Why We Expect so Much

We tend to get caught in sense illusion. We feed illusions and mistake that for fulfillment. The minute what we expected to achieve does not happen, it makes us feel disturbed. And if the same situation turns in our favor, it excites our senses. However, joy and sorrow are never permanent. They have tendencies to change in accordance to the situation. So whatever is bound to change is not real and what is not real cannot be true.

What, then, is truth? Changing situations are always the reason for our happiness or unhappiness. But neither the changing situations are real nor the joys and sorrows. They are just relative terms. These are creations of our avivek or lack of discrimination that makes us float on the surface, preventing us from knowing our true nature. The five subtle organs of sense, that of touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight keep us occupied all through life and we are unable to look beyond these.

The world is bound by causation of changes; therefore nothing is permanent. Environmental changes are seen in the shifting seasons, alternating day and nights and the movement of the earth signifies these changes. On the physical plane these are present in the form of positive or negative emotions. Positive feelings fill us with joy whereas being caught in the web of negativity reflects unhappiness, insecurity, uneasiness and in its more intense form irritation and anger.

We get caught in a whirlpool of being happy or sad due to ignorance of our real self. Our true nature is love and that is concealed in pure consciousness. Depriving us of this true nature draws us to experience unhappiness and discontentment. Once we become aware that the changes are meant to be only on the surface or at the gross body level it is slowly revealed to us that we are but pure consciousness. We always exist with it. Only the discriminative power is absent.

The causes which are exact opposites are limited and occasional whereas the joy of Brahman is self-existent, universal and independent of particular causes and objects. There is no obligation to be pleased with success and pained with failure; both can be met with perfect equanimity. Our attitude to pleasure and pain is determined by force of habit. Actually it is ego-consciousness that enjoy and suffers. It continues to do so as long as it is bound up with the use of life and body and is dependent on them for its knowledge and action. But when the mind becomes disinterested and free and sinks into a secret serenity, when its consciousness becomes illuminated, it gladly accepts whatever happiness, knowing full well that these contacts come and go.

The illuminated consciousness removes avidya or ignorance and the glory of truth is revealed; the sat-chit-ananda. Deliberating on this reality gives us true insight into our pure self. Sat is truth or existence, chit is intelligence or consciousness and ananda is bliss. By constant and conscious reminders one could work towards dwelling in this permanent Truth. When all penetrating existence that is formless shapeless, Supreme energy in Creation become one with the intelligence or experiences the aspect of pure consciousness, one enters into a state of eternal happiness and divine bliss or ananda.

What You Think

A person is said to have achieved yoga, union with the Self, when the perfectly disciplined mind gets free of all desires, and becomes absorbed in the Self alone.                      Gita 6.18

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.                    Gautam Buddha

The powers of the mind should be concentrated and the mind turned back upon itself, as the darkest places reveal their secrets before the penetrating rays of the sun, so will the concentrated mind penetrate its own inner most secrets.                    Swami Vivekananda

The thinker is the thought. We would like it to be different so that the thinker may explain the things to himself by means of the thought.

Full of Faith

A man of faith, absorbed in faith, his senses controlled, attains knowledge and knowledge attained quickly finds Supreme peace. But the ignorant man, who is without faith, goes doubting to destruction. For the neither doubting self there is neither this world, nor the next nor joy.                Gita 4.39-40

Faith is composed of the heart's intention. Light comes through faith. Through faith men come to prayer. Faith in the morning, faith at noon and at the setting of the sun. O Faith, give us faith!                   Rigveda

The Soul is Immortal and the Body is Mortal

Meaning: According to the line of Rigved 1/164/38 and Athervaved 9/10/16 – the scripture has explained that our soul is immortal and the body is mortal. The soul is the master of all the activities of the body, because the body can function only as long as there is soul in the body. Even highly learned men and highly intelligent men do not know about the soul. The goal of life is to know the soul

Message: Almost all men are ignorant or have false ideas about the mysterious relationship between the soul and the body. From where the soul enters the body and where it goes after the body’s death has always been a matter of debate. The Gita very clearly states that the soul cannot be cut or pierced, no fire can burn it. Nor water wet it nor can the wind dry it. Thus it is clear that the body does die, but despite its death the soul does not die. The soul is immortal, always exists and is eternal. Despite the death of the body, the soul remains as it is.

Although the soul and the body are different in nature, they stay together. The sage tells us in the scripture ‘kathopanishad’ that the body is like a chariot with horses harnessed to it. The reins of the horses are in the grip of the charioteer, and the drives them although his boss is sitting behind. The charioteer drives the chariot according to the order of his boss. The body is the chariot, the senses are the horses, the mind is the harness and the intelligence is the driver or the charioteer. The soul is the lord and master of this chariot and hence the intelligence has to do whatever the soul orders. The mind and the senses have then to act accordingly. As long as this process is followed, the chariot teaches the destination i.e. achieves spiritual uplift and salvation, otherwise one knows in which species the soul will have to migrate in the vicious circle of births and deaths.

There is a paradox of immortality of the soul and mortality of the body, and yet there is an unbreakable relationship between the tow. As long as the body is alive, the soul does not leave it despite whatever disregards man shows for his soul. For practical living, both spiritualism and materialism are necessary. There should be simultaneously an attempt must be made for the uplift of the soul. We should review every moment our deeds and go on purifying our attitudes. Self restraint should be made regular feature. Attention must be given to mental health along with physical health also. Pure thoughts are born only when both remain healthy.

The usefulness of the body lies in deeply imbibing this truth deep within the heart and bringing it in one’s conduct.

The jewel of the soul is priceless and yet is being squandered like this, in exchange for a mere shell.

One has to try to develop one’s inner feelings, which can be done simply by training one’s mind. This is a priceless human asset and one you don’t have to pay income tax on.

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today

Some truth

Your Servant

Act not in such a way, O my Lord, That my work may go wrong And Thou may merely watch, Sitting at a distance.... With confidence in Thy Name, I have given up hope of others My mind finds no comfort in worldly observances, Accept the service of Guru Ravidas, Thy Slave O Lord And manifest Thy Name the purifier of the fallen ones. Who other than Thee can do such a thing O my Lord? Merciful to the poor is my Lord Who had put the canopy (of spiritual sovereignty) over my head He whose touch defiles the world, On such a one as me Thou alone can bestow Thy Grace.                        Guru Ravidas

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant not the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.                           M.K. Gandhi

Nothing in Return

Let not the fruits of action be not thy motive, nor be thy attachment to inaction.              Gita 2.14

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.                Gautama Buddha

It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, nay not be in your time, that there will be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing there will be no result.                 MK Gandhi

The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results; all his selfish desires have been consumed in the fire of knowledge. The wise, ever satisfied, have abandoned all external supports. Their security is unaffected by the results of their action; even while acting, they really do nothing at all. Stay free from expectations and from all sense of possession, with mind and body firmly controlled by the Self.                             Gita 4.19-21

Proper Food Including exercise

Meaning: The line of Rigved 4/40/5 says us that – our diet should be such as to contribute to the constant growth of our intelligence, longevity and strength.

