, so we can beg for Her grace.

 

Have you ever felt the closeness to Her while singing " Ayi giri nandini " or even

" Kim varNayaama tava roopam achintam etat " ... and so on ...

 

This is the same begging that the Gopikas do for the return of their clothes

from Shri Krishna. This kind of begging happens only when one feels at one with

the divine mother.

 

To illustrate this, I have a small story to tell.

 

Swami Vivekananda and Shri Ramakrishna were once sitting on the river banks,

and having a conversation. Swami Vivekananda asked Shri Ramakrishna - " Swami,

when will I be able to see God ? " . The Swami immediately immersed Swami

Vivekananda's head in the river. After Swami Vivekanand struggled for a few

seconds , he released him.

 

The following conversation emerged ( not verbatim ).

 

Shri Ramakrishna (SR): " Did you feel you want to breathe? " .

Swami Vivekananda (SV) " : Yes, Swami.

SR: Did you beg for air ?

SV: Yes, Swami.

SR: You will see God when you want to see God like that.

 

 

So, friends - do not be afraid of begging for Her Grace. Let us beg for Her

grace, like we beg for air and water. It is worth it. Also, we must all be the

first to admit that secretly, in our hearts, we all have some desires, which we

beg the Mother to grant us. Admit it, be humbled by it, and be received into

Her loving embrace.

 

Thanks and Regards.

KR.

 

Shree Mathre Namah.

 

 

[Guest guest]

It will more direct and clear if we use the traditional sanskrit words and

probably compare it with the equivalent English words. For instance, both

stotra and stuti - derive from the root " stu " which means " to praise " . When

it comes to meditation also we have host of technical words such as dhAraNa,

dhyAna, samadhi, samyama, etc. And often the context also matters.

 

But there is nothing wrong in begging and it all depends on the situation

and state of the sadhaka's mind.

 

Problem in begging is we often tell the solution to shriimaata and ask her

to give that to us. That is quite dangerous as we often do not know what is

good or bad for us, especially in the long run. It is better to state the

problem as we understand it and leave it to shriimaataa for the solution. As

niilakaNTha diikshita states in aanananda saagara stava, it is not that SHE

does not know our problem. But we find a psychological relief in crying out

loud - (Tamil - pulambinaal duHkham thiruvathu pola). But with strengthening

shraddha, one would slowly move to a state of witness without getting

perturbed by it.

 

Ravi