The soft yellow light spreading to infinity through the lamp lids, combined with the light green shades of the leaves to weave magic around us, as me and Ishan unusually decided to take a walk to the other side of the Ashram for almost no reason.

The nature stood so alive in front of us, with all its glory, just like an extension of our own body. I felt the liveliness in each moment.

The serene silence of the night was spreading through us, and we were listening to the sound of our own footsteps with great interest, with a child like innocence.

The impact of that silence was so profound that my mind was transcending itself, to take me back to a joyful, blissful realm which was so familiar to me – something that I mislay at times.

Solitude is best when celebrated with the Self! Perfect!

Today during Satsang, somebody asked Guruji - "Why a Guru is required at all?"

Then Guruji answered with a smile.

"Do you need an answer for this question?"

She told, "Yes".

Guruji Replied. "When you have a question, and when you need an answer for that, you need somebody to give you the reply. The source from where you'll get the answer is the Guru. If you don't have any question, then a Guru is not required - but that'll happen only at two cases - either you are totally realized, or you are in total inertia"

"To see your self, you need a mirror. You cannot see your face by looking at a wall or a pillar. The Guru is a reflection of yourself, and finally you'll find the one ness in everything"

Centre for Science and Environment - http://www.cseindia.org/index.html released a study report regarding colas

• A cocktail of three to six pesticides found in all samples



• Lindane — a confirmed carcinogen — was found at an average concentration of 5.5 ppb, which is 54 times higher than the BIS standard (finalised but not notified) for individual pesticides in soft drinks (0.1 ppb)



• In one sample of Coca-Cola bought in Kolkata, lindane was as high as 14 ppb, which is 140 times higher than the BIS standard



• Chlorpyrifos, a known neurotoxin also known to breach the placenta, was found in all samples at an average concentration of 4.8 ppb, which is 47 times higher



• A Coca-Cola sample bought in Mumbai, manufactured in Thane, contained 20.4 ppb of chlorpyrifos: this is 200 times higher than the BIS standard for an individual pesticide. Heptachlor, banned in India, was found in 71 per cent of the samples, at levels which are four times the BIS standards



• The average amount of pesticide residues found in all samples was 11.85 ppb, which is 23 times higher than the BIS standards for total pesticides in soft drinks (0.5 ppb)
  Pepsi Cola, the flagship brand of PepsiCo India, on an average contained 15.2 ppb pesticide residues; this is 30 times the BIS standards. Coca-Cola, the flagship brand of Coca-Cola India, on an average contained 13.4 ppb pesticide residues; this is 27 times the BIS standards



• The average pesticide residues in all brands of PepsiCo was 12.7 ppb. This is 25 times the BIS standards



• The average pesticide residues in all brands of Coca-Cola India was 11.05 ppb. This is 22 times the BIS standards
  

See this report from CSE http://www.cseindia.org/misc/cola-indepth/cola2006/health_effects.htm

• Buy only products manufactured by WHOLLY INDIAN COMPANIES.


• Avoid PEPSI, COCACOLA, KFC, MCDONALDS, PIZZAHUT - this not a sacrifice it’s for your health.


• ENROLL as many people as possible for this cause.
  
  Each individual should become a leader for this awareness

And More

I would also like to point that the same is happening in IT side also. Even Indian companies are selling the brain of Indian engineers cheaply to the outside world. Of course, the alternative is to think about a production oriented work culture, than a service oriented work culture. We should have our own products in IT industry, and only then we'll be able to achieve something


Think Globally, Buy Locally.

A really inspiring talk from Chanakya. Really worth watching

Krishna explains the Secret of Karma to Arjuna - A great scene from Mahabharath. I've found this video recently in Youtube

"All thoughts are relative" is an absolute statement, isn't it? Because if you agree or disagree with it, it will remain the same.