Message: Life is not possible without food. Every man must pay more attention to his diet. It will be health-giving in proportion to its cleanliness, and simplicity. It has been clearly said in Geeta that simple or ‘saatvik’ foods are those which increase longevity, intelligence, strength, health, happiness and love, which are viscous and juicy, which remain stable and by nature are pleasing to the mind. We should always take ‘saatvik’ and balanced food. Instead of gorging ourselves we should eat frugally. Gautam Buddha also advises that, “ A person who takes one meal a day is a mahatma (great soul), one who eats twice with restraint is intelligent and one who eats more than that is unfortunate, a great fool and is like an animal”. That is why there is a saying that one who eats once a day is a yogi, twice a day is a bhogi, (i.e. a man of the material world) and three times a day is a rogi (i.e. a diseased person). Control over the tongue is extremely necessary. One should decide one’s diet by careful attention to what is proper and improper, what should be eaten and what should not be eaten. That increases ‘saatvikata’ (moral simplicity), forbearance and spirituality, and all other sense-organs remain under control.

One very great and easy means of diet-control is ‘asvaad vrat’ i.e. a vow to eat only boiled food without salt, sugar ands condiments. It implies that we should not become slaves of taste. It does not mean that we do not eat all the food worth eating in this world and lose the natural power (of taste) of our tongue. The meaning of this vow is that we do not neglect adopting the foods that are necessary for the nutrition, health and protection of the body, and always keep the tongue under control. For cultivating that habit we should eat boiled food without salt and sugar and also eat fruits.

By taking ‘saatvik’ and limited food, there is no loss in any way neither bodily, economic nor societal; on the contrary there is benefit only. Whereas the simplicity in food habits is necessary, regularity is very important from the viewpoint of health. Going to bed, getting up in the morning, taking bath and similar daily routine must be punctually done. Disorganization in daily routine spoils the health. Some people are very lazy and do not maintain any schedule of daily routine. They are haphazard; they have no fixed time for eating and do not keep any fixed time for bathing, sleeping, toilet etc. Everything in their lives is topsy-turvy. The body’s energy bears this misconduct for some time and in the flush of youth, nothing is visible. But by the time the body is middle-aged i.e. 35-40 years, the body becomes a house of disease and in some cases hardly has the age of youth started, when old age takes over.

Only by proper food and daily routine including exercise does the life become interesting which in turn contributes to our longevity by increasing intelligence, and bodily and spiritual strength.

You have no control over what the other guy does. You only have control over what you do

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation

Performing Good Deeds

Meaning: As stated in the Atharvaved 7/30/1 – Man should perform such good deeds as will give him the love of his mother, father and spiritual teachers.

Message: The cornerstone of man’s stability and progress is his responsibility to his duty. If we give up our responsibilities and ignore the prescribed duties, then such obstacles will also be created that life as a human being will also become impossible, leave alone progress. Every achievement of life depends only on responsible accountability. The stability and protection of every achievement depends only on dedication to duty. We have been granted the invaluable body. It can be made healthy, strong and long-lived only when bathing, cleanliness, work and exercise, punctuality, disciplined diet and restraint on pleasures of the senses are observed. The mind becomes powerful and capable when it is saved from worry, grief, disappointment, anger, excitement etc and fortified with enthusiasm, joy, daring, contentment, balance, patience, confidence, concentration or engrossment and similar qualities.

A person gets many facilities and a proper organization through the family. But these facilities are available only to those who fulfill their duties towards other family members with full eagerness, care and honesty. A wife is not obtained only for service. It is also one of the duties to fulfill all the needs for her development comforts, contentment and health. A cow gives milk only when the owner feeds her sufficient hay. Only he will get the joy of married life, who will win his wife’s heart by doing his duties. Also the children of only those persons will be cultured and well developed, who give them their love, time and cooperation and are always eager for their development and culture. And only they will receive the love and blessings of parents and spiritual teachers who will look after their comforts and honor them. Only they should hope for receiving the overwhelming love and cooperation of their brothers and sisters who are willing to sacrifice their lives for them and give them plenty of love. Only the people dedicated to their duties, can get the joy of family-life. Contrary to this, those who only claim their rights for facilities but forget the condition of doing their duty, for them there will be no difference between home and hell. The atmosphere of the home will be poisonous because of malice and quarrels. Neither will the wife be a life-companion nor will the children be obedient. The discontent of the parents and jealousy from the brothers and sisters will make the home like a crematorium

For those who are ready to carry out their duties at every step and bear with the defects of other family members, the home is like heaven. But, for those who have big expectations from family members and are themselves negligent towards their own duties, home is like hell.

Our responsibility is towards self as well as God. Our existence is also for God. It is also necessary that we listen to the voice of conscience and go on striving for making the human life meaningful by doing our duty for the tasks ordained by God.

Only by such good deeds do we receive everyone’s love and family-life becomes heavenly.

Live with Restraint and Celibacy

Meaning: As stated in the line of Rigved 10/18/4 and Yajurved 35/15 – God has granted a longevity more than a hundred years to mankind. Therefore, man should live with restraint and celibacy and not die a premature death.

Message: The Creator has made this creation with his remarkable skill. He is everywhere. He is the guardian and decides the destiny of all. Everything works according to His rules and control. He does not allow disorganization anywhere. There are 84,00,000 forms of life in this world, each form of life more wonderful than the other, some so small that they cannot be seen or even fifty times more than a human being’s. Every life has a definite life-spam ranging from one to two seconds for some to several hours, for some others to some das, and for yet some others years. If we see all around us with open eyes, then by seeing this definite order, our mind fills with awe.

God has granted innumerable blessings including that of life-spam to all forms of life. Everyone’s life-span is decided. He has fixed the life spans of even trees and plants. The life of the wheat-plant is around four months, during that time it sprouts from the seed, grows and bears grains and then dries out. If we wish that wheat-grains should be ready within one month’s or that the plant should remain lush green for one year, then it is against the rules of Nature and also not possible. The same applies to all trees, plants and other forms of life.

In the same way He has decided man’s life-span as of one hundred years and it is expected of him that he should not break this limit and not cross it, i.e. all human beings should live for about a hundred years and should not die before that. We should push away premature death through our diligence. This is the promise of God to his dear children and His order also.

God has graced us and given this human body complete with all qualities for fulfilling certain special aims. These special aims can be fulfilled only when we maintain our schedule of diet and daily routine in such a way as not to fall ill. Except for man, other forms of life do not fall ill. In their rhythm with nature, they live their full life-span and die when their time is due, but never fall ill. In contrast to this man always conducts himself against the nature and is always suffering from one or the other illness. More money is spent on medicines compared to the amount spent on food, and man dies prematurely by leading a life of burden.

Man should make labor, austerity and diligence a part of his life while observing restraint and celibacy in life so that even if death comes to his door, it will turn away, seeing that the man is still busy and it is not yet time for him to depart from this world.

Instruments of Peace

In my early morning meditations, I can hear the call of the world for peace – not just for an end to conflict, but for a deep, inner stillness and calm, which we remember as our original state.

To find peace, first we must teach ourselves to become quiet; only then we can become peaceful. Becoming peaceful means to seize the reins of mind and bring runaway thoughts to a halt. Once we have the mind’s attention, we can begin to coax it to take us into silence, a true silence; not the place without sound, but the place in which we experience a deep sense of peace and a pervasive awareness of our well-being.

