Paradox of our times

Today we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees, but less common sense; more knowledge, but less judgment.

We have more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get to angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too often, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too little and lie too often.

We‘ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.

We've conquered outer space, but not inner space. We've split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less; plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies, but have less communication. We are long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men and short character; steep profits and shallow relationships.

More leisure and less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition; two incomes, but more divorce; fancier houses, but broken homes.

That’s why I propose, that as of today, you do not keep anything for a special occasion, because every day that you live is a special occasion.

Search for knowledge, read more, sit on your front porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs.

Spend more time with your family and friends, eat your favorite foods, and visit the places you love.

Life is a chain of moment of enjoyment, not only about survival.

Use your crystal goblets. Do not save your best perfume, and use it every time you feel you want it.

Remove from your vocabulary phrases like “one of these days” and “someday”. Let’s write that letter we thought of writing “one of these days”.

Let’s tell our families and friends how much we love them. Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life.

Every day, every hour, and every minute is special. And you don’t know if it will be your last.

If you’re too busy to take the time to send this message to someone you care, and you
tell yourself you will send it “one of these days “. Just think…”One of these days “, you may not be here to send it!

PS - This is not my own creation. Someone sent it to me. I is so thought provoking that I decided to share it.

Cheers
Manish

The Eyewitness - True Miracle Story of Lord Krishna

Hi All

Before I begin, for those who are not familiar with Indian culture, you can do a search on "Lord Krishna", "Vrindavan" to understand this true story better. You can visit the website Krishna.com

Some years back I had visited Vrindavan. I also visited the famous "Baanke Bihari" temple and at a shop near the temple, I bought a book "Miracles of Baanke Bihari". "Baanke Bihari" is another name of Lord Krishna. This book is actually in Hindi and contains real life incidents of people whose lives have had miraculous intervention of Lord Krishna.

One such account deeply touched me and so I have translated it here to share it with you.

Before you read the true magical story
1) Baanke Bihari - This is one of the many names of Lord Krishna. "Baanke" means beautiful."Bihari" means one who wanders about. Lord Krishna was a cowherd so he used to wander about a lot for grazing his cows.
2) Although no date is mentioned in the story I conjecture this incident took place 60-70 years ago.
3) During that time in India, greedy moneylenders used to dupe simple villagers who came to borrow money from them. Such financial transactions used to be very informal with little or no documentation. Receipts for payments were seldom issued and the borrower had to depend on the money lender's word which often turned out untrue.

The story begins

Many years ago, the narrater of this incident had gone to Vrindavan with his friends. After visiting many temples, they became tired and thirsty in the sweltering afternoon summer sun. Suddenly they spotted a hut in which an old woman sat singing bhajans. They approached the hut and this woman lovingly welcomed them and offered them water and food. After having their lunch, the group wanted to leave but could not as the heat was still unbearable. They decided to stay in the hut for a while till the time the sun's intensity lessened. One of the narrator's friends became curious to know about the old woman and upon some insistence, the woman decided to speak.

This is the story related by the old woman.

I am from Aligarh where I was born and brought up. My father Gopal Das was a simple school teacher. He was an artless and honest man who was committed to his job. He never desired great wealth and would be content with whatever destiny meted out to him. I had two younger brothers and both of them went to school. Although we were poor by any standards yet life passed on. I soon grew older and reached marriageable age.

My father would often get disturbed about our financial condition. He would get worried as to how he would be able to finance my marriage but neverthless somehow maintained courage. He made several friends one of whom was one Mr Shastri a gregarious fellow. My mother would often object to my father's carefree way of living, often accusing him of not having saved any money for his daughter's marriage and sons' education. At this my father, with an artless confidence would say when he would need money he would borrow it from his rich friends and would later return it. My mother always knew beyond doubt that none of my father's friends would ever help him financially and would often warn my father about this. But, my father would casually dismiss my mother's skeptism about his friends.

