Musings and readings on Hinduism

[Viraja]

Namaste,

I wish to share my readings and reflections on various interesting topics on Hinduism here, in this thread.

I would have written this in the blog option, but that is not enabled currently.

Today's topic: On beginner's Meditation.
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According to Swami Haridhas Giri, sishya of Swami Gnanananda Giri, one should commence meditation the following way:

i) First, close your eyes and meditate 5 min. on your guru and his holy feet. (Since Swami Haridhas Giri's guru is Swami Gnananda Giri, he wants us to meditate on Gnanananda Swami by calling out his name mentally - "Gnanananda Gnanananda Gnanananda" repeatedly for 5 full min.

ii) Then start the breathing exercise. Repeat 'Om' mentally while exhaling and inhaling. Watch the breath as it comes out and goes in. Do this for 15 full min.

iii) Lastly, keep your closed and continue. Focus on the mid-point between your eyebrows with your eyes closed and remain focused on this spot mentally for another 15 min.

You are supposed to do the above set of exercises twice a day, half-an-hour each.

This is said to kill your thought process and render you with a still mind ('nirmaalya') that would gradually lead to you to spiritual growth.

I found the above interesting and tried it too! Not hard even for a total beginner like me, but I did it only for 15 min all-together so far.

If you have thoughts on the above, you can share.

Regards,

Viraja

[Viraja]

Today's thought.

Topic: Ardhanareeswara
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There could be many meanings to Lord Shiva granting his left half to Uma.

But it occured to me, suddenly yesterday like so:

One sage Bringi who was very devoted to Lord Shiva (alone) always had the habit of worshiping just Shiva, dissing Uma.

Therefore Uma decided to put an end to this. She did severe penance that made Lord Shiva grant his left half to her.

We all know as much.

To me, it conveys an important moral lesson to us all.

If someone disses us, rather badly, we fight them back in full force, and we also go to the extent of cursing them, at least mentally.

In the above story, Uma could have cursed Bringi easily for disrespecting her.

But, she chose the novel and austere way of penancing to Lord Shiva and gaining a most exalted position, that Bringi had no way to disrespect further!

Therefore, the moral lesson to us all, is that when someone hurts us and disrespects us badly, we should avail to the Lord to exalt our position, rather than choosing the retaliating path. This way, we also prove, we are not on par with whosoever chose to disrespect us, out of jealousy, ego and such (negative emotions).

Pranam!