Yesterday during Satsang in Vishalakshi Mantap, I heard a talk from an eminent scientist - he is a visiting professor in various universities like Cambridge, for Physics and Meta physics. It was a wonderfull talk combining spirituality and science.Here are few points he discussed, and as I understood.. He classified emergence of science to three phases.

The 'Materialistic' Universe of Newton

Classical mechanics or Newtonian physics presented the concept of matter and force. Newtom summarized the existence of universe as moving objects in space, using the equation

f=ma

which means, force means mass x acceleration - which brought a lot of changes and resulted in various scientific developments.

The 'Energetic' Universe of Einstein

Later, about 100 years back, Albert Einstein got an intution - "what if I could move with the speed of light, along with a light ray and see it from there" - and he came up with a wonderfull equation - stating

E=mc2

Which means, matter is nothing but energy. If you can decompose the microphone or book or your own body, finally you will find something called quarks - which are just energy fields. Matter is nothing but field vibrations.Einstein proved that the play and display in the whole universe is just an illusion - as everything we see is nothing but just different manifestations of the same energy.

The Modern Science

Modern scientific developments (like efforts in Unified Field Theory and string theory) are giving us a better understanding of the universe. Earlier, it was assumed that the space or vaccum is empty or void and energy and matter is something that exist in this vaccum - but now we know that vaccum itself is not void as we think - but it has information in it and energy is just vibration in the level of space or conciousness. The whole cosmos is one single organism, with its own intelligence. Each universe itself can emerge and re-emerge in this.(At this point, his talk reminded me what I read in Yoga Vasishta earlier)

The future of the world

Human beings are a species who can elevate their conciousness through meditation and by going deep with in, to gain access to this information, to be one with the cosmos. He told that he is sure that enligtened masters like Buddha, Jesus, Nabi etc did that. He also told that Guruji is doing the same. They experienced this truth and later, their followers took some part or other from the talks of their masters, and thus religions were formed. When you meditate, you can synchronize your awareness with the cosmic being.

He compared the current state of humans in earth to adolescence of a growing person. This is the time where the body of a person gains energy and develops muscles - but the intellect may not be matured enough - so that teenagers may go in to various activities that may harm themselves and others.Similarly, the existing human race in earth has the power and muscles brought by science, but the conciousness and awareness of the human species needs to be elevated so that the human race can use this power properly and constructively. For this, everyone should develop the feeling of one-ness with the cosmos, to that ultimate being, by elevating their conciousness.

The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war).Hence, the only possibility for human race to survive on this earth is to develop a sense of caring and sharing to their fellow beings, and to the nature - and only Spirituality can do that.All religions need to re-invent the element of spirituality with in - since all religions are true. And all of them explains the same nameless and formless conciousness in various names and forms. Problem starts when people start fighting by claiming that only the way they worship that ultimate being is correct.

Tailend

This talk reminded me a conversation happened in Janaka's palace (I heard it from a talk of Nechoor Venkataraman). Saint Yagyavalkya is answering the questions.Q: Where is the earth located? A: In water (the next state of matter is water)Q: Where is the water located? A: In air (the next state of matter is gas)Q: Where is air located?A: In fire (the next state of matter is plasma)Q: Where is fire located?A: In space (everything got emerged from the cosmic energy or space)Q: Where is space located?A: In the one who experience the space (where else the space can exist !!)


Thanks a lot,
Anoop

I've recently read the book Hyperspace by Dr Michio Kaku.. Very interesting. Here are some observations..

According to this book the universe has multi dimensions (10 according to hyperspace theory). Just as a square living in a two dimensional paper cannot visualize or think about a three dimensional world, we human beings may not be able to visualze multi dimensions, though it can be represented mathematically.

After reading that, I just related it with Yoga Vasishta, an ancient Indian Spiritual Text which describes various levels of conciousness and various dimensions of the universe. According to Kaku, the radius of next dimension is much smaller than the planck's constant, so that it is almost impossible to find it.

This resembled me the 'Sukshma loka' (subtle world) in Yoga Vasishta, where the conciousness can enter.

