Saturday, March 26, 2016
Friday, March 25, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Holi is not only about colors and sweets. It reminds of the divine and eternal love of Krishna and Radha. It also reminds one of Narashima, Prahlada and ...
Holi is not only about colors and sweets. It reminds of the divine and eternal love of Krishna and Radha. It also reminds one of Narashima, Prahlada and It is a festival where you are coloured in the colours of your soul.
The 'Holi' festival is a very fun-filled and popular occasion in India. People play holi with Chandan (sandalwood powder) and colored water. This festival is celebrated around early March each year. People believe that the bright colors represent energy, life and joy. Huge bonfires are also lit in the evening as part of the celebration.
Life should be full of colors! And each color is meant to be seen and enjoyed separately, for if seen all mixed together, they will appear all black. All the colors like red, yellow, green, etc. should exist side by side and simultaneously be enjoyed together.
Similarly, in life, different roles played by the same person should exist peacefully and distinctly inside him. For example, when a father continues to play his role of a 'father' in office, things are bound to go for a toss. In our country, a politician is sometimes a father first and a leader later!
In which ever situation we are in, we should play the corresponding role to the hilt and then life is bound to become colorful! This concept was called 'Varnashram' in ancient India. This meant - everyone, be it a doctor, teacher, father, whoever or whatever, is expected to play their roles with full enthusiasm. Mixing professions will always be counter productive. If a doctor wants to do business, he should run a business separately and secondary to his profession and not make business out of medicine. Keeping these 'containers' of the mind separate and distinct is the secret of a happy life and this is what HOLI teaches.
All colors emanate from white, and when mixed again, they become black. When your mind is white and consciousness - pure, peaceful, happy and meditative, different colors and roles emerge. We get the strength to play various roles with full sincerity against the background. We have to dip into our consciousness time and again. If we only look inwards and play around with colors outside of us, we are bound to find blackness all over again. Between roles we have to take deep rests, in order to play each role sincerely. Now, the biggest impediment to deep rest is desire. Desire means stress. Even petty desires cause high stress - the higher goals give relatively less botheration! Desire tortures the mind at times.
So what does one do?
The only way out is to focus attention on the desire and surrender it. This act of focusing awareness or sight on the desire or Kama is called 'kamakshi'. With awareness, desire loses its grip and surrender happens and then nectar flows out from within. The goddess, Kamakshi, holds a sugarcane stem in one hand and a flower in the other. The sugar-cane stem is so hard and has to be squeezed in order to obtain sweetness, while the flower is soft and collecting nectar from it is so easy. This truly represents life, which indeed has a little of both! It is far easier to obtain this bliss from the inside than it is to try to extract pleasure from the outside world - which needs a lot more effort.
The 'Holi' festival is a very fun-filled and popular occasion in India. People play holi with Chandan (sandalwood powder) and colored water. This festival is celebrated around early March each year. People believe that the bright colors represent energy, life and joy. Huge bonfires are also lit in the evening as part of the celebration.
Life should be full of colors! And each color is meant to be seen and enjoyed separately, for if seen all mixed together, they will appear all black. All the colors like red, yellow, green, etc. should exist side by side and simultaneously be enjoyed together.
Similarly, in life, different roles played by the same person should exist peacefully and distinctly inside him. For example, when a father continues to play his role of a 'father' in office, things are bound to go for a toss. In our country, a politician is sometimes a father first and a leader later!
In which ever situation we are in, we should play the corresponding role to the hilt and then life is bound to become colorful! This concept was called 'Varnashram' in ancient India. This meant - everyone, be it a doctor, teacher, father, whoever or whatever, is expected to play their roles with full enthusiasm. Mixing professions will always be counter productive. If a doctor wants to do business, he should run a business separately and secondary to his profession and not make business out of medicine. Keeping these 'containers' of the mind separate and distinct is the secret of a happy life and this is what HOLI teaches.
All colors emanate from white, and when mixed again, they become black. When your mind is white and consciousness - pure, peaceful, happy and meditative, different colors and roles emerge. We get the strength to play various roles with full sincerity against the background. We have to dip into our consciousness time and again. If we only look inwards and play around with colors outside of us, we are bound to find blackness all over again. Between roles we have to take deep rests, in order to play each role sincerely. Now, the biggest impediment to deep rest is desire. Desire means stress. Even petty desires cause high stress - the higher goals give relatively less botheration! Desire tortures the mind at times.
So what does one do?
The only way out is to focus attention on the desire and surrender it. This act of focusing awareness or sight on the desire or Kama is called 'kamakshi'. With awareness, desire loses its grip and surrender happens and then nectar flows out from within. The goddess, Kamakshi, holds a sugarcane stem in one hand and a flower in the other. The sugar-cane stem is so hard and has to be squeezed in order to obtain sweetness, while the flower is soft and collecting nectar from it is so easy. This truly represents life, which indeed has a little of both! It is far easier to obtain this bliss from the inside than it is to try to extract pleasure from the outside world - which needs a lot more effort.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
TRUTH
" You Shall Speak The Truth "
" One day Goddess Parvati asked Shiva, " Lord, I have heard that there is a sacred shrine for your worship by name Kashi and that those who visit Kashi and offer worship to you, after a holy bath in the Ganges, will earn the merit of coming to Kailash and staying here forever. Is it true ? " Lord Shiva replied, " All the people cannot earn that merit. Mere visiting Kashi and offering worship to my image are not enough. Presently, I shall make the point clear to you. Let us go to Kashi as an aged couple. I shall make you enact a drama?"
