All Healing is Self-Healing

In search of the Real Self

Going Beyond The Mind..

We often speak of going beyond mind so that we can know about our real self. Is it really possible to go beyond the mind? Let us discuss some issues related with this 'Going Beyond the Mind'.

We find the 'Self' distinct than the Mind, very easily as we say, "My mind is not Calm" or "My mind is agitated". However, it is not as easy and as true as it appears. 

Our abilities of knowing something is sense dependent and the cognition is faculty of mind. Thus, whenever we attempt to know or understand something, we either make sense out of the present in-flow of stimuli or manifest it from the memories.We continually keep comparing the in-flow of data with the past experiences and belief molds.

Even if it could be possible by some way to experience the state of being 'beyond the mind' it would always remain experiential and it cannot be expressed or shared because the moment we try it, it becomes subject to constraints of the mind. It will become mental manifestation.

Some people think that when the mind is calm one is beyond mind but one can be calm and yet within the mind. Going beyond the mind necessitate that the observer can observe the mind from outside. The calm state of mind could be a desirable state for the process of going beyond it but the calm state itself cannot be the state of its beyond. 

This conglomeration of Body and Mind is so complex that it becomes almost impossible to go beyond the mind as far as we continue operating through the current state of our consciousness embedded withing the conglomeration.

• What if the mind has a capacity to imagine and visualize itself? Think of a robot having camera in its hand. It can very easily scan itself. In this case, the mind is observing itself but since the approach is from outside, it may give us a feeling that the observer is beyond mind. 

Sri atharvashirsh

Sri atharvashirsh

Theory of Mind Gujarati

Lakshya

Understanding Emotional Pain

If you are experiencing pain of love or any other kind of emotional crisis, with the study of this article, you can understand its causes and can develop a soothing understanding

All that we know as our 'Self '..!!!

To understand the cause of emotional pain; we need to understand what is life in its spiritual perspective ? To make things easy, we need to understand what is our 'Self ' and what is Soul, Heart, Mind, Ego and their respective roles.

  
We have an eternal form of pure self.. its True, eternal and Joyous..Sat - chit -Anand swaroop. Just a shapeless intelligent energy. This pure form of consciousness sends parts of its being on different planes to gain experience of life in different planes. The part of this pure consciousness that visits our physical world, is called Atma or Soul or Jeevatma. As it enters the plane of the earth, it cannot operate on its own, it has to accept the conditions of this world. The life on earth can be experienced only within the constraints of physical world. Thus, the incarnating soul has to manifest through a physical body and operate through its Heart, Mind and Ego.
 

Human heart is not just a blood pumping organ. In its subtle form, it is a center of our consciousness where we experience emotions. It has frequencies different from the conscious mind. The heart understands the language of emotions. It cannot express itself through words.


Mind is the logical part of our consciousness. It interprets the stimulus signals collected through the sense organs and manipulates them in the form of thoughts. It also commands the body parts for different functions.


Ego is the form of consciousness that creates identity of the self. It creates a sense of being distinct. It is the part of our consciousness that observes; experiences; takes decisions, creates its esteem and commands discretion. It relates the effects with causes and assign relationship. Because of Ego we feel belonging with 'Me' and 'Mine'. 

Life & Pain

Our worldly life is a part of a grand divine scheme. In the process 'The law of Karma' and the principle of evolution of the entire human species works together.

As we look at life in its entirety, it is seen that people get into different kinds of relationship on the basis of kind of karmic dues accumulated out of the transactions they did during the past lives. In the process of settlement of the dues, persons keep experiencing joy and pain and keep learning. Side by side, as a result of reactions during this settlement; new karmas are generated..and the cycle keeps rotating...!!
Our soul besides learning and developing higher qualities from different dimensions; keeps on settling the karmic dues with related persons. In this way, the friendly and related souls come in contact with others, imparts certain lessons; learn themselves and keep evolving.

Before the soul incarnates in the physical world, it decides its syllabus to learn things (divine qualities e.g. Love, Patience, Sympathy, Empathy etc.) during respective life. However, the soul does not involve in transactions of the world, directly. Instead, it has to accept the basic conditions of earth life e.g. it has to experience the world through Body, Mind, Heart and Ego. The incarnating soul can only communicate with the heart of individual. The communication from Soul to heart is known as Intuition or Inspiration. The soul can only transact with the heart because the vibrations of the higher qualities like Love, Patience, Sympathy, empathy etc. are received only by Heart.

The scope of the Soul is very wide.. it travels from one plane to another and operates on different dimensions simultaneously. The vision and power of its purpose of the soul is very magnanimous. On the other hand, the heart being an instrument at individual level, falls too small to receive and accommodate the vibrations of Soul's communication and gets overwhelmed. These instances are known as inspiration or intuition.

Now, here is the real trouble. The heart receives messages from the soul but it has no mechanism to get it executed in the individual life. Individual human life is administrated through mind and ego. Because of this, the heart experiences romance and then either get settled or feels melancholy or frustration due to feelings of being ignored.

