There are five major religions in the world today, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the teaching of all of these religions or in the life of their founders, Muraqaba plays a major part. In the case of Christianity we have already discussed the Muraqaba of Jesus. Jesus has also said, “Kingdom of God lies inside thee, find it within thyself.”

Moses spent forty nights doing Muraqaba at the Mount of Moses (jabal al-musa) in Si’nai. In Islam and in the life of the prophet Muhammad we have already mentioned the Muraqaba at the cave of Hira. Bhagavad Gita is the holy book of Hinduism. In it a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna is recorded, which they had before the Battle of Mahabharata.

Arjuna asked Krishna,

“You have talked about having control over one’s mind (Muraqaba), you have also talked about self-realization, but I have found my mind to be utterly confused.”

Sri Krishna replied,

“What you are saying is correct. But by using the right resources, and through detachment, and with continued gayan (Muraqaba), a confused mind can be focused.”

Yoga is derived from Hinduism. Some 2,300 years ago in his book yoga sutra, Patanjali Maharishi presented the philosophy of Yoga. In Yoga, various exercises for improving human health and the details about Muraqaba to activate spiritual abilities are collected. Yoga is a word from Sanskrit and its literal meaning is to meet or meeting, whereas asana means to sit. Yoga Sutra means exercise. There are a total 84 different asana of Yoga. Many of these asana were created after observing the postures of different animals. Yoga exercises help improve immunity in the body against diseases and they are a source for purifying the soul.

Muraqaba also played a major part in the life of Siddhartha Guatama Buddha. When Buddha left his kingdom in search of Reality he spent six years in tough training and eventually did Muraqaba under a tree near Gaya, India. He spent forty days continuously in Muraqaba in search of the Truth. Finally, on the thirty-ninth night he received Enlightenment. There are eight basic points in the teaching of Buddha; the eighth one is the purification of thought and Muraqaba.