At last the time for my marriage arrived. My father naturally went to Mr Shastri to borrow some money. He was in for a rude shock as Mr Shastri dismissed him outright saying how would my father ever return the money as he was an impecunious fellow. Not only that, the heartless Mr Shastri also alerted my father's other friends in the fraternity, advising them not to lend any money to my father. None of my father's so called friends came forward to help.This was not a surprise to my mother as she knew all along this would happen. Having been snubbed by his friends, my father's anxiety grew day by day. The day of my marriage was fast approaching and there was no money to organise the wedding. Money is always needed for marriages - for feasts, ceremonies, dowry and so on. My father became extremely tensed and disturbed. All thorughout the day he would wander here and there trying to arrange funds for my marriage but he did not meet any luck. He would often skip his dinner after returning home and would sulk and go straight to sleep. He was also deeply hurt at the behaviour of his friends.

Finally only 5 days remained for my marriage. I saw my father coming home with lots of marriage items like bed, clothes, utensils, sweets, jewellery and so on. Both I and my mother was extremely surprised as to how out of the blue my father could arrange all this when just a day before he had virtually no money at all. Upom asking my father replied with quiet confidence that he had mortgaged the house and borrowed money from Lakshmi Chand, the money lender. Upon hearing this, all hell broke loose on my mother for she had heard several tales about Lakshmi Chand's dishonest ways. Any one who had mortgaged his house or land with Lakshmi Chand was doomed for he could be certain he would never get it back. Lakshmi Chand was a greedy cheat who was adept at juggling account records to dupe poor villagers of their property. He would keep duplicate records, one real and the other fake. He was also well versed in legal matters, had a good hold over hawkish lawyers and so would indulge in brazen manipulations to carry out his misdeeds. My mother rebuked my father sharply and tension prevailed in our home. My mother was certain that we were doomed but my father tried his best to calm my mother, saying her fears were unfounded and after the marriage he would surely pay back the money to Lakshmi Chand and get the house released. My mother doubted father's words for she thought that after my marriage, father would become more carefree and would not take much care to repay the loan.

However, my mother's doubt turned out to be unfounded as after my marriage my father toiled day and night to earn money to repay the loan. After four months of very hard work that took its toll on his health, my father was able to repay the loan.

In India, Hindus consider it a sacred duty to take a holy dip in the Ganges after one has married off his daughter. Just a few days after my father had repaid the loan, my mother started insisting my father for the Ganges pilgrimage. My father did not have money then so he asked mother to wait a little. After long hours of hard work for several months my father's aged body was no longer in a condition to work so he tried to tarry the trip. But my mother was adamant. From God knows where, she arranged some money to finance the trip. My parents then went on the Ganges pilgrimage. The day they returned, a registered postal letter awaited my father. When he read the letter he collapsed in disbelief! The document was a court notice sent by none other than the wicked Lakshmi Chand. It stated that if by a certain date my father did not repay the loan with interest, the house would be confiscated and my father thrown out.

Upon reading that notice all life seemed to have left my father. He had honestly repaid the loan with full interest so why this notice? He was a simple man who had never been to the court. The court for him seemed to be a dreadful place where the rich and the powerful openly maipulated legalities to twist cases in their favour to cheat the poor and the helpless. The court was a place where truth was murdered every day and every minute and falsehood reigned supreme. Every brick of the court building was like a snake's bloody fangs ready to strike the helpless and the meek at the slightest chance. My father neverthless gathered courage to seek the help of his friends. Once again they all cold shouldered him. Mr Shastri refused to help my father saying that as my father had not returned the money to Lakshmi Chand in his presence, how could he become a witness to the case. Besides, Lakshmi Chand was a powerful and inflential man so he did not want enmity with him.

Once again my father was plunged in gloom. He despaired and seemed to lose his balance completely. He wondered at the ways of the world. How strange this world is. Even after one has repaid the loan with interest he is served a court notice. He shuddered to think what would happen to him if he did not vacate the house. He would be dragged to court;humiliated; made to beg and grovel before the judge,lawyer and Lakshmi Chand; his family honour would bite dust and what not. My mother kept her hand over my father's forehead. My father was burning with high fever.

