The need of the Hour

 The crucial need today is to bring about a global revolution in existing ideologies. Let us open a front against corrupt practices and force, each and every human being to observe self- discipline of behavior conforming to human dignity. This is the only way to bring back the "Golden Age of Truth" (A reference to Satyug of Ramayana Era.) Let this be the norm for human life in all fields of activity. This is the path of the true believer of the devotee of truth, love and justice. There cannot be a greater act of virtue and service to humankind. This is the noble crusade in which "The supreme Commander" desires everyone to take part. This is going to be the decisive struggle for building a truly bright future for humanity. Wisdom would then no longer remain a Utopian attribute of the residents...

Vital Role of Gayatri Sakti in Human Life

There is no way of glorious success in human life without Sadbuddhi. The support of Gayatri in this form is inevitable for all aspirants of progress and blissful prosperity. There is no path to spiritual evolution, realization of God, or ultimate salvation that does not emanate from the spiritual element of Gayatri Sakti. The Sadhaks or seekers of God should also note that thee is infinity, beyond all perceptions and thoughts. Thou is omnipresent and loves all without any discrimination. No one could have direct reach to thy realization. The subliminal shield of wide separation between the individual self and thy-self could be pierced only by the spiritual force of the enlightened soul. The gamut of the science of spirituality, devotional practices and ascetic endeavors are devised for...

Vocal Cord Internal Chanting

Some religions and spiritual practices use verbal chanting, prayer, or reading sacred books aloud in an effort to divert the mind from its ordinary mundane preoccupations and channel it towards the divine. Although this has a definite beneficial effect, it cannot elevate the mind to the highest state, because by this method, the vocal cord is still in operation, and also the ear organ is hearing one's own voice; and thus the conscious mind is still active. Yoga meditation, however, uses a process for concentration which is completely internal by which the vocal cord is not used at all - a process which we will discuss later. Thus, merely by sitting in the lotus posture, silently and motionlessly, and folding the hands, we have succeeded in inactivating all the five motor organs, hands,...

You are that which 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...

Change Your Programming

Why do we fear? Most fears are nothing but movements of thoughts. A thought is a language that we give for words, pictures and feelings. Put in a different way, a thought is just a movement of word, picture and feeling…….. You interpret a thought in your mind in a language that you are afraid, and your experience fear. What happens when you are in a state of deep sleep? In that state there are no thoughts, and you experience no fear at all. If there is no thought, there is no fear. When you are in deep sleep, a snake may glide close to you, but you are not afraid of that snake in such proximity because you are not thinking about the snake. On the other hand, when you are awake, the sight of even a coiled piece of rope can fill you with fear, because you think the rope is a snake. Fears...

Arrivals and Departures

Flying has now become a terminal condition Does it have something to do with Saturn becoming more saturnine, or kalam more calamitous? Blaming an Icelandic eruption would be too far-fetched, or simply too far, so instead of the volcano, should we blame El Nico? Is it the negative energy released by 'honor' killings and dishonorable top-cops? There has to be some reason not visible to the naked eye, or even to the fully addressed mind, that accounts for the serial aviation accidents, actual or averted, that have shaken us in the past fortnight. The fiery end of AI express flight 812 on May 22, the worst ever Boeing 737-800 crash in terms of fatalities, was an unmitigated, unnerving, unconscionable tragedy, but the horror stories which have been streaming out of the skies ever since seem...

After Every Monsoon, There's a Flood of Bad News

In the great plains of India, there is nothing romantic about the monsoon; People's fate depends on the monsoon's mood swings. If it falls to keep its date with the country, there is drought. If it's over generous, the floods cause death and destruction. Even when it's "normal", some river somewhere exceeds the danger mark and kills a few hundred people. After the skies clear and the water recedes, armies of mosquitoes and bugs launch attacks. Millions fall prey with chills, cramps, fever. In this part of the world, drought, deluge and death are as much an annual phenomenon as the monsoon. Bangladesh may be famous for its notorious floods, but India is not far behind. Every year, the monsoon floods leave a trial of destruction in India. Roughly 20% of deaths caused by flooding worldwide...

A Package Deal

Our daughter's wedding was round the corner and my wife had been pestering me to make the arrangements. Lazy to the core, responsibilities, I had been avoiding this work on some pretest or the other. But when things reached a tipping point, I decided to take the bull by the horns and find a suitable tent-wala for the wedding. My neighbors were kind enough to give me the address of a tent-wala whose services he had used for his daughter's wedding, with a word of caution. "You can't beat these guys as far as rates are concerned. But if you'll beat them in one thing, they will beat you in two," he warned. Nevertheless after a long discussion with the tent-wala, we arrived at a price for the shaming. "Are there any discounts"? I asked. "Sir, there are no discounts, but the price for you will...

