Welcome to Conscious Namaz

How do we become more Conscious?

To understand what is conscious, you will first have to understand what is sub-conscious. As simple as I can put this out, sub conscious state of mind is when your mind and body can do things without even thinking about it. It's literally like an auto-pilot mode, simply happening without any one’s control. It sounds fun doing two or three things at once for saving time, but surely not a way to practice anything sacred or important. One good example of a subconscious mind activity is you brushing your teeth. While brushing, almost every corner of your teeth is cleaned without you even thinking about it, the brush just moves swiftly all across. Mostly while brushing your teeth, you are also abusing your boss in your mind or devouring some delicious breakfast or repenting the drive to work through bad traffic. All of this is just happening almost by itself. Talking about driving, another good example of subconscious activity is driving a car. You steer, brake, clutch and also switch lanes almost without thinking. The subconscious mind is good at doing these mechanical tasks but if I may ask in favour of the Almighty, don't you think doing anything sacred deserves some conscious attention? Just like driving a car or brushing your teeth subconsciously, you recite every verse from the Qur'an just subconsciously. From the first Surah you recite in your Namaz to the end, your mind is wandering somewhere else but your mouth is simply reciting or your ear are simply hearing and not listening. This is what draws a line between a powerful prayer and a feeble one. I am not saying the impact of subconscious recitation is nil, but the impact will be far less than conscious reciting and feeling the vibration of the sacred texts.

Let's now get to understand what being conscious looks like. Again, imagine you are driving, someone cuts you off and your subconscious reaction to it would be scream and cuss at the other driver or simply just get upset, but if you are conscious, you will have the capability to understand if the other driver was in some emergency or you simply just consciously choose to forgive and joyfully continue your day. Being conscious helps you look at the world from a fresh perspective, being conscious helps you clear of all the negative chatter in your mind, being conscious makes you let go of any trauma, negative emotion or damaging belief without the need of a therapist. That's why conscious praying is one of the most powerful ways to healing your mind body and spirit.

One of the primary reasons we are asked to use a number count while doing anything that has spiritual significance is for helping one to be conscious in that moment while doing it. Be it reciting three Qul surahs for three times, or be alhamdulillah, Allah hu Akbar or Subhan Allah for 33 times, or simply drinking water using your right hand in three precise sips. What does this explain? Let's go a little deeper to understanding this. When we are drinking water while having a count of it, our mind stays present keeping account of numbers and by doing this, it stops every other thought that is revolving around your mind in that moment. Since water is one of the most sacred elements of nature, it is supposed to be consumed while being utterly present. This is not just a question of sin or virtue here, but a scientifically underlined heavy impact of negative thoughts on our body while drinking water. The thought of the moment is this, when drinking water is supposed to be sacred and Conscious, do you think praying all the five times namaz or Tahajjud is to be done with a wandering mind?