Came back from an awesome trip to Japan and India. Left on Dec. 12th for the Land of the Rising Sun, arrived on the 13th night, travelled around Tokyo for a day, left for Osaka on the morning of the 14th to see Zakir, came back to Tokyo on the 18th to leave for India on the 19th. India was a blast BUT I'm not going to write everything here...I have an account on my webpage. Maybe I'll upload it here someday.
In the mean while, here's something to chew on. Yesterday I was at a talk by Swami Jyotirmayananda who presented a homage to Swami Vivekananda on his 100th anniversary of departure from this material world. The presentation was actually a video-tape of a powerpoint slide show with voice-over. After the main presentation was over in about 30 mins, we got a bit edgy as there was not much to the homage other than platitutes to Swami Vivekananda. So we started a Q&A session and got him to talk a bit about Vedanta, Yoga, and path to Samadhi (He did not use the word Moksha). Briefly: There are 8 steps in Yoga
1) Practice meditation. This involves following 5 basic principles of Yama (Observations, pure in thought, word, and deed) and Niyama (restrictions: Truthfulness, non-injury (ahimsa), reducing desires)
a) Lead morally and ethically a pure life
b) Saucha: Purify oneself externally (maintain a clean hygiene, for example)
c) Santosha: Contentment
d) Dedication, surrender to God
(I forget others)
2) Aasana: After leading a good life, one can take postures to maintain good health.
3) Prayanama: Regulate breathing. This comes with a lot of practice and the presence of a Teacher (Guru) is a must for this step for it's potency is not to be underestimated.
4) Pratyahara: Withdrawing the scattered mind
5) Dharana: to concentrate (focus) on the chosen deity.
6) Dhyana: Meditate upon the chosen deity (?)
7) Samadhi: When the mind is free of all other thoughts, you can attain samadhi.
8) Moksha?
I had a thought about non-vegetarianism and Hinduism. Earlier I used to make myself believe that Hinduism does not condone meat-eating. However, I now believe that even if Hinduism may not exclusively forbid the eating of meat, it does state the consequences of one's actions in this regard. For you to reach samadhi, you need to floow certain regulative principles and prescribed activities. Meat eating hinders one's progress towards Moksha. Just as when we concentrate on our chosen deity for meditation we imbibe the qualities of that deity, similarly, eating meat makes us imbibe the qualities of the animal that is being consumed. That is where the categorization of food into three groups, viz. Rajasic, Tamasic, and Sattvic, comes into fore. So, in the end, Hinduism may not forbit meat-eating, however, by placing it in the tamasic group, you're told that it will be a hinderance in the path of Moksha.
In the mean while, here's something to chew on. Yesterday I was at a talk by Swami Jyotirmayananda who presented a homage to Swami Vivekananda on his 100th anniversary of departure from this material world. The presentation was actually a video-tape of a powerpoint slide show with voice-over. After the main presentation was over in about 30 mins, we got a bit edgy as there was not much to the homage other than platitutes to Swami Vivekananda. So we started a Q&A session and got him to talk a bit about Vedanta, Yoga, and path to Samadhi (He did not use the word Moksha). Briefly: There are 8 steps in Yoga
1) Practice meditation. This involves following 5 basic principles of Yama (Observations, pure in thought, word, and deed) and Niyama (restrictions: Truthfulness, non-injury (ahimsa), reducing desires)
a) Lead morally and ethically a pure life
b) Saucha: Purify oneself externally (maintain a clean hygiene, for example)
c) Santosha: Contentment
d) Dedication, surrender to God
(I forget others)
2) Aasana: After leading a good life, one can take postures to maintain good health.
3) Prayanama: Regulate breathing. This comes with a lot of practice and the presence of a Teacher (Guru) is a must for this step for it's potency is not to be underestimated.
4) Pratyahara: Withdrawing the scattered mind
5) Dharana: to concentrate (focus) on the chosen deity.
6) Dhyana: Meditate upon the chosen deity (?)
7) Samadhi: When the mind is free of all other thoughts, you can attain samadhi.
8) Moksha?
I had a thought about non-vegetarianism and Hinduism. Earlier I used to make myself believe that Hinduism does not condone meat-eating. However, I now believe that even if Hinduism may not exclusively forbid the eating of meat, it does state the consequences of one's actions in this regard. For you to reach samadhi, you need to floow certain regulative principles and prescribed activities. Meat eating hinders one's progress towards Moksha. Just as when we concentrate on our chosen deity for meditation we imbibe the qualities of that deity, similarly, eating meat makes us imbibe the qualities of the animal that is being consumed. That is where the categorization of food into three groups, viz. Rajasic, Tamasic, and Sattvic, comes into fore. So, in the end, Hinduism may not forbit meat-eating, however, by placing it in the tamasic group, you're told that it will be a hinderance in the path of Moksha.
posted by yash | 10:44 AM
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