Taking clue from the experiences and inspiration felt at heart, it is for the mind to put the same in the form of logical thoughts. The ability of Mind is always dependent upon input provided by the sense organs and its manipulation. The whole scope of mind is therefore frequency constrained perception. Further, it has its own attitude formed upon previous experiences. As such, the mind always fails to interpret feelings of heart in true sense. The spectrum of experience and perception are quite different.

The mind has all worldly smartness and selfish attitude inculcated within its constitution. As such, it presents the feelings of the heart to Ego in such a way that Ego gets agitated. Ego experiences insecurity and inferiority as it is exposed to the higher virtues e.g., Love, Sacrifice etc. It simply gets scared at the idea of accepting those virtues and apprehend that accepting such qualities would foil all its efforts and strategies built upon self oriented philosophy.

Sometimes, the mind has inherited broad and noble attitude from the previous experiences and can accept the inspiration felt in the heart. However, its own nature is such that it would fabricate the perception in logical way and would present pros and cones - positive and negative arguments at the same time. This creates ups and downs and the person would experience joy for some time and get frustrated later.

This conflict between the heart and the mind creates the pain of confusion.

The heart rejoices whenever life passes through such happenings where it is exposed with development of higher virtues or relationship demanding settlement of some Karmic dues. However, when the mind and ego cannot execute it in true sense, the paradox of despair is generated. The Heart feels tremendous pain and expresses it only in the form of tears. Thus, the pain and tears are nothing but the lessons of wisdom generated from the inner churning. This is the reason, one experiences a feeling of relief after shedding tears.

The pain that we experience, is eventually an inevitable part of the process of evolution and learning the lessons. Our psyche will miss the impact necessary for development of a particular emotional quality if we don't experience the pain. The experience of pain itself is an indication that we are undergoing the process of learning some very vital lesson and that some deep rooted Karmic dues are being settled.

The persons who operate through mind, Whose mind is dominant over the heart; find it very tough to accept the feelings of the heart. They strive to reject what they might have accepted in the state of overwhelmed condition.. The mind shows its skills here, by presenting several excuses to nurture the ego.

It is the function of Our Ego to exercise discretion out of the feelings of the heart and logical dual arguments presented by the mind. The Ego has its own image about its (false) identity. It is made up of summation of all experiences it has enveloped with social norms and values. No wonder, therefore, that the Ego cannot afford to accept and adopt the higher qualities like selfless love , compassion, patience, equality, faith etc. It only keeps these qualities for display and secure its false esteem. When Ego faces a situation where it might have to exercise higher qualities; it experience a great crisis of losing its self-worth. Ultimately, it puts forward some worldly excuses like 'being practical' etc. and would reject the options presented by heart.

It is always almost impossible or at least very hard for the Ego to accept that it suffers from certain deficiencies and that it needs to learn something. Expressing 'Sorry' is very very painful for the Ego. And the funny thing is, Ego always portrays that its down to earth..!!

The souls who have karmic dues with another person and has accepted to teach and learn  from this person approaches him/her during the life time. This is done through interactions. These souls are called soulmates. However, such souls are also subject to constraints of the world and may not be perfect in their dealings. 

Rather than learning something from the approaching Soulmate, our ego tries to establish its dominance. It tries to reject and would counter any suggestion about need to learn something. On the contrary it will abuse the other of being Judgmental.

On the other hand, if the degree of the spirit of the interacting soulmate is higher, his/her behavior would be quite different. Where other worldly relatives pamper the Ego; such evolved soulmates would strike the Ego. It has nothing to do with the Ego and would not pamper. It is concerned with only imparting necessary lessons through interaction. Guided with the purpose, it would strive hard to get the other person convinced about higher qualities.. it can go to any extent to pursue even if it has to do it at the cost of his own self-esteem. The soulmates approaches us inspired with the wishes of settlement of past Karmic dues and to learn and evolve.

So, now you can make out what this pain is all about....  It is nothing but the conflict between the heart and the mind / ego. It is not very easy for mind and ego to understand the purpose of the pure soul and to get ready to pay the karmic dues. Their capacity to imbibe the virtues remains too low. 

However, if you can observe the happenings of life in a neutral manner with some efforts you can be able to take out some lessons :- 

• Not to react quickly. Mostly the preconceived notions prove wrong.
• Not to allege other people foolishly.
• Patience is a virtue we need to develop from such events.
• Not to expect other person to respond to your emotions in the same way. Because, you might need some tough treatment so that you can learn a particular thing.
• Appreciate that every person's way of expressing love could be different. 

Here again, even after you know all this things and that you understand the reasons; how far you will be able to implement into behaviour depends upon:-

• At what level of evolution, the two soulmates interact. 
• Interference created by the free-will 
• the volume and kind of balance Karmic dues
• The virtues yet to be learnt

However, once the lessons are learnt and the Karmic dues have been settled between particular soulmates, there shall not be any pain. 

