Question

[devotee]

Namaste Vitani,

Namaste all. I try to meditate sometimes, but I always feel so overcome with worry. I am a student and right now I am taking quite a few classes that keep me busy and even feeling stressed. So, when I try to meditate, thoughts come to my mind like, "did I remember to submit that assignment?" "Did I study enough for that test?"

My question is, are there any ways to calm my mind? For those of you that are students here, what do you do to help yourself remain calm?

You must have a good time management to get rid of thoughts like, "Did I study enough ..." etc. because you are supposed to the worldly duty too. Please remember what Lord Krishna said in BG, "Maam anusmara yudhya cha" ===> Keep me in your mind and fight. So, Arjuna cannot leave aside his duty on the pretext that he was busy meditating on God ! God's wish is that Arjuna must fight too.

If you don't do your worldly duties and try to meditate, the thoughts arising out of not fulfilling your duties are bound to disturb you at the time of meditation. So, you must manage your time well.

However, when you sit for meditation, you must take leave from this world and its duties while you want to be with God. There can't be more important that spending sometime without any other thoughts with God alone. The world will not stop, if you stop working for an hour or so while you are meditating. Things can certainly wait ... unless there is some pressing urgency (in that case, the time of meditation should be changed) while you are meditating. Nothing great is going to be achieved in one hour if that could not be achieved in balance 23 hours ! So, free yourself from such thoughts and meditate.

OM

[Jainarayan]

2)The webmaster of this site tries to separate yoga from Hinduism, pretending that Hinduism as a religion and yoga are two different things. He thinks that Hinduism is a perversion of yoga.

Really? That's a shame. We must be reading different pages.

http://www.swamij.com/index-yoga-meditation-yoga.htm
http://www.swamij.com/yoga-note.htm

Yoga



Throughout this website the word "Yoga" is used in its traditional meaning of spiritual realization, rather than the revisionist meaning of Yoga as a physical fitness program.

See also these related articles:

Modern Yoga versus Traditional Yoga

Yoga and the words Hindu and Hinduism

Traditionally, Yoga (Sanskrit: union) has referred to the realization through direct experience of the preexisting union between Atman and Brahman, Jivatman and Paramatman, and Shiva and Shakti, or the realization of Purusha standing alone as separate from Prakriti. Yoga is the realization of union between the microcosm of individuality with the macrocosm of universality.
Yoga is the union of the
- Microcosm of individuality and the
- Macrocosm of universality
Yoga is the union of the
- Atman (Center of consciousness, Self; Vedanta) and
- Brahman (Absolute reality; Vedanta)
Yoga is the union of the
- Jivatman (Soul as consciousness plus traits; Vedanta) and
- Paramatman: (Self/soul as only consciousness; Vedanta)
Yoga is the union of
- Shiva (Static, latent, unchanging, masculine; Tantra) and
- Shakti (Active, manifesting, changing, feminine; Tantra)
Yoga is the dis-union of
- Purusha (Untainted consciousness; Sankyha-Yoga) and
- Prakriti (Primordial, unmanifest matter; Sankyha-Yoga)

[Jainarayan]

Namaste.

Namaste all. I try to meditate sometimes, but I always feel so overcome with worry. ...

My question is, are there any ways to calm my mind? For those of you that are students here, what do you do to help yourself remain calm?

Thank you all,

Vitani

I've asked the same questions because my mind is like a ferret... scampering all over the place. The answers I've gotten have almost everything to do with breathing: concentrating on the breathing and on the mantra or nama.

I can't do japa/meditation with more than two syllables or breaths per rep. If I do OM, the inhale is silent, the exhale is OM, sounded (audibly or inaudibly) for as long as the exhale lasts. If I say Krishna, 'Kri-' is on the inhale, 'shna' is on the exhale; or 'Ra-' 'ma', or 'Ha-' 'ri'.

Take with grain of salt.