A Dualistic Interpretation

Implicit in bhakti or devotion is surrender to a personal deity. Herein lays the meta-physical doctrine of tattvavada, a uniquely dualistic interpretation of the nature of reality as advocated by Madhavacharya. Madhana's philosophy of making a distinction between the Absolute and individual soul also known as the dvaita school of Vedanta, proposes bhakti as an imperative, as the only means of merging with the self. This dualistic metaphysics is the basic of theistic Vaishavite school of thought. Madhava's concept of Five Distinctions is his elaboration of the dualistic vision of reality. The Panch Bheda doctrine provides the logical and empirical basis for philosophy of realism, tattvavada,  by looking at the difference between one jiva or individual being soul and another, the difference...

A Delicate Matter

A few months back a reporter of a Karachi-based local eveninger narrated a funny incident to me. An Urdu teacher in Lahore divorced his young wife when she inadvertently called him "tum" (the familiar form of addressing someone) instead of "aap" (the more formal form)! This is something uncommon in this linguistically indifferent era. But Urdu literature and culture is full of such amusing anecdotes and idiosyncrasies. Josh Malihabadi, the great Urdu poet, who migrated to Pakistan after independence, took umbrage when the Nawab of Hyderabad used "tum" for him. Ghalib wrote "Teri mehfil mein aakar bade beaabroo hue/ Aap se tum aur tum se tu hue" (I humiliated myself in your company/ From aap, I became tum and finallyu tu). Ghalib himself frowned upon the more familiar forms of address and...

Gender bender in a Unisex World

The other day I read that in some cold and organized part of the first world, a group of over funded, under worked engineers had managed to put a female mind into a male body. No, It wasn't Hollywood production. They apparently inserted a chip which was programmed to be a female mind into a hapless male and checked if he stopped watching the sports channel or playing pocket billiards. (Not really, I just made that bit up). Actually, it was a much duller research project to see whether the technology of gene transfer could be extended into the area of brain. Functions concerning perception. At least that is what I understood, but then I can't add fractions so don't count on me. Now if you have no time for unscientific drivel, go away. But if you have an unfettered imagination, and a propensity...

Live With Effortless Grace

It was 9:30 in the morning. From my balcony on the eighth floor, I could see below a stream of shining cars crawling on the roads. The traffic seemed chaotic, vehicles trying to get past the other, so much like situations we face in our chaotic lives, driven by competition. A peaceful life is essentially a simple one and hence effortless. The sheer simplicity of peaceful life is a magnet that attracts, for deep within we identify with it. To be simple is not something external; we have to become simple and natural from within, be open to our own 'internal self' and perform actions knowing where they are leading to. One has to consciously bring bout this change, as Paramhansa Swami Niranjananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of yoga, Munger says, "To change externally is just a cosmetic...

Many Path to Bliss

Sanatana Dharma, which means 'eternal principles of wisdom' can be approached and accessed in three ways: Through the Vedas, through the Upanishads and through the Purans like Shrimad Bhagavatam and Devi Mahatmyam. The fire rituals or havens that we perform today have come to us from the Vedic age. Despite this the pure austere lifestyle of that age is impossible for most of us to practice in this hectic, demanding modern world. The Puranic approach is generally for those of us who are more religious in the traditional sense as it establishes a culture or sanskar of rites and ritualistic worship. Though primordial, pure, cosmic consciousness is beyond time and space, it is easier for the verge individual to relate to God through divine forms with specific attributes. So, with their own...

Nature of Renunciation

Don't desire sense-enjoyments. The body is being maintained by providence any way. Have no attachment towards any thing because everything is ever-changing. Know this and be contented. The Supreme Self, witness to these changes, is eternal. Know the majestic glory of the Eternal and be one with that. Enjoy both, the ever-changing and the eternal. Don't allow yourself to be dragged down by the ever changing and do not turn back from the eternal. For ages we have been wandering through numerous forms of life because of our desire lust and attachment. "Get rid of the sense of 'I' and 'mine' of the pairs of opposites like pleasure and pain. Destroy all ignorance and differences. Have no attachment and no hatred; eradicate all defects from the mind. Root out desire from your heart. Bring...

Of the Shelf Gene Tests in US

Want to find out what diseases await you in the future, your chances of developing Alzheimer's? Or whether you will pass something on to your child? Then a trip to the pharmacy may reveal all. Biotech firm Pathway Genomics announced on Tuesday that personalized DNA tests to detect the risks of developing certain disease will soon be available at Walgreen's, a large chain of pharmacies. It would be the first time that such tests would be commercially available for consumers, even though the company has offered them online for some time. The Pathway Genomics kit, dubbed the "Insight Saliva Collection", enables the user to take saliva swabs following simple instructions and send them off to a California laboratory for analysis. Costing between $20 to $30, the kit will be on sale at some...

