[Quick links] [Pause] I am sorry that I am still not in a position to record my voice. So, you have to read these posts on my blog. I hope to get back soon with my regular series on Mind that I paused a month ago. The havoc created by Corona unnerves even a seasoned Yogi. So many deaths not just in underdeveloped countries but even in those countries supposedly advanced and on the cutting edge of innovation.  Our scientists are struggling to come up with either a cure or a vaccine for this dreaded virus that has already upset our lives and appears to ruin it altogether. But no hope at sight. All of a sudden, here comes an Indian Yoga Guru who claims that he has a cure for this dreaded disease! Before you dismiss this as yet another ‘Indian rope trick’, please read on. Maybe you will find some food for thought.

[Quick links] [Pause] I started this long series of talks on Mind beginning November last year. I spent a month each, discussing various scientific and philosophic aspects of Mind.

[Quick links] [Pause] Many people associate different meanings to the Yogic state called Samadhi. Most people imply a sudden loss of awareness, or an experience of proximity to the divine, and so on.

[Quick links] [Pause] We were discussing the strange and unusual experience that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to go through every now and then. What was it? Let me start with a simple analogy.

[Quick links] [Pause] Samadhi is the final stage of meditation. It is the eighth step of Yoga. As the meditation continues for a prolonged duration, one slips into this state of Samadhi. The question is – “is meditation a necessary precondition to attain samadhi?”.

[Quick links] [Pause] In the past few episodes, I rushed through a selection of meditative practices from various disciplines, both ancient and modern.  I am sure there are many more ways.  In one of my books namely “Meditation – Important things you need to know”, I have hinted that most meditations ultimately lead you to the same destination irrespective of their form and origin. The time taken to reach the destination may differ in each case though.

[Quick links] [Pause] For many people, Kundalini is an inalienable part of Yoga.  They talk about the dormant mystic power Kundalini, an array of energy centers called Chakras spread all over the spine starting from the lower tip of the vertebral column to the top of the skull.

[Quick links] [Pause]   Meditation is the crux of Buddhism. But then what exactly is this meditation is something not very clear.

[Quick links] [Pause] As I discussed a few episodes ago, the ancient Indian scripture namely the Bhagavad Geetha has an entire chapter devoted to Meditation. It is called Dhyana Yoga, chapter 6.

[Quick links] [Pause] Upanishads may be the most ancient of the philosophical texts that deal with meditation and the ultimate realities of the world. They are parts of ancient Indian Vedic scriptures, which the Indians believe to be eternal and authorless.