It's there already....

You want to sail?

What else you need?

You have a sail boat. Winds are what they are. Already blowing. Same for all.

All you need to do it to adjust your sails properly so that you can sail. Can you do that?

You have a piece of land.

You want to get the best possible harvest.

What do you do?

Prep the land properly, buy best seeds possible, get best fertilizers and hope that it rains well. If possible, make alternate arrangements for water.

Divine winds are always blowing. Divine rain falls same on all fields.

It's our level of preparation, that determines how far we go and what kind of harvest we can get.

So, start working on your sails and patch of land.

Keep it absolutely at its best.

Rest will be taken care of divinity. Everybody gets the same.

Cheers!

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Roasted seeds

Do roasted seeds ever sprout?

No, correct?

Regardless of best soil, fertilizer, water etc., roasted seed has lost the life in it. So, it can not sprout.

Similarly, if 'karmic' seed can be roasted, then we are free from 'karma'. Right? That's what spiritual laws say.

So, if we want to roast our 'karmic' seed, we need a mechanism and equipment.

It's all there in one. That is MEDITATION.

This is not a claim from an ordinary person like me. This is a claim and assurance from God to spiritual masters like Paramahansa Yogananda.

The process of roasting of 'karmic' seed  may be long and arduous, but it can be done and well worth it even if we manage to roast only part of it.

As far as I can say, once you start roasting the seed, you will start seeing the benefits right away.

It's like you start roasting coffee seeds. Even before the seeds are completely roasted, aroma starts wafting and you can enjoy that. This is similar. When you start roasting your karmic seed using meditation, you start smelling the aroma of roasting. In case of meditation, your worries will reduce, you feel less stressed, you will feel light, you will find it very easy to forgive but not forget to help those who did wrong to you, your patience will increase. Basically, all your rough edges will be smoothened.

Start roasting your karmic seed. Else, it will be planted again and sprout. That  means you will reincarnate again, read blogs and wonder 'what?' :)

Cheers!

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Laws of nature

Do you really need to know law of gravity?

I mean - is it necessary to know details of law of gravity? Whether you know the details of law of gravity, you will soon come to know by trial and error that things fall down to the ground and if you jump from the height, you will go down. Without understanding all the details behind the law of gravity, you will at least become sensible enough  not to jump off from a tall building.

There are still millions of people who live comfortably without knowing law of gravity. They are able to manage their lives just fine. OK, none of them work for NASA and can not even  imagine about rockets and what all science and engineering you need to know about launching rockets, putting satellites in orbit, concept of escape velocity (i.e. velocity needed to escape from the gravity) etc.

Whether anyone knows about the law of gravity or for that matter any law of nature, those laws continue to operate. The key difference between the people who know and people who do not know is -  the people who know can put their knowledge to good use - Similar to scientists and engineers who started off with basics and then proceeded to learn advanced techniques. By learning about the laws of nature, they came to know how to use their knowledge to advance  human race. Same with medicine, science, technology etc. What we discover year after year has existed for millions of years, it is just now that we are beginning to understand and put to good use. For example, cure of cancer is there. We just have not found it.

So, if we become clear about this analogy. Nature, laws of nature, learning them and how to use that knowledge to better ourselves, there arises an interesting question on 'other' laws of nature. I say 'other' because they do not fit into conventional science framework. For example, LAW of KARMA. It's very simple - AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP. What's complex in it? Everyone can understand the concept. But, when you say law, karma and say it's one of the most fundamental laws of nature, people begin to object. They want to know how you prove it. There is no easy way. This is because these laws of nature like law of karma are beyond our mind and intellect to understand. They are understood only by our soul which drives other instruments like mind and intellect. You can use a pair of tongs to grab something lying on the ground. But, can you use the same pair of tongs to grab the hand that is holding it? You can not understand using mind and intellect 'that something' which is in fact the driving force behind mind and intellect.

Anyway, why is it important to understand spiritual laws as we understand scientific laws like law of gravity? For the exact same reason. To harness that knowledge to better ourselves. If we can put our understanding of law of gravity to launch satellites to know more about outer space in the universe, we can use the knowledge of spiritual laws to know more about our inner space. If  understanding the laws of nature helps our external (material) evolution, understanding of spiritual laws of the same nature helps our inner evolution which is equally if not more important than evolution on the material plane.

People who do not know even advanced arithmetic seem to be convinced about law of relativity (both special and general) when someone who does not even understand basics of physics quotes late professor Einstein and describes the greatness of the scientist and his contribution. Same people argue mindlessly with you if you bring up spiritual laws. You can quote all great spiritual figures from Ramakrishna Paramahansa to Swami Vivekanda, it makes no sense to them. Moreover since spiritual laws can only be understood on a different dimension altogether, you just can not explain to them at all. Woody Allen put it best in his inimitable wit- People talk about understanding the universe when they can not even find their way out of China town.

