My Music, My Wall

Within Every Heart Dwell Two Dogs

2012-02-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

Link
I once heard an old analogy from the Native American Indians regarding character. It is said that within every heart dwell two dogs, a bad dog and a good dog. The bad dog represents our debased tendencies of envy, anger, lust, greed, arrogance and illusion. The good dog is our divine nature, represented by forgiveness, compassion, self control, generosity, humility and wisdom. These two dogs are at battle with one another. Which dog will win? The one we choose to feed! Virtue is to keep the bad dog away and nourish the good dog through the choices we make and the use of our time.

We have been in this material world a long, long time and our conditioning runs deep. After so many births and deaths, our habits and character traits have become deeply ingrained. We truly believe we are our bodies and minds and that we are alone in the struggle to find a place of contentment in the world. In illusion we fall prey to the bad dog.

Being fed by our own choices, this dog has become a powerful predator whose howling reverberates in the mind and dictates our life. Meanwhile the good dog, weak and undernourished often can only whimper, begging for our attention. Yoga means to neglect the bad dog, however difficult it may be, and keep our focus on feeding the good dog, our divine nature.

The Bhagavad Gita explains that we all have both a divine and demoniac nature. Our divine qualities are conducive to liberation, whereas the demoniac qualities make for bondage. Due to neglect many people have allowed a selfish egoistic nature to dictate their lives. We can assess which dog people have been favoring by their words and actions. We have conditioned our minds with each choice we have made both in this life and in past lives. The resultant karma we create not only affects physical and mental reactions but more importantly it shapes our proclivities, desires and perceptions of the world. All of this further affects the choices we will make today and tomorrow. If we are not careful we can find ourselves in a destructive cycle in which our lower nature dictates our fate. Drug addicts, alcoholics and smokers became obsessed with their habit by choosing to feed that inclination, again and again. What is easy for one person to refrain from is excruciating for another who has fed the habit.

It is very difficult to just stop the mind and give-up our lower tendencies. Our conditioning is too powerful. Bhakti is the process of channeling our dynamic pleasure-seeking energy toward the Divine. The Gita teaches that one can overcome all of our lower tendencies by experiencing a higher taste, the taste of gradually awaking the source of all pleasure, God’s love.

- Radhanath Swami

House of Commons UK Parliament- HH Radhanath Swami

2012-01-10T23:28:00.000-08:00

SELF CARE

2011-12-27T03:34:00.000-08:00

If you want to serve others, you have to take good care of yourself.
If you don't do it, who will?

That could mean:
- Better diet
- More movement
- Time to think and reflect
- Time to write important insights
- Time to plan and determine your highest priorities
- Time to read inspiring books
- Talking to someone who has your best interest at heart

Open source tools

2011-12-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

White board - TED talk

Eye writer - TED talk

Sixth sense - TED talk

RepRap - 3D printer

Turning trash into toys - TED talk

The Hidden Glory of India

2011-11-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

Link - Buy in India
Highly recommended for anybody interested in Indian spirituality. The book is adorned with beautiful pictures :)

Simply stated Maya means "illusion". When extended the term refers to "material existence". This is not to suggest, howeer, that all material existence is an illusion.
The material world exists, but it is temporary. It exists like a dream-it has substance for sometime, but eventually it fades. When Prabhupada refers to Maya as being"that which is not" he is referring to aterial existence, for it does not endure. It is :not: because it will soon fade into oblivion. (70)
Bhakti-yoga, 'the way of adoration', offers a way out of the problem of [reincarnation] by showing the path of selfless devotion to God. In other words, Bhakti-yoga..produces actions without karmic residues as the Bhakta (devotee) dedicates his actions and their consequences to an adorned God; as a result, the karma generated by the act becomes God's and not the bhakta's. The conclusion is that the problem of suffering is solved once again, as the cause of dukha, desire, is crushed in the surrendering to God of all the fruit of one's labors. And, once again, the way to heaven is open. (91)

The late scholar Mircea Eliade has analyzed the structural significance of Indian temples:

[Such] temples... are explicitly recapitulations of the body. The symbolic blueprint of a temple is the Vastu-purusha Mandala, a diagram drawn on its future site. This diagram incorporates the directions, the lunar mansions, the planets, the demigods, and the human body and symbolically transmits their forms to the temple rising above it. Indian architectural manuals explicitly liken the temple to the body: the door is the mouth; the dome above the spire is the head. Just as human skull has a suture, from which the soul at death depart to heaven, so also the dome is pierced with a finial; and the inner sanctum of the temple is the place of the soul within the human body.Because the....temple represents a human body, the journey into the temple is also journey within oneself. Contact with the image of divinity in the heart of the temple is the symbolic replication of the meeting of divinity withing the center of one's being. (106)

The Inner meaning of Ratha-yatra
This mood of wanting to bring Krishna back to the intimacy of Vrindavan is the confidential theme of the Ratha-yatra festival. When devotees pull the long, sturdy ropes of the Ratha-yatra art, they are pulling Krishna back into their hearts-back to the land of Vrindavan. (121)

Mantras, or sacred sounds are used to pierce through sensual, mental and intelletual levels of existence-all lpwer strata of consiousness-for the purpose of purification and spiritual enlightenment. The sounds of different letters, particularly Sanskrit letters, have been shown to affet the mind, intellet, and auditory nerves of those who chant and hear them. The seven energy centers (chakras) of the spinal column, as well as the ida, pingala, and sushumna nadis, or the three pranic channels of the subtle body, all respond to mantras, bringing pratitioners to elevated levels of awareness. (184)

The sense of hearing..connects experientially with the hear, and music and sound touch us most directly. We do not resonate so deeply with the visual as with the auditory. This maybe explained by the fact that our visual apparatus has a frequency range of slightly less than one octave, from infrared to ultraviolet, whereas the auditory system has a range of about eight octaves, approximately 60 to 16,000 hertz, or number of vibrations per second. We are sensitive to sound requency as pitch and to light frequeny as color. The frequencies of the visual field are muh higher than those of the auditory field (by an order of 1010), and is well known, the higher the frequenies, the lesser the penetration of a given material. (185)

Veganism in Switzerland

2011-11-06T03:35:00.000-08:00

Some reports published by Swiss Government

Vegan.ch
Vegetarismus.ch
Biovegan.ch
Facebook group : Vegans in Zurich

Campaigns
50% - die neue Fleischgenussformel (2011)

Online shops and Restaurants
Peace food - Baar
Bio tofu and soya products

Videos
Gary Yourofsky on animal rights and Veganism at Georgia Tech - German subtitles

Other posts
Veganism in general

Cow dung and radiation

2011-10-23T03:27:00.000-07:00

Source article

The threat of nuclear radiation in Japan has raised widespread concerns across the world. The blasts at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan have raised fears about the adverse health effects of the fission products,
released from the reactors core.
Ionizing radiation produced by decaying radioactive material affect the body’s chemical functioning. Bone marrow cells, thyroid gland, soft tissue of the stomach and lungs are very vulnerable to the radiation. Food exposed to radiation is also harmful. People across the world are rushing to buy potassium iodide tablets to safeguard themselves from exposure.
But just like any other outbreak of an epidemic the skyrocketing sales is inevitably soaring the profits of pharma-companies. But the remedy is there right at our disposal from none other than “Mother Cow”. Recent studies in an Indian University physics department has shown that cow dung plastering or layering helps shield gamma rays or even nuclear radiation. Gamma rays as we know are the most harmful rays emitted during nuclear reaction. Cow dung, in fact, can absorb all the three rays – alpha, beta and gamma in the spectrum.
Although alpha and beta rays are not harmful but Gamma rays penetrate the body tissue and are the most harmful. If the outer walls of houses are coated with thick layers of cow dung, it will absorb the gamma rays and in turn people would be safe.
So even if we don’t have nuclear fallout we still can be saved from harmful radioactive isotopes that are around us in the environment.
Moreover, besides the multitude of other benefits that the cow dung has to offer we have one highly effective construction technology, which has been incorporated in rural India since time immemorial. This keeps the interiors cool in summers.
As the modern scientists keep on finding the plethora of benefits of Cow dung we at our eco-friendly community have incorporated these age-old remedies with a concept of living with nature in harmony. We at GEV have incorporated the use of mud houses technology, which has an added layer of cow dung plaster to it. These structures are at pilot stage of implementation but slowly experiments are in progress on their largescale construction. Going by the urgency to protect and nurture cows whom we consider sacred and worship able these kind of initiatives will make them symbolic as the moving “Industrial Enterprises“ of future India.

East-west dialogues

2011-10-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

East-west dialogues: Buy Book
East-west dialogues: an interreligious encounter
conversations between Alvin V. P. Hart and Satyaraja Dasa Adhikari

Reincarnation
Intoxication - wine
Vegetarianism

Water crystal

2011-10-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

"Healing" Water

While doing water therapy, instead of drinking water mechanically, if you drink water consciously for healing, there will be a greater impact. Water is not an inert substance as is generally thought, it can absorb vibrations of sound, light, heat and other physical elements. Most surprising is that it can reflect human feelings because of its very subtle nature. Water's healing powers have been known for many centuries. Drinking water from certain cold or hot springs is found to have healing powers. Rituals in many religions use water as an important part of the ceremony. Water is distributed as an offering in many religious and spiritual traditions. Does water really have power? Recent study by a Japanese scientist Dr. Masaru Emoto shows that water can reflect human feelings. This experiment can be reproduced by any one who can scrape out ice crystals from an ice cube and watch the crystal under a microscope before the crystal melts to water. He accidentally once watched snow crystals under his phase contrast microscope. He was fascinated by the beauty of water crystals. Purity of water influences the crystalline shape of water crystals. In later experiments with water crystals, Dr. Masaru Emoto collected water from different sources and found that the beauty of the water crystals is based on the purity of water. See the pictures below which show how water reacts to impurities. The picture on the left is a beautiful water crystal from an unpolluted mountain source. Water from a polluted river gives the distorted crystal structure shown on the right Crystal formed from Water with no impurities Water with impurities

The sacred syllable "AUM" was written on a glass of water
and the crystal structure that was observed is shown below:
Water crystal obtained by labeling with the Vedic sound Aum

Full article here

His book “The Hidden Messages in Water” is now on sales.

Excerpts of it can be read at this link.

Foundational questions about life and sprituality

2011-10-01T02:37:00.001-07:00

Radhanath Swami - 2 Minutes of Wisdom

The transcripts of the interview are available in description of the videos...
How can I know if God Exists?

What is the Purpose of Life?

Why is Religion so often a Source of Conflict?

Why is There Suffering in the World?

Does God have a Gender?

Searching for Vedic India

2011-09-24T02:42:00.000-07:00

H. H Devamrita Swami - Amazon
The book provides references after each chapter. I would advise people to read the whole book. These are just small excerpts from the chapters.

Chaper 13 - Vedic Technology and Mystic power

REMOTE VIEWING: ANCIENT AND MODERN

The Gita is a battlefield dialgoue between Krishna, the Supreme Absolute Truth incanating on Earth, and Arjuna, a dear devotee. In the midst of two huge armies ready to collide, Krshna imparts knowledge of Self-Realization to Arjuna. The events on the battlefield, including the dialogue, are relayed by Sanjaya, a royal secretary, to his lord, Dhritarashtra. (434)
Reference 5 - Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies

UNSOLVED ANCIENT MYSTERIES

Before we sample more of the stunning world of ancient Vedic technology, we should be aware that major unsolved mysteries of technology exist right before our eyes. We might consider that for the past thirty or so years, miners in South Africa, in the Western Transvaal region, have brought to the surface strange metallic grooved spheres that indicate metallurgy billions of years back in time. To date, over two hundered of these partly round spheres have been discovere, in deep rock dated over two billion years old. Especially bizarre are the spheres with three parallel grooves around the middle. The artifacts fall into two categories: solid bluish metal with white flecks, and hollow objects with a strange, white, spongy material inside.
The curator of the Klerksdorp Museum in South Africa, where some of the sphere are stored, testifies tat they cannot be scratched even with a metal point. " These spheres are a complete mystery", the curtor Roelf Marx, describes. Nevertheless, holding tight to the traditional notion of human antiquity, he affirmed, " They look man-made yet at te the time in earth's history when they came to rest in this rock, no intelligence life existed." (439)

Reference 9 - The Hidden History of the Human Race, p.121

Egyptian Enigmas of Construction The great Pyramid of Egypt has blocks weighing between 10 and 15 tons on its upper leels above smaller blocks of a mere 6 tons. The whole structure consists of 2.5 illion limestone blocks, forming 203 levels of limestone and granite masonry. Why an dhow did the builers put the smaller blocks on the ground and the particularly huge blocks up high? Normally, of course, we would think and do the reverse. (441)

Inside the Great Pyramid, the King's Chamber features 43 huge beams of granite, each weighing between 45 and 70 tons. How were they cut? The red granite sacrophagus found in the King's chamber was cut out of stone so precisely that its external volume is exactly twice its internal volume. What tools were used to cut it out of granite? next, once cut out, what tools were use to hollow the granite sacrophagus so accurately? Petrie saw no answer to those riddles except straight and circular bronze saws set with sapphire or rubies, and also jewel tipped tubular drills. and how did the tools spin, in order to hollow out the inside? (443-444)

Dunn invaded mainstream Egyptology with his engineering knowledge. In 1983 he took to investigating Petrie's assertions of jewel-tipped technology. Scrutinizing blocks in the Valley temple, the tooling specialist observed that they had been hollowed out with some kind of drill. He examined the incisions and calculated that whatever drill had done the job, it had chewed into the rock at the rate of 0.09 of an inch per revolution of the drill. Impossible by hand, but what about by modern machines? (445)
An American firm in Ohio that specialies in drilling granite explained to Dunn that, although their drills spin at 900 revolutions per minute, they only bite into the rock at 0.00021 of an inch per revolution. How can we attribute to the ancient Egyptians a drill 500 times faster than what our best technology offers today? Dunn felt forced to a daring conclusion: the Egyptians employed a rocess known today as ultrasonic drilling. (446)

Loud hints of Sonic construction
The Arab itinerant historian recorded the esoteric coptic explanation of how the Egyptians built the pyramids: " In carrying out the work, leaves of papyrus, or paper, inscribed with certain characters, were placed uner the stones prepared in the quarries; and upon being stuck, the blocks were moved at each time the distance of a bowshot (about 150 cubits), and so by degrees arrived at the Pyramids."
What the account of al-Mas'udi suggests is that the Egyptians moved their immense blocks of granite by sound levitation. According to his description, first papyri inscribed with magical characters were placed beneath the stones. Then each block was struck with some kind of rod. Next the block rose in the air and traveled with equivalent of 260 feet, before the process would be repeated again. The implication is that by the ancient Egyptians striking the blocks, the established a sound vibration that allowed the blocks to defy gravity and move. (446-447)

Reference 22 - For an amplified description, see Collins, Gods of Eden, pp. 35-37

Greek Myth?
Classical Greek writers say that the ancient city Thebes, a rival of Athens, was built by a legendary person named Amphion. Interestingly, Amphion was to have erected the walls of Thebes by using sounds from a harp to move large stones. (449)
Reference 30 - "Pausanis," Encyclopedia Britannica, CD-ROM, 1998

Tibetan Secrets
In a meadow facing cliffs, a group of monks established a construction site. Their goal: constructing a wall in a cave of the cliffs. The distance from the meadow up to the cave: 750 feet. The doctor's tetimony is extensive and meticulously detailed. In brief, doctor's testimony is extensive and meticulosly detailed. In brief, he describes an orchestra of yellow-robed monks with trumpets and drums. Chanting and playing rhythmically, the formation of monks aimed their sounds at a stone block before them. After monks aimed their sounds at a stone block before them. After four minutes, the stone block first wobbled on the ground and then rose in the air. In an arc-like pattern the stone traveled up to the ledge at the cave's entrance-750 feet above. There the stones abruptly crashed to a halt, sending dust and gravel flying in all directions. Just as abruptly, the sonic-technology orchestra silenced. Then the musician readied another stone on the ground and repeated the same process. (451)
Reference 33 - For an english presentation of the relevant passages in the Danish edition, see Collins, Gods of Eden, pp. 66-72

Mystic Powers
After enumerating in the Bhagavata Purana the major, secondary, and inferior mystic powers, Bhagavan Krishna asserts:
Learned experts in devotional service (bhakti-yoga) state that the mystic perfections of yoga that I have mentioned are actually impediments and are a waste of time for one who is practising the Supreme yoga, by which one achieves all perfection in life directly from Me. (Shrima-Bhagavatam 11.15.33) - 458

In the Gita, after reviewing the different steps on the yoga ladder, Krishna says:

And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, think of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me-he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion. (Bhagavad-gita 6.47) (457-458)

THE WEST GROPES FOR PSYCHIC POWERS

Based on almost half a million experimental trials, the tests by Jahn and Dunne unarguably reveal a minute yet definite and quantifiable ability for the mind to influence the output of electronic devices. The two frontier scientists demonstrated the mind's influence by using microchip devices that randomly generate thousands of computerized dice rolls per hour.

Brenda Dunne explained,"Gamblers throughout history have believed that they could affect the outcome of a random process like rolling dice or shuffling cards. the phenomenon we are measuring is a lot more subtle, but it is the same idea and we have measured it in the laboratory. (459)

Reference 35 - Press Release from society for scientific Exploration (SSE), 15 December 1992. For full information see Journal of Scientific Exploration 6, no. 4.

Messing's exploits were not hidden by Stalin's regime. the soviets published them in an official atheistic journal Science and Religion. The Russian Nobel laureate chemist Dr. Nikolai Semyonov, who was also vice-president of the Academy of Sciences in the USSR, commented on the journal, " It is very important to scientifically study the psychic phenomena of sensitivities like Wolf Messing" (463)

Reference 40 - Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, Psychic Discoveries (New York: Marlowe and Co., 1997), p. 347

Beginning in the 1930s, physiologist Dr. Leonid Vasiliev and his colleagues thoroughly experimented with telepathic hypnosis. Determined to prove that telepathy had a physical basis, they shut their knockout subjects inside orn Farday cages-to bar electromagnetic waves. then they built a lead capsule-to bar radiation. Nevertheless, the telepathic knockout sessions went on as usual. finally, without telling the subject, Vasiliev's team sent the scientit performing telepathic sleep-wake to city 1,000 miles away. Still, from far off, he was able to do his job. For several decades, Vasiliev could not freely publish his research. He lived just long enough to see hiss book Experimental Research of Mental Suggestion finally printed in Russia in 1962. An English translation followed the next year.

Reference 43 - Experiments in Distant Influence : Discoveries by Russia's foremost parapsychologist, p.144

HIGH TECH VEDIC CULTURE

In the fascinating book Alien Identities, Thompson paraphrases more details of the Air Force report, so that w can fully grasp the resemblance to the Vedic report:

One of the apparent disappearances of the object occured as the RB-47 was about to fly over it. The pilot remarked that it seemed to blink out visually and simultaneously disappear from the scope of ECM monitor # 2 (an electronic surveillance device). At the same time it disappeared from radarscopes at AFC site Utah. Moments later the object blinked on again visually and simultaneously appeared on the ECM mointor and ground radar. The observers on the RB-47 also noted that the UFO sometimes generated two signals with different bearings on their electronic monitoring equipment. Although we don't really know what the UFO was doing. This is reminiscent of the statement that Shalva's vimana sometimes appeared to be in multiple forms.

Reference 51 - Richard Thompson, Alien Identities, pp. 225-26

MANTRA WEAPONRY AND WARFARE

Relying not only on conventional swords, lances, and arrows, the Vedic warriors, when neceessary, armed their arrows with mantras-precise sound vibration. The bow was a launching device. The arrows in the warrior's sonic bow was a launching device. The arrows in the warrior's sonic arsenal could inflict troubles such as extreme heat or cold, firestorms, water problems, thunderbolts, ,hailstones, and severe hurricanes. Besides manipulating the effects of nature, the arrows of Vedic warriors could also affect the mind of opponents. they could produce psychic illusions to terrify their opponents, and the arrows could produce psychic illusions to terrify their opponents, and the arrows could put their foes into deep sleep. for every one of these offensive weapons, an anti-weapon existed. Therefore in Vedic descriptions of battles, fantastic volleys of arrows and their countermeasures fill the air. (480)

Interesting video

The human cost of chocolate

2011-09-20T01:56:00.000-07:00

The human cost of chocolate

It may be unthinkable that the chocolate we enjoy could come from the hands of children working as slaves. In Ivory Coast and other cocoa-producing countries, there are an estimated 100,000 children working the fields, many against their will, to create the chocolate delicacies enjoyed by Western countries.

Ten years ago, two U.S. lawmakers took action to put a stop to child labor in the cocoa industry. Despite pushback from the industry, the Harkin-Engel Protocol, also known as the Cocoa Protocol, was signed into law on September 19, 2001.

On the 10th anniversary of the legislation, CNN takes a look at what effect this protocol has had on the cocoa industry. Here's a primer on some of the major issues surrounding the issue of slave labor in the cocoa industry:

Where does cocoa come from?

Some 70 to 75 percent of the world's cocoa beans are grown on small farms in West Africa, including the Ivory Coast, according to the World Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative.

Does Ivory Coast allow children to work on these farms?

No, child labor is illegal and since the implementation of the Cocoa Protocol in 2001, the chocolate industry along with governments and human rights groups have worked to end the practice. Yet, the U.S. State Department estimates more than 100,000 children are involved in the worst forms of child labor on cocoa farms throughout Ivory Coast. Some are the children of cocoa farmers but many other youths are smuggled into Ivory Coast from Mali and Burkina Faso to work on cocoa plantations, according to the International Labor Rights Forum.

What exactly is the "Cocoa Protocol"?

Ten years ago, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York, and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced legislation mandating a labeling system for chocolate. After the industry raised concerns, a compromise was reached that required chocolate companies to voluntarily certify they had stopped the practice of child labor. The certification process would not involve labeling products "child-labor-free," as initially proposed.

Instead, it calls for public reporting by African governments, establishment of an audit system and poverty remediation by 2005. The deadline had to be extended to 2008 (read Fortune Magazine's report on the state of the protocol in 2008) and again to 2010. Today, many aid groups say some of the provisions have still not been met.

So has the Cocoa Protocol had any success in ending child labor in the cocoa industry in the past 10 years?

