%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |   As the first blog entry got exhausted. My second book |
| Evolution of Love Part 2 |
| All people, men of piety as well as atheists, rich or poor, young or old, male or female, even infants have free access to Her. She is often heard to utter with a laugh, “Why do you bother about the time and opportunity to see me ? Don’t you find that my doors are always open?” Although owing to the illusory attractions of the world, you often forget this little daughter of yours, you may rest assured that your worries and tribulations are ever before my eyes. Nothing appears strange to Mother who watches all things without the help of the physical eye, who can read all thoughts without the assistance of the spoken word, who seeing and hearing, moves about like one soaring far above, totally unconcerned with the affairs of this world and yet in live touch with them. Day and night, unconcerned with Her personal comfort or fatigue, She appears to be waiting for all men, be they in distress or at ease. People flock round Her from early morning till late at night. Some are painting her forehead with vermilion drops, others dressing Her hair, yet others offering to give Her a bath, or to wash Her face and mouth, or to clean Her teeth with tooth paste. Some may request Her permission to change Her sari, others express a desire to put some sweets or a slice of fruit into Her mouth, some whisper their secret requests into Her ear, others are eager to have a private interview with Her. Some may even be bold enough to disperse the crowd surrounding Her, saying:— ”Please move away, don’t trouble Mother in this manner.” But think of Mother! She sits up, hour after hour, day after day, in Her exquisitely peaceful manner in the midst of all this noise and bustle, rush and tussle; She remains steady and firm with a face brimming over with cheerfulness, meeting all the various demands or prayers with such loving grace that the whole atmosphere appears to be over-flowing with heavenly joy and happiness. The hearts of the people assembled may not all be equally attracted by Her dignity, but Her sweet and compassionate glances fall with equal tenderness upon all human beings like the golden rays of the sun at dawn. Nobody has yet been found to come away from Her presence in despair or dejection. Mother says ,— “God’s world is made up of both, people who understand its nature and who do not. They have to be kept satisfied with just the toys they want.” For this very reason nobody has yet been able to say, “Mother is not mine, but yours”; whoever has the good fortune to be in intimate touch with Her, must have felt, “Mother is mine and mine only”. All have opened their innermost hearts to Her and have found new hope and peace in return. It is beyond our power to realise how Mother plays with Her devotees. We have found Her responding to the two conflicting emotions- of joy at the birth of a son and of sorrow over a child’s death- at the same time, with equal warmth. We have also seen Her weeping with a lady mourning over the loss of her son and laughing joyously with a happy person. Such contradictory impulses find a wonderful synthesis in Her. We have found Her using sweet, soothing words of comfort to the distressed imploring Her blessings, while withdrawing Her feet from their grasp. She appeared to be quite unconcerned at another lying prostrate at Her feet for a pretty long time. One day a lady who had lost her son fell at Her feet wailing bitterly. Mother began to weep and shed tears so profusely with the bereaved mother, held close in Her embrace, that the latter came to forget all her woes; on the hand exclaimed, “Mother, be comforted, I shall not weep over my son’s death anymore.” Many of us have found immense joy simply looking at Her, touching the dust of Her feet or hearing Her sweet words, which cause an influx of pure thoughts and sentiments in our hearts. Once a friend of mine who had lately returned from England with a mind soaked with Western ideas, came at my request to see Mother - He said that at the sight of Mother, the mantra which he had received from his Guru long, long ago before sailing abroad, and which he had almost forgotten, revived in his memory. There are many instances showing how by sitting at Her feet people acquired the power of concentration and devotion to enable them to worship God and to contemplate the Divine. Keeping Her as an ideal to be followed whole heartedly, with a sacred regard for Her person, many people have advanced on the spiritual path. Once at the Siddhesvari temple when Mother was in a trance, a girl of sixteen or seventeen was so moved with wonder and joy that she embraced Mother. At