A New Year and more of prosperity and peace

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Each New Year, we wish others happiness and prosperity. What really is the sign of prosperity? There are several - a smile, contentment, freedom, the willingness to share, fearlessness and the trust and confidence that you will get what you need in life.

Welcome the New Year with a genuine smile. As you flip the calendar, keep flipping your mind as well. Don’t fill your future dates with past events. Learn and unlearn from the past, and move on.

You want to be free of greed, hatred, jealousy and all such imperfections. Understand that negative emotions are due to the past. Do not let the past affect your life in the present. If you cannot forgive the past, then your future will be miserable. This New Year make up with someone with whom you are not on good terms. Start life afresh.

In the New Year, wish peace and prosperity for all. Do selfless service. Live your life well. Realise that your priority is to check violence in the world, free of domestic and societal violence. Make a resolution to do more good, help people in need and bring solace to those suffering.

Whenever you are useful to people, merit will never be lost. Any good gesture or action of yours will always come back to you. Today you have the whole world for a family. That’s what you need to feel, that everybody is part of your own family. Take responsibility. Then there is no suffering.

The spiritual dimension of life brings a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole world, for all life. In its truest form spirituality helps us overcome narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality and give you a broader awareness of life everywhere.

• Open your eyes and see how much you have been given. 
• Focus on what you have rather than what you don’t have. 
• The more grateful you are, the more will be given to you. 

Conversely, the more you complain, the more will be taken away from you. This is what Jesus Christ meant when he said, “Those who have will be given more; those who don’t give, and even what they have will be taken away from them.”
With gratitude, reach out and help those who are less endowed. You will get much contentment when you serve selflessly. Then you realise that your problems aren’t so big after all. The biggest reason for mental depression is the constant refrain of the mind that says, “What about me?” This is a sign of lack of prosperity.

Become free like a bird. Open your wings and learn to fly. This is something you have to experience within yourself. If you think you are in bondage, you will remain bound here. Be free. When will you experience freedom? After you die? Become free right now. Sit down and become contented. Spend some time in meditation and satsang. This not only calms your mind, your inner self becomes strong enough to deal with challenges.

When the mind relaxes, the intellect becomes sharp. When the mind is loaded with ambitions and feverish desires, then the intellect loses its keenness. When intellect and observation are not sharp, life does not express itself fully. Ideas don’t flow properly and abilities diminish day by day. With this understanding, you step out of your narrow confines and that will solve many of the problems in your life. When you are centred, there is happiness always. With this calmness, talents arise naturally. Intuition comes, beauty comes, peace comes; Love springs up. Prosperity comes.

by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar                                                                                                               source here

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Physics & Metaphysics

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You live in time, we live in space.
You are always n the move; we're always at rest.
Religion is our first love, we reveal in metaphysics.
Science is your passion; you delight in physics.
You believe in freedom of speech; you strive for articulation.
We believe in freedom of silence; we lapse into meditation.
~ Hari Dam, prof of Philosophy

Chan Meditation: Do It Silently, And With Sustained Effort

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A friend visited Taiwan recently, the land where Buddha dharma has flowered.
He got us a set of books on Chan meditation and its power to redefine life and death. Also, how, through Chan meditation, one can control life and create wonders in areas where even medical science has failed. The underlying current of the books was that Chan meditation is an easy option to uncover one's hidden intellectual and physical powers. It allows even the most ordinary person to turn into a great soul. It has the power to transform a person without talent to one of great talent and a frail person into a robust one.

Chan was developed by Chan master Sheng-Yen. Sheng had to flee China during the Communist takeover in 1949 and take refuge in Taiwan. The whole idea has its basis in the fact that the mind has to concentrate on one point, whether abstract or concrete. And the attempt is to bring out the individual's greatest intellectual and physical ability, hidden deep within.

The Chan way of meditation is often referred to as the ''gateless gate''. It is so because the so-called gate is both the method of practice and the path to nirvana. Similarly, it is gateless because the Chan method does not believe in any particular method to help a practitioner achieve liberation.

In Chan, remember just one thing: A practitioner cannot be self-centred. Then, the Chan gateway opens up on its own. For that, one has to give up the notion of 'i' at all stages of life while dealing with people and all other living beings. The complete elimination of 'i' enables one to acquire wisdom to deal with others as if one is dealing with oneself. Attachment is eliminated in order to develop compassion and awareness about others' hardships and problems.

Chan stresses on two major forms of practice, both roughly corresponding to the Bodhi Dharma's two entries: one through principle (silent illumination) and the other through practice. But both the methods require the same foundation: a stable and unified mind. Both lead to the same end: the realisation of the nature of the mind, which is emptiness. It is all about acquiring Buddha-like nature, wisdom and enlightenment.

