I would often wonder why is it that people hinge on to prayers before starting something new or carrying pictures of gods in their purses for an interview or scribble "om" or "nam myoho renge kyo" in their answer sheets as soon as they are distributed.. And where does this vigor go once the inertia or the novelty of that event is broken and a steady pace is set in. What is the psyche behind this?

I am a practicing Buddhist and we chant as a form of our practice, for hours together sometimes. We determine to make a change in our surroundings and summoning the strength to make something happen for us and others as well. The meaning that I derive out of this whole practice is the law of "cause and effect". What we do is what we get or what goes around comes around.

I ask in my head sometimes, if the thing that comes around is really an effect of the causes that we made or is it to stop us from making bad causes pro actively. Is it magic or is it common sense? I feel that it has more to do with us than a third power. It is a means of checking ourselves and corking our negative thoughts out of the knowledge or perhaps fear of the "it might come around" factor.

I took a friend of mine to a meeting of ours the other day and he asked a simple question which left me contemplating. He asked me that if he chanted to an empty wall, any words that he thinks appeal to him, with all his belief and determination, will things happen mystically for him as well? I did not have an answer to it.. I truly understand the word "MYSTIC". We all have faith in various forms of this supernatural power because it is this word that separates what we understand to what we cannot comprehend. But yet again, the forms of our practices are so different and yet we all believe that we benefit from them. How then, do different means lead to the same magical effect?

In essence, the way I see it, its all very intangible. It is a means of strengthening ourselves outside of our bodies and mind, almost like hinging on to an anchor, a strength that we create in our own mind and let it have a ether like existence outside of ourselves so that when we become weak, we don't take it along with us, and have a way of perching on it and levitating. Its a mind play.. Its like us making a haven for us, with all the pure intentions and taking refuge in it when we are sinking..

Comments

Venkat C said…
Is it not a psychological crutch? Do we need it? Aren't we all sailing in a boat on a river with oars to control our direction but no control on the direction of flow of the river which we desperately try to change by prayer?
I stumbled on your blog through orkut (apparently I like "Life of Pi" and it brought me to your profile."). Keep going and all the best.
Unknown said…
if u were pi then u would have eaten me by now,
if you were hungry u wd have eaten me by now,
if i was pi i had eaten u by now,
life is pi and life is now,
who bothers if u can buy it somehow,
pi was me and pi was u,
pi is now and pi runs thru,



also we try desperately to change the direction of the flow but not only with prayer but with action....with our action and words....
we have the power to change the course of our future.....
if u think that u can make a difference that u must strive to change it.....
most of us do...
suresh said…
something from my experience and understanding : chanting has a beautiful effect on the mind. Out of the five elements, the space is the most subtle and the chants and sounds operate on the space element. Since every thing is interconnected , chanting has an effect on our mind , our environment on the whole cosmos as well.

A synergistic approach as opposed to anyalytical one also provide some answers

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