Saddam Hussein finally gone

Very interesting discussion here, Saddam being the avatar of Hiranyakshapa and Kamsa Mama - as he was hanged on the Vaikunta Ekadashi day.


Baghdad, Iraq — Saddam Hussein never bowed his head, until his neck snapped.

His last words were equally defiant.

“Down with the traitors, the Americans, the spies and the Persians.”

The final hour of Iraq's former ruler began about 5 a.m., when American troops escorted him from Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, to another American base at the heart of the city, Camp Justice.

There, he was handed over to a newly trained unit of the Iraqi National Police, with whom he would later exchange curses. Iraq took full custody of Saddam at 5:30 a.m.

Two American helicopters flew 14 witnesses from the Green Zone to the execution site — a former headquarters of the deposed government's much feared military intelligence outfit, the Istikhbarat, now inside the American base.

Saddam was escorted into the room where the gallows, with its red railing, stood, greeted at the door by three masked executioners known as Ashmawi. Several of the witnesses present — including Munkith al-Faroun, the deputy prosecutor for the court; Munir Haddad, the deputy chief judge for the Iraqi High Tribunal; and Sami al-Askari, a member of parliament — described in detail how the execution unfolded and independently recounted what was said.

To protect himself from the bitter cold before dawn during the short trip, Saddam wore a 1940s-style wool cap, a scarf and a long black coat over a white collared shirt.

His executioners wore black ski masks, but Saddam could still see their deep brown skin and hear their dialects, distinct to the Shiite southern part of the country, where he had so brutally repressed two separate uprisings.

The small room had a foul odor. It was cold, had bad lighting and a sad, melancholic atmosphere. With the witnesses and another 11 people — including guards and the video crew — it was cramped.

Saddam's eyes darted about, trying to take in just who was going to put an end to him.

The executioners took his hat and his scarf.

Saddam, whose hands were bound in front of him, was taken to the judge's room next door. He followed each order he was given.

He sat down and the verdict, finding him guilty of crimes against humanity, was read aloud.

“Long live the nation!” Saddam shouted. “Long live the people! Long live the Palestinians!”

He continued shouting until the verdict was read in full, and then he composed himself again.

When he rose to be led back to the execution room at 6 a.m., he looked strong, confident and incredibly calm. Whatever apprehension he may have had only minutes earlier had faded.

The general prosecutor asked Saddam to whom he wanted to give his Quran. He said Bandar, the son of Awad al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court who was also to be executed soon.

The room was quiet as everyone began to pray, including Saddam. “Peace be upon Mohammed and his holy family.”

Two guards added, “Supporting his son Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada.”

Saddam seemed a bit stunned, swinging his head in their direction.

They were talking about Muqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand cleric whose militia is now committing some of the worst violence in the sectarian fighting; he is the son of a revered Shiite cleric, Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, who many believe Saddam had murdered.

“Muqtada?” he spat out, a mix between sarcasm and disbelief.

The national security adviser in Iraq, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, asked him if he had any remorse or fear.

“No,” he said bluntly. “I am a militant and I have no fear for myself. I have spent my life in jihad and fighting aggression. Anyone who takes this route should not be afraid.”

Al-Rubaie, who was standing shoulder to shoulder with Saddam, asked him about the murder of the elder al-Sadr.

They were standing so close to each other that others could not hear the exchange.

One of the guards, though, became angry. “You have destroyed us,” the thuggishly-dressed masked man yelled. “You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution.”

Saddam was scornful. “I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persians and Americans.”

The guard cursed him. “God damn you.”

Saddam replied, “God damn you.”

Two of the witnesses, apparently uninvolved in selecting the guards, exchanged a quiet joke, saying that they gathered the goal of disbanding the militias had yet to be accomplished.

The deputy prosecutor, al-Faroun, berated the guards, saying, “I will not accept any offense directed at him.”

Saddam was led up to the gallows without a struggle. His hands were unbound, put behind his back, then fastened again. He showed no remorse. He held his head high.

“He proved that he was courageous,” said one of his bitter enemies who could not help respect his calm in the face of death.

The executioners offered him a hood. He refused. They explained that the thick rope could cut through his neck and offered to use the scarf he had worn earlier to keep that from happening. Saddam accepted.