The next morning my father woke up in the same condition. He decided to pay Lakshmi Chand a visit and ask him why he was doing all this. My mother sensing an altercation decided to accompany my father. When my father reached Lakshmi Chand's house, he was warmly greeted by the latter and was served tea and snacks. Lakshmi Chand even touched my father's feet (as a sign of respect) and enquired after his well being. Upon being asked by my father, Lakshmi Chand admitted that my father had repaid the loan in full alongwith interest. He said he was primarily interested in my father's house and wanted that house at any cost. He even offered
my father all the money my father had repaid him as a price for the house. He said if my father did not accept the offer he would have to face harrasment in the court.

My father begged Lakshmi Chand not to do this and said that if he were to vacate the house where would he live with his wife and two sons. Besides, the house was his ancestral property and he could not abandon something so precious. This was of no use as Lakshmi Chand refused to melt. He warned my father not to teach him what was right and what was wrong. He insisted that he had kept a proposal before my father. If my father agreed he would get the money from Lakshmi Chand for his house or else he would have to run from pillar to post to settle the matter in court. At this my mother lost control and warned Lakshmi Chand that it was not proper to harrass someone like this and there was a court higher than all the courts in the world and that was God' court and God would surely take Lakshmi Chand to task.

Acutely disappointed, my parents returned home. My father was already disgusted at his friends' indifference and so did not bother to consult anyone. Everyone was your friend as long as you had money. The moment you were penniless and needed help, you were abandoned. My mother kept insisting my father to seek help. Finally he got fed up and left home. Coincidentally that day was 'Hariyali Teej (a festival of Hindus) and a bus of devotees was gong to Vrindavan from Aligarh. My father lost in thought, absentmidedly boarded the bus. He had no idea where the bus was going, so mired he was in his mental agony. It so happended that the conductor of the bus turned out to be one of father's old students. He offered my father a seat beside his with great respect. During their talk, father came to know that on special occassions the bus goes from Aligarh to Vrindavan with devotees of Lord Krishna. Today was one of such days. My father had heard of "Baanke Bihari" before also. It was only today that he came to know that several devotees go to Vrindavan just to visit the "Baanke Bihari" temple. So endearing was He to his devotees. My father's soul too now yearned for a darshan (devout glimpse) of "Baanke Bihari" - the one and only Lord Krishna. The bus conductor narrated several miraculous stories about Lord Krishna to my awe struck father. He had heard several tales from bus passengers. Besides his own life had been blessed by Krishna. He narrated his own story to my father - how many years ago he had arrived in Vrindavan as a penniless, hungry youth with no dwelling whatsoever; how he had cried and prayed to Krishna and how miraculously he was spotted by his long distant aunt - a rich lady, who adopted him and put him in service in the little transport business she owned. That bus was one of the many buses she ran.

In the meantime the bus arrived at Vrindavan. The passengers alighted from the bus which was supposed to stay in Vrindavan for two hours after which it would go back to Aligarh. The passengers had two hours to stay in Vrindavan. The conductor took my father to the famous "Baanke Bihari" temple. My father devoutly offered his soul to Lord Krishna and in a spirit of true devotion, surrendered completely to the Lord. It seemed that the grace of Krishna was beginning to touch my father. All my father's mental agony seemed to flow down in the river of his true surrender.

At midnight my father returned home - a different man. He walked with a confident and steady gait. It seemed now, he had no worries; he needed no one's help; he depended on no one; he had no fear whatsoever. He had obtained His assurance - He who was the greatest of all helpers.

The very next day my father confidently sent a bold reply to Lakshmi Chand's lawyer stating clearly that as he had already repaid the loan with interest in full he would not under any circumstances vacate the house. Infuriated at this, Lakshmi Chand sent a court summon to my father asking my father to appear at the court on a specified date. The court summon which would ordinarily terrify my father beyond any limits, was today received like a royal invitation by my father.

