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.

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......"

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.

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.

Mango as Spiritual Guide

This is the mango season. That has set me thinking.... Acharya Nagarjuna is a great Indian Philosopher. Many traditions regard him as a Tantric Acharya, in some other traditions he is regarded as an Ayurvedic expert and in yet others, even an Alchemist, but I am yet to come across a story of his being associated with horticulture. I will not be surprised if I discover that some traditions believe him to be a horticulturist. But as far as his knowledge about the mango is concerned it is universally accepted that what he says is but natural and common wisdom.

Nagarjuna in his letter talks to the king about different categories of mangoes. They are special varieties whose appearances and degrees of ripening can be categorized as follows :(1) those not ripe but appear ripe; (2) those ripe but appear not ripe; (3) those unripe and appear unripe; and (4) those ripe and appear ripe. He was extrapolating this with reference to people we come across in our daily lives.

In term of preference, obviously the kind of mango we must choose is the one belonging to the last category as it is ready to be served an there is no risk of waste involved. The second preference should be given to the in my opinion to the second last. Because it does not deceive you, you can just discard it right away or wait for it to ripen. Then the next in order of selection should be the one mentioned in number two. It involves some chances of waste but at least you can use it after some testing before cutting to see if it is really ripe.

 The one you must avoid is the first category of mangoes. Choice of the mangoes in any case is not a big deal and much insignificant, in comparison to the selection of people whether it is a matter of a kalayana mitra or spiritual friend, or an associate in mundane affairs. These days if we look around, there is no dearth of people who are likened by Nagarjuna to the first category of mangoes. They are those who have acquired special tricks to project themselves as friends. They cannot only be risky for spiritual path seekers but also to the society as a whole.

Spiritual friends should not only be spiritually ripe but should also appear to be so. They must be morally clean, compassionate, have association with good people. People promoting themselves as spiritual gurus with tricks are particularly dangerous. There is great chance of getting themselves corrupted, if already not corrupted, by name, fame, wealth and position. In mundane areas also, a friend should be an upright person, with clear mind and wisdom.

A friend can be depended upon as your mitra not because of your position or money power. It is not necessary that your friend or for that matter a political leader is a rhetoric speaker or writer. It is the inner values of the person that count.

This will remain true as long as the values placed on honesty and truthfulness have not vanished from this earth. And the reason why one should believe that is because all of us know the ripe mango which is both ripe and looks ripe enough for you to select, will always be preferred.

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.

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.

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…….

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

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 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

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.

Divine Musical Offering

The musician and the raga are like the priest and the deity. Each morning as the musician sits down to practice, the soulful lyrics and the rhythm rouses the raga’s divine force quite like the ceremonial prayer performed in a temple to ‘awaken’ the deity.

Like the priest, the musician first purifies his own mind, body and soul and seeks his guru’s blessings before he begins to sing. As the temple precincts are washed before the daily prayer ritual, the place where the riyaz is performed each day is cleansed likewise. The priest first 'calls' the deity, what is known as the 'aavahan' with mantras and invites Him to be seated in the idol. While bathing the idol, and before starting the puja, the priest decorates the idol with vermillion, ash, sand wood and silk cloth. So does the musical as he concentrates within himself and sings the initial movements of the raga in deep devotion, invoking the deity of the raga, rousing it awake.

To the chanting of mantras, the priest 'appeases' the divinity present in the idol, treating God as guest and offering one by one, water, milk, honey, perfume, flowers, incense, sweets and fruit and the light of the oil lamp. Similarly, the musician now mouths the lyric like a mantra appeasing the raga's deity by awakening its mandela or mystic svara configuration, note by note, to compose cyclical musical movements in the raga.

As the paragraphs of the raga are sung, in cycles of initiation, elaboration, and conclusion, they expand its presence and aura giving it life and a spiritual extension and each. This is called aaalaap -from aalaapnaa spaces between them, create a heightened presence of the raga's divine presence. The raga's veneration is of the Lord, in the process awakening cosmic love, both in the musician who is singing and in the listener who is present. The word 'raga' means 'LOVE'

The priest then narrates the story of the Lord, to the deity, chanting the many names of
God. The puja ritual intensifies to a climax as the mantra chanting goes on and the Lord is fanned amidst the ringing of bells and the blowing of conches. At which point the Lord begins to shower His blessings on all. in the same way, the raga, too, reaches an ecstatic peak, pitch or crescendo when the musical intensifies its story, composed from its own inner nature into paragraphs of the aalaaap unfolding its intense beauty and loving nature.