the touch the girl was overcome with rapture and rolled on the floor crying repeatedly, “Han, Ha [7]~. For three or four days this blissful state continued. We have also heard that at the sight of Mother or at the touch of Her hand many people repented. of their past transgressions and advanced in spiritual life. In a large city in the United Provinces (now known as Uttar Pradesh) a very respectable lady, the wife of a high Government official, came to see Mother. After she had sat by Her side for some time, she so deeply repented of some of her past sins that when she returned home she confessed all her guilt to Her husband, asking him to shoot her and put an end to her vicious career. Mother came to know of this, called both husband and wife and found means to restore their normal domestic relations. It is also well known that persons who were ordinarily-slighted by all as sinful or worthy of contempt, could find easy access to Mother and were induced to recover from their evil ways. Mother always says, “I want specially those very persons, who have no prop to support them on their path to good life.” Instances are not rare of people, entirely ignorant of the spiritual life, who could feel an upward drive by an attitude of self-surrender to Her. On the other hand, many learned scholars or adepts in religious practices were found to come to Her for a few days and then go back filled with their own self-conceit. Mother says,—“Nothing takes place unless the appointed time arrives; everybody gets as much as he deserves. |
| We have teeth to chew food. To break it down. To masticate it. To salivate it. Teeth facilitate cutting, tearing, chewing and grinding of food particles into smaller parts. Think of your mouth like a mixer-grinder. We have a stomach to further digest the food. We may often think of the stomach as a mixer-grinder too, but what it really does, is it heats up the food (like an oven) & bathes the food in gastric acid (hydrochloric acid) to break it down further. When digestive activity is at its peak in the stomach, its pH level is close to 1, similar to that of battery acid!🔋 🐢When we chew slowly & mindfully, we allow our salivary glands to bathe the food with saliva - which, with its enzymes (amylase and lipase), makes the food digestible as it goes further down through the oesophagus into the stomach. There is an old saying that “you have 32 teeth, chew your food 32 times”3️⃣2️⃣. Food that is properly chewed so as to become a liquid paste, is easy on the digestive system starting with the stomach. 👨💻👩💻Think of your body as an office where multiple departments work on the same file (here, food) one after the other. In an office sometimes files reaching your desk are incomplete because the preceding department hasn’t done their work. Once in a while, you’ll put up with it. But if it happens day after day, you revolt. That’s what happens with acid reflux, bloating, indigestion - it’s the stomach throwing up its hands in despair. 🥴 It can’t stand it anymore that the preceding department (here, the mouth) is sending partially-chewed food down to it all the time. The stomach needs to then work extra-hard to digest these big particles of food. Designed also as an oven, it has to then raise the temperature far more than it would have had to earlier, in the process creating discomfort. ⏳So, if you can spend a few extra minutes on your health today, spend them on chewing more. Making sure that what you are sending down is water-like and a fine paste. Your stomach & your body will thank you for it. 🎀BONUS - To chew your food properly, you have to, well, eat slowly. When you slow down, you will feel fuller, sooner. And your food intake will naturally align itself with your “requirements”. You will feel lighter & energetic after a meal - not heavy/stuffed/lethargic. In the long run and with consistent practice of chewing slowly & eating the right foods, your weight will manage itself. So, count your chews, not your calories :) |
| After the coronation was over, Hanumanji stayed in Ayodhya and showed so much of eagerness and engaged fully in doing all the services to Rama. There was no chance left for others to do any type of service to their beloved Lord Rama. Lakshman, Bharata, and Shatrugna felt that they were not able to serve at all. They asked Mother Sita to do something for this. Sita Devi said that she is also sailing in the same boat because she was also not able to serve her Prabhu. They decided to make a service schedule and divide all the services among themselves and leave out Hanumanji. So all the four broke their heads and used all their intelligence and wrote all the services right from the morning till Lord Rama goes for rest. They gave