Don't Blame Your Spouse

Being an astrologer, most frequently, I come across shouting and quarreling couples. They are not happy in their married life. In almost every case, the person who is seeking astrological guidance; is the one who finds faults with the life-style, habits, attitude etc. of his/her spouse. Though the joint family system is on diminishing count, many times the in-laws are also instrumental in creating disharmony. In Indian scenario, when such persons approach astrologer, they have big bothering Question mark: "Why to Me?", "Why is she/he so blunt?", "Why this is with us? - Our horoscope were got matched". There issues with youngsters e.g. they have been in relaitonship and now the other person is turning face.. whether they will ever be able to get married, whether they will have happy married life if they get married etc. To analyze such situations, we need to understand the causes that bind persons into relationship or a wedlock.

Who becomes Our Spouse?
It is very important that we, at the very outset, understand the reason, why out of million others, none other but a particular person becomes our spouse? The cause is Karmic. During our life, as we deal with others, we create Karma. This means that either we owe something to others or we have some outstanding dues to be collected from others. This give & take is called Karmic Rinanubandha. This can be the joy as an output of positive karma or it can be sorrows and pain as an output of bad karma. This cycle of generating karma goes on continually throughout a life period. Many of such karma have very long gestation period. Such karma get accumulated and they are called 'Sanchita Karma'. Thus, at any given point of time, we have collection of such Sanchita karma involving people with whom we have interacted profusely. It can be in terms of volume or it can be in terms of gravity of the transactions. The pull of the unsettled karma generates a bond between the persons concerned. These are the people who get attracted towards each other and establish relationship even in another life period. They become parent-child, husband-wife, brother-sister, in-laws, neighbours, co-workers, business partners depending upon the volume of karma to be settled. Thus, all our relationships are karmic bonds and the only way to overcome this, is to deal with them in a gentle manner. Now you know, why we marry with a particular person? It is only because of the pressure of unsettled karma. This way, every relationship is an opportunity to workout the Karmic dues.
A Spouse is an Evolution AgentAs our ego travels from lives to lives, through reincarnations, it gets closer to perfection. The journey is aimed at establishing harmony of body-mind-spirit and with the environment. This is the process of psychic evolution through various experiences. Life, in this way, is a workshop for evolution of the spirit. During the process, we need to learn from others so that we can appreciate value and impact of human feelings. Amongst all relations, we interact the most with our spouses. So, think it over, your spouse is the person who imparts major lessons to you. Oie La, She or He is a teacher..! Learning through others is not easy. At times the person has to act bitterly while tough lessons are to be imparted. So, even by attracting your displeasure and ill feelings, your spouse teaches you lessons. Through these lessons we develop our psyche towards perfection. One should be obliged to ones spouse.! Do you agree?
It's all in Your Own Horoscope
Your horoscope is a balance-sheet of your Sanchit Karma. Joys and Sorrows, both are reflected in your individual horoscope. Thus, whatever you have got is attributable to your own past Karma. No one should have any reason to pass on the buck to the other person. The harmony and joy or the quarrels and disgusts; are output of your own past karma. You have the possibilities charted in your horoscope as to the quality of your married life. As regards potential of marital bliss, you have your own balance to your credit. This potential would remain same whether you marry to 'X' or 'Y'. This is the reason, I personally don't see much of logic in Horoscope matching. However, if you understand the characteristics of your spouse as expounded in his/her Ashta-koota as a part of kundli matching, and adjust accordingly, you will have smooth life. Let our approach to relationship be positive. The bonds are result of past but our reactions should come from our Free-will. On karmic plane let us keep vigil. Let the dues of the past get consumed without anger and harsh reactions. This is the way, one can save oneself from generating further bad karmas. Always emember, you have come together to settle the dues and learn lessons together.

For the people who are in relationship for a considerable period and now the other person is showing indifference and lingering the decision to get marry; or people who were proposed and now astrologers have declared as incompitable combination, it should not be difficult to understand that if you two are sharing only limited amount of karmic dues, you have to get ready to give it up. If you have yet to settle the dues, no matter what, you will get marry. Unless you settle the dues, the relationship cannot end.

Essentials of Hindu Mantra Sadhana

Since ancient time till the present era; Mantras have been used as a remedy for nearly every problem. With the increasing number of TV channels in India, the situation is such that you tell about any issue and one out of ten persons, you will find at least one to come out with a handy Mantra to resolve your issue. The great learned pundits are there on the small screen almost round the clock. Now a question arises, do we really get benefit from those free of cost advice ? I don't think the TV channels will be helpful to you in this respect. They should be more than happy with the increasing TRP and would haradly get time to undertake a survey to find effacasy of such remedial mantras etc.