It's hard to say. Ivory Coast has had further economic problems following its civil war from 2002 to 2004. Chocolate exporters and manufacturers say the war and its aftermath have hampered their efforts to eradicate child labor.

"Honestly, it's hard to see anybody saying that this protocol has attained the goals that were set out in it," said Judy Gearhart, executive director of the International Labor rights forum

Chris Bayer, a Tulane University researcher, spent five years in the Ivory Coast and Ghana monitoring the protocol's plan and studying the scope of the problem.

"Unfortunately, over the last 10 years we have seen very little implementation of the actual commitments," he said. "Industry did not live up to the Harkin-Engel protocol. The issues are systemic. Children are still working."

The International Cocoa Initiative was set up by the protocol to bring all parties together to address the worst forms of child labor in the supply chain. The ICI board has representatives from the major cocoa processors and chocolate manufacturers. It says progress is being made.

"Five of the six commitments made in the protocol have been completed," the group said in an e-mail statement. "And governments of cocoa producing countries, ILO, the OECD, independent foundations, members of the cocoa supply chain and ICI itself are ACTIVELY working on the sixth commitment - to improve the livelihoods of cocoa growers the infrastructure in cocoa communities farmers organizations, educational facilities etc. Substantial funds are being expended on these activities."

We are the ones we've been waiting for

2011-09-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

A Hopi Elder Speaks

"You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered . . .

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader."

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, "This could be a good time!"

"There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly.

"Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

"The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

Gratefulness with Brother David

2011-09-18T03:07:00.000-07:00

A Good Day

Meditative moments
Gratefulness

David Steindl-Rast, OSB, was born in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving his PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1953, he joined Mount Saviour Monastery, in Elmira, New York, of which he is now a senior member. After 12 years of training in the 1500-year-old Benedictine monastic tradition, Brother David received permission to practice Zen with Buddhist masters. In 1958-1959, Br. David was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Cornell University, where he also became the first Roman Catholic to hold the Thorpe Lectureship. He became a leader in the monastic renewal movement, and in 1975 received the Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. Among his often reprinted and anthologized books are Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer; A Listening Heart; and Music of Silence. At present Brother David serves a worldwide network as co-founder of A Network for Grateful Living.

Detailed Biography

Walking in India is liking walking in a big cathedral, prayers everywhere
Lived like everyday was a last day and he enjoyed to the fullest and was grateful for all things :)
Photoblog

"When you get up in the morning, remember how precious it is to have the privilege to live, to breathe, to be happy" - (Marc-Aurelius)

Crazy videos

2011-09-18T01:21:00.000-07:00

Balance

Flying people

Man on wire

World record highest dive

Bhakti yoga, Addictions and Previous life karma

2011-09-09T09:15:00.001-07:00

Source

Q1} Dear Radhanath Swami my question is as follows: If Bhakti yoga is the prescribed yoga given in the Bhagavat Gita, then why does Lord Krishna give so many other process?

Radhanath Swami answers: Lord Krishna has given different types of yoga systems to bring us all to the stage of perfection.

In the Bhagavad Gita, we find the process of karma yoga. Krishna explains the perfection of karma yoga in the ninth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. This verse is especially liked by Radhanath Swami :

yat karoñi yad açnäsi
yaj juhoñi dadäsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kuruñva mad-arpaëam

“Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” (Bhagavad Gita 9.27)

Another Radhanath Swami favorite:
Thus, jnana yoga in its perfectional state brings one to surrender unto Krishna.
The Bhagavad Gita concludes with Lord Krishna’s demand that we surrender unto Him-

sarva-dharmän parityajya
mäm ekaà çaraëaà vraja
ahaà tväà sarva-päpebhyo
mokñayiñyämi mä çucaù

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear. (Bhagavad Gita 18.66)

Now Radhanath Swami talks about the harmony of all systems:
The Bhagavad Gita teaches the harmony of all the other yoga systems with the ultimate goal – surrender to Krishna, known as Bhakti Yoga. Anyone who understands the Bhagavad Gita as it is can see how the other processes of yoga are simply parts and parcels of Bhakti and how they lead the practitioner towards the same. Those who do not understand the Bhagavad Gita as it is, however, have a less developed comprehension of its philosophy. They separate the different yoga systems thinking that each is in of itself sufficient to lead one to the same goal. Therefore their philosophy is yato mata tato patha – one can choose the path of his choice. However, Krishna presents the different yoga systems to convince Arjuna to surrender unto Him, remember Him, and so everything for Him.
In the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains-

ahaà sarvasya prabhavo
mattaù sarvaà pravartate
iti matvä bhajante mäà
budhä bhäva-samanvitäù

“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.” (Bhagavad Gita 10.8)

Further Radhanath Swami talks about how the spiritual teachings are strung like a thread:”This principle is the continuous thread of the Gita and all other teachings are like pearls strung around this thread. Just like arithmetic and calculus are different divisions of the same subject – mathematics. A young child studying in primary school may see arithmetic and calculus as separate but a PHD in the subject will see that they are intertwined and developed for the single purpose of acquiring a degree in mathematics. Basic arithmetic is meant to bring the student to higher and higher aspects of mathematics but they are all parts of the same system. Similarly those who have a clear understanding of the Bhagavad Gita can see the whole picture of the Gita, whereas a person whose understanding is less developed will see each part isolated from the rest.”

Radhanath Swami continues to glorify the Bhagavad Gita:

“Ever syllable, word and verse of the Bhagavad Gita was meant to bring Arjuna and is meant to bring one and all to the point of complete love, devotion and surrender. This understanding can only be had by a person who understands the Bhagavad Gita as it is. Who is he? Lord Krishna explains the qualification to comprehend the essence of the Bhagavad Gita.

bhakto ’si me sakhä ceti
rahasyaà hy etad uttamam
(Bhagavad Gita 4.3)

Thus, those who are not devotees of the Lord can never see the complete picture of the Bhagavad Gita.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q 2}My question to Radhanath Swami is as follows – Before coming to Krishna consciousness there are many conditionings and attachments to certain materialistic sinful activities. These conditionings turn out to be the biggest obstacles on the path of Krishna consciousness. That particular sinful activity to which we are addicted attracts our attention and ultimately destroys our spiritual life. How do we resist the force of these conditionings and safeguard ourselves from going astray?

Radhanath Swami answers: Since time immemorial we have conditioned ourselves certain misconceptions. The Srimad Bhagavatam teaches that the origin of all misconceptions is janasya mohoyam aham mameti. We are thinking, “I am this body and all things in relationship with this body are mine.” But actually, I am the spirit soul and what is really mine, is the opportunity to serve and to love. That is the constitutional nature of the soul but when we fall into this misconception, we act to serve our ego than to serve God. Whatever we do, then has a karmic reaction. Karma is both gross and subtle. Everything we do or say, not only will incriminates us in physical, mental and emotional reaction but also conditions our consciousness to be more and more attached in a way that develop a deeper proclivity or inclination to that type of thought or activity. Thus, we are the conglomerated sum total of all the conditionings that we have put upon ourselves through this life and through many countless lives. Even when we take to a path of pure spiritual life and thus have noble aspirations, our conditionings are still lurking within our mind ready to haunt us like ghosts. The mind is filled with the sum total of impressions, attachments and desires from all our previous lives and we are able to see only a few desires that come up at a time. Just like there may be countless fish in the ocean but we only see a few jumping up every now and then there are millions desires and attachments in the mind and every now and then a few come to the surface.”
Now Radhanath Swami provides a solution:
“The solution is to recondition our selves. We have cultivated selfishness and all sorts of desires for acquisition and enjoyment. The process of sanatan dharma is to recondition our mind, senses and lives through purity, humility and selfless service. When we engage in devotional service to God, the power of God’s mercy upon us is so great, that in a relatively short period of time it purifies us of all the conditionings. Therefore lord Caitanya prayed, cheto darpan marjanam bhava maha devagni nirvapanam. The pure water that falls from the sky turns muddy on falling to the ground but comes back to its natural state on being filtered. Similarly, when we filter our consciousness, of the conditioned attachments and desires, it comes back to its natural constitution. The simplest most effective way of purifying the mind is by fixing our consciousness on God. In the age of Kali the most highly recommended process of bringing the consciousness back to its pure natural state is remembering the Supreme by chanting His holy names. Here Radhanath Swami gives a wonderful analogy: 2 things are required to filter the mind – one is filtration and the other is to stop poring junk in it. In spite of having the best filter, the water can never be purified if we keep throwing pollutants and mud in it.

täni sarväëi saàyamya
yukta äséta mat-paraù
vaçe hi yasyendriyäëi
tasya prajïä pratiñöhitä

“One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence.” (Bhagavad Gita 2.61)

The formula to engage the mind disclosed by Radhanath Swami :The great acharyas have taught us the 4 regulative principles namely no illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat eating and we must follow them very strictly. Violating these 4 regulative principles simply pours more and more dirt in our mind and we get addicted to the materialistic concept of life. If we want to give up something negative we have replace it it with a positive alternative. It is very difficult for one to stop something one is habituated to for a long time. But it becomes relatively easy if we engage our mind, senses and life’s energy in something positive. It is said that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. We want to eliminate the negative through the process of replacing it with positive. Simply negation of these desires will not do since the
soul is pleasure seeking. Therefore Lord Krishna did not tell Arjuna to go to the forest and do nothing, say nothing and speak nothing but to act with mobility, integrity and devotion to Him

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q 3}I would like to thank Radhanath Swami for answering our questions. My question is- If every thing is fixed by our previous karma, what is to happen will happen. Why then, should we bother about doing wrong things or right things?
Radhanath Swami answers: Not everything is fixed. What we have done in the past has fixed our present destiny. But now our react to the destiny that we have created by our past, will create our future destiny. For example one may get one lakh rupees due to his past pious work. What he does with that money decides his future destiny. If he invests that money in heroine or cocaine and makes a crore of rupees, then his future destiny is that he may get smashed in a car accident or robbed or everything. Conversely if he uses it to feed the poor, to hospitalize the sick he gets pious results and if he uses that lakh of rupees in illuminating people’s hearts and lives in service of God he gets tremendous spiritual benefit. NOTE : Although Radhanath Swami is American by birth he very well knows that in India people understand terms like lakhs and crores.

This part of the answer by Radhanath Swami puts a spotlight on free will. Radhanath Swami once acknowledged that this is very difficult for people in the West to understand. Radhanath Swami has extensive experience of helping Westerners understand the basic principles of Krishna consciousness. So we continue with Radhanath Swami’s answer – “One should not think that what one does with that money is also fixed by his past karma. This is a very serious and dangerous misconception. We always have free will and it will never be taken away from us, though we may use it for a wrong purpose impelled by strong inclinations based on our previous activities. That is the reason why it is very important to associate with people who have pure aspirations. Because in their association it is easier to overcome our previous conditionings and use our free will in a beneficial way than in a harmful way. There may be a drug addict and due to his previous conditionings, the natural state of his mind is to be on drugs 7 days a week. And if he lives with other drug addicts that just perpetuates that consciousness. But a person always has a free will to give it up and if he has some sincerity, the first thing he will do is associating with people who are not taking drugs. That gives us strength to give up strong materialistic tendencies. If with out free will we choose to associate with people who have pure and spiritual aspirations, we get the strength to use our higher self to conquer animalistic propensities. If we nourish our animalistic propensities then the divine virtues become weak and helpless. Then it is very difficult to make the right choice.
If we had no free will and whatever was going to happen would happen, why did Lord Krishna speak Gita? Why did Prophet Mohammed give the holy Koran? Why did Jesus Christ give the New Testament? Why there are so many incarnations, prophets and yogis that descend in the world to teach us how to live, how to make the right choice if we have no choice at all?

Here is a very funny question asked by a young man to Radhanath Swami. Once Radhanath Swami said that in India the young generation is not allowed to express their doubts. Even Shrila Prabhupada (Radhanath Swami’s spiritual master) expressed disbelief that the young people of India could be in such ignorance about the personality of Krishna. In the West Lord Krishna is derided as a promiscuous person of someone with low morals, infact Krishna is the Father of morality.
I am sure most of the college youth today would ask this question as this boy asked Radhanath Swami.
Dear Radhanath Swami Maharaja can I ask you a question?

Radhanath Swami : Yes.

If Krishna can have so many wives why can’t we have at least 2 or more?

Radhanath Swami answers:
Krishna had 16,108 wives and he expanded himself in 16,108 identical forms to give them individual company. Each of his wives was perfectly satisfied with His love, devotion, care and protection. That’s Krishna. Being the supreme whole, He is all perfect and is maintaining and nourishing the entire universe. Thus it is not a problem for Him to maintain 16,000 or 16 million or 16 billion wives.

Young Man : I would like to ask Radhanath Swami “ Is the modern man more depressed than his ancestors?”

Radhanath Swami answers :According to statistics of the World Health Organization, in the last 10 years incidents of serious depression have increased by 50%. We have better telephones, better televisions, more efficient motor cars, better highways systems, better airplanes and air traffic control and the computers are getting smaller and more efficient In spite of so much material progress suicides, depression, alcoholism, drug addiction has drastically increased. These are simple questions that thoughtful people should ask. The answer according to the Gita is, that living superficial lives that are not in harmony with our real nature can never bring us real fulfillment. The more we strive for happiness through materialistic ways, the more our heart becomes frustrated. The more materialistic society becomes scientifically and technologically advanced, the tendency is to give up our inclination toward spirituality.

Dear Radhanath Swami kindly answer my question which is as follows: Is it the innate nature of the mind to be disturbed continuously and ultimately get depressed?
Radhanath Swami :Thank you for your question. One friend once asked me, “Radhanath Swami how do you keep your mind from getting depressed?” Gladly will I share that answer with you.

We present here Radhanath Swami’s answer: It is the not the nature of the mind to pursue selfishness and egoism and thus experience frustration and depression in due course of time. It is the nature of the mind to pursue the needs of the soul and thus find peace, compassion, happiness and ecstatic enlightenment. It is the actual nature of the mind to always be filled with transcendental pleasure. Then it is connected to the will of the atma, the eternal soul. But when we forget our real nature and pursue the desires of the false ego under the misconception that I am this mind, I am this body, I am the controller, the proprietor and the enjoyer, then it is the nature of the mind to be implicated in material bondage and suffering. Thus, if we want to free our mind, the easiest way is to chant mantra. The word mantra means to deliver the mind from it’s artificial conditions and to bring it back to it’s original, natural, pure state. It is for this reason that the greatest welfare work is to teach people how to purify and cleanse their heart through chanting God’s name, ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. This was the same mantra that young Richard Slavin (later Radhanath Swami heard from Mother Ganga in India).

Question from a biology scholar put before Radhanath Swami – Due to my sinful activities in this life, if I am born as a unicellular or multicellular organism in my next life, will my activities as a human being be considered in the next birth?
Radhanath Swami answers : Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita,

nehäbhikrama-näço ’sti
pratyaväyo na vidyate
sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
träyate mahato bhayät

“In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.” (Bhagavad-Gita 2.40)

Those who follow this path of dharma, whatever their past may have been, they are freed from the greatest dangers. The Vedas are filled with recommendations to perform prayascita, pious activities by which one can atone for the sinful activities of the past. When Maharaja Pariksit heard about the various hellish conditions in which people suffer, and the various ways of atonement for these sins, he said that even if one atones for the sins, he is bound to sin again as long as the inclinations to engage in these sinful activities exist. But when we engage in the nine processes of devotional service to the Lord, not only do we cleanse all the sins of the past, but we also purify the inclinations for sinful activities within our heart and awaken a desire to show compassion and love to other living beings. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita,

sarva-dharmän parityajya
mäm ekaà çaraëaà vraja
ahaà tväà sarva-päpebhyo
mokñayiñyämi mä çucaù

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” (Bhagavad-Gita 18.66)
Radhanath Swami says that when he heard Lord Krishna instruct Arjuna in this way he was very happy.

Radhanath Swami repeats the assurance given by the Lord in the Bhagavad gita: If one chants the name of the Lord even once, it is guaranteed that he will not be a unicellular organism in his next life. But why should we even take a next life. If we just follow the teachings of the Gita, we can be freed from birth and death forever and can go back home, back to godhead. And if we don’t perfect our life in that way, whatever spiritual progress we make is never lost. We begin from the point where we left off, in our previous life. off, in our previous life.

Tale of Dorothy

2011-09-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

Link

By Radhanath Swami

We waited. And waited. It was a sweltering summer day in the Florida panhandle. The morning sun glared through the expansive windows of an airport departure gate. There, a young blond haired lady, neatly uniformed with a blue vest over a pressed white shirt and matching blue pants, stepped up to the counter, timidly surveyed the room, then announced a one hour delay. Passengers sighed, edgy to escape from the heat and travel north. With cellular phones pressed to their ears, they persistently glanced at their wristwatches.

Among them stood a middle-aged woman. She had nicely coiffed reddish-brown hair. Her dress and demeanor hinted that she was a lady of wealth and taste. Suddenly, she flushed red, flung her boarding pass and screamed, “No! You can’t do this to me.” Her outrage jolted the assembly. Everyone stared as she stomped to the counter, stuck her finger in the face of the receptionist and shouted, “I warn you, do not anger me. Put me on that plane, at once!”

The airline hostess cowered. “But ma’am, there’s nothing I can do. The air conditioning system of the plane has broken down.”

The woman’s lips quivered. Her eyes burned and she screeched louder, “Don’t you fight with me, you stupid child. You don’t know who I am. Damn it, do something. Now! I can’t take it.” She ranted on and on.

After finishing her verbal lashing, she fumed and scanned the lounge. Her eyes landed on me sitting alone in a corner of the room in my saffron colored swami robes. She stormed toward me while everyone looked on. Now, standing almost on top of me, her face distorted with anger, she yelled, “Are you a monk?”

Oh God, I thought, why me. I really didn’t need this. After an arduous week of lectures and meetings, I just wanted to be left alone.

“Answer me,” she persisted. “Are you a monk?”

“Something like that,” I whispered. The whole room watched, no doubt delighted that I got to be the lightning rod and not them.

“Then I demand an answer,” she challenged. “Why is my flight late? Why is God doing this to me?”

“Please ma’am,” I said. “Sit down and let us talk about it.” She sat beside me. “My name is Radhanath Swami,” I said. “You can call me Swami. Please tell me what is in your heart?” I have asked this question thousands of times and never know what to expect.

She said her name was Dorothy, that she was a housewife, fifty-seven years old, and lived on the east coast. She had been living happily with her family until…then she started to weep. She pulled tissue after tissue from her purse, blew her nose, and wept some more.

“It was tragic,” she said. “All at once I lost my husband of thirty years and my three children. Now I’m alone. I can’t bear the pain.” She gripped the handle of her chair. “Then I was cheated. The bank put my house into foreclosure and kicked me out on the street. You see this handbag? That’s all that’s left.”

Looking more closely at her face, I noted that beneath the well coiffed exterior her complexion was pale, her eyebrows tense, and her lips slanted down in sadness. Dorothy went on to explain that, if all that sadness were not enough, she had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She had one month left to live. In a desperate effort to save her life, she had discovered a cancer clinic in Mexico which claimed they might possibly have a cure. But she had to be admitted today. If she missed her connecting flight in Washington, D.C., her chances of survival were finished.

One of my duties is to oversee spiritual services in a hospital in India. I have ministered to victims of terrorist bombs, earthquakes, tsunamis, rape, trauma, disease, poverty and heartbreak of all sorts, but I cannot remember more anguish written on a human face than Dorothy’s. “And now this flight is late,” she said, “and there goes my last chance to live. I tried to be a good wife and mother, I go to church, I give in charity, and I never willfully hurt anyone. But now there is no one in the world who cares if I live or die. Why is God doing this to me?”

Minutes before, I had been cringing at her obnoxious behavior. How easy it is to judge people by external appearances. Understanding what was below the surface flooded my heart with sympathy. When she saw tears welling in my eyes her voice softened.

“It seems maybe you care,” she said.

What could I do? I felt too weak to do anything. Closing my eyes, I prayed to be an instrument to help her. “Dorothy, I do feel for you. You’re a special soul.”

“Special.” she huffed. “I’ve been thrown out like a worthless piece of trash and I’m going to die. But I believe you think I’m special, and I thank you for that.”

“There may not be anything you can do about what has happened,” I said, “but you can choose how you will respond to what has happened. How you react can affect the future.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can lament how cruelly the world has cheated you and spend your days cursing life, making others uncomfortable, and dying a meaningless death. Or you can go deeper inside those experiences and grow spiritually.” I remembered her comment about going to church.

“Doesn’t it say in the Bible, ‘Seek and ye shall find’ and also ‘Knock and the door will open’? Would you rather die in depression or in gratitude? You have that choice.” Her hand trembled and she grasped my forearm.

“I’m so afraid, Swami. I’m so afraid of dying. Please tell me what death is.” Her face had all but wilted. What could I do? I felt so incompetent. If only I had the power to heal her disease. But I didn’t. Still, my years of training in Bhakti had taught me that we all have the power to soothe another person’s heart by accessing the love that is within ourselves. I felt like a surgeon in an operating theater and silently offered a prayer before speaking again.

“In order to understand death,” I said, “we must first understand life. Consider this question: Who are you?”

“My name is Dorothy, I’m American…”

“Dorothy, when you were a baby, before you had been given a name, were you not already a person? If you were to show me a baby picture today, you would say, ‘That’s me.’ But your body has changed. Your mind and intellect and desires have changed. When was the last time you craved your mother’s milk? Everything about you has changed, but yet here you are. You can change your name, your nationality, your religion, and with today’s technology you can even change your sex. So what part of you does not change? Who is the witness of all these changes? That witness is you, the real you.”

“I’m not sure I understand what you are saying,” Dorothy said. “What is the real me?”

“You are the conscious person, the life force, the soul within the body, who is having the experiences of this lifetime. You see through your eyes, you taste with your tongue, smell through your nose, you think with your brain—but who are you, the person receiving all those impressions? That is the soul. The body is like a car and the soul is the driver. We should not neglect the needs of the soul. We eagerly nourish the needs of the body and mind, but if we neglect the needs of the soul we miss out on the real beauty of human life.”

“Go on,” Dorothy said.

“Animals and other non-human species react to situations according to their instincts. Lions don’t decide to become vegetarian on ethical grounds, and cows don’t become carnivores. Essentially, beings other than humans are driven to satisfy their needs of eating, sleeping, mating and defending according to the instincts of their species. A human being is entrusted with a priceless gift, which can be utilized for creating the most profound benefits or the worst disasters. That gift is free will.

