Love and Meditation

If some of us have felt the essence of love, the difficulty arises in keeping the flame of love alive. The very moment one transfers the experience of love into words and memory, the mind takes over only to end up in creating an unreal picture of love.

It is imperative to understand the fact that love can be felt only in the present. And all thoughts of love deny love and push the individual to ignorance so that one is in the unreal world of love.

The individual gets mired in the web of thoughts which is basically of attachment and dependency. The built up thoughts about love which bring false happiness, inexorably give way to pain and suffering arising out of losing it. Only an individual who is integrated, harmonious and sensitive can keep the flame of love going. It becomes indispensable for the individual to stay rooted in the present, so as to be in the pool of love. And only an individual who is in love with himself can know the art of loving others.

After knowing that love blossoms and expresses itself in the present moment, the question of whether one is rooted in the present becomes inevitable. If one is in the present and in love with himself and others, then meditation does not mean anything to him.

If you feel that you are not in peace, harmony and in exuberance, then meditation is a tool that can bring you back to love and life. Meditation creates the space in you so that you can witness your own insensitivity and habits. This very seeing of your own insensitiveness opens the doors of sensitivity in you.

This sensitivity of seeing one’s own shortcoming triggers the channel of intelligence. Seeing yourself and others without the interruption and interpretation of the mind frees the mind so as to be active and alert. The natural flow of moving along with the life source makes you supple and receptive.

False images which were products of the mind break down in front of reality. As an individual you once again regain your original innocence of being with yourself and flowing with the present. This being in the present inexorably opens the doors of love which comes along with pure intelligence to face reality without remorse.

Meditation cleanses the dust of ignorance that accumulates over time. The more you use meditation to get back to your source, your inner self, the more you become aware of your unconscious repressions which were hindering you from knowing your potential. Once the unconscious repressions are brought out and they pass through the channel of the conscious mind, you become free of bondages. Without this release, any attempt to love yourself and others becomes an exercise in futility.

Meditation bridge the conscious and unconscious, helping the individual to set himself free from his own bondage. And only the one who has freed himself from the fetters of mind can come back to his natural state – which is love itself. Only a loving person can be with reality and face it intelligently. Meditation becomes the tool which takes the individual to merge with the very ocean of love which is in one.

Ultimately the individual comes to face the truth that meditation is in love personified.

Music of the Soul

Tension is triggered when we stretch ourselves beyond our mental, physical and financial capacities and capabilities. The root cause is our expectations. When what we expect to happen does not happen, frustration lead to tension. This in turn leads to compression of the spiritual heart, which is the foundation of Bhakti or devotion that connects us to our soul.

To overcome stress, we need to release tension and come to enjoy a serene and a tranquil life and for this we need to introduce Bhakti into our lives. You might ask, is devotion different than prayer? Prayer is a concentrated effort from us directed towards God, where in devotion is to acknowledge that energy as God.

Devotion helps to release pressures of unwanted thought. Thinking without incorporating devotion creates jagged thought patterns which strain the mind, creating pressure, leading to more stress and tension. Wherein thinking with devotion - that is, thinking with love creates soft, soothing thought patterns which bring about calmness, serenity and lends that musical resonance to our thoughts without pressure, stress or tension. This kind of devotion was followed by great Bhakti saints like Kabir, Namded, Mirabai, the Namazhwars, Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, Tyagaraja and Tansen.

Devotion helped Bhakti saints to cultivate an awareness of soul through music. This awareness brought them clarity from the ocean of thoughts that tend to cause storms and imbalances in the mind. Devotion brings about focus and awareness with devotion makes possible the experience of unconditional love. A sincere devotee comes to understand the import of true love and its essence.

Remember here the difference between alertness and awareness. Alertness is focusing our thoughts on a particular task externally through the mind where in awareness is being in focus of our tasks all the time through devotion and love.

Devotion and love lubricate the soul and the absence of any friction makes possible the creation or discovery of the rhythm of the soul that is reflected in the cosmic rhythm. Music loosens the knotted heart knot known as rudragranthi. Seamless and fluid love helps to remove rusty thoughts and rigid mindsets and thus begins the clearing of all doubt. Shruti or rhythm converts itself in a musical form and rhythm converts itself in a musical form and this we call raga.

The rhythm we experience creates in us positive, divine thoughts from within like a series of air bubbles rising up to oxygenate fish in a fish tank. We enjoy these patterns of thoughts which bring about visualization and a state of realization in us.

Raga like Pahaad, Bhoopalim Kalayani and Yemen in classical Hindustani music traditions and Mohana, Ananda Bhairavi, Yemen Kalayani, Hindola and many more in classical Carntic tradition. Bach and Tchaikovsky for instance in classical western tradition or just devotional renderings lead one to experience joy and peace and could well lay the foundation to progress on the path of bliss-attainment.

