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Welcome to Jain Meditation. This site provides and shares Gurudev Chitrabhanuji's experience of meditations and insights, and throws light on our self-created limitations.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: He shows ways to break through negativities and escapist patterns of thinking. In this breakthrough, there is freedom and celebration. He is not only a Master lecturer, but an enlightened spiritual teacher to millions of Our actions create our destiny. The Life is in our hands. In this life,our time and energy are limited to one journey. We want to fulfill ourselves; to have used, and not misused, our talents and energies. We can never find a better time than NOW.
Chitrabhanuji
THIS EXCERPT IS FROM ONE OF JAIN MASTER PARABLE OF A FIG A son asked his father, "What is soul?" The Father replied, "Atma* can be explained by a seed. Bring me a fresh fig." When the son handed him a fig, the Father sliced it with a knife and removed a tiny seed. "In this seed is a tree. Try to break it in half," said the Father. The son broke it. His Father asked, "What is inside?" The boy replied, "Nothing." His Father responded, "There is formless in the center of form. Creation is inside. Within nothing is something. The invisible becomes visible." SOUL IS UNSEEN, FORMLESS AND ALIVE WITHIN FORM *ATMA means higher self or Soul in Sanskrit
GUEST ARTICLE By Gary Francione on AHINSA AND VEGANISM Distinguished Professor of law and Nicolas deB. Katzenbach Scholar ofLaw and Philosophy, Rutgers University of Law, Newark, NJ Ahinsa, or non-violence, is the fundamental principle of Jainism. Ahinsa Paramo Dharma - non-violence is the highest religious duty. Although we talk about Ahinsa, Anekantavada, and Aparigraha, the latter two of these are subsets of Ahinsa. The doctrine of Anekantavada serves to promote social harmony and to reduce the tension and violence that arise from absolutist views of truth. The doctrine of Aparigraha recognizes that attachment to wealth and the accumulation of material things makes us more inclined to act in violent and destructive ways. So although these doctrines have aspects peculiar to them, they both have Ahinsa as a basic component. Page last modified on:
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GURUDEV's next lecture is on Wed. AUGUST 4, 2010 at Bharatiya, 305 Seventh Ave, 7:30 P.M., 17th fl. Click on Wed. for the full schedule
What is MEDITATION ? The integration of thoughts, words and actions.
IDOL WORSHIP By Manu Doshi The immaculate Lord need to be worshipped with meditation as incense, mind as flower, five senses as sacred fire (lamp), forgiveness as chanting and contentment as mode of worship. It is noteworthy that all the known religious faiths had their origin in Asia. Most of them have the concept of God residing somewhere in the heaven. He is supposed to create the world out of nothing and destroy it when he finds it infested with evil. He is thus believed to be the Creator and deliverer of justice. Religious practice of such believers mainly consists of worshiping him with a view to gaining his favor. Since God is not supposed to have tangible body, it is not possible to reach him physically. The mode of worship therefore varies according to the concept of believers. Hindus, for instance, believe that when there is too much violence in the world, when justice is cast aside and wickedness prevails, God descends to the earth in bodily form and sets up the order. As such, they worship him in the forms of such incarnations. Buddhists do not admit the existence of God, but they believe that the enlightened persons arise from time to time. They treat Gautam Buddha as fully enlightened and worship him as such. The people belonging to the faiths originated in West Asia do not accept the theory of incarnations. They believe that God reveals through holy beings. Such holy persons are treated as prophets and the followers worship them as the messengers of God. Christianity thus considers Jesus as the son of God and Islam considers Muhammad as the prophet. They are against idol worship and even resort to iconoclasm. Jain DHARMA stands away from such beliefs. Its approach is rational. It stipulates that whatever exists continues to exist in one form or another and that nothing can be produced out of nothing. As such, it refuses to accept the concept of creation or the Creator. It believes that every living body has a soul, which is inherently pure, but presently happens to be stained by Karma. The religious pursuit therefore consists of endeavoring to shake off the impact of Karma and to attain the perfect purity of soul. Such purity is considered analogous to omniscience. Those, who have attained the same, are therefore treated as Godly and worshipful. The concept of perfect purity and omniscience may seem abstract, but quite a few accomplished persons have realized it by deeply contemplating over the nature of soul. Since it is hard for an average person to make out the intangible concept, most of the people resort to idol or other tangible object in order to realize it. Such objects are lifeless and cannot come close to the concept of omniscience. The people have, however, to resort to the same on account of their inability to visualize the intangible.
THE FIRST INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES OF GURUDEV CAN NOW BE ACCESSED on KINDLE for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Sample it for free first. We will try to have some books available before year's end. Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-ebook/dp/B003AZY6V6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8x=1268097084x=8-2-spell |