“But with the blessing of free will comes a price, namely responsibility. We can choose to be a saint or a criminal or anything in between, and we are responsible for the consequences of those choices.”

“You’re talking about karma,” Dorothy said. I was surprised by her knowledge of the word. “I’ve never really understood that idea,” she said.

I explained that karma is a natural law, like gravity, which acts irrespective of whether we believe in it or not. As ye sow, says the Bible, so shall ye reap. Or as they say back in Chicago where I come from, what goes around comes around. If I cause pain to others, a corresponding pain will come back to me in due course. If I show compassion to others, good fortune will come my way. Dorothy didn’t seem encouraged, and I began to feel like I had taken the conversation in the wrong direction.

“That sounds like a justification for becoming callous and judgmental about suffering,” she said. And she was making a good point. Sadly, I had witnessed within myself as well as in others a tendency to do just that.

“Dorothy,” I said, “the devotional tradition in India teaches that karma and other mysteries are not intended to discourage us into thinking we are helpless victims of a cold and cruel universe. Rather, we should feel encouraged to take responsibility for the choices we make knowing that how we live can make a difference. For myself, I have discovered that spiritual truths lead me to the joys of compassion and devotion, starting first of all with myself. Charity begins at home. Once I can forgive myself for not being perfect, then I can begin to look upon others with similar compassion. Bhakti has taught me that we are all related, in our happiness and our distress.”

“So just what am I supposed to take away from that?” Dorothy asked. “If everything that has happened to me is my fault, my karma, I don’t see how I can avoid drowning myself in guilt.”

Dorothy was emotionally starved and I felt that meeting her was a test of my own spiritual realization. “Instead of drowning yourself in guilt, you have a precious opportunity to bathe in grace. The philosophy of karma is meant to lift us up and encourage us to make the right choices in both joy and suffering. Depression impedes our progress. In whatever situation we find ourselves we have the opportunity to transform how we see that situation. Devotional life doesn’t make every crisis disappear, but it can help us to see crises with new eyes, and often that deeper vision leads to a more content frame of mind. I’ve been practicing that for many years, and I know it has helped me to see the hand of God in all things…”

“Swami, don’t give me any religious dogma. I had enough of that as a kid. In church they taught us that the good go to heaven and the bad go to hell. The last thing I need is more of that. Tell me what is really in your heart.”

She was doing a good job getting me to explain things that can’t be physically seen such as the soul, the law of karma, and reincarnation.

“Tragedies in this life can sometimes be attributed to things done in previous lives. Because the soul is eternal, we carry those consequences from this life to the next.” That really got Dorothy angry.

“It shouldn’t matter what we did in some other life. Why should we believe that God is merciful when we see in this life that good people suffer and wicked people prosper?”

“Years ago,” I said, “an old recluse in the Himalayas shared with me an interesting analogy. It is quite simple but it sheds some light on the subject.” Mentioning that I had spent time in the Himalayas must have captured her fancy because for the first time I noted the trace of a smile on Dorothy’s lips.

“The yogi gave the analogy of a farmer who puts excellent grains into his silo but then adds rotten grains on top. The silo empties out from the bottom, so when the farmer goes to sell his grains the healthy grains come out first and for a while he wallows in prosperity. But with time his prosperity will end and poverty awaits him.

“Then the yogi gave the analogy of another farmer who fills his silo with rotten grains. Eventually he learns to do better and begins pouring only fresh wholesome grains into the silo. He may be presently suffering from his past deposits, but a glorious future awaits him.

“We humans create our own destiny. We are free to make choices. But once we act, we are bound to the karmic consequences of what we have done. You may choose to get on an airplane to Washington, D.C., but once the plane takes off you have no choice about where you’re going to arrive…”

Suddenly, the voice of the airline hostess came through the speakers announcing a further delay of another hour. Dorothy whimpered. I gave her a sympathetic smile.

“Here is that choice again, either to focus on the miseries of our fate or transform how we see our fate. Most of us have a huge mixture of karmic seeds of fate waiting to sprout. But the most important teaching of the Bhagavad Gita is that we are eternal souls, transcendental to all karmic reactions. That’s a very reassuring thing to know. Even in the midst of great distress, people who live with awareness of their eternal nature can be happy. The Bible tells us that the kingdom of God is within. True happiness is an experience of the heart. What is it the heart longs for?”

Dorothy’s sad eyes searched mine. “My heart aches for love,” she said.

“We all do,” I said. “Our need to love and be loved originates in our innate love for God.” I quoted words that Mother Theresa from Calcutta had spoken to me years before. “The greatest problem in this world is not the hunger of the stomach but the hunger of the heart. All over the world both rich and poor suffer. They are lonely, starving for love. Only God’s love can satisfy the hunger of the heart.”

“You’re a Hindu and I’m a Christian,” Dorothy said. “Which God are you talking about?”

I looked out the window at a blazing summer sun. “In America it is called the sun, in Mexico, sol and in India, surya. But is it an American sun or a Mexican sun? The essence of all religions is one, to love God—whatever name we may have for God—and live as an instrument of that love. To transform arrogance into humility, greed into benevolence, envy into gratitude, vengeance into forgiveness, selfishness into servitude, complacency into compassion, doubt into faith, and lust into love. The character of love is universal to all spiritual paths.”

Dorothy really didn’t look like any of this was reaching her.

“Someone told me,” she blurted, “that the reason I’m suffering is that God wants to experience the world’s suffering through me. What kind of a God is that?”

“People have been inventing ideas about God for a long time,” I replied. “In the Bhakti tradition we have three checks and balances for true knowledge of God: guru, sadhu, and shastra. Guru means spiritual teacher. Sadhu means holy people. And shastra means scriptures, wisdom revealed by God. Throughout history different scriptures have been given according to time, place and the nature of the people for whom the teachings were intended. The ritual parts may differ, but the essence of true scriptures is always the same. However, because people tend to invent meanings, followers of Bhakti receive their understanding of scripture from a guru or teacher coming in an authorized succession of teachers. The Bhakti lineage traces its origin back before recorded history, a succession of realized souls who have preserved the original spirit of the teachings throughout the generations. The company of sadhus is important because with people who are also on the path to God we can share our understanding and realizations…”

Dorothy was not convinced. “What do your Bhakti teachers tell you about why God gave us free will when it makes so many people suffer?”

“In order for there to be love,” I said, “there must be free will. You can force people to obey but not to love. Without that freedom there would be little meaning to love. When we choose to turn away from God, we enter the material world and forget our original loving nature. We become covered by a cloud that camouflages the real nature of things.”

“Like a veil?” she asked.

“Yes, like a veil.”

“Well, I think I’m wearing many veils.”

“We all are. The veil is called maya, illusion, in which we forget our true identity and wander birth after birth chasing superficial pleasures. The real substance of happiness is within our own hearts. Please understand, your situation is an opportunity…”

Dorothy moaned. “How is suffering an opportunity?”

“May I tell you the story of a famous lady saint?”

“Yes, please.”

“Her name was Queen Kunti a most pious and devoted lady. She underwent unbearable miseries. Her husband died when she was very young. As a widow she raised five small children. The eldest was meant to inherit the throne when he came of age. Because her children were so popular for their virtue and skills, a rival burned with envy. That wicked man seized the crown and ruled. All of Kunti’s property was usurped and her children were banished. They faced repeated assassination attempts and constant persecution. In the end, her persecutors were brought to justice and her eldest son was enthroned. At that time she prayed to Lord Krishna, ‘In those calamities I had no one to turn to but You. In that condition I had no other shelter but to call your name, and calling out to You meant I was remembering You at every moment. Thank you, my Lord, for my suffering was also the source of my greatest happiness.’

I mentioned the work of a famous doctor, who said that sometimes patients come to him to say that having a heart attack was the best thing that ever happened. How is that? Because it took a crisis to get them to rethink their appreciation for life, their habits, their priorities, and see the blessings that they had always undervalued. That seemed to register with Dorothy.

“Bhakti doesn’t necessarily make our material situation go away,” I said, “but at the very least it gives us something more than our bitterness to focus on. And more important, when we open up to the possibility of some explanation other than cruel fate, we just may find that there is a loving Supreme Being looking out for us. In your present condition, Dorothy, you can turn to God like practically no one else can do.”

She closed her eyes she asked, “In your tradition, do you have a meditation to help us turn to God?”

“There are many forms of meditation,” I told her. “I have been given one that has, since ancient times, been practiced for awakening the dormant love of the soul. May I teach you?”

“Please.”

“This is a mantra. In the Sanskrit language, man means the mind and tra means to liberate. The mind is compared to a mirror. For more births than we can count, we have allowed dust to cover the mirror of the mind—dust in the form endless misconceptions, desires and fears. In that state all we see is the dust, and so that is what we identify with. The chanting of this mantra is a process for cleaning the mirror of the mind and bringing it back to its natural clarity where we can see who we really are, a pure soul, a part of God, eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. As the mind becomes cleaner the divine qualities of the self emerge while ignorance and all of its cohorts fade away. As we approach that state, we can experience the inherent love of God within us. As love of God awakens, unconditional love for every living being manifests spontaneously. We realize that everyone is our sister or brother and a part of our beloved Lord.”

The speaker system crackled and everyone in the room perked up, staring at the airline hostess almost like prisoners would look at a parole board, yearning to be released.

“I’m sorry,” she announced, “but they haven’t yet fixed the air conditioner, and there will be another hour delay.”

Dorothy slapped her forehead, “Swami, teach me the mantra.”

“Please repeat each word after me,” I requested. “Hare… Krishna… Hare… Krishna… Krishna… Krishna… Hare… Hare… Hare… Rama… Hare… Rama… Rama… Rama… Hare… Hare…”

Dorothy shook her head and shooed me with her hand, “I’ll never remember that.”

“Would you like me to write it down for you?”

She reached into her purse and pulled out a slip of paper and a pen. “Yes, but it doesn’t interest me unless I know what it means.”

After writing it, I explained that these were names of the one God. Krishna means the all-attractive, Rama means the reservoir of all pleasure, and Hare is the name of the female, compassionate aspect of God. Dorothy took the paper and immersed herself in chanting the mantra over and over. I borrowed her cellular phone and walked away to call a friend with news of the indefinite delay.

When I returned and sat beside her, Dorothy had closed her eyes. She was leaning back and taking deep breaths. She looked at me and asked, “Where do you live?”

“I travel a lot, but much of my time is spent in Mumbai, India.”

“How many people attend your lectures in Mumbai?”

“On Sundays, maybe two thousand. During pilgrimages it’s closer to four thousand.”

“Where are you going now?”

“To a temple in Hartford, Connecticut. But like you I missed my connecting flight, so I’ll probably miss giving the lecture.”

“Do you go there regularly?”

“I’ve been invited for several years, but this is my first opportunity to visit them.”

“How many people are waiting for you?”

“I think about a hundred.”

Again she took a deep breath. Then, as if purging anguish through her breathing she released the words, “Now I understand.” To my surprise, her lips stretched out across her face into a blissful smile and her eyes twinkled like a child.

“The flight delay was my good fortune,” she said. “I bet thousands of people would give anything to sit with you for even a few minutes. I have you all to myself—and for hours!”

I have to admit, I teared up. “The delay is my good fortune,” I said. “There is nowhere in the world I’d rather be than here with you, right now. You are a special soul.”

Dorothy wiped a tear from her cheek. “Yes, now I understand. This is a blessing of the Lord.” I moved to another seat to give her some private space. Of course, I really needed it, too.

Finally, after six hours of delays, came the announcement everyone was waiting for. The same young lady in the blue uniform announced, “The flight is now ready to board. Anyone who wants is now invited to board.”

“We’ve been waiting six hours,” a passenger yelled out. “Why would anyone not want to get on?”

The flight attendant looked at us sheepishly and said, “In the process of fixing the air conditioner, the toilets stopped working. There will be no toilet facility on this flight. You are requested to use the airport restroom before boarding. Especially please take your children as this is the last chance until we arrive at Dulles airport in Washington, D.C. But the good news is that the air conditioner is working.”

The passengers jumped up and rushed to the restrooms. A mother pulled the hand of her four-year old boy. “Come on Timmy, let’s go to the potty.”

“But mommy, I don’t have to go.”

“You have to go,” the mother corrected. “Come on.” She grabbed the boy’s hand and dragged him to the toilet.

“I don’t have to pee-pee.”

“You’re going anyway….”

It was a fifty-seat commuter jet. The good news was that the plane flew. The bad news was that the toilets were boarded shut, the lighting did not work, and the air conditioner, after all that time, still didn’t work. It was a ninety-five degree day. The plane was hot, muggy, dark, and Timmy decided he really did need to pee-pee and cried the whole trip. By the time we landed, every passenger was miserable.

Except one.

As we trudged down the steps of the plane and onto the tarmac, there was Dorothy sitting in a wheel chair that she had requested, smiling and waving as everyone rushed by. The passengers were stunned to see one among them who could be so happy. I stopped to say farewell.

“Swami,” she said, “I chanted the mantra nonstop throughout the flight. I can’t remember being that happy in a long time.” She handed me the slip of paper with the mantra. “Will you write a message for me to remember you?” Taking her pen, I wrote of my appreciation for her and a little prayer. She pressed the note to her heart and smiled while tears streamed down her cheeks. Then she said something that I will never forget.

“Now, living or dying,” she said, “is only a detail. I know that God is with me. Thank you.”

I hurried into the terminal and looked up at a monitor. My airlines had one last flight to Hartford. It left in ten minutes from another terminal. There was still a chance. Have you ever seen a swami galloping across the corridors of an airport? One man yelled at me, “Why don’t you use your magic carpet?”

As I was running, it struck me that I had forgotten to take Dorothy’s cell phone number. How would I ever find out what happened to her? To this day I regret my foolishness. I made it just as they were closing the gate. Five seconds more and I would have been too late.

At the cultural center in Hartford, my hosts had adjusted the schedule to accommodate a late start time. I asked if there was a particular topic I should speak on.

“Anything you like,” was the reply.

“Tonight’s lecture,” I announced, “is called ‘Why I am so late for the lecture.’”

Purifying effect of Sound Vibration

2011-08-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Source
The Hare Krishna yoga can be performed in two ways; an individual exercise of soft chanting or the group effort of loud singing of Hare Krishna in different melodious meters. The former is called japa and is usually performed by the practitioner by chanting on his or her beads. The latter type is called kirtana and is performed as a group activity with the accompaniment of various musical instruments. Both the approaches to Hare Krishna meditation purifies the spiritualist and helps him or her connect to God more intimately.

The chanting of God’s Holy Names bestows immense benefit to the chanter. The foundational principle of this spiritual exercise is the fact that the divine Names of God have spiritual potency because they are non-different from God. The sounds ‘Krishna’, ‘Rama’ and ‘Hare’, which constitute the mantra that we chant, are not like ordinary sounds that we produce during the course of our daily activities. One could chant ‘Peter’ the whole day but this chanting and calling of Mr. Peter is useless if he isn’t aware of our desire to meet him.

However when we chant ‘Krishna’, we are immediately connecting to God and He hears our plea. In the present day and age, the Lord descends by appearing in the form of His Holy Names. Vibrating these names purifies the soul and fills our heart with limitless bliss. On the contrary material sounds produce neither lasting happiness nor benefit for the soul. For example try chanting ‘water’ for two hours. It won’t quench our thirst because the word ‘water’ and the substance ‘water’ are different. However when we chant Krishna’s Holy Names the soul feels joy emanating from the transcendental realm.
Since the sound of the mantra is divine it easily penetrates the thick layer of our material consciousness. The sound becomes even more potent when we hear some advanced devotee or serious practitioner chant the mantra. The rationale behind this is that the Holy Names of Krishna are not material; rather they descend from the spiritual realm. How can we, with materially infected senses access the divine Names of God through our materially contaminated senses? When the pure devotees of the Lord however vibrate the Holy Names, they actually access the spiritual world and the pure name vibrates on their tongues. They import the pure holy name due to their own unlimited purity of heart. In the association of such souls, we too get purified as we are able to access the real Holy Names. Our association of a person infected with tuberculosis exposes us to the risk of getting the same disease due to the air that transmits the germs. Likewise when we associate with a person infected with love for God, and we hear from him, the ether carries the ‘germs’ of his rich spiritual emotions for Krishna and enters the heart of even an unwilling hearer. Slowly, the germs of the spiritual sound do their job, and a person gets ‘infected’ with spiritual consciousness.

Radhanath Swami reveals the power of sound of the Holy Names, “The greatest poverty is lack of devotion to God and the greatest charity is to give Krishna to others. In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, diligent practise of the chanting of God’s Holy Names cleanses the heart of all the unwanted desires; the divine sound awakens our original spiritual consciousness and reunites us with our loving Lord.”

Why No Garlic or Onions ?

2011-08-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

Source

Krishna devotee chef, teacher, author, and TV star Kurma Dasa gets asked this question a lot. Here's his well-considered reply.

One of the most common questions asked to me is this: "Why don't you eat garlic and onions?"

Here's my short answer: As a devotee of Krishna and a practicing Bhakti-yogi, I don't eat garlic and onions because they cannot be offered to Krishna.

Here's my longer answer: You may know that onions and garlic are botanical members of the alliaceous family (alliums) - along with leeks, chives and shallots.

According to Ayurveda, India's classic medical science, foods are grouped into three categories - sattvic, rajasic and tamasic - foods in the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. Onions and garlic, and the other alliaceous plants are classified as rajasic and tamasic, which means that they increase passion and ignorance.

Those that subscribe to pure brahmana-style cooking of India, including myself, and Vaishnavas - followers of Lord Vishnu, Rama and Krishna - like to only cook with foods from the sattvic category. These foods include fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs, dairy products, grains and legumes, and so on. Specifically, Vaisnavas do not like to cook with rajasic or tamasic foods because they are unfit to offer to the Deity.

Rajasic and tamasic foods are also not used because they are detrimental to meditation and devotions. "Garlic and onions are both rajasic and tamasic, and are forbidden to yogis because they root the consciousness more firmly in the body", says well-known authority on Ayurveda, Dr. Robert E. Svoboda.

Some branches of western medicine say that the Alliums have specific health benefits; garlic is respected, at least in allopathic medical circles, as a natural antibiotic. In recent years, while the apparent cardiovascular implications of vegetable Alliums has been studied in some detail, the clinical implications of onion and garlic consumption from this point of view are still not well understood.

Nevertheless, there are still many adverse things to say about garlic and onions. Not so well known is the fact that garlic in the raw state can carry harmful (potentially fatal) botulism bacteria. Perhaps it is with an awareness of this that the Roman poet Horace wrote of garlic that it is “more harmful than hemlock".

It should be pointed out that Garlic and onion are avoided by spiritual adherents because they stimulate the central nervous system, and can disturb vows of celibacy. Garlic is a natural aphrodisiac. Ayurveda suggests that it is a tonic for loss of sexual power from any cause, sexual debility, impotency from over-indulgence in sex and nervous exhaustion from dissipating sexual habits. It is said to be especially useful to old men of high nervous tension and diminishing sexual power.

The Taoists realized thousands of years ago that plants of the alliaceous family were detrimental to humans in their healthy state. In his writings, one sage Tsang-Tsze described the Alliums as the "five fragrant or spicy scented vegetables" - that each have a detrimental effect on one of the following five organs - liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and heart. Specifically, onions are harmful to the lungs, garlic to the heart, leeks to the spleen, chives to the liver and spring onions to the kidneys.

Tsang-Tsze said that these pungent vegetables contain five different kinds of enzymes which cause "reactions of repulsive breath, extra-foul odour from perspiration and bowel movements, and lead to lewd indulgences, enhance agitations, anxieties and aggressiveness," especially when eaten raw.

Similar things are described in Ayurveda. 'As well as producing offensive breath and body odour, these (alliaceous) plants induce aggravation, agitation, anxiety and aggression. Thus they are harmful physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually'.

Back in the 1980's, in his research on human brain function, Dr Robert [Bob] C. Beck, DSc. found that garlic has a detrimental effect on the brain. He found that in fact garlic is toxic to humans because its sulphone hydroxyl ions penetrate the blood-brain barrier and are poisonous to brain cells.

Dr. Beck explained that as far back as the 1950s it was known that garlic reduced reaction time by two to three times when consumed by pilots taking flight tests. This is because the toxic effects of garlic desynchronize brain waves. "The flight surgeon would come around every month and remind all of us: "Don't you dare touch any garlic 72 hours before you fly one of our airplanes, because it'll double or triple your reaction time. You're three times slower than you would be if you'd [not] had a few drops of garlic."

For precisely the same reason the garlic family of plants has been widely recognized as being harmful to dogs.

Even when garlic is used as food in Chinese culture it is considered harmful to the stomach, liver and eyes, and a cause of dizziness and scattered energy when consumed in immoderate amounts.

Nor is garlic always seen as having entirely beneficial properties in Western cooking and medicine. It is widely accepted among health care professionals that, as well as killing harmful bacteria, garlic also destroys beneficial bacteria, which are essential to the proper functioning of the digestive system.

Reiki practitioners explain that garlic and onions are among the first substances to be expelled from a person’s system – along with tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical medications. This makes it apparent that alliaceous plants have a negative effect on the human body and should be avoided for health reasons.

Homeopathic medicine comes to the same conclusion when it recognizes that red onion produces a dry cough, watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose and other familiar cold-related symptoms when consumed.

These are just some of the reasons I avoid leeks, chives, shallots, garlic and onions.

Free links

2011-08-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

Ebooks
Gigapedia

Presentation - Prezi

Upload big files

Watch top documentaries online
Watch movies online
Big Bang theory online
Surf the channel

Avax
Torrents
Pirate bay
Isohunt

Natural disasters

2011-08-23T03:09:00.001-07:00

Source

Transcript of LIVE CHAT with Iskcon, H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj at 15.00
hrs on Thursday, January 13, 2004 in Mumbai

H.H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj
ISKCON

why is their suffering in the world?

"The gods are very sad to see how we're creating so much suffering in the world we live. Why blame Him for the mess that human society has created?"

The scientific/medical approach attributes the cause of tragedies to chance and natural forces. Interventions by God, fate, or karma are not included in the equation. Nothing happens without a cause. According to Science, for every action there is an equal and corresponding reaction. These are laws of Karma . When humanity exploits the earth and natural resources in a massive worldwide level then we can expect both, from an ecological as well as karmic consideration that there will be reactions. Real compassion and love is to educate people to collectively love one another and live in harmony with the laws of nature and God.

