Gift of God is Our Human life

Health, peace as well as honor and reputation are given to the powerful people. Everyone looks in a cruel way at weak and feeble mended persons. The existence of an emotional and weak person is insecure in every place and situation. No body becomes helpful in their development and even God seems to be averse to such a person. Even cruel death throws its cold arms around them first. The principle and rule in this life is the protection and development of the fittest. That is why in its organization, weak people have to face dangers and suffering at every step.

One must accept the need for nourishing and maintaining strength for successful and secure life. Swami Vivekananda has written that first of all one must develop strength. Developing and maintaining strength is the only path to progress. By this way only can one go nearer to the soul and the Supreme Entity viz. God? What ever the goal, it is achievable only by individual or collective power.

Sudden success is not achievable in any field. For that purpose, one has to go on developing one's powers by constant efforts. There is no doubt that all the things and attainments are achievable. But it is also true that for achieving them, worthiness is essential, also it is equally true that to protect them development of the powers is essential.

Worthiness is created only by constant efforts. There is no scarcity of knowledge in this world, but there is a scarcity of that intellectual capacity because of which we are not capable of attaining it. That capacity has to be developed by constant education. To develop worthiness and strength for success in any fields only this rule applies. For this reason, weakness is considered a sin which makes a person stray from the path and throws a person into the pit of difficulties.

Weakness is considered a terrible punishment in the law of nature. To remove it, one will have to become worthy because only a strong person becomes successful in the battle of life. Such a person never becomes old, because he always remains young at heart.

Nutritious food is certainly essential for keeping the body healthy, but even more essential is the stability of mental condition. Nourishment gives energy and energy provides health. However the essential source of energy is the brain which provides not only the energy for digesting the food but to keep all the organs of the body working in organized co-ordination.

Howsoever nourishing the food, it will not give any benefit if the mind is upset. On the contrary when the mental condition is peaceful and balanced, health can be maintained even with meager simple food. Constant mental exertion without interest causes dryness of the skin and other skin-diseases. Similarly at the time of anger, fury and excitement or during disappointment and dejection, the mental condition produces poisonous chemicals internally and their effect is seen on the body. Although the effect is seen on the body, the symptoms are related to the condition of the mind. Lingering frustration and fear due to any event or situation are the two diseases conferred on man by modern culture or 'progress' - psychiatrists call them as depression and phobia.  Such type of ill persons keeps an attitude of resistance towards their familial and societal obligations. The main symptoms found in these patients are to become irritated at the drop of a pin and to start weeping suddenly after becoming angry.

Emotional tension also gets converted many times into physical pain. Headache, pain in the abdomen, pain in the joints, chest-pain, pain in the waist etc are more because of mental reasons than physical ones. The root causes here is some worry, fear, some anxiety about trouble in the future or some unhappy memory of the past. This condition of the mind affects any organ of the body and manifests in the pain in that part.

Religion is the Way of Excellent Moral Character

Meaning: The line of Athervaved 17/1/29 has described about our deeds, that can be expressed as — "Human life will be safe only with good deeds and religious conduct. Therefore let us be sinless and praise worthy and always go on acquiring higher knowledge".

Message: Religiousness means religious conduct. To respect religion in every field of life to follow the injunctions of religions, is itself called 'dharma-achaaran' (or religious conduct).'Dharma' not only means religion (as regards spiritual science and worship), but it has several other meaning including 'moral duty', but unfortunately politicians and the so-called intellectuals are twisting the interpretation of the word 'dharma' to suit their selfish ends.

In reality religion is beneficial to man in every field. The question of narrowness does not at all arise in religion. In fact religion contributes to a wide and vast viewpoint. Real religion does not talk of putting blindfolds on the eyes, but enjoins us to remove them. No religion produces jealousy, malice and such perversities. Religion in the real moral sense creates an atmosphere of good thinking and love. Religion and humanity are mutually complementary. Man can never remain without religion and religion cannot remain any where except in man.

Religion means a rule for carrying out one's responsibility, in other words, 'self-accepted imposition for achieving excellence'. Every field of activity has its own 'dharma' such as teacher's dharma, student's dharma, people's dharma, leader's dharma, soldier's dharma, servant's dharma, father's dharma, women's dharma etc. Religion does not mean mere worship or rituals. Dharma is a symbol of the entire life, because it pervades every aspect of life.