The platform he stood on was very high, with a deep hole beneath it.

He said a last prayer. And then, his eyes wide open, no stutter or choke in his throat, said his final words cursing the Americans and the Persians.

At 6:10 a.m., the trapdoor swung open. He seemed to fall a good distance, but he died swiftly. After just a minute, he was not moving. His eyes still were open but he was dead. Despite the scarf, the rope cut a gash into his neck.

His body stayed hanging for another nine minutes as those in attendance broke out in prayer, praising the Prophet, at the death of a dictator.

Wonder what solace did he get clutching the holy book?
Wonder if this too was fated?
Are there any astrological predictions that predicted this hanging and brutal death?

Scientific explanation of Shiva Lingam (explained in Hindi)

Fast forward to the 21st minute of this video

The Mind - Atman and my moments with it

I loved these quotes here
Over the holiday break my relaxed mind helped create a different perspective - as I read through these quotes. ....


The mind creates the illusion.
I have read Ramana Maharishi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and others talk about it.
I think I sorta understand it.
Bhagvan Ramana has explained it as a movie that projects out and then retracts back into the light source when finishing up.

The mind creates thoughts and the thoughts create the impression of a presence.
Imagine a meeting room filled with a bunch of people. The person who talks the most is acknowledged, people know this person and the rest of the folks sorta disappear. Case in point, if the same group got together a month or so later, we would only remember the person who was doing the talking, as this person has left a lasting impression - whatever be it - onto our minds. This person has left the impression, just like our mind. The day to day thoughts reinforce the presence of this mind, and creates the impression of us being alive through our body via the mind (the brain in the physical body). We get mentally acclimated to the presence of the mind and the body, and the real atman stays hidden, coming to fore during our resting moments. I seem to understand this a bit now.

Quieten the mind and the atman will come to the fore.

I remember the exact moment my atman went into hiding (I think). I was probably around 3-4 years old. I remember running into a field and suddenly the world appeared to me in all its glory, the green grass, the shining sun, beautiful sky and I was ready to discover the newness of this world in all its glory. Till that point, it was as if there was a dark veil in front of me - probably attributed to my connectedness with my atman. I believe this is the time, my ego kicked in and my atman went into hiding.

Another Hmmmm moment was when I was in 5th grade walking up the stairs, and I got a feeling of just being alone in the whole wide world. It seemed as if I was looking at myself from a few inches above me - more like - I got a different perspective of myself and my position in the world.

And then later when in college, after a deep introspective focus session, I got the most visionary vision that I could hope to get. I was jolted out of sleep as I couldn't handle the enormity of what my mind's eye had just seen. It was mind boggling and an amazing experience.... a sacrilege to talk about it here, lest it is not repeatable. True faith generates out of such an experience.

There is more, but I shall cease and desist for now.

I still try to replicate that -

I am pretty sure, it is within reach and it is not too hard. I hope to get it this lifetime.

Om Mani Padme Om

Reading from left to right the syllables are:
Om
(ohm)

Ma
(mah)

Ni
(nee)

Pad
(pahd)

Me
(may)

Hum
(hum)

Buddha's Magic Mantra : Om Mani Padme Hum. The mantra originated in India; as it moved from India into Tibet, the pronunciation changed because some of the sounds in the Indian Sanskrit language were hard for Tibetans to pronounce.
Play it here
Read about it here

Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Spinning the written form of the mantra around in a Mani wheel (or prayer wheel) is also believed to give the same benefit as saying the mantra, and Mani wheels, small hand wheels and large wheels with millions of copies of the mantra inside, are found everywhere in the lands influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. Click on The Prayer Wheel

The mantra Om Mani Pädme Hum is easy to say yet quite powerful, because it contains the essence of the entire teaching.
The Meaning of Om Mani Padme Hum.

1 Om - blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity,
2 Ma - helps perfect the practice of pure ethics, and
3 Ni - helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience.
4 Päd - helps to achieve perfection of perseverance,
5 Me - helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration,
6 Hum - helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom.

Quick Link into Google Blog Search

Shiva Blog Search

History of Christmas

Below is a AP News article traces the evolution into the current day Christmas, through the ages.
Just makes me think about how festivals have evolved to be what they are ? Isn't it almost impossible to keep track of stuff? And then how do we account for the spin - that puts a different slant to the festival?
What were the motives of our fore fathers?
Are we in compliance with their expectations?