He did not feel the slightest fear upon receiving the court summon. How could he feel fear when the Lord was with him? On the specified day, my father alone went to the court. There he was asked by the judge about the whereabouts of the payment receipt which Lakshmi Chand must have handed over to my father upon receiving the full payment. Upon this question my father innocently replied that he was not given any receipt nor had he insisted Lakshmi Chand to give him a receipt. There dealings were of mutual faith and trust and receipts was unnecessary. The judge further asked my father whether he could tell him as to on what dates he had repaid the loan instalments and also the amount he had repaid in every instalment. My father looked up his diary and readily told everything. Lakshmi Chand kept duplicate records and presented the false records at the court. The false records, quite obviously did not have any trace of the transactions. My father kept insisting that he had seen Lakshmi Chand enter the amounts in his records but today there was no trace of the payments in Lakshmi Chand's records. Lakshmi Chand's lawyer started accusing my father of being a liar. Lakshmi Chand's lawyer further asked my father to present any witness in whose presence my father had given the payment. My father kept quiet as he had no witness- there was in fact no witness. Hope seemed to dim, he could seek help from no one but suddenly he remembered "Baanke Bihari" - the saviour behind all saviours. The glorious form of the Lord stood there in my father's vision, with his flute playfully at his beautiful lips, smiling a very knowing smile at my father. Father prayed deeply to Krishna - that ocean of mercy. My father blurted out to the judge,"Baanke Bihari is my witness. He was there with me every time I went to make a payment".

At this, the lawyer again asked my father to tell the name of the witness. My father said that "Baanke Bihari" was the name of the witness. The lawyer growled at my father and asked him the witness's address. My father replied "Vrindavan Mathura". Upon being asked the name of the father of the witness. My father replied after some hesitation "Swami Haridas". (Swami Haridas was a great saint and a great devotee of Lord Krishna, who lived in the sixteenth century. It was he who had discovered the idol of Baanke Bihari (Lord Krishna) which till this day is worshipped in that famous temple).

Anyway, the court attendent reached Vrindavan to present the court summon to the "witness" Baanke Bihari. On reaching there he was accosted by a young beautiful dark skinned lad who offered to take him to Baanke Bihari. (Readers no prizes for guessing who this dark beautiful lad was!)

Before the attendant could answer, the lad took him by his hand and brought him to the Baanke Bihari temple. It was afternoon and the temple was closed. The lad requested the attendant to stick the summons document on the temple door and said Baanke Bihari would read it when he returned. He assured the attendant that on the day of the court proceedings, Baanke Bihari would surely be present to give witness. Satisfied, the attendant returned to Aligarh.

Some people later told me that Lakshmi Chand's wicked lawyer had gleefully remarked to his client that the latter need not worry as the case would surely be settled in his favour as God would not descend to give witness in favour of the poor Gopal Das (my father). They both had had a hearty laugh at my father.

The judge was in a dilemma. He knew not what to do. Deep down he knew my father was innocent and Lakshmi Chand was fleecing him but then what could he do. My father had no proof, no witness. He wondered at my father's devotion and innocence. This man, he mused, has named Baanke Bihari as his witness. Baanke Bihari is the judge of all judges, the ruler of all creation, lord of all that lives. Will He have the time to come to give witness in favour of this ordinary fellow?

Just a few days now remained for the court date. My father now decided to go to Vrindavan one more time. Everyone in the household made fun of my father and tried to dissaude my father from going but my father did not listen and left for Vrindavan. On reaching the temple he once more prayed fervently for the Lord's help. His surrender was complete. In the afternoon he sat outside the temple and went to sleep. In the dream Lord Krishna appeared to him and promised him that he would come to give witness in his favour. In the evening my father took a dip in the holy Yamuna and returned home.

Except for my father everyone in the household felt sure that the case would be decided in Lakshmi Chand's favour. But my father was supremely confident that he would win the case. My father's faith was dismissed as eccentricity by everyone else.

On the day of the proceeding, the judge asked my father whether his witness was ready. My father said that the witness had indeed arrived. The court attendant shouted out "Baanke Bihari be present". There was no response. He called out again "Baanke Bihari be present". No response. He called out the third time "Baanke Bihari be present". This time a voice spoke from outside the room "I am here". Just that instant an old man wrapped in a black blanket entered the court room. Everywhere there an exclamation of utter surprise. "Who is this Baanke Bihari?" "Are you Gopal Das's witness?", the judge asked the mysterious stranger. The figure nodded. The stranger's blanket covered face was irritating the judge. "Please show your face and reply clearly, what is your name?", asked the judge now getting stern.