With a view to verify the effectiveness of mantras, let us try to answer these questions

• Can one mantra be effective for multiple purposes ?
• What is the source of power of any mantra ?
• What is the correct way of using a mantra ?
• What matters the most - The sound, the tone and rhythm of reciting a mantra, the meaning of the words used in the mantra, or the procedure prescribed?
• By usage of a Mantra can any one be able to escape from experiencing the fructification of Karma?
• How does 'offering' of a mantra by a Siddha makes a difference?

One Mantra removes all evil ?
One should not need any thing more than mere common sense to reject the notion of 'elixir' kind of a Mantra that can be used to resolve a problem irrespective of nature of problem.

As we accept the low of 'Cause and Effect'; we have to find the likely cause of a problem and then the remedy has to address the cause. In a way, the remedy should be a kind of reversal process of the cause.We can understand that every problem has to have a particularly related cause and hence, it has to be addressed with a specific process. Thus, a Mantra to increase physical height of a person cannot be accepted as a cure of Cancer.

Hindu mantras like 'Maha Mrintyunjaya Mantra', 'Gayatri Mantra', etc. suffer from the notion of 'One-for-All' remedy and we most humbly do not agree with the belief.

The sanctity of mantras for spiritual upliftment should be maintained and must not be recommended for temporal laukik reasons as trival as 'securing a job transfer ' or 'begetting children' etc. People indulging in such activities are unknowingly doing a grave disservice to the sacred heritage of Vedas.

Prerequisites for Using a Mantra :
The seers who formulated the mantras offered them to their disciples who were well-versed with the prerequisites as a part of the methodology of particular school of spiritual Sadhana. The knowledge of such prerequisites was believed to be so fundamental that its narration, at times, used to be ommitted to avoid repetition.

Most of the mantras have been a part of a Stotra or an Upanishad or a fullfleged Sadhana or an Anushthana and were never intended to be used in isolation. However, over a period of time, some of the Pundits started compiling the mantras and formulated books of such collection. At this stage, the brevity was the call and not only the prerequisites, but even the overall purpose and relevance lost their place.

In the modern age, where education and spirituality has turned into an Industry, Astrology, too, has slipped into the hands of commercial people. In absence of honest custodians and the rightful inheritors; mantras are prescribed in most bizzare manner by the commecial astrologers for meeting their selfish means. Needless to say, mantras have become tools in their hands to exploit the greedy and ignorant people.

The Rishis who formulated the mantras also advocated certain procedures to be followed for its right use. This include a formal commitment in the form of 'Sankalpa', some movements and gestures in form of 'Nyasa', creating protective sheath in form of 'Kavacha' and offerings to the Devata in the form of 'Arghya'.

Let us understand the procedure as well as the parts of mantra.

Sankalpa :
Sankalpa with respect to Mantra Sadhana, means a formal committment about one's plan of the Sadhana. A statement of sankalpa generally contains one's own identification. This is in the vedic manner including one's full name, one's vedic lineage i.e. Veda, Gotra, Shakha etc. Then follows ones desire to chant the Mantra for a particular duration and in particular number or undertake an Anushthana for fulfilment of a particular wish. The sankalpa is addressed to the Devata of the Mantra. Ritualistically, a sankalpa is taken through Sanskrit. However, as we know the significance of Mental vibrations in Mantra Sadhana, it should be OK to undertake the Sankalpa in one's own language.

Nyasa :
Nyasa is an important preperatory stage of Mantra Sadhana. It is in a way a 'warming up' and 'cleansing' session prior to undertaking Mantra chanting. The sadhaka while exercising Pranayama, touches different parts his body either physically or visualize mentally depending upon the type of nyasa he has adopted. There are different types of Nayasa, e.g.Kara Nyasa, Anga Nyasa, Hridayadi Nyasa, Rishyadi Nyasa, Panchatatwa Nyasa, etc. Here, again the primary objective is to augment the process of attaining embodiment with the Mantra and its Devata at psyche level.

Kavacha :
Kavacha' is the imagery sheild to be created for the protection of the Sadhaka during Sadhana. It is very important because, the Sadhaka loses his conscious sense of awareness as he transgress into meditative state or altered state of awareness. During such a state he stands vulnerable and exposed to abnormal frequencies and vibrations. The performing of Kavacha protects the Sadhaka from such vibrations. The Kavacha in a way create hypontic layer of self-confidence and keep him comfortable

Arghya :
Arghya is a symbolic gesture of hospitality offered to the Devata. As we offer some tea and snacks and respect to the guest at our home, simillarly, here during Mantra sadhana, we are invoking the Devata of the Mantra and suitable welcome is essential. The arghya is normally a mixture of water, milk, curd, flower pattles, kumkum, sandal and grains like teel. The mixture is taken in hands in the cavety created by holding two palms together and then poured in the vessle meant for it. The ingredients of Arghya are Devata specific and so is the way of offering it and as such different Mantra Sadhana requires different kind of Arghya. On mental and subtle level, the offering of Arghya signifies surrend of the individual ego at the feet of the Devata.

