One for you, one for me..

Once there was a mango tree within the compound wall of a cemetery. Since it was in a burial place, nobody ate the fruits. One day, two merchants passed by and they noticed the tree with full of fruits and they thought they can sell this in another city. They met the priest to ask whether he is interested in selling the mangoes and the priest happily agreed.

The day arrived and the merchants came….  by evening they finished plucking all the mangoes. But two mangoes fell outside the compound wall.

Then they took two sacks and started dividing the mangoes by saying:

'one for you, one for me…one for you, one for me…'

It became dark and a man who happened to pass the cemetery heard someone saying 'one for you and one for me' and he thought it is God and Satan dividing souls. He got scared and ran to the priest. Though the priest believed in God and Satan, he could not believe this story and decided to find the truth.

They reached the other side of the wall and listened carefully; and then there someone says:

'one for you, one for me….and that's it'

Then came the second voice:

"No, there are two more, on the other side of the wall"

Both the priest and the man fell on the ground….. (fainted or? I don't know…)

A Dream

A dream
     A death
          A dead end

Karna!

Karna is not someone who lived 5000 years ago..He is not just another character in Mahabharatha. He is there even today; and everywhere.

Karna is our brother/sister with whom we are fighting (physically or mentally) with, without really knowing that he/she is our own brother/sister...

Verses in Bhagavad Gita

There are 701 verses in Srimad Bhagavad Gita. They can be classified as who said that.

Dritharashtra - 1

Sanjaya - 40

Arjuna - 86 and

Lord Krishna - 574

(Some say it is only 700. In that case, Arjuna's share becomes 85, one Q less in chapter 13)

A Zoo, A Circus, A fishing and A Bomb

The other day:

I visited a zoo

I happened to see a man fishing

A bomb exploded in a Thailand Hotel where one of my friends had booked a room and

A circus was running in a nearby city.

One of my friends gave some pointers to tell me that zoos are a cruel concept. So I was pondering over it and I found a connection between all those things mentioned above.

Are zoos a place of cruelty? One way it is though it is better than circus or fishing.

There were very few animals in the zoo that I had visited and they weren't caged (like two zoos I had seen in India; not all animals but most of them were caged). From their looks it was apparent that they are not starving. But zoos are the symbol of our selfishness. They are there for our fun and not for the welfare of animals (in most cases). What if we do not support zoos? Will they release those animals back to the wild? or will the the animals starve to death because of lack of funds? I don't know..

The situation of circus animals is different. They are threatened, tortured and ill-treated to do things that are not normal for them. Bear riding a cycle? Lion behaving like an obedient dog? Elephant sitting on it's back? Lion is said to be the king of forest and making them behave like this is humiliation. The common feeling all the living things share is fear. Those animals are behaving that way out of fear and they are not enjoying any of those tricks they perform.

Fishing is considered as a one of the widely accepted hobbies in this 'civilized' world. I have seen fishing, when I was a child. I still remember how that fish twitched, turned, jumped and struggled to get a 'drop' of it's breath/oxygen. And finally it dies of suffocation. The human who just caught this fish looks happy to see all these, or feels proud or may be there is not much emotion. But no, I haven't seen anybody feeling bad about it. The struggle of a fish for it's breath looked worse than a human being hung to death (I saw the Saddam video). And we call this form of killing a civilized hobby of a normal human being (they are not doing this to make a living, as we can see)

This shows some light on the mentality of those who play with bombs n guns and those rapes and human tortures that follow every single war. To some extend this explains the psychopaths too. Maybe taking a life or laughing at others' pain is hobby for them. Maybe it is more fun when they are drugged with the opium called religion/faith...

Easter, Again...

Another Easter just passed by. This festival has some old but golden memories.

I had a wonderful dream yesterday night...thank you Jesus for making this day special that way, otherwise it would have ended as just another day!

Do you feel lucky?