The figure slightly removed the blanket from his face and replied to the judge "Bihari". The moment the judge looked at the stranger's face, he was completely awe struck at the divine lustre on the stranger's face. This face was unlike that of any other human being the judge had ever seen. It was no human face, it was the face of God himself. The pen dropped out of the judge's hand, his forehead began to sweat profusely and he forgot to ask anything else. The stranger spoke, "Gopal Das has returned each and every pie with interest to Lakshmi Chand. If you want proof of this then it is to be found in a yellow file kept in the topmost partition of the almirah which lies at the right of Lakshmi Chand's office seat. All of Gopal Das's transactions appear under the name of "Das" and are fully recorded in page 2 of the file. I will now even tell you the exact amount and the dates on which Gopal Das made the payments." The witness went on to narrate every detail about the transactions. Everyone in the court was dumbstruck. Lakshmi Chand stood there trembling. His lawyer stood there staring in blank space like an idiot.

After some minutes, the judge regained his composure and asked the witness, "Can you recognise the file?". "Absolutely", replied the witness. The judge adjourned the court and went to Lakshmi Chand's office (a part of his dwelling itself) alongwith the witness, Gopal Das, Lakshmi Chand, Lakshmi Chand's lawyer and two court attendants. There it turned out to be exactly what the witness had told him in court. Lakshmi Chand was caught red handed.

The judge turned around. The witness had vanished! My father after that day never returned home. He who obtains the Lord makes the whole world his friend. The very next day, the judge resigned from his job and became a renunciant and devoted his remaining life to Krishna.

Not only this. Everyone related to this incident in any way whatsoever soon abandoned their dwellings and vocations and got lost in the divine charm of Vrindavan for the rest of their lives -and why not? They had become useless to the world.

Story ends.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this true and marvellous account of Lord Krishna, as much as I enjoyed translating it to share it with all of you. I hope to post more such miraculous tales.

Cheers
Manish

Just keep reading

How many times have we felt that what we read on spirituality, self betterment, being good and virtuous does not help us? The daily grind of life goes on as usual and we find it difficult if not impossible, to implement the good things that we read, in our daily life. Often some highly "practical" member of our family objected to our reading a spiritual book or a friend poked fun at us for reading a book on meditation, dismissing it as crap. Often shaken by their "practical" and glib tongued arguments we stop reading or worse still stop taking the good that we read less seriously.

Remember - You read for your own betterment and your own salvation. Keep reading as much good as you can because when dark days befall you , when you no longer have a foul weather friend to stand by you in your troubled times, when your near and dear ones have turned their faces away from you and when no road appears before you, it is these teachings which you have been reading all this while will slowly stir your heart and your mind and show you the way. Trust me, this is the Truth.

No matter what happens just never never give up reading good books. Who knows just one day when you decide to end your life some inspiring line from a book might save your life.

Cheers
Manish

Ask and it is Given - Highly Recommended Book

Are you always pleasing others?

This is for those who are ever self sacrificing and are habitually putting happiness of others before their own - possibly because some stupid moral science or spiritual lesson or some elderly person's "wise" consel has taught them to be so.

Consider these

1) Does sacrifing your happiness to please others TRULY makes you happy all the time.
2) Do you feel your emotions are getting suffocated?
3) Do you feel you are becoming low in self esteem and confidence?
4) Do you feel you are not able to work towards accomplishing your desires?
5) Do you feel used and manipulated?
6) Do you harbour feelings of martydom (foolishly thinking that by always sacrificng your own self before others, you have done something wonderful or something very spiritual)

Pitfalls

Spiritual
1) Every person has a duty towards his own self, his own soul. When the sould incarnates in the human body, it does so because it has its own karmic agenda which needs to be carried out. Constantly sacrificing oneself before others becomes an obstacle in one's own karmic path. One's evolution slows down when this happens and then one is no longer fulfilling his own life's purpose.
2) You create bad karma if you continue to be of service to others and all the while feeling distressed inside. For then, you are cheating your own self.
3) It could be that you are unwittingly participating in someone else's bad karma. So more bad karma for you!

Practical
1) Persistenly ignoring one's own happiness and desires leads to emotions being crushed. Crushed emptions lead to low self esteem. Low self esteem leads to lack of confidence which prevents a happy and successful life - Is this so difficult to understand?
2) You do not command respect.
3) You are always used and manipulated.
4) You are always taken for granted.
5) You might develop a servile attitude - Yes you might become a doormat.
6) Suppressed emotions lead to diseases.