What sort of explanations can one get from the scriptures with regard to the occurrence of the tsunami? Is there any explanation for it in our scriptures?

The same answer I just gave applies to this. According to the scriptures human being should be Bharat Dukha Dukhi . This means that the suffering of others is the suffering of ours. We should feel the pains and willing to make sacrifices to help others physically, emotionally as well as spiritually.

According to the scriptures there are three types of miseries -
Those caused by one's own body and mind;
sufferings caused by others;
sufferings caused by natural disturbances.
In the world today there is such wide spread disregard to our mother Earth and to the laws of morality. It is Nature's law that sufferings will come upon human society. The most important cure to this problem is to help people to clean the ecology of their hearts through living moral lives, prayer and chanting God's name.

Regarding tsunami, even after seeing all the disaster photos, etc. I am not feeling any compassion for them (the affected) nor do I feel bad for them. How should I develop compassion for them?

Compassion develops in relation to the overcoming of our selfish ego. By service to God in humanity and following spiritual practices which clean the heart of these selfish egoistic
tendencies. The natural compassion of the soul awakens. The most recommended process of cleaning the heart is the chanting of God's holy name and associating with saintly people.

Do natural disasters mean that the Gods are angry?

Why should we blame God for the mess that human society has created. The gods are very sad to see how we are creating so much suffering in the world we live.

How should we derive more spiritual strength when such a natural catastrophe happens?

By increasing our awareness of the urgency to turn to Krishna (God) with an honest and humble heart.

After creating man why should God want him to keep grovelling at His feet? Why should God want man to keep looking at Him for guidance all the time? After all man is born to do his own karma and not God's karma.

We are not man or woman. We are eternal spirit souls. The body that we have is a temporary dress. The nature of the soul is to eternally experience the ecstasy of God's love. We have forgotten that love (God's love) which is the root cause of all problems. God is supremely compassionate and merciful. He has descended to this world in many places throughout history to remind us of the love we have forgotten. God wants to give us the ultimate treasure of Divine Love.

When a disaster strikes, the time to preach is over and it is time for noble actions. Holy men are ordinary mortals too who have been born to do their karma and not only to do God's karma which is to show the right path. God will evaluate their actions too. However, in the aftermath of the tsunami very few holy men have come out visibly on the forefront in the tsunami struck areas. Too much talk and no action do not speak highly of a spiritual man or organisation. Please comment on this Maharaj.

A spiritual person will feel the pains of others and do everything within his or her power to help. Our Bhakti Vedanta Hospital has sent doctors to the tsunami (hit areas) as well as to the
previous earth quake disasters and we have found that survivors who are emotionally in trauma found shelter and relief in spiritual counselling and understanding their eternal spiritual nature. Real compassion should be to give aid to the body, mind and specially the eternal soul. Throughout history, in all great religions, saints have sacrificed their very lives for the upliftment and happiness of others. Everyone should do their part according to what they have to share with the world.

What do you make of the observations by few individuals that the tsunami occurred and destroyed only in the Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu countries?

These are sectarian beliefs. Over the ages there have been disasters throughout the world. We are all brothers and sisters on this spiritual platform .We should learn to love and respect every living entity, not only of human, but all species. Life is the symptom of the presence of the soul that is part of God. To love God is to unconditionally feel affection for every living being.

In the tsunami wave most of them who got killed were poor fishermen. But God is said to be very merciful to the poor who does not possess anything. How to understand this? Thank you.

You are welcome. God is merciful to all living beings. When man is plundering and exploiting the earth there will be natural consequences. We are dropping bombs on the earth, deforesting the earth, polluting the earth with chemical and nuclear waste, and recklessly drilling oil motivated by greed. We are destabilising our own ecology. We can expect massive reactions. God has given us the responsibility to protect and care for others, including the poor. Why do we blame God for civilisation that is defined to the laws he has lovingly given to us?

What lessons can be learnt from disaster of this scale? And what should one do to avoid such heavenly ferocity? Can we as humans avoid or prevent it? Aren't we just too small a force in front of the Nature?

The force of God's love is unlimited. We should strive to be humble instruments of Krishna's love. We could access Krishna's love by sincerely chanting his name with a humble heart - Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Let us all strive to be a humble servant of the Lord.
Thank you very much.

From Idol worship to Deity Worship

2011-08-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Source

When Richard (now Radhanath Swami) had first seen people worshipping an image of the Lord in India, he was repelled and felt it was superstitious. Now after seeing the exalted devotion, and the high moral and spiritual character of devotees like Krishnadas Babaji who worshipped deities, he began to get convinced that this is not merely idol worship. Meanwhile Richard compared this with his western upbringing where all this was condemned as idolatry. However he began to also realize that Christians offer prayers to statues or paintings of Jesus as well as to the Holy Crucifix. Radhanath Swami writes when he was in Italy, he had visited the Convent of Saint Damiano in Assisi where Jesus spoke to Saint Francis from the wooden crucifix on the altar and ordered him to restore His church. And Jews too offer articles of veneration to the Torah, while Muslims, too, who condemn idol worship, bow repeatedly to the Ka’aba in Holy Mecca. Richard also felt that deity worship was different from idol worship and he asked Asim Krishna to enlighten him on this subject.

Radhanath Swami learnt from Asim Krishna that even Vedas condemn idol worship. But legitimate deity worship, according to the Vedas, is a science in which the Lord is called with devotional rites to appear in designated forms. In these forms He accepts our devotional offerings for the purpose of purifying the worshippers’ body, mind, and words by fixing in us the remembrance of the Lord. The aim is to please the Lord through surrender and love. Radhanath Swami gives nice logic to explain the rationale behind deity worship. Since all material elements are emanating from the lord, He may kindly choose to appear in His own energy as a deity to help us focus our minds and senses in loving servitude.

I once heard Radhanath Swami explain that if we claim God cannot manifest Himself through matter as in a deity form, then we are limiting God. “Does God not have the omnipotence to do whatever He likes – including to manifest through matter?” asks Radhanath Swami. I thought it made lot of sense when Radhanath Swami took the reasoning one step higher. “Actually, the notion that God cannot manifest as matter not only limits God, but also limits our access to God” I wondered how. Radhanath Swami, speaking on the basis of scriptures says, “Although we are all originally spiritual beings, souls, but presently we are materially conditioned and so cannot perceive spirit. We can only perceive matter and material things. So, if God does not manifest Himself through matter, then how can we perceive Him, serve Him and develop our love for Him?” I saw one gentleman argue, “Can’t we just think of God in the mind? Do we need to have a gross material form to perceive Him?” Radhanath Swami’s brilliant answer satisfied me. He said, “But the thought in the mind is also material! The point is that as long as we are in the material level of consciousness, we cannot avoid or escape matter. Not only can our senses not perceive anything other than material things, but even our minds cannot conceive of anything other than material thoughts. The thoughts of our mind are nothing but the mental conceptions of the material objects we have seen and experienced.” Therefore, Radhanath Swami appeals that God manifests Himself through matter to give us an opportunity to connect our consciousness with Him.

Hearing Radhanath Swami’s eloquent presentation on significance of Deity worship reminded me of a prose I read some time ago, composed by one South Indian devotee, Pillai Lokacharya. He expresses this sentiment beautifully, “This is the greatest grace of the Lord, that being free He becomes bound, being independent He becomes dependent for all His service on the devotee… In other forms, man belonged to God. But behold the supreme sacrifice of God in the form of the deity, for here the almighty becomes the property of the devotee…. He carries the Lord about, fans Him, feeds Him, plays with Him-yea, the Infinite has become finite, so that the child soul may grasp, understand, and love Him.”

*************************************************************************************

Lines from the book "Journey Home"

Legitimate deity worship, according to the Vedas, is a science in which the Lord is called with devotional rites to appear in designated forms. In these forms He accepts our devotional offerings, all for purpose of purifying the worshipers body, mind and words by fixing in us the remembrance of the Lord. The aim is to please the Lord through surrender and love. (254)

Just look, he said, his voice overflowing with happiness, "Creation is a gallery of art with a masterpiece wherever we look. I long to meet the artist. Everything emanates from the Lord. All material elements are the Lord's energy. By His will He may choose to appear in His own energy as a deity to help us focus our minds and senses in loving servitude. Just as electricity manifests in a light bulb to radiate light, so God can permeate the deity with His presence. Electricity is invisible to the naked eye and the bulb by itself gives light only when the electrical energy infuses the bulb with its presence. Then we can see and feel the light. In a similar way the Lord may appear in the tangible form of a deity to help us see and feel his presence and reciprocates with our love. Smiling, he asked me if he had made sense. (255)

Why is Religion so often a Source of Conflict?

2011-08-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

Source
In this interview series we asked Radhanath Swami universal foundational questions about life and spirituality. Here is a transcript of the answer to this question:

"Why is Religion so Often a Source of Conflict?"

Such a sad reality.

The basis of every religion is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself; and ultimately everyone is our neighbor.

The Srimad Bhagavatam tells that the greatest service that gives pleasure to God is to show compassion to other living beings.

The purpose of all religion is to teach universal selfless love.

sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokshaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma suprasidati
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.6)

The supreme dharma, or the supreme religion for all humanity, is not to be a Hindu or a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim or a Jain or a Zoroastrian or a Buddhist. The supreme religion for all humanity is that which awakens from ones heart, love, love for God, compassion for all living beings.

And that love must be unconditional and unmotivated to actually satisfy our self, because that is our nature.

So if this is the purpose and the basis of every religion, how is it that we find.. and it's been there through history.. that religion is provoking bigotry, sectarianism, division, hatred, violence?

Because various religions manifest to teach the same principles in different times and different places, they have different rituals, sometimes different ways of explaining..

..and when people identify and attach themselves with the external, superficial aspects of religion, then they will see so many differences..

..and it can provoke such type of arrogance, ego, and even hatred and violence.

The violence in the name of religion is really in the name of the false ego, it's not in the name of religion.

People extend their egos through nationalism, through racism, and even through religion.

We want to be the greatest. We want to be right, and everyone else is wrong.

What that means is we are not understanding the essence of religion.

In Sanskrit there is a word "Bhava-grahi"; a truly spiritual person is one who is always seeking the essence.

When we understand the essence, then we can understand the real purpose of the ritual and the forms that are meant to facilitate and accommodate knowing the essence.

But all too often we have a very superficial, external, unrealistic conception of our own religion.

Long ago when I was living in India I had a very dear friend who was an 85 year old man. He was a Hindu, devotee of Lord Rama, and his best friend was a Muslim.

And they used to have inter-religious dialogues between themselves every few days and I would go and discuss with them.

And one day while sitting on the bank of the Ganges I asked him "In a country where there is so much conflict, and so much suspicion between Islam and Hinduism, how is it that the two of you are such good friends?"

And he gave me an answer which I've never forgotten.

He said "If a person has a dog, if that person stands before the dog in a three-piece suit, or in a t-shirt, or in pajamas, or in underwear, or if he stands before the dog naked, the dog will always recognize his master… even in different clothes, in different settings."

He said "If we cannot recognize our God when He comes in different dresses, in different forms, in different ways, and teaches through different traditions..

..if we can't recognize our God in these different ways, then we have so much to learn from a dog."

Thank you very much.

Basics Veganism

2011-08-05T23:10:00.001-07:00

The China Study – by T. Colin Campbell, Excerpt
All about Veganism - Gary Yourofsky
Why You Should Eat Only Plants

Why vegan - pdf - Animals used for food - Chicken life in Switzerland (German)
Devour the Earth - video(22 mins) narrated by Paul McCartney - text
Earthlings (video) - Meet your meat
Leaflets and Booklets
Why Vegans dont eat dairy: short article - long article
Vegan nutrition - Plant based nutrition
Vegan - Sorting through the myths
The comparative Anatomy of eating - Beyond veg article

Vegan quotes
It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car. ~Harvey Diamond
Now I can look at you in peace; I don’t eat you anymore.—Franz Kafka, while admiring fish in an aquarium

Recommended books - Eating animals

Non vegan E numbers

Raw, Vegan, Live Food - Stastitics
Food for ageless beauty

The amino acid chains in animal protein have to be broken apart first, just like the steel beams in the cement, and it tends to be a difficult and messy process for your body. But the amino acids in plants are easily available to you. You save so much energy by switching to plant to get your amino acids, that your body can put way more attention on all the other jobs it needs to do on a daily basis.

Vitamin B12 - Dried green (Enteromorpha sp.) and purple (Porphyra sp.) lavers (nori) are the most widely consumed among the edible algae and contain substantial amounts of vitamin B12 (32 to 78 lg/100g dry weight), Vitamin B12 Sources and Bioavailability.
Vegan Health on Vitamin B12

Iron in Vegan diet - Vitamin C acts to markedly increase absorption of non-heme iron. Adding a vitamin C source to a meal increases non-heme iron absorption up to six-fold which makes the absorption of non-heme iron as good or better than that of heme iron.

Every living thing contains not only the enzymes to continue and enhance life, but also to break it down once life is no longer present. Enzymes are “denatured” or destroyed when food is heated above about 118 degrees F. All cooked and processed foods are devoid of any enzymes. Our body has to make up for this lack and it does, by producing digestive enzymes from the pancreas and liver. Digestive enzymes are made up of metabolic enzymes put together. It takes 10 metabolic enzymes to create just one digestive enzyme, so you body has to work overtime to digest cooked food. For that reason, as we age, more and more of our energy reserves go toward digesting the food we eat instead of toward dancing or biking or hiking or sitting in meditation or chanting or shoveling snow.

Vedic references on diet

2011-08-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Srila Prabhupada replied, "Actually, a raw diet is the best diet for Krishna consciousness. It's simple. It keeps your body healthy and clear. We don't tell the masses about it, because most people can't follow it, and we don't want them to get distracted from krishna. But if you can do it, it's the best diet for your Krishna consciousness." Link (Page 217, Volume Two, Prabhupada Memories)

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.”
(Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 9.26)

and,

“Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform -- do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” (Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 9.27)

“The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.” (Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 3.13)

In Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna states, “If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it:’ (Bg.9.26). To me this seems to suggest that Sri Krishna is sanctioning a diet based on leaves and fruits and water as the best one for spiritual growth. I am no scholar on the Bhagavad Gita, but my liberal interpretation of this verse would be that the Sattvic diet is generally plant based and includes all or most vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, nuts, etc. Link

In Chapter 6, verse 16, Sri Krishna specifically emphasizes moderation in eating and sleeping. He states, “There is no possibility of ones’ becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much, or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.”

Some foods leave us feeling tired and sluggish. This is called the tamasic effect. Other foods leave us feeling agitated or over-stimulated-

Sattvic foods are light (as opposed to heavy) in nature, easy to digest, mildly cooling, refreshing and not disturbing to the mind.

The Bhagavad Gita describes the sattvic diet as “promoting life, virtue, strength, health, happiness and satisfaction.” Sattvic foods are “savory, smooth, firm and pleasant to the stomach.” By contrast, the Gita describes the rajasic diet as “excessively pungent, sour, salty, hot, harsh, astringent and burnt,” leading to “pain, misery and sickness.” The tamasic foods are described as “stale, tasteless, smelly, left-over, rotten and foul” (BG 17:8-10).

Too much salt and spice has a rajasic effect, which fuels desire and leads to over-satiation, the loss of taste and the loss of pleasure. “When rajas predominates, a person runs about pursuing selfish and greedy ends, driven by restlessness and desire” (BG 14:12).

---------------------------------------------
Interview
The following is an excerpt from a lecture given by HH Hrdayananda das Goswami in Gainesville, Florida on August 30, 2008. To listen to the entire lecture, please click here

Bhaktin Kelly:Does Krsna willing accept milk from cows that were raised inhumanely and will eventually be slaughtered?

HH Hridayananda das Goswami: A sincere devotee could have two positions. You could just say, I am going to set a proper example and not patronize that cruel industry and not buy milk products- which is one position, which is obviously valid. And then another position, someone could say, is that by offering the milk, the cows benefit by the offering to the deity and you are actually saving cows. You could say that in practical terms, not ideological, the amount of milk that is being purchased and offered to the deities has absolutely zero impact on the dairy industry and, therefore, it does not change the economic dynamics of it. So it doesn’t save cows but it saves souls by engaging them in Krishna’s service.

What I see in the Bhagavatam is that within Vedic culture there was a diversity of views. People have different opinions on these things and a certain frame of consciousness. Some are inspired to save cows by offering their milk to the deity.

Now let’s say the devotee is not making a serious offering, not really connecting with the deity, just “I like milk.” Then I think to participate in this horrifically cruel industry just because you like milk is something which is much harder to justify. It is just one of those- “I’m hungry, I really want to eat, I have to offer it.” But if someone is seriously deity-conscious, their nature is really to worship Krsna, and their consciousness is to save the soul in the cow’s body, then I think, whether or not I would do that, is a position that should be respected.

Although, I do not think that devotees are required to do that. If I was managing a temple with deities, I would not say you have to offer milk. I think it is a matter of consciousness of the individual.

Wiki
onion, garlic, Leek, mushroom is tamasic !

Smoothies

2011-08-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Fruit facts

Raw food smoothies - Ingredients

1 bunch green leafy vegetable of choice (50% of total)
Fruit of choice (50% of total)
1-2 Bananas or 1 avocado to emulsify (make creamy)
ginger, lemon, parsley or, stevia to taste

Monday - Bananas + spinach.
Tuesday - Mango + Romaine.
Wednesday - Papaya + parsley.
Thursday - Pears + collard greens.
Friday - Apples + chard

Best fruit smoothie recipes - search recipes based on fruit
Smoothie recipes

VEGANRAW FOOD RECIPES ***

Vitamix recipes - smoothies search based on fruits

-1 mango + 6 strawberry + 200 ml coconut water + 100 gm young coconut ***
- 1 mango + 1 peach + 1 banana + 200 ml coconut milk***
- 1 mango + 5 strawberries ***
- 1 mango + 6 strawberries + 2 oranges + 4 ice cubes***
- 2 kiwi + 2 apples + 1/2 lime + 1 orange***
- green grapes + 1/2avocado ***
- green grapes + 2 pear ***

- 1 mango + 1 apple + celery leaves + 4 red berries *** greens:)
- 2 banana + 1 mango + 3 kiwis + leaves from celery ** green :)

- 1 cup water 2 handfulls of spinach 1 pear 1 banana 3 strawberries *** greens :)

- 1 mango + 2 nectarines + 1 banana + spinach*** green :)
- green grapes + peach + spinach ***green :)
- 2 apples + 1 banana + 1 bunch spinach + Lemon or aam ka panna ** green :)

- green grapes + collard greens**

- Lettuce + 2 kiwis + 1 apple+1 banana ** green :)

---------
1 cup (rice + almond) milk + 8 dates + 2banana + 1 peach***

--------yet to try -----

2 carrots + 1 apple
1 cup green grapes + 1/2 avocado + 2 pears + lemon
2apples+1 pear +1 orange+cinnamon+nutmeg

1 banana + 1 pear + 2 handful spinach
4 cups spinach + 2 cups carrot + 2 cups apple juice + 8 ice cubes

1mango + 1 apple + 1 banana

2 kiwi fruit 1 banana 1/2 mango
1 large beet +2 oranges +1 lime +1 scoop of vanilla + sweetener of choice
- Fruit smoothie with two bananas, one apple, one pear, a cup of blueberries and a heaped tablespoon of ground flaxseed.

mango or papaya juice (a little more than you would need to cover the blades) + 1 big banana + 1 yellow fleshed nectarine + 4-6 strawberries + 2+ big handfuls of spinach
1 banana+1 nectarine+handful of frozen strawberries+1-2 dessert spoons of coconut oil (make sure it is melted)

Savory Green Smoothie - avocado, celery, parsley

Passion Cocktail: 4 strawberries, 1 large chuck pineapple, 1 bunch black grapes
Orange apple smoothie
Blueberry green smoothie - orange, banana, frozen blueberries

1 handful of whole grape tomatoes. 3 or so leaves of red leaf lettuce 1 cup Organic, fresh Mixed Berry fruit juice 1 very ripe banana.

Apple banana green smoothie - spinach, collared greens (buy in migros)
1 bunch spinach + 2 apples + lemon to taste
1/4 cup water +1 small ripe banana+1 cup frozen blueberries+1/2 orange+1/2 cup spinachleaves or chopped kale leaves

2 ripe pears
1/3 of a fresh pineapple (approx.)
1/2 a frozen banana (to add body and potassium)*
1/3 of a large bunch of parsley (approx.)
1/2″ slice of fresh ginger
1 cup of filtered water
1 cup of ice cubes (optional)

1 red apple, peeled
1/2 granny apple, peeled
1/4 lime squeezed
small piece of fresh ginger
big handful of parsley
juice of 2 fresh squeezed oranges

Pineapple Green

1/2 cup water (optional)
1/2 pineapple, gold and ripe
1 mango
6-7 leaves mint
2-3 cups of frisee lettuce

1/2 cup water (optional)
1/2 pineapple, gold and ripe
1 mango
6-7 leaves mint
2-3 cups of frisee lettuce (or other lettuce that you have at home)

1 banana
1 pint (sm. container) fresh blueberries
1 handful green grapes
1 small fennel (greens and bulb)
2 handfuls spinach
water (or ice) as needed for blending

Body Cleanser: 4 carrots, 1/2 cucumber, 1 beet
0.5kg carrots +few green leafs such as red lettuce or carrot greens+1 apple
1 bunch of carrots with some of its greens + 1 avocado + 1/2 lemon + 1/3 inch fresh ginger + Pinch of sea salt and cayenne pepperSpring

2 medium bananas 1 medium cucumber 2 tbs fresh basil 1 tbs fresh mint 2 small peaches or 1 apple

Green Hummingbird Breeze

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mixed berries, frozen
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
5 strawberries, frozen
1/2 mango — skinned, seeded and chopped
2-3 ice cubes (or more, if you’d like it more slushy)
As many handfuls of fresh greens as you dare! (I’d suggest trying arugula, also known as rocket)

BearHeart’s Breakfast Green Smoothie

By Anna Jonsson
Ingredients:

1 stem of celery (including the leaves)
1 orange
1 green apple, peeled (Granny Smith)
1 handful spinach
1 handful Romaine lettuce
1 handful lambs quarters (lovely “weeds” from the garden)
1 small piece of ginger
1-2 teaspoons honey
1-2 cups water

Power of Red Smoothie Recipe

By Tracy
Ingredients:

1 bunch red kale
1 cup red grapes
1 cup bing cherries (remove pit)
1 cup water (optional)

TED talks

2011-07-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Technology
MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld talks about his Fab Lab -- a low-cost lab that lets people build things they need using digital and analog tools. - TED talk

MIT's Hugh Herr demonstrates the latest generation of robotic ankles... which he wears on both of his legs! - TED talk

Dean Kamen (inventor of Segway) talks about the profound people and stories that motivated his work to give parts of their lives back with his design for a remarkable prosthetic arm. - TED talk

Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." - TED talk

Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist: open-source invention EYEwriter - TED talk

Leadership
Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action
"People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it."