[Sahasranama]

Really? That's a shame. We must be reading different pages.

http://www.swamij.com/index-yoga-meditation-yoga.htm
http://www.swamij.com/yoga-note.htm

He freely appropriates terminology from Hinduism, but that doesn't mean he thinks that Hinduism is an integral part of yoga. He thinks that they are separate and somehow got blended.

Read this page: http://www.swamij.com/religion.htm

This is how most postmodern yogis think, as is evident by the list of "yogis" at the end of the page who say that yoga is not a religion. If you are truly interested in yoga, you should study the premodern literature on yoga and avoid reading nonsense that is written to appeal to the secular western population with money to spend.

[Vitani]

If you could explicitly answer the three questions i gave you it would clarify it much more, since from this post I can only make inferences about your answers.

Namaste ZarryT, I'm sorry. I will answer your questions directly.

1. Why are you meditating?

I am meditating to become closer to God; though, I am sure there are other reasons for meditation, but that is why I do it right now.



2. What are you meditating on / about?

I meditate on Shiva, mostly as Linga, and I usually recite "Namah Shivaya" on Malas.


3. What do you think 'meditation' is? / What exactly are you doing when you meditate?

Hmm. Well, I think meditation can be controlling the mind, the breath, and may even be a form of prayer. As I said, when I meditate, I chant the mantra above on mala beads

Pranams

Vitani

[saidevo]

namaste Sahasranama.

I have long known about the Website www.swamij.com, have read at least once a good number of articles and have found them useful, traditional and in tune with Hindu teachings. Following your objections, I went through the Website once again and found the following articles: I still find that the author acknowledges Hinduism to be the source of Yoga and that his teachings are only based on the yogasUtras of Patanjali maharShi. The author prefers the word SanAtana Dharma to Hinduism and that is in fact more appropriate.

http://www.swamij.com/sanatana-dharma-what-is.htm
http://www.swamij.com/hindu-word.htm
http://www.swamij.com/timeline.htm
http://www.swamij.com/hindus-now.htm

There are two problems with this website:

1)The webmaster of this site is a shishya of the very controversial figure Swami Rama, who has been charged guilty with sexual abuse in court.

2)The webmaster of this site tries to separate yoga from Hinduism, pretending that Hinduism as a religion and yoga are two different things. He thinks that Hinduism is a perversion of yoga.

Therefore, I would avoid this website like the plague.

[Sahasranama]

There is no good reason to say that the word Sanatana Dharma is more appropiate than the word Hinduism. These are just words and its more important how they are used in context. Sanatana Dharma = Hinduism. People who try to make a distinction often have a hidden agenda. The hidden agenda of this webmaster is to dissociate yoga from the Hindu religion which involves worship of deities, rituals and beliefs he cannot sell to an American audience.

[saidevo]

namaste Sahasranama.

SanAtana Dharma is integrated with Hinduism, and as you say, "involves worship of deities, rituals and beliefs". Your perception about any hidden agenda by the author might be right or not, but we see here in HDF itself that almost all western Hindus, who prefer the word SanAtana Dharma naturally take to worship and rituals and find their happiness in them as much as in meditation. Western Hindus here prefer to call themselves that--not Western SanAtana dharmis, although some of them might not be favourably inclined towards India being their motherland.

• SwamiJ seems to favour the views of Universalists like Frank Morales, but he also seems to be with Adi Shankara: I was surprised to see a translation of Shankara's saundarya laharI in his Website:
http://swamij.com/saundaryalahari.htm

Besides, his another Website
https://sites.google.com/site/abhyasaashram/home
includes daily mantras such as aum namaH shivaya among other mantras that are also associated with bhakti sAdhana:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...TkyOTI3MDVjYjk

• SwamiJ's views on worship are also not alien to what Shankara and other prominent Advaitin teachers have taught us:

From http://www.swamij.com/vedantic-meditation.htm
Vedanta has a theistic side, recognizing a cosmic creator (Ishvara) who rules over the universe through the law of karma. God is the supreme teacher, the highest guru from whom all true teachings arise by the power of the divine word. Vedantic theism takes many forms such as the worship of Shiva, Vishnu, and the Goddess. In fact, it can accommodate almost any form of theism that accepts karma and rebirth.
...
Yet surrender, though easy to conceive, is also a difficult process because it requires giving up the ego and all of our fears and desires that go with it. To facilitate this way of surrender is added chanting of Divine names and other devotional forms of worship. These can also be practiced along with knowledge-oriented techniques like Self-inquiry.

