Thou are the One you have been waiting for    
Thou are the one who holds you
          and Thou doest so,
               between the palms of Thine own hands

In Thy Hands
The Meaning of Prayer

What is familiar to most as a "hands together" gesture of prayer has been around for a lot longer than the form of worship with which most are familiar and, has both a much deeper meaning and significance.

Those who are familiar with the subtle energies of the body know that there is, in the hands, a reflex point for every organ and function of the body.

They would also know that right in the centre of each palm is a reflex point for the heart and a mirror of the energetic centre of your being – the Heart Chakra - in Thy Hands

Thus, when the hands are brought together, not only are all opposite energies brought to a meeting point, but right in the centre of thy hands is the centre of your being

Simplicity cannot be overwhelmed.

When we press our hands together, we can become aware of tension in the fingers and palms as they oppose one another. We can be aware of the tension in the wrists, in the fore-arms, in the elbows, in the upper arms, in the shoulders, across the back and the chest.

Which hand is dominant? How can there be Balance when the logical mind, which thinks one thing after the other, is trying to find an equilibrium between these pressures?

These internal pressures impress and leave our mental and emotional hand prints on every person and thing we touch.

Self

What of the conflict of the mental pressure between the hands on your concept of Self? 

In placing one’s hands, palms together in front of one’s own heart, there is a point in the middle from where all these opposing tensions of left and right, past and future, male and female, giving and receiving arise – a still point where all opposites meet.

This point is also reflected in between the palms of our hands. No matter how hard we try, there is no way that the hands can be placed so flat against each other that there is no space between them.

From this point, all thoughts arise and are manifest according to the pressures and conflicts acting between the hands.

The Breath

From the still point between perceived conflict, the breath arises and can be heard by the mind focused on the act of breathing.

The rising in-breath comes to full for a moment and gives way to the falling out-breath which changes at the moment it passes through empty to become again – the in-breath.

The cycle continues whether you are aware of it or not. Even when you try to hold your breath and stop the flow, your mind may go unconscious but the rhythm and the flow will continue.

But, as with all things, if you cannot be truly empty, you cannot be truly full.

Focus

Can you feel the pulse of your heart beat in the space between the tightly pressed palms. Can you feel this heat beat all the way up both arms and into the centre of your being?

Can you find the space where the heart beat disappears to your mind. Can you find the space between the heart beats and this becomes your heart?

Can you find the space where the blood flows its stream of life through every cell of your body without the conflicts of left-right, front-back, above-below - which causes the heart to beat?

The gap in the Ego

If, in the silence of the still mind, you place your head in your hands, you can hear the Sruti - the Hum of the Universal Om.

When you allow your self to "fall into" the breath in the act of breathing, there is no awareness of this breath.

When you allow yourself to "fall into" the space between the heart beats, awareness of the heart dissolves.

This can be mighty scary to the conditioned mind that needs to be separate from both the breath and the heart beat in order to keep a check on whether it is still alive or not.

Grace .. is found in the silence of the still mind.
Love .. wells up from the acceptance of Grace

Surrender

Is releasing the need for self validation. What more do you want when you can hold yourself in the palm of your own hands.

There is nothing else. All needs, wants and desires are the direct result of what you perceive as lacking in the perceived emptiness of the space between your hands.

Acceptance

Is being able to sit, or stand, fully naked in front of a full length mirror and, whilst doing this as an exercise, looking yourself squarely in the eye and saying to the reflection looking back at you ..

"I accept myself, in this moment, just the way I am"

Humility

Is the realization that you and only you hold both the essence of you and, the centre of your creativity from which all life and your experience of it arises - in the palm of your own hands.

This is the Essence of the Sacred Prayer – of Meditation – of Bhakti.

Realization

Comes from practicing for no other reason than for the practice – with no hope, need, want or expectation – until the awareness happens spontaneously and becomes a real part of who you are - in your every expression.

Only then can you touch another without leaving your imprint.
Only then can another touch you
        without you receiving an imprint from them.
Only then is there no condition on your being.
Only then can you share the Love you are.

When the mind holds no gravity, there is no weight upon your feet.
Then, wherever you walk, you leave no footprints.
You have become One with Heaven and Earth.

You are the One you have been waiting for
     You are the one who holds you
          and You do so,
               in the palms of Thy own hands

"In Thine Hands" was written, produced and © by Transpersonal LifeStreams®, Tasmania, Australia. The URL's of this page are http://www.anunda.com/enlightenment/hands.htm and http://www.lifestreams.com.au/enlightenment/hands.htm