Dharma is good activities, good deeds and truthful conduct. A dharmik man is a man of good conduct, is satisfied, quiet (at peace), disciplined and restrained. Never does he get angry, has no malice, does not ridicule others, nor disrespect others. His main qualities are mental purity, truthfulness in conduct and excellent sentiments for public-welfare. A religious man does not show off his religion. He is busy in his duties with a quiet and unselfish attitude. He relies upon excellence in thinking and simplicity in life. He always utilizes his total capacity and insight for deeds of public-welfare and removes the obstacles in the path with patience and firmness. A life of simplicity propounded the ideal of high thinking. Prosperity lays in simplicity only and in that only lies one's reputation.

To disrespect religion is like discarding humanness and acknowledging animal-ness. For animals there is no religion except fulfilling the needs of their bodies. If an animal coming in the path creates an obstacle, then to drive it away with its horns, to frighten it or to kill it (i.e. selfish survival) is the only 'dharma' of animals. Animals do not have a sense of respect, sentiments, discretion, tradition, society and culture. These exist for man only and therefore at every step in life he has to conduct himself according to the rules laid down in religion. The essence of religion lies only in obliging or helping others, mutual cooperation, compassion, and living together.

Conduct according to the rules laid down in the religion is the only basis for excellent character.

Thinking should be Pure

Purity of Thinking

Meaning: The man, who robs a woman of her virtue, commits a friend's murder and does not obtain knowledge despite becoming aged, achieves downfall.

Message: The Vedic religion lays great stress on good conduct and morality. Every act should be for all regions, supreme and applicable at all times. It should not be related to a particular region of time. Speaking the truth, serving others and obliging others are such deeds only. Sadachar (good moral conduct) means those deeds which satisfy man's conscience and which give him the feelings of cheer and enthusiasm. By doing such good deeds, a man will never feel ashamed and his soul will be satisfied. This virtuous and moral deeds itself is called "Sadachar" or good deeds or good conduct. The opposite of it, i.e. the deeds by which a man feels ashamed, sorry or grief-stricken is called 'doorachar' or bad deed or bad conduct.

The general broad meaning of 'doorachar' is bad conduct and wicked dealings, but one of its meanings is also adultery. Obscenity and bad conduct are very closely related and the possibility of a man who accepts obscenity going for 'doorachar' always exists. Our ancient sages have laid great stress on 'vaasanaatmak pavitrataa' (i.e. purity as far as the desires for sex are concerned). The means for this purity is freedom for addictions and staying away from addictions are imbibing of liquor and other intoxicants, eating meat, fish and other animals, obscenity, adultery, and gambling, which becomes the cause of man's downfall. Among these the addiction of sexual lust is the most dangerous and therefore keeping it under control is the most important 'sadaachar' (or good conduct). As long as the fire of man's sexual lust is not aflame, till then man's greatness, learning, gentlemanliness, status and discretion remain. This itself is the measure of Nepalese 'sadaachar' or good conduct.

The man who decides to keep his eyes, ears, speech and mind in a pure state and keeps them pure, i.e. uncorrupted, he surely will be saved from obscenity. To save oneself from bad thoughts, not only are these restrictions necessary, but also along with it one has to adopt devotion to God, reading of god books and the company of morality pure men. Obscene thoughts will be away from us in proportion to our devotion to God, and bad thoughts will be away from us in proportion to the reading of morally good books. The company of good men will inspire us to proceed on the path of 'sadaachar' (morally good conduct).

The objective of Vedic religion and culture is to reach God while making use of means provided by Nature. God is 'shuddha swarup', i.e. God is the embodiment of purity itself and nothing but purity. Therefore to reach this pure Form, man's soul will have to become cleansed and pure. For refinement and purity of the soul, good conduct must be adopted along with the rejection of all addictions and bad habits. Good moral thoughts are produced in the mind only when 'saatvikta' (a combination of morality and simplicity) is made the basis of our lives. With that, high clean and pure thoughts are produced, which inspire us to adopt moral conduct.

Purity of thinking is the principal basis of 'Sadaachar'.

Finding Bless in Every Path

Many Path to Bliss

Sanatana Dharma, which means 'eternal principles of wisdom' can be approached and accessed in three ways: Through the Vedas, through the Upanishads and through the Purans like Shrimad Bhagavatam and Devi Mahatmyam.

