Lets get to know what we practice daily.

[vedic_kings]

Hi :)

I would like to get to know what you all practice daily as a Hindu, as well as what you are trying to add to your practice.

As for me.

I have been vegetarian for 16 years, but eat eggs and fish sometimes. And this goes with other forms of non-violence (ahimsa)

I practice yoga-asana daily, but when I get really far in asana, i'll get lazy and stop for sometime and start feeling like **** and start again.:)

Pranayama I have tryed to work into my practice from time to time.

As for brahmacharya (control of sexual energy), i'll practice for months at a time, because when you have a girlfriend it can be hard to control, hehe..

I don't steal (asteya) I don't lie (satya).

I read or study more then I practice yoga. But for me as I do not have any Hindu people around me it helps alot to read about yoga and Hinduism daily.

The things that take up alot of time is my family and the computer (graphic art) and internet.

I don't even try to talk about whats on my mind, cause people just think im nuts, even my own girlfriend!

My girlfriend (mother of my two kids) doesn't practice any kind of yoga, or Hindu way of life, just my karma I guess.

The things I would like to start practicing is meditation. But I would like to have ease of the breath first, which im trying to get into and very soon. I need to give up caffeine and tobacco, and start eating better again (more greens).

So my goal is to start and stick with asana, pranayama and meditation.

P.S. its only been two days that I haven't done any asana. :)

I will post an update of my practice soon.

So whats your story?

PP.S. I was really on track before I started a family!

[sm78]

I practice posting in the "Hindu Dharma Forums" ;)


PP.S. I was really on track before I started a family!

:(

[sm78]

Jokes apart ...

My practice has not stabilized yet as I switch back and forth between practicing and not practicing. I had been in the delution of seeking a Guru in flesh and blood ~ but recently it has been made clear that it is not necessary and should not hold back one's efforts.

My practice (when I do) revolves around puja.

I also get immense satisfaction and peace by being out in the streets, visting places and try my best to be out when I have time, more to religious places. This is like pilgrimage and is a part of the practice.

But apart from such external practices ~ the way one thinks and acts each moment is the real practice

[c.smith]

My routine consists of daily puja at home, chanting XXX rounds of the Mahamantra (currently 8), and maintaing a vegetarian environment at home. I also sing like crazy - in the car, at home, hum to myself at work. It's all kirtan I guess.

Another thing that I always try and do is visit a temple in each of the cities that I'm in. I travel 3 to 4 days a week and don't always have the time to do so, but I always make an effort. The airline carrer that I have helps.

So many other things just seem like an everyday part of my life that I'd truly have to take some time to come up with them.

I need to get involved in some hatha yoga. Need some motivation aside from kowing that it's good for me on many levels.

Will be interseting to see what others share.

[Znanna]

On rising, the first thing I do is pray, head to ground. I try hard to act with kind intent all day. Off and on, during the day, I do brief meditations. I don't use mantras, I sort of allow myself to engage/detach, to entwine inside and outside with breath (I have found a way of both inhaling and exhaling at the same time) ... my focus is usually randomly provoked. I allow time for silence, so I can hear what I'm not listening for, too.

When I was commuting by train rather than by car, for several years, I meditated 1-2 hours a day and most of the weekends. I miss that, but circumstances have my attention now focusing on the road during those hours, and on other external affairs.

On weekends, I try to meditate for at least a few hours.

I also have started to study sanskrit and spend perhaps 20 minutes or so a day on that. I study other stuff every day, too, both for work and for perspective.

Even the mundane can be an expression of love. The smell of woodsmoke on the air means a family's hearth is warm.


And, I pray a lot, did I mention that? :D



Let my every word be a prayer to Thee,
Every movement of my hands a ritual gesture to Thee,
Every step I take a circumambulation of Thy image,
Every morsel I eat a rite of sacrifice to Thee,
Every time I lay down a prostration at Thy feet;
Every act of personal pleasure and all else that I do,
Let it all be a form of worshiping Thee."

From Verse 27 of Shri Aadi Shankara's Saundaryalahari



Namaste,
ZN

[Agnideva]

Namaste All,

As for me, I always begin my day with aum gam (gam is Lord Ganesha’s seed mantra). I have a very simple home altar. In the morning, I light an oil lamp at the altar, and recite some mantras as a prayer, then prostration. I don’t know how to perform puja properly, but on occasion, I’ve done puja at home.

I try to follow the yamas and niyamas throughout the day. I’m not always 100% successful, but I remind myself, “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” :)

In the evening, I light that lamp again and perform japa on my rudraksha beads sitting in the lotus posture. But, if I’m very tired/sleepy or disturbed, then I skip for that day. I’m slowly learning to do quiet mediation beginning with pranayama. I wish I could devote more time to meditating (perhaps if I spend less time on HDF that might be possible ;)). Also, I really wish I could wake up before sunrise to do meditation, as recommended.