In the Vedanta we approach the Creator as a means of discovering our true Self, in which both the soul and God are one. Union with God is part of the process of Self-realization. The Deity worshipped is ultimately the same as oneself and we must come to see it in all beings. Until we see the Divine beloved within our own heart, our devotion has not yet reached its highest goal.

All this is not to support SwamiJ who is not my guru, but only to show that he is not against recognising India and Hinduism as the birthplace of Yoga, unlike many other Western gurus.

There is no good reason to say that the word Sanatana Dharma is more appropiate than the word Hinduism. These are just words and its more important how they are used in context. Sanatana Dharma = Hinduism. People who try to make a distinction often have a hidden agenda. The hidden agenda of this webmaster is to dissociate yoga from the Hindu religion which involves worship of deities, rituals and beliefs he cannot sell to an American audience.

[Jainarayan]

Namaste.

I read that page. However, I don't see it the way you do, and that's perfectly fine. Admittedly I had to read it 2 or 3 times before I was satisfied that he was saying what I believe is correct. Everything is colored by personal views and point of view; again, that's perfectly fine.

Which is higher on the hierarchy: Hinduism or yoga? Is Hinduism within yoga or is yoga within Hinduism? Does yoga take precedence over Hinduism, or is it the other way around? Is Hinduism within puja or is puja within Hinduism? Is Hinduism within bhakti or is bhakti within Hinduism? Or are all of those inextricably linked?

To me, he takes great pains to distance "western" and "fitness" yoga" from what it is, "union", and its roots in Hinduism.The world is not black and white, my friend.

Like anything else, one has to look beyond the surface, beyond face value and beyond the words. Give some credit to the intelligence of the people that would read that site. Those are some things to consider before dismissing something out of hand.

He freely appropriates terminology from Hinduism, but that doesn't mean he thinks that Hinduism is an integral part of yoga. He thinks that they are separate and somehow got blended.

Read this page: http://www.swamij.com/religion.htm

This is how most postmodern yogis think, as is evident by the list of "yogis" at the end of the page who say that yoga is not a religion. If you are truly interested in yoga, you should study the premodern literature on yoga and avoid reading nonsense that is written to appeal to the secular western population with money to spend.

[Jainarayan]

Namaste saidevo.

Your perception about any hidden agenda by the author might be right or not, but we see here in HDF itself that almost all western Hindus, who prefer the word SanAtana Dharma naturally take to worship and rituals and find their happiness in them as much as in meditation. Western Hindus here prefer to call themselves that--not Western SanAtana dharmis, although some of them might not be favourably inclined towards India being their motherland.

What you say is true, from the perspective of a western white Hindu... me. If I were to say Sanātana Dharma, people would look at me as if I had antlers. But they know the terms Hinduism and Hindu. The intelligent ones can separate the religion from Indian ethnicity. However, I will go on to explain what Sanātana Dharma means. Unfortunately many Indians and westerners cannot make the separation. But I don't think there are hidden agendas lurking around every corner and under every bed.

I was telling some stories to my family, and I was asked "so, are you a Buddhist"? I said "no, Hindu". Can you imagine the "huh, what?" I would have gotten had I said "Sanātana Dharma"?

As far as India being the motherland, it is the motherland of the faith and spirituality I follow. For that I have great respect. It's clear, however, that from a physical viewpoint, I am clearly not Indian. I barely resemble my Italian and Sicilian ancestors, much less an Indian. But if there is no physical connection now, there was at some time in the past, as far as I am concerned. I felt an affinity for India, Indians and Hinduism from a young age. But this is just one westerner's p.o.v. I believe you are right in that not all western Hindus feel that way.