Other cool talks
Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. - TED talk

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story - Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. - TED talk

Marco Tempest's blend of technology and illusion creates the magic of tomorrow today - TED talk

Photographer Rick Smolan tells the unforgettable story of a young Amerasian girl, a fateful photograph, and an adoption saga with a twist.- TED talk

John Hunter puts all the problems of the world on a 4'x5' plywood board -- and lets his 4th-graders solve them: World Peace game - TED talk

Laura Trice suggests we all say thank you.- TED talk

Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement - TED talk

Strength of a rose

2011-07-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

Wild flower in a wild wind
Wild voice singing deep within
Wild night when your dreams come true
And it’s happening to me and you

Wild river rolling to the restless sea
What is meant to be will be
No matter what we do
And it’s happening to me and you, me and you

Where we’re bound nobody knows
We’re too far gone to take it easy
Feel the grass beneath our feet as it grows
Feel the wind in our hair as it blows
We’ve got the courage to be wrong
And the strength of a rose

Wild heart in a wild world
Innocent eyes of a little girl?
Wild spirit in a wild dream
Passing through this world alone

Wild river rolling to the restless sea
White cloud moving silently
The silver moon shining through
And it’s happening to me and you, me and you

Where we’re bound nobody knows
We’re too far gone to take it easy
Feel the grass beneath our feet as it grows
Feel the wind in our hair as it blows
We’ve got the courage to be wrong
And the strength of a rose

Har khushi Hai Logon Ke Daman Mein

2011-07-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

Source

Har khushi Hai Logon Ke Daman Mein,
Par Ek Hansi Ke Liye Waqt Nahi.

Din Raat Daudti Duniya Mein,
Zindagi Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Maa Ki Loree Ka Ehsaas To Hai,
Par Maa Ko Maa Kehne Ka Waqt Nahi.

Saare Rishton Ko To Hum Maar Chuke,
Ab Unhe Dafnane Ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.

Saare Naam Mobile Mein Hain,
Par Dosti Ke Liye Waqt Nahi.

Gairon Ki Kya Baat Karen,
Jab Apno Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Aankhon Me Hai Neend Badee,
Par Sone Ka Waqt Nahi.

Dil Hai Ghamon Se Bhara Hua,
Par Rone Ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.

Paison ki Daud Me Aise Daude,
Ki Thakne ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.

Paraye Ehsason Ki Kya Kadr Karein,
Jab Apane Sapno Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Tu Hi Bata E-Zindagi,Iss Zindagi Ka Kya Hoga,
Ki Har Pal Marne Walon Ko,Jeene Ke Liye Bhi Waqt Nahi

India

2011-07-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

I am India

The Silent Indian National Anthem

A.R rahman's version of india's national anthem jan gan man

Award winning Indian ad for a cause- Hostel/Holi

Tum chalo to Hindustan chale - Just beautiful :)

Blood donation Ad

Hub Zurich

2011-07-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

The Power of Community - Website
Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens.

Creating Shared Value – Improving business, transforming lives - Fundes
Access to knowledge
Private sector - create value for them
Create Interdependancy
Redefining productivity in the value chain
Enabling local cluster development
To bend the producer is easy as compared to bend the consumer

Building a World with Technology for All - KIITEC
working and studying the same time, 1 week work and 1 week study
2 year students teaching 1 year students
creating business values after graduation - entrepreneurship, providing services

Must know Robots

2011-07-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

Honda Asimo Advertisement

Big dog Overview

Nanogram Robotic Soccer

Theo Jansen - Wind powered robots
Interview

Festo Smart bird

Jellyfish robot

Robots inspired by animals

Disney research

Download:

FLV MP4 3GP

Raw food Recipes

2011-07-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

Related posts - Smoothies

3-Day Green Smoothie Challenge
7-day on simple raw food

Raw equals pure, fresh, vibrant, enzyme-rich, oxygen-rich, unadulterated, whole organic living nutrition every time we cook our food or buy something pre-prepared and cooked in a can, box or bag we lose up to 70% of the vitamins, some of the minerals, all of the enzymes, all of the oxygen, the important plant feel-good hormones and a high percentage of the water - all of which we need to reward us with truly vibrant health.

Best of Raw food website
Raw food Basics
Green Smoothie Recipe - Top 5
Vegetable Juice Recipes - Top 5
Top Breakfast recipes
Top 8 Favorite Recipes

why Alkaline foods - Alkali food list pdf
Raw Food Diet Conversion Chart
Add sesame seeds, to smoothies, nut/seed milk and salads for calcium

Learn Raw food - youtube channel - Jenny Cornbleet - RAW food made easy sample recipes
Raw food recipes *** categorised by cuisine, lunch, snack, dessert, etc.
VEGANRAW FOOD RECIPES ***

**Recipes tried**
-1 dried tomatoes from Coop (or Coop fine food) + 1 Red pepper + 3 tomatoes + 3 date + some ginger + some Italian herbs + 4 rosemary petals + 1 spoon sea salt
Raw food tomato sauce with Zucchetti ***

Almond milk with Granola *** add bit of saffron

Granola- breakfast - soaked almonds, walnuts, soaked sunflower seeds, almond milk***

Sunflower seeds soaked overnight + black olives + sundried tomatoes + bit of tofu ** - little bitter

**Raw Desserts**
Mango pudding - dried mangoes, kiwi, mango *** frozen to ice cream also
carob + grated coconut + coconut oil + dates + Mandelmuss ****
carob + grated coconut + dates + mandelmuss + walnuts + saffron ****
carob + agave + coconut oil + vanilla ***
Super Banana Sundae - banana, pineapple, blueberries ***
Orange-Choc Bliss Balls - Add 5 more dates if using Bio dates ***
Orange and chocolate Tavoletta****

Brownies : 18 dates + 75 grams dried cranberries + 250 grams walnut + 3 spoons grated coconut + 1 spoon carob + pinch of salt + 13 grams vanilla sugar + some water (Pack the mixture firmly into a square container. Stored in a sealed container, Brownies will keep for up to one week in the refrigerator or one month in the freezer) ***

Apple Pie with Coconut Cinnamon Frosting***

Raw food dessert : Dates + walnuts + raspberry + Kiwi + strawberry ***
Strawberry cake - Add cinnamon + kardamom***

Raw food cheese cake : Base - 250 grams walnuts + 350gm bio dates + coconut + almond oil
cream: soaked cashews + avage nectar + water + Hazelnut **

Ecstatic balls: 5 dried apricots + 4 dates + 6 walnuts + 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds + 1 tablespoon of dried cherries (without sugar and vegetable oil)+1 tablespoon of carob**
Hazelnut chocolate mousse** - avocados, soaked hazelnut
Raw Chocolate Fruit Balls **
Nut free chocolate cake**

**Recipes yet to try**
Strawberry Banana Ice cream - banana, strawberry, cashew
Strawberry Almond Milk: ¾ C almonds (soaked overnight), 3 ½ - 4 C water,2 -3 medjool dates,4-6 strawberries

Raw chocolate truffles

Raw halvah

Nut free Mango-Lime pies

Raw Mango & Strawberry Cheesecakes

Nut free raw desert - Smooth Coco Pudding
2T. raw carob powder, 1 avocado, inside of young green coconut, 6-8 soaked dates. Blend everything until smooth and creamy. For a frozen desert, freeze pudding in ice cube trays, and run through juicer

Mango Salsa
Mangoes- 1 cup diced
Tomatoes- ½ cup diced
Onion- ½ small (finely chopped)
Cilantro/coriander leaves- 3tbsp (finely chopped)
Green chilies- 1-2 (finely chopped)
Lime juice- 1 tbsp.
Salt- a pinch

salad dressing - christi

**Sprouts recipes**
what to sprout - Chick peas, mung beans, quinoa (adzuki beans is okay too)
Sprouting Quinoa - need 4 hours approx.
Sprouted salad

- Chia seeds (1 part) + water (9parts) - 2 weeks in fridge: essential fatty acids like omega-3
- Sesame milk - 1 cup soaked seeds, 2 cups water, 2 dates soaked seeds

Cashews, water, and neutral-tasting oil in equal amounts, blended. Add maple syrup or other sweetener to taste, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt

RAW Chana Masala
Lemony Herb Fredo Style Raw Noodles

Lemon Sweet Cream with Winter Fruit - soaked cashews, pomegranate

Raw Food Indian Spiced Vegetables - apricots
Raw Food Cilantro Mint Chutney
Sweet tahini Mayo - Tahini dressing for sala d
Raw carob pudding- soaked almonds, banana

Lava Soup - carrot base, jalapeno, avocado
Donuts - soaked almonds and zucchini
Blueberry Cobbler - blueberry

Raw Mung bean milk

Marinated Kale Salad - soy sauce, kale
Vegetable Balls in Curry Sauce - Kofta Peas, carrots: Dehydrator

**Tips**

Dates, Raisins, Figs, Prunes
They’ll blend a little easier if they’re soaked for an hour or two before hand

Sip your green smoothies slowly. Your saliva is an essential part of the digestive process, so be sure to swish before you gulp! Sometimes people will add something small and chewable to their smoothie for this purpose like small flax seeds or even bits of crunched up dried seaweed

**Shopping resources**
Buy young coconut at India Supermarket, Josefstrasse 91, 8005 zurich (0796349709)
Agave nectar from Egli
peterselie from Migros gives minty taste

Nuts from soap tree plants - Buy here
Buy here

Natural coconut juice : Chinese shop - Schaffhauserstrasse 269, 8057 Zurich (0432889508)

**Media**
Raw vegan interviews
Simply Raw - Reversing Diabetes In 30 Days :)

** other recipe links **
Raw food recipes/courses - UK
Rawamazing recipes
Brigitte Mars recipes

Documentaries

2011-07-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

HOME - most beautiful places on earth
Inside Planet Earth
Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series
Mayan civilisation

Baraka - a collection of expertly photographed scenes

Yet to watch
Story of India
India Untouched
Zeitgest

Watch top documentaries online

Environment

2011-07-10T02:49:00.000-07:00

Inconvenient truth - Website
World Seed Bank - TED talk

Ecoworks, ETH - Bits to Energy Lab
Factsheets about Energy consumption, ETH

99 things you can do to make environment greener place

2000W society

Being a kid :)

2011-06-27T21:51:00.001-07:00

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids | Video on TED.com

Never stop being a kid. Never stop feeling and seeing and being excited with great things like air and engines and sounds of sunlight within you. Wear your little mask if you must to protect you from the world but if you let that kid disappear you are grown up and you are dead. - Richard Bach

smile, breathe, stretch, listen, pause, love, trust, give thanks, have fun and feel the force :)

list of stupid things to do to keep the child alive :)

run in the rain, run in water fountain, run in snowfall
taking splash on face from waterfall

play with water
play with mud, get dirty, do gardening

play with animals, pets

watch ants and honeyees
make hand paintings
make sand castles on beaches
hand in the air - laough out loud - say "jay jagannath"
lying on ground looking at night sky
running a bike with your hand in air and shouting - huhuhuh
smiling
eat with your hands
hug a tree
Play with kids, watch them playing on merry go round :)
Roll down a slope, jump, hop, scream
slide down the staircase hand rail
getting excited while opening gifts

smell flowers
Hold hands with a person and look in their eyes for atleast 5 minutes

Giving or Receiving A Smile Or Hug
Laughter And Jokes
Classical Or Quiet Music
Seeing A Sweet Little Animal
Hearing A Complement Or Blessing
Receiving A Loving Massage
Being In Nature
Watching Children Laugh And Play
Playing
Being Under The Stars In Nature
Singing Or Playing An Instrument
Positive Human Touch
Friendly Conversation
Being Inspired
Anything That Feels Good Within Your Heart :):)

Listen to your heart :)

2011-06-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

“I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.” -Ram Das

‘ You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.’ ~ Buddha

Temple of the heart
There is an inner space that surrounds us withing the heart, similar to the space that surrounds us. In this internal chamber you will find a refreshing lake of love and region, in which the holy names of God are constantly vibrated. The focal point is the supreme lord with a charisma that pervades and enlivens every thing. Whoever finds this space will be free of all illusory desires, since he has achieved the Supreme - HH Sacinandana Swami

"Follow your bliss." - Joseph Campbell

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” – (Buddhist saying)

Thoughts become things

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Law of Attraction - Secret
Ask-believe-receive (No fear) - bring yourself in alignment to universe
Dont focus on "what we dont want" - dont activate that thought

smile, breathe, stretch, listen, pause, love, trust, give thanks, have fun and feel the force :)

Make a Gratitude list :) Keep a gratitude rock !
Make a vision board - Close your eyes and visualize
Shift the emotions - Feel positive - sing, Dance, Go out in nature, listen to music, play with kids, think of cute babies
Be in state of inner Joy - meditate
Happiness
Being a Kid :)

Why do we close our eyes when we pray? When we cry? When we dream? Because we know that the most beautiful things in life are not seen, but felt by heart.

Goodness grants a serene mind and a cheerful spirit, which are - better judgement
argues - far more worthy of pursuit than all the pleasures in the world's greatest
pleasure resorts. Where anger breaks things and suffers losses, patience bears things
and wins victories. Impatience leads to loss of temper. Be patient like the earth, gentle
like the breeze, forbearing like the tree, fragrant like the rose, sweet like the honey.
Herein lies the road to a rich, grand, compelling and inspiring personality as also to the
joy and the perfection of living.
The Good Heart by Swami Omkarananda

Wisdom for life

Making Life Simple

Feed everyone, Serve Everyone :)

2011-06-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

World Food Programme - TED talk
wefeedback - Freerice (vocabulary game)
TPRF: Food for People
Food and agriculutral organization - UN
Akshay Patra - Akshaya Patra reaches out to 1,298,049 children in 18 locations across 8 states of India, providing them with freshly cooked meal on all school days.
Food for life - Vrindhavan, India
Midday meals by Radhanath Swami

Charity Water - Video

Akshay trust - Video - CNN Heroes - Madurai
Committed Care for, Helpless, forsaken, mentally ill, old, sick, roadside destitute living and dying in the streets of Madurai - by providing healthy food, love and opportunity to rehabilitate, Restoring human dignity.

Aravind Eye care - TED Talk
Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must also be the joy of doing something beautiful. Being of service to God and humanity means going well beyond the sophistication of the best technology, to the humble demonstration of courtesy and compassion to each patient. - Dr.G.Venkataswamy

Couchsurfing - Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time
Make-A-Wish Foundation has enriched the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work.

The Gesar Foundation through the encouragement of friendship, kindness, patience and tolerance, aims directly to free children from tormented lives knowing that indirectly all living beings will benefit.

"None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." - Mother Teresa

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (Sanskrit: वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम. from "vasudha", the earth; "eva" = emphasizer and "kutumbakam", "family") is a Sanskrit phrase that means that the whole world is one single family and is considered an integral part of the Hindu Philosophy

NGOs for Education

2011-06-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

One Laptop per Child

ASHA Zurich
Schools of India
Aid India

Jaume Sanllorente founded Mumbai Smiles - Book - Video
I open the curtains on the enormous window that has provided so much comfort over these past few years, my window to the Soul. Everyday I receive the generous gift of sunset: the sky with its beautiful yellow shades turning pink, then mauve blue, all leading toward the imposing mystery of the star-filled night. How beautiful the universe is !

Shukla Bose started Parikrama Humanity foundation - TED talk - Bangalore
"Education of children is at the core of our aim to transform poor communities into self-sustaining, contributing communities. "
"I began with a great deal of arrogance... of transfroming the world... but today, I have been transformed. I have been changed, with my children. I have learned so much from them. Love, compassion, imagination, and such creativity..."

New colors is a learning and social support center for underprivileged children living in and around Edayanchavdy Village, Auroville, in South India.

"Lok Biradri Prakalp" education project which was started by the legendary social worker Baba Amte and is currently run by his younger son Dr. Prakash Amte and his wife Dr. Mandakini Amte.

Arvind Gupta: Turning trash into toys for learning project - TED talk - Website
Playpower is targeting a $10 platform that makes learning games affordable for "the other 90%.
MILLEE - Mobile and Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies

Khan Academy - Educating kids online - TED Talk
MIT opencourseware
Stanford opencourseware
ETH Multimedia link
IIT and IISc opencourseware

Green school in Bali, Indonesia - Website

Pan IIT - NGOs and IITians

Volunteer

2011-06-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Volunteer for Heifer International, International study tours

WRVS provides personal and practical support so older people can stay independent at home and active in their local community.

KORAKOR means a body to body connection with life, others, oneself and all that makes our world.
Send your love

HelpX is an online listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and accommodation.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is an exchange - In return for volunteer help, WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles.

Right Livelihood Internship
Engineers without borders
World Volunteer Web
International Volunteer Programs association
Global Volunteer Network
Volunteer Guide

A tale of two volunteers - Science magazine

Charity travel - CS

Fund-raising for Charity

2011-06-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

Setup blog

Just giving for charity
Global Giving
Betterplace
Tipping bucket
Spread about your Cause

World vision - Builiding a better world for children

Better life cycle - biking around the world
Walk the Walk uniting against breast cancer

Fund-raising ideas - Heifer International

When all of ur material needs are taken care of, research shows that they are very few things in life that can actually elevate your level of happiness one of those things is contributing to the cause larger than yourself :)

Social Enterpreneusrhip

2011-06-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

Who are Social Entrepreneurs?
Social Entrepreneur of the Year Competition - Schwab Foundation
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World (slightly over one quarter of the adult population in US)
Innerpreneurs - An innerpreneur is an entrepreneur who use their business to find personal fulfillment (creatively, spiritually, emotionally) and create social change.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus - Grameen bank -Mircocredit
Kiva - TED talk - Totally worth 20 mins of your life time
Profounder - inVenture
Rangde - Social Investment in India
Ashoka - Innovators for the public - Video
Ashoka's Youth Venture Dream It, Do It - Ashoka Hub

Paul Hawken's speech at the Bioneers conference on the worlds largest movement, the hundreds of thousands of grassroots organizations that address social and environmental justice.
Wiser Earth - Video

Panchmama Alliance - Our mission is to empower indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest to preserve their lands and culture and, using insights gained from that work, to educate and inspire individuals everywhere to bring forth a thriving, just and sustainable world

Centre for Social Innovation - Stanford
Stanford - Entrepreneurial design for Extreme Affordability
IIMA - National Innovation foundation by Prof. Anil K. Gupta - TED talk
AfriGadget is a website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity.
Education E-village, CMU

Fund & Follow Creativity - Kickstarter
Giving high impact entrepreneurs wings - Unreasonable Institute
Palindrome links the nonprofit world with executive level leaders
Skoll Foundation
The Mulago Foundation : Who-we-fund - Mulago finds and funds solutions that can benefit at least a million people

A hope. A life. An Embrace - Viral video - many nuggets of wisdom: that humor was one of the best ways to engage people; that it’s difficult to grab people’s attention effectively and to sustain it for the period you want — “so keep it short and cut the verbiage,” word your plea for donations carefully. “We were given feedback to make the ‘ask’ subtle and induce action through gentle persuasion, not aggressive persistence,”

Be the change, Save a life is devoted to gathering stories, offering solutions, and acting as a clearing-house for people who want to know more, get involved, or volunteer.
Hope phones
Friends International works with marginalised urban children and youth, their families and communities to become productive, independent citizens of their country

How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas - David Bornstein

Design Website like photoshop

Alternate ways of living

2011-06-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

Peace day - 21 september

EUROPE
CS Alternate ways of living - wiki
Real Alternatives and Inspiring Places to Live
Freegans

Couch surfer who started Ecobasa - Find, share, learn

Rainbow When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the warriors of the Rainbow
-- Old Native American Prophecy

Living on light links
Pranic Living - Jasmuheen - Summary - Diaries
Solar Healing Center
The man who says he hasn't eaten or drunk for 70 years
Fasting center International

INDIA
Auroville

INDONESIA
Green school in Bali, Indonesia - Website

Books
The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living

Vegan and Vegetarian recipes

2011-06-05T04:02:00.002-07:00

It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car. ~Harvey Diamond

Basics Veganism

Code check - gives ingredients of all products

Vegetarian recipes
ISKCON desire tree recipes

Macrobiotic diet

Food guide for vegans *

Vegan recipes
Indian vegan recipes
Vegan recipes
Vegan Bread machine recipes
Bread recipes

Vegan Desert
Soya milk (1l) + 1 mangoo puree + Creme de quick custard = Mango vanilla pudding
Vegan Popsicles

Vegan cakes
Pineapple cake
Vegan Hazelnut triangles
Orange carrot cake
Carob cake or Chocolate cake
Vanilla cake - add Migros custard powder or saffron for flavor
Banana bread
Mango and coconut cake - dont use mango pury

To try
Black bean brownies - try this
Mango cupcakes
Banana Muffins
Banana Nut Cake
Apple cake
spanish-potato-tortilla
Brownies
Raw Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vegan tiramisu

Tofu in spinach curry - Boil with water and ginger - hand mixi - hari mirch + tomato
Veg Cutlet
Pineapple Chutney
Banana Chutney

Amarnath - boil for half hour + boiled corn + black olives + herbs ( basilico black pepper) + coriander + some salt

Love

2011-06-05T04:02:00.001-07:00

Of the many things I read and experienced about love - some of the lines from various sources -

Wherever there is a bit of colour, a note of song, a
grace of form, there comes the call for our love.
—Rabindranath Tagore

Love is the beauty of the soul. St. Augustine

I am in love and I feel beautiful.
I am in love and I feel divine.
I am in love and I feel stronger.
I am in love and I feel blessed.