Father took his son to a village to show how they are living with an intention to teach his son how better their life is. He did not say anything during the trip. Next day morning, he asked his son:

"Son, what do you think about their life?"

Son replied:

"We have only one dog and they have a lot…we have a small aquarium to grow fish and they have big ponds… we need electricity and they do not need that…our house is in a small compound and they have lots of land around…How lucky they are!"

(Courtesy: Swamy Sandeep Chaithanya)

Is there a God? No? Yes? Nos?

I happen to read somebody quoting Stephen Hawking. It read as follows:

“I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.” ― Stephen Hawking

This lead me to think this way – An atheist and a fanatic/religious zealot has something in common – they both believe in the same God concept.

It is not a good idea to call a scientist an atheist just because he/she do not currently believes in God (or unless he/she explicitly says so). Because, they usually change their opinion/view based on new findings and discoveries. But it looks like, even many scientists (but not Albert Einstein, Dr.Michio Kaku etc) fits into the category I mentioned above. - they have the same God concept, somebody who created this world in 6 days and now lives in his mansion up in the sky. If anybody thinks that is the only possible God form, it is nothing but ignorance.

Who or what is God according to Sanatana Dharma (modern day Hinduism)? Let us take one scripture, Srimad Bhagavat Gita, and two clues from it (amongst over a hundred given).

God is (but not limited to):

Atman, the soul of all entities, the Cosmic Soul...that 'something' without which we are said to be dead or without which we start to decay (Bhagavat Gita 10.20)

Cosmic Consciousness or a Super-consciousness (B.G 10.22)

God is the knowledge and the intelligence contained within E=Mc². It is intelligence that beautifully kept unbelievably heavy objects in the Akasa/space. They are all in motion, with the highest level of precision. God is there in that divine beauty, orderliness and intelligence (isn't amazing that even a tiny water creature like a Tardigrade has a built-in mechanism to absorb oxygen from water in a subtle, smooth eco-friendly way? Look at those migrating birds and butterflies, ants, spiders, weaver birds, corals...)

This consciousness can only be experienced/felt and not experimented/seen. And when one achieves that, that experience can not be communicated or converted into a formula/scientific method using which another scientist can experience the same.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita says:

“Mayi sarvamidam protam sootre maniganaa iva.” Gita 7.7

Meaning, there is absolutely nothing beyond me/God. Everything in this cosmos is connected with a common string (or particle/energy/consciousness/'whatever') like beads are connected in a rosary using a thread or like a thread goes through all the beads in a rosary.

This is the reason why there is this belief in the East that God is present everywhere and in everything....and this is the reason why Lord Buddha did not speak about a God form; not because he had no idea about God. A drop of water in an ocean, a bubble, a wave...all are nothing but the ocean itself though they are different. There is an ocean that goes through every single drop in a subtle way.

Creation happens in God and entire creation dissolves in God. All creation evolves from His two Prakrithi or nature/energy - Para (higher nature) and Apara (lower nature) - Shakti and Shiva or Cosmic Body and Holy Spirit or Yin and Yang..they are the womb of all creations in this entire cosmos.

(Apara prakrithi or Ashtamoola Prakrithi or the lower nature consists of Earth (does not literally mean planet Earth),Water, Fire, Air, Ether, (cosmic) Mind, (cosmic) Intellect and (cosmic) Ego. Para Prakriti is the supreme soul/spirit. And we can find and extension of all these in every one of us; meaning we all are made of these stuffs).

When an atheist could contemplate God in this dimension, the atheist would possibly become a believer and when a traditional /conventional God believer finds out this, he/she might turn into an atheist!!

A Christmas Thought

The first miracle by Jesus Christ is said to be turning water into wine; but it wasn't to make money. Read Bible a thousand times and you can not find a drunk Jesus Christ.

Getting drunk to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ only brings shame to him, not glory...