Composing in the raga is a very specialized task. The prabandha, composition or structural arrangement of all tree - raga, tala, and bandish or lyric - is in unison, and the musician composes pieces which are expanding wholes within wholes, inevitably evolving geometries of musical dialog with the self.
Each paragraph has assonance and variation by way of contrast, but it also artfully formulates constant answers or resolutions only to continue the process into the next paragraph or cycle of composition. Both processes are the externalization of the intense internal process going on.

In the temple the priest now symbolically showers the consecrated water on all those cian who has achieved laya or union with the raga. The musician who has achieved laya or union with the divine core of the raga symbolized by the heightened 'drut' or fast portion of the singing now showers the blessings of musical prasad on the audience.

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.

Deeds for the Progress

Meaning: The line of Athervaved 20/92/5 says us that – O God! May we, along with our sons, daughters, brothers and friends, always be involved in deeds for the progress of the soul?

Message: To go ahead for personal and spiritual progress, it is necessary for us to have within us the courage to fight against difficulties and lack of facilities. Man should give more emphasis on increasing his willpower instead of increasing the material means. In real progress there is not as much contribution of means and situations as of thinking and ambitions. The proper blend of all these is possible through profound resolve.

All the members of the family must make a firm resolve for spiritual progress and undertake their daily work. With that their personality will become excellent and the family will be uplifted. The formation of man’s personality is the result of his own insight, engrossment and velour, and is much more important than many other achievements in this world. One has to give an introduction of one’s willpower, daring and vision and one has to go in the opposite direction to the one adopted by common people regarding morals and methods. The common people are involved in achieving prosperity and praise in return for a price, while, on the contrary the spiritual persons have to satisfy themselves with little under the policy of ‘simple living and high thinking’ and also face the ridicule, non-cooperation and opposition from their colleagues.

One, who wins on the spiritual front, may not receive cheap praise, may suffer from want in material comforts, but becomes vitalized through the continuous grace of God. Only some rare individuals are lucky enough to achieve deep contentment and the glory of leaving behind an ideal worth following. Greatness is achieved only with idealism in thought, character and conduct.

Every member of the family must strive for spiritual uplift in individual life in this way. This itself is the education of good conduct. What kind of behavior should we have towards our own and others, those of the same group and those of the opposite group, with friends and enemies, known persons and strangers, with external enemies and internal enemies (like anger, lust, greed, attachment etc)? Only they are able to achieve the proper answers to all these questions and doubts, who are constantly engaged in the uplift of their soul. Man’s life is formed according to the results of his deeds. With good deeds he achieves progress and with bad deeds his moral downfall occurs. The Vedas teach us to constantly increase virtues in us and give up bad tendencies. In this way the life will become pure and excellent.

In a happy and prosperous family, all members should behave in this way. It is the special responsibility of the parents to provide the children the experience of excellent behavior and be helpful in their spiritual uplift.

Deeds for the Progress

Meaning: The line of Athervaved 20/92/5 says us that – O God! May we, along with our sons, daughters, brothers and friends, always be involved in deeds for the progress of the soul?

Message: To go ahead for personal and spiritual progress, it is necessary for us to have within us the courage to fight against difficulties and lack of facilities. Man should give more emphasis on increasing his willpower instead of increasing the material means. In real progress there is not as much contribution of means and situations as of thinking and ambitions. The proper blend of all these is possible through profound resolve.

All the members of the family must make a firm resolve for spiritual progress and undertake their daily work. With that their personality will become excellent and the family will be uplifted. The formation of man’s personality is the result of his own insight, engrossment and velour, and is much more important than many other achievements in this world. One has to give an introduction of one’s willpower, daring and vision and one has to go in the opposite direction to the one adopted by common people regarding morals and methods. The common people are involved in achieving prosperity and praise in return for a price, while, on the contrary the spiritual persons have to satisfy themselves with little under the policy of ‘simple living and high thinking’ and also face the ridicule, non-cooperation and opposition from their colleagues.

One, who wins on the spiritual front, may not receive cheap praise, may suffer from want in material comforts, but becomes vitalized through the continuous grace of God. Only some rare individuals are lucky enough to achieve deep contentment and the glory of leaving behind an ideal worth following. Greatness is achieved only with idealism in thought, character and conduct.

Every member of the family must strive for spiritual uplift in individual life in this way. This itself is the education of good conduct. What kind of behavior should we have towards our own and others, those of the same group and those of the opposite group, with friends and enemies, known persons and strangers, with external enemies and internal enemies (like anger, lust, greed, attachment etc)? Only they are able to achieve the proper answers to all these questions and doubts, who are constantly engaged in the uplift of their soul. Man’s life is formed according to the results of his deeds. With good deeds he achieves progress and with bad deeds his moral downfall occurs. The Vedas teach us to constantly increase virtues in us and give up bad tendencies. In this way the life will become pure and excellent.

In a happy and prosperous family, all members should behave in this way. It is the special responsibility of the parents to provide the children the experience of excellent behavior and be helpful in their spiritual uplift.

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.

All the Family Member should be Laborious and Happy

Meaning: According to the line of Athervaved 7/60/4 – all the member of the family should earn and be happy. They should not be upset with hunger and thirst nor should they be afraid of each other.

Message: We may not have money or wealth, we may not even be in a position to give anything to anyone, but we are always capable of one thing and that is cheerfulness. We can constantly get the benefit of virtue and contentment by distributing cheer. If you include cheerfulness in your nature, develop a sense of humor, and then wherever you be, you will be spreading cheer and whosoever comes in your contact will feel pleasant and will be impressed.

In its purest form, cheerfulness is a state of mind which depends on inner culture. There are innumerable men who keep smiling in poverty and can laugh whole-heartedly in troubles. People with a generous and balanced personality are able to laugh in any situation. They know that human life is full of facilities as well as difficulties, favorable and unfavorable circumstances. Up to now no such man has been born who received only facilities and favorable circumstances and had never to face any troubles. In the tales of our ideals Ram and Krishna, there is a description of only struggle against difficult situations in their entire lives. Whatever the great men of the world, they all have smilingly fought adverse situations and have turned them in the right direction by changing them.

The same is the basis for a happy and prosperous family. In every family, the situations of happiness or unhappiness, troubles and hardship arise. A man who keeps on weeping over his troubles, adversities and hardships will always be unhappy. If he keeps comparing himself with more prosperous people, then he will be continuously angry over his bad luck, and will express his frustration with every person in the form of anger. His entire life will be like a symbol of mental imbalance.

As against the above, the person, who compares himself with a person of lower status and is contented with whatever he has achieved, then he will always be cheerful, he will always feel that whatever he has got by the great grace of God is much better than what millions of others have got. In addition God has given us that something for which millions of people hanker. Such person will consider himself lucky. Only persons with refined temperament are blessed with this mental attitude. Such men find joy everywhere and have tremendous faith in people’s goodwill.

The family of people with such thinking always has a happy and peaceful atmosphere. Even by bearing hardships, but living with love and contentment they cooperate with one another. This creates an atmosphere of freedom from fear and worry and through that the path to everyone’s financial, social, religious and spiritual progress is opened up.

Walking the Pathless Path

Sometimes a lesson has to be repeated for thousands of years, not because it was not learned the first time but because new people arrive on the scene. The lesson I am thinking of was Siddhartha's a prince on the Nepalese boarder of northern India. He dropped everything and hit the road, becoming the original or at least the most famous dharma bum. He traveled from seeking to master with his begging bowl, he became impressively austere. Instead of a loving wife, a warm bed, and feasts, he tried the opposite; solitude, sleeping by the wayside, and subsisting on whatever scraps of food he could beg for.

It's still an appealing choice, because we equate austerity with virtue. If the stress of a chaotic world is too much, perhaps harmony lies along a different, quieter, moral solitary road. But the moral of Siddhartha's tale led a different way. Leaving home didn't bring enlightenment, nor did austerity, poverty, starving his body, or trying to force his mind to be still. Instead, Siddhartha became someone entirely transformed - the Buddha - when he hit upon a new road, the one called "the pathless path".

The pathless path isn't a straight line; it doesn't even lead from point A to point B. The journey takes place entirely in consciousness. A mind overshadowed by fears, hopes, memories, past traumas, and old conditioning finds a way to become free. This sounds impossible at first. How the mind that is trapped and old conditioning can finds a way to become free. This sounds impossible at first. How can the mind that is trapped by pain also be the tool for freeing itself? How can a noisy mind find silence? How can peace emerge from discord?

The Buddha offered his answer, which is variant on an even more ancient answer from the seers or rishis of Vedic Indian transcend the personal mind and find universal mind. The personal mind is tied to the ego and the ego is forever swinging from pleasure to pain and back again. But If you look at awareness when there I s no pleasure or pain, when the mind is calm while simply existing, a fascinating journey begins. You have made the first step on the pathless path.

This is not to dismiss the other path, the one that takes you away from home into a retreat, ashram, meditation centre, or holy place. They have their own atmosphere; therefore, the mind can breathe a different kind of air, so to speak an air of tranquility and peace. When you arrive at such a place, two things usually happen. You soak up the peace, enjoying the contrast with your busy life at home. At the same time you notice how loud your mind, is how much chaos it has absorbed. So these holy places can only suggest what the pathless path is about.

Kabir sang of spiritual travelers: "There is nothing but water in the holy pools/ I know I have been swimming in them. All the gods sculpted of wood or ivory can't say a word. I know, I have been crying out to them. The sacred books of the east are nothing but words. I looked through their covers one day sideways: What Kabir talks of is only what he has lived through. If you have not lived through something, it is not true."

These lines don't deny the worth of spiritual journeying, but they tell us that there is no substitute for first-hand experience. Where you go to find it is irrelevant. The true seeker after truth discovers, sooner or later, that truth was seeking him all along.

We Don't Require Leaders, We Require Creators

Outstanding persons are required for raising the level of the society and the country and for its progress in the right direction. Ordinary persons cannot bear this heavy burden. For this purpose, talented great men with leadership qualities are required. Only they are capable of giving good direction to the society. A person does not become an impressive leader merely by speeches from the dais - he has to perform certain deeds and discharge certain responsibilities.

To make the society progress, the leader himself has to be of pure character and raise the level of character of the society. In the absence of the above two, no society can go forward on the path of progress. A society can not exist without a leader and vice-versa, but to-day in every street - corner, we find a 'leader'. Just like the sudden flood of frogs during monsoon, we find the flood of 'leader' in our democracy to-day. To-day we are not able to get the fruits of democracy because the 'leaders' do not allow us to be at peace. Even when there is no problem, they create new and new problems and do not allow us even to breathe in peace.

One thing is certain and that is that the society's and country's uplift depends upon the leaders. If the leaders become corrupt, then the country heads towards downfall, therefore at least from the point of our own protection, we should select our leader after proper inquiry, scrutiny and investigation. The root of many of our troubles can be the wrong leaders chosen by us. Therefore the leader must be such who has the qualities of purity, friendliness, abnegation, truthfulness, remembering obligations and similar other qualities. The leader will be only that person who observes morality in conduct and makes others tread the path of morality. The leader is one who knows morality, which means the policy of going on the right path. One, who cannot enforce his morality with discipline, cannot be a leader.

One feels that the generation of selfless leaders which served the country selflessly with their talents has vanished. To-day the so-called leaders are found chattering away-like frogs suddenly coming out in the rain - in streets, hotels, bazaars and clubs, chewing betel-leaves and giving spirited speeches. They are getting their sustenance from some post or a shelter of some political party. The crowd of such leaders is increasing whereas the number of citizens in the real sense is decreasing. The intention of those persons will naturally be suspect when they say that nothing can be done without the authority of a post or power or money. Gandhi, Vinoba, Loknayak, Jaiprakash, Ishwarchandra, Raja Ram Mohan Rai and innumerable leaders like them remained miles away from any prestigious post and yet worked for society and culture. Thus the demand of the times is not for revolutionary leaders, but of such public teachers who involve themselves totally and work without rest for the effort of creating enlightenment in the public mind. Therefore it is the demand of the times that not leaders but creators are required.

Needless to say that this great work is not possible by selfish, greedy and power-hungry leaders but by sentimental creators who can be like the corner-stone or dissolve like the seed to sprout forth, and maintain their role for NavNirman (resurgence of a new era and order of goodness) and who have no personal ambition nor any desire for name and fame. For permanent benefit, inner peace and satisfaction, there cannot be any better Endeavour or worship than this for the society and the country. All of us must ask our leaders to be creative persons rather than leaders in name only and we must honor and support such creators only.

We Should Obtain Knowledge

Meaning: According to the line of Athervaved 6/64/1 we can receive the message that we should obtain knowledge by our clean deeds which can be explain as — "It is every man's duty to obtain knowledge and live by mixing with others. May all be blessed with good culture? Just our ancestors have been carrying out their duties. Similarly, let us also carry out our duties completely."

Message: The activities of the life of a spiritual person are not based on filling the belly, producing children and desires like the ordinary men who are like animals, but his activities are bright and are inspired by idealism. A spiritual person knows the difference between the body and the soul and believes that the soul is the lord (or the controller) and the body is a means. The person who has clearly understood this aspect gives importance to the thought of the best ways of utilizing this invaluable human life for great projects like spiritual salvation and self-development, while ignoring bodily comforts, temptations for indulging the senses, false acclaim and pomp. If for fulfilling this objective there is a reduction of physical comforts and material wealth, he is not upset even for a moment, because he knows that the body is merely a means. If his privileges are snatched, the door for the upliftment of his soul is opened up. There is greater benefit and lesser harm in that.

A spiritual person follows the ideals of plain living and high thinking. It becomes possible to save the time and money spent in pomp and luxury and spends it for idealistic works of public welfare. The needs, worries, difficulties and troubles of a person are in proportion to his spendthrift and pompous life. The person who reduces his desire for showing off and living a life of great comforts compared to others, will find meaningless his own and his families useless expenditure and pomp. That is why divinity starts with frugality (i.e. spending minimum for only basic needs and for a very simple life).

When a man realizes the above, then he experiences joy only in mixing and living harmoniously with others. He understands others' happiness and sorrows as his own and finds his own happiness in the happiness of others, and sorrow in others' sorrow. His desire sharing his happiness with others and desire for reducing others' sorrow by sharing their troubles takes him to the high level of considering the 'world as a family' as enshrined in the snskrit saying "vasudhaiva kutumbakam". With the sentiments of sympathy, pity, helping others, love and oneness with others, there is an increase in mutual goodwill, affection and the feeling of equality and a heavenly atmosphere is created in the society.

Our rishis had fixed this very ideal for us, which is equally meaningful today. They were making use of their knowledge and intelligence only for societal welfare. Living in thatched cottages and leading very ordinary lives, they used to be busy in making the society happy and highly prosperous. What an excellent way of thinking! They loved to devote their entire lives busily in doing their duty.

We can be men of character only by putting into our personal conduct such excellent ideals of our ancestors.

You are What You Think

Self is immutable and so is the Supreme self, therefore, be one with the immutable. Why do you allow yourself to be swept hither and thither like a straw? You become peace-less in the face of petty troubles - a notice from a government department, not being able to have your way, not being able to gratify your senses, a slight to your ego, a servant not saluting not getting approval or recognition in some matter….. How small you become!

As you think, so does your mind become? Therefore, please think of God.

Don't let your mind go towards any person or thing other than God. Focus.

You are told that God is in everybody and everything and that His will be done. It means the Lord abides in you. Thousand of gamblers are playing games; let them play. You think of playing with the indweller Lord and so turn your mind inward. You shouldn't exhaust yourself capitulating to kinsmen laboring under delusion. God's will be done means accepting whatever is happening whether or not it is to your liking.

Some people when they meditate expect some type or depth of meditation. Don't predetermine any type of meditation nor have preconceived notions of the results it should produce. As you sit for meditation, tell Him, 'O Lord! Hail to you! Thy will be done! This is meditation and reflection too.

Whatever you do with your body, do it for the pleasure of indweller Lord. Don't work for sense-gratification or for ego trip. Works with a view of propitiate the Lord. This is real service. If people seek your help or service by flattering you, be careful and examine yourself whether you are being motivated by adulation or you are rendering service for the pleasure of the Guru or the Indweller Lord. If you exercise this care, your service will become much rewarding and your nature will be sweet.

Those who work for appreciation and fame end up quarrelling and fighting with each other.

Reject your ego. Doing so is good for you. Give your acceptance by saying. "O Lord! What you will is for the best of all! They will be done! God the knowledge Absolute, Bliss to be like Him. God's will being fulfilled means God will make you God. The Supreme Brahman for you is in substance one and the same as Himself.

Instead of praying for a particular kind of weather, pray to Him, O Lord! Thy will be done! Then whatever the weather may be, it will not cause any trouble to you. Just give your consent. If somebody hurls abuses at you, say in your mind, 'God! You are great! Through these cuss words, you are destroying my ego. O Lord! Thy will be done! This in itself is a great sadhana. If you think 'oh my God! It is very hot………' you will be tormented by hot weather. But you want to enjoy the rain - summer heat is essential for the rains to come.

Summer heat is essential also for making one strong enough to tolerate cold as cold is essential for making one strong enough to tolerate the summer heat. Insults are necessary to make one able to assimilate appreciation and fame. Death is necessary for one to assimilate life. The Lord is doing all that is necessary for you.

'That man is disciplined and happy who can prevail over the turmoil that springs from desire and anger, here on earth, before hi leaves his body.

(Bhagavad Gita 5.21-23)

Subtle Aspects of Yagya

The extremely subtle effects are by far the more important. Like humans, matter too, has three bodies -- physical, subtle and causal. The body which eats, sleeps, walks, acts; which consists blood, flesh etc. is visible man's physical body. Subtle body is that which thinks, considers and controls the physical body. Causal or astral body is that in which faith, convictions, aspirations etc. are deeply rooted. The subtle body is much more powerful as compared to the physical body. The casual body is several times more powerful than the subtle body.

The casual energy underlying all the Havishya used in Yagya is stimulated by the rituals prescribed for the Yagya performance. Only then alone it is possible to affect desired changes in the mind and consciousness of the participants. It this is not done, the effect of Yagya will be limited to the physical - chemical effects fo vaporization of specific substances. No doubt, several benefits can be derived by these effects too; the fumes of Yagya remove foul smell and spread soothing fragrance. It can also help in controlling virus infections and thereby promoting physical health. This is, however, an insignificant achievement, as compared to the vast potential of Yagya.

Importance of Yagya lies in the subtle power of the substances which are offered in the sacrificial fire. The selection of a particular wood or Havan Samagri depends on the purpose for which Yagya is performed.

In order to stimulate the causal energy of the offering, help of the science of Mantras is taken. The conductor of Yagya takes all precautions to ensure that the Mantras are uttered, pronounced and appropriated correctly in the pitch voice, rhythm and tone duly prescribed. Strict discipline is required to be maintained, and there should be no deviation. Shabda (the eternal and cosmic sound) is termed as Brahm. Ordinarily, it is used for exchanging of thoughts but at subtler and higher levels in Mantra, Shabda plays the role of getting transformed into potential energy.

The entire basis of the Mantra Shastra stands on the footing that the selection, interlocking and appropriation of words in a Mantra exist in such a way that it becomes possible to get miraculous advantage by making the causal energy of Shabda specifically enhanced and made more powerful.

All the pots and even water used in the Yagya are purified by specific Mantras before use. The fire-wood (Samidhas) are washed, dried and use dafter they are duly sanctified by Mantras. The process of Vedi Pujan and Yagyashala Pujan are resorted to make the Havan Kunda live….. with awaken causal energy. This as a whole is the scientific process of mass medication which strengthens the spiritual basis of the Yagya process.

It is generally experienced that Yagya (Agnihotra) --- atmosphere is very compatible and alluring for attaining spiritual uplift. Dr. Motohama of Tokyo, Japan has studied the effects of Agnihotra, with his instrument for measuring electric fields surrounding the body. He has reported that after performing an Agnihotra, the Anahata Chakra (cardiac plexus) exhibits similar condition that exists after psychic and spiritual healings.

Study (Swadhaya) of Good Literature

Meaning: The line of Samved 1303 gives us instruction that — "With the study of the literature which inspires men's thinking towards good deeds, men and women feel joy. Imbibing good thoughts, they ultimately get the benefit of salvation."

Message: Man's mind is like a blank paper or a slate or photographic plate. The situations, events and thoughts, which come before it, get etched on it and then that type of mental ground or mindset is created. By nature, man is neither intelligent nor foolish nor good nor bad, but in reality he is a very sensitive animal. He accepts the nearby influences and gets cast in the mould of whatever atmosphere exists before his mind. This specialty of his gets him swept in situations which either led him to downfall or to uplift. The path to uplift or progress opens up only with worship of God, satsang and 'swadhaya' or study of scriptures.