Selfishness is not as bad as it is made out to be. Ofcourse when it is accompanied by indifference, lack of respect, irresposibility, etc then it is evil but the selfishness that helps one evolve is not bad. Consider this - If one is not happy himself how on earth does one make others happy? If one does not possess something himself how and what will he give others. It is only when you are happy, successful and radiant with joy that you have something to give others. In order to achieve this it becomes very very necessary to often put oneself before others. In doing this you are not being selfish but are just being responsible towards your own self.

Cheers
Manish

Creating Money - Highly Recommended Book

Open your mind to enrich your life

I have often wondered why some people love to live life going around in circles. Closed minded people live precisely like that. They have fixed set of rigid beliefs and will not look further than that hence completely missing out the universe’s infinity. You will not find them changing for they are like psychological antiques. They remain the same year after year primarily because they are afraid to have their beliefs shaken. Exploring new ideas, enhancing their knowledge, trying out different things and much more, is not for them. Why is it that such people stick to their beliefs (no matter how wrong they are) like glue? What is that makes them so rigid and narrow minded, so constricted in their approach to life and so intolerant of others? Narrow mindedness becomes their second nature.

It is our mind seduced completely by the senses, that makes us feel that we are right and others are wrong, our path is THE ONLY WAY, our Guru is THE ONLY GURU and all others are false teachers, and a host of other misguided and self deluding beliefs. This is a kind of separatism which stems from the ego. I have often observed that many people are “overly devoted” to their paths, organizations, beliefs and even their countries and go to ridiculous limits in rejecting other paths. One aspirant will say, I read only those books written by my Guru and no other books, another says, I listen only to my Guru’s devotional music and no other music. Such examples are present in every facet of life and not just spirituality and religion and there are too many to be cited here. Rigid minded people often take great foolish pride in their beliefs.

In the context of spirituality, undoubtedly, loyalty to one’s chosen path is of utmost importance but when an unevaluated and uneducated rejection of other paths arises, it only serves to empower the ego rather than enfeeble it. A mental wall builds up which makes one constricted in his approach to life whereas the goal of spirituality is to expand and widen one’s horizon. People fail to realize that having knowledge of other paths (not necessarily following them) and a rich repository of experiences in life enable one to better evaluate their own life, its course and the path one has chosen for himself. A narrow minded person does not see this possibility because he is afraid to have his beliefs shaken. He is not confident of own his choices and that’s the reason he condemns and criticizes anything that is not included the framework of his own life - be it a religion, an organization, a fellow human being, a custom or tradition, a belief or even a country. Such a person does not believe in the innate goodness of life and the natural abundance of the universe. Not only that, he does not even believe that life offers ample scope for revision and re-evaluation and hence to correct one’s mistakes. No matter how much such a person meditates and observes spiritual practices, true progress does not happen unless his attitude becomes more inclusive. It is only when we become more inclusive, that we become more tolerant and more forgiving. We start to expand and evolve. We then begin to see that life is constantly offering all human beings limitless choices – we have many religions, many beliefs and traditions, many countries, many customs and every human being’s needs are different from that of others. Then we realize that what we humans get from life is what the universe is giving us in its unending play of permutations and combinations between its infinite resources, our own past karma and the vibrations we emanate.

Narrow mindedness has only one agenda and that is to stop one’s evolution. It is especially sinister in the field of religion where it often leads to fanaticism and we have an ever growing number of terrorists to prove that. In the context of spirituality, narrow mindedness leads to spiritual pride – a holier than thou attitude. In this case the aspirant becomes consciously spiritual and philosophical. A great part of time is then spent in judging and finding flaws in others and belittling them rather than on one’s development. The spiritual fall is so subtle that one does not even realize that one is falling unless something big shakes one up and makes him see reality. Besides terrorists and religious fanatics, this world also has a fair share of closed minded skeptics many of whom have worked assiduously to damage the reputation of many truly great scientists and researchers. Much damage has been done in the field of after-life research and reincarnation. Rather than learn something themselves, these “intellectual terrorists” are busy making others unlearn and spread their miasma of skeptism.