I do cringe when I see the no-holds barred purchasing going on in the malls, all in the name of gift giving. Sometimes the core sentiments are thrust in the background and spending for the sake of it, is certainly not a good thing. I am not being a scrooge here, I love the holiday time, but reading about the pain and suffering of the Tsunami victims of 2004, American soldiers in Iraq, does put a pall over the celebration.

Here is the news item.

Christmas' history more raucous than refined INDUSTRIAL AGE TRANSFORMED WHAT WAS HARVEST BACCHANAL By Matt Crenson Associated Press NEW YORK -

Once upon a time the holiday season was a quiet time spent with family and friends -- simpler, less commercial, more spiritual, nothing like today's frenzied orgy of consumption. ``There are worlds of money wasted, at this time of year, in getting things that nobody wants and nobody cares for after they are got,'' one observer noted. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote those words in 1850. By then, the holiday was well on its way to becoming the retail rave it is today. ``Every generation for the last 250 years tends to think it was only in the last generation that it got commercialized,'' said Stephen Nissenbaum, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In his book ``The Battle for Christmas,'' Nissenbaum puts that myth to rest by tracing the history of the holiday from colonial New England to the turn of the 20th century. For most of its history Christmas was a free-for-all, more New Year's Eve or Mardi Gras than the domestic idyll described in Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem, ``A Visit From Saint Nicholas'' (better known today as ``The Night Before Christmas''). The holiday has its origins in the Roman festival of Saturnalia, a weeklong winter solstice celebration that featured feasting, drinking, gambling and sex. Men dressed like women, women dressed like men, and masters waited on their slaves in a raucous reversal of the social hierarchy. Such behavior was almost inevitable during the weeks surrounding the winter solstice in the preindustrial societies of northern Europe, thanks to what Nissenbaum refers to as a ``combustible mix'' of leisure time, abundance and alcohol. The work of the harvest done, young men had plenty of time on their hands, much of it in the long, dark nights tailor-made for mischief. In a world without refrigeration, the arrival of cold weather made fresh meat available for the first time in months. But most importantly, December meant beer. By mid-month, whatever grain surplus their hard summer's labor had produced would have been fully fermented and ready to drink. In the northern Europe of the late Middle Ages, gangs of young men would engage in ``wassailing,'' a cross between Christmas caroling and home invasion. The gangs would visit wealthy homes, often in disguise, and sing songs that threatened violence if they were not invited in for food and drink. In agrarian societies, practices like wassailing served as a critical safety valve, giving people at the bottom of the social ladder a release that would keep them in line during the rest of the year. But with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, factory owners didn't want their employees wandering off for weeks of drunken merriment. During the 1820s, after a series of particularly raucous holiday seasons in New York, the city's elite began campaigning for a more restrained, domestic Christmas. Central to that campaign was the tradition of purchasing gifts, especially for children. Christmas and America's consumer culture have fed off each other since, said Russell Belk, a professor of business at the University of Utah. His research has shown that the more materialistic people are about Christmas, the less satisfaction they derive from the holiday. There's no doubt Americans are materialistic about Christmas. Almost half of all Americans crammed stores on the day after Thanksgiving this year, the traditional beginning of the holiday shopping season. By the time the Christmas shopping season is over, the country will have spent in the neighborhood of $150 billion, most of it on gifts. That's an average of $500 for every man, woman and child.

Mystery "Buddha boy" reappears - Ram Bahadur Bamjon

We can debate the validity of the choice of the renounciate, but the bottom line is it takes a lot of courage. I wonder what the flat-ended scimitar " referred in the article below is?




Mystery "Buddha boy" reappears

By Gopal Sharma in Kathmandu
December 26, 2006 02:53am
Article from: Reuters

A MYSTERIOUS teenage boy believed by some to be a reincarnation of Lord Buddha has reappeared in eastern Nepal after vanishing for nine months.

Sixteen-year-old Ram Bahadur Bamjon was spotted on Sunday by villagers in the remote and dense forests near Piluwa village in Bara district, 150km east of Kathmandu, said local journalist Raju Shrestha, who visited the boy.

