The Harvest field of Life.

 

Quote from the True Charm and power of Vedanta

The Harvest field of Life.

It is the motive which counts. We can do a thing either with the thought of hat it may bring immediately to us for our own selfish gratification; or we can do it thinking of the soul and our eternal life . as a man thinks so is he. A sour motive is , so is our action . we must reflect. We must think , and think such thought as will enable us to express the deeper nature of the soul . we must no longer be content to think those things which have been thought and followed by the masses. What I mean by this is that often we love the habit in our life of merely travelling along the paths which have been trodden by others. and we believe that to be the best way. It may be from the worldly standpoint , but it does not always prove true in the higher problems of life. It is very seldom we can copy the ideals of others . if we try to copy , we misrepresent. We must unfold our own ideals. What our forefathers have done or what the sages have taught may inspire us; they may start our mind to thinking , but we must work out our own salvation. This means

contemplation; it also means freeing our inner nature; now our spiritual nature is held down by our physical habits and unconditional emotions. In order to control our lower instincts and express our higher self , we must take the problem in our won hands. When we do this, at the same time we must ask God’s blessing because it is very dangerous for ours to attempt anything without the sense of concentration, that we are doing it for the sake of God

Seductive extravaganza from a Divine kitchen

 India, Spirituality, TOI

Speaking Tree

By Narayani Ganesh

 

To make an apple pie, you will have to start from the very beginning. From the Big Bang, that is, when the universe started coming into being. Yes, said Carl Sagan, you need wheat, apples, herbs and spices and an oven’s heat to bake the pie. Ingredients, like sugar and water, for example, are all made up of molecules, which in turn are made of atoms – carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and others. All these are made in stars, except for hydrogen, which is not only the lightest element in the periodic table, but also the most abundant chemical substance in the universe. Hydrogen is the raw fuel that stars burn to produce energy.

 

Says Sagan, “A star is a kind of cosmic kitchen inside which atoms of hydrogen are cooked into heavier atoms. Stars condense from interstellar gas and dust, which are composed mostly of hydrogen. But the hydrogen was made in the Big Bang, the explosion that created the cosmos. If you wish to make an apple pie, you must first invent the universe.”

When you make a cup of coffee, and gently start stirring the cream layered on top of the coffee, you are in fact mimicking the pinwheel spin of galaxies that spiral away as the universe continues to expand infinitely. It’s a case of a ‘drone’ view of the top of a galaxy that the current powerful telescopes are yet unable to capture. We only get the view sideways.

 

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh who promotes ‘tangerine meditation’ says, when you peel a tangerine and hold it in the palm of your hand and visualise all that went into its making, you will find that the entire universe is contained in that little orange orb. When he asked children to meditate on the tangerine, he says, “They saw not only their tangerine, but also its mother, the tangerine tree. With some guidance, they began to visualise the blossoms in the sunshine and in the rain. They saw petals falling down and the tiny fruit appear. The sunshine and the rain continued, and the tiny tangerine grew. Now someone has picked it, and the tangerine is here. After seeing this, each child was invited to peel the tangerine slowly, noticing the mist and the fragrance of the tangerine, and then bring it up to her mouth and have a mindful bite, in full awareness of the texture and taste of the fruit and the juice coming out. We ate slowly like that.”

 

So it seems that everything in the universe is hitched to everything else in the universe – the cosmos being this infinitely creative kitchen where atoms, molecules, chemicals and other ingredients are constantly being reconstituted into new avatars, enriching the process of being and becoming. The birth-sustenance-death cycle continues unabated, with every death dispersing the ingredients to create new life, new partnerships, experiences and new possibilities.

 

Is it a self-perpetuating, pre-programmed, automated kitchen or is there really a Divine Chef at work, creating a diverse and evolving menu with something that can seduce each one of us and also connect every one of us to every bit of creation in the universe? Be that as it may, get seduced anyway – we’re hitched for life.

