thoughts

So far, it’s all about understanding Who or what is God? – God is the space or conscious, or Intelligence.

In all these chapters I haven’t mentioned anywhere about love. We say God is love & love is God. Where does this quality come in space?

I had said that this Consciousness has another quality – Totality or wholeness or oneness other than Force & Intelligence. It is this totality which is omnipresent & binds together everything in the Universe . This quality is love. If there isn’t this binding, love cannot be felt in the human beings. I have many a time put this question to myself why on earth did this Intelligent evolved? Why can’t it simply stay like that? The answer I got is there is the force which made it to evolve. If there isn’t intelligence & if there is only force, then this Universe would have functioned without any control & the Universe itself would be in a total collapse.

My Guru explains how we are bound in the space with a simple example. When a sponge is put in the water, the sponge absorbs the water & there is water in and around it. In the same way the whole Universe with all the living beings is soaked in space. A scientific truth is that 99.00001 % of all the living beings are space, i.e Intelligence is a whole lot in the physical appearance & the body is only a tiny part. We are ignorant of this & use the physical body to the maximum in a wrong manner & make it worn out soon. So it is in our hands to take care of the body & use the intelligence fully to solve problems, take the right decisions without unnecessarily getting tension, needn’t fear, needn’t be dependent on any one ,except to the intelligence which protects & guides us all the time.

Understanding this is the 1st step. To put it into practice in our life is the 2^nd step.

How do we put into practice?

Its only meditation which helps to bring the mind under control. The mind is a chatter box, non stopping going into the past or to the future. Why can’t it be in the present for a while.

Meditation helps us to be in the present. How does this happen in meditation?

Thoughts are of 4 frequencies. They are Beta wave, Alpha wave , Dheeta wave & Delta wave.

Beta wave – the normal conscious mind, frequency will be between 13 to 40 cycles /sec. Normally any person will be in this frequency & when one is angry it will slowly rise to 20 & above. At this state the outward situation easily traps anyone to get angry, tensed, irritated & they will always be stressful.

Alpha wave – sub conscious mind, between 8 to 12 cycles/sec. It is the peaceful state in 8 & if one is in this state for a very long time there is chance of one to go below. If one is above 10, there is chance of him to go to beta wave. It’s again in our hands to maintain in the peaceful state where our intelligence will function in better way.

Dheeta wave – unconscious mind, it is in this level all the previous births & whatever is done unconsciously is recorded & it is between 5 to 11 cycles/sec.

It is very difficult to pass this state & go beyond to reach the delta wave as once we do meditation & go deep the imprints below come above as it is stimulated. Only then do we see so many sufferings in one’s life & we say God is testing & we have to face such situations with patience. Once we transcend this it will be easy to experience the no mind state.

Delta wave – super conscious mind, between 1 to 4 cycles/sec. This is the place where the enlightened persons are almost with the Totality, showing love & fully in aware of what is happening around them very clearly. When one is in 0, they are in total awareness, pure conscious & this is the no mind state. Normally when one is in this state, either the person is dead or in coma, but a man under meditation can be in this state in full awareness. This is the real samaadhi state, where he is sama means equal to aadhi ( beginning).

Even though one experience the different levels one cannot sustain in it very long as the outward situations will stimulate & one will be pushed again to the alpha level. When one is not at all affected by any situations & is very calm, then he can stop all his sadhanas. He will know the secrets of this life & he is said to be a self realized person. In the next chapter we will deal with how thoughts arise & the different steps of mind & which will help in introspection.

Understanding the concept of God is not easy for a mind, which is in a beta level. Let me explain about the 4 levels of mind. For this one has to know what is mind & thought process. Before we touch this subject lets talk about universal magnetism and the five elements (panchabootha)

I had explained in my previous article “understanding the concept of God” about space & the fundamental energy particle, which is the building block of the Universe. A question arises in one’s mind, why the particle has to rotate. The force within the space is self compressive, surrounding pressure force & that’s why the particle rotates & separates from the space.