Bamjon disappeared in March from the forests in nearby Ratanpuri village where he had reportedly been meditating without food or water for almost 10 months.

"I have been wandering in the forests since then," Shrestha quoted Bamjon as telling him.

"I am engaged in devotion which will continue for six years," the boy told Shrestha.

Hundreds of curious onlookers, including many Buddhists, thronged the site to see the boy, sitting in a meditating position.

A local TV station showed people pressing their palms together and lowering their heads in devotion in front of him.

"I don't think he is a Buddha. But he has some sort of extra strength to meditate. He eats herbs," Shrestha said.

Before his disappearance, an estimated 100,000 people from Hindu-majority Nepal and neighbouring India flocked to see him meditate. They were not allowed to get closer than 50m.

Shrestha, who met the boy up close, said he had shoulder-length hair and sat cross-legged under a small tree.

"He has an ash-colour shawl wrapped across his chest," he said.

The boy had a "flat-ended scimitar" next to him.

Buddha was born a prince in Lumbini, a dusty village in Nepal's rice-growing plains about 350km west of the capital Kathmandu more than 2600 years ago.

He is believed to have attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, which borders Nepal.

Rules for being a Human

RULES FOR BEING HUMAN

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".

4. A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that will, again, look better than "here".

7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie inside you. The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, trust.

10. You will forget all this.
~(Anonymous)
http://www.thecourse.org.uk/Poems.html

Quotes - what is real?

From here



Having never left the house you asking for the way home. Get rid of wrong ideas, that is all. Collecting right ideas also will take you nowhere. Just cease imagining..... Don't rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

Within the prison of your world appears a man who
tells you that the world of painful contradictions,
which you have created, is neither continuous nor
permanent and is based on a misapprehension. He
pleads with you to get out ot it, by the same way
by which you got into it. You got into it by forgetting
what you are and you will get out of it by knowing
yourself as you are.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

The real does not die, the unreal never lived..... The world and the mind are states of being. The supreme is not a state. It pervades all states, but it is not a state of something else. It is entirely uncaused, independent, complete in itself, beyond time and space, mind and matter.....There is nothing to recognise it by. It must be seen directly, by giving up all search for signs and approaches. When all names and forms have been given up, the real is with you. You need not seek it. Plurality and diversity are the play of the mind only. Reality is one.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

What is called "mind" is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself. When the mind comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the Self does not appear; and when the Self appears (shines) the world does not appear. When one persistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue).
~Who Am I? Ramana Maharshi

Even your body is a notion. Let us start with this. If you don't give rise to the notion "I am the body", there is no body. This body is an object of the mind, a thought in the mind, including the senses, and all their activities moving towards different objects of sight, sound, hearing, tasting, and touch. This whole manifestation in front of you is only your notion. Actually it doesn't exist. Only when we successfully understand this will you have tremendous peace and eternal happiness. That has always been your fundamental nature.
~Satsang with Papji. 29 June, 1992

Reality is the ultimate destroyer. All separation, every kind of estrangement and alienation is false. All is one - this is the ultimate solution of every conflict......As long as we imagine ourselves to be separate personalities, one quite apart from another, we cannot grasp reality which is essentially impersonal...... To locate a thing you need space, to place an event you need time; but the timeless and spaceless defies handling. It makes everything perceivable, yet itself is beyond perception. The mind cannot know what is beyond the mind, but the mind is known by what is beyond it.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

Waking is long and a dream short; other than this there is no difference. Just as waking happenings seem real while awake, so do those in a dream while dreaming. In dream the mind takes on another body. In both waking and dream states thoughts, names and forms occur simultaneously.
~Who Am I? Ramana Maharshi


Having access to that formless realm is truly liberating. It frees you from bondage to form and identification with form. It is life in its undifferentiated state prior to its fragmentation into multiplicity. We may call it the Unmanifested, the invisible Source of all things, the Being within all beings. It is a realm of deep stillness and peace, but also of joy and intense aliveness. Whenever you are present, you become 'transparent' to some extent to the light, the pure consciousness that emanates from this Source. You also realize that the light is not separate from who you are but constitutes your very essence.
~The Power of Now Eckhart Tolle

The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake. Just as the knowledge of the rope which is the substrate will not arise unless the false knowledge of the illusory serpent goes, so the realization of the Self which is the substrate will not be gained unless the belief that the world is real is removed. When the mind, which is the cause of all cognitions and of all actions, becomes quiescent, the world will disappear.
~Who Am I? Ramana Maharshi

The real does not begin; it only reveals itself as beginning less and endless, all-pervading, all-powerful, immovable prime mover, timelessly changeless..... Reality is not an event, it cannot be experienced....reality neither comes nor goes. There is no such thing as an expression of reality.....Only reality is: there is nothing else.