the service schedule to Sita Devi to get the approval from Lord Rama. She took the schedule to Rama. When Rama went through the schedule, he realized that no service was allowed to Hanumanji. He understood the feelings of His brothers and Sita Devi and the ploy behind leaving out Hanumanji. He also could visualize what is going to happen but He simply smiled and asked Sita what should He do. Sita Devi asked Lord Rama to just fix his signature and seal on the list so that it becomes an official order. Lord Rama did so and the list was displayed on the notice board. Next day, Hanumanji innocently went to Lord Rama’s room to do service, to press Rama’s leg. Immediately Lakshman told Hanumanji that it is not his service and it is allotted to Shatrugna. Lakshman said that they have made a service schedule which is approved by Rama, so everything should go accordingly. Then Hanumanji saw the schedule. He found that no service was allotted to him. He started feeling and crying for being left out. After some time he consoled himself and asked Lakshman if he could do any service which is not mentioned in the list. Lakshman also agreed to that because he was a hundred percent confident that he has not left any service. After thinking for a while, Hanumanji said that he will do the yawning service. When the Lord yawns, he will snap his fingers to protect him from all the evil effects. They didn't know the seriousness of this service when they agreed. Nobody can predict when yawning comes so Hanumanji was always required to stay with Rama. He was always keeping his fingers ready to snap. He took his prasadam with his left hand and kept his right hand ready to snap when Rama yawns. That much he was determined in his service. Sita, Lakshman, Bharata, and Shatrugna were completely bewildered at this turn of the situation. Rama smiled inside and thought that all of their intelligence put together cannot equal Hanumanji’s intelligence. Then night came. Rama went to take rest in the bedroom. Hanumanji also followed Him. Sita Devi stopped him, reminding Hanumanji about her domain. But Hanumanji was so determined in his service that he said this yawning service is most required at night time and he has to be with the Lord and it is very much essential. Seeing this discussion, Lord Rama asked Hanumanji to go and take rest. Having received the order, Hanumanji had no other option but to leave Lord Rama and go. Yet he thought how he can continue his service without any break. So he went to the bedroom balcony and started snapping his fingers and chanting Rama’s name. Rama started yawning repeatedly. Soon Lord Rama’s mouth locked wide open in a monster yawn. He collapsed into a chair, pale with exhaustion. Then everybody came and all were perplexed. Sage Vasishta came, looked around and understood the situation and found that Hanumanji is missing in the arena. They all searched and somehow located Hanumanji from the balcony and bought him. Hanumanji saw the condition of his Lord, and immediately stopped snapping his fingers and fell at the feet of Rama. Rama’s mouth closed only at that instant. Rama wanted to accept the service of his pure devotee. So it was not Hanuman’s snap for Rama’s yawn. It was Rama’s yawn for Hanuman’s snap. We have to see how the Lord reciprocates with His pure devotee. Then all the brothers and Sita Devi realized the determination of Hanumanji for loving service to his Lord and decided that they will not interfere in that. Moral of the story: In those days devotees were competing to do more service. But nowadays people are finding means for abstaining from doing any service. Hanumanji showed so much of eagerness to perform devotional service. In Valmiki Ramayan Canto 5 Chapter1 Verse 198 says, yasya tvataani chatvaari / vaanarendra yatha tava dhritir drishtir matir daakshyam / sa karmasu na seedati “O best among the vanaras, whoever has the four qualities of courage, vision, intelligence and expertise will never fail in any task.” Four important aspects to complete any activity: 1. dhritih – Resolute or determined to the task 2. drshtih – Foresight 3. matih – Intelligence and analytical skills 4. daakshyam – Expertise or perfection in performing the activity All these four qualities are required to complete both the material and spiritual activities successfully. We can see all these aspects of Hanumanji. |