Therefore, sing, dance and experience joy for life is beautiful.

Of Strangers and Friends

Normally preoccupied with family members and a small circle of friends, most of us do not generally want to become familiar with strangers; we look upon them as ‘others’. This kind of thinking is based simply on suppositions about others and sometimes such suppositions are unfounded. Experience shows that it is perfectly possible to make friends out of strangers.

Swami Ram Tirath a man of considerable education decided in the last decade of the nineteenth century to visit the US, despite paucity of funds and not knowing anyone there who could receive him and host his stay there. After a long sea voyage, he reached the American coast, where he disembarked along with the other passengers. There were many Americans who had come to receive their friends and relatives at the port. However Swami Ram Tirath found himself walking all alone by a corner of the port. An American, seeing him there approached him and asked, ‘Do you have any friends in America?” Swami Ram Tirath said: ‘Yes, there is one friend and that friend is here.’ Saying this he embraced the American.

This kind of behavior was unexpected and the American was impressed. He said: ‘Yes, I am your friend.” And then he took him along to his home. Swami Ram Tirath remained his guest till he left America for India.

No one is a stranger to you; everyone is your potential friend. Just behave in a friendly way and accept others as your sisters and brothers. If you can sincerely adopt this kind of friendly attitude, you will find that everyone is your friend and no one is alien to you.

The fact is that all the men and women have common ancestors. This means that the whole world is a single family and everyone has that kind of attachment with others that is no noticeable in family life.

It is only distance that makes you a stranger. If you eliminate distance, nature will prevail and all can be like blood brothers and sisters to you. The formula for friendship is very simple. If you are truly a friend to others, then you can safely predict that they will also become your friends. Develop genuine love for others in your heart and then others cannot but love you in return.

A Philosopher said that man keeps radiating feelings all the time. If you are a compassionate person and you are radiating compassion then others are bound to receive those radiations of compassion from you. If you have developed love for others, then you are radiating love and others are bound to receive the radiation of love. This is the law of nature. You will therefore receive a positive response to positive radiation and a negative response to negative radiation.

The only condition in this regard is that you should be a selfless person. Positive behavior combined with selflessness always works. It is selflessness that makes your behavior ring true. On the contrary, if you are a selfish person, your behavior will be like that of a salesman. And such behavior cannot have any positive effect.

Abide by your own nature and you will be a successful person. Everyone is born like an angel but, after receiving negative impulses from his environment, he becomes otherwise. So, return to your original nature and you will be acceptable to all.

Religious Harmony

Gujrat High court has observed that Indian Penal Code embodied the basic tenets of Islam and Hinduism that attack is permissible for self deference only and not to inflict injury to others. The order also defined Hinduism and the concept of Jihad in detail.

Upholding a seven year jail term awarded to two Muslims by a special Pota court in a firing incident on Surat based lawyer Hasmukh Lawala in 2002, a Bench comprising Justice Jayant Patel and Justice ZK Saiyed deprecated the act of violence as being revenge for post-Gdhra violence.

Stressing that India is wadded to secular policy, the judges observed if citizens of the country start with mental strategy of division bases on religion, it my result in damaging the unity of nation and consequently would tinker with the integrity and security of the nation.

Neither Hindu nor Muslim religion permits taking of revenge……. no religion professes that if a person from one religion has committed misdeed, revenge should taken from all persons following that religion, the bench observed ……

·         The judges also dwelled on historical aspects and noted, "The Hinduism is based on principles of 'sahanshilta'. It has been cited so many times that it is on account of receptivity and adaptability of Hindu culture, it has survived for more than 5,000 years, though the number of persons following Hindu religion are less as compared to others in the world - Christians, Muslims and Buddhists…"

·         The judges cited Maulana wahiduddin Khan's book "true Jihad to explain Jihad. Islam never permits use of violence for taking revenge, but power is to be used only as a protective measure. It is only by way of self defense, attack is permissible. Such principles are interwoven even in the IPC for invoking the right of self defense" the order states.

·         The court also observed, "The country is like a family having members of different ways of thinking and sometimes different way of praying to the God. Merely because the ways to get the blessings of God are different, one cannot divide the family….. "The accused sentenced are Mohammed Tahir Bakaswala and ashraf Nagori. Two others  Livver singh Chikhligar and Ishaq Makrani died as under trials and Salim Variava is absconding in this case.

Spiral of Life

We should worship lord Shiva so that we are freed from our worldly attachments just like a fruit falls from a tree after ripening. Once we are successful in doing this we are liberated from this vicious cycle of life and death. (Yajur Veda)

I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was Man, Why should I fear?

When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar with angel bliss's; but even from angelhood I must pass on; all except God doth perish. When I have sacrificed my angel soul, I shall become what no mind ever conceived. Oh, let me not exist! For Non-existence Proclaims in organ tones, To Him we shall return. (Jalalluddin Rumi)