DharmaCatLamp
Member
Howdy.
So, I have been starting some daily practices to try and connect closer with God. These next two weeks are going to be more devotional than usual for me as I am new to this and my recent interaction with Kali has led me to believe this will be good for me. I figured I would share what my plans are and see if anyone else had any comments, suggestions ect that I might take note of.
I will say that currently there are 4 manifestations of God or forms of God which I find myself rather attracted to. Krishan, Kali, Shiva, and Durga. I listen to mantras regarding each of these deities daily lately. The Buddha is also one of if not my favorite teacher for things like meditation techniques and I find his insights into reality very helpful for furthering my understanding of the Gita and my relationship to Ultimate Reality in general. I will also say that I have had recurring images of various other entities during deeper meditation and dreams ect.
Daily meditation : So, each day when I wake up, I have been meditating with a focus on one of the various manifestations of God.
Mantras : I have been listening to and chanting along to mantras each day. This has been me listening to several mantras on repeat with the two I listen too most often being a 20-minute kali mantra and a 1-hour long Durga mantra. I have also been listening to various lengths of Krishna and Shiva mantras.
Puja : I’ve been incorporating daily puja into my practice and was planning on doing so each day during the upcoming two weeks.
Listening to the Bhagavad Gita and various other holy texts: I’ve been listening to the Bhagavad Gita every day, reading verses from it and listening to various teachers discussing it. I have also been listening to various other texts and contemplating them each day.
Contemplating God and reality : So, every day I take walks during which I examine my relationship to God, God in general and reality. I consider a rather wide variety of topics during this contemplation and use it to further my understanding.
All in all, this ends up being a large portion of my day, I have been turning my thoughts towards God and asking God various questions during my day. Before each meal I keep God in mind, and I try to thank God while writing or doing other things. Keeping my mind turning back to God and doing things for the sake of God keeps me focused and I have already noticed a general improvement in mood among other things. I figured I would share these daily activities as they are my current plan to continue forward in this newfound relationship with the divine.
I am currently not planning on any specific time required for each activity as I think doing so would limit my flexibility. I want to be able to maintain God consciousness throughout the day without having to focus on any activity for an exact amount of time. It’s not “okay, now I am going to do 30 minutes of meditation and nothing else.” It’s more like “ Okay and now I am going to meditate for as long as I want to before switching to another activity.”
What do you guys think? Is there anything I should add or maybe something you think might be worth sharing about this?
I will also say that this might sound like a lot of stuff to do each day but as of yet I have not tired of it and I almost feel like I could do more. We'll see how it is going by the end of these two weeks though.
So, I have been starting some daily practices to try and connect closer with God. These next two weeks are going to be more devotional than usual for me as I am new to this and my recent interaction with Kali has led me to believe this will be good for me. I figured I would share what my plans are and see if anyone else had any comments, suggestions ect that I might take note of.
I will say that currently there are 4 manifestations of God or forms of God which I find myself rather attracted to. Krishan, Kali, Shiva, and Durga. I listen to mantras regarding each of these deities daily lately. The Buddha is also one of if not my favorite teacher for things like meditation techniques and I find his insights into reality very helpful for furthering my understanding of the Gita and my relationship to Ultimate Reality in general. I will also say that I have had recurring images of various other entities during deeper meditation and dreams ect.
Daily meditation : So, each day when I wake up, I have been meditating with a focus on one of the various manifestations of God.
Mantras : I have been listening to and chanting along to mantras each day. This has been me listening to several mantras on repeat with the two I listen too most often being a 20-minute kali mantra and a 1-hour long Durga mantra. I have also been listening to various lengths of Krishna and Shiva mantras.
Puja : I’ve been incorporating daily puja into my practice and was planning on doing so each day during the upcoming two weeks.
Listening to the Bhagavad Gita and various other holy texts: I’ve been listening to the Bhagavad Gita every day, reading verses from it and listening to various teachers discussing it. I have also been listening to various other texts and contemplating them each day.
Contemplating God and reality : So, every day I take walks during which I examine my relationship to God, God in general and reality. I consider a rather wide variety of topics during this contemplation and use it to further my understanding.
All in all, this ends up being a large portion of my day, I have been turning my thoughts towards God and asking God various questions during my day. Before each meal I keep God in mind, and I try to thank God while writing or doing other things. Keeping my mind turning back to God and doing things for the sake of God keeps me focused and I have already noticed a general improvement in mood among other things. I figured I would share these daily activities as they are my current plan to continue forward in this newfound relationship with the divine.
I am currently not planning on any specific time required for each activity as I think doing so would limit my flexibility. I want to be able to maintain God consciousness throughout the day without having to focus on any activity for an exact amount of time. It’s not “okay, now I am going to do 30 minutes of meditation and nothing else.” It’s more like “ Okay and now I am going to meditate for as long as I want to before switching to another activity.”
What do you guys think? Is there anything I should add or maybe something you think might be worth sharing about this?
I will also say that this might sound like a lot of stuff to do each day but as of yet I have not tired of it and I almost feel like I could do more. We'll see how it is going by the end of these two weeks though.