IF HE EXIST

 

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.-

 

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Reincarnation and immortality Good fortune or Bad fortune

 

Quote from the True Charm and Power of Vedanta

Reincarnation and immortality Good fortune or Bad fortune

The great Aryan law giver of ancient times, Manu, tells us that we cannot gather what we do not sow; as we plant the tree, so it will grow. The kind of seeds we sow, according to that we must reap . there is no such thing as chance in Nature. Nothing happens accidently . good fortune or misfortune pleasing conditions or trials come to us because consciously or unconsciously we attracts them . we draw their late our life. They come as the reaction of our own action .whenever we do something ignoble , at some time we must suffer from it; not because there is a relentless  Providence whose task it is to punish us; but because our own better

Self has a sense of justice and until we make amends for our unworthy action, it will not allow us to be free. A man may murder another in secret; no one may know anything about it; yet but his own thought of it will haunt him until he can no longer beat it and he find relief in confessing it. Does this not show that we cannot evade the greater force of life; we create a moral obligation by our deeds; and however we may try to avoid it sooner or later we are force to pay every debt we incur. Until that is done, we cannot make the best use of our opportunities. But it is not only the fruit of our mistakes that we gather. We reap blessings also as we deserve them; and they become permanently our because we earned them.

Free Will Vs Destiny

Editorial by VIJAY SRINATH KANCHI

  Our freedom to choose is curtailed by the choices we made in the past, writes VIJAY SRINATH KANCHI

 
Do humans have free will and choice or does determinism prevail in this world? When we look at this problem, we feel we have the freedom to choose what we like or deem suitable in our lives. But many instances and situations in our lives force us to realise how subdued are we by the circumstances. Naturally, we begin to wonder if we truly have the freedom to make choices in our lives.

Suppose, we want to open our locker protected by a password. There are two options. Either we receive an OTP sent by the controlling agency and enter the same to get access or enter a number of our choice previously set by us as the password. Lower level organisms are like those of us who opt for an OTP. They have to simply accept and key in the OTP received by them from the controlling agency to proceed further. The lives of lower level sentient beings are controlled by Nature. Their choice is limited to accepting what is given to them by the unseen power.

On the other hand, humans are like those who have the choice to enter the password set by themselves. This number, which could have been any number, was chosen by them in the past. At the time of choosing the password, the person has the freedom to choose any number. But once it is set, he is restricted by the choice he previously made. Similarly, when we begin a new chain of karma, the choices are unlimited. But owing to our propensities, which were the results of our past actions, we tend to make a particular choice.

This choice we make restricts our possible future options and we are forced to work in a particular way only, owing to our tendencies. Thus, our choices narrow down as we continue with our propensities and tendencies and indulge in karma. Theoretically speaking, the password is purely our choice. It could be any random set of numbers and characters. But because it was set by us in a particular way in the past, even though on the face of it, the password is our own choice, since it was our own creation our choices now are restricted. Because it is our creation that our choices are now capped.

Our freedom to choose is curtailed by the choices we made in the past. Only a yogi has the real freedom to choose as he is free of the shackles of past propensities. Every action he does is a new action with limitless choices. He is sarvatantra svatantra. The choices are not only unlimited on the face of it, but are limitless to the core. For us ordinary humans, it is useful to realise that past karmic propensities and the consequent circumstances can also be circumvented by present effort, just as the password can be reset by a new effort. However, it requires greater efforts.

But where do lower beings receive their OTP from? Who controls those OTPs? It is prakriti, the eternal potentiality of nature, the unity of three gunas — sattva, rajas and tamas. All things and circumstances are composed of these three gunas and their differences are due to the different combinations of these gunas. The nature of a context is determined by the preponderance of a particular guna.

Sattva is white and is like nectar and gives joy; rajas is red and is like intoxication and gives pain; tamas is dark and is like poison and produces unconsciousness. ‘We bow to prakriti,’ says Krishna in his Samkhya Karika, ‘the red-whitedark, the unborn mother and nurse and receptacle of all generations’.