In addition to the procedure, it is vital to understand the essential parts of a Mantra. Every mantra is suppose to be complete only when it is used with the following six parts, knows as 'Shadanga':

• Rishi
• Chhandas
• Devata
• Beeja
• Keelaka and
• Shakti.

Rishi :
Rishi is the person who originally formulated the Mantra. In vedic culture, Rishi is believed as the seer, a visualizer of Mantra. The prerequisite of naming the Rishi of the mantra before using the same is a humble way of showing gratitude and acknowledgement. This act of acknowledgement is the first step towards delution of personal pride and ego. The feeling of gratitude initiates the altered state of mind leading to internal environment congenial to invocation of the Devata of the Mantra.
Devata :
Devata of the Mantra is the form of the god who is being propitiated. The deveta element engages the visualizing faculty of human mind. Every Devata has its own Shape, Colour, Posture, Gesture, Mudra, Ayudha, and personality. The preceding steps of Rishi and Chhanda prepares the ground for effective visualization of the Devata. The initial utterrance of name of the Devata creates flashes of the visions. Its frequent repetition enables a devotee to contemplate upon the form of the Devata. Ultimately, he forgets his own self and gets unified with the form of the Devata.

Chhandas :
Chhandas denotes to the gramatical formation of words in a particular rhythm. The chhanda sets the pattern of words and number of syllables. The formation guides the recitation of the Mantra in a particular way. The pattern activates different points in human brain and further augment the internal psychic environment. Each chhanda has its own attributes to influence the mood of the person reciting it.

Chhandas are classified into two types (1) Varnik Chhand (alphabetical stanzas) and (2)Matrik Chhand (stanzas containing short vowels). Hindu mantras follow the Chhandas of their respective Vedic Samhita and Shakha. Generally a distinct Matrik Chhanda has been preferred by different Shakha in different Samhitas.

Beeja :
Beeja is a single letter of Sanskrit Alphabet and it represent, again, shortes possible form of the Devata. The shape of the Beeja creates the route for the energy to vibrate. Beejam resembles the basic character (tatva) of the mantra. for example jala tatva(soft), agni tatva (hard) etc.

Keelaka :
Keelaka means a nail. Now, what is significance of a Nail here with respect to reciting a Mantra ? To understand the significance of Keelaka we have to link it with the nail that stops a rotating wheel slipping out of its excel. We know that the energy of a mantra is generated from the mind of the person and its important to keep it centered at a point to save it getting dissipated. This is done through Keelaka. Some people symbolize it with a key of the lock. Thus, a keelaka is believed to be a Key to open the lock of the source of a Mantra power.

Shakti :
Shakti means Power. Shakti means power or energy of the Mantra. This is the power generated through reciting the mantra.

It has to be noted that every Mantra has its own form of Shakti. However, let us admit that today, except the name denoted to the Shakti, we do not know much about distinct forms of the energy of Mantra. The main reason for this ommission is attributable to the fact that graphical reproduction of the form of energy vibrations visualized during altered state of mind remains difficult. The second reason for the misconception is that we consider the words 'Devi' and 'Shakti' as synomniums.

Due to this ambiguity, it is quite possible that a Sadhaka of a Mantra may contemplate upon a known form of Devi in stead of the energy vibrations of the Mantra.

Now, it should be clear as to why we don't get the much acclaimed results from reciting a mantra. If we ignore the essential 6 parts, how can we expect the desired effects?

The limitation lies on two parts. First is the ignorance of the doer. The person who undertakes Mantra, does not know the essential pre-requisites. Secondly, the limitation lies with the source from where a person receives the mantra. It is quite common now that people take mantra from any source, be it a cheap pocket book being sold at the roadside, any Sadhu or a TV Jyotishi. It is quite possible that the pre-requisites are compromised in offering and receiving the Mantra in this manner.Research on Mantra SadhanaMy objective here is to sensitize the need for conducting a research upon effectiveness of various Mantras. This way, we can assess the effectiveness of different mantras. The research should include the following :

• What was the objective of undertaking a Mantra ?
• Whether Mantra was received from a Siddha or a Guru
  • If yes - who was the person ?
    • what was the procedure used by the guru to seasion (siddhi) the Mantra?
    • What were the conditions followed by the Guru to assess the suitability of the beneficiery?
  • How many times the Mantra was recited/chanted every day?
  • What was the duration/period the Mantra was recited?
  • Whether the Shadangas i.e. Rishi, Deveta etc. were performed ritualistically ?
  • Whether Viniyas i.e. Sankalpa, Nyaasa, Puruscharana were performed ?
    • If yes, what was the procedure ?
    • What benefits were observed that can be confidently attributable to Mantra sadhana?
  • What way the pronunciation and modulation recitation of Mantraor or any instrumental sound used substantiated ? Could it be verified by a living experienced expert ?
  • Whether the Verbatim meaning of the Mantra signified the expected benefits?
  • Whether colours were used deliberately i.e., colour of the cloths or the Asana used by the sadhaka
  • If Mantra was used as a remedy of any disease; was it verified through medical reports ?