Lord Shiva and Parvati appeared before the entrance of the temple of Shiva, Parvati as an old hage of eighty years and Lord Shiva a rickety old man of ninety. Shiva laid his head on the lap of Parvati and started groaning in severe pain. The old woman was crying helplessly. She begged every pilgrim saying,
" Oh ye devotees, look here, this is my husband. He is terribly thirsty and may die any moment. Will you please fetch some water for him to drink? I cannot leave him alone and go to fetch water."
The pilgrims were coming from the ghats after their ceremonial bath in the Ganges. Their clothes were wet and they were carrying water in small bright brass vessels. They saw and heard the woman's lament. Some said, " Wait, we shall attend to your husband after offering the sacred Ganges water to Lord Vishwanath."
Some said, "Oh what a nuisance! Why can't these beggars allow us at least to offer worship in peace." Some other said, " These beggars should not be allowed to sit here."
There was a big crowd near the temple entrance. A professional pickpocket walked along with some of these pilgrims. He also heard the old woman's lament. He could not bear the sight of the suffering old man and the bewailing old woman. He walked up to them and said, " Mother, what do you want? Who are you? Why are you here?" The old woman replied, " Son, we came here to have the darshan of Lord Vishweshwara. My husband suddenly took Ill and fainted out of exhaustion. He might survive if someone were to pour some water into his parched mouth. His condition is too critical for me to leave him and go to bring water. I requested many people to help me, but nobody would spare any water though they have been carrying pitchers full of it." The thief was moved to compassion. He had brought some water in the dried gourd-pot. The woman stopped him and said, "Son, my husband may die any moment, he will not accept water unless the person who gives water speaks truth." The pickpocket could not catch the meaning. He said,
" Mother, please tell me what I should do?" With a cynical laughter, he said, " I have not done any good deed so far. I am a professional pickpocket. The only one good deed is that which I am going to do now, to offer water to this dying old man. This is true." He poured gently some water into the mouth of the old man. No sooner had the pickpocket done this deed than the old couple disappeared and in their place stood Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, in all their full splendour. Shiva said, " Son, you are indeed blessed. There is no greater morality than speaking the truth, and no true worship is more fruitful than service to fellow human beings. You have atoned for all the sins you have committed so far because of this one good deed. "
Saturday, March 19, 2016
True devotion really means installing the Divine in your heart and enjoying the bliss of that experience.
Parents today lavish too much affection on their children. But such affection alone is not enough. There should be both ‘love’ and ‘law’. Only when both love and restraint are present will the love prove beneficial. For all the evil habits of children, who are naturally innocent and uninformed, the parents are primarily responsible. Parents today do not make any efforts to teach proper ways of behaviour to the children. They pamper the children by giving them money and gifts freely. They want their children to become officers, to earn large incomes, acquire wealth and lead a life of comfort and ease. But they do not consider for a moment how they should make the children realise the need to develop good qualities. It is up to parents to teach the children to cultivate right attitudes and moral qualities. Parents should feel happy only when they see their children leading blameless lives, acquiring a good name and behaving properly.
True devotion really means installing the Divine in your heart and enjoying the bliss of that experience.
True devotion really means installing the Divine in your heart and enjoying the bliss of that experience.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Spiritual growth is the process of inner awakening, and becoming conscious our inner being. It means the rising of the consciousness beyond the ordinary existence, and awakening to some Universal truths. It means going beyond the mind and the ego and realizing who you really are.
Spiritual growth is a process of shedding our wrong and unreal conceptions, thoughts, beliefs and ideas, and becoming more and more conscious and aware of our inner being. This process uncovers the inner spirit that is always present, but hidden beyond the ego-personality.
Spiritual growth is of great importance for everyone, not only for people who seek spiritual enlightenment and choose to live in far away or secluded places. Spiritual growth is the basis for a better and more harmonious life for everyone, a life free of tension, fear and anxiety.
By discovering who we really are we take a different approach to life. We learn not to let outer circumstances influence our inner being and state of mind. We manifest composure and detachment, and we develop inner power and strength, all of which are very useful and important tools.
Spiritual growth is not a means for escaping from responsibilities, behaving strangely and becoming an impractical person. It is a method of growing and becoming a stronger, happier and more responsible person.
You can walk on the path of spiritual growth, and at the same time live the same kind of life as everyone else. You do not have to live a secluded life in some far away place. You can raise a family, work or run a business, and yet at the same time engage in practices that lead to inner growth.
A balanced life requires that we take care not only of the necessities of the body, feelings and mind, but also of the spirit, and this is the role of spiritual growth.
10 tips for spiritual growth:
1. Read spiritual and uplifting books. Think about what you read, and find out how you can use the information in your life.
2. Meditate for at least 15 minutes every day. If you do not know how to meditate, it is easy to find books, websites or teachers who can teach you meditation.
3. Learn to make your mind quiet through concentration exercises and meditation.
4. Acknowledge the fact that you are a spirit with a physical body, not a physical body with a spirit. If you can really accept this idea, it will change your attitude towards many things in your life.
5. Look often into yourself and into your mind, and try to find out what is it that makes you feel conscious and alive.
6. Think positive. If you find yourself thinking negatively, immediately switch to thinking positively. Be in control of what enters your mind. Open the door for the positive and close it for the negative.
7. Develop the happiness habit, by always looking at the bright side of life and endeavoring to be happy. Happiness comes from within. Do not let your outer circumstances decide your happiness for you.
8. Exercise often your will power and decision making ability. This strengthens you and gives you control over your mind.
9. Thank the Universe for everything that you get.
10. Develop tolerance, patience, tact and consideration for others.
Spiritual growth is the birthright of everyone. It is the key to a life of happiness and peace of mind, and the manifesting the enormous power of the inner spirit. This spirit is equally present within the most material person, and within the most spiritual person. The level of the manifestation of spirituality is dependent on how much the inner spirit is close to the surface, and on how much it is covered and hidden, by thoughts, beliefs and negative habits.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
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