Indian Vedanta and culture is so deep and vast, and the ancient Rishis experimented various possiblities of human conciousness through techniques like meditation, and explored the universe in various ways. Yoga Vasishta even discusses techniques like Time Travel (Akshagamana) - and explains how human conciousness and mind can be fine tuned to attain such realms.

According to Vedanta, the whole nature (observing phenomena) is part of the self (observer), and there is no duality between the two (Advaita). According to Kaku, the String theory describes that the whole matter is nothing much vibration of energy.

Science knows that the base or substratum of matter is energy. Vendanta goes further - it explains the whole matter as vibration in the level of energy (much before Einstien), and continues further, to explain that the substratum or base of whole energy is conciousness (Prajna).

And Vedanta concludes that the Prajna is the divine (Prajnanam Brahma), and all beings are just the manifestation of the same conciousness (Aham Brahmasmi, That-tvam Asi).

And, Vedanta explains that the maximum possibility of Human life is to realize this conciousness- to be one with it. This can be experienced by anyone, by controlling his mind, like various masters at various ages did (Krishna, Buddha, Nabi, Jesus, Guru Gobind etc)

May be science is coming closer to reality.. Who knows.

The recent Bombay blasts has again coined up the term ‘Islamic Terrorism’ to the fore front. Terrorism, in any form is condemnable. But, at the same time, associating Terrorism with the whole of Islam is equally condemnable.

After the unfortunate Babri Masjid demolition and the violent reactions that succeeded that incident, in India, Muslims and Hindus are caught up in a religious trauma. I am sure that the Babri Masjid demolition was a painful incident for any secularist Indian. And since the Babri Masjid issue, this sensitive issue is used tactically by certain opponents of India to create communal distrust in our country. At the same time, Hindu and Islamic extremist groups used opportunities like this to add members to their organization and to strengthen their base.

A few so called religious and political ‘leaders’ playing religious play cards, are busy cultivating hatred and violence in the minds of their supporters – against other religions and groups. They often do this by reminding their followers about some unfortunate communal incidents or riots that had happened in the past. In this way, they cause an identity crisis in the mind of people, and turn them towards violence, mostly for securing their own positions. This is one of the most important problems our society is facing today. History shows that no one got enlightened by cultivating hatred in society – instead, the path to self realization is the path of selfless service, compassion, and sharing and caring for our fellow beings. This is the path shown by all prophets and religions.

These days, people are associated with a religion, just in the same way they are associated with a political party. Most people are caught up in the rituals and symbols of religions – and only a very few are implementing the real values in their life. Each person has a religious ego associated with him – and problem begins when a person start identifying himself as a member of this or that religion – even prior to identifying himself as a blissful human being and as a true Indian.

Instead of blaming each other, all Hindus and Muslims should understand the fact that a permanent solution for violence is not counter violence – instead, we can bring a change only through peace and harmony. Violence against violence is just like playing a merry go round – and this foolish cycle can only increase the hatred in society and the number of dead bodies.

Unfortunately, people use the term ‘disbeliever’ to describe some one who is outside their religion – instead, the term should be used to describe every one who kills each other in the name of God, with out realizing that God is love.

All people have goodness with in them – but temporal motivations from pleasures and false ideologies – be it money or be it a conceptual heaven after death - make them blind. Each person should understand that he is not going to find the divine if he cannot find divinity in the person very next to him – for prayer and meditation is seeing God with in us, love is seeing God in the person next to us, and wisdom is realizing that the God is omnipresent - Since God is the think dense blissful consciousness that fills everyone and everything.

What is the relation between love and meditation? here are some thoughts.

When we talk about love, there is

1) Attachment on physical level
2) Attachment on mental level
3) Connection or true love

Worldly love falls on firt two categories - because it is often conditional.

Meditation will raise your love from the first two levels to the third level.

And in this level, you are effortless, totally aware, centered, totally in love, and you see everything around you just as your SELF or conciousness or divine.