What happens when this energy rotates? It rotates in such high speed that it whirls millions & millions of time per second. So, energy is a whirling wave & at the same time a spreading wave is formed simultaneously. This is the repulsive force as the wave spreads outside. I had already stated that there is a vacuum (space) in the centre, which is the attractive force. Attraction & repulsion together forms the magnetic force. Now, one can easily understand with the scientific knowledge, why there is the magnetic field around all the matter in the universe. Scientists have always explained how matter is acting on space, not how space is acting on matter.

So now, we know there is the universal magnetism through out the universe as the Universe is brimming with the energy particles. Each energy particle rotates in a different speed & there is a vibration due to the speed. The speed also reduces in course of time as anything that acts or functions must come to an end. When the speed reduces the particles that rotates in high speed gets attracted to the particles with slow speed & thus they join together to form atoms, molecules & finally matter.

So akash is the energy particles, which is the 1st basic element. Then the millions of energy particles together transform into 2nd element air (gas).The particles in the air become denser & denser together to form fire, the 3rd element. Again, the particles or akash in the fire becomes denser to form the water (liquid), the 4th element. Finally the akash in the water becomes thicker & solid to form the earth, the 5th element. There is the magnetism always through out the process of transformation & it is due to this there is the pressure, wind, heat, taste & smell. Without the magnetism there is no change. This is a very important fact in understanding the secrets of the Universe.

In my next chapter I’ll explain how energy particles function in all the living beings & non living things & how the magnetism develops into mind in human beings.

Morning while we were in kitchen , I told my wife “ I think we should employ a maid” Since we both are working couple with long stretch of work hours , i thought it would make sense. My wife replied “ Maid ? Thanks but no thanks ! ” Shiney Ahuja impact , duh !

Talking about maids , My mom was looking for a maid. Though its a small town , she had difficulty finding maids. Finally she found one . The first day she came for work . She expressed her disappointment. Reason ? there was no washing machine and vacuum cleaner at home ! My mom was left wondering , If i had them why would i need her ? The maid was not seen next day !

Then , there is this our family friend. The lady of the house always complain that her maid does not know cooking , she can’t even make a simple dish blah blah.Guess what her weight ? 80 Kg something. All thanks to the maid’s food !

Maid’s makes a wonderful reporters too. They let out the skeletons in the closet of many households! Someone i know is scared of employing a maid for the only reason of guarding the  house secrets ! Sometimes you will find some ladies extra nice with the maids , just to grab the inside scoop of their neighbour’s family affairs ! “ Sita , sit for a while , have a chai …( two mins later ) i heard some sound in their house .. what happened ? how is she treating her mother- in -law ? ” Dial M for Maid !

Then I have heard of some women who asked their maids not to come anymore . Wonder why ? They found a daughter-in-law ! Well , there is vice versa cases also of Daughter-in-law ending a maid’s service cause their is a mother-in-law at home !

I also read that Indian women are so sharp and smart that they sum up the maid before appointing her, so as to make sure their hubby does not develop any fancy for her ! Well , I don’t know how far this tidbit is true but that is what Shoba de wrote in an article !

Enough talking about what women think of maid , lets move to men. Some men have dangerous mindset about maids.They get a “high” seeing the maids doing their daily household chores and they feel some kind of action is only waiting to happen . I wish they be given a good broomstick dose by the maids.

When talking about maid in India , how can this article be complete without the mention of the B-word ? Bollywood ! Bollywood along with its cousin Indian telly , not to forget their not so distant relative , the Indian Advertisement media all have a stereotype image about maids ! The tightly draped sari , the lusty look , the sexy sway , at times manipulative .. Did I miss anything else ? Very rarely , we will find a filmy maid character as we see in normal life.

Now lets get into a serious part .