A Silence

You and me
Sat beside and
Listened to that song.
A song sung by-
The rain, in the dark

A silence
A breath
A smile

Along the rains
Into the river.
Like a river that
Ever change but
Never change.


A smile
A silence
A breath

Along the river
Into the ocean
Ocean with waves
Floating above and
Calm deep within

A breath
A smile
A Silence

RAINBOW .. Color of Humanity

Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel: all claimed that they were the best, the most important, the most useful, the favorite.

GREEN said: “Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, leaves, trees – without me, all animals would die.”

BLUE interrupted: “You only think about the Earth, but consider the sky and sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea.”

YELLOW “You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth to the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me, there would be no fun.”

ORANGE started next to blow her temper: “I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangos..”

RED could stand it no longer: He shouted out: “I am the ruler of all of you! I am blood! Life’s blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire to the blood! I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poppy and the poinsettia.”

PURPLE rose up to his full height. He was very tall and spoke with great pomp: “I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen me for I am a sign of authority and wisdom.” Finally,

INDIGO spoke, much more quietly than all the others, but with just as much determination: “Think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace.”

RAIN began to speak: “You foolish colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest. Don’t you know you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me.”

Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands. The rain continued:

“From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of colors as a reminder that you can all live in peace and harmony. The rainbow is a sign of hope for tomorrow”

And so, whenever a good rain washes the world, and a rainbow appears in the sky, let us remember to appreciate one another.

- A NATIVE AMERICAN STORY

The Journey

A train
The journey
A Tear.

There was no choice
But to move away
There was no choice
But to catch a train
There was no choice
But to break a heart

A train
The journey
A tear

Khadakasha

This universe exists in Akasha or space. There are three main types of Akashas - Mahakasha, Khadakasha and Jalakasa.

Mahakasha is the space we see up, with no limits..growing further and farther.
 

Jalakasha is the reflection of the Mahakasha in a water body (Jala means water).

Khada means mud pot. There is space in the mud pot which is nothing but an extension of Mahakasha. It exists there because and till there is a pot. It was there before the pot was even born. When the pot dies it becomes part of Mahakasha. Khadakasa has a birth time but it is never born. It has a death time but it never dies.

We are like Khadakasha.

Between You and Me

Between you and me

There are three 'I's

The I that I know, the

I that I told you and

The I that you know.

The I that I know

May not be the I

That I told you and

I do not know the

I that you know.

God and His Image

Did God create us in His Image? or What does that really mean?

According to Vedas, the 10,000 year old 'knowledge', we are made of body + 'something' (a Chaithanya).

Our body is made of the Pancha Bhootha (five elements). And we need the same Pancha Bhootha to live.

The food we eat is provided by Bhoomi (Earth).  Or this is the Earth Element within our body
There is Jala (water) in our body (just like earth is covered with 70% water, our body too is 70-80% of water)

It is the Fire (Agni) Element in our body that maintains our body temperature and helps with digestion

We breath Vayu (Air) and our blood carries this Element to nook and corner of our body

Whether it is Air or Food or Water, it moves around in Akasha (space) in our body

And when we die, our body goes back to the 5 elements (irrespective of whether we bury or burn it). So, if we are made of His image, how did we became perishable, when God is not?

When we are said to be dead, are we completely dead? or what dies? As we all know, when we are pronounced medically dead, all our organs are NOT really dead. It can live on another human, if it is removed within some specific time. And when those organs are taken, doctors do not have to give us anesthesia coz we do not feel pain anymore. Body can not feel anything without that 'something' or Chaithanya. So, what is gone is that Chaithanya (coz the body is still there and there is kind of 'life' in it). and when it is gone, we are dead...But where did it go?