Everyday, I try to read at least a few minutes from some holy book, and then sit quietly in reflection of what I’ve read with my eyes closed. They say this helps to internalize what you’re read. It’s the beginning of what Vedanta calls nididhyasana.

On weekends, I listen to some mantras or bhajans as I do stuff around the house.

I don’t know too much about yoga asanas, so that’s something I want to learn more about too.

I try and visit the temple every couple of weeks, but sometimes it ends up being once a month because it’s somewhat far from where I live.

Well, that sums up my practice.

OM Shanti,
A.

[saidevo]

I start my day with the Ganapathi shloka vakra tunda, followed by the karAgre vasate Lakshmi and Sai Gayatri. My daily physical workout is through the simple set of exercises devised by Vedatri Maharshi that are really effective. He covers the entire range of workouts from body to breath, but I do only the body workouts.

We do our morning chores listening to a cassette of Sai Bhajan that smoothens mental attidues. It could be any bhajan heard on the CD or cassette player, a little louder to spread the vibrations. Same way, on the Pradosham day we play Sri Rudram in the evenings and other devotional songs as the occasion demands. The self-repeating mantra chanting devices could also be effective, specially when kept on in a low hum overnight, as you go to sleep. For example, on some days we play the mantra on Shirdi Sai (aum Sayee namo namah). The jaya jaya shankara hara hara shankara lines by M.S.Subbulakshmi really get into your soul with their resonance, variation and depth of chanting.

I don't do much of puja except as the occasion demands, but my wife does it on special days in a week. But I am regular with my amavAsya tarpaNs and the annual shrArdha ceremonies for my parents. For nearly a year now I am rather regular with my daily anuSTAnam, the Sandhya Vandhanam. I am planning to learn the meaning of its verses.

My teach-yoursef Sanskrit study is irregular, though I have collected a set of good books for the beginner. As members may be aware, I am currently busy with the translation of some Tamil works on Kanchi Paramacharya which I mainly post in the Kanchi Forum at http://www.kanchiforum.org/forum/, and many of them here. This is one reason my work in HDF has come down, but I shall try to divide my time between these two forums I enjoy reading and writing to. All this work takes up most of my working hours and leaves me with very little time for reading scriptures, which in fact, should have the major claim on my time.

My sadhana comprises occasional sit-downs on meditations, and a continuous remembrance and silent chanting of the Gayatri and the Sai Gayatri mantras. I find that chanting these mantras streamlines the happenings to be in my favour, specially when I go out on some work or travel.

Another thing I have found working is chanting a mantra for the sake of a relative or friend who needs some spiritual energy to support his/her condition. For example, I might declare to myself 'let the fruits of the Gayatri mantra I chant from today until, say a fornight from hence, go to this friend or relative', whose thought is at the background when my mind is chanting the mantra, sometimes even in an ajapa manner. If done with sincerity, I find it helps to better the situation the target person is in.

Of late, we have started holiday pilgrimages to temples around the city and in the surroundings, along with friends and sometimes with their families.

Things I would like to do:
1. Regular Pranayama: since mind and thoughts are ruled by the breath, we need to regulate and deepen it.

2. Regular Meditation and Relaxation: Mentally attentive relaxation lying face up on the bed before going to sleep helps a lot. I shall try to share some material on this subject soon here.

3. Experimenting with the dream state by tuning up the astral body: Again I have read a lot of material on this subject that includes lucid dreams, OBEs and astral travel, which are fascinating. Done properly, I understand, the tuned up astral body might help us have useful astral travel experiences and plan our spiritual life more meaningfully.

As for the worldly life, I do listen to nice TV programs, watch good Tamil and English movies on the small screen, help out in family daily routine and visit friends and relatives.

I know all these sound voluble and give a larger-than-life picture about me. My daily routine has more would-haves and have-nots than the must-haves, which makes me nothing more than an ordinary person with spiritual ambitions. But then both my wife and I have a charitable and benevolent attitude and do our mite by cash and kind to people in need, without looking at caste, creed or religion.

I should mention one thing, though. Right from the days when my son was in his UKG, I used to read out material about the experiences of devotees with their spiritual gurus, the Ramayana and Mahabharata by Rajaji and some other books. This has helped my son who is out of the teenage border now, to know the religious and spiritual values, though at his age, (like I was) he would be less inclined towards strict religious or spiritual routine. Today, such discussions we hold at dinner time at night, whenever my wife or I have read something interesting that needs to be shared with the entire family.