Unlike west , many of Indian households along with their counterparts in other Asian countries still have the luxury of employing maids to do manage their household activities thanks to the disparity in wealth distribution. If a survey is taken maids would  rank on top of the list of most harassed work group. Most household give a scant respect to their dignity and self respect.The exploitation of maids have been mostly brushed under carpet unless there are some celebrity episodes like Shiney Ahuja . In fact , i tend to feel society in general have become insensitive to a certain degree on this issue. We see in many households , maids though indispensible for them but still treated inhumanely. I am not denying there could be some black sheep in their lot too but then its like you find in any other occupation.

Dial M for Maid but treat them with dignity. Show respect.

In spite of my bad memory , some events of my childhood are still very vivid to me and here am going to share one of those  flash back .

One of my favourite pass time of my childhood is “ Playing with GOD” . I will spend hours absorbed playing with Him. Thinking back , God has been my biggest pal ! I had shared a most friendly relation with Him , had fought with Him , smiled with Him , talked to Him , got angry with Him but never feared Him .

In our puja room , we had a small idol of Lord Vishnu in Ananda sayanam posture. ( Lord Vishnu reclining on Snake Ananta ) . During holidays , I would be playing with God , I see in this small idol. I would spend hours doing abhishek .. bath the idol , do abhishek with water , milk , honey , panchamirtham , sandal , vibuthi etc .. Then decorate with flowers and do aarthi and finally distribute the prasad to people at home. I would be at peace with myself doing this. Did I thought that Idol is God ? No. Later during course of life , my playing with God stopped . Life took its owns turns and twists and after a long period , I again have this inner feeling to play with God. I no more have the idol I used to play with when I was child. So am looking forward to the Idol that I could play with . I can visualize the idol and one day , hope to find Him and keep Him part of my life again .

Talking about playing with God , the concept of Idol worship is largely misunderstood. Non Hindus Condemn Idol worship as superstitious belief and a pagan belief . I have come across many forums and articles where they decry Idol worship and rubbishes the practice as silly and unworthy and to be condemned.

I feel sorry for all those who condemn Idol worship.  One has to be a Hindu to understand what a Hindu feels about Idol worship. I am quiet at ease with the concept of Idol worship and I would like to convey my thoughts on Idol worship.

To begin with , I would like to quote a line from a Tamil song

கல்லை மட்டும் கண்டால் கடவுள் தெரியாது

When translated it means :

“ When you see a stone alone , you will not find God ”

Let me put it also in another perspective

“ When you see God , you will not find stone ”

This two lines sums up the Idol worship for me.

As a Hindu , when I pray before an Idol , I very well know God is not the Idol . I don’t expect the Idol to arise , awake and do miracles for me. Bottom of my heart , I know it is a stone . Interestingly , I worship .. so does millions of other Hindus .. Why ?

The answer lies in a simple fact  and practice that can be confusing for non-Hindus to comprehend.

My core belief can be summed as follows :

Hindus do not believe that there is only one God. Hindus believe that God is One, i.e. a unity inclusive of all things, manifest and unmanifest. This is quite different from saying there is only one God. To say that there is only one God is to reduce God to a single unit, to the lowest common denominator. This is what monotheists do. For them God is a unit, not a Unity.

Hindus are not monotheists, and Hindus are not polytheists. Hindus are panentheists, i.e. they believe that God is in all things and that all things are in God: God is everything, God is in everything, and everything is in God only. They believe the whole of creation is the body (actually, the manifestation) of God Who is the One Infinite-Eternal-Existence, and cannot be separated from God

The foundation of my spiritual belief is moulded on the above mentioned definition. My faith in Idol worship also evolves from the same. When I pray an Idol , I feel  God in the stone. I don’t think the Idol is God rather I see God in the idol. There is a difference in both. God is everywhere , I am at ease to see God in everything around me and seeing the God in the Idol makes the spiritual life easy. Its like teaching a Kid “ A for Apple ”

Easy to feed faith  :

Depending on how deep one dwelves into The Concept of God it can be  both simple as well as difficult to comprehend. For ordinary men , Identifying God in an Idol helps in building a bridge between God and oneself easily. Vedas does not mention Idol worship. Vedic scriptures identified the power of Supreme God with nature. It advocates feeling , seeing , identifying the power of God with everything in nature. The invocations we find in the Vedic slokas are basically to find the power of Supreme God with and within nature and oneself. Later as the various yugas (ages of mankind) progressed , the human mind failed to grasp the concept of omnipresent God  and the later rishis advocated the concept of Idols to help common man identify with God easily . The Idols are mere tools to identify with God.  idols are symbolic representation of various manifestations of God. Though the concept got corrupted down the ages along with various superstitious beliefs.