| Datta Patil is a resident of Santa Clara, California. He earns a lucrative income as the Director of Engineering at Yahoo, USA. But his heart resides in Halgara, a tiny village in the Latur district of Maharashtra, where he was born. Datta makes sure he visits his family once in every year, and take them on pilgrimages. It was during one such trip in 2016 that he forayed into transforming Halgara from a drought-hit to a drought-free village. In the last three years, he has spent over 22 lakhs from his own pocket recharging the groundwater level. Apart from desilting canals with his motivated team which consisted of friends, families, and villagers, Datta built 26 check dams. In fact, if you were to look at the satellite images of Halgara before 2016 and after 2018, you’d be stunned at the green cover that now graces it. But how did he do all this? Read here to find out: https://www.thebetterindia.com/169271/latur-swades-real-story-water-drought-vill... |
| Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. |
| 🌺🍀 MATRI GURU NAMAMAHYAM 🍀🌺 The physical aspect through which the inscrutable Power that we call Sri Sri Anandamayee Ma manifests Itself, is only a tiny part of It, and probably not the most important. Mother has frequently repeated that She is all-pervading, that She never goes, nor comes anywhere, that She was never born and so on. Thus, it is evident that She is not the physical body, which seems to be only an instrument, representing the link between us and the Divine Power : Mother's physical frame, although looking apparently as one of us, is in essence completely different. It is an aprakrita, supernatural manifestation which has not come according to natural laws, and is not subject to them. In her early life, Mother has on many occasions shown Her independence where natural laws are concerned. All Her devotees have read or heard about the shrinking of Her body which became like a small heap and its becoming unnaturally big at other times. For long periods Mother could stay without food or with a very tiny quantity of food or water without any change in Her physical aspect; pain of any kind does not seem to affect Her in the least. On many instances the laws of gravity appeared to have lost their validity with regard to her body. As for example the body becoming as light as a feather or revolving at an extraordinary speed like a dead leaf carried along by the wind. All these things I have not witnessed but only heard or read about. But surely, the most amazing thing I find, is that She behaves in our natural way as an ordinary person. It is very difficult for those who are under the sway of natural laws, to reach a stage where one is able to reverse these laws and be their master to a certain extent. Much more difficult is it to ignore nature completely and identify oneself with the Eternal Witness, unruffled by earthly troubles. But extremely rare are those sages for whom there is no difference between the highest states of illumination and ordinary life; for them the Supreme is revealed even in what we call the trivialities of daily life. A fixed span of life has been allotted for the life of every human being including the ' jivan-mukta'. The duration of the body is subject to 'prarabdha'. Not so in Mother's case : She is free to leave the body at any moment or to keep it for the whole kalpa (era) if this be Her 'kheyal'. But Mother has no desire to act in one way or another. It is the yearning of Her devotees which keeps Her, through the fetters of Her own infinite love just as an affectionate Mother is bound by the cries of her baby, who although helpless is nevertheless all-powerful because of his Mother's love. Some people may ask : What is the use of such a limiting adjust as a physical body, if Mother's power is all-pervading beyond space and time and as many people have experienced, helping as well when near by as when far off, no matter at what distance ? Besides would not the attachment which so many people feel for Mother's physical presence be delusive, a kind of ' moha '? First of all, let me answer that people who are to already free from every kind of attachment, who are ' nirmoha ', are in fact realised sages. For all others, attachment to such a Being as Mother is the highest possible attachment on earth, and will burn in due time all other kinds of moha. "By moha for this body (meaning Herself) all other kinds of moha will vanish" I have once heard Mother say. Now a Divine Incarnation is of tremendous benefit to all embodied beings. This help manifests itself in many ways. I shall write only about a few of these of which, from my limited angle of vision I have been able to get a glimpse. I don't intend to speak here of Her main function self evident to everybody, that is to say Her enlightening words on spiritual topics, Her guidance and precious advice to sadhakas, neither of Her action as a guru, which does not depend on Her physical frame. But only of some other aspects not so apparent, although of great importance. In the realm of the 'ahamkara', the ego, where