The fire rituals or havens that we perform today have come to us from the Vedic age. Despite this the pure austere lifestyle of that age is impossible for most of us to practice in this hectic, demanding modern world.

The Puranic approach is generally for those of us who are more religious in the traditional sense as it establishes a culture or sanskar of rites and ritualistic worship. Though primordial, pure, cosmic consciousness is beyond time and space, it is easier for the verge individual to relate to God through divine forms with specific attributes. So, with their own changed consciousness, they invoked this primordial energy to manifest through a form. Mantras came to be revealed in the process. Each mantra has the divine power to invoke a particular deity. It begin with 'Oam' the seed syllable, concluding with salutations to that particular deity like a bridge that connects us to our own soul at one end and  to Divinity at the other. So, whenever we chant that mantra with faith and devotion, we start vibrating to the frequency of that deity to receive Grace. The 19 major Puranas of Santana Dharma describe the qualities, origin, mystical symbolism and power of these deities through vibrations.

In the Upanishadic approach we understand how to recognize and realize divinity in us in relation to the cosmic power. Our sages experimented in subtle inner realms by following a set of principles with complete awareness for long periods until they reached a state of bliss which was automatic and ecstatic. In this enlightened state, they found that they were permanently free of thoughts, desires, negativity expectations and limitations of all kinds. So, they codified these principles in Upanishads and passed them on to their disciples. In Sanskrit 'Upa-ni-shad' means 'to sit close to the sadguru', i.e. to sit at the lotus feet of the guru as a disciple and imbibe wisdom.

The Sadguru triggers the notion of self-enquiry in the disciple, thus activating his inner most core. The disciple's life then follows a path of dynamic motion and evolution within. Satsangs are spiritual forums where inner exploration is done with fellow seekers and guidance of the sadguru. This is the true 'gurukul' where we are inspired to practice self enquiry. When the sadguru enters our lives and we imbibe His wisdom, it shatters our egoistic mindsets and attitudes, dissolving the karma which had prevented us from feeling the presence of our own soul. His energy ignites our awareness invoking divinity, inner faith and stability. So as we evolve spiritually, our worldly life also becomes free from troubles, problems and worries because we start burning our karmas away. Each day is stable, joyous and fulfilling. The soul's qualities of love, peace, patience, tolerance, compassion, care and share blossom in us, harmoniously integrating spiritual progress and material prosperity.

Sanatana Dharma gives us simple, effective and practical formula to reorient our lives within the framework of satya, dharma, ahimsa and prema or truth, noble principle, non-violence and unconditional love. By walking in the footsteps of realized sages, we learn how to shed our limitations and live constantly in the blissful core of self.

Please Pay attention to Your Self

We have needed to 'originate' the slow food movement to counter fast food culture; only then do we feel we can get to something that we once had, but lost! What we had lost is the attention that goes into creating and savoring nourishing meal.

While previous years were all about multitasking we now hear and read people asking us to please 'uni-task', coining an odd sounding term to remind us to pay attention, even enjoy, each thing we do. It would be funny it if weren't so sad. Nicolas Malebranche, a 17th century philosopher said "Attention is the natural prayer of the soul." If that is true most of us have forgotten how to really pray.

Thich Nhat Hanh in The Miracle of Mindfulness writes about how he and a friend once sat under a tree sharing a tangerine. The friend began to talk about plans for the future, becoming so immersed in it that he literally forgot about what he was doing in the present.

Popping a section of tangerine in his mouth, before he had begun chewing he lifted another slices to his mouth again. The teacher gently suggested, "You ought to eat the tangerine section you've already taken, "startling him into realizing what he was doing," as if he hadn't been eating the tangerine al all…… If he had been eating anything, he was 'eating' his future plans."

Educators speak of the shrinking attention span of young people today, but few schools teach children the gift of savoring the moment. There are some parents who say that the capacity for attention is theirs to claim.

There is another aspect to attention; attention to others around us. Psychotherapist Pierro Ferrucci refers to attention as a precious gift. People who are suffering may need advice, diagnoses, interpretations and interventions, but still more do they need sincere and complete attention. He points out that attention, being completely available, may well be the most coveted gift: "We silently hope that someone will want to do that for us….. Attention is a type of friendliness and the lack thereof is the worst kind of rudeness. Attention is the means that allows us to let friendliness flow. Anyway who can't give others attention, will never be friendly. Attention gives energy, while the lack of attention takes it away.