Easy to concentrate :

For Hindus God, as is, is beyond any attributes of form, color, shapes … That is, God does not have any specific form or name. In this state God is referred to as nirguNa brahman (attributeless god). However God takes forms as perceived by humans and this perceived form is called saguNa brahman (god with (good) attributes). These forms could range from calm to fierce to yogic (1). Each form has its significance. For example when one is depressed and sees the form of God Strong and Powerful, the seeker feels the moral boost that God would definitely be the support for the right thing. Similarly when in an auspicious ceremony would like the God to be the calm provider of boons. In a spiritually elevated state, the choice would be the yogic form of God. The forms provide a basis for the Hindu worshipper to easily pursue the otherwise incomprehensible Supreme. So Hinduism supports both form as well as formless worship of the God. Whether one worships in saguNa or nirguNa way, it is ultimately the same God

The Idol worship or worshiping  saguNa brahman way aids in concentration of mind. It helps a human mind to focus one’s mind with the Brahmam ( Supreme God) Human mind is easily prone to be distracted and diverted and so perceiving a God through Idols helps in the concentration of mind to God. It is the first and easy step in the spiritual walk.

Silent communication :

In the beginning of this post when I narrated my childhood pastime of “Playing with God” , In true essence it was actually a silent communication with God. I was on my own , undistracted for hours , silently in communication with God. The immense satisfaction , pleasure , solace , positivity it gave can only be felt and not explained in words. Though outwardly , it seems a one way communication with God , down my heat I could feel the two way communication , otherwise I would have not played with God like that for countless times and still have the urge now to restart the communication. In H
indu temples and puja rooms of faithful Hindu household , one could witness the silent communication of the Human and God before Idols. The communication is not between the mere idol and Human but the Soul and Super Soul perceived through the Idol.

As one elevates in his spiritual quest , One may see the God within Himself. The body becomes the Idol – Aham Brahmasmi – I am Brahman . Its the highest elevation of the spiritual plane where one sees God within himself and no longer requires an Idol to feel the God. The concentration goes within Oneness and realization of God goes deep into one’s own Soul .

Will talk about my understanding of Jeevatma ( soul) and Paramatma ( Super soul) in another post soon.

Aham Brahmasmi !

Some landmarks even if it seems trivial should be cherished . Little pleasures give wonderful boost to your confidence and a drive to perform better.

baby steps of toddlers gives immense pleasure …

so today while going through my posts statistics , I realized i have written so far 151 posts ! Strictly speaking , two of the posts where written by my better half . Nevertheless , I feel myself and my wife makes oneness ! So it is 151 and counting … !

I would like to thank each and everyone of you who have read my blog , special thanks to those who took time to leave comments ! A Big Thanks for your support , encouragement for helping me key in my thought process .. Baby steps may turn into a mature steady walk but I would still look upon your appreciation , criticism , encouragement throughout my walk … For we are not alone in this wonderful world . We may have born alone , but we find each other .. and then start a journey together in spite of distance , self interests , pulls and twists of our individual lives !

Thanks Again from the bottom of my heart to all of my readers !

Born

Cries

Smiles

Grows

Study

Love

Job

Marriage

Children

Marriage

Grand children

Child-again

Smiles

Dies

———————-

Cries

Life goes on..

And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.