The trinity: mind, self and spirit, when looked into, become unity...... "Nothing is me", is the first step. "Everything is me" is the next.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it. Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.
~Who Am I? Ramana Maharshi

It is false to speak of realisation. What is there to realise?
The real is as it is always. We are not creating anything new or
achieving something which we did not have before. The illustration
given in books is this. We dig a well and create a huge pit. The
space in the pit or well has not been created by us. We have just
removed the earth which was filling the space there. The space
was there then and is also there now. Similarly we have simply
to throw out all the age-long samskaras [innate tendencies] which
are inside us. When all of them have been given up, the Self will
shine alone.
This quotation is from "Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Edited by David Godman, Arkana, 1985

To take appearance for reality is a grievous sin and the
cause of all calamities. You are the all-pervading, eternal
and infinitely creative awareness - consciousness. All else
is local and temporary. Don't forget what you are.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

All other knowledges are only petty and trivial knowledges;
the experience of silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge.
Know that the many objective differences are not real but are
mere superimpositions on Self, which is the form of true
knowledge.
~Sri Ramana Maharshi

Do understand that you are destined for enlightenment. Co-operate with your destiny, don't go against it, don't thwart it. Allow it to fulfil itself. All you have to do is to give attention to the obstacles created by the foolish mind..... The search for reality is the most dangerous of all undertakings for it will destroy the world in which you live. But if your motive is love of truth and life, you need not be afraid.
I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last. All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease.
~The Power of Now Eckhart Tolle

The self-controlled soul, who moves amongst sense objects, free
from either attachment or repulsion, he wins eternal Peace.
~Bhagavad Gita

There will come a point in everyone's life
where only intuition can make the leap ahead,
without ever knowing precisely how.
One can never know why,
but one must accept intuition as a fact.
~Albert Einstein

Discover all you are not. Body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, time, space, being and not being, this or that - nothing concrete or abstract you can point out to is you. You must watch yourself continuously - particularly your mind - moment by moment, missing nothing. This witnessing is essential for the separation of the self from the not-self ........ be aware of that state which is only, simply being, without being this or that or the other.
~ I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

You need not get at it (Enlightenment), for you are it. It will get at you, if you give it a chance. Let go your attachment to the unreal and the real will swiftly and smoothly slip into its own. Stop imagining yourself being or doing this or that and the realisation that you are the source and heart of all will dawn upon you. With this will come great love which is not choice or predilection, nor attachment, but a power which makes all things love - worthy and lovable.
~ I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj


All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent; once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading. In order to quieten the mind one has only to inquire within oneself what one"s Self is; how could this search be done in books? One should know one's Self with one's own eye of wisdom. The Self is within the five sheaths; but books are outside them. Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in books. There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.
~Who Am I? Ramana Maharshi

Once you are quiet, things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally, without any interference on your part.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

Keep quiet, undisturbed, and the wisdom and the power will come on their own..... Abandon all desires, keep your mind silent and you shall discover..... Desirelessness is the highest bliss.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Bondage" and "Liberation" are mere linguistic terms. They have no reality of their own. Therefore they cannot function of their own accord. It is necessary to accept the existence of some basic thing of which they are the modifications. If one enquires, "for whom is there bondage and Liberation?" it will be seen, "they are for me". If one enquires, "who am I?", one will see that there is no such thing as the "I". It will then be as clear as an amalaka fruit in one's hand that what remains is one's real being. As this truth will be naturally and clearly experienced by those who leave aside mere verbal discussions and enquire into themselves inwardly, there is no doubt that all realized persons uniformly see neither bondage nor Liberation so far as the true Self is concerned.
~Spiritual Instruction Ramana Maharshi