I wish to have valuable contributions from learned members and visitors of this esteem site so that the science of mantra can be augumented in right direction. I invite suggestions with regard to classification of various kinds of Mantras and its genuine purpose. I wish that we can compile the Shadangas of every Mantra with its dos'n'donts. Let us bring in transparency into this subject. This is the way, we can get back the lost glory to our devine heritage. Let us admit and sensitize as to what can be done and what cannot be done through Mantra.This is the way, we can curb the Cheaters and Thugs who are expoliting the ignorance of poor and needy people.

Suggestions are welcome..!!

God Has A Plan For You

I have been receiving tones of requests from the visitors of my website. Every one of you is passing through uncomfortable phase of life and expect to find some remedies to resolve your problems.

During my interaction with many of you, I notice that almost every one has faith in God. People know that Gad has a plan for every one; and yet you are not comfortable with the way things are moving. This is the reason, I though it would be better that I share with you this message.
 
Yes. God has a Plan and a comprehensive plan. It is not just the conclusion, target, goal or destination that is in his plan. As we enter His plan, every thing thats along the way to that destination is also included in the plan. How to avail or not to avail these by-products is in our hands.

If two persons are destined to reach LA, both will reach there. However, one sits by the window and enjoys the scenary and another keeps on reading news paper..! It is individual's selection. You can make out easily whose trip will be more pleasurable. God has bestowed us with 'Free-will' to choose our approach.

Belive me, we are so much obsessed with our preconcived ideas that we almost go blind on the way. We, thus, lose the beauty of living. For example, a begger outside Taj Mahal never enjoys the beauty of Taj. He would pass time pretending to be very needy and hungry all the day and focus upon the visitors' sense of mercy.

So, whatever may be the end result; it is always matter of individual's approach as to how to reach to that 'end result'. The approach to meet the destiny makes all the difference because the feelings that you generate, the reaction that you make while reaching to the destiny; goes into making of your new Karma.

You will say, its easier said than done.

Yes. I know that we are emotional robots and its very challenging to remain happy when we see that things are not moving as desired by us.

However, here lies the beauty of life. It is only on this plane of the world where 'spirit has emotions'. The whole game is set up on emotional principles. Every Soul is eternally spiritual - it only needs to enter the worldly life to learn and experience emotional dimension. So, even when I suggest to you to remain happy and joyous, at the back of my mind, I know that its all (the feelings of sorrow and agony) the part of the process. No one likes to experience Shocks, Jerks but than - let me use hindi

• बिना तडके को दालफ्राय कैसे बन सकती है? तडके को अगर दाल की नजरसे देखेंगे तो दाल के लिए कोई अच्छी अनुभूति तो नहीं ही होगी - लेकिन कुक को पता होता है की तडके की एहमियत क्या है !

So, take it as a package deal. Try to make out the positive value of each occurrance. Try to find out what the system is trying to modify or add into your personality. Believe me, the universal teacher is very busy and would not spend a single day in excess once the impact is inserted into your psychie/nature/
attitude/ personality.

If we are smart, what should be the strategy to end the agony ?
- To learn the lessons with minimum resistance.

Law of Karma & Astrology

Law of Karma & Astrology

The subject generates a critical interest particularly for people with Indian mindset. The Law of Karma being one of the prime precepts of Sanatan Dharma has been imbibed in the psyche of our people through ages. However, we have, for almost all practical purposes, deformed the concept of Karma. On the other hand, we also believe strongly in 'Fate' . The coexistance of belief in the law of Karma, Fate, Freewill and Astrology creates confusion and ambiguity in life. It would, therefore, be better that we understand these notions in simple terms and then assess its relevance with each other. For this purpose, we need to understand another precept of Sanatan Dharma, 'Reincarnation' past birth and the consequitive birth. Vedic Astrology founded upon precept of 'Reincarnation'. Reincarnation is dependent upon The Law of Karma. The Law of Karma can simply be stated as: "As you sow, so shall you reap." or "For every action there is equal and opposite reaction". People who believe in 'fate', believe that during their life they are subject to experience certain events in a pre-defined way. This means, that happenings are decided long before they occur. Thus, notion of 'Fate' does not allow any scope for the freewill of a person. If we believe in 'Fate', we enter into an unending loop of the primary element of cause and the subsequent happenings. Just think 'What is the cause of creation of the Fate?' In the form of the 'Karma', this question is partially resolved. Every Action has equal Reaction. This way, Karma or action of a man is cause of the creation of Fate. However, what is the cause of the first ever Karma ? Every act once performed creates its reward on the basis of attitude and intention of the doer. Thus, Karma is a process of transformation of 'Action Energy' into 'Reward Energy'. There is no power that can falsify this transformation. However, the time of fructification of Karma is beyond human judgement. On the basis of time of fructification of reward, Karmas are divided into three categories: 1. Sanchit:  Those Karmas where the fructification time of the reward is very long and generally beyond the present life time. Arrears of such past Karmas is the cause of cycle of lives of the spirit. 2. Prarabdha: The portion of Sanchit Karma where the rewards are due to be delivered during the present life. 3. Kriyamana: Are such karmas where the rewards are delivered immediately upon performance of the Karmas. An action is done, reward availed and nothing is left out. These are the actions performed through the free will of a person.These are the actions performed in present time.