To move into this state of profound silence, we must train the intellect to create pure, good thoughts and to concentrate. Our wasteful thoughts burden us. Our habits of creating too many thoughts and words exhaust the intellect. We must ask, “How can I cultivate the habit of pure thought?”

Who is it that yearns to go into silence? It is I, the inner being the soul. As I detach from my body and from the distractions of the world I can face inwards to the inner being. Like a perfectly calm lake when all whispers of wind have stopped, the inner being shimmers, quietly reflecting the intrinsic qualities of the soul. Feelings of peace and well-being steal across my mind and with them, thoughts of benevolence.

I let go of all thoughts of discontentment and am reminded of my oldest, most intrinsic state of being. I remember this inner calm. Thought I have not been here recently I remember it as my most fundamental awareness and a feeling of happiness and contentment wells up inside of me. In this state I know every soul to be my friend. I am my own friend. I am deeply quiet. I am silent and utterly at peace.

This deep well of peace is the original state of the soul. When I am in this state, I feel the flow of love for humanity and I feel a state more elevated than what I would normally call happiness, a state of bliss. It is when I attain this state that something truly miraculous can happen. When I am in this state of complete soul-conscious rest, I become aware that energy is beginning to flow into me. I feel this moment I know there is nothing I cannot do, nowhere can’t I reach.

When this happens, I am experiencing the connection with the divine energy and the flow of God’s power into my inner being. If I stay focused inwards connected with this stream of divine power, even the way I use the physical senses will be different. When I look at the world, I will see through my original nature of benevolence and experience compassion for the world.

It is this power that transforms me inside, making me pure and powerful. When the soul and God are linked together, there is a power that reaches me and invisibly across to others, bringing about transformation in them, in nature and in the world.

The secret of this power of silence is that I don’t have to do the work of transformation. Divine power automatically transforms. Let me do the inner work. Let me go deeply into that experience of the original sate of the self, and let there be silence so that God is able to do His work through me. His instrument.

Householder should fulfill their duty

Meaning: According to the line of Yajurved 19/39 – every good householder must fulfill his duty to make his sons and daughters learned, graceful and strong in character through brahmacharya, good conduct and education.

Message: Man receives the education for good culture in the school that is home. The gems of the society also graduate from this school. The individual and the society are two wheels of a chariot whose axle is the institution of home. If this fact can be understood, then just like the need for making a man capable and the society completely clean, the necessity of making the families also cultured will be understood. Every member of such a cultured family gets heavenly bliss and the vital wealth of progress in the small nest of home.

After the birth of the child, the responsibility for his proper upbringing, food and clothing, education etc also rests on the householder. Not only that, but it is also the duty of the elders to build the character of the children. If this is not properly carried out, then children become the victims of many bad tendencies and they become a curse for themselves, their families and the society. It is also their duty to save them from bad tendencies and to inculcate good habits in them. It is true that children are born with certain hereditary habits and culture, but their development or destruction depends mostly on the prevailing circumstances. The main basis of the children’s mental development is the mental condition of the parents and the family atmosphere. It is also a mysterious fact that the child starts learning as an embryo in the womb and by the age of his 5^th year, completes almost three-fourth of the work of forming his mental attitude. During this period, the child is extremely sensitive. Knowledge, wisdom, practical conduct etc, he learns afterwards, but the age during which his nature and character are formed and his culture and faith develop is up to the fifth year.

That is why the grabhadhan sanskar is the first of the 16 sacraments during a person’s life in the vedic-culture. And, description has been made in the Vedas about the requirements of the husband and wife before pregnancy is achieved. The husband and the wife must remove their faults and bad tendencies and refine their conduct, dealings and speech. In the formation of the child, the father’s seed (sperm) and the mother’s soil (the womb) both have equal importance. The foundation of capable children starts from here. Here the example of the great ancient warrior Abhimanys is well known.

Giving birth to children is not a subject of individual entertainment. The birth and formation of a new personality is a great responsibility. If we forget this duty, then we will be creating the demons who themselves remain unhappy, make their families unhappy and increase wicked activities, and thus by our own sins, we will be creating hell for ourselves as well as for all others.

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation –plato

A gentleman can swear and still be a gentleman if he does it in a nice, benevolent and affectionate way – Mark Twain

Nurture an Innovative Outlook

To creatively handle innovation is a part of wise living. To know and not to act on what you know is equal to not knowing. One has to see this clearly that, 'if you continue doing what you have done you will get what you have got'. Hence, there is a need for innovation in all walks of life.

Our weakness can become our strength. This is true innovation. One has to focus on innovation in different fields like organization, self, creation of wealth and wellness. All this should result in end user innovation' of being happy, being valued and feeling a sense of belonging.

The organizational research and knowledge management wing should have methods to arrive at and check whether mission and vision statements have just become a jargon..... That is, remaining as sheer intellectual concepts. If it is so, then the very purpose would be lost.

For example, tooth pain is not a concept but an actuality for a person who is undergoing pain. Similarly, jargons like 'cans create success and can't create failure' should be reduced to actuality and not left to be an intellectual concept. It is possible if one persists in one's efforts by seeking answers to powerful, related questions.

Organizational strategy should constantly be alive in all and it should be a working model rather than a concept model. Constantly polishing one's strategy to enhance process, knowledge management and overcome obstacles in execution should be a dynamic process. The mode is one of alertness, as part of organizational innovation. How to keep this alertness alive is an important factor.

Organizational team spirit should always be on a high note so that strength emanates from the team rather than an individual. The health of the organization should be team based. One should not be focused on immediate benefits of strength based on an individual but strength based on teh team that is beneficial for organizational health. Enthusiasm is the mother of creativity; it should be kept alive and not get bogged down by competition.

Self-innovation includes one's attitude, values and beliefs. Attitude is enhanced when the 'state of being is enhanced. To enhance your state of being your body energy and emotional energy should be high. Changing these two states of energy enhances attitude.

The quality of one's life is the quality of one's consistent emotion. Meditation helps one to enhance right and powerful emotions. Emotion is nothing but energy in motion. You get what you focus on. Get inspired by successful role models. Keep these winning strategies dear to your heart.

Innovation of thought is when you turn negative thoughts to positive. For example, thought that comes from deep hurt creates its own dysfunctional groove. Making thought free of inner hurt prevents loss of energy. There is no freedom in seeing since the seeing is bound by the seer. The seer seers and thus pollutes the seeing. A thought which is not free loses power of innovation. So to see without the pollution of the seer is a great part of spiritual innovation.

Innovation in creating wealth and wellness involves doing the right things without worrying unduly about the results.

Feed the Atithi (guest)

Meaning: As stated on the line of Athervaved  9/6 and 3/7 – O good householder men! You should first feet the ‘atithi’, the guest who comes unannounced and then eat.

Message: Atithi has been considered as the fourth great deity after the mother, the father and the Guru (i.e. the spiritual teacher). As such thieves, cheats and criminals may also pose as ‘atithi’ and ask for food, just as the demon-king Ravan cheated the venerable Sita by coming as a monk. In reality the implied meaning of the word ‘atithi is those generous souls who come to someone’s home, even if they may have to undergo hardship, for doing good and by their cooperation and grace, give benefit to the householder. In the ancient times, generous minded saints similarly used to grace householders by their visits and tried to make them happy and prosperous by their virtuous influence. It is but proper as well as necessary to welcome such excellent human being as one would welcome deities. That is why the scriptures advocate that the ‘atithi’ should be considered as a deity and to honor him properly by the injunction k=- ‘atithi devo bhava’ i.e. consider the atithi as a deity.