Viewed from Advaita Vedanta, this very prakriti is called maya, the creator of all experiences. Sentient beings below the rank of humans are Mayaadheena, that is, they are under the control of maya. But as the sentient being ascends the ladder of evolution by the yogic practice and reaches the pinnacle, he becomes Mayaadheesha, the controller of maya. He becomes completely free and independent. ■

IF HE EXIST

 

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.-

 

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Spiritual healing , Healing of body and mind

Quote from the True charm and power of Vedanta

Spiritual healing , Healing of body and mind

 

We must lose all self –consciousness in the great thought that we are instrument of God, we must feel that our body must be kept clean and holy as a shrine for the dwelling place of Divinity if we keep uppermost in our mind these higher concepts of life, we shall refrain from doing what is ignoble . do we wish to be strong do we wish to be happy? If we do then we must plant the seeds of constructive thought in our hearts ., we must remember constantly that no matter what happens on the physical plane , there is a dominant ruler within, the spirit, and that Spirit can never be vanquished . when we are able to take this stand we can overcome every obstacle.

Why do people become selfish? Why are they guilty of unworthy acts which harm others ? it is because they have lost this lofty point of view. Their whole life is centered in their flesh, in sensation , in immediate bodily concerns. But let them extend their vision, let them project their thought beyond more physical boundary lines, and a new inner consciousness will dawn in them  . their body may still have its limitations , their material surroundings may continue to be disturbing , in spite of all this they will not be moved from the state of tranquility they have found, . this is only possible when we bring spiritual consciousness into our life . when we feel that we are direct descendants of the Infinite, when this convictions is firmly established in our hearts then are we made whole. It is the life which brings healing , it is entering into the inner realm of consciousness where we are restored naturally. When our thought is filled with Spirit, all must be well with us, because where Spirit shines unobstructed , there is life there can be no sickness or suffering.

 

‘The name is Bharat’

 

Editorial by Surakshit Goswami

 

What is the meaning of the word ‘Hindu’? When did Hinduism originate and who is the founder of this religion? I would also like to know when did we start referring to our motherland as India and not Bharat?

 

 

V P Dhananjayan, Chennai, 81 years

 

■ Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions dating back to somewhere around 5,000 BC. There is reference to the word ‘Hindu’ by the Aryans. The term ‘Hindu’ in Vedic records did not refer to a religion but is mentioned as the nationality of the people who lived in the region. At that time, the ancient name of Hindu religion was Sanatan Dharma, an eternal or universal tradition referring to learning the right way of living life

.

It is believed that the word ‘Hindu’ comes from the first letter ‘H’ of the Himalayas and the last words ‘indu’ from the Sindhu River. According to the Nadistuti Sukta, a hymn in the Rig Veda, Sindhu River, also known as the Indus River, is addressed as the mightiest of rivers. The river is also one of the longest in Asia, originating from the Manasarovar Lake and running through Ladakh all the way through the entire length of Pakistan. There are many beliefs behind the origin of the term ‘Hindu’.It is believed that in the Zoroastrian holy book, the Avesta, the word ‘Hindu’ was used for the first time as a geographical term for people who lived beyond the Indus River. The Persians could not pronounce the letter ‘S’correctly and mispronounced it as ‘H’. Thus, for the ancient Persians, the word ‘Sindhu’ became Hindu. Even today, people from the Sindh province in Pakistan are called Sindhis or Sindhus.

 

Hiuen Tsang, a Chinese Buddhist monk, who travelled to India from China in the seventh century, agreed that Hinduism was widely popular in India at that time. The Indus or Sindhu Valley civilisation is named after the Indus River and the river gave its name to the country, India. It is also believed that when Alexander came to India, he referred to its people as Indu, instead of Bharat. Thereafter, the east of the Indus was referred to as India,but initially the Vedic name for the area was Bharat.

IF HE EXIST

 

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.-

 

ILLUSTRATED REVIEW : 7th heaven moment found 7 colour invitational rainbow for French open here

 

Healing of Body and Mind

 

Quote from the True Charm and Power of Vedanta

Healing of Body and Mind

One can be cured by the laying on of hands, by prayer, by transmission of spiritual force, provided the healer is pure, exalted and free from every selfish motive. Other those who are the most powerful healers are not conscious that they are healing . nor do they wish their power to be known or recognized . Why? Because they are not willing to mix their spirit of concentration to God, with the cheaper materials of self-glorification , egotism and vanity. If you are interested in healing do it; do it; but keep yourself out of it. Bring in God’s power and all things will be make whole for you. Do not resort to trivial methods; that is, when you have a little bodily ache or pain, do not focus your thought on it in the hope of escaping form it; or when you think you need a new dress or a new hat, do not expand your precious mental energies in trying to obtain them.

