Re: advice on "dhyAna" for a novice?
From the Bhakti List Archives
• August 25, 1998
Dear Sri Mani, You have raised a very pertinent question, since I am also faced with the same problem while doing sandhyAvandhanam. While I can claim no knowledge of "dhyAna" nor do I do any sort of contemplation on the Lord, I thought I would share with you what I try to do during these times of mind wavering (especially since you have asked for opinions from any and all). When I start doing Gayathri Japa, my mind invariably starts roaming elsewhere. (A favourite one is to think of what I would get as tiffin immediately afterwards :-) In those times, I start trying to think of a specific image of the Lord and try to keep that fixed in my mental screen. This image is one where MahAVishnu is in a standing pose, with four arms, having conch, chakrA, mace and a lotus flower. I have seen this photo in my grandparents' house and I like this image a lot. Now, after I start keeping this image in the mind's frame, after a few seconds, the mind starts wandering again. In order to prevent this from happening, I try to start concentrating on each one of the aspects of the beauty of the Lord, like his eyes, his red lips, his smile, his "kireetam", his chest, etc. Since each one will take a few seconds to absorb in the mind's screen, by the time I go through a cycle, my Gayathri Japam would have been over :-). Of course, I don't succeed in this all the time, but I try to do this since it helps focus me atleast for a few seconds on the beauty of the Lord. I am not sure whether this helps or whether this was indeed what you were looking for. Just thought I would share my experience. Regards, R. Sridharan. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- R. Sridharan Tel: (65) 874-6717 (O) Senior Engineer, (65) 773-5235 (H) Kent Ridge Digital Labs (formerly Fax: (65) 774-4990 known as Institute of Systems Science), Internet: sridhar@krdl.org.sg 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 119613. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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