- Abraham Lincoln

Confused get don’t. Perceptive different for conditioned be to needs thoughts way- one straight of because mind stressed the . Mind of power thinking perceptive multiple the reinvent to exercises simple a of one is this. Flexible mind the keep to time free in then and now lines few this like writing practice. Lines small with start.

P.S >  if  you still can’t figure out what is written . read each line right to left.

The meaning of Secularism takes a whole new meaning when it comes to the dictionary of Indian politicians.

BJP ( Bharatiya Janata Party ) is labeled a right wing hindutva communal party by the oppostion parties. They are supposed to have an “agenda” representing only the majority hindu population. They are treated as divisive party because of their saffron affluence. The whole campaign of the so called “secular” parties of India revolves around the notion that BJP is anti – secular because of its Hindutva leanings.

So the parties join together , forge alliances to retain the power all in the name of safeguarding the nation from the anti secular party ( read : BJP) . Good so you think the political parties opposing the BJP are truly secular in nature ?! wait read ahead to couple of  interesting facts.

• Congress , self confessed  champion of secularism , happily aligns with IUML ( Indian Union Muslim League ) , Kerala Congress ( representing the Christians )
• Communists party ( the other major self styled guardian of secularism in India ) have no qualms aligning with the right wing Islamist organization , NDF.
• BJP is accused of being communal on account of  Gujarat riots. Let me make clear am not supporting the Gujarat riot. Gujarat riot is a highly condemnable incident . What baffles me is , BJP is time and again villified for the Gujarat riot by congress and other so called secular partied , In that contexct how does Congress became a “holier and secular ” party when it is solely responsible for unleashing a brutal massacre against Sikhs in Delhi soon after Indira Gandhi’s assasination ? Why does Congress is atoned of its sin conveniently  but BJP is villified again and again ?

So it makes me wonder if it only becomes anti-secular in India ,  if a party has leanings towards Hindu mindset ?! And it becomes a secular force if we align with right wing parties of non-Hindus ?!

Well …… As far as Indian Political dictionary , it seems so.

We never knew about Stress until someone told us and then we are all stressed out. I think even writing this post i am having stress , never mind that. It all started in office as a part of the balance score card where by each one of us has to complete the 40 hours of training for which we get the CPE credit. Our Bosses target was that before March they will have n number of trainings for the team. Hence, we get mails one fine day from our Finance controller announcing that we should keep our calendars free on 13th Feb. As if if we had any choice! I mean even if it is a 4 hour training we need to inform from top to bottom and vice versa, huh! Ahoy! we are going on the Stress Management Training, we learnt.

I never knew that the preparation for the Training will give me so much of stress until the responsibility of finalizing the venue landed on my head and then asking each one’s opinion if they want the night out as well. It went on and on and thankfully my VP only finalized the venue. Last year while going to the team outing i had become quite an expert in negotiating the resort prices and i was very thankful that this time i didn’t have to break my head. Last time he made me negotiate for good 3 days ,but then we got our price .

Back to this one now…..there was a list to be made, transport to be arranged, lots of opinion also mattered etc etc. Luckily i took one sick leave so all this stuff also passed to another colleague. So when i reached next day, the list was done and also the talks with ESS had also taken place. However, i didn’t know there was something waiting for me as always, me and my colleague were officially announced as the project managers for the arrangements! And from then it was all about the stress, making and revising the list, finalizing the menu, the cab timings, route maps and u name it and i have it! We were suppose to start at 7:30 from office which we did and reached Doddi Resort (soon to be Royal Orchid).

A huge breakfast table awaited us and we hogged on, it seemed as if none in the team had the luxury of having breakfast peacefully. We ate and ate, i mean everything on that table, right from idli to aloo parantha and masal dosa! So we ate wholeheartedly and stomach full and then the training began…..How to Manage Stress?