For the purpose of this article, we are concerned with the portion of the Sanchit Karmas, called Prarabdha. In English, Prarabdha, is called 'Fate'. 

However, contrary to the common man's belief, the priority and order of fruictification of the Prarabdha does get modified. This is possible through Kriyaman Karmas. As a result of the present actions, a kind of volume gets generated on the time line of human life. The pressure and volume of the resultant rewards pushes the turn of the rewards otherwise destined to be availed as Praarbdh. 

With this explaination, it would be easy to  appreciate the validity of Astrology and Astrological Remedies. Let us understand this with the help of an illustration.

Let us assume that a person 'A' is destined to avail the rewards of his prarabdha at his age of 40. The  rewards are negative in nature because they are the product of some bad karma performed by the person in past, might be in previous lives. Now, the person takes help of astrology and gets cautioned about the negative period. As advised He performs some remedial measures, let us say, 'chanting of Mahamrintyunjaya Mantra'. This remedy works on different dimensions. Because of his power of faith in astrology and the reverance for the Mantra, positive mental vibrations are generated. The performing of remedy is a Kriyaman Karma because it is done in present time and with an intention to get result in immediate future. As the volume of this Kriyaman Karma increases, the fructification order gets affected. The sequence of fructification of bad karma (destined to be delivered now) gets disturbed. The bad rewards cannot get room to be delivered now. This is the secret of Astrological Remedies.

In this illustration, it should be noted that the Kriyaman Karma is performed by the person who is chanting the Mantra. The volume of this act pushes away the negative rewards i.e. Worries, Tension etc. to take place in the life of the person who is chanting the mantra. It cannot affect the Prarabdha of another person even if the mantra is chanted in his name and on his behalf..! 

However, let us not get befooled to believe that the Prarabdha is mitigated altogether because of performance of remedies. It is only the sequence of  fructification that has got changed. Its a big relief for the person concerned, though for the time being.

This is what lord Krishna has directed "Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam" योग: कर्मसु कौशलम | Adeptness in Performing Acts is Yoga. Adopting and performing Remedies so as to generate pressure of Kriyaman Karma is a smart way to avoid the bad rewards for the time being.

Creating Excellence

Here is the secret of 'Creating Excellence' in life. 
If you are able to find out  -

"Activities that generate 'Joy' from within yourself?"
"What is it that you can do better than others can do?"
"What is it, where you don't need appreciation or reward from others ?"
"What is it, where you don't  notice the duration of time spent as you do it ?"

If you find this fields or activities, know that this is the 'Purpose of your Life' !! This is the field where you can excell. This is the field where your contribution will make the world a better place.

The big merit of this concept lies in the fact that it turns you internally focused. It generates joy within. The joy boosts positive attitude. When you are engaged in activities you love; you would develop an internal locus of control. You will begin to believe that you are responsible for your own success. This will reduce excuses and complaints for others.

On the way towards creating excellence, one needs to keep an eye on ones attitude.To keep us aligned with the goals we have set, we need to have a mechanism for self appraisal and audit.You will agree with me that we get derailed often from the plan we have chalked out for our wholistic and poised living.

So, take a break - ask yourself, 'Do you enjoy life?' Introspect. These breaks are important to take stock of the direction of our life and guide it towards achieving joyous life. Through introspection we can know whether we are running after pleasures or we are following Joy ?

Introspection is a mechanism to analyze our inner trends, the transactions and state of mind and to evolve perceptions that can enable him attain his desired way of living . Evolving a plan to develop potentials and achieving balanced development is the first step; periodical introspecton is the next.

In quest of fuller life.

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied" said Socrates.

This speaks about the value of human happiness over the pleasure of sensual gratification. Through this platform, its our endeavour to bring in the consciousness amongst the educated urbanites towards this distinction.

Its heart burning to know, according to a latest survey, that only 20% of Indian population is honest. However, if one wishes to take out positive output from the survey; it is found that 49% of population is in favour of 'keeping subjects like moral studies and human values in acedamic curriculam.' This indicates that people do appreciate the value of morals and ethics but they don't find opportunities to learn them in the schools.

