Knowing the truth is one thing and having the courage to say it a different thing. We usually try to block the resurfacing of truth from our memories as this helps in not fulfilling our responsibilities that come with knowing the truth. Knowing someone's secret brings with it a lot of silent suffering and responsibility. Think a million times before revealing secrets to anyone.
Many people are afraid of Emptiness, because it reminds them of Loneliness. Everything has to be filled in, but when all the spaces are filled , the Loneliness starts creeping in.
All over the globe, women usually live longer than men. May be that is why females do Karva chauth for males. Vice versa is not logical.https://time.com/5538099/why-do-women-live-longer-than-men/
Generation Stress!High levels of stress are new norms.
Both living and nonliving things age. Aging affects everything in the universe as aging is nothing else other than the passage of time. Even universe ages.
We know that one day we are going to die. Simple knowledge of this fact makes us strive for making it purposeful. We develop a longing to fill it with love, sharing, and giving.
Keeping ourselves busy is not a skill. These days anyone can keep himself or herself busy. Important skill is to make time for our physical, emotional, spiritual betterment and to have time for others.
Mental health issues are increasing due to confinement in homes during Covid 19 pandemic. Not just think about pets and animals in zoos. Are they not confined in tight spaces? What about their mental health?
Seclusion from looking at sufferings and grief may be one of the reasons for long life of yogis. Suffering and grief affects brain, motivation, heart, overall strenght, and positive attitute. Repeated exposure to sadness in society may lead to shorter life span.
Getting mukti is easier than keeping devotion. Hanuman did not ask of mukti, he got the boon of immortality and is still living as a Ram's devotee.
Adam and eve committed sin and their entire progeny became sinner. By surrendering to God, they get rid of their sins. It means that keep doing as many sins as you want and then get rid of those by surrendering to God.
Bhartiya believe that engaging in sexual pleasure activity is a state which prevents us from reaching moksha. It is kind of a sin. They surrender to Bhagwan to get moksha, not to remove the sin. They have to work themselves to get away from sin. Bhagwan does not take their sin away. Everyone needs to do his or her own karm.
Honesty is good. However, honest facts and opinions can be given in a polite way. Honesty plus love plus politesness plus humbleness is best.
Calling a blind person oye anndhe is honest statement but it is very offensive and demeaning. It will entangle the caller in karm cycle.
Shiva asked Ganga to fall on his head and then he released water on earth. Is this a fact, stated in the form of a story?
Snow (from sky) accumulates on mountains. It then slowly melts, water falls through the mountains and then flows on the earth.
Brahma created this universe. Universe is maya or illusion. May be that is why no one prays to Brahma. He entangled us in this maya and karmcycle.
Values are more important than following the religion. Not going to temples, offering prayers, engaging in cultural events, etc. does not make anyone a bad person.
Atheists can be very good people. A very religious person can be a bad human being.
Why offer pooja to Sun, Moon, etc.? Sun and all planets are doing their duty or kartavya. All planets, galasies are doing their Dharma. Whether we offer prayers to them or no, they will keep doing their Dharma. Sun gives heat and light to everyone equally. It does not differentiate based on who is offering prayers. We greet others by saying namaste and bowing down. Explanation of this practice is that there is Bhagwan inside everyone and we are bowing down in front of the Bhagwan. Using this logic, we should keep saying namaste to ourself as there is Bhagwan inside us also.
People want to make memories and give memories. However, memories are a type of attachment and may become a source of grief and sorrow.
YOLO and Moksha/Karma theory are not mutually exclusive. YOLO concept helps us in doing good karm as we only have one life and therefore only one chance to give goodness.
Is fake smile or laugh good? It is better than no smile or laugh(in most situations). There is a saying- fake it until it becomes real.
There is a vast difference between a comfortable life and a meaningful life. A purposeful life prevents aimless wandering and encourages us to get out of bed. Self-discipline brings self-confidence as a reward. New horizons are waiting for us, but we need to move in that direction with focus and attention. For this journey, we don't need a lot of things. Instead, we need to shed unnecessary things. Short-term materialistic pleasures are pointless and aimless distractions.