In fact, this need to understand spiritual laws using inadequate tools like mind and intellect went so far that, a great sage called Kapila chose to explain it using what he called 'Sankhya philosppohpy'. In fact, he did a great job. If you really want to try understanding immutable laws of spirituality using your tiny brain, you can try understanding it using 'Sankhya'. If you do succeed understanding 'Sankhya', it will not be because of your intellect but due to divine grace which provided you that knowledge in the background. 'Sankhya' got so complex that joke is - if you need Sankhya, you will not understand it. If you understand it, you did not need it in the first place.

Only way to understand spiritual laws is to observe and go deep inside yourself. As you use teachers, books, notes, study guides, various studying techniques to learn about the physical laws, you learn about spiritual laws in the similar fashion. You first generate interest in them. Then you bring an open mind and insatiable curiosity about spirituality. Then you read extensively from people who have been validated as spiritual masters. Some may appeal to you and some may not. It's like you know you may like books on physics by one author and not by another author. As long as they are able to teach you physics, it does not matter. Same with spiritual  knowledge as well. Just learn. Then you have to get into the lab and put your knowledge into practice. The main experimental technique is - meditation. The main purpose is to slow the mind and make it observe and not merely see. Slow mind is healthy and still mind is divine. Fast mind is SICK. As your mind starts slowing down, it is able to see more clearly and experience some of the complex truths. Then you will start learning about laws of spirituality. There is one great thing about this knowledge. As little nuggets of spiritual wisdom start becoming obvious to you, your personality changes for better. If you were very impatient, you will start becoming patient. If you could not get along with people, you will start getting along better. These changes vary from person to person. But, rest assured they will be for the better. They can not be anything else. By learning spiritual laws, you are filling in the gaps. Gaps are different in different people. So, don't be concerned if your personality changes for better.

Bottom line is -  if you agree or disagree, learn or not learn, spiritual laws of nature are immutable and they are there and will be there. If we choose, we can learn them, put that knowledge to good use and take our own evolution in our hands and expedite it. If we choose not, no problems. There are still cannibalistic tribes in Papua New Guinea who continue to exist for several thousands of years. Let alone law of gravity, they do not even know how to grow their own food. What do you want to be like?

Cheers!

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God became man...

"God became man so that he could show man how to become  God."

Mythology of all religions has God appear in various forms. In Hinduism, God even becomes animals and in some cases animal-human mixed form.

Sometimes this creates confusion at its worst or humor at its best. A lot people can not understand monkey god, snake god etc.

The concept behind all this seeming paradox is the unity in the universe. As this universe came out of singleness, so did all plants and animals. At the core, we are all the same. Cut from the same fabric. Purpose of life is to realize this unity. Knowingly or unknowingly we are all on the same path.

So, what better way to show the how-to's of that process than for God to become a man or animal as needed and use that as the example.

Rama, most commonly referred God or God-incarnate in Hinduism, went through normal life, made his share of mistakes, learnt all lessons and in the process helped people write 'Ramayana' one of the most important epics of Hinduism. The story in itself is a very beautiful and engaging story. On top of its literary beauty, it sends very important spiritual messages in a very simple form.

Same with Krishna, another common God or God-incarnate. He too was born as a normal person. Showed extraordinary abilities right from the early age. Helped shape the destiny of thousands of people during his lifetime through his very practical role. The role he played was a master stroke. His life and example helped create another epic Mahabharata. Bhagvadgita is the essence of Mahabarata distilled. If brandy is distilled wine, Bhagvadgita is distilled Mahabharata.

Animals have been used so beautifully in Hindu mythology that some stories illustrate really good values. A famous king (Yudhistira) went to heaven after he shed his material body. On his way, he made friends with a nice and friendly dog which followed him all the way to the gates of the heaven. The gatekeeper was not willing to allow the dog to accompany the very accomplished king. King's love for his animal friend was so much  that he said he was giving up heaven and was willing to go back to earth or hell or wherever he could be with his animal friend. That shows mutual respect and trust.

Cheers!

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Reincarnation

All your questions about reincarnation answered.

The answers are in the classic - Swami Abhedananda's little book.

This little book if read and understood well should clear any doubts about reincarnation.

Not that you can explain intricacies to everyone but Swami Abhedananda, who was the disciple of Swami Brahmananda who was the direct disciple of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, has written a classic.

One of the pestering questions about reincarnation is - if the soul reincarnates and takes a new body, why don't we remember memories of from our previous lives?

Swami Abhedananda illustrates this with a beautiful yet a very simple example.