Outdoors on Duty

Not one to get caught in dilemmas, the bandh call on Monday had me trapped for once. Though, to be honest, the desire to bunk office had more to de with the perfect breezy monsoon morning than LK Advani coaxing me to stay put at home. And though the HR guys post thoughts for the day' to act as beacons for the frequent 'dharmasanskarts' of corporate life, theirs is a beatific silence on matters like Bands bunks'. If I were to tell the HR guys - only by watching television that said 'rail, road, metro stopped by protesters' to - that I am stuck and can't get to work, would they mark me absent? I am rally dying to get to work, I can plead convincingly, but what to de, the autos won't ply, the buses coast and stop and gosh, I am told somewhere there's been some roughing up ……. circumstances...

The Global Language

At the 1920 meeting of the newly founded League of Nations in Geneva, India - a member state represented by Maharaja Khengarji - joined China, Persia and eight other countries in urging the League to take Esperanto seriously. Teaching this easy to learn link language to school children might help shape a viable post war world they felt. The League's vice secretary general, Inazo Nitobe, submitted a positive report. In 1921 India, China, Persia, Japan and nine other countries sponsored a favorable resolution. France vetoed it. Setbacks like this veto - or the 1935 defeat of feminist legislation in the US - make the movements stronger and more articulate. When we look at the way Esperanto has been recontextualized over the decades, it turns out that at every stage there were a few Indians...

The Prime Mover of Life

The ground state or vacuum state is an inexhaustible field of creativity, energy, orderliness and intelligence: Literally a field of all possibilities. Everything in the universe - animate and inanimate - emerges from this quantum mechanical level. It is the total potential of Natural Law. All of the innumerable laws of nature the impulses of nature's intelligence responsible for governing all diverse tendencies in the universe, are found here. This same field of nature's unlimited potential can be located within each individual at the source of thought, the most settled state of one's awareness. Acting from this level of pure consciousness, one inherits the infinite organizing power of natural law, making all power of natural law, making all things easy of attainment. Imagine a wave...

Will You Marry With Gottra?

Would you yourself marry within the same gotra? Asked Naveen Jindal, the two times Congress MP and icon of young India. It was an interview with TOI where the tables had suddenly been turned. "Yes", said the perplexed reporter. Jindal persisted, "will your parents also not haave any problem"? When he received "no" for an answer, Jindal insisted that the reporter call up her mother. "Let me speak to your mom and ask her", he said. "Do you rally want to speak to her"? He answered in the affirmative. "You call her now and let me hear what she has to say", said the 40 years old tycoon and graduate of University of Texas Business School. The reporter telephoned her parent and asked if she would have a problem if she wanted to marry a boy of the same gottra. Jindal asked for the speaker phone...

Work is What You Make of It

Work is What You Make of It Work and mentally renounce the fruits achieved thereafter. Don't let the shadow of personal prejudice affect how you perceive work. This is the essence of karma yoga. The wise work for common benefit whereas the ignorant work only for themselves or their near and dear ones. A farmer has control over how he works in his fields, but not over the harvest. Krishna tells Arjun: "Yoga is karmasu kausaalam doing work skillfully in the first attempt". Work is external but our attitude to it is internal. A certain attitude may make us feel work is miserable while another kind of attitude makes it pleasant. By cultivating the right attitude, we will become spiritual. That is meditation. Once in a village several people were engaged in construction of a temple. A wandering...

Love and Meditation

If some of us have felt the essence of love, the difficulty arises in keeping the flame of love alive. The very moment one transfers the experience of love into words and memory, the mind takes over only to end up in creating an unreal picture of love. It is imperative to understand the fact that love can be felt only in the present. And all thoughts of love deny love and push the individual to ignorance so that one is in the unreal world of love. The individual gets mired in the web of thoughts which is basically of attachment and dependency. The built up thoughts about love which bring false happiness, inexorably give way to pain and suffering arising out of losing it. Only an individual who is integrated, harmonious and sensitive can keep the flame of love going. It becomes indispensable...

Focus on Your Breath

Concentration is the key to success. The student taking an exam but distracted by a popular song running through his head; the businessman trying to write an important contract; but worried over an argument that he had that morning with his wife; the judge distracted by the fact that a teenager to whose defense he is trying to listen bears  striking resemblance to his own son. All of these persons could tell us something of the disadvantages of poor focus. A focused mind succeeds not only because it can solve problems with greater dispatch but also because problems have a way of somehow vanishing before its focused energies, without even requiring to be solved. A focused mind often attracts opportunities for success that to less focused (and therefore less successful) individuals...