Once you realise that the person is merely a shadow of the reality, but not the reality itself, you cease to fret and worry. You agree to be guided from within and life becomes a journey into the unknown..... If you just try to keep quiet, all will come - the work, the strength for work, the right motive. Must you know everything beforehand? Don't be anxious about your future - be quiet now and all will fall into place.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

You need not gather any more (experience), rather you must go beyond experience...... To believe that you depend on things and people for happiness is due to ignorance of your true nature; to know that you need nothing to be happy, except self-knowledge, is wisdom.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

When you demand nothing of the world, nor of God, when you want nothing, seek nothing, expect nothing then the Supreme State will come to you uninvited and unexpected!
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj



Spiritual maturity lies in the readiness to let go everything. The giving up is the first step. But the real giving up is in realising that there is nothing to give up..... To be, you must be nobody. To think yourself to be something, or somebody, is death and hell...... When you are no longer attached to anything, you have done your share. The rest will be done for you.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

Once you have seen that you are dreaming, you shall wake up. But you do not see, because you want the dream to continue. A day will come when you will long for the ending of the dream, with all your heart and mind, and be willing to pay any price; the price will be dispassion and detachment, the loss of interest in the dream itself.
~I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

Jyotirlinga - Tryambakeshwar video

This is a video from my darshan of Lord Shiva at Tryambakeshwar Jyotirlinga couple years back. Om Namah Shivay

Video worship of Lord Shiva.style = mso-spacerun: yes> style>

chat on "Hinduism - A way of life"

Swami Vivekananda Video



Jessica: how does religion affect your daily life
ShivaBhakta: ok
ShivaBhakta: Are you from Hawaii?
Jessica: haha i wish!! but sadly no
Jessica: we are in california
ShivaBhakta: Hinduism is a way of life - not too many restrictions, we don't have to go to church every week. It is flexible. It is grounded and it is ancient, so people are more comfortable with the religion. Hindus are generally not over zealous about religion
Jessica: i see i kinda got that feeling when we read this book our teacher recommended. thats interesting
ShivaBhakta: which book?
Jessica: um... World's Religion
Jessica: it talked a lot about the tenets
Jessica: hmm are there any holidays
Jessica: that are particular to the Hindu
ShivaBhakta: yes, list of Hindu Holidays is here
Jessica: can you give an example of one and how it is celebrated
ShivaBhakta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holidays_in_India#Hinduism
Jessica: which god do you focus more on
ShivaBhakta: Diwali - you can look it up here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali
Jessica: is there a reason why ?
ShivaBhakta: It is the celebration of good over evil
ShivaBhakta: There are 3 main Gods Shiva (Destroyer of evil), Vishnu (Preserver) and Brahma (Creator). Brahma has created life and the earth. There are wikipedias on them also
Jessica: i see
ShivaBhakta: I follow Shiva. Shiva provides us the path to Moksha or enlightenment. Buddism is heavily derived from this aspect of Hinduism.
Jessica: what do you feel about reincarnation
ShivaBhakta: According to Hinduism, the world is an illusion. We are representative of God as we live life. Once we get in touch with the inner part of us that is God, we attain enlightenment - and we are cut away from the sorrows and joy of the world (this strain of philosophy is ADVAITISM or DUALITY) and we are off the cycle of birth and death
ShivaBhakta: I just explained it
Jessica: ^^ wow you read my mind
Jessica: haha
Jessica: is there any dietary restrictions?
Jessica: cause being Buddhist, there are days where we are not to eat meat
ShivaBhakta: Vegetarian is the preferred diet, non-violence is at the core. India has had a very fertile agricultural land and there hasn't been a need to eat meat. Plus, not eating meat, helps the mind orient itself to the path of Godliness. The ancient books (RigVeda, AtharwaVeda, Samaveda) have prescribed modes of life and being vegetarian is one of them - and have lucidly explained the reasons behind it
Jessica: ahh
ShivaBhakta: Any more?
Jessica: um.. theres one more.. i hope i don't make you feel offended .. but is there a part of your religion that you disagree with.
ShivaBhakta: Yes, I think some of the things that were a bit predated have been eliminated - widows can get married again, Casteism etc. Religion, as it evolves, is misconstrued by the religious powers example casteism i.e layers of society. But none of this was dictated by the religious books, but just evolved thanks to some of the power mongers. India is a socialistic democracy (all religions co-habitate) and our outlook has been a blend of the past with the future - in fine tuning religion. So some of these age old - false practices - have been eliminated.
Jessica: Thank you for taking your time to help me