Only Divine love is complete. Love is our very nature, our very existence. Only divine love is limitless. It can bring out all the charm and beauty in life. Worldly love is an ocean, but even an ocean has a bottom. Divine love is like the limitless sky.

And in this form, love and meditation merges to a single point. And this is why Bible says God is love, and Bhagvat Gita says Love is your true nature :)

Be in total love, and if you are not yet there, meditate. For meditation will lead you to there, and finally, merges with love :)

This write up is in response to the article ‘The Pope and Freedom of religion in India’ by Prof. Dr. Anniyil Tharakan (New Indian Express, View Point, Page 2, May 30, 2006).

Pope’s concerns over the laws made by various states in India, banning religious conversion, ‘and there by infringing on religious freedom’ caused a lot of fury – especially among some of the BJP leaders. Let us thrust aside all the show offs from political parties involved in this matter – it may be because of pure political reasons. But still, there are some major facts to consider, regarding the statements made by the respected Pope.

Converting a person from one religion to another is simply changing the outer skin – and this won’t do any good if we can not uplift the moral and spiritual values of a person from with in. But in India, religious conversions are done purely for outer reasons, normally by offering material comforts, or by exploiting sentiments about a ‘better life’ after death.

By banning religious conversion in some of its states, India just send a clear message to the world that all the religions are equal, and we are committed to keep our well acknowledged religious tolerance and commitment towards communal harmony.

It is high time that we should get around the banana skin (which are the rituals and symbols in religions), and move towards the religious values which is the real banana. The values in all religions are the same – and they are eternal and universal. If a Christian can not find God through Christianity, he is not going to do that just by changing his outer label to a Hindu. Similarly, a Hindu or a Muslim can not realize himself or the Divine or the unseen consciousness or Allah, just by changing to another religion.

As I got enough opportunities to interact with a number of so called ‘converted’ people, I can clearly state that these types of conversions only mounded up their religious confusions and worries. This happens often, mainly because suddenly these people are coming to a new set of rituals and symbols which may contradict with their present rituals and existing beliefs. Their new ideology will not match with their existing thinking and traditions, and add up their mental frustrations.

Freedom of a person is limited by laws - to protect him, and to protect the society. Even if a person interested in suicide himself, there are laws that prevent it. Similarly, in present day society, a religious conversion can be considered as a spiritual suicide – since it causes frustration and self-conflict in ones own mind – and hence it should be banned by law.

It is the responsibility of the state to protect people from undergoing such problems and exploitations, and hence, I strongly feel that religious conversions should be banned all over India. It is important to understand that this is not about infringing in to the religious freedom of people.

India has already shown the world that human values, peace and harmony can be promoted with out mixing any colour of religion to spirituality. Various spiritual leaders in India have done that in the past, and India is still doing it.

We have a lot of spiritual leaders who clearly set the examples – like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mata Amritanandamayi, Sri Satya Sai Baba etc. Around the world, they are converting people from stressed and strained ones to self contented, service minded, peace loving people. They are not even worried about the religious labels associated with the people they influence. And they even ask people to think beyond religion, to move towards the real values and spirituality. This is because, religion is often used as a measure by most to achieve one’s own selfish desires – while spirituality is all about service, caring and sharing.

The church may take a clue out of this. It is not required to worry about the laws that prevent religious conversions – since these laws simply ban the assignment of a new religious label to a converted person. And everyone will agree that simply assigning a new religious label won’t do any good to anyone. At this point, I would like to mention that we should think and talk about spirituality and human values – and not about the outer covering – i.e, the symbols, rituals and labels associated with religions.


You can find good water any where, but you should dig deep enough. We should learn to take the spirit-uplifting human values and knowledge from all religions - to help us deepen the faith in our own religion and to instil human values and self contentment with in us. Self Realization or realizing the global consciousness, and finding the Kingdom of God with in, is not limited to the people in a particular cast or community. This is the great vision of Sanathana Dharma, which forms the root of India’s history and culture.