Its a magical feeling when you hold my hand. And I get this feeling of 'Lets walk together'. I feel like closing my eyes and feeling the vastness and deepness of the of the love between us. I dont know how it happened and how in a few meetings it has gone from being just a sweet relation to a sweeter and an understanding one. But at times, I get very insecured for some unknown reason. Insecurity of losing you, the relation and my confidence in it. As its said, time tests all. Whenever I get such feelings, I go into deep positive thoughts which makes me feel good about us. I know I should not be feeling insecured because love is neither about security nor is binded by anything.

First you stop judging yourself and your partner
Love is a state of being. Your Love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you. It is not dependent on some other body, some external form.
To feel the presence of that One Life deep within yourself and within all creatures. To be it. Therefore, all love is love of God.
Love is not selective as the light of the sun is not selective.

Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.

Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn’t happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

Your task is not to seek for love,but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.(Rumi)

Christian the Lion Meets Old Owners Reunited

Wandering in the HIMALAYAS

2011-04-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Sri Swami Tapovanam

If man prays in prosperity as fervently and whole-heartedly as he does in adversity, how easily would be realize Brahman. (28)

Faith works wonders. It transforms the weak into the strong, the unskilled into the skillful, and cowards into heroes. (34)

Whenever I was staying at Gangotri, it was my favorite pastime to go up the difficult and trackless regions beyond. I can never forget those excursions which brought me new vigor and cheerfulness, great peace of mind and noble fancies. (37)

The man who takes this broad view that everything is God, never looks down upon any faith or religion with contempt as useless or false. Those who criticise Hinduism for propagating faith in a multiplicity of Gods, are ignorant of the great doctrine of Sanathana Dharma that the entire universe is but the body of God. (46)

Love and devotion(Bhakti) are not two different things. Love for those above us, is called Bhakti-love for the gods or God is of this type. Love for one's equals is called friendship. When stainless devotion to God gets deep-rooted in the mind of man, we consider the object of his existence already attained. (49)

A desireless, peaceful state of existence where the distinction between the knower and the known disappears, is difficult to attain, wherever man may be. That distinction fades away only when man has crossed the stream of action which shows itself in the activities of the physical senses and which produces pleasure and pain. But crossing the stream means the complete conquest of Illusion and Illusion is certainly very difficult to overcome. (50)

As soon as devotee's eyes falls on the lovely Lord of Badrinath his or her heart sheds all sinful tendencies and feels great devotion and happiness, decked with various jewels and multicolored garlands of flowers, the lustrous Lord of Badri wins the heart of everyone at first sight. (51)

Truly, education is not worth its name if it does not teach people the noble lives of their own great countrymen and induce them to follow in the wake of those national heroes. (52)

Desire is a Hydra-headed monster. Cut off one head and you find several taking its place. Overcome sexual desire and it is soon replaced by the desire for wealth. Overcome that too, then the attachment to the body shows itself with an unprecedented strength. Get over that attachment also and then the desire for immortal fame calls aloud like a lioness from the caverns of the heart. Even the wisest and the most learned of mankind are ensnared by the desire for fame. (56)

My mind was intoxicated with the glory of God. Lo ! God himself shines here as this spotless snow, as lakes and springs, as these tall peaks and these powerful cold blasts and these crystalline streams. All I see is God. the Himalaya are God. The entire earth is God. Everything exists in Him. Everything shines because of His brightness. All beauty is His. I enjoyed the natural beauty of that divine region, realizing His presence everywhere, whether in the snow or the snow mountain, in lakes or rivers, in stone or soil, in sun-shine or wind, in pleasure or sorrow. (59)

Until man realizes, he is a puppet of desires and therefore poor and sorrowful. (63)

The silent grandeur, the enormous extent, and the unshakable firmness of the mountain, and the divine beauty and fragrance of the flowers that fascinate even birds and beats....these are, in themselves, hymns to God. The music, of course, is not vocal. But the vocal music is harsh and grating, compared with the silent music of those sights around me here. Heard melodies are sweet, those unheard are sweeter ! The perennial stream, Alaknanda, and this waterfall, Vasudhara.....what are they doing here? They too are loud and ceaselessly singing the glory of God. (65)

I felt the fullness of Divine joy. That oneness is the Truth, the blissful Truth. O ! Himalaya ! I find no end to your spiritual greatness. May you grant me many Sankranthis like today ! As a dweller among the Himalayas I have indeed listened with rapture to your divine song from day to day, but really, very rarely have I experienced that ecstacy which I attained today. (66)

Supreme bliss is supreme peace. It is the form of the Supreme Soul and the goal of man. (74)

It is the bounded duty of every householder to help the helpless, for here is no act of goodness in the world so great as helping the poor and the wretched. The bodies of the living are the temples of God. Kasi and Rameshwar are but of secondary importance as the abode of the supreme being so, helping the poor is an act of worship. (104)

Beggary is contemptible but beggars are not. Until society stamps out unemployment and poverty, to refuse help to the needy is against the spirit of sanathana-dharma. (105)

'There stretched before us the holy lake of Reewal, circular in shape and a mile in circumference, surrounded on all sides by magnificient mountains, filled with clear, cold, deep blue waters, decked with red lotus and other beautiful flowers, and resounding with the peculiar cries of a species of black birds. It was a sight to stir up even still hearts. A unique sight here is of two or three small islands floating on the surface of the lake and moving about in breeze. (113)

There is no reason to disbelieve the traditions that Vasishta, son of Brahma, used to pass his days in austerities here. There is no doubt regarding the partiality of our ancient rishis for solitude. They never neglected their souls for the enjoyment of worldly pleasures. They firmly believed that the gain of all the world was no compensation for the loss of one's soul. They were never satisfied with anything less than realization. Unlike the people of our generation they never stopped with words. They found contentment only in the enjoyment of long periods of Samadhi. They never considered the fall of the human body as a "condition precedent" to the enjoyment of perfect spiritual bliss. Such bliss can be enjoyed in the state of Samadhi even before the soul had freed itself from the body. (123)

In the Sareerika Bhashya Sri Sankara has answered these objections in his own imitable, logical and sweet way. .... In the matter of creation God may be compared to the cause. If the paddy seed produces paddy, and barley seed produces barley, the particular cause is within the seed itself. Similarly, God is the genral cause in the creation of devas and men. Their individual form and conduct and experience are chiefly the result of their own conduct in their previous existence. (124)

Now we forget ourselves and ran about here and there like children playing on the snow. Some times we fell down on the snow which lay like fine soft sugar all around us and quickly scrambling up again we ran forward. (129)

It is the light of the sun and the moon that lights up that lights up all beauty of Nature. That light is percieved by the eye. The eye itself recieves the light because of the mind. The mind functions because of the inner spirit. But for the mind the eye cannot function; but for the spirit the mind cannot work. Without the reflection of the spirit, the inner mind cannot make the eye, etc. take in the impression of any object.
Thus it is clear that it is the inner spirit that is at the root of all beauty. I am the spirit which ever shines unsurpassed. (133)

From the enjoyment of the worldly pleasures which are but the infinitesimal part of Brahmananda, common people can guess at the greatness of Brahmanananda itself. (149)

The shivratri festival: Around the temple was a concourse of thousands among whom were sanyasins clad in various ways. Here was a triumph of faith and devotion. For the moment all distinctions between rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, sanyasins and householders, men and women has disappeared and the oneness of godhood was manifest everywhere. The spirit of so many sadhus filled my heart with joy. " The peacock never attains the speed of the swan. Even so a house holder can hardly attain the greatness of sanyasins who pass their days in devotion in the solitudes of forests, so says a buddhist book. (156)

It is Truth unaffected by time. It is the light that makes the Sun, the Moon and the stars sine, without ever sffering dimunition. It is the limitless ocean of bliss, of which the pleasures of the senses are but an infinitesimal part. It is the seed of the mighty tree of samsara, with all its spreading branches. For the creation of this universe, there is no cause other than this atman. (163)

If the soul is the object of supreme love, it follows that it is also the object of supreme bliss, because, as is well-known, the degree of love depends on the degree of bliss. (167)

Only a few virtuous souls with real wisdom realise that sensuous pleasures which cause bondage are ultimately the source of sorrow, and cultivate a spirit of detachment in an effort to attain the Divine Joy. (171)

I sometimes fell into a trance, standing motionless for a time or sitting on the ground without stirring, because my mind was wrapped in the thought of the ineffable Divine that expresses itself in the sweet music of singing birds, in the harsh grunting of wild boars, in the dreadful roaring of tigers in the menacing rustling of dry leaves, as well as in the super mundane beauty of the luxurious plants and creepers, groves and arbors. (173)

O son, the salt remains dissolved in the water. You cannot separate it with your sight, or touch. The tongue alone can now discover its presence. Even so this Eternal thing exists everywhere; you cannot feel it with you hand. But you can ascertain it by some other means. (187)

It is impossible yo express in words with what boundless faith and devotion I used to visit Mother Ganga as her own devotee, year after year. My mind was filled with the supreme sense of elation while I sat in that hardly accessible spot, cooking and offering various food stuffs to Gomukhi Ganga. After bath and worship, I used to sit, regardless of all danger, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a broad piece of rock, almost out of the reach of even the gods, quite close to the cave where th eGanga emerges from the snow, looking at the great heap of snow which is the girlish Ganga's mother and the snow clad mountain peaks surrounding the area. To ordinary people it might have been terrifying experience, but to me it was an exhilirating one. Here I may state with joyful satisfaction that twelve times in twelve years. I have been able to accomplish twelve times in twelve years. I have been able to accomplish my task without any strain, though such journeys are necessarily taxing. Even foreigners and Hindus with advanced views, who do not believe in theerthas, pilgrimages, etc. on reaching the spot, cannot but, under the influence of the holy atmosphere, worship the Mother Ganga with devotion, sprinkling her holy waters on their heads. If that is so, wonder if people like me, fully believing in her as the Supreme Goddess, feel overjoyed at the sight of Gomukh. (267)

He alone deserves to be called a Tapaswi who puts up with all sufferings in the pursuit of the paths of penance which lead to Divine Grace and spiritual elevation after ascertaining those paths with the help of the sastras, acharyas or tradition. In view of this truth, we may claim our endurance to be more meritorious that that of the shepherds, though their powers were of much higher degree than ours. (274)

The seeker of moksha should, therefore, refrain from indulging in worldly quarrels regarding the form or the formlessness of Brahman. If he is a bhakta let him concentrate his mind upon the form of the Lord; if he is jnani let him concentrate his mind upon the form of the Lord; if he is jnani let him try to acquire steadfast knowledge of the formless, through earnest study and discipline. The Supreme, the ultimate, goal of Bhakti an dJnana is the same. There is no doubt it is Nirvana through the realization of Brahman certainly, those people who move slowly, step by step, towards the goal uttering the holy names of God in full faith, are immensly more fortunate that the unqualified persons who tumble down headlong into predition during their attempts to scale the difficult and dangerous heights of Brahma-jnana. The path of Bhakti is the royal road to the presence of God. It is open to all types of people, whether learned or ignorant. It is also the easiest to follow. That is why the great seers of God, both inside and outside the Vedic pale, have recommended it whole-heartedly as the noblest route to the great goal, popularised it among the people tortured by the threefold sufferings of life. If there is God, there is no doubt He must be omniscient, as well as omnipotent. He can assume any form in which his devotee worships Him and bless him, granting him a vision in that particular form. there is nothing illogical or unscientific in the idea. Nor is it contrary to experience. If those who worship the formless Brahman presume to ridicule the Bhakta when he cries out"O Lord of Kailas, O Lord of Vaikunta, save us, save us, O Lord", they only make themselves ridiculous. (282)

The Journey Home

2011-03-26T06:39:00.001-07:00

By Radhanath Swami
Interview
Book
Buy in India

Radhanath Swami on Lessons from the Ganges

I returned to the riverbank and sat on the cold earth. It was a moonless night. Stars glittered in the dark sky, a breeze filled the forest with the scent of blooming jasmine, and the cooing of an owl emerged out of the silence. Gazing downstream, I wondered where the river of destiny would lead me next. How did I land into a life so foreign to my upbringing, but so familiar to my soul? (xi)

If a person doesn't have an ideal he's ready to die for, he has nothing really meaningful to live for. (11)

As Mount Vesuvius had erupted, leaving a civilization in ashes, there had erupted from my heart an exclusive commitment to the path of spirituality, to leave all else in the ashes of my past. (35)

Whether she received a gift of precious jewelry or a simple flower, she was equally thrilled. In this, she taught me that happiness comes not from the material thing, but from the love with which it is given. (59)

Darling Richie, if my smoking causes you pain, I promise you o never touch another cigarette for the rest of my life.(60)

As you father I expect to do your best, but whether you succeed or fail, do good or bad deeds, or even betray me, as long as I am alive. I will love you and I am here for you. This is a promise I will live and die to keep. Please never forget this. (61)

just as wearing green-colored glasses tinges everything we see as green, so according to our surroundings and experiences, we have a particular perception of reality. (68)

The world around sound me seemed to disappear as my prayer and meditation transported me into a state where a silent inner presence predominated over the phenomenal world. There I discovered a precious truth, a truth that awakened a sense of shelter and freedom I am the soul, distinct from the world of externals, a child of God. The blaze of culture shock had acted like the rays of the sun to dissipate the fog of misconception. I felt liberated. Flooded with gratitude, I knew that Herat would forever remain a sacred place on the map of my heart. (68)

I realized that our free will could convert a curse in to a blessing or a blessing into a curse. Yes, ludicrous as it was, this mongoose may have been sent to teach me the sacred virtue of patience and forbearance. To bear difficulty and turn to God was a priceless blessing. To transform a crisis into an opportunity was true wisdom. (70)

I was moved. He was homeless, blind, illiterate, and poverty stricken. Yet, even in his humbled state, he sang of the vast treasure of joy he has found within his heart: his love of God. (74)

Sex could be a gift of God, but when it becomes an obsession, it plunders all intelligence and people are driven to abominable acts to satisfy their lust. When passion is frustrated, people lose all good sense. I thought about the fact that throughout history there had been saints in all traditions who raised beautiful families utilizing sex as a divine offering. Then I began to wonder why, throughout the same history, many saints took the vow of celibacy. The more I pondered, the more I tried to answer my own question. Maybe they realized the charm of the opposite sex to be a distraction from their exclusive dedication to God. Maybe they were determined to direct that powerful energy toward prayer and devotion. Maybe this was what I, too, was looking for. Certainly, it would explain why I had turned my back on Irene in Italy. Love is the offering of heart, I thought. Pure love must be selfless, without selfish motives. (79)

There is only one cause for all our worries and anxieties. Selfishness. (99)

Be sincere and disciplined in your practice. A true yogi is one who lives with highest human conduct. (99)

GANGES - She begins her course from high in the Himalyas and flows without cease to the sea. Innumerable obstacles-huge rocks, fallen tress, or even mountains-block her way, but nothing will stop her journey to the sea. Gracefully she flows over, under, or around all obstructions. Mother Ganges teaches us that if we want to attain the sea of our aspiration, we must preserve in our goal and never be discouraged by the inevitable obstacles that come on our path. All impediments are like rocks in the river of life. We should flow around them and never give up. With the Lord's help, there is always a way. (109)

As I sat on that rock, I imagined that watching the flow of the river was like watching the passing of life. If one is inside the river, one is greatly affected by it, but if one sits on the bank, one can observe it with detachment. Mother Ganges teaches that if we learn to be detached from our ego and the flurry of the mind, senses, and the world around us, and observe life with a sober disposition, we gain wisdom. (109)

Today the river is exposing how we have the tendency to judge others by their surface appearance, and to find only their negative qualities. But if we search beneath the surface we discover that a myriad of stains mix together to create a particular person's nature. The faults we perceive are likely to be effect of circumstances, the psychological response to trauma, abuse, rejection, heartbreak, insecurity, pain, confusion, or disease. (125)

The pain of separation kept the joy of our relationship alive in my heart. As I turned and walked away from Kailasha Baba, I prayed never to forget him. And I never have.(127)

"Love is everlasting forgiveness", she began. "Wisdom is to see everything in relation to the whole. If you understand that everything belongs to Him, you will be free of all burdens." Gracefully touching her hand to her heart, she closed her eyes. All sorrow comes form the sense of I and Mine. All sorrow is due to one's keeping apart from God. when you are with Him all pain disappears. By sorrow does the Lord dispel sorrow and by the adversity he destroys adversity. When this is done he sends no more suffering, no more adversity. This must be remembered at all times." (129-130)

There can be no security, no stability here. These are to be found in God alone. Suffering is sent to remind us to turn our thoughts toward God, who will give us solace. Whenever you possibly can, sustain the flow of the sacred Name. To repeat his name is to be in his presence. If you associate with the supreme friend, he will reveal his true being to you. (130)

RESPECT: I had been on receiving end of judgmental attitudes time and again couldn't live with myself if I did the same to others. Still, that tendency to criticize was so strong. I might no longer agree with Sean's ideas or ways, but why shouldn't I respect him as a soul that originated from the same Divine source, and carry on with the life I now held as sacred? all these thoughts flowed through my mind as I carried on the conversation. (145)

"The source of all suffering is desire", he began. "And desire arises from the minds attachments to the senses. Freedom is to empty the mind of all thoughts. To have no mind or thought is satori, the liberated state". His eyes shut tightly in concentration as he explained that Zen is to understand the meaning of life directly, without being distracted by logical thought or words. (148)

The dirty wax of egotism accumulated in the heart prevents us from clearly bearing the Lord's voice within. A guru, with the stick of knowledge, cleans our hearts. It's really ugly to see what may come out, but by following patiently, we keep cleaning.
Sometimes the Lord gives us a free sample of religious experience, but for more, we must pay a price with the currency of sincere dedication to the process of cleansing.(183)

The nature of the minds is to interpret nonessential essential. The mind creates artificial needs, believing it cannot live without them. In this way we carry a great burden of attachments throughout our life. Attachments is itself a great burden on our minds. We may never understand the extent of the burden till, like my books or the earwax, we are free of it. But if we find joy within, we can live a simple life, free of endless complications. (184)

REALISATION - The sand scorched me like blazing fire, and later, was greedy to devour me. But now the same sand is cool and soft and gives me shelter. Like sand, a person influenced by circumstances can viciously envious or affectionately kind. Our company and surroundings have a critical effect on our consciousness. How important it is to be an instrument to bring out the inherent good of each other than the worst. So much wisdom is being whispred through every grain of sand if only I have ears to hear. (190)

Selfless service
Yes I am crying and it may well be in gratitude, as he believes. To please others is not always easy, but it is part of my deepest nature to wish to do so. Enduring the burning pain of that food was a small price to please this sadhu. (195)

UNIFICATION - A dog will recognize his master in whatever was he dresses. The master may dress in robes, suit and tie, or stand naked. but the dog will always recognize his master. If we cannot recognize God, our beloved master, when he comes in a different dress from another religion, then we are less than that dog. (196)

He would explain that to show love for God, one must affectionately serve His children. (215)

Lord chaitanya taught that we should aspire to be the humble servants of the servant of the servant of the Lord. Only in this way can we taste the nectar of the Holy Name. (242)

My heart pounding, I silently prayed for guidance. As I gazed into the gentle, flowing waters of Yamuna, my whole life placed before my mind's eye. I felt so grateful for my family's affection and hated to cause them pain, but this burning in my heart for God's love was stronger than anything else. I couldnot expect them to understand I recalled my readings about great persons who, in their dedication to God, had borne the suffering of breaking loved one's hearts. (244)

Love everyone, serve everyone, and feed everyone. Serve like Hanuman Without selfishness and greed. This is they key to realizing God. (247)

Whenever you possible can, sustain the flow of the holy Name. To repeat his Name is to be in His presence. If you associate with the Supreme Friend, He will reveal His true beauty to you. (249)

Legitimate deity worship, according to the Vedas, is a science in which the Lord is called with devotional rites to appear in designated forms. In these forms He accepts our devotional offerings, all for purpose of purifying the worshipers body, mind and words by fixing in us the remembrance of the Lord. The aim is to please the Lord through surrender and love. (254)

Just look, he said, his voice overflowing with happiness, "Creation is a gallery of art with a masterpiece wherever we look. I long to meet the artist. Everything emanates from the Lord. All material elements are the Lord's energy. By His will He may choose to appear in His own energy as a deity to help us focus our minds and senses in loving servitude. Just as electricity manifests in a light bulb to radiate light, so God can permeate the deity with His presence. Electricity is invisible to the naked eye and the bulb by itself gives light only when the electrical energy infuses the bulb with its presence. Then we can see and feel the light. In a similar way the Lord may appear in the tangible form of a deity to help us see and feel his presence and reciprocates with our love. Smiling, he asked me if he had made sense. (255)

Krishnadas Babaji answered, "Under the veil of illusion, or maya, we forget the ecstatic love for God, which is intrinsic to our souls. Love in this world is only a reflection of it. We are searching for real love in so many ways, forgetting that it is within our hearts. Babaji looked so meek. Raising his white eyebrows, his voice faltered. Krishna longs to be conquered by the love of His devotee and by the supreme grace of Radha we can realize that love. She is the compassionate nature of the Absolute and the fountainhead of all spiritual love. (264)

Bhakti - the yoa of unconditional love. (264)

I felt so far from Krishna. I couldn't find a trace of love in my heart. Bereft, I longed for that love, cried for that love, begged for that love. Suddenly, all of creation seemed irrelevant in the absence of love. The sitar, too, wept and cried, perfectly articulating my aspirations. (267)

Balance - It was an art that required maturity and realization. Through them I saw that to be sensitive to the troubles of the world and the plight of others on the material plane didnot mean that one had to neglect the spiritual plane. On the contrary, I saw how loving God naturally awakened the qualities of an ideal human being, one with compassion for all. (273)

A black snake slithered out from under the rock where I sat, flitting its shiny tongue. Under the graying sky of evening, as mosquitoes buzzed around the bank of the river, my mind stirred. Fear is dominating force in life. Fear of disease, failure, disappointing others, or economic ruin. Fear of enemies, thieves, cheaters, or a multitude of other possibilities including doubt in ones direction in life. Feeling a mosquito biting into my ankle, I realized that anyone of these tiny insects could kill me with malaria and I wondered about whereabouts of that snake. Certainly, I thought, I must be realistic to protect myself, but too much fear could either stifle my progress or consume my mind with anxiety. In the arms of mother, a baby is relieved of all fear. This faith, whether born of scientific or philosophic knowledge, or simple trust, brings peace. Real faith, I thought, comes through direct experience of a higher reality or through the company of those who have attained that faith. (282)

"The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone." He began. " No one can live without loving someone else. This propensity is present in every living being The missing piece, however, is where to direct our love so that everyone is included and can be happy. He paused and looked out at the audience thoughtfully. At the present moment, human society teached one to love his country or family or his personal self, but there is no information on where to direct the loving propensity so that everyone will be happy." (303)

***************
One afternoon, a guest asked Srila Prabhupada this very question. " Is God formless and impersonal or does He have form and personality?" The chattering of birds, screeching of monkeys, and honking of distant rickshaw horns were silenced by the anticipantion in my heart I sat up with attention, eager to hear fis answer. Srila Prabhupada slowly leaned forward, his face perfectly relaxed and full lips curved downwards at the edges. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, his elbows rested on the low table in front of him and his hands were clasped together under his chin. With a grave gaze, he quoted from the vedas and explained," We must first understand the inconceivable nature of God. The supreme Lord is simultaneously personal and impersonal. It is an eternal truth that He is both formless and that he has an eternal, blissful form.