Ancient knowledge says when we die, we are supposed to go back to from where we came from. So, the body turns  back into 5 elements.  That 'something' too should go back to the place from where it came from. Though it can not press the 'Home' button just like that, it is meant to be back there. Only then it can fulfill the equation, E=mc²

So, that 'something' or Chaithanya is the image of God and it is present in every one of us. It is beyond religion, faith and race. If that 'something' can be compared to lit charcoal, often it is covered with ash. Once the ash is blown away, it starts shining and glows like fire..and then it is capable of pressing the 'Home' button when our body goes where it came from.

Two Moms

Among the stuffs I read this week, two of them had something in common - a newborn. One was a news:

Last Sunday (October 23) a newborn baby girl was found abandoned in a Church premise, in Chicago.

Second was a mail from a friend of mine:

One of her (newborn) kittens died. She kept the body on a table and started digging to bury the dead kitten. When she came to pick it,  the body was missing. She looked around and found that the mother cat took possession the body and she was keeping it with her. Mom cat was crying in a different voice and kept on licking the dead kitten.

The Woodcutter and the Axe V 2.0

We all know the woodcutter story, the Aesop fable - Fable of the Woodcutter or Woodcutter and the Fairy or the Golden Axe or The Honest Woodman…

(He was cutting wood by the side of a river and his axe slipped into the river. He prayed and a fairy/river goddess came with a golden axe and asked whether it is his axe for which he said no. Then she came with a silver one and he said no. Finally she came with the iron one which the woodcutter was using and he said yes. Seeing his honesty, she gave all the three axes to him. Thus he became rich)

What happened then?

The woodcutter decided to visit Kerala, God's own country to watch Trissur Pooram, a famous festival also known for its crowd. He lost his wife in the crowd and he started praying. God (or the fairy that helped him last time) appeared and asked what happened. He told that his wife is missing. Then God came with the most beautiful woman in the world and asked: 

'Is this your wife?'

'YES' the ex-woodcutter replied.

Fairy became very angry and was about to curse him. Then he told to the fairy:

"Wait, don't curse me. I clearly remember what had happened last time. You came out with a gold axe and a silver one and then the iron one and you gave me all three of them. Now, if I say 'No', you will come with some other woman and finally, all of them will be on my head. And you don't know how much trouble I am having even with one..So, I am happy with this lady"

(As told by Swami Sandeepananda Giri; not verbatim)

Supplements

The other day I happen to read an article in Yahoo Health. It was about the 5 must have (food) supplements, written by a 'health expert' (who also is an author). He says he pops a handful of supplements every day and carries these 'must have' ones on long trips. According to him, everyone should take a very good multi-vitamin pill every single day.  This sounded sheer nonsense to me and I asked him why on earth a healthy human need a handful of supplements on a daily basis,  (he did not reply); especially in US where most food comes with added vitamins.

Take the popular cereal Honey Bunches of Oats for example. The carton says it contains:

Vitamin A, D, B6, B12, Iron, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folic Acid, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, Sodium and Potassium

More or less same with Froot Loops and Nesquick. Most milk brands has extra vitamin D. Americans generally eat meat/fish every single day and most people here includes some veggies and fruits in their every day meal (mostly in the form of a salad). So, when we pop a couple of supplement pills, there is this possibility of we taking excess vitamins. Some people believe our body is intelligent enough to take what it requires and flush out the rest in case of water soluble vitamins etc. But we need to understand that there is a mechanism which decides how much the body need and how much it need to flush out, even if that theory is right. This clearly means extra work for some of organs. 

Yesterday I read another article which says:

"Researchers say those who take multi-vitamins, folic acid and iron supplements may face higher risks of early death"

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/health/Study-Finds-new-Dangers-in-Vitamins-and-Supplements-131518988.html

and

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/10/8256866-some-common-vitamin-supplements-could-increase-death-risk-study-finds

All these days (supplementing) Vitamin E was given this image of something which promotes prostate health (or prevents prostate cancer for that matter). And now there comes new enlightenment - It in fact has the potential to cause prostate cancer in men

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/11/8273189-more-bad-supplement-news-vitamin-e-may-be-risky-for-prostate

This clearly shows that the increased prostate cancer rate in the recent days has something to do with vitamin supplements. This reminds me of the similar cures similar principle of Homoeopathy. If 'something' has the potential to cure a disease, that 'something' has the potential to give similar symptoms of that disease in a healthy person (who do not have that disease).