For new chapters to open, we need to close the old ones. We are the authors of our journey and destination. We can do anything we set our mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing our fears.
When we are not mentally, emotionally, and spiritually complete and self-sufficient, we often seek meaning and completeness from others or relations and lean towards them. However, remember that dependency on others for wholeness is a path to failure. We are doomed to crash/break down when this support goes away. We should be complete in ourselves and surround ourselves with people who themselves are complete. Spiritually self-sustaining people can share a joyful journey without the risk of breakdown or falling apart.
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Walk beside me and be my friend.
Why do we want to live longer and become immortal. Immortals can not attain Moksha which is the ultimate goal. They are stuck in life.
Happy Western New Year to all who celebrate.
Earthly New years come, move forward moment by moment, and end. The time cycle continues. However, in these passing moments, we have to move towards our goals with inner strength. We need to reflect on our efforts to achieve these goals. Introspection is required to see if these goals will give us eternal happiness.
On this New Year, let's pray to Supreme Power to show us the path of truth, light, and Moksha. Let's ask for strength to never stray from this path.
Let's pray for everyone's health, well-being, progress, peace, and happiness. May everyone achieve new heights of success and bliss.
Sadhak, Sadhana, and Sadhya.
Everyone is a sadhak (seeker), as everyone is seeking something. Even a lazy person is a sadhak as he is seeking rest.
Sadhana is different for everyone. It is the way, process, means, or path.
Sadhya (Goal or purpose) may be the same or different.
It is crucial to know both sadhya and sadhana. If the goal is known, sadhana can be more efficient. Higher sadhya/goal requires extraordinary or long sadhana. Sadhana continues until sadhya is achieved. Never lose sight of sadhya while doing sadhana. The disconnect between sadhana and sadhya does not lead sadhak anywhere.
Sadhak (we) are here, and Sadhya is in sight. Sadhana needs perfection to remove ignorance and purify the inner self.
Many of us start our spiritual journey after witnessing some painful events in our life. Mahatama Buddh adopted the spiritual path after witnessing multiple disturbing, unexplained, and unanswerable events.
The spiritual journey is long and needs persistence and quest. सोना आग में तपकर ही कुंदन बनता है. A man who dharmically overcomes life struggles shines brightly with a beautiful radiating aura around him.
As we move forward in our life, we keep meeting many people, things, concepts, experiences, realizations, etc. In the life journey, it is necessary to leave behind many of these. What is important, relevant, or needed at one point in the journey may need to be abandoned at some other point. If we get stuck at one point we will never reach the destination.
Flowers come first, and then fruits. To become fruits, flowers have to go. This process does not make flowers unnecessary. However, it is required to become fruit.
The egg evolves into a caterpillar, the caterpillar into a chrysalis, and the chrysalis into a butterfly. To attain the next stage, the previous stage needs to go. It does not make the previous stages unimportant or unnecessary. However, its dissolution is needed to evolve.
It is important to stay positive, but more important is to shun the negative draining energy and unnecessary entanglement.
What do we have? Destiny or free will?
Past karma will bring situations, challenges, obstacles, etc. This is destiny. We have no control over this.
How we respond to these situations is free will. We can control our reactions by executing free will.
So, the answer is both. We have destiny as well as free will.
Situations are there in everyone's life. If our inner strength and mental state are fragile, the same affairs become monstrous problems or stumbling blocks. If our mental state is stable, then these situations are just challenges. If our mental state is strong, we can practice equanimity in all circumstances and turn obstacles into opportunities.
Human birth is a matter of punya karm in past lives. Death is a matter of time. State after birth is a matter of Karms.
Expression of feelings is a step towards healing. Positive thinking, hope, and optimism can do miracles. Thought energy is very impactful.
