🧘 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 "𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝" 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧?

ChatGPT isn't just for creating apps or planning your next trip—it can actually help with your inner journey too.

People have asked me in the past: "When you say you had a good meditation session, how do you know that? What do you mean 'good'?"

This got me thinking, so I brainstormed. While reflecting on meditation, I found myself using the Vedantic method of Neti, Neti ("not this, not this") to strip away what meditation isn't:

❌⏳ Clock Time – “I sat for 30 minutes straight.”

❌😌 Physical Refreshment – “I felt less tired afterwards.”

❌🧘‍♂️ Posture Perfection – “I sat cross-legged without moving.”

❌🤯 Thought Suppression – “I had no thoughts for ten minutes.”

❌🌈 Visual Fireworks – “I saw lights and colors.”

❌🔔 Strange Sounds – “I heard ringing or humming.”

❌🪷 Impressive Stillness – “I didn’t twitch the whole time.”

Then came my breakthrough: once I stripped away all external factors and reflected deeply, three authentic measures surfaced from my own experience:

✨ Absorption — Was I truly focused and engaged?

🌿 Peace — Did genuine tranquility arise?

😊 Bliss — Did quiet joy emerge naturally?

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🤖 Here's where it gets fascinating...

Now that we have our “measures”,  I asked ChatGPT an unusual question:

👉 "If absorption, peace, and bliss were on the y-axis, and meditation methods or stages were on the x-axis, how would the chart look—using Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita as a framework?"

I knew that modern methods like app-based meditation, mindfulness, or TM don't appear in the Gita—but I asked ChatGPT to include them anyway alongside the classical yogic stages.

Without any values or guidance from me, ChatGPT autonomously created this progression:

• App-based meditation → mild relaxation
• Mindfulness → steady peace
• Breath practices (Art of Living) → higher absorption
• Transcendental Meditation → deeper bliss
• Classical stages (Dharana → Dhyana → Samadhi) → complete fulfillment

Then I asked it to create two visualizations:

1. A line chart showing how absorption, peace, and bliss increase across methods
2. A bubble chart where bubble size = depth/impact, with Samadhi as the golden culmination

The AI mapped the entire inner journey—bridging 3,000-year-old wisdom with modern approaches—completely on its own.

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📚 Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Validation

When I asked for supporting evidence, the framework held beautifully across both ancient scriptures and contemporary research:

✨ Absorption:

• Classical: Bhagavad Gita 6.19 — the steady mind like "a lamp in a windless place".Similarly, the Yoga Sutras speak of it as a continuous, unbroken stream of awareness, like oil pouring smoothly from one vessel to another. That is the ultimate benchmark. Even a stretch of steadiness, with less flickering and distraction, is a good sign.
• Modern: TM shows measurable brain coherence; psychology recognizes "flow states"

🌿 Peace:

• Classical: Gita 6.15 — "the yogi attains supreme peace" (śānti). That is the ultimate yardstick. Even small glimpses—a soft calm or a gentle lightness during meditation—point to a good session.
• Modern: Harvard Health studies on mindfulness; Forbes coverage of Art of Living's stress reduction

😊 Bliss:

• Classical: Gita 6.20-22 — "supreme joy beyond the senses". That is the ultimate pinnacle. Even a quiet joy that arises naturally from within, without any clear cause, signals real progress.
• Modern: TM's "bliss consciousness"; neuroscience on gamma waves; Psychology Today's "blissful awareness"

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💡 The profound insight?

Amazingly, the AI recognized these authentic patterns, creating a map of the inner journey that bridges three millennia of wisdom. 

ChatGPT's Bubble chart where bubble size = depth/impact, with Samadhi as the golden culmination

ChatGPT's radar chart showing how different meditation methods score across the three measures. Notice how Samadhi achieves complete balance, while modern methods each have distinct strengths.

Real meditation isn't about duration, posture, or sensory fireworks—it's about genuine Absorption, Peace, and Bliss.

Can you measure meditation? Don't be silly - it's not golf, there is no par score.

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🤔 What's your take? If you had to choose just ONE measure of a good meditation session, what would it be?

#Meditation #Mindfulness #ConsciousnessResearch #BhagavadGita #InnerDevelopment #AI #ChatGPT #Spirituality

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Absorption / Peace / Bliss vs Meditation Methods

𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐠𝐢𝐚: 𝐀 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐊 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰-𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐫𝐢 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢’𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

 

Family nostalgia: A moment with DK Pattammal and her rare interview-narrative on receiving Sri Ramana Maharishi’s blessings

The legendary D.K. Pattammal (my mom’s first cousin) sat beside Amma — Pattammal Periamma in a deep green saree, Amma (Mom) in a vibrant red saree.

She is watching her brother, the great D.K. Jayaraman, sing at the wedding reception.

In a rare video interview, DKP recalls how her father told stories of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s openness — welcoming 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 (he would make Sri Ramana famous in the west), a Westerner, as a devotee, with everyone eating together.

She shared how, as a 3-month-old, she was placed at Sri Ramana’s feet. He asked for honey, applied it to her tongue with his own hands, and seeing her click her tongue in delight, smiled: “Was the honey tasty?” Her father would say, “That blessing is why you were able to sing.”

In the most unexpected way, this connects back to the 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐚 “𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠” 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐫 I first shared on Guru Purnima. (More to come!) What better example of true lifetime charging than D.K. Pattammal herself — recalling how 𝐒𝐫𝐢 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 setting her on the path of music for life.

Note: Added subtitles with English and Tamil Captions to the YouTube video.