Hence, the laws that prevent religious conversions will not cause any threat to the religious equality and religious harmony of the country.

Through which specs you are reading this?
I feel to laugh

You see, that glass is just yours.
Just as I have my own.

The moment these words come out,
Those become yours, just as they are mine.

And from where they are coming?
I can see them only after they are there.

But for now, let me take the doer-ship
Though I may take births again

Or may I go beyond the cycle,
And Oh Lord, may I see the light?

I am tired, reading the same stories,
Only my glasses are changing

With out light, how can I read?
But I am still changing my specs

In response To 'Jalarekhakal' by S GopalaKrishnan - Malayalam Varika, 2005 April 29

I just read your article The Ligtened Darkspot (Prakashamanamaya Thamobindu). The name itself is excellent. I would like to share some more thoughts about the ‘dark spot’ you mentioned.

You mentioned in your article that you are a non believer. It seems interesting and funny. Exactly as your friend told to you, your mind reaches the dark spot (or gets blank) at some stage - it is when the mind gets completely settled – or when you are completely in the present moment – or when you are in expanded awareness. Normally, your mind is full of thoughts – either worrying about the past or agonizing about the future.

What do you think right now? Observe your mind right now, what is there inside? What is the first thought that comes to your mind?

You’ll get blank. This is Pragya or awareness. I think Pragya is the Sanskrit word for your ‘dark spot’. This is the present moment.

It is all about experiencing the present moment or the dark spot as you put it. The dark spot is NOW. When your mind is in present moment, you don’t have any thoughts, and then you experience the formless. All your demands and thoughts will stop. Unconditional joy and bliss dawns. Children are always in this state, isn’t it? This is the dark spot. The dark spot is the present moment. It is here, right now. And realize that all the rituals, practices and customs in all religions are to bring you to that dark spot.

According to the famous theory of Einstein, matter is just energy (E=mc2) isn’t it? If we decompose anything around us, we just end up in sub atomic particles, which are waves and particles at the same time. According to the quantum theory, matter is just vibration in the level of energy. And if matter is just energy, where does this energy manifests as matter? It is in the level of observer, in the level of conscious ness. With out conscious ness this energy cannot manifest as matter. For an event to take place, there should be an observer, isn’t it? This is the basis of relativity theory.

Hence, we can say that the whole universe manifests in the observer, or with out an observer, there is no universe (or Brahma) around him. The conscious ness or such ness or divine or atman or God, itself is the Brahma or universe. This is why Rigveda says, ‘Prajnanam Brahma’ or the conscious ness itself is the whole (or universe) around you. The Human body is capable enough for experiencing this conscious ness. Experiencing this conscious ness with in you is called as Realization, enlightment, moksha etc etc, by various realized masters at various times. These days, we speak about God men, and it is quite funny that there is a scientific possibility of finding God men around us – they are people who are living in your ‘dark spot’ all the time. You will experience a trace of this conscious ness when your mind is in present moment.

That is all about the dark spot you just wrote about. It is where you are in total awareness, and it is what about Swami Vivekananda, Parama hamsa Yogananda and such people mentioned about when they experienced the same. Read the books - Autobiography of a Yogi and Yoga Vasishta - if you haven’t done that yet. And after that, start meditating for some days – Ha ha. You may get some more clues regarding the dark spot.

The nature of this dark spot is unconditional joy and bliss, and GOD is just a symbol to take you there. First you concentrate on some symbol, and in the end you even throw that symbol away – to reach this dark spot. And this is what various masters tried to convey at various times – Jesus Christ called it the ‘Kingdom of God within you’, and Hindu Philosophy called it ‘Moksha’. Krishna says to Arjuna, “Those who realize my form as formless will reach me”. It is all about reaching that dark spot, to synchronize your conscious ness with the universal conscious ness. Again, the name dark spot reminds me the concept of black hole – where time stops and all our rational views break. Realize that the dark spot you just mentioned is a trace of bliss, a trace of your conscious ness, a trace of your own source. We are discussing all these things in the level of intellect, but you can experience the dark spot only with your heart. Finding the path from your head to heart is ‘Bhakti’ or surrendering to something around you – it may be a stone, a wood piece, some forces of nature, anything. Religion is just the skin and spirituality is the Banana.