I felt a warm, peaceful sensation flood my chest. With one hand Srila Pabhupada stretched his index finger upward." The Lord's impersonal, all-prevading energy is called Brahman. And Bhagvan is the personal, all-prevading energy is called Brahman. And Bhagvan is the personal form of God, who is the energetic source and never under the influence of illusion. Take for example the sun. The form of the sun as a planet and the formless sunlight can never be separated, as they exist simultaneously. They are different aspects of the sun. Similarly, there are two different schools of transcendentalists who focus on different aspects of the one truth. The impersonalists strive to attain liberation in the Lord's impersonal, formless light, while the personalists strive for eternal loving service to the Lord's all-attractive form. There is no contradiction.
"Similarly, the soul is part and parcel of the Lord, simultaneously one with God and different from God. Qualitatively we are one with God and different from God. Qualitatively we are one with God, and different from God. Qualitatively we are one with God, being eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. But quantitatively, we are always but a part, just as the sunray is but a tiny part of the sun and yet has the same qualities as the sun. We are both one with God and different from God. God is the independent controller, but when the soul misuses his God-given independance, he forgets his relation to the Lord and falls into illusion and subsequent suffering."
Leaning back against the wall, he tilted his head slightly and gazed directly into my eyes. "The two schools, personalists and impersonalists, both approach different aspects of one God." (307)

"Everything is potentially spiritual" Srila Pabhupada began, as if picking up from my own waking thoughts. "Everything is the energy of the Lord. Material consciousness is to forget an object's relationship with God. Spiritual consciousness is to see everything in relation to God and utilize everything in devotional service. Prabhupada tapped the microphone to make his point, " Let us take this microphone, for example. If it is used to sing songs about mundane passion, it is material. If however, it is used to sing the glories of the Lord, it is spiritual. It's all a matter of consciousness. We want to use everything for a spiritual cause. Bhakti Yoga is the art of transforming material energy into spiritual energy through a spirit of devotion. Bhaktiyoga is the art of transforming material energy into spiritual energy through a spirit of devotion.
Like an earthquake, his words shook my world. This concept is revolutionary, I thought. It challenges the very core of my idea of detachment. I had assumed detachment meant to give up everything and live with nothing but the barest minimum to survive. When I honestly searched deep into me heart, I had to admit that in a subtle way, I was proud of the way I had been living in India and even thought it superior to the way people lived in the West. But perhaps this idea of detachment is just another product of self-decieving ego, inducing me to feel superior to others. My reality was shaken. It was easy to think of the beautiful natural surroundings in Vrindhavan and the temples to the deites as spiritual. But a microphone? I thought of how I had judged Prabhupad's Western followers for carrying cameras and tape recorders.
How foolish it was of me to look down on them, feeling that I was better because of ascetic lifestyle. I now understand that detachment is only sacred to the degree it fosters humility, respect and love. (314)
************************
The path of Bhakti is centered around hearing about Krishna and chanting His Holy names. As our love awakens, so does our enthusiasm to serve. (315)

Through the practice of devotion to God, I was coming to learn that preserving loving relationships in this world requires much forgiveness, tolerance, patience, gratitude, and humility. An essential virtue of humility is to accept others for what they are, despite differences. I contemplated again how the tendency to judge others is often a symptom of insecurity, immaturity, or selfishness, and I yearned to rise above it. Everyone is a child of God. God loves all of His children. If I wish to love God, I must learn to love those whom He loves. (331)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article
"Home is where we find our family, love, comfort and shelter and that home is actually in our hearts where we actually connect with our Supreme divine mother and father”, he said. “Then we recognize every living being as our brother and sister beyond superficial differences of sex, race, nationality, religion. Wherever there is life there is sacred spark of God and when we recognise the spark within our-self we appreciate and love that spark in every living being and in that state of consciousness that is within us is our true home- a home that is forever. Every living being is looking for that home.”

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui qay of knowledge

2010-12-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

By Carlos Castaneda
-Turn my concepts into a viable way of life by a process of repetition. Everything new in our lives, such as the sorcerers' concepts I am teaching you, must be repeated to us to the point of exhaustion before we open ourselves to it.
-If one is to succeed in anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession.

He added that nothing in this world was a gift, that whatever there was to learn had to be learned the hard way. (4)

"There is nothing wrong with being afraid. When you fear, you see things in a different way."(21)

All this is very easy to understand. Fear is the first natural enemy a man must overcome on his path to knowledge. Besides, you are curious That evens up the score. And you will learn in spite of yourself, that's the rule. (22)

An ally will make you see and understandthings about which no human being could possibly enlighten you. (24)

"Are you angry at me, Don juan?" I asked when he returned. He seemed surprised at my question.
"No, I am never angry at anybody! No human being can do anything important enough for that. You get angry at people when you feel their acts are important. I don't feel that any longer." (43)

What is a truthful life?
A life lived with deliberateness, a good, strong life. (73)

"Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary.

This question is one that only a very old man asks. Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.

Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it." (74)

THE OPERATIVE ORDER

The First Unit
MAN OF KNOWLEDGE
TO BECOME A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE WAS A MATTER OF LEARNING
There were no overt requirements
There were some covert requirements
An apprentice was selected by an impersonal power
The one that was chosen (escogido)
The power's decisions were indicated through omens

A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE HAD UNBENDING INTENT
Frugality
Soundness of judgment
Lack of freedom to innovate

A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE HAD CLARITY OF MIND
Freedom to seek a path
Knowledge of the specific purpose
Being fluid

TO BECOME A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE WAS A MATTER OF STRENUOUS LABOR
Dramatic exertion
Efficacy
Challenge

A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE WAS A WARRIOR
He had to have respect
He had to have fear
He had to be wide-awake
Awareness of intent
Awareness of the expected flux
He had to be self-confident

TO BECOME A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE WAS AN UNCEASING PROCESS
He had to renew the quest of becoming a man of knowledge
He was impermanent
He had to follow the path with heart

The Second Unit
A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE HAD AN ALLY
AN ALLY WAS FORMLESS
AN ALLY WAS PERCEIVED AS A QUALITY
The ally contained in Datura inoxia
It was woman-like
It was possessive
It was violent
It was unpredictable
It had a deleterious effect on the character of its followers
It was a giver of superfluous power
The ally contained in Psilocybe mexicana
It was male-like
It was dispassionate
It was gentle
It was predictable
It was beneficial to the character of its followers
It was a giver of ecstasy

AN ALLY WAS TAMABLE
An ally was a vehicle
The ally contained in Datura inoxia was unpredictable
The ally contained in Psilocybe mexicana was predictable
An ally was a helper

The Third Unit
AN ALLY HAD A RULE
THE RULE WAS INFLEXIBLE
Exception due to ally's direct intervention
THE RULE WAS NONCUMULATIVE
THE RULE WAS CORROBORATED IN ORDINARY REALITY
THE RULE WAS CORROBORATED IN NONORDINARY REALITY
The states of nonordinary reality
Nonordinary reality was utilizable
Nonordinary reality had component elements
The component elements had stability
They had singularity
They lacked ordinary consensus
The specific purposes of the rule
First specific purpose, testing (Datura inoxia)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion
Second specific purpose, divination (Datura inoxia)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-absorption
Third specific purpose, bodily flight (Datura inoxia)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-absorption
Fourth specific purpose, testing (Psilocybe mexicana)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-inhalation
Fifth specific purpose, movement (Psilocybe mexicana)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-inhalation
Sixth specific purpose, movement by adopting an alternate form (Psilocybe mexicana)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-inhalation

The Fourth Unit
THE RULE WAS CORROBORATED BY SPECIAL CONSENSUS
THE BENEFACTOR
Preparing special consensus
The other states of nonordinary reality
They were produced by Mescalito
It was contained
The container was the power itself
It did not have a rule
It did not need apprenticeship
It was a protector
It was a teacher
It had a definite form
Nonordinary reality was utilizable
Nonordinary reality had component elements
The special states of ordinary reality
They were produced by the teacher
Cuing about the environment
Cuing about behavior
The recapitulation of the experience
The recollection of events
The description of the component elements
Emphasis
Positive emphasis
Negative emphasis
Lack of emphasis
Guiding special consensus
The extrinsic level of nonordinary reality
The preparatory period
The period prior to nonordinary reality
The period following nonordinary reality
The transitional stages
The teacher's supervision
The intrinsic level of nonordinary reality
Progression toward the specific
Specific single forms
Progressive complexity of perceived detail
Progression from familiar to unfamiliar forms
Specific total results
Progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal
Dependent range
Independent range
Progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality
Progression toward the specific in special states of ordinary reality

THE CONCEPTUAL ORDER

THE APPRENTICE
The fallacious adoption of the conceptual order
The bona fide adoption of the conceptual order
Reality of special consensus
The reality of special consensus had pragmatic value (209-213)

Zurich links

2010-12-13T09:57:00.000-08:00

Zurich CS wiki
Swiss Backpackers newspaper
Free Bicycle Rentals in Zürich
Zurich Hike and Outdoor meetup
Walking routes in Switzerland
Alpine Huts
Tageskarte - GA for oneday at extremly cheap price
Mitfahren - car sharing
Stop specific timetable - Zurich
ETH Science city link

Fax using VPP
Wifi-off campus

INSAZ
Zurich Calling - wiki
Xpat Info
ESN Zurich
ETH Alumni India Chapter

Gemeinschaftszentrum - Halls for rental
Brocki Zurich - second hand shop

Asha for Education
Hub Zurich
Social Entrepreneurship in Zurich
Blood donation

Raw food meetup Switzerland
ISKCON Zurich
Curry corner (Mob-0796442739, shop-0443629232)
Tibits Zurich
Indian Street food Limmatplatz (Langstrasse 213, 8005 Zurich)
Vegan Kitchen and bakery
Vegan cafe - try tea menu :)
Not guilty, Oerlikon

South Indian

2010-11-21T04:23:00.000-08:00

Nila Kaikirathu

Aaruyire - Tere bina

Lyrics

Aa ante amalapuram

Lyrics

Randaka Randaka

Lyrics

Boys GirlFriend

Download:

FLV MP4 3GP

Lyrics

Boys Dating

Download:

Download:

Download:

The White Tiger

2010-11-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

By Aravind Adiga

The story of a poor man's life is written on hi body, in a sharp pen. (27)

To break the law of his land - to turn bad news into good news - is the entrepreneur's prerogative. (38)

They remain slaves because they cannot see what is beautiful in this world. (40)

I absorbed everything - that's the amazing thing about enterpreneurs. We are like sponges - we absorb and grow. (71)

Now, among the many uses of a chandelier, this most unsing and unloved object, is that, when you forget something, all you have to do is stare at the glass pieces shining in the ceiling long enough, and within five minutes you will remember exactly what it is you were trying to remember.(118)

It was like no T-shirt I would ever choose to buy at a store. The larger part of it wa empty and white and there was a small design in the centre. I would have bought something very colourful, with lots of words and design on it. Better value for money. (150)

The answer to the first question is that the pride and glory of our nation, the repository of all our love and sacrifice, the subject of no doubt considerable space is the pamphlet that the prime minister will hand over to you, the Indian Family, is the reason we are trapped and tied to the coop. (176)

Of course, in your case you don't..Let me tell you, balaram. Men drink because they are sick of life. I thought the caste and religion didn't matter any longer in today's world. (185)

Mobile phones cause cancer int he brain and shrink your masculinity; the Japanese invented them to diminish white man's brain and aballs at the same time. I overheard this at the bus stand one night. (305)

One day a cunning Brahmin, trying to trick the buddha, asked him,'Master, do you consider yourself a man or God?
The Buddha smiled and said, 'Neither. I am just one who has woken up while the rest of you are still sleeping.' (315)

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2010-10-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

By Khaled Hosseini

Blessed is He in Whose hand is the kingdom, and He who has power over all thigns, Who created death and life that He may try you. `The Koran speaks the truth, my girl. Behind every trial and every sorrow that He makes us shoulder, God has a reason. (36)

She has now, over those boulders and parched hills, with a home of her own, a husband of her own, heading toward one final, cherished province: Motherhood. How delectable it was to think of this baby, their baby. How glorious it was to know that her love for it already dwarfed anything she had ever felt as human being, to know that there was no need any longer for pebble games. (80)

Mariam lay on the couch, hands tucked between her knees, watched the whirlpool of snow twisting and spinning outside the window. she remembered Nana once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below.

As a reminder of how women like us suffer, she has said. How quietly we all that falls upon us. (82)

She was just the about the liveliest, happiest person I had ever met. He smiled at the memory. she had this laugh I swear its why I married her, Laila, for that laugh. It bulldozed you. you stood no chance against it. (134)

And soon, they both were in the grips of a hopeless attack of laughter. Just when one became fatigued, the other would snort, and off they would go on another round :):) (141)

Like an art lover running out of a burnign museum, she would grab whatever she could-a look, a whisper, a moan-to salvage from perishing, to preserve. But time is the most unforgiving of fires, and she couldn't, in the end, save it all.....The strange and indescribable pleasure, interlaced with the pain. and the look, the myriad of looks, onTariq: of apprehension, tenderness, apology, embarassment, but mostly, mostly of hunger. (164)

She would not miss him as she did now, when the ache of his absence was her unremitting companion-like the phatnom pain of amputee. (168)

The koran says Allah is the East and the WEst, therefore wherever you turn there is Alaah's purpose (234)

It seemed worthwhile, if absurdly so, to have endured all they had endured for this one crownign moment, for this act of defiance that would end the suffering of all indignities. (267)

In this place, its easy to summon Mariam behind the lids of her eyes, the soft radiance of her gaze, the long chin, the coarsened skin of her neck, the tightlipped smile. Here, Laila can lay her cheek on the softness of Mariam's smile. Here, Laila can lay her cheek on the softness of Mariam's lap again; can feel Mariam swaying back and forth, reciting verses from the Koran, can feel the words vibrating down Mariam's body, to her knees, and into her own ears. (354)

I have dreams of you too, Mariam Jo. I miss you. I miss the sound of your voice, your laughter. I miss reading to you, and all those times we fished together. (360)

I dare, I dare allow myself the hope that, after you read this, you will be more charitable to me that I ever was to you. That you might find it in your heart to come and see your father. That you will knock on my door one more time and give the chance to open it this time, to welcome you, to take you in my arms, my daughter as I should have all those years ago. (360)

Also, see The Kite runner

Death and love

2010-10-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,
love leaves a memory no one can steal.
And now all I have is tears running down my face.
From Pain of missing you,
Suffering that your gone,
Denial that I will never see you again,
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,
Love leaves a memory no one can steal.
But I have to move on but I know you are still with me
In my heart and my soul, your like my guardian angle.
You were my best friend before you left and you still are to this day.
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,
Love leaves a memory no one can steal.
And I know that one day
I will see your smile again,
Here your laugh,
And touch your face but till that day all I can do is wait and cry
And think of all the good times we had together.
By: ~~Alexandrea Faith Knapp~~

The Pursuit of Happiness

2010-09-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

By Douglas Kennedy

"The only time you truly become an adult is when you finally forgive your parents for being just as flawed as everyone else."

She was always denying herself everything. She hated the idea of turning into a burden. And - being a genteel, yet fiercely self-respecting WASP - she loathed the notion of being a suitable case for charity. Because, to her, it implied personal failure; a collapse of character (mother in old age) - 16

I actually loathes that word, 'affair; - because of its cheap, sordid connotations. This was love. Pure, undiluted love. - 42

Sorry's not good enough. Sorry is an empty word.
I am in love with you.. - 44

I felt a sob rise up in my throat. But I stifled it. Because I suddenly heard Father's voice in my headL ' Crying is never an answer;, he once told me when I burst into tears after getting C+ in Latin ' Crying is self-pity. And self-pity solves nothing.' - 80

I have never traveled. I have never seen anythwere south of Washington,DC..let alone the world. I have ever been in mortal danger, I have never known anyone who has gone to prisn, or has been indicted by a federal grand jury. I have never worked in the slums, or in a soup kitchen. I have never hiked the Applachian Trail, or climber Mt Kathadin, or paddled across Saranc Lake in a canoe. I could have volunteered for the Red cross and gone to war. I could have joined the WPA and taught school in the Dust Bowl. I could have done around a thousand more interesting things than am doing now - and, in the process, found something to write about.
Hell, E - I have never fallen in love. So no wonder nothing happens when I sit down at the typewriter. - 89

The rule of the game is simple one: if you want to write, you will write. And know this: if you want to fall in love, you will find someone to fall in love with. But take it from your older, battle scarred brother: you should never set out to fall in love. Because those sort of romances always seem to end up as the the stuff of cheap melodrama. Real love, on the other hand, sneaks up on you unawares..then gives you a kick in the head. - 89

Fate is such an accidental thing, isn't it? - 91

It's simple: tell yourself it wasn't meant to be
You know what you have to do, don't you? That sentence stuck with me reconcile the head with the heart? My rational brain told me to accept the reality that Jack Maon ehad come and gone out of my life withing twelve hours. My irrational heart said otherwise. What astounded me was how persuasive the heart could be - especially since, before that Thanksgiving night, I considered myself immune to all things illogical But now..
Now I knew otherwise. - 138

Anger is always a sensible antidote to heartache - especially if you have very good reasons for feeling aggrieved. For months I held on to that sense of intense rancor. It helped me deal with his wholesale rejection of me.
After anger comes resentment, After resentment comes bitterness, And when that acrid aftertaste finally diminishes, what you are usually left with is wistfulness. A rueful cocktails of accpetance and regret The sadder but wiser school of needlepoint mottos. - 155

Every time you think you know what you want, you bump into smeone who alters your perspective completely. - 156

Absolutely, You know that old line from voltaire: man is born free, but everywhere in chains. Well, in America today, most of the chains are self imposed...courtesy of marriage.' - 157

Most of the big decisons we make in life are never thought out properly. They are all done quickly, instinctively, and usually out of fear. the next thing you know, you have bozed yourself into a situation you don't want to be in. - 158

Illusion, delusion, confusion - you could describe your condition in any number of ways.. - 160

Just like your mother thought I was wonderful. Oh, the lies we tell each other to dodge everything we don't want to face. - 177

But why? I can help you
Because I don't want help. Because needing help makes me feel like a loser.
You know I dont think that way about you
But I think that. So..thanks but no thanks
Atleast consider it
No, Case closed. - 230

That was what I wanted - complete independence. Never again would I allow myself to be dependent on someone else. I wasn't slamming the door on men, or sex, or the possibility of falling in love. But there was no damn was I was going to stumble into a situation where I would be reliant on a man for my sense of self, my social status, or the cash in my pocket. from now on, I would be an autonomous unit: self-sufficient, unimpeded, unattached. - 232

He stared down into his coffe cup, and fell silent, Eventually I spoke. Ego te absolvo..is that what you want me to say? Shame I could have dealt with. Guilt I could have dealt with. The truth I could have dealt with. The truth I could have dealt with. But you chose silence. After swearing love to me - which is huge thing to swear to anybody you couldn't face up to the simple ethical problem of coming clean with me. - 263

Sometimes we do things we dont understand ourselves - 264

The urge to over analyze was one that we all dodged. Better to say nothing - and to accept the fact that certain things just couldn't be fixed. - 308

Its a much uttered truism that we never really recognize happiness until after it has passed us by. But during the last half of 1951, I was aware of the fat that this was, withut doubt , a wonderful juncture in time. -312

He broke off, on the verge of sobbing. peple always surprise you at the strangest moments. HEre was Jack - who never really liked my brother - in tears over his death. That's the thing about a genuine tragedy. IT reminds everyne that all the arguments we have with each other are ultimately pointless. Death silences the quarrel - and we are suddenly left with thte realization that our dispute with the other person had a built-in obsolescence; that, like everything we do, it was of the moment. And that moment - that silver of time we call life - counts for nothing. Yet we still have arguments, the quarrels, the rancor, the anguish, the jaelousy the resentment..the spenetic underside which shadows everyone's existence. We live this way - even though we know it will all end; that, somehow, everything is doomed. Maybe that's the real point of anger - it's the way we rage against our complete insignificance. Anger gives consequence to that which is fundamentally inconsequential. Anger makes us believe we are not going to die. - 374

In closing, Sara - let me add this personal hope: that you somehow coming to terms with all that has happned. No one deserves what you had to face in the past couple of months. By its very nature, life is unfair. But it has been, of late, mercilessly unfair to you. This will change. You may never get over the loss of your brother. Just as you may never get over Mr Malone's act of betrayal. But I know you will eventually come to terms with both events. Because to move forward, we all must somehow come to terms with every damn thing that life throws in our path.
For now, however, take your time. Put the world on hold. Find your way through this difficult juncture. and do know that I am here, whenever you need me. - 404

all good news is unbelievable. for a lot of very obvious reasons - 408

Rather, that you now understand a central truth: there is a thing called tragedy, and it shadows us all. We live in fear of it. We try to keep it at bay. But, like death, it is omnipresent. It permeates everything we do. We spend a lifetime building a fortress against it onslaught. but it still triumphs. Because tragedy is so casual, aimless, indiscriminate. when it does hit us, we look for reasons, justifications, messages from on high - 431

The worst thing you can do in life is hurt another person...and I sense that I have hurt you. - 445

Joel drummed his fingers on the table. forgiveness is the hardest thing in life...an the most necessary.. But its still the hardest - 448

But i expected nothing. Because - as I had learned - if you expect nothing, then anything is a surprise. - 473

Lsiten I could write chapter and verse on every damn disappointment and sadness and failure I have suffered. So what? Terrible stuff happens to everyone. it's the basic law of living. But so is one simple fact: you have no choice but to keep going. am I ahppy? Not particularly. but I am not unhappy either. - 494

Exactly. My past. My choices. And do you want to know something rather amusing? When I die, all that past will vanish with me. it's the most astonishing thing about getting old: discovering that all the pain, all the drams, is so complete transitory. You carry it with you. then one day, you are gone - and nobody knows about the narrative that was your life.
Unless you have told it to somebody. Or written it down.