almost all of us are living, there is no real love. What is nearest to love known to 'ahamkara' is 'moha', attachment. Real love would presuppose the ego's dissolution, its end. The root of all its actions is the instinct of preservation. All its thoughts revolve round the protection of its body and its welfare. In order to free oneself from the clutches of this ego, one has first to resist its tendencies and for this purpose cultivate the pure qualities, the daivi sampat. We have all read in books about satya, ahimsa, etc., and listened to much talk and good advice about these. But to actually see these qualities in a living being expressed in the details of his daily life, is surely quite another thing. Through Mother's physical frame, all these qualities shine to their utmost perfection. If it were not so why would so many people be attracted by Her ? How rare it is to come across somebody completely free from any kind of fear : abhayam is indeed only possible when one does not anymore perceive anything different from one's own self. Even the Gods are subject to fear. Through fear Agni burns, etc. says the Upanishad. For about seven years I have had the good fortune of living under Mother's guidance, I have never been able to detect in Her features the slightest trace of fear. What a joy it is to admire such a countenance! Ahimsa, non - injury to any living being is more common. Mother shows us by Her own example how it can be practiced in daily life and brought to perfection. Not to kill any living being is a self-evident duty for a sadhaka. But not to cause harm to anybody, be it through words, action or abstention from action, even by one's mere presence or in thought, is certainly much more difficult. |
| I've never made a fortune, And I'll never make one now But it really doesn't matter 'Cause I'm happy anyhow. As I go along my journey I'm reaping better than I've sowed I'm drinking from the saucer 'Cause my cup has overflowed. I don't have a lot of riches, And the going's sometimes tough But with kin and friends to love me I think I'm rich enough. I thank God for the blessings That His mercy has bestowed I'm drinking from the saucer 'Cause my cup has overflowed. He gives me strength and courage When the way grows steep and rough I'll not ask for other blessings For I'm already blessed enough. May we never be too busy To help bear another's load Then we'll all be drinking from the saucer When our cups have overflowed. May your cup overflow. |
| A disciple wrote to Her that he had been passing his days in a monotonous domestic life, having neither the courage to renounce these duties nor to take them up in right earnest and forget Her teaching. To him She replied: "See and judge for yourself what you are doing in this wilderness of samsara, finding no pleasure in it: Day by day the end is drawing near, what have you done to prepare for it? You have read the Vedas and the Shastras and have heard about the Truth, But your mind, illusioned by maya, is not yet awake and you have forgotten your own Self. By your own mistake, you are playing the role of jiva and courting birth and death times without number. Know for certain that you will surely die if you are born, No one lives eternally. So when there is yet time, be acquainted with your own Self and put an end to fear and death. Day is ending, give up play, and by disclosing your own nature destroy the darkness. There is no pleasure in desiring sense-objects; fame, position and wealth are all sapless. Touch the real source of happiness and thereby destroying the monotony; drink the nectar of contentment, which is your Self. There is an abode of Shanthi where you can have rest. March on and on—Now is the time.” In reply to a devotee who said that the "I" is always eluding his grasp, Mother dictated the following song: “Ascertain who you are – Always you are speaking of yourseIf as ’I’, ’I’, ’I’. Are you the five elements, including the akasha, or mind, intellect, body or the vital force? What is your name, what is your form and where do you reside? Tell me whether you are desire, anger, avarice or illusion; Give me your acquaintance - are you purusha or prakriti, who is playing on the dramatic stage of maya? It is yourself who is playing and creating other players, father, mother, and relations. Always the insatiable fire of desire is burning, hope is not quenched by sprinkling on it the water of enjoyment, the fire of tritap is always ablaze. You are pure, conscious, free and always exist; body, intellect, and ego are your illusory imaginations. You are yourself Brahman by nature – see it by opening the eye of knowledge. |