 Great importance is attached to five yagyas in the Veds and ‘atithi yagya’ is one of our daily duties. When a man comes to our home, who is learned in the Beds and scriptures and who has dedicated his life to the welfare of the world, then we should be hospitable to him by offering food, clothes etc. In addition if some poor, sorrowful, helpless person or orphan comes at our doorstep or meets us at some place, then we should help him in every way. That too is ‘atithi seva’ or service to the ‘atithi’

In the ancient times, the householders used to take meals only after feeding the ‘atithi’ and used to consider themselves unfortunate when they did not come across any atithi. We too should have such sentiments in our hearts. The meal fed to an atithi never goes waste. If by getting energy from our food someone works for the upliftment of the society or country or someone’s life is protected, that itself is important. An atithi should never be disappointed by us and asked to go, but it is also necessary to be cautious about wicked and bad men.

These days special hospitality is shown only to friends, guests, government servants etc because of the possibility of benefits through them. Under any excuse, whether a child’s birthday, marriage, or if someone has passed an examination people are invited with insistence and lavish arrangements made for food. Not only those but arrangements are also made for liquor and dance. Is this really atithi satkar? Is it not give and take that just because someone had invited us for a feast on his child’s birthday, then we too should go one better? Is it not pure business that by spending something on the guest, the path to earning a much larger amount is cleared? Is it not a means to get one’s work done by bribing the higher executives? We should also remember that the amount spent thus on one person’s food, liquor etc can go towards helping ten-twenty helpless persons who are really needy. This itself is real pious deed.

Expanding Circles of Identity

Religion seeks to give a sense of meaning and direction to human existence, providing us with understanding of who and what we are. Accordingly, it is inextricably bound up with the different components of our human identity - as individuals, spouses, members of families, communities and nations.

These are the expanding circles of our human identity, each of which has its place and value. Sociological analysis indicates that much of the problems of alienation and disorientation within modern society are the result of a loss of traditional components of human identity.

These circles of human identity should spiral outwards from the smaller spheres such as family, through the larger, such as community and nation; to ultimately embrace the widest circles uniting all people in universal human solidarity. However; when these smaller spheres perceive themselves as threatened, the opposite happens. They close themselves off from others, isolating themselves in order to protect the component of identity that is perceived as threatened. Under such circumstances, religion all too often becomes part and parcel of that insularity, even nurturing and exacerbating it.

In order to free communities from fears and suspicions that isolate them from others, we have not only to address their physical security, but also to counteract misrepresentations, bigotry and stereotypes that make up barriers of suspicion and hostility that alienate one community from another. Because religion is so profoundly bound up with all aspects of human identity, inter-religious understanding is crucial to the process of breaking down prejudicial barriers and for generating mutual respect and trust.

To ensure a sustainable ecosystem for our common future, the need to comprehend and respect one another becomes all the more acute. Religion is central to our communities' identities and ethos; therefore East-West, inner-religious understanding is central to this imperative.

For effective engagement in this field, we are in need of theological humility. All of our traditions emerge out of specific cultural contexts. Moreover, truth, reality or the Divine Presence is greater than any one tradition. Accordingly, we need to be open to the others' spiritual and moral insights.

swedish Lutheran Bishop Krister Stendahl recommends that we follow three ground rules for inter-religious dialogue. Firstly, always view the other community according to the best within it. Secondly, strive to understand others as they understand themselves. And finally, leave room for holy envy. It is no act of disloyalty to one's own tradition to be able to see something of special beauty and insight in another.

East-West inter-religious dialogue must focus on the discovery of the beauty and wisdom of different traditions in the East and West. Accordingly, programmatic activity -whether through meetings or publications- must enlighten our own communities with insights from other traditions, on the subjects and issues of importance to our well-being and sustainable future. Then, we will be better able to perceive the reality that we are all limbs of one body; all valuable contributors to our collective wisdom that must be drawn upon for the good of all humankind and planet.

Depression as Blessing

A recent research study found that traits like sadness and defeatism define depression but they have their positive side, too. The research conducted by the University of Basel, Switzerland, says depressive individuals perform better than their normal peers in decision-making tasks.

What is depression? Depression is a symptom of deprivation. When you think that you are seriously lacking in something that you earnestly desire, this thought is bound to lead to depression. Depression is not a physical phenomenon; it is psychological in nature. If you feel that you have gained what you wanted to gain, that will give you a sense of satisfaction. But when you feel that you have failed to achieve your goal it leads to depression. In the first case, your life very soon comes to a full stop, but in the second case your life goes on, punctuated by commas.

Unpleasant experiences are painful but they make a necessary contribution to advanced intellectual development. Without undergoing this kind of experience, no one can be a super achiever.

A survey undertaken earlier entailed studying the lives of one hundred super achievers in order to discover their common features. It observed that one common trait of all these super achievers was discontent.

Discontent not only leads to an unending passion to achieve some prospective goal but it also engenders an unremitting urge to achieve more and more. Thus it becomes the master key for a high degree of success, whatever the field of action. Where contentment puts a full stop to everything, discontent pushes you on a non-stop journey. This is the greatest advantage of depression.

History has always shown that those living in carefree comfort, and not therefore a prey to despair, have generally failed to achieve any notable success; in contrast to those who beset by adversity, have fallen into depression only to emerge subsequently as super achievers.

If, according to the law of nature, the journey of super achievement pursues a painful course, you are bound to keep to that course. In this case, you have only two options; either achieve super success by paying its natural price, or die without ever knowing super achievement

Nature has demonstrated this fact in several ways. For example, if you want a glass of apple juice, you have to crush an apple. This applies to anyone who wants to be a super achiever: He is to oblige to tread the thorny path prescribed by nature because, without fulfilling this condition, no one can reach his desired goal.

It is a fact of life that one who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth is fated to live out his life as an average person, whereas those who are born without this silver spoon contrive to achieve great success.

In the beginning, depression seems to be a curse but in the end, depression turns out to be a blessing. In fact, depression is only a temporary phase of life. It is in no way permanent. Depression is like a tedious journey. During this journey, you may be tired or bored, but when you reach your destination, you experience total happiness and satisfaction.

Children Should be spiritually Strong

Meaning: According to the line of Yajurved 33/77 – for the benefit and welfare of the children their parents should make them spiritually strong by giving spiritual and other excellent education.

Message: When man gives birth to children, then naturally it is his responsibility to look after them, to educate them, to have them religiously initiated, to get them married and to help them to earn their livelihood. It is proper for a man to arrange for the nourishment, clothing, and education and look after their health during the childhood and teenage of his children and help them to stand on their feet so that they can be physically and mentally independent in future. It is the duty of the elders and parents to provide nutritious diet, proper education, simply healthy entertainment and proper friends to the children. Such media and atmosphere should be provided to them for improving their qualities, deeds and nature, that they get the direction for becoming cultured gentlemen. An elder who does not carry out this duty should be considered a criminal for neglecting his duty. If because of their indulgence, the children become lazy, given to luxurious habits, fond of only tasty food, arrogant, rude and wicked, then they have done injustice to their children by such ruinous indulgence.