Being open minded does not mean that one cannot have path for himself or his own set of beliefs and loyalties. It means to accept and acknowledge the validity of other paths, beliefs and views besides of course, respecting one’s own. Having such an approach to life gives leverage to make mistakes (which in any case we all do and are indispensable for our growth) and then learn from them, it gives space to forgive others and learn from their flaws and mistakes, it gives one an opportunity to view life from not one but many different perspectives making learning even richer and more meaningful. The benefits of an open mind are immeasurable. If one wants to evolve consciously, an open mind is one’s greatest asset. A holistic and open attitude in life is in sync with the universe which is ever expanding and opening up. Look at how the universe is constantly urging us to expand. Look at a flower, how it opens up and expands while it is growing, how a tree spreads its branches, how an organism grows in physical size and intelligence. The mind of a man too is supposed to expand and be like an ocean. An expansive mind gives one, courage, vision, discrimination and all other qualities necessary for achieving true happiness in life. It is only an open mind that can truly separate good from evil, right from wrong. In practical terms, an open minded person will make lesser mistakes in life than a narrow minded person. A closed minded person learns little from life because he is going around in circles and makes the same mistakes again and again. Life for him is fixed set of beliefs and this rigid approach does not allow him to experiment with life and learn further. Rigid beliefs do not allow one to fulfill the most important goal of life – EXPERIENCING LIFE. Experience alone is our best teacher and when refuses to experience life, one is actually not allowing himself to evolve.

When the mind opens, infinite possibilities for enriching one’s life open up.

Cheers
Manish

Be Open to receive help

I have often noticed that people sometimes refuse help from others. This is usually due to two reasons -

1) The "help" comes with strings attached or, put in other words, as an obligation where the helper will extract his pound of flesh later - It is best to avoid taking help of this kind.

2) The help offered is genuine but the reciever gets into an ego mode. Deep inside he feels "I cannot take help as I am too self respecting" or "It is below my dignity" and so on. Not only unspiritual, but even spiritual people often fall prey to this mode. These are the very people who go around complaining that God does not help them or does not answer their prayers. Now that is a foolish thing to do. When God (you can call it 'universe') tries to help, He can do so through the agency of other human beings (who are his very own manifestations). People surely should not expect God to descend specially for them (though this has happened in the lives of great devotees but here I am not talking about such extraordinary folks). Refusing such help from others is rejecting God's assistance. One then has no right to criticise God for not helping him. How ignorant it is to reject his help and then critisise Him.

When a person gets into an ego mode he cuts off the supply of the universal abundance that the universe has to offer him. Being concerened about one's self respect is good but then one must also think that the person offering help might have also considered below his dignity to offer help in the first place. Self respect is not one's priviledge alone.

So go right ahead and accept all the genuine help your recive from others. For that is precisely God's intention for you. What happens when you joyfully take help from others - You have one more person to love in this world! That is the ultimate GOAL of your life.

Cheers
Manish

Water Speaks !

Now here is an interesting piece of information.

Water as we know is considered sacred and indispensable (for performing certain rites and rituals) by almost all religions. Water is the very breath of life on this planet.

How many of us actually know that water is directly affected by our thoughts, ideas actions, words and also music? Masaru Emoto a Japanese researcher has conducted experiments on water to prove exactly that. His experiments assume greater significance because water occupies almost seventy percent of the human body and also the earth’s body.

We know that the appearance of water is different in different places. Sea water appears different from river water and so on. However, not only the outward but also the inward changes or in other words, the molecular changes are also very significant. Masaru Emoto has shown that water from springs and mountain streams show beautiful, well structured molecules whereas polluted and dirty water possess rather ugly looking and distorted molecules.

After studying the structure of molecules of water in different environment conditions, the researcher and his team sought to see how water is affected by human thought vibrations. It is incredible to see thoughts of love, appreciation, gratitude made the water molecules beautiful and symmetrical whereas vibrations of hatred, violence made the water molecules ugly and distorted.

The significance of this study is that we as a human race must ultimately realize the great truth, that everything in creation is interconnected. That water is affected by human thought vibrations should not come as a surprise to a yogi or a metaphysician as they have realized this truth long ago. However, the common man will undoubtedly wonder at the findings of this experiment.