| There are many types of ages like- 1. BIOLOGICAL AGE- means the number of years a person is living since birth 2. PHYSIOLOGICAL AGE- means performance status or stamina status of any person which may or may not be matching his / her age, for example a 60 year old person may be as fit as any 40 year old individual , so his physiological age would be 40 when his biological age is 60 years. One old age advertisement of Dabur Chyvanprash tag line defines it so nicely that is " 60 saal ke budhe ya 60 saal ke jawan" , and 3. SOCIAL AGE Now, in today's social structure with more and more nuclear families, people investing more number of years of their lives studying and building careers, both partners working, late marriages, and late children, I realised another important type of age which I call as SOCIAL AGE. This has becoming inevitable and there is nothing wrong about it, provided we take care of our health to meet its challenges. It is important as we as a society feels obliged to settle our children both professionally and on family front (marriage). WHAT IS THIS SOCIAL AGE- I define it as the age representing any person's stagr who have had marriage and children on time so that they could have retirement from their profession and family responsibilities (which I call as ACTUAL MEANINGFUL RETIREMENT) by 60 years or so. Let us understand what I mean here. In our country, in many cases people get married between 25 to 35 years mostly with children in 2 to 3 years time. So by the time they reach 60 years their children would be 33 to 23 years of age. Now it is very convenient for these couple or person to be able to help and see their children settling on both accounts. In today's scenario more and more people marry late between 35 to 45 years of age. Obviously their children would be of the age ranging from 24 to 14 years. Now imagine a couple who is 60 plus age, about to retire from office with a child between 14 to 20 years and most importantly failing health due to improper care for his or her health. Let us compare the above two situations. In first situation person / couple is lesser age, actively earning, grown up kids most of whom are professionally settled and probably married. So by the time they retire in their 60s they are much relieved of their professional and family responsibilities needing money, time and personnel attention, with only one aspect to look after that is - their health, happiness and if they desire can look for a productive re-emloyment. On the contrary in second situation person or couple is old, with failing health, with younger children who are looking for admissions in colleges for career building needing money also, retired or about to retire so need to look for financial earnings to fulfil their responsibilities. So even at this age of 60 plus, they have plenty to look after in addition to their health and finances. The number of people in second situation are rising very fast, so to cope up with is situation we must live a life akin to the age of our counterpart in first situation. To do so they must keep themselves as healthy as somebody in first situation. For example, if one couple / person is 50 odd years with a kid aged 12 or 13 years or more then they must be as healthy as the person aged between 35 to 45 years so that they remain healthy enough to take their social / family responsibilities, post 60 employment, their own life and care comfortably. This would only be possible if they are healthy and remain disease free even in their old biological age. GAUTAM BUDDHA has said- A PERSON IS THE AUTHOR OF HIS / HER HEALTH AND DISEASE If we live a healthy life style 90 percent of the times we can control whether we suffer from a disease (including abdominal cancers) or remain healthy and disease free. SO FRIEND, ALTHOUGH OUR BIOLOGICAL AGE AND OUR POSITION IN LIFE IS MOSTLY BEYOND CONTROL, WE CAN HAVE A YOUNGER PHYSIOLOGICAL AGE IN ACCORDANCE TO OUR SOCIAL AGE AND BY DOING SO WE CAN IMPROVE UPON BOTH THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE WITH A GREAT S |
| I commend my Spirit unto the grace of the Great Way whether consciously or not this has always been the doorway to liberation. All you lovers of truth and all you true lovers now is the time to be done with it. Wash your battle-scarred hands in this Presence among us. Cast off your warriors’ clothing and slip into your night slippers. Untie your hair or cut it off. The Hidden One is present and doesn't care where you've been or what you've done or what you are doing now. Commend all of yourself – body, mind and spirit to this Grace. Slip out into the night air into the waiting quivering birth of this Golden Heart. Lean down now like wet, green grass and kiss the bottoms of your feet. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