After the birth of a child, the entire condition of the house should be such that there should be no possibility of dirtiness, malice, impudence and immorality. Everyone must carefully keep this in mind. Like a very skilful and sensitive spy, the child goes on constantly observing our conduct and dealings and learns many things. His nature will be formed only on the basis of whatever is taught to him during this period, and on his growing up, his future will be shaped accordingly. For those understanding this fact, it becomes an unavoidable duty to control their wicked tendencies, create gentle conditions of goodwill and good behavior and willingly give up whatever is necessary to be rejected. Parents should not quarrel and have maximum restraint ON SEX SO THAT THEY DO NOT FIND THEIR CHILDREN GETTING SPOILT.

The education of the children is not dependent on lectures and advice, but on imitation. Their tender mind is incapable of understanding long sermons of advice, but their heart is completely capable of understanding and accepting whatever is happening. Therefore, whatever has to be taught to them must be actually demonstrated to them. Now the ancient ‘gurukul system’ does not exist. (In the gurukul system, the child used to live with the teacher in his hermitage in the jungles up to the time of his youth and learn from him). Today there is no atmosphere of good character and culture in the school, colleges and the streets. The children are bombarded with only bad thinking and bad culture from all sides. Therefore it becomes necessary in such a situation that the atmosphere in the home must be extremely clean, peaceful, and full of gentle and moral conduct, so that the children get inspiration for adopting good qualities.

Yoga of Universal Brotherhood

All that which falls within the purview of the five senses is known as the empirical. As these senses – of smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing – are the preceptors of pleasure and pain, it goes without saying that advancements in empirical science have been resulting in ever-increasing means to heighten both pleasure as well as pain.

If we devote just a few moments to look at our own such sensations from a third party point of view, we would conclude that these sensations are in fact being referred to our own ego, the sense of “I” ness. If this were not so then the same objects would have produced the same sensation in everybody and in equal degree. Thus, the ego is the traceable birthplace of all desires and also reason for the relentless but futile struggle to satisfy them.

The question is; who in reality is struggling in such a futile manner? If this is my body and this is my mind, then who is the real ‘I’? The wise call it Atman. It is always the Atman that wants to experience reality in all creation. It is always ego or ahamkara, the ruler of body and mind that always short-changes the Atman in the process. In other words, the ego domain forces an identification of the real self with body and mind.

So strong is the grip of ahamkara that even in death it remains attached to the karmana-sharira or casual body along with all unfulfilled desires. In due course the soul is reborn in another bodily form and there ensues yet another round of struggle to appease the ahamkara through the agency of available sense apparatus.

We can thus further conclude that in essence, the inequality amongst not just humans but across all creatures is simply the inequality in the latent and manifest desires, both good and bad along with the apparatus and opportunity made available by divinity to satisfy the same.

As far as humans are concerned, we see that the apparatus is misused since opportunity is greatly misconstrued. The high level of “I” ness or ahamkara inevitably makes us oblivious to our individually inherent differences in deservedness which we were born with. Leading too much distress and disharmony.

IN view of these underlying facts, all external efforts towards precipitating “peace” and “mutual brotherhood” will come to naught as the individual mind is distraught, being full of unfulfilled desires, having their roots in the subconscious, in the form of innumerable polarities. Experiencing the commonality amongst all, realizing that outer differences manifest as a result of differences in karmic past and finding an easy way to progressively free oneself from these deep-set differences would in reality pave the way towards attaining these noble goals.

Fortunately, animation of Atman into body and mind takes place due to the grace of prana shakti, the dynamic principle of Mother Nature.

If mind, which is forever engaged in desire-satisfying activities, dictated by the ego, merges into prana shakti, this divinely intelligent force which is our own higher dynamic aspect, finds its way into the hither to untraversed subconscious, which is the storehouse of all hidden, unfulfilled desires.

Prana shakti then neutralizes one by one, through precipitation of various autonomous yoga kriyas, all the hidden polarities which represent unfulfilled desires. As self-purification takes place, one can progressively experience Universal Brotherhood in its real aspect.

When a Rose is not a Rose

A wilting rose, wrinkling skin, graying hair, growing kid, all of these remind us of one fact of life, and that fact is: Impermanence. Has this fact of life ever troubled you? Disturbed you deeply? Then you are lucky, because in you, a Buddha could be born. All of us are aware of the story how Siddhartha became the Buddha because he was deeply perturbed by the scenes of a sick person, an old man and a dead body being carried to the burial ground. It prompted him to question the nature of life and led him finally to nirvana.

Let us enquire, is suffering truly in the fact that our skin is less charming or in the fact that we are not as much in control of our business or household as we were 20 or 30 years ago? No. Our suffering is in the non-acceptance of change.

Why do we resist change? It is because we are afraid of losing the beautiful experiences of life. Love, pleasure, significance, happiness, comfort and other beauties of life that we cherish, we do not want the ruthless wave of life to wash them away. We do not know what the 'new' might hold for us. Fear of uncertainty drives us to resist change. On the contrary if permanence were the nature of life, then what if pain, displeasure, anger, disappointment, fear, frustration and the whole host of unpleasant experiences continue ad infinitum? That would be, being stuck in a hellhole.

Seated beneath the Pipal tree 2,500 years ago, Buddha taught the Pratitya Samutpada Sutra which said, "True happiness is this is not, then that is not" True happiness is sourced in wisdom that everything changes. Change happens as the factors that go to constitute something change. Your skin changes when there are biological changes. That we know. What causes a relationship to change? The emotion you feel towards a person is dependent on the perceptions you hold at that point of time.

As life throws up more and more experiences, your perceptions keep changing. Love, affection, friendship do continue through life but they, too take on the changes life brings on them and evolve with time. That is why it started. It changes with passing years. If necessary awareness is brought to it, it has the potential to give you more joy and togetherness. In unawareness the relationship could degenerate into pain and displeasure.

As we observe the truth of what the Buddha spoke, we come to clarity, to peace with ourselves. Who have we to blame? What can really be held responsible for our unhappiness? Some deep seated anguish, disappointments and yearnings lose charge over us as this wisdom dawns. All of us have a control freak hidden in us shrieking for absolute power over everything; all of us have a perfectionist hankering for the creme de la creme in every situation; all of us have a lover in us looking out for ideal responses from loved ones. How do you think our thirst could ever be quenched? It can only be appeased. Hence, the Buddha spoke of freedom as the appeasement of all obsessions. Our obsessions can be appeased when we see what life is at this moment; it is not the next moment. A rose is not a rose if it stays forever.

The Thirst of Fame

Generally everything in life comes in pairs. Not in terms of opposites but in terms of ensuring balance inexistence. Like rights come with duty, freedom comes with responsibility and so on. The secret is to identify the pairs. Some of them are visible and taken for granted. For some others, you have to play something like a memory game..... You have to search out the pair. When any concept is understood along with its pair then it becomes firmly rooted and gives more results than when it is tackled or pursued in isolation.