One of the best and wise ways of finding a solution for (increased rate of) cancer is to invest money in finding the (man-made) causes than trying to find a cure.; so that we can prevent it, if it can be prevented. It sure do has something to do with what we eat (genetically modified food for example) and pop. 

As we can see, two third of American population takes vitamin supplements and thus contributes their share to this 28 billion (per year) business. It is not a matter of surprise when 1% takes decision on 99%.

I think we have reached a point where we can no more trust these researchers. It all depends on who is funding the research. There was a time we believed that if we eat fruits and vegetables, it will take care of our health, not anymore because most of these fruits and vegetable lost their sanity when we added or removed some genes.

So, it is wise to consult a medical doctor before popping a magic pill, if one is serious about health.

IRA planning the Doomsday style!

So, the world will end on next Friday, October 21 2011?. But so far, we did not hear anything from Harold this time. Many people even forgot about it. Where is Harold now? Well, it looks like he retired from his job and is in a nursing home. What happened to the money and assets those foolish people donated to him, that is worth millions? This is called a well planned retirement, the doomsday style. The cunning way of planning your IRA account.

When Steve Jobs died, a (new) Church openly said 'Thank God Steve Jobs is dead' and they said they will picket his funeral. They got the cheap popularity they wanted and it's time for donations.

'Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves' - Matthew 7:15

Spirituality, again!

This is not the first time someone asking me this or me blogging about it - what you mean by spiritual and not religious?. I was asked this question recently when somebody read one of my profiles in internet. I thought I say something new than what I wrote before. 

Take this for example:

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself" Mark 12:31

What does that mean? Well, it looks kind of self explanatory unless one hates himself. Why should one do that?, love our neighbor as ourself? It is not that difficult to find an answer for that 'why'. (note that we are not asked to check our neighbor's religion/faith before we love them)

I personally think Mark 12:31is worth meditating. 

Let us look it closely.  When I read "YOU shall love YOUR.." it becomes "I shall love MY…", if that message is for me. Isn't it so? Then comes this big question - Who am I? There starts the spirituality or the spiritual journey. Don't you think Jesus is asking us to find who we really are?

When we look around and observe those religious people, we can see that, for them, religion is all about God or finding God or blindly following a scripture or attending a place of worship or considering themselves as a servant of God, speaking of 'their' God, following some customs, marketing 'their' God etc etc It happens so because their perception is different, when they read scriptures (when/if they read). I personally know some people who used to visit some particular temple on some particular day of the week. What if they miss a day and something went wrong? They would say it is because they missed the visit and God is angry..then they offeres some extra pooja to please the God. This will not happen with a person who has spiritual inclination though he has this habit of visiting a place of worship and miss a day. A spiritual person do not believe that God sits only in places of worship. 

Take the Hindu scripture Bhagavat Gita. There are over 500 translations in my mother tongue itself. Millions around the world read it, study it and many of them can recite it without referring the scripture. Who is Krishna? and Who is Arjuna? If anybody thinks Lord Krishna is  just a King (or the avatar of God) who lived 5000 years ago and he gave this pep talk to his buddy Arjuna before a fight and he is going to come again (even Jesus for that matter), I think they did not really get it. Of course Gita can be viewed that way. It is a HIStory book and it is a sanskrit text book too. But the spiritual way of looking at it is bit different. If we say Krishna or Jesus is not going to come again to save the world (the whole universe is HIS creation then who is coming to save whom?), it will create a big indigestion/anger/rage  for the religious people not to the spiritual ones.

At one point Jesus says he is the son of God and then we can see him saying he and the father are one. That is spirituality.