After all, it doesn’t matter whether you are a believer or skeptic to realize this dark spot. But of course, from my personal experience, it is better to gain it from some one who experienced the same – like an enlightened master.

Often, you feel that you are working hard with out obtaining much output, reputation or result.
How to gain the maximum from you? In Hindu philosophy, there is the symbol of Lord Mahavishnu sleeping on Anantha, the snake. Vishnu is resting on Anantha, and the snake Anantha is the symbol of alertness. The lotus flower that comes from the abdomen of Mahavishnu is interpreted as the birth place of Lord Brahma, the creator.

This is a wonderful interpretation of creativity. Maximum creativity comes from you when you are Restfully Alert.

You can become restfully alert only when you have enough prana or subtle life force energy with in you. Meditating, chanting, going to worshiping places like churches, mosques and temples, playing with children etc will increase your prana. Alertness comes from awareness and awareness comes from dispassion. Becoming dispassionate will help you to de link the observer from the event and this take you beyond the event – and beyond an event, there is the real truth.

In Hinduism and Christianity, there is a practice of wearing ash in forehead. Wearing ash in fore head reminds you how impermanent and insignificant you are. It is just like reminding you “I am nothing, I want nothing”

Experiencing the inner joy will make everything else insignificant.

Every thing around us, everything we see and feel, is just energy in the subtle level. It is in our conciousness where this energy manifests as object (remember E=Mc2). This is the basis of Indian Philosophy. Everything manifests in our conciousness, and this causes the universe around us, which is called 'Maya'. Conciousness is the real source of joy or bliss, and all relgious practices, meditations etc are to take you to this source :). When the feeling of 'I' ends, conciousness and bliss dawns. Read my article about miracles at http://www.logicmatrixonline.com/anoop/art/miracles/miracles.htm for a more detailed discussion

Heard a talk from Nechoor Venkataraman about Ramayana. He interpreted Lanka as the human mind, Ravana as the Rajasic nature of human mind, Kumbhakarna as the tamasic nature and Vibhishana as the satvic nature. His talks about Bhagavatha are really providing me a lot of intutions. Seems that he is enlightened..lol :)). Also, saw a nice site today. http://www.realization.org . They have a translation of Ashtavakra Gita http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0004.htm

Here are the results of my experiments with love.

• Possessiveness is often mis interpreted as love.
• Possessiveness causes attachment and entanglement, which limits our creativity.True love is non possessive. It won't look for proofs.
• Unconditional love will not demand. If you demand love, then your love is conditional.
• The basic cause of annoyance in all relationship is the fear of losing respect. See this quotes from Guruji

• "Only renunciation can sustain love and joy. Without renunciation love turns into misery, possessiveness, jealousy and anger. Renunciation brings contentment and contentment sustains love. Without renunciation one gets discontented, frustrated, sad, fearful, suspicious, analytical. And the whole soap opera begins. And this is what we find in society , don't we?"
• "When you love someone you dont see anything wrong in them. Even if you see some fault in them you justify the fault and say Well everyone does it, it is normal. You think you have not done enough for them. The more you do, the more you want to do for them. They are always in your mind. Ordinary things become extraordinary. For eg. A baby winking at grandmother. You want them to be yours exclusively. When you love someone, you want to see them always happy and you want them to have the best . You get hurt even over small things"

Only Divine love is complete. Love is our very nature, our very existence. Only divine love is limitless. It can bring out all the charm and beauty in life. Worldly love is an ocean, but even an ocean has a bottom. Divine love is like the limitless sky. Sans limits, Sans boundaries. :)