One such single which is hunting for its pair is fame. Most people seek fame. Some want international recognition and work towards that some want national acclaim and yet others are happy being the leader in the family circle or the colony community. Again the reason for the fame and the talent being showcased can be as varied as flowers in a garden. To celebrate the idea of fame we also have many record books that document the different fields.

Our quest for fame is perhaps only younger than our quest for truth. Psychologists say that every human being seeks immortality and therefore seeks fame..... So that they live beyond their calendar years at least in name. And that is why there is the obsession to 'become'.

Fame brings immediate power. Sometimes the power of fame may not bring any wealth. But it brings honor and respect. What makes the fame lasting? What pairs with fame? Much too often fame is confused with the riches it might bring it is believed that if money is made, dignity and respect will naturally accrue. That is not entirely untrue. Money does buy many things..... But that which is bought, also sells is it not? As the market decides the price for such things, the halo of fame remains, but the substances that makes it, in terms of adulation and trust that the famous inspire, gets whittled down.

On looking a little closer one finds that, since the power wielded by fame is derived from it, lasting fame will accrue only when you recognize from whom you have derived that power and invest it back in them or that. Sacred books live eternally because they invest the reader with the power of divine blessing. Leaders derive their power from the people, parents from their children, a cook from the people who scour his food, a designer from his craftsmen and so it goes, in every field of life.

The pair of fame is thus service, which is to be useful. When there is service, fame comes automatically and this fame is rooted in a noble activity. To remember this is the path to the kind of fame that lives after you is what makes you immortal. That is why a good teacher is remembered at all times and is 'famous' among students of the school and their families.

The Sanskrit tradition identified long ago that the eternal quality of fame and the dignity it inspires is oft-smudged by the grime of life. What remains and dominated all actions is the desire for fame. So it is said humorously in a subhashitani (a couplet which has an inherent lesson in it) that break a pot, tear your clothes and ride a donkey, if you may, but make sure you become famous - at any cost! But surely, not at the cost of crossing the thin line that divides fame from notoriety?

The Glory of the Society

Meaning: According to the line of Rigved 1/164/40 – the mothers should become knowledgeable to make their children properly educated. The glory of the society increases when women produce children after marriage with men of good conduct and make the children cultured. Her sacrifice is as pure as of cows.

Message: In her various roles, woman always spends her life by renunciation, sacrifice, patience, sympathy, love and faith for the human race. One sees in her eyes compassion, beauty and joy. Her speech is the source of nectar for the life. Her sweet smile has the incredible capacity to remove all the disappointment and bitterness of the world. As a wife, she is her husband’s partner, and co-performer of religious duties and rituals. The wife’s tender skill saves the husband from rudeness and animal-life and lends him the dignity of a householder. When a woman adorned with learning, grandeur, bravery, good tastes, warmth and compassion marries a man of culture, good conduct and character, then both in the family as well as in the society their names and fame spread.

The best identity of a woman is as a mother and through motherhood her personality becomes complete. To give birth to a child is not a result of physical entertainment, but a brave responsibility with far-reaching effects. Many and varied problems like the development of the fetus in the womb, the bringing up of the baby after the terrible pain of child-birth, the feeding and exercising of the baby, education etc are connected with it. Ultimately only the parents have to make proper arrangements for it. If the husband and wife have the capacity to bear all the above responsibilities, then they should try to bring forth a new life into this world. In advance, they must make their physical, mental background and family atmosphere so excellent that the child to be born will prove pure and cultured from every angle. Just as we prepare for any work in advance, similarly for this very important plan, there should not be any mistake in the preparation, the time of conception and remains for lifetime in the individual.

Without proper preparations, to give birth to uncultured and undeveloped children not only creates troubles for the parents, but simultaneously it becomes a breach of trust with the society and the country. A society filled with citizens who are wicked and addicted is collectively pushed into the chasm of downfall. Such children become a stigma on a woman’s motherhood. Only when the pious deeds of giving birth to proper, virtuous, well developed and cultured children is carried out with full faith and dedication, can the number of impressive and excellent men increase.

One has to try to develop one’s inner feelings, which can be done simply by training one’s mind. This is a priceless human asset and one you don’t have to pay income tax on!

Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it backs

Purpose of the Mind

To bring a sense of purpose and better quality into our lives we must look at the nature and working of our very mind itself. The mind is meant to absorb information, transform it into knowledge and lead it into action. Action and speech determined the quality of our life and these comes from the mind itself.

First let us understand the nature of absorption of the mind. Wise man who have delved into the truth of this have said that most people’s minds are as hard as a rock. Just as a rock is impervious to water, information that falls on a hard mind bounces off without a trace. A hard mind offers immense resistance to previously absorbed information that prevents the flow of knowledge and action.

Our mind must be as soft as a sponge for maximum absorption. Just as water can be easily absorbed by the sponge and squeezed out, a soft mind easily absorbs information and allows free flow of knowledge into action. The two processes are reversible –a soft or open mind can be easily hardened and a hard or closed mind can be easily softened.

What makes our mind hard or closed? Ancient sages have said that this is an automatic, front-line defense mechanism for the protection of our belief systems based on our state of ego. If we encounter an idea or a situation that is not in line with our thinking, we immediately closed our mind by putting up a block against it. Ego creates mindset. Mindset is a protective mechanism of self-defense because we are scared of what others think about our notions and beliefs. This mindset is self-destructive. For example, a simple discussion develops into an argument and leads to a verbal or physical fight.

Mere gathering of information by our mind is useless. We must transform this into knowledge. Our mind must be extremely pure to be able to perform this conversion efficiently. The results of an impure mind will rebound while the work of a pure mind will reach out for common welfare.

A pure, soft mind is gateway to divine living. Thinking positive isn’t enough, you need to think divine. Only then can we soften and purify our mind. We should review the working of our mind at least three times a day. Was my mind aggressive or calm? Did my words and actions hurt or bring joy to people? An object that slips out of our hand can be recovered, but an inappropriate word that slips out of our tongue cannot be erased. Self-review will free our mind of all obstruction. Ideas and inspiration flash freely in a pure mind to transform information to knowledge.

Three basic steps can be followed: First, allow others the freedom to be as they are, without imposing your mindset of thoughts and ideas. Second, have faith and belief that God is in you. Third, spend some time quietly everyday thinking about your inner self and chanting the name of God. This way our mind which seeks information can be changed into a mind meant for the transformation of our very life itself from human to Divine.

The light that comes from the sun illuminates the whole world, and that which is in the moon, and in the fire; know that light to be Mine.  - Bhagavad Gita 15:12

There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in your heart-Chandogya Upanishad

Overcome Anger

The wise do not look for happiness in them. But those who overcome the impulses of lust and anger which arise in the body are made whole and live in joy. They find their joy, their rest, and their light completely within themselves.               Gita 5.22-24

We should keep strict vigil on the already controlled senses so that they do not get an opportunity to raise their ugly heads. Pure diet is of great help in this regard, in controlling sensual desires and anger.                        Atherva Veda

Anger and hatred cannot bring harmony. The noble task of arms control and disarmament cannot be accomplished by confrontation and condemnation. Hostile attitudes only serve to heat up the situation, whereas a true sense of respect gradually cools down what otherwise could become explosive.                The XIV Dalai lama

Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind.             Patanjali

Yoga leads from ignorance to wisdom, from weakness to strength, from disharmony to harmony, from hatred to love..... from diversity to unity and from imperfection to perfection.             Swami Shivananada

Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the evolution of humanity. This evolution includes all aspects of one's being form bodily health to self realization. Yoga means union -the union of body with consciousness and consciousness with the soul.                      BKS Iyengar

Nehru's Scientific Humanism

We attach so much importance to the nation of God that according to many thinkers like Voltaire, even if God did not exist it would be necessary to invent Him. According to them. God is a psychological necessity for "the mind of man has always been trying to fashion some such mental image or conception which grew with the mind's growth"

In addition, it is our natural tendency to depend on someone else - who we consider to be superior to us in all aspects - in knowledge, competence, power and perfection, for instance. God is the paradigm of virtues and ideals cherished, on whom we can rely in times of crisis and whom we can blame for our failures.