This fantastic study will hopefully teach man that not only physical pollutants like chemical, industrial wastes, etc contaminate water but our negative thoughts of violence, hatred, anger and greed also contribute significantly to earth’s pollution and do tremendous damage to life on earth.

You can visit http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm

Do an Internet search on “Water Consciousness” or “Masaru Emoto”. You will come across more info.

Regards
Manish

Autobiography of a Yogi - An Incredible Book

One of the most amazing books I have had the privilege of reading is “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramhansa Yogananda. Paramhansa Yogananda was an Indian Yogi who left the shores of India in 1920 to teach God realization to people of the West. In this awesome book, he describes his meetings with miracle performing yogis in India such as the levitating saint, a tiger fighting swami, a yogi who bilocates and other great saints. With superb writing skills that will match that of a professional writer, Yogananda describes with characteristic humour, his childhood struggles towards attaining God realization and difficulties he faced with his family’s opposition to his spiritual pursuits. His description of running away to the Himalayas in his childhood in search of God cannot help but touch a chord in the reader’s heart. Yogananda also gives a good life sketch of his great guru Sri Yukteshwar who trained the former in Kriya Yoga and encouraged him to go to the West to spread the teachings to Yoga. The author’s vivid imagery of his experience in cosmic consciousness, the highest state of God realization, is to be read to be believed. I cannot write about it as I am incapable of it. Please read it yourself and you will realize how far far away we (I mean worldly people) are from the GREAT TRUTH !

The great yogi devotes on full chapter to the science of Kriya Yoga. This was the technique Lord Krishna taught to Arjuna and this Yoga has been revived in this age by the mysterious and immortal himalayan master Mahaavtar Babaji who also happens to be the Param Param Guru (Guru of Guru of Guru) of Paramhansa Yogananda. According to Paramhansa Yogananda, the practice of Kriya Yoga accelerates man’s evolution by leaps and bounds. It is the fastest of evolution and reaching Godhood. Another chapter describes the law of miracles. It details how light is the only true reality – something Albert Einstein did prove. The book also mentions details of Mahavtar Babaji and how he materialized an entire palace in the Himalayas to satisfy his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya’s desire. Many other fascinating incidents are also described in the book one of them is the resurrection of the ‘dead’ Sir Yukteshwar and his visitation to his beloved disciple Yogananda in a Bombay Hotel. In this chapter the resurrected Sri Yukteshwar vividly describes the astral world and its fascinating aspects and life in the astral planets.

The book though undoubtedly touches areas which the common man deems ‘otherwordly’ yet it is written with such crystal clarity and innocence that the reader for once finds God very much within his reach. Every page of this book enthralls and makes one ponder on the ultimate reality. Even the most skeptical reader will not doubt the contents of this book. The vibrations of the author are just too powerful. No wonder this book has become a spiritual classic and has changed the life of many people all over the world.

Paramhansa Yoganada is the founder of Self Realization Fellowship. The website is http://www.srf.org

For those in India the website is http://www.yssofindia.org

You can even subscribe to the monthly lessons from the society. These lessons are not exactly a correspondence course but teach the student the correct of living. Not one aspect of life has been left untouched in the lessons. The lessons (3 in number) will come every month for 5 years. They teach energization exercises, meditation techniques, etc. After successfully completing certain requisities, you can also get diksha for Kriya Yoga.

Please contact the organization for full details. I must mention that reading the ‘Autobiography of a Yogi” before subscribing to the lessons is very desirable.

You can also read the online version of the book at http://www.yogananda.net/ay/.

Best Regards
M Jaitly

Why I set up this blog

Hi

Welcome to my blog.

The purpose behind this blog is to enrich both your life and my own. I will post here articles, web links, book reviews, abstracts on just about anything that can add value to our lives. The posts in this blog could be about spirituality, mental sciences, metaphysics, manifestation (of wealth, one's desires, abundance, etc) and environment - or just about anything that helps us to become more evolved and better human beings.

This blog is a journey of self discovery for me and I sincerely hope you will find here things that will enrich your life and enhance your understanding of life as much as they do mine.

I welcome articles and comments from my readers.

Cheers

Manish Jaitly