Never make an opinion by listening to one party. Other parties may have a completely different perspective. Even when we listen to both parties, the truth may be something else. Many do not tell the complete truth, and there may be things they can not say even if they want to.
People say that every time they read Gita, they understand it differently.
Is this not true for almost all reading materials? For the last eight years, there is a calendar with quotes in my mudroom. Often, I come up with a different understanding and interpretation of these quotes.
With every rereading, new thoughts come to mind, and we may have a different experience.
It is more likely to happen if there is a long gap between the reading and rereading, as our life experiences may have changed during that period. New life experiences make us see things differently.
Life challenges give us the opportunity to stay on the path of perseverance and make us stronger and wiser. However, this only comes with tapas, willpower, ego destruction, and surrender. Often, the so-called sufferings become a driving force to gain new perspectives and solace. To get these, we have to observe emotions with awareness, replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts, and remove mental sluggishness and weakness. The new perspectives may make us alienated. Do not be afraid of isolation. New, authentic relations emerge from this.
जीवन की चुनौतियाँ हमें दृढ़ता के पथ पर बने रहने का अवसर देती हैं और हमें मजबूत और समझदार बनाती हैं। हालाँकि, यह केवल तप, इच्छाशक्ति, अहंकार विनाश और समर्पण के साथ आता है। अक्सर, तथाकथित कष्ट नए दृष्टिकोण और सांत्वना प्राप्त करने के लिए प्रेरक शक्ति बन जाते हैं। इन्हें प्राप्त करने के लिए हमें जागरूकता के साथ भावनाओं का निरीक्षण करना होगा, नकारात्मक विचारों को सकारात्मक विचारों से बदलना होगा और मानसिक सुस्ती और कमजोरी को दूर करना होगा। नये दृष्टिकोण हमें विमुख कर सकते हैं। अलगाव से न डरें. इससे नये, प्रामाणिक रिश्ते सामने आते हैं।
Body immortality is completely opposite of moksha. These are opposite ends of a pole and never meet each other.
In dharna, dhyan, and initial stages of samadhi, our past karmas come in the mind. Without zero karmic balance, samadhi can not be attained. For zero karmic balance, eithe we have to take rebirths or we have to visualize the karmas and visualize repeatedly in the way which leads to zero karmic balance.
Swayamvar--Swayam means self and var is groom. The word means, self selection of the groom. However, there are stories in which a challenge was decided and whoever completed that challenge was selected as the groom. So, how is this swamvar?. Challenge was selected by father or other family members, invitations were given by family members. Where was the girls choice?
Dec 10, 2024
Animals, birds, plants heal themselves if they get wounded. In the movie "My octopus teacher", the octopus completely regrows its lost limb. Many living creatures can self medicate and groom themselves. Some use their own saliva to heal wounds/injuries. Zoopharmacognosy is a well accepted concept.
Machines/robots can repair and charge themselves.
Some believe that humans can reverse their diseases by their thoughts and vibrational energy. This is such an immense healing power.
Dec 10, 2024
Some yogis give examples of animals who have low or high breathing rates and compare their life spans with their breathing rates. The most common example is a tortoise that breathes roughly once per minute and lives for hundreds of years, and dogs which breathe very fast and live for less than 30 years. However, these people do not give the complete picture. Tortoise is a very slow-moving animal. They usually eat fish and small animals in their youth and become mainly vegetarian in old age as they can not catch prey. Life span is not correlated entirely to the number of breaths per minute. Elephants breathe at a rate of 4-12 per minute. However, their life span is almost the same as humans, 70 years. Look at the breath rate and lifespan of allegator, salmon, scorpion, etc.
Everyone's life is unique. Why should we copy other species' life patterns? Why do we need to practice zillions of Asans to look like other creatures? Is it to become physically fit? Animals are physically fit even without copying human postures. Plants and birds do not copy humans to become physically fit. We are unique and should keep our uniqueness.
Some people think that humans can become completely disease-free and fit just by our thoughts.
Bharti Raizada