In the silent illumination method, it is important that the mind is aware and clear about things around even though there are no thoughts. Both silence and illumination must be there. Silence is total concentration and illumination is the flowering of the mind as if it shines in the mind like the sun in the sky. In other words, there is complete clarity minus the worldly baggage of attachments.

In the practice method, it is as simple as helping the needy and the helpless as if you are helping yourself. It involves devotion to others, and the practice of making offerings. Exercise is necessary to keep body and mind healthy. This is the foundation for overall spiritual development.

The effects of Chan meditation take place at two levels: psychological and physical. The psychological effects are increased patience, curing of various allergies, strengthening of will power, enhancement of the power of thought, refinement of the personality, rapid calming of the mind, mood stabilisation, raised interest and efficiency in activity and the final attainment of enlightenment. On the physical level, Chan is effective in curing diseases.

In the end, it is faith that drives Chan meditation. Other factors that help promote Chan meditation are: humility, gratitude and repentance. These traits help one become humble and humane without which no one can hope to achieve the ultimate goal - nirvana.

source here

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Why do we shout in Anger?

A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'

'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.

Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'

Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'

The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.

Doing meditation the Reiki way

Regular practice of the simple two-way technique of Reiki meditation can not only help you improve your focus and awaken you spiritually, but also can amplify your innate healing abilities to help you achieve holistic health.

Maintaining a high level of life force energy, prana, is a pre-requisite for holistic health, achieved through practice of various techniques that can generate balance between body and mind, such as Yoga, Tai Chi, Quantum Touch, or Reiki, to name just a few. All of them employ one or the other form of meditation as an important component for treatment at the physical, mental, and emotional levels.

The two-in-one Reiki meditation technique

deftly combines the healing powers of both meditation and Reiki. The benefits accruing from them increase manifold as a consequence of synergy generated by blending them together. What keeps Reiki meditation apart from other meditation forms is its unique ability to strengthen the innate healing capability of the practitioner.

Mikao Usui revived the ancient art of tapping into the universal life force energy for healing known as Reiki. He was once asked by a pupil," I have practised meditation for a number of years, why do I need to learn Reiki to help me learn to meditate?" Meditation is an integral part of Reiki. In his Reiki practice and teachings, Usui practised meditation as an important constituent. In fact, he often used Gassho (hands held in prayer position) meditation as a means to pass the ability to channel Reiki to the practitioner. Also, Osho Rajneesh who developed Osho Neo Reiki twenty years ago included powerful meditations for a faster healing.

After Mikao Usui, a number of forms of Reiki Meditations have found their way in Japan and other countries.

One of the simplest but effective RM involves the following steps:

1. Sit quietly with closed eyes in a Sukh Asana or upright in a chair, with both hands held in front of your chest in prayer `Gassho position and the soles of the feet joined together.

2. Connect to Reiki by simple intent or by drawing distant healing symbol

3. Draw the power symbol with your hand in front of you and say it three times. Visualise white light emanating from your fingers.

4. Visualize the symbol in the third eye chakra and meditate on it.

5. Now allow the symbol to float up as a brilliant light above your crown. Return your awareness to the third eye chakra.

6. When finished, relax and release your all thoughts. You feel fully energised with the healing energy

For those who do not possess the ability to channel Reiki, the Gassho meditation can be performed in this way:

1. Hold your hands a little above the chest in prayer position in such a way that that your exhaled breath can be felt at a point where the top of the middle fingers representing fire element meet the hands joined together.

2. Now focus your attention at that point and try to release stray thoughts by focussing at the point repeatedly. Do not try to chase stray thoughts. Return your focus to the point by pressing the two middle fingers against each other.

Practise RM for twenty minutes a day or as long as you feel comfortable. Reiki Meditation deftly combines the usual healing effects of simple meditation techniques with Reiki and works in more ways than one.

by V N Mittal, a Reiki Sensei based in Dehradun (India). 
Contact him via email: vn.mittal@gmail.com                                       source: here

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Thoughts for Meditation

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• If I accept rather than deny the transitory nature of all forms, then I can go deeper and realize that there is changeless life behind the ever changing.
• Change is for growth, and growth is for change. Both are for helping us become aware of our inner divinity and for inspiring us into higher life.
• Let me stop trying to preserve the temporary cocoon I have built around myself so that I can connect life at large.
• Something in us will stay. That I Love. It is the relation of Soul to Soul.
• Appearing and disappearing are the play of life. Both are two waves of the same ocean. Both are there to reveal reality in a new and fresh way.

by Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanu