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...

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.                   ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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?...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...