So we started and it went on, there were cute pillows the bolsters and mattresses to sit on and we were too glad to have them and sat there listening. It all started by writing down the problem which gives us the stress in the note pad and think about it and then he asked us to blind fold and dance! We all danced on that weird African Beat, he had asked us to concentrate on the problem…..i dunno  about others but the focus moved on to dance rather than problem.Music stopped and we sat down and he asked us the experience, each one had some thoughts to share. This went on and on and there were lot of blind fold dances, thankfully the music had started improving. There were 2 tea breaks and lunch break. What was summed up – Stress is the Perception of Threat and our perception of our inability to not to deal with that threat. Now whatever that means, what they explained was that when there is a problem, we need to look at the options which means we need to reframe the problem and context in which we are looking at it. Hence, the responsibility is on us to look at the problem positively. For eg. Our Boss should say to the junior – to come early and not pointing out that he is coming late daily. I am not sure how far this holds true. Hence, he moved on like this, end result, most of knew all about having a positive attitude, to face the problem and challenge and all such stuff. But the person who is able to put all this in practice is the one who can manage stress. The biggest point was – Its all in your mind hence your thoughts! Thus, we should concentrate on controlling and managing our thoughts. If we can do this positively we can manage stress. Before we finished, the trainers divided us into 2 groups and made us stand in two circle, inner and outer. So each one had a partner facing each other and we had to talk to each other, the questions and discussions were on the meaning of our names, how was our experience in our company, our biggest disappointments, the first crush, best childhood memory, 5 years down the line and while this was happening, they will ask us to move as well, finally we came and stood in the front of the partner where we had begin. I guess this was the best part, reason being we got to know each other a little better!

Moral of story – Be positive, think rationally, don’t let the problem invade your mind. Control your thoughts and reframe them, reframe the situation, the context, be empathetic. What means is the positive attitude and positive thoughts in one’s mind. If all this is in sync then we will not have stress ….

None of us know how good that session was, I don’t know if i was de-stressed but it was a day out and off from office work so we made most of that and I guess ‘cos we were away from work, we were de-stressed.

This didn’t last long though, within 5 mins when we left the venue, i get a call from my VP asking if we can drop in on Saturday to finish some work……………….I was already stressed out again.

P.S. >  This is Mr.R’s wife writing this post -  Mrs.D

I was having a conversation with my aunt 3 weeks back when I visited my native. She is spritual. She has followed various path of hindu philosophies and finally she found her way in the teachings of  Vethathiri  Maharishi and Jaggi Vasudev , the founder of Isha foundation 

So I asked her about God and We . This is the essence of the conversation we had.

God is the Universal energy.

Universe is not vaccum . There is an universal energyy and that energy lives in each and every tiny spec of the universe. God is nothing but this universal energy. The same energy is within each and every living being also but the energy is undermined , unutilised , forgotten , unrealized cause of our previous karmas. The karmic force influences our actions and reactions. Having said that , we the human souls , do have the energy to battle out and overcome the karmic force provided we have that will to do so.

Positive energy.

Her view of life is to embrace every events in life with postive energy. Be good to others , think good , live good. Inspite of that if things turn wrong , take it in right spirit and without being bogged down by the negativities of the events try to overcome it with positive thoughts. Her main underlined advice was to “Take things positively and deal things positively”

Everyone is born the same.

Another point she made and most important one is not to hate anyone. No one is born as a bad human. There is no bad or good person when he or she is born. The cirumstances,  the society plays an important role in choosing what he or she becomes. So in one way we in general are partly responsible for what a person becomes. So don’t hate anyone . Try to understand him and try to bring a good change in him.

Detachment.

Another aspect of her thought was – Detachment. She says its better to view the world in a detached point of view. Never allow the various hues of emotions of the world affect your own positive conscience. This reminded me the principles of Jeevatma and Paramatma which I learnt in Bhagavad Gita. ( will write an extensive topic on it later )

She has no kids. She said earlier she used to feel very sorry and demoralised thinking about it . But now she finds that even that is a blessing in disguise as she has more time and liberty to seek her spritual quest. Life will be simpler and easier if we take things in right spirit and embracing it with positive thoughts.

It was a brief conversation but enriched one.