A tiger for Malgudi

2010-09-25T01:37:00.002-07:00

By R.K Narayan

Those who are deeply attached sometimes deliberately present a rough exterior to each other and that is also one way of enjoying the married state. Some wives in this world show their deepest love only by nagging, and the husbands also enjoy putting on an air of being victims. You must not forget that everyone is acting a part all the time, knowingly or unknowingly. But God who sees everything must be aware of their thoughts and the secret ecstasies of companionship of even that Captain and his wife...So don't make the mistake of thinking that they were not properly matched, judging merely from conversation overheard. (60)

A creature needs support of four legs for stability. Somehow human beings balance on two legs....It's not only difficult but a degradation for a quadraped - you are too exposed; no wonder humans have to cover their waists. (97-98)

Who are you?
'You are asking a profound question. I have no idea who I am! all my life I have been trying to find the answer. Are you sure you know who you are? (103)

There is no such thing as my life or your life before the eyes of the law: in the eyes of law all lives are equal. No one can allow you to murder yourself... (123)

Every creature is born with a potential store of violence. A child, even before learning to walk, with a pat of its chubby hands just crushes the life out of a tiny and crawling near it. And as he grows all through life he maintains a vast store of aggressiveness, which will be subdued if he is civilized, or expended in some manner that brings retaliation. But violence cannot be everlasting. Sooner or later it has to go, if not through wisdom, definitely through decrepitude, which comes on with years, whether one wants it or not. (125-126)

Surely, if you are afraid, but let me tell you you need not fear, he has only the appearance of a tiger, but he is not one - inside he is no different from you and me. (126)

What do you want to do now? You want to go away, I suppose! I understand. But there is no going back to your old life, even if I open the door and let you out. You can't go far. You will hurt others or you will surely be hurt. A change is coming, you will have to start a new life, a different one.... (127)

This is one of the rules of yoga to steady one's mind, to look down one's nose and at nothing beyond. That's one way not to be distracted and to maintain one's peace of mind. (129)

After all I had started a life has a photographer, and when one has looked at faces through a lens, one can never forget a face. (132)

I said the God must be an enormous tiger, spanning the earth and the sky, with a tail capable of encircling the globe, claws that could hook on the clouds, and teeth that could grind the mountain, and possessing, of course, immeasurable strength to match. On hearing my notion of God, my Master burst into a laugh and said, ' It's often said that God made man in His own image, it's also true that man makes God in his own image. Both may be right; and you are perfectly right in thinking of your God as a super tiger. (136)

I suffered hunger for consecutive days before seeking food again, but felt nobler for it. I felt I had attained merit through penance, making myself worthy of my Master's grace. How I wished I had learned the art of living on sugarcane and rice, like the elephant and the hippo at the circus; (138)

'Do not crave for the unattainable. It's enough you have realization. All in good time. We cannot understand God's intentions. All growth takes place in its own time. If you brood on your improvements rather than your shortcomings, you will be happier. (138)

You have freed yourself from all duties which had been forced on you. And so you need not reckoning of before and after, when and how far; in short you don't have to know the business of counting, which habit has made us human beings miserable in many ways. We have lost the faculty of appreciating the present living moment. (139)

You should seek only God's darshan, we must not misappropriate the word that belongs to him, in a temple. Even that I doubt, since the same God resides within all of us. When you address a prayer to God, you are only praying to yourself...or at least you are entitled to half that prayer; and if you are offering a flower, again half is yours, as a famous mystic poet sung.. (142)

Don't tell me what - all causes of rivalry and clash senseless and so need no defining or explanation..Don't ever fight. No cause is worth a clash. (142)

Whatever one had thought or felt is never lost, but is buried in one's personality and carried from birth to birth. (143)

Calm yourself, rest for a while, you don't have to say anything. Feel completely free to remain silent. You don't have to utter a single word. (144)

'How can you say "no reason"? An inner compulsion is enough to make one take fateful decisions.' (145)

It's the hand that goes forward first to strangle a throat, fondle a lover, or bless or thieve..If God had devised the hand differently, the world and human actions and attitudes would have been different. (147)

Listen attentively: my past does not exist for me, nor a future. I live for the moment, and that awareness is enough for me. To attain this state, I have gone through much hardship. I don't have to explain all that now. I have erased from my mind my name and identity and all that it implies. It would be unthinkable to slide back. You must live your own life and leave me to love mine and end it my own way. (148)

He explained his philosphy: 'No relationship, human or other, or association of any kind could last for ever. Separation is the law of life right from the mother's womb. One has to accept it if one has to live in God's plans. (151)

Both of use will shed our forms soon and perhaps we could meet again, who knows? So goodbye for the present. (152)

Patriotic

2010-08-19T07:11:00.001-07:00

The Silent Indian National Anthem

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

Ae watan ae watan

Download:

FLV MP4 3GP

Download:

FLV MP4 3GP

सरफरोशी की तमन्ना - Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna

2010-08-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
- By Ram Prasad Bismil

सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है,
देखना है जोर कितना बाजुए कातिल में है ।

करता नहीं क्यों दुसरा कुछ बातचीत,
देखता हूँ मैं जिसे वो चुप तेरी महफिल मैं है ।

रहबर राहे मौहब्बत रह न जाना राह में
लज्जत-ऐ-सेहरा नवर्दी दूरिये-मंजिल में है ।

यों खड़ा मौकतल में कातिल कह रहा है बार-बार
क्या तमन्ना-ए-शहादत भी किसी के दिल में है ।

ऐ शहीदे-मुल्को-मिल्लत मैं तेरे ऊपर निसार
अब तेरी हिम्मत का चर्चा ग़ैर की महफिल में है ।

वक्त आने दे बता देंगे तुझे ऐ आसमां,
हम अभी से क्या बतायें क्या हमारे दिल में है ।

खींच कर लाई है सब को कत्ल होने की उम्मींद,
आशिकों का जमघट आज कूंचे-ऐ-कातिल में है ।

सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है,
देखना है जोर कितना बाजुए कातिल में है ।

Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai
Dehkna Hai Zor Kitna Baajuen Qaatil Mein Hai
Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai
Dehkna Hai Zor Kitna Baajuen Qaatil Mein Hai
Waqt Aane Pe Bata Denge Tujhe Hai Aasmaan
Kya Baatein Hum Junoonein Shok Kis Manzil Mein Hai
Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai
Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna

Dooriyaan Umeed Ki Na Aaj Humse Choot Jaaye
Milke Dekha Hai Jine Woh Sapne Bhi Na Root Jaaye
Hausle Woh Hausle Kya Jo Sitam Se Toot Jaaye
Hausle Woh Hausle Kya Jo Sitam Se Toot Jaaye
Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai
Dehkna Hai Zor Kitna Baajuen Qaatil Mein Hai

Tere Sone Roop Ko Hum Ek Nayi Bahar Denge
Apne Hi Lahoon Se Tera Rang Hum Nikhaar Denge
Desh Mere Desh Tujhpe Zindagi Bhi Waar Denge
Desh Mere Desh Tujhpe Zindagi Bhi Waar Denge
Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai
Dehkna Hai Zor Kitna Baajuen Qaatil Mein Hai

Khushboo Banke Mehka Karenge Hum Lelahti Har Faslo Mein
Saas Ban Ke Hum Gun Gunayenge Aane Wali Har Naslo Mein Hum
Khushboo Banke Mehka Karenge Hum Lelahti Har Faslo Mein
Saas Ban Ke Hum Gun Gunayenge Aane Wali Har Naslo Mein Hum
Aane Wali Aane Wali Naslo Mein Hum
Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai
Dehkna Hai Zor Kitna Baajuen Qaatil Mein Hai
Waqt Aane Pe Bata Denge Tujhe Hai Aasmaan
Kya Baatein Hum Junoonein Shok Kis Manzil Mein Hai

Rang De Basanti

है लिये हथियार दुश्मन ताक मे बैठा उधर
और हम तैय्यार हैं सीना लिये अपना इधर
खून से खेलेंगे होली गर वतन मुश्किल में है
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

हाथ जिनमें हो जुनून कटते नही तलवार से
सर जो उठ जाते हैं वो झुकते नहीं ललकार से
और भडकेगा जो शोला सा हमारे दिल में है
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

हम तो घर से निकले ही थे बांधकर सर पे कफ़न
जान हथेली में लिये लो बढ चले हैं ये कदम
जिंदगी तो अपनी मेहमान मौत की महफ़िल मैं है
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

दिल मे तूफानों की टोली और नसों में इन्कलाब
होश दुश्मन के उडा देंगे हमे रोको न आज
दूर रह पाये जो हमसे दम कहाँ मंजिल मे है
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

Veer Tum Badhe Chalo

2010-08-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

बढ़े चलो
-द्वारिकाप्रसाद माहेश्वरी

वीर तुम बढ़े चलो
धीर तुम बढ़े चलो

साथ में ध्वजा रहे
बाल दल सजा रहे
ध्वज कभी झुके नहीं
दल कभी रुके नहीं

सामने पहाड़ हो
सिंह की दहाड़ हो
तुम निडर,हटो नहीं
तुम निडर,डटो वहीं

वीर तुम बढ़े चलो
धीर तुम बढ़े चलो

प्रात हो कि रात हो
संग हो न साथ हो
सूर्य से बढ़े चलो
चन्द्र से बढ़े चलो

वीर तुम बढ़े चलो
धीर तुम बढ़े चलो

Veer tum badhe chalo
Dheer tum badhe chalo

Sath me dhvaja rahe
Bal dal saja rahe
Dhvaj kabhi jhuke nahi
Dal kabhi ruke nahi

Samne pahad ho
Sinh ki dahad ho
Tum nider hato nahi
Marg me ruko nahi

Veer tum badhe chalo
Dheer tum badhe chalo

Badal garajte rahen
Megh baraste rahen
Bijliyan chamak uthen
Bijliyan tadak uthen

Veer tum badhe chalo
Dheer tum badhe chalo

prat ho na raat ho
Sang ho na sath ho
Surya se badhe chalo
Chandra se badhe chalo

Veer tum badhe chalo
Dheer tum badhe chalo

Online Music links

2010-08-04T06:46:00.001-07:00

Stereomood
Grooveshark
Spotify

Indian FM online
Indian FM from Paris

Google music

Very peaceful music
Snatam kaur

Indian music 2

2010-08-01T11:48:00.001-07:00

Allah hi rahem

Hari Haran - Krishna Hari beghari

Pee loon

Des mera

Duniya - Gulaal

Lyrics

Ek lau - aamir

Hosanna

Chann Chann song

Tunak Tunak Tun - Dance Party

Download:

Download:

Download:

Download:

Download:

Download:

Download:

Download:

Happiness

2010-08-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

ज़िन्दगी है छोटी , हर पल मैं खुश रहो :):):):):)
http://www.squidoo.com/Things-that-will-make-you-smile-and-bring-you-joy

The key to happiness is not to wake up every single day and ask how I am going to make this a great day but it is to ask how I am going to make it a great day for somebody else :)

I love those moments where you just smile and think, "i love life"
I love it when you smile at me. You should do it more often :D
I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on
A smile can go a long way -- caring can go even further
im supposed to be angry at you. stop making me smile. :)

Link smiley :)

laughter is contagious
passion is contagious
inspiration is contagious

You are so beautiful

You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me
Can't you see
Your everything I hoped for
Your everything I need
You are so beautiful to me

Such joy and happiness you bring
Such joy and happiness you bring
Like a dream
A guiding light that shines in the night
Heavens gift to me
You are so beautiful to me

comfort, commitment, joy , delight, bliss (3:57)

When a person is feeling emotionally depressed, he should divert his attention on training up his body. If the person is at their home and with their family, love and affection is filled around. On the other hand, when a person is away from their family or in a totally new environment for some reason, (be it for academics or work), they look for a companion. Someone to talk to casually, to generally let their feelings out and face-to-face interaction with them. After all, it is a basic instinct and a need (apart from food, clothes and shelter) for humans to interact with another fellow human. At this point of time, any close friend they make is indeed special.

Your Love GivesMeHope
Spread your love - Korakor
Lion HUGS

Validation short story

Download:

Download:

Download:

Download:

Life of Pi

2010-07-07T06:23:00.000-07:00

A boy, Atiger And the vast Pacific Ocean
By Yann Martel

Scientists are a friendly, atheistic, hard-working, beer-dirnking lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science. (5)

It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names. (20)

And so, when she first heard of Hare Krishna's, she didn't hear right. She heard "Hairless Christians", and that is what they were to her for many years. When I corrected her, I told her that in fact she was not so wrong; that Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat- wearing Muslims. (49-50)

To me, religion is about our dignity, not our depravity. (71)

Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they have known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? why climb this Mount Everest of formalities that makes you feel like a beggar? Why enter this jungle of foreignness where everything is new, strange and difficult?
The answer is the same the world over: people move in the hope of a better life (77)

He's a shy man. Life has taught him not to show off what is most precious to him. (80)

Yes, they have tobacco in canada-but do they have Gold flake cigarettes? Do they have Arun ice cream ?Are the bicycles Heroes? are the televisions Onidas? Are the cars Ambassadors? Are the bookshops Higginbotham's? Such, I suspect, were the questions that swirled in Mother's mind as she contemplated buying cigarettes. (91)

I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the PAcific, hanging on to an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me. Had I considered my prospects in the light of reason, I surely would have given up and let go of the oar, hoping that I might drown before being eaten. But I don't recall that I had a single thought during those first minutes of relative safety. I didn't even notice daybreak. I helo on to the oar, I just held on, God only knows why. (107)

I seem to be floating in pure, abstract blackness. (118)

Warmth came only when the sun, lokking like an electrically lit orange, broke across the horizon, but I didn't need to wait that long to feel it. With the very first rays of light it came alive in me: hope. As things emerged in outline and filled with colour, hope increased until it was like a song in my heart. Of, what it was to bask in it! (119)

To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you is sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures to people the tree of your life and give it new branches. To lose you father is to lose the one whose guidance and help you seek, who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. to lose your mother, well, that islike losing the sun above you.It is like losing - I am sorry, I would rather not go on. (127-128)

I looked down between my legs. I thought I would faint for joy. The open locker glistened with shiny new things. Oh, the delight of the manufactured good, the man-made device, the created thing! That moment of material revelation brought an intensity of pleasure-a heady mix of hope, surprise, disbelief, thrill, gratitude, all crushed into one-unequaled in my life by any Christmas, birthday, wedding, Diwali or other gift-giving occasion. O was positively giddy with happiness. (141)

It was glorious, it was glorious. I tell you, to be drunk on alcohol is disgraceful, but to be drunk on water is noble and ecstatic. I basked in bliss and plenitude fore several minutes. (143)

I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The mazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. amen (148)

A modest glow of hope flickered to life within me, like a candle in the night. I had a plan and it was a good one. I only needed to survive to put it into effect. (159)

Ignorance is the worst doctor, while rest and sleep are the best nurses. (166)

I did not count the days or the weeks or the months. Time is an illusion that only makes us pant. I survived because I forgot even the very notion of time. (192)

It couldn't miss us. can there be any happiness greater than the happiness of salvation? the answer-believe me-is NO. I got to my feet, the first time in a long time I had made such an effort. (234)

Blink

2010-06-15T03:12:00.000-07:00

The power of thinking without thinking
By Malcolm Gladwell

If a white student is from a prestigious private high school gets a higher SAT score than a black student from an inner-city school, is it because she's truly a better student, or is it because to be white and to attend a prestigious high school is to be constantly primed with the idea of 'smart' ? (57)
Sometimes we are better off if the mind behind the locked door makes our decisions for us (61)

(Context speed dating) The categories are attractiveness, shared interests, funny/ sense of humor, sincerity, intelligence, and ambition. (65)
What they find when they compare what speed daters say they want with what they are actually attracted to in the moment is that those things don't match. (65)

(Context car salesman)"You always put on your best face, even if you are having a bad day. You leave that behind," he says. "Even if things are horrendous at home, you give the customer your best."(90)
Never judge anyone on the basis of his or her appearance. Prejudging is the kiss of death. You have to give everyone your best shot. (91)

(Context food tasting) They seemed to talk only to heighten their anticipation of the next bite, and when the next bite came, their faces took on a look of utter absorption. Heylmun and Civille don't just taste food. They think about food. they dream about food. Having lunch with them is like going cello shopping with Yo-Yo Ma, or dropping in on Giorgio Armani one morning as he is deciding what to wear. "My husband says that living with me is like a taste-minute-tour" (177)
When we become expert in something, our tastes grow more esoteric and complex. What I mean is that it is really only experts who are able to reliably account for their reactions.(179)

Three Fatal Mistakes – Perhaps the most common – and the most important – forms of rapid cognition are the judgments we make and the impressions we form of other people. Every waking minute that we are in the presence of someone, we come up with a constant stream of prediction and inferences about what that person is thinking and feeling. When we meet someone new, we often pick up on subtle signals, so that afterward, even though he or she may have talked in a ‘normal’ or friendly manner, we may say, ‘I don’t think he liked me’ or ‘I don’t think she is very happy.’ we easily parse complex distinctions in facial expression. If you were to see me grinning for example, with my eyes twinkling, you’d say I was amused. But if you were to see me nod and smile exaggeratedly, with the corners of my lips tightened, you would take it that I had been teased and was responding sarcastically. If I were to make eye contact with someone, give a small smile, and then look down and avert my gaze, you would think I was flirting. If I were to follow a remark with a quick smile and then nod or tilt my head sideways, you might conclude that I had just said something a little harsh and wanted to take the edge off it. You would not have to hear anything I was saying in order to reach these conclusions. They would just come to you, blink. (194-195)

You could also say that it's a book about intuition, except that I don't like that word. In fact it never appears in Blink. Intuition strikes me as a concept we use to describe emotional reactions, gut feelings - thoughts and impressions that don't seem entirely rational. But I think that what goes on in those first two seconds is perfectly rational. It's thinking - it's just thinking that moves a little faster and operates a little more mysteriously than the kind of deliberate, conscious decision making that we usually associate with "thinking". In blink I'm trying to understand those two seconds. What is going on inside our heads when we engage in rpid cognition? When are snap judgments good and when are they not? What kinds of things can we do to make our powers of rapid cognition better ? (Interview with Malcolm gladwell)

Love story

2010-06-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

By Erich Segal

"what the hell makes you so smart?" I asked.
"I wouldn't go for coffee with you," she answered."Listen-I wouldn't ask you."
"That," she replied,"is what makes you stupid." (3)

Part of being a big winner is the ability to be a good loser. There's no paradox involved. It's a distinctively Harvard thing to be able to turn any defeat into victory.(5)

"I don't like it,"she said.
"What?"
"The fact that I like it." (14)

"Listen, Jen, I may not call you for a few months."
She was silent for a moment A few moments
Finally she asked, "why?"
"then again, I may call you as soon as I get to my room."
I turned and began to walk off.
"Bastard!" I heard her whisper. (14)

"I think ....I am in love with you."
There was a pause. Then she answered very softly.
"I would say.... you are full of shit."
she hung up...I wasn't unhappy or surprised. (16)

I smiled. how she loved the simple things in life. (24)

I sat there for a while, watching a neon sign blink "Clams and Oysters." What I had loved so much about Jenny was her ability to see inside me, to understand things I never needed to carve out in words. She was still doing it. But could I face the fact that I wasn't perfect? Christ, she had already faced my imperfection and her own. Christ how unworthy I felt!
I didn't know what the hell to say. (54)

When our two souls stand up erect and strong, Face to face, silent, drawing high and higher, Until the lengthening wings break into fire... A place to stand and love in for a day, With darkness and the death hour rounding it. ..I give you my hand! I give you my love more precious than money, I give you myself before preaching or law; Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live? (72,73)

I have probable lied or cheated in my life. But I have never deliberately hurt anyone. I don't think I could." (84)

The pain of not knowing what to do was exceeded only by that of knowing what I had done. (87)

"Love means not ever having to say you're sorry" (91,131)

See, I think you're scared. You put up a big glass wall to keep from getting hurt. But it also keeps you from getting touched. It's a risk, isn't it, Jenny? At least I had the guts to admit what I felt. Someday you're gonna have to come up with the courage to admit you care.
I care.

Melody

2010-05-20T10:09:00.001-07:00

Beatles - My sweet lord

Imagine - John Lennon

Lyrics

Almost Famous - Tiny Dancer

Elton John - Tiny dancer

Lyrics

Elton John - Your song

WITH LYRICS

Lyrics

Hey Jude

Lyrics

Akon - Cry out of Joy - Michael Jackson Tribute

Lyrics

FIFA World Cup in South Africa 2010

Why we upload photos

2010-04-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

For encapsulating memories, which remind you how happy u were at that point in life, how u thought u can change the world, how much u adored somebody etc.
For inspiring other people to travel and help them decide destinations
For sharing it with people, who traveled with you and would love to visit those places
To show the world the things you have seen and the way you see them - share interesting stuff
for anyone who likes too see what they missed in the blink of an eye
Because we travel around and like to stop somewhere and take pictures of nothing or everything, pictures which remind you of the feelings and stories associated with them, when you come back from our travel. Its not just because you were standing in front of the Eiffel tower or Niagara falls, but because the theory of randomness took you to a place that you had never been before and the object or place amazed you,moved you, and you decided to take a shot at it.
You can access them all the time :)

“A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it’s the memories that are worth keeping.”
You only live once. Go out and record the world you see and the life you live.
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera" (Dorothea Lange)
"Keep your eyes and mind awake, you never know at what point will reveal the PHOTOGRAPHY"

My Photoblog
Feel free to share your reasons
Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything - Aaron Siskind

Big Picture - News stories in photographs
TSO Photography - Time-lapse movies