And, a whole bunch of people carry miniature amulets and statuettes, with Obama leading the way, carrying a Hanuman statue, among other things :)  I read somewhere that carrying a  three dimensional image of a deity helps..

February being the Valentines day month, we will talk briefly on the KLEEM mantra/sound -- this is the Love/Relationship Mantra !!  Most of us might haveheard  mantras with prefix
​"Om Hreem Kleem" etc etc, typically chanted by Pundits. during poojas...  I realized fairly recently that KLEEM is to attract love/relationships and probably is a spiritual solution.  There are many videos you may reference, but this one sounded most interesting.

Thank you for the RSVP for the upcoming meetup on Sunday, Feb 4th,,
The agenda is appended at the very end for reference. With ref to our topic of discussion "Establishing a Connection With God", and the Mantras (or sacred names or God/sounds) typically used to stay connected with God. I guess some additional information might help:

The point of any sacred sound, as far as I understand, is that the SOUNDS CAN CREATE.  there are plenty of examples in  the scriptures of the world. (see some examples below)..Isn't it great?  How many of us have actually used a mantra and tested its efficacy? 

• Bible (John 1:1) for example, opens up with the sentence, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" ..The usage of the Word here is not different from sound, pretty much meaning that the World was created with Word.
  
  
• Someone sent me yesterday this quote from Sadhguru, which I really liked in this context. He says,  " The whole existence is vibration, and so is your thought. If you generate powerful thoughts and let it our, it will manifest itself"  .. there was some reference to Nada-Prapancha  ( sound - universe), but I couldn't much info anywhere.
  
  
• In Hindu religion, mantras are all over the place, with AUM being the one used for the formless Absolute and any other sounds typically added indicating some form of deity or a persona (with a form).  Like for example Om Gum (for Ganesha, etc)
  
  
• In Jewish or the ancient  Aramaic incantation ‘Abracadabra,’ meaning ‘I speak therefore I create.’” In Sufism, there are 99 names of God, which are chanted with much reverence.
• Oh by the way, I forgot about the super duper science called "String theory"   (by the way, if you are wondering what the heck is String theory, you are not alone..I don't know either :)  Here is a one-liner. from scientific community ." String theory is our most recent attempt to answer the question. So, what is the world made of"​

This documentary film, shot and produced in Lucknow, India, includes interviews with Papaji along with rare footage of Sri Ramana Maharshi. There are also testimonials from some of the many people who have attained freedom through Papaji's presence and grace. ​

The real question is, what are we pursuing??...GOD or the so called "rewards" (Health, wealth, relationships,name,fame etc)... The fact is most of us pursue rewards, which is normal. As believers, we "expect" God to help us in our pursuits!! Hence the question, "Would you still call God as GOD if he/she/it cannot do anything for you?. 

​We judge God by the ability to help us to achieve the desires of our minds. The logic of the mind is that "The atheist may be equally rewarded or more rewarded despite his non-belief and your belief" ... the quick response from the spiritualist is "ok, so be an atheist, if that looks more profitable" .  The point is, in every human being, there is an inner thirst for something, which cannot be satisfied by obtaining the "rewards", whatsoever! 

To get Love of God for God's sake is not easy, and is highly acclaimed in all scriptures..but the point scriptures want to tell us is, after some time,  material pursuits will fail to satisfy us .and that the true happiness is found only in GOD..A life full of material prosperity but devoid of God, would be meaningless, from a spiritualist's perspective..Nature knows how to pull the rug below out feet, in a snap, and we suddenly we could suddenly find many things we value now, utterly of no use !! 

In the spiritual pursuit, "Mr.Mind" will continue to play the distracting games like this and do the "throwing stones" thing...."look there", "look here" etc.. "look at the atheist, he has no problem" ..."see, god has given you nothing, and you have been praying to for so long"... "Mr. Mind" will ask us do something now, and the next  moment, it will ask us" why we did it :).. We need to use our discrimination (and logic) to bring the mind back to the path of God!
 
Now, the ancient seers of all religions understood human frailties and they have suggested many spiritual solutions to the problems of life...we can discuss/experiment with them in due course.

Let me take a quick stab at it. Would like to start-off with a counter question? "what would prove God's existence" ? Miracles? 
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To me, God IS Existence, it doesn't require a proof...Now, if the mind requires a logical proof with a language, that would be a hard-sell because God is beyond the mind. The purpose of pretty much all medicational  practices is to go beyond the mind.  For example, the difference between a living body and a dead body is presence of life energy, which makes everything work.. This life energy is called by different names, soul, consciousness etc. Hope that helps.

The debate between atheists & believers is ancient and continues to this day!! It has never gotten anywhere! Every argument broken by a different argument, spiced by trading insults & taunts!!
Check out the heated debate between Deepak Chopra  vs Sam Harris , regarding the existence of God :) :)  

Most of us are too busy with work to take note of moon phases and its impact on mind. While God is always accessible, nature makes certain times very conducive for one's spiritual progress

• Feb 13, 2018: Shivaratri 2018 : Also called “Night Of Shiva”, celebrated a day before new moon (Amavasya). It is said that by staying awake from 6pm -6am, typically fasting on water or light food, and maintaining a spiritual ambience, everyone can get significant benefits. According to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev “The unique planetary positions on Mahashivratri are such that there is a natural upsurge of energy within the human system.”.  
  
  Here is an interesting video from Dr. Pillai on Shivarathri
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feIQsIpk5uo
  
  At some point, we can talk about the phases of the moon and its effect on our mind.  By the way, several Hindu festivals are tied to certain “waxing” moon phases…like for example, Ganesh Chaturdhi , 4th moon, Ekadasi- 11th moon , 
  Ram Navami -9th moon etc.
  If you  are wondering what moon phases are, just remember that  between a new moon (Amavasya) and a  full moon (Pournami), the moon “waxes” for the first 14 days  (days 1 to 14), then full moon and then  “wanes” (days 1 to 14) and then New Moon. (English word “new moon” is confusing, because actually there is no moon!!).  Each of moon phasea can potentially be used to attract certain energies, for our spiritual and material progress!
• Jan 31, 2018: Total Lunar Eclipse: If you are interested in astrology, eclipses mean quite a lot!!  Hopefully, we can talk a little bit on astrology in one of our meetups. Often, situations, people and many things get “eclipsed” out of our lives around eclipse times  :) 
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  “Millionaires don’t need astrologers, billionaires do”- JP Morgan.
  https://karenchristino.com/evangeline-adams/j-p-morgan-and-astrology/