Countering the argument of those who upheld the necessity of God or a God-like concept, Nehru argued, "Even if God exists, it may be desirable not to look up to Him or to rely upon Him." He argued. "Too much dependence on supernatural factors may lead, and has often led, to a loss of self reliance in man." It would accord him; ultimately result in "blunting of his (man's) capacity and creative ability".

Nehru had a tremendous faith in the human. On order to show the supremacy of man over God he argued, "God we may deny, but what hope is there for us if we deny man and thus reduce everything to futility.

Instead of having faith in God and religion Nehru advocated humanism -which he termed as 'scientific humanism'. It represents 'synthesis between humanism and scientific spirit'. Scientific humanism advocated by Nehru "Is practical and pragmatic, ethical and social, altruistic and humanitarian. It is governed by practical idealism for social betterment".

The doctrine of scientific humanism rejects the philosophic, mystic or theoretical approach to humanism in which the quest is primarily for ultimate reality and for individual salvation. For scientific humanism on the contrary, "Humanity is its God and social service its religion". It recognizes the fact that "every culture has certain values attached to it, limited and conditioned by that culture". It also recognizes that human nature is such "every generation and every people suffer from the illusion that their ways of looking at things is the only right way or is at any rate, the nearest approach" to knowing and realizing permanent validity.

Nehru concludes that "we have... to function in line with the highest ideals of the age we live in, though we may add to them or seek to mould them in accordance with our national genius".

Like Sartre, Nehru, too, upholds the view that man continually accepts the challenges faced by him in achieving the targets and goals chosen by him. "Life," according to him, "is a principle of growth, not of standing still, a continuous becoming, which does not permit static conditions". For man, life is a long adventure and an opportunity to test his will and his worth. He does not rest until goals are reached. From every disappointment and defeat, the spirit of man 'emerges with new strength and wider vision'. Nehru expressed this characteristic of the human spirit poetically thus: "I count life just stuff/ To try the soul's strength on......"

Macrocosms and the Unit

There are two points related to reaching the Supreme: Mata and Patha. Mata means a certain style of thought, so we have to see where the action of thinking originates, develops, and culminates; and on what the action of thinking depends.

When someone says, "It's my opinion, my personal view" where does the action of thinking lie and how does it take place? Thinking depends on the unit mind; it originates in the unit mind and is maintained in the unit mind. In the absolute sense what is the unit mind? The cosmic mind reaches a state of maximum crudity through sanchar or external movement and therefore starts returning to its original abode through pratisanchar or internal movement.

The small "i" feeling that gradually develops within crude matter is called the unit mind. Although the macrocosmic mind is the supreme controller of everything in the universe. It does delegate a certain degree of control to unit minds as they increase in complexity in the phase of prati-sanchar. Therefore the unit mind can be called a primary sub-center in a physical structure within the macrocosmic mind.

Unit minds have to act within the periphery of time, place and person, as created by the macrocosm, and their different styles of action are called Mata or opinions. Just as the unit mind is dependent on time, place and person for its creation, maintenance and annihilation, each of its expressions also depends on a particular time, place and person. This is why opinion carries its highest value in a particular time, place or individual, and loses its value or becomes altogether nonexistent, when any of these three relative factors changes..

Opinions do have some value in both individual and collective life. But when one is dealing with the Absolute entity, which transcends the boundaries of time, place and person, does one's opinion have any value? Hence the statement "Yata mata tata patha" is not logically tenable. An opinion held by a particular individual or group regarding the social sphere, the economic sphere, or the political sphere does have some value, but to attempt to express an opinion concerning the absolute sphere would be simply ludicrous.

An opinion is a psychic object. An opinion of a particular person is, in effect, an object of the cognitive faculty (the objects of the cognitive faculty are minds are opinions). So how can an opinion become the subject of supreme subjectivity? How can it know the Knower of the known? One's opinion in this regard has no value for anyone to have an independent opinion about Parama Purusha is meaningless. Regarding Parama Purusha the unit mind can do only one thing; become one with Him as the supreme subject.

The unit mind must accept Parama Purusha as its object and turn towards Him. Rather, it should be said that the unit mind will have to return to its own subject. This should be the only movement, movement towards the paramagati or supreme culmination. If the universe is considered as a circle, its nucleus is Purushottama. If any microcosm located on any point of the circumference wants to reach the nucleus, it will have to move with cosmic ideation floating on the divine waves of bliss.

Lighting the Kundalini Fire

“Fire” said Babaji, “has been sacred to all ancient civilizations. Agni, the God of fire was invoked daily in Vedic times. Have you thought about why fire is so important”?

I said – “One needs fire to cook food and in winter, fire keeps you warm and wild animals away……”

Babaji laughed. “Yes, but there is much more to it. In ancient times, there were no matchboxes. To produce fire, one went through the elaborate ritual of rubbing dry sticks together with invocations to the fire god. When the spark appeared it was indeed a miracle. Where was this fire before it manifested asked seers? Surely it was hidden in the wood always and needed the right conditions to manifest. So fire became a symbol of the spirit, all-pervading, yet manifesting only under certain conditions.”

Babaji’s insights were revealing. Another reason fire was used as a symbol of the spirit, is that fire always burns upwards. Try holding the firewood downwards, the flames always move upwards. Also just one spark is enough to set the whole forest on fire. You can light a thousand candles from one flame with no loss to the original mother flame. What better symbol of the spirit?

The sacred fire of love and compassion burns all self-centeredness to ashes. Ascetics apply ashes on their bodies to show they are free from limitations. It is not only the visible fire which is called Agni. All forms of combustion are Agni. Even the catabolic and anabolic processes that sustain the body are called the digestive fires, as also, the fire of desire higher or lower. A former lover is called an old flame, and not an old water or air because love, desire, and inspiration all these are a kind of fire. So is imagination…

The fire becomes our friend and protector. Our minds merge with the flame and we are one. Fire, like all of nature, has a mind of its own, and our minds are linked intimately with Agni the lord of fire, so much so that the flames fulfill any wish that we may have. So the inner fire, the Kundalini, which is actually part of the universal power of combustion, identifies itself with the outer fire and manifests in the Dhuni. Flames burnt forth from it and reach the thousand-petalled lotus and man becomes God. Vast dimensions of consciousness can now be accessed and tapped

Babaji looked at the fire with intense attention and said, “O Flame of my heart who dances in the Dhuni, go higher and higher and reveal your majesty.” One of the tongues of the fire began to grow tall. My skeptical mind was about to attribute this to the cold wind that had begun to blow when I realized that only the flame was growing. The flame went up like a swaying pillar of fire, almost as tall as the Deadhar tree that stood some distance away.