Imagine you are projecting a movie from projector in a darkened room. As long as the room is nicely dark, you will see the pictures well on the screen.

Now start opening the windows and start letting the light into the room, what happens? Slowly the images start to blur. When you let enough light from outside, you will stop seeing the images all together. What happened? Projector continued to project but glare from the outside light obscured the image. You see outside more clearly than the inside.

This is exactly happens with humans too. The memories from the past lives are very much there. But, with human body, we are sense stimulated. The stimuli come from outside. They have masked the inner picture. If we manage to successfully withdraw senses, we are doing similar to darkening the room and we will start seeing the pictures. As simple as that in theory. But, hard to practices because we are not able to withdraw our sense so easily and still the mind.

Even accomplished spiritual masters recommend that we should not concern ourselves too much about our past lives. It's interesting but not very useful. Even after a lot of spiritual practice, if you manage to look into your past, you may not like it at all. It certainly was not as good as you have it now. Because, every human life is evolving towards the better.

Focus on taking control of the evolution of this life.

For academically inclined people, this book has several such illustrations to drive point home.

For people who can not resist the ideas of regressing back in life, Denise Lim offer classes and courses. She is the author of 'Past lives and Present Miracles'.

Cheers!

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Emptiness

Emptiness is good. Why? Unless there is any empty space, new stuff can not get in there.

Once Lord Sri Krishna was playing his flute which was his favorite pastime. Radha, one of  many girl friends of Sri Krishna, was sitting near by sulking. Lord did not know what her problem was. So, Lord asked her - Radha, why are you so unhappy? What's the problem?

Radha said - Lord, I envy your flute. It has the good fortune of having your lips all the time on it. Looking at that, I feel jealous. (She was saying she was not getting enough attention of the Lord)

Lord Krishna thought there was a lesson to be taught to Radha and everybody else.

Lord smiled beautifully and stopped playing his flute for a moment.

He called out Radha and asked her to take a close look at the flute.

Lord Krishna - Radha, what do you see?

Radha- what is there to see Lord? It's empty.

Lord Krishna - See, that's the difference. This flute is empty. That's why I am able to fill it with my divine music. Look at people. They are full of themselves, their wants, their plans, their wishes, their schemes. It's I, ME and MINE. How can I fill them with my divinity?

Radha got the message and stopped being jealous. She became more devoted in her love to Lord Krishna.

So, empty yourself of your own hot air. That's all that you are full of. Hot air about yourself, your wants, your wishes and your plans. Once you empty yourself, you are enabling Lord to fill you up with his divine music. There shall be no doubt it.

Cheers to emptying yourself!

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Simplicity

The power of simplicity.

Simplicity - the art of doing less and less to make something more and more complete.

Creativity - Making complex things simple - Einstein.

Once upon a time there was a man. He was a very brilliant man with multiple doctorates from top universities. He also had special occult abilities. After practicing very hard using those occult abilities, he had gained some special powers. His spiritual guru had granted him a special power.

The special power granted to him was like this. Anytime he could command the services of a 'good' ghost which would appear and do anything he asked without  any questions. There was only one string attached to that. The ghost had to be kept busy all the time. If not, the ghost would eat our brilliant man and everybody with him.

Knowing the power of the ghost and knowing how difficult it would be to keep the ghost fully busy, our brilliant scientist had stayed away from calling out for the ghost to appear and do anything for him. He kept that option open only for some real purpose.

After a while, our brilliant scientist married a very beautiful but very simpleton girl from the country. She was not very well schooled like her husband. She was a simple village lass with very beautiful features and curly hair.

After the marriage, the couple left for their honeymoon. They were going to a beautiful seaside beach resort. It was a fairly long drive. It was rainy season. Unfortunately for them, there was a massive landslide and roads were all closed. So, newly married couple got stuck in between. They could neither go forward to their destination nor could they return home. They were stuck.

This is when the scientist thought he should ask the ghost to show up and do some work for him. He was thoroughly convinced that things that he wanted to get done were only possible by somebody with superhuman powers. Ghost was the only thing he could think of. He did consider the condition that ghost had to be continuously kept busy once it was summoned. Knowing the enormity of his wish and all other tasks he could give to the ghost, he felt fairly confident that  he could summon the ghost and keep it busy without much problem.

So, he did what he had to do to summon the ghost. Within seconds, a scary looking and giant ghost with menacing features appeared in front of them. Despite its scary features, ghost saluted him and his wife just like the way a slave may salute his master. With folded hands the ghost asked our scientist - what are my orders, sir?

The scientist told the ghost to create a beautiful sea resort right where there were. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere and he was asking the ghost to create for them a seaside resort out of no where.

True to its much feared reputation,the ghost rendered a beautiful seaside resort with all facilities and personnel in seconds. It was a transformation hard to believe.