There are tow meanings of the word 'swadhaya', first is the study of Vedas and scriptures which uphold the thinking in the Vedas. The second meaning is 'swadhaya' ('swa' means self and 'adhayayan' means study, which means study or observation of the self). An individual closely observing himself daily for a few moments makes it a habit to find out personal faults and also makes an effort to remove them.

The main interpretation of the word, 'swadhaya is the study of scriptures and good books. Their study is like drinking the sweet nectar, and does the work of a beam of light in the darkness of life. The study of good moral books is the basis of man's progress, whereas the reading of bad books becomes the cause of his downfall. Good books serve a man's need of good friends and through them he finds out the road of spiritual and moral uplift. The demoniac tendencies and events encourage us to adopt man, lowly beliefs and activities. To annihilate this wicked influence, the contact of saintly, great men and the study of their books act like magic. With the study and contemplation of such books, in fact, our mind establishes a sentimental unity with that great man, by which day by day there is an enhancement in our character, personality and willpower. Good holy literature has provided the opportunity to innumerable men for uplift and to be men with strong willpower. The enunciation of the holy Gita benefited not only Arjun who was the first to hear it from Lord Krishna, but has helped millions of people in achieving their objectives of life.

Today's irony is the availability of rotten, irrelevant, obscene and perverse literature at every street-corner. People buy it for its cheap entertainment. On the contrary, one must make an effort to get only the literature with good thoughts for self-study. If we employ regularly one hour's time for study, in a short time, our thoughts will become excellent.

The habit to study must be made the daily indivisible deed of our life.

Paavamaanihi swastyayanistaabhirgachhati naandanum

Punyaanshcha bhakshaanbhakshayamrutatvum cha gachhati

(Samved 1303)

Students Themselves Should Create Their Own Future

Every student should feel that he is going through such an important phase in life that it will play a determining role in shaping his future. Student-life is the most useful and proper time for character-molding. The age of youth suffers from the peculiar malady called "Josh Dherai Tara Hosh cum" (i.e. too much strength and too little sense) and because of this malady it is very easy to be pulled by any attraction during growing years. During these years the youth is easily attracted by the thrill of undesirable activities and addictions. A wicked person creates situations of grief and sorrow for self and relatives and can lead only a hellish life. Personal welfare lies in adopting creative, gentlemanly, good activities. The possibilities for development lie in gentlemanly activities. If all the students lead a life of celibacy, simplicity, thrift, good use of time, fir, resolve, courage, labor, balanced mind, cheerfulness, politeness, virtue and gentlemanliness, then they will develop  innumerable extra qualities, which will make for them a bright golden future.

Youth should control themselves: The youth of the new generation should not lead a life of indifference. The upcoming youth will have to play leading roles in the forthcoming days. The burden of leadership will be on their shoulders. All prosperity, progress, peace and goodwill depend on man's good qualities. Men with bad tendencies lose the wealth handed down to them whereas men with good qualities search our a thousand roads to progress even when they are in down-and-out situations.

Youth of cultured and developed nations are making sizable contributions to the stability and progress of their nations. Their activities are in creative directions. We should follow their example and make every effort for a bright future for Nepal.

By reforming ourselves, we should make an important contribution to the effort for 'Yug Parivartan' (transformation of the era). This is the demand of the times for the up-and-coming youth.

Revival of the pilgrim centre tradition: In the vast field of religious observance, great importance is given to 'teerth-yatra' (journey to pilgrim centers). It is mentioned in many scriptures that pilgrims get the benefit of being freed from their sins, attainment of virtue, attainment of heaven, liberation, benevolence of the deities etc.

All of us know the current ironical situation of pilgrimage-centre. There is neither faith in the pilgrims nor an opportunity to know and be inspired. There are no Rishis (Savants who have performed penance) nor any institution with an organization for learning atma-sadhana (self realization), for performing penance, for purification of self, for 'satsang' (meeting religious saints and scholars for discussion and discourse), consultation and advice, proximity of religious persons and donation to the deserving. In such circumstances, their importance is becoming foggy day-by-day and it is not surprising that the pilgrim returns tired, dejected and lacking in faith.

It is duty of all of us to remove the perversions, ironies and ostentation in religious traditions and pilgrimage centers and to revive philosophy. If this is done, then there is no reason why their fruits - as mentioned in scriptures - will be seen.