Now touch the boy’s navel O Agni, May Madhu’s inner fire be awakened with your blessings. I trembled with awe as the tall tongue of fire curved towards me in a flash, licked my navel, setting my whole body on fire. The fire moved upwards burning all obstacles to ashes till it reached my brain and exploded into a many splendored, multi-colored flash that surprisingly radiated a cool, pleasant feeling down my spine. A link had been established between the lower and the higher. The way was clear and I had to traverse it patiently with Babaji’s kind encouragement…….

Improper Diet Reduces Life-span

Meaning: As stated in the line of Rigved 10/18/6 – God has given longevity to all I this world, but man reduces his life span by improper diet and way of living. Therefore it is the duty of every human being to achieve full life span by leading a disciplined life.

Message: God has not just given away this gift of human life. He has sent us in this world as his responsible prince so that by remaining healthy for a hundred years, we lead a praiseworthy excellent life by working for the welfare of all in the society, and keep the flag of our fame flying high. Life is a very valuable gift, and it is not good to waste it in any worthless deeds. Therefore we must become diligent and by giving up bad tendencies, become men of good moral conduct to obtain the full life span of man.

Every man must wish to be excellent, praiseworthy and famous. He must always do beneficial works for the society. Just as the sun, moon and wind are continuously obliging the world, we too should do likewise. Never should we do any work which tarnishes our names.

The best way for becoming praiseworthy and excellent is to save our lives from faults and wicked tendencies and completely crush demoniac tendencies. Man of wicked conduct may obtain some benefits by their mean deeds, but in their heart of hearts they are found constantly sad, upset and weeping. We should make the best use of life, and keep ourselves away from the desires of the senses. Getting trapped in such desires always brings disrepute.

We should go on reviewing and judging ourselves; should go on punishing ourselves for our bad conduct. Our sentiment should be that the leg which goes on the bad path should be cut off the hand which cannot be helpful to others should be cut off, the tongue involved in others’ slander should be cut away, the eye which is unable to shed tears of compassion should be destroyed. Reviewing continuously in this manner, let us be praiseworthy through diligence and good conduct.

To achieve excellence of character and conduct, one must have high level of knowledge, healthy body, stable mind and excellent willpower. Only a knowledgeable, learned, generous and obliging man of good character can get the status of excellence among men. Only with that can be dared to go on adding to his divine qualities and save himself from the temptations of wicked deeds. Divinity comes with divine qualities and with there is an increase in virtue, the person shines with the qualities of compassion, pity, love, generosity, goodness, courtesy and humility and he gets the honor of being incomparable, unique and leading in the society.

This is the only means of achieving longevity.

Happiness on both Body and Spiritual

Meaning: According to the line of Rigved 1/75/1 – if you wish to achieve bodily and spiritual happiness, then be simple in your diet, in your daily routine and deeds and observe celibacy.

Message: Physical capacity is a very important requirement of the human life. No work is possible without good health. The labor for money, learning, status and honor is not possible for an unhealthy man. A man who is healthy can progress in carrying out the necessary works as well as working for the achievement of his ambitions. Proper alertness must be maintained for keeping good health and strength for sustaining physical capacity.

Proper diet, exercise, daily routine and restraint are required for individual health. If this system is disorganized, ill-health results. Bodily and spiritual happiness is achieved only by controlling the organs through restraint. The organs themselves are a means for the soul; they are the servants of the soul. God has provided the organs for fulfilling the soul’s needs and thus making man happy. All the organs are very useful and their activity is for the soul’s uplift and joy. If the organs are put to good use then man can continuously enjoy happiness in life and make it successful.

The fact is that the organs are an excellent means for satisfying the hunger of the conscience. Just as the body becomes weak if hunger and thirst are not satisfied with food and water, similarly the balance of the inner field (the heart or the conscience) gets disturbed if the hunger of the sense-organs is not properly satisfied and then many types of mental troubles occur. These days most men have become slaves of unbridled desires for indulging the senses and the uncontrolled desires devour the master himself.

Only self-control is the door to heavenly happiness and its main mantra is self-restraint. With self-restraint man obtains divine knowledge and peace of mind by the development of divine qualities. The person who does not realize the great glory and the extreme need of self-restraint cannot achieve spiritual freedom and spiritual wealth. As a result he becomes a slave of lust, temptations. Most of the material temptations in life are so attractive and intoxicating that they make us indiscreet, short-sighted and restless and we become the victims of desires of the senses, the desires for quick economic benefits, selfishness and similar temptations. We should strive for self-control by tremendous willpower and adopt the ideal of ‘simple living and high thinking’.

Self-control is the first ladder on the good path. With it, one achieves good virtues. This is the first and foremost requirement for real and organized religious life.

No Rain , No life

Living creatures are nourished by food, and food is nourished by rain, rain itself is the water of life, which comes from selfless worship and service.

Full Life-span is our Right

Meaning: As explained in the line of Rigved 8/67/20 – our life should be such that we should live the full life span. We should live a life of restraint to avoid premature death.

Message: There is a never-ending treasure of powers in man’s body and mind. If these can be saved from destruction and put to good use, then promising success can be achieved in the expected direction. By not understanding this fact, we go on unnecessarily wasting our invaluable powers and with emptied powers, lead a hollow, diseased, weak and unsuccessful life, waiting for death to overtake us.

The body and the mind go on producing their powers constantly through their diet and the store of our powers gets restored. If this production can be used in the proper direction by saving it from worthless spending, then promising progress can be decidedly achieved in any field. Restraint means to avoid worthless depletion of powers. This worthless expenditure is mostly through our organs, the chief among them being the tongue and the organ of sex.

We waste our power through the tongue by absurd talk, slander, back-biting, boasting and gossip. If the tongue is restrained from untruthful and bitter speech, then our speech can be astonishingly influential. It will develop the capacity to bless. ‘Maun’ (observing silence) is considered an austerity. It is not possible for everyone to observe silence like the sages, but absurd talk can be controlled. Let our speech be properly controlled so that it is beneficial for us and others. The other indiscipline of the tongue is because of its desire for new and exotic tastes. As the tongue gets jaded we start eating undesirable foods to tickle the taste-buds. We overeat some very tasty food and because of over-eating, develop indigestion. This leads to fermentation and decay of food in the digestive tract and makes it weak, causing overall weakness. The toxins produced ultimately reach various organs and produce disease. We forget the fact that health is more important than taste and then suffer from the bad effects of this fault.

Discipline of the sex-organs is of utmost importance. Its overindulgence destroys the essence of the body. It is only because of this essence that there is alacrity in the body and luster on the face, authority in the speech shine in the eyes, intelligence in the mind and daring in the nature. Man becomes physically and mentally weak in proportion to the waste of this essence of the body. A man with sexual lust is not able to remain healthy and cannot enjoy along life-span.

The meaning of self-restraint is accumulation of energy. Indiscipline means ruin of one’s capacity. It is a major fact of life that a man becomes bankrupt through such ruin and the man who saves regularly drop by drop, ultimately gains.