From yet another angle, we learn that what we give attention to grows. Even when it does not actually grow, it certainly seems to, because we tend to see little else.

Often people I meet in therapy mistakenly think they must only focus on what's wrong. Sure, things could be wrong; even very wrong. But is that all that's happening in one's life? When they make a list also about what's going right, they are shocked at how long or how rich it actually is! Life is a mix of what we label good or bad - not to mention that there is often good in the bad and also, on closer like, some bad perhaps in the good.

We need to learn to pay attention to our entire life, not just parts of it. Focusing only on problems is draining, exhausting. Knowing there is already some good shifts us out of 'poor me' place and pumps us with energy to work on what we need to work on.

Compassionate

Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little. (Gautam Buddha)

You have no compassion; the Lord's Light does not shine in you. You are drowned, drowned in worldly entanglements. (Guru Granth Sahib)

We are ready to become the people we are meant to be. None of us can afford to squander our days, our years, or our lives. We have too much to give; we have too much to live. (Lama Surya Das)

The most precious gift we can offer other is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers. (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Work is that Which You perform

Work and mentally renounce the fruits achieved thereafter. Don't let the shadow of personal prejudice affect how you perceive work. This is the essence of karma yoga. The wise work for common benefit whereas the ignorant work only for themselves or their near and dear ones. A farmer has control over how he works in his fields, but not over the harvest. Krishna tells Arjun: "Yoga is karmasu kausaalam doing work skillfully in the first attempt".

Work is external but our attitude to it is internal. A certain attitude may make us feel work is miserable while another kind of attitude makes it pleasant. By cultivating the right attitude, we will become spiritual. That is meditation.

Once in a village several people were engaged in construction of a temple. A wandering sage passing by wants to know what is happening there, so he asks a person cutting stone: "What are you doing"?

The labor replies with frustration: Don't you see that I am cutting stone? It's a hard stone. Look at my hands! They have become red. Work is hell. And to make matters worse, you ask me what I am doing. How I wish were not doing this! "The sage asks, "I see you are cutting stone, but let me know what is coming up here?" The stone cutter replies that he has no idea; it does not concern him. He is disinterested.

The sage next goes to another man and asks him the same question: "What are you doing? The man replied "I am cutting stone here; that's my job. For eight hours of work I get paid Rs 100. I have a wife and children to take care of. I am doing my duty."

The sage asks him: "Do you know what is coming up here?" He says: "Yes, they say they're making a temple. How does it matter to me, whether what is being constructed is a temple or a jail, as long as I get paid?"

Then the sage goes to a third worker who is also cutting stone and poses the same question. The man replies: "We are building a temple. There is no temple here; every year at festivals we have to trek to the temple in the next village. You know, every time I hit the stone I hear wonderful music. The temple work has put the sleepy village in a festive mood.

The sage asks: "How long do you have to work on this project?" The man says the timeline is not his concern for as soon as he wakes up in the morning, he gets ready for work and begins cutting stone. He tells the sage that he spends the entire day here, taking a break between mealtimes. "When I go home in the night and sleep, in my dream I think of this construction and feel grateful that I enjoy the work I do. I am truly blessed," he said.

Three men doing the same work have three different attitudes. The first person thinks its hell the second looks upon his work as his duty.

However, the third worker thinks what he is able to do is a blessing. If the work itself had the qualities inherently, good or bad, then these three men might have felt the same. But in reality, it's not the work that disturbs us but something that's subtler; it's the attitude we have towards work.

Devotion & Love

The path to the Un-manifest is very difficult for embodied souls to realize…. But quickly I come to those who offer me every action, who worship me only, their dearest delight, with undaunted devotion. Because they love me, these are my bondsmen, and I shall save them from mortal sorrow and all the waves of life's deathly ocean. (Bhagavad Gita 12.5-7)

He is the Living One; there is no god but He; call upon Him, giving Him sincere devotion. Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds! (Quuran 40:65)

If you desire to live in the world unattached you should first practice devotion in solitude for some time….. You should meditate constantly upon God and pray to Him for Divine Love. (Ramkrishna Paramhansa)