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.

Coconut Oil Goes Healthy..

Coconut oil was the primary cooking oil in my native State, Kerala. But since a decade or two, coconut oil is looked upon as a health hazard by doctors (especially the cardiologists) and those so called nutritionists. They say the 'research' say it is bad for our heart. To what extend we can believe these research and researchers? In this present day world, research results/data/statistics/findings has a lot to do with who is funding that research.

Now, what will happen when a reputed US company starts selling coconut oil? That too a giant from the health and nutrition industry?

I read the following product info:
       
       
        Cholesterol Control:


Not all fatty acids are alike. Lauric acid, for example, is a "good" saturated fatty acid. An analysis of 60 cholesterol research studies shows that the lauric acid in coconut oil helps maintain good cholesterol levels that are already within the normal range, as measured by the ratio of total cholesterol to "good" (HDL) cholesterol.
       
        Immune System


The lauric acid and monoglycerides in mother's milk help the immune system of the new-born baby. The same lauric acid and monoglycerides in coconut oil help support the adult immune system.
       
        Intestinal Health


By helping maintain the healthy intestinal flora, coconut oil contributes to the healthy functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
       

well well well

The Woman

Some time back I asked a (lady) friend of mine:

"Assume that you are dead but you are given 5 more minutes. What will you do?"

There came the answer:

"I will apply makeup"

Day and Decade

It was not a day but decade
The walking besides with
Glitter in your eyes.
Your solicitous warmth
Soothed my woes and
That smile on your face
Took my breath away

It feels like it was a day
And not a decade...

The aroma of that Rose
Intoxicated me; the Rose
That you never given to me; and
I know you loved my missives
The missives I never wrote to you

It feels like it was a day
And not a decade, but
It was not a day but a decade

Chosen Ones

They were the chosen ones
And so they chose to
Walk away...

War and Peace

“God is one..” – Peace

Preaching on unforgivable sins - the Plot

“...And that one and only God is ours” - War

Pain

The pain of

Losing heart

To heartless

Religion Fraud and Babas

Somebody left such a comment on my blog about Harold's rapture prediction

"Frauds are there in your religion too. what about saibaba,nitya,amma etc? they all are frauds"

Thank you..

These kinds of frauds are there everywhere and in every religion. Religion/God/faith based business is a million dollar business, these days.

I do not know on what basis you call Sai Baba as a fraud. If that reference is about materializing stuffs from thin air, vomiting shiv lingams etc, of course it is a trick and he managed to fool a lot of people that way. If we consider his contribution back to the society by way of charities and humanitarian activities, he was a great human being. He did not consider the the other person's religion or faith for that matter and his help was not in exchange of the other person's faith or religion.

Nitya? Nithayananda? The guy who fell into a sex scandal? It was a trap and the videos were there all over the net. I do not know whether he was promoting himself as a celibate monk or not. If he was, this is a double shame.. (in the case of Osho, he did not say ‘I am going to become a celibate monk' and that was his parents major worry). . But there is no justification for his shameful act.

Amma.. Matha Amritanadamayi … the ‘hugging saint'… No idea what ‘fraud’ activity she is into. But it is interesting that her philosophy has some depth and she did not even complete her 5^th grade! Her 'fraud' is yet to become public? no idea... If you know something, please let me know too. I am not her follower.

Note: Hinduism does not believe in religious conversion. Because, the core of Hinduism is spirituality and not blind faith or fear. Hinduism is beyond a particular God or scripture or guru (or fraud :P)

Friends, Coffee and a little Philosophy

(Happen to remember this story today. Read sometime back and it is everywhere in the net. I do not know who wrote this and what exactly was the title. Credit goes to the author).

A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large, empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

Then the professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous yes.

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided. “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions. Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.”

“The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else—the small stuff.”

If you put the sand into the jar first, he continued, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.

“If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.”

“So. . .pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner.”

“There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first—the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

Then one of the students raised hand and asked what the coffee represented.

Professor smiled and said:

“I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

Judgement Day, Rapture and Harold Camping

So, the judgment day did not come as Harold Camping predicted, though he said the Bible guarantees it. What does it mean? One way this could mean that he proved Bible is wrong. Who is the loser here? Those fools who believed in him. Many people sold their assets and donated that money to Camping (May be Camping’s people bought these assets at cheap rates), some gave away, there were lots of garage sale…those who did these kind of foolish activities lost everything. And Camping? (He said he will comment tomorrow. That is May 23 2011. May be he need more time to come up with something like 'God said not enough number and hence we need to convert more' ?)

He knew Judgment day is on May 21 2011 6pm pst sharp (So, Jesus is American and he follows pacific time with daylight saving?) But he was clever enough to apply for tax extension for 2011 in advance (now he has more time to file tax returns. His plan B?)

He did not forget to renew his ‘Family Radio’ (owned by him) license for 2012

He asked for donations well in advance (for doomsday advertisement)

I don’t know what this means but they did book meetings past May 21 2011

Look at this evangelist’s financial position:

As per his 2007 Balance sheet, (that is the latest I can find. It is available in MinistryWatch.com site. His ministry is Family Stations Inc) his total assets amounted to $152 million. And as per his 2009 tax returns, he declared that he got $18 million as donations. See? this is self-explanatory...

He cleverly discounted people’s faith and converted that into money, just like many people in God business.

Next is the final episode, which is end of the world, that is going to happen exactly on October 21 2011 (as per his prediction). That is when God is going to destroy Earth by sending fire and brimstones from the sky (and kill 97% of Earth’s population and then send them to hell - 3% was supposed to go to heaven yesterday- OMG!)

When will people learn?

May 21 2011

So, for some people the world is going to end by tomorrow, May 21 2011. The placard shown by some guy here in Oakland read “Bible guarantees it”. Does it mean that the Pope did not read Bible? Or he did and did not understand anything? Come on..

But this benefited some clever guys (I do not know whether there is a nexus between the sponsors of doomsday and these guys). They came out with new life time insurance for pets at an one time premium payment, at a 'premium' price. The logic behind this scheme is that Jesus will take ONLY selected people with him and as of now animals are not there in his list. So, if the pet owner gets selected, who will take care of the pet? This insurance people takes care of that responsibility, legally. Hundreds of people already took that insurance (as per yesterday's news report)

May be some guy(s) behind this publicity stunt is going to commit suicide and he/they want to take as many scapegoats as possible with him/them… But if he/they survives tomorrow, what is there to lose? He/they got the world publicity he/they wanted and he/they can come up with something for Jesus not coming to save…. Probably a flight delay?