De-stressing the Hindu way
There’s a set of Sanskrit shlokas which I try and recite every morning and evening, followed by a few minutes of meditation. I’ve been saying these prayers for many years. When I keep up with the discipline of doing this regularly, it feels like my days go much better; I feel positive and have much more clarity.
Starting from about a year and a half ago, I began getting increasingly lazy with these prayers. I reasoned….
May 19th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I’d love to learn some Sanskrit shlokas (and how to pronounce them properly).
Maybe next issue HinduVoiceUK can offer some help to people like me by explaining some of these shlokas, their meaning, pronounciation etc?
Even better if it could be extended to other forms of worship like bhajans and pujas. A lot of Hindus, especially the young, have no idea what they represent and how relevant they are in today’s world.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Namaste:
1. The Samskrit Mantra Japa (Samskrit mantra recitation) is as old as Sanatan dharma. When we begin our day in the morning with spiritual and positive mood, it is but natural to have a beautiful day. One will get more benefits, if do some practice of Pranayama before or after mantra japa(you can learn Pranayama from Swami Ramdevji or his CDs, Youtube even).
2. I do Mantra Japa dhyana (mantra recitation meditation) for a long time, since my childhood. Then I started also Pranayama, around 15-20 minutes every morning. It is wonderful experience, full of practical/ physical benefits (other than spiritual benefits).
3. One may chant- Gayatri Mantra, Mahamrityunjay Mantra, HareKrishna Mantra, Slokas from Veda, Upanisad, Bhagavad Gita etc. Recitation of Samskrit mantra also sharpens the brain, like mathematics, and increase concentration power.
4. For Rahul: You may start with the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra, as regularly recites in the ISKCON mandirs. It is very simple, but very powerful. I promise, you will realise the benefits within a few days. Chant daily, at any time, anywhere.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare !!
This mantra is made up of only three words: ‘Hare’, ‘Krishna’ and ‘Rama’. ‘Krishna’ and ‘Rama’ are the name of Bhagavan Vishnu. The word ‘Hare’ has come from ‘Haran’ which means to take way or to end. So when one says hare Krishna, he requests the God (the supreme consciousness) to take away his sorrows, his shortcomings, his failures and pains.
You may also try another wonderful Samskrit invocation from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:
Om Asato maa sad-gamaya;
tamaso maa jyotir-ga-maya;
mrtyor-maa amrutam gamaya.
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih.
O Lord! Lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from the darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.
May there be peace, peace, and perfect peace.
5. Whenever you chant mantras, always keep its meaning in mind. Chant mantra with devotion and shradda (faith). While repeating the mantra, pray/request the Bhagavan (Almighty) to take away all your sorrows, pains and failures and give you joy and bliss.
Enjoy.
Bharat
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May 20th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Namaste,
wonderful account of your experiences! Thank you.
“Unstressing” is indeed the most urgent thing for all people. And for this especially India has great recepies. VEDA, Vedic literature is full of the most wonderful peace concepts and methods.
One of the most popular and scientifically validated is Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation. Hundreds of scientific research studies from over 100 universities around the world show that this Technique gives deep rest, health, Happiness and Bliss to the individual. But more than that: It was found that if a sufficient number of TM practitioners are meditating together at one place, then statistically the crime rate and sickness rate of the city or country is dicreasing. Even wars can be softened or avoided altogether.
Yoga Sutra says: In the vicinity of THAT, enmity ceases.
Let’s do it!
http://www.mum.edu/
http://www.mum.edu/tm_research/research.html
http://www.mum.edu/tm_research/journals.html
With best wishes
Shaas
May 27th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I’ve always found the modern use of Yoga to destress rather silly. There is plenty of data, don’t get me wrong, that it works and should be used. But consider that just 50-100 years ago stress was you were going to be killed by an oppressive regime, your children would die by the age of 2, those children who survived would be stolen, raped, and then taught to hate you, you worked 12-14 hours a day but still barely made enough to feed yourself or your family. That was stress, not what most western hindus experience now a days.
Now it is not in a vacuum of discompassion that hinduism existed. It certainly was and is aware of the turmoil in human life. But yoga and meditation today is taught as if it is going to make you stronger so you can do more things. It seems the real purpose of yoga is to train the spirit to attach to Satva and thus do things that are really important (not more things). It seems fine to enjoy the health benefits of living right, but that is not why we live right and we should not forget the cause effect relationship.
hariaum
June 26th, 2008 at 1:42 am
I began reading the simple free version of the Gita during my exams. The reason for this was because revision is something that is hard to concentrate on when u have other things in your mind. I saw the Gita as an escape from emotion and personal matters, after that, I was able to get back to studying. I was surprised to find myself meditating after reading one of the chapters on meditation, something which i havent done for a good 4 years.
The idea behind meditation is to become one with the self. To me, meditation was something that I didn’t appreciate, it then became a method to help my emotional state, and now I use is as a form of praying. In my opinion, the health benefits are mere strategies to get people to meditate, the reasons to why people choose to carry on is personal, end eventually the cause effect would be found automatically.
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Meditation certainly removes stress and makes everybody’s life less stressful and more productive. But what we have forgotten is meditation is part of a process explained in Geeta for uniting with our creator. Bhaktiyoga (devotion), Dhyanayoga (meditation), Gyanayoga (knowledge) and Karmayoga (action) is that process. Only Hindus have this process and is for the whole humanity. While other religions have dictates because they are man made.