          

With the increasing trend of specialization, academic education is becoming more and more focused on vocations. We have been producing great number of Engineers, Doctors, Financial Analysts and business Managers. While, with their unquestionably high professional competancy, their contribution in country's GDP remains praise-worthy; together, they do not form a happy and cultured society. The lack of moral education has made them 'money makers' and they seldom feel the need to appreciate the value of humane faculties. The question remains, where do we wish to take the human society ? Leave aside cherishing life, can we expect people with such a training to even know other higher dimensions of life ?

Have Fun

It has not remained just a matter of belief now, it is being supported by scientific studies that fun enhances the value of life. Whether at home or at workplace, regular exposure to fun increases productivity.  It recedes mental stress and the resultant better internal environment decreases the physical fatigue. Fun is normally shared with others.  It is contiguous. It spreads among others present at the scene. This way, a happier person improves  environment  of the place, be it home or at the work.
We need to appreciate ‘Fun’ as an important characteristic of a healthy human personality. However, irrespective to the benefits, we don’t allow fun wherever we need better results. We discourage an attempt to invoke fun with the stricture to be ‘Serious..!’
This way, we have created organizations that negate ‘FUN’. Institutes : schools, Church  or business  they all create ‘anti-fun’ environment. Think of busy professionals. How badly they need fun..!  Working with serious attitude throughout the day, their hair turn gray and they look more than their age.!
It is wise to form a habbit to include repeated breaks in our daily schedules. If organizations accept to include Fun on the workplace, they wont need to spend on arranging Stress Relieving workshops and seminars.
Taking 'Fun' along our way will help us realize our Goal of 'Joyous Living'..!

The Purpose of Life

You ask:  what is the meaning or purpose of life?  I can only answer with another question:  do you think we are wise enough to read God's mind? 

                                                                                                                               -Freeman Dyson

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If you randomly stop any man on the road and ask him as to where is he going and why; you will get a reply without delay. However, if you ask a person 'What for he is living?" or 'What is the purpose of life?' you will, most probably find ignorant faces. An average person seldom knows the answer. Even there are millions of us to whom the question never arises. What a fun that everyone is living but no one knows ‘why?’  

The question is quite simple and yet the most puzzling one. As we enquire, we find different answers from different sources. The religions have their own but different answers. The philosophers have their own ideas. Mythologists view it differently and so do the sociologists. Rather than indicating the ‘purpose’, each presents different perspectives of life. An answer that can be accepted by all unanimously is yet to be found.

We are not able to find most convincing meaning of life because we don’t know whether our birth is our own selection. We try to find the logic of our existence. However, It would be natural for logical mind to be ignorant about the meaning of ‘life’ because it developed much later after our birth.

The subject of ‘understanding or finding the purpose of life’ is taken up very seriously by people with religious and spiritual bent. How strange, it could be that the same people strive throughout their lives not for ‘Life’ but for ‘Getting rid of Life..!! Don’t they strive for ‘Liberation’, ‘Emancipation’, or ‘Nirvana’?

At this point, we can make out that the exercise for finding ‘Purpose’ or ‘Meaning’ of life is very complex. No two intellectuals would ever accept each other’s point of view. On the other hand, for the majority of common men, the best option is to find ways and means to live life happily.

“What is the purpose of life?” -  We don’t know.

“How long is the journey?”    -  We don’t know.

“What is the destination of this journey?” - We don’t know either..!

So, in the face of these major uncertainties, it’s only wise to enjoy every moment of it (of course) without hurting others..!!

On the Path

My personal exploration in search of answers to questions like What is the purpose of Life ? Does God Exist ? How to live life to the Fullest ? etc. led me into spiritual domains. On the way, I studied various schools of thoughts and found that the religions and the Ashrams have messed up the simple and easy things into most intricate concepts.

While demystifying the spiritual concepts, I realized that to get the answers, I need to unlearn a lot that I gathered during my journey. Living a meaningful life is in deed a simple task. For an ordinary human being, the lofty concepts and theories and mystrious Kriyas hold no practical utility. On the contrary, these are the points from where his innocense pushes him in the vulnerable zone of falling prey to the mentors who are good for nothing.

During this time, I was exposed to writings of OSHO, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Orison Swett Marden, Stephen Couvey, Dr Annie Besant, and Vivekanand ji. I have great sense of gratitude for what I learnt from them.  I love watching Eckhart Tolle, Amit Goswami, Sirshree Tejparkhi ji of Tej Gyan Foundation and Acharya Yogeesh ji on youtube.  

 

I would humbly admit that my thoughts would reflect the glimpses of the teachings of these personalities and scripture. As a matter of fact, I believe that there can never be anything in the world that could be claimed to be 'Ones Own'. At a subtle level everything is 'One'. Cosmos is a reservoir of intelligence and we are all floating in this ocean of energy. The human brain is a multi-channel receiver-cum-transmitter and any one, in a fraction of second,  can get connected with the reserves of thoughts having simillar frequencies. This is the reason, at times you find exact copy of your thoughts said by a celebrity who lived on the earth much before your birth. Our present mind is always busy manipulating upon the captured traces of thought vibrations and releasing them back into the space.