Concentrating your mind to satisfy trifling desires prove always a great determent to your higher unfoldment, and you should do your utmost by the practice of determination to avoid this mis-step. There are people who by concentrating realize their material ambitions and they imagine that they possess superior spiritual power but this is merely a snare which cheats them of true attainment.

How to you know that what you obtain is god o you ? oftentimes we find that it is not beneficial for us to have a great deal of material prosperity . we may like he soft conditions of life; but they are not always wholesome for our higher nature. What we need is a mind which can stand firm in all circumstances; a mind which is brave and heroic . True heroism is born of Spirit, never of material conditions. Real strength does not come form the flesh, it comes only when flesh is connected with spirit; then we can go through the greatest ordeal unmoved. All that we crave we shall receive in unbounded supply, when we know how to use it for our own good and for the good of our fellow men. We would all like to possess happiness and power, but these do not come to us because we are not big enough to take them . we must cultivate bigness and inwardness. Curtsey spiritual healing

 

Making a calibrated move towards moksha

Speaking Tree in TOI  India, Spirituality, TOI

By SK Sullerey

 

Moksha is an important aspect of human life, according to Indic philosophy. It refers to freedom from the samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth, when the Atman merges with Parmatman, just like rivers merge in the sea.

 

According to ancient scriptures such as the ‘Srisukta’, we are expected to have shatayu, a life span of hundred years. And this hundred-year span, as per the Dharma-shastras, is divided into four parts called Ashrams.

The first ashram is called Brahmacharya. It covers the period of 25 years, from childhood to the completion of one’s education as a student. At this stage of life, man fulfils four purusharthas, aims of human life. The first is called dharma. During the student life one learns about the concept of dharma, meaning duties of a person. Everyone has his own dharma and karma, like a student’s dharma is to study; a teacher’s dharma is teaching; and a king’s dharma is to fulfil raj dharma – duty of the ruler.

 

The concept of Nishkaam Karma Yog is one of the main teachings of the Bhagwad Gita. A verse in the Gita, Chapter 2, says: ‘Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana,’ meaning one should do his karma and not care about results. In this way, during the brahmacharya ashram, purushartha dharma plays a significant role. Brahmacharya Ashram is the first stage of life to achieve the moksha.

 

The next is the Grahastha Ashram, the second stage in life, which one enters after completing education. At this stage one pursues artha, wealth, the second purushartha, and kama, legitimate desires, the third purushartha. This is a significant stage where man earns his livelihood and completes his social responsibilities. The main samskara here is Vivaha Samskara. Marital life, occupation and social liabilities are discharged here. This is the only ashram on which other ashrams depend, as at no other stage are people connected with the kama and artha purusharthas.

 

After completing 50 years of age, one starts the third stage of life – the Vanaprastha Ashram. At this stage one retires from his family and other worldly responsibilities. In this period dharma again plays an important role and man starts living in a natural environment. This is the first stage of Atmasadhana which trains a person to achieve the final goal of moksha. The Bhagwad Gita, Chapter 2, talks about two main things, the shareer and atman, body and soul. While the shareer is nashwar, mortal, Atman is shashwat, eternal.

 

The fourth ashram is known as Sannyas Ashram, and the main purushartha here is moksha. This is the last stage of human life, spanning from the age of 75 to 100. The entire 18th chapter of the Bhagwad Gita is devoted to the moksha sannyas. In this period, one feels totally free from worldly affairs and tries to achieve the goal of moksha.

 

Contemporary religions such as Jainism and Buddhism do not believe in the Vedas and Atman, but they too believe in moksha. In Jainism, they call it the state of Kaivalya and in Buddhism, moksha is referred to as Nirvana. Thus, most of the prominent religions and philosophies considered moksha as the goal of life.

IF HE EXIST

 

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.-

 

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