considering it an experiment, if successful, would not only be helpful for our planet but also rewarding for our individual selves. I can definitely squeeze 5 minutes out of 70080 minutes per week to see if there’s any truth in it.
PS. Just like U.S. continues to produce brilliant research in technologies and material sciences, India continues to produce brilliant souls for spiritual evolution and liberation of human beings. I consider Om Swami amongst one of such evolved soul. But he’s treaded life more or less like one of us as you’d learn from his memoir [9]
" In the 1990s, an eighteen-year-old headed to Australia to realize his worldly dreams. With little money or support, he struggled to survive there. Two years later, he was earning an annual income of $250,000; by the age of twenty-six, he was a multimillionaire. Yet, worldly success was merely a way station on a journey that began years ago.
As an eight-year-old, he saw a vision of God in a dream, an experience that left him with a sense of deep joy and peace. The dream triggered off his desire to meet God, to see a manifestation of the Divine. He practiced astrology, intense meditation and tantra, yet God was nowhere in sight. Deeply frustrated, he dived into materialistic pursuits to distract himself from the restlessness within.
After years of living the good life, he found he could no longer ignore the old restlessness; worldly pleasures just couldn't fill the void within. He moved back to India and finally did what he had always yearned to do: renounce the world and become a monk.
In the Himalayas, in terrifying silence and solitude, Om Swami practised intense meditation. Death was always close as he confronted starvation, the fierce elements and wild animals. Finally, his sadhana brought him to the ultimate realization: I am what I have been seeking.
This is an astounding memoir of the making of a spiritual life in today's challenging and often confusing times. If Truth Be Told: A Monk's Memoir will light up your path, wherever you are on your life's journey. "
0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54pr9bQ8iiA 1: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/world/60-million-people-fl... 2: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/08/yes-it-c... 3: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/amr-report... 4: http://omswami.com/2015/06/the-greatest-secret.html 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_on_meditation 6: http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/Rama.html 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menninger_Foundation 8: http://www.swamij.com/pdf/swami-rama-beyond-biofeedback.pdf 9: http://www.amazon.in/If-Truth-Be-Told-Memoir/dp/9351368068/
" In the 1990s, an eighteen-year-old headed to Australia to realize his worldly dreams. With little money or support, he struggled to survive there. Two years later, he was earning an annual income of $250,000; by the age of twenty-six, he was a multimillionaire. Yet, worldly success was merely a way station on a journey that began years ago. As an eight-year-old, he saw a vision of God in a dream, an experience that left him with a sense of deep joy and peace. The dream triggered off his desire to meet God, to see a manifestation of the Divine. He practised astrology, intense meditation and tantra, yet God was nowhere in sight. Deeply frustrated, he dived into materialistic pursuits to distract himself from the restlessness within. After years of living the good life, he found he could no longer ignore the old restlessness; worldly pleasures just couldn’t fill the void within. He moved back to India and finally did what he had always yearned to do: renounce the world and become a monk. In the Himalayas, in terrifying silence and solitude, Om Swami practised intense meditation. Death was always close as he confronted starvation, the fierce elements and wild animals. Finally, his sadhana brought him to the ultimate "
It hardly takes an year or two under proper guidance and full commitment to get glimpses of this subtlemost thing, do you dare to invest?
If you fanatically stick to a viewpoint without even evaluating the other view with an open mind, you risk of repeating what religious fanaticism did with pre-modern scientists in the west.
And regarding downvotes, do you think I care? I could have posted more popular comment in favor of materialism to gain more material points :p
Edit: To learn more, you can read autobiographies of two living yogis [0] and [1]. A succinct yet most authoritative practical guide is Yoga Sutras [2].
0. http://www.amazon.in/If-Truth-Be-Told-Memoir/dp/9351368068/ 1. http://www.amazon.com/Apprenticed-Himalayan-Master-Yogis-Aut... 2. http://www.swamij.com/index-yoga-meditation-yoga-sutras.htm