The couple checked into their beautiful suite, specially done for their honeymoon.

In the excitement of possibility to consummate their marriage, the scientist had forgotten that he had to keep the ghost busy. So, he was somewhat surprised and annoyed when the ghost was not leaving their suite. He then remembered the condition.

So, he thought of a challenge for the ghost. He told the ghost - ghost, thanks for constructing this marvelous seaside resort. Now, go and count the number of fish in the ocean.

The scientist and his wife thought the ghost will be gone at least for few hours. To their dismay and horror, the ghost disappeared may be for a few seconds and came back. It gave the number of fish in the ocean. Also gave their rate of increase and decrease and provided a formula so that scientist could find out the number of fish in the ocean at any given time.

Now the scientist was getting worried because he saw what that condition meant. Ghost had to be kept continuously busy else it would eat him and his wife alive. Ghost simply had to be working 24x7 once it was summoned. No alternative.

Then the scientist asked the ghost to go and count the number of leaves on all trees anywhere and everywhere. This, he thought, would be far more difficult task because leaves are not only on trees but also on plants, shrubs, bushes etc.

He was wrong. It took no more time for the ghost than it had taken it to count the number of fish in the ocean. The ghost appeared in no time and told him the number of leaves. Not only that, it gave the scientist a formula to find out the total number of leaves using a complex formula.

After that it again respectfully asked for it's next order. Now scientist was in panic. He had underestimated the power of this ghost. Gruesome possibility of becoming ghost's food was very much real possibility now and he was totally freaking out without knowing how to keep the ghost busy.

His wife, despite being a simple village belle, understood what the problem was. She asked her husband if she could talk to ghost and try giving it the work that would keep the ghost busy for a while. The scientist did not think much of his wife but since he had no other option he was willing to try anything. He was willing to try anything even if it meant keeping the ghost away and them alive even for few more minutes.

The wife took the ghost away for a few minutes. From the distance, the scientist saw his wife giving something to the ghost. He saw ghost taking what she gave and carefully looking it. Then, he saw his wife giving the ghost careful instructions. Mostly about the job, he thought.

After giving the job the wife returned. There was a smile of jubilation over her face. She told her husband that the ghost was going to be busy for a long time and they could enjoy their marital bliss. The husband was not all convinced. He could not imagine any task more complex than the ones he had given the ghost without them becoming complex at all for the ghost. He felt bad for his simpleton wife and said with remorse that their end was near and they should get ready to be devoured by the ghost.

Despite his wife reassuring him, he did not budge. He was immobilized by panic of the ghost appearing into their suite at any moment and then asking for new work or eating them alive. An hour passed and then two. After a couple of hours, husband had developed a faint belief that his wife could be right.

He looked outside and saw ghost busy at work. He could not make out what it was doing. From the far, it seemed the ghost was trying desperately to do something. Every time, the ghost felt it accomplished the task, it seemed frustrated that the job was undone. The scientist did not care what was going on. He felt reasonably sure that ghost was not going to be able to complete the job in anytime soon.

So, he switched back to the original plan. The couple had a lot of fun for days together. They had a memorable time. It was time for them to leave.

While enjoying marital bliss, they had totally forgotten about the ghost. Now it was like days, the ghost was busy with something. He felt immensely proud of his wife. She had managed to give some sort of humongous task to the ghost that it kept ghost busy for days.

He asked his wife - what kind of work you gave to the ghost? What kind of complex work which is more complex than the two seemingly impossible tasks I had given to the ghost before?

Wife answered - nothing very complex. But, close to impossible. I just a pulled a long strand of my curly hair and gave it the ghost and asked it to straighten it out. That's all.

That's all - the husband wondered. You say that's all. He was very impressed by her creativity. He was awed by the simplicity. The solution was so simple. But at the same time so ingenious and practical. They had to come up with an impossible challenge to keep the ghost busy. Straightening a strand of curly hair is impossible.

When they were ready to leave, the ghost was still busy with the task. It gave them a very sad look. It was in tears. It begged them relieve it from this task which it knew it would not be able to complete at all. The couple took pity on the ghost. But, before they could cancel the assignment, they had to make sure that the ghost would not eat them for not keeping it busy all the time. So, the scientist prayed for the guidance of his spiritual master. The master blessed the ghost and it was relieved of its ghost state and disappeared.

The couple lived happily ever after.

The moral of the story - sometimes even for seemingly very complex problems the solutions are very simple. We just need to think out of the box to find the simplest solution. Sometimes changing the definition of the problem helps.

Simple is better than complex. Complex is better than complicated.

There is also an excellent book titled 'The power of simplicity' by Jack Trout. Great read.

Cheers to simplicity.

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