online virtual satsangh

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=satsang&search=Search

Teachings of the Maharishi

The jiva (our physical being) itself is Shiva;
Shiva Himself is the jiva.
It is true that the jiva is no other than Shiva.
When the grain is hidden inside the husk, it is called paddy; when it is de-husked, it is called rice. Similarly, so long as one is bound by karma one remains a jiva; when the bond of ignorance is broken, one shines as Shiva, the Deity. Thus declares a scriptural text.
Accordingly, the jiva which is mind is in reality the pure Self;
but, forgetting this truth, it imagines itself to be an individual soul
and gets bound in the shape of mind.

From: Self Inquiry, A Discussion with Sri Ramana Maharshi

Guru Lineage

Mahavatar Babaji


Lahiri Mahsya
Guru Yukteshwarjee
Swami Parmahansa Yogananda
http://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/
For Swami Parmahansa Yogananda's book - Autobiography of a YOGI

Kailash Manasarovar Pilgrimage

If you like this video, please donate to RamaKrishna Math

TIBETAN BOOK OF THE GREAT LIBERATION

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE GREAT LIBERATION
Or
The method of realizing nirvana through knowing the mind
Written by Padma-Sambhava 8th century AD
Book description: The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, which was unknown to the Western world until its first publication in 1954, speaks to the quintessence of the Supreme Path, or Mahayana, and fully reveals the yogic method of attaining Enlightenment. Such attainment can happen, as shown here, by means of knowing the One Mind, the cosmic All-Consciousness, without recourse to the postures, breathings, and other techniques associated with the lower yogas. The original text for this volume belongs to the Bardo Thodol series of treatises concerning various ways of achieving transcendence, a series that figures into the Tantric school of the Mahayana. Authorship of this particular volume is attributed to the legendary Padma-Sambhava, who journeyed from India to Tibet in the 8th century, as the story goes, at the invitation of a Tibetan king. Padma-Sambhava's text per se is preceded by an account of the great guru's own life and secret doctrines. It is followed by the testamentary teachings of the Guru Phadampa Sangay, which are meant to augment the thought of the other gurus discussed herein. Still more useful supplementary material will be found in the book's introductory remarks, by its editor Evans-Wentz and by the eminent psychoanalyst C. G. Jung. The former presents a 100-page General Introduction that explains several key names and notions (such as Nirvana, for starters) with the lucidity, ease, and sagacity that are this scholar's hallmark; the latter offers a Psychological Commentary that weighs the differences between Eastern and Western modes of thought before equating the "collective unconscious" with the Enlightened Mind of the Buddhist. As with the other three volumes in the late Evans-Wentz's critically acclaimed Tibetan series, all four of which are being published by Oxford in new editions, this book also features a new Foreword by Donald S. Lopez.

My Arunachala darshan - invoking the grace via the Girivalam (Circumambulation)

Where is the Fire?
The Fire is there on the hill there.
But I don't see it there.
You can see it if you are really bent upon seeing it.
Are you afraid of being engulfed by it?
Then you can't see it
Have courage, no fear
You are sure to see it

[Yogi Ramsuratkumar]

[First part of my Arunachala darshan video]



Bumped into technorati.com that seems like a good blog search.
Discovered http://www.arunachalagrace.blogspot.com/ and http://indhiya-suttrum-vaaliban.blogspot.com/2005/09/thiruvannamalai-thirukovilur.html
Very well written....
Another good link http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/bodhidharma/mountain2.html
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/bodhidharma/lingams.html

As I read these blogs, the memory of my stay at the ashram, Thiruvannamalai and doing the girivalam (circumambulation) around Arunachala were reignited. Here goes a quick narrative...

Couple years back, I visited the Ashram for a few days. The first morning of my stay, I did the ~9 mile (14 kms) walk stopping at the various Shiva temples (1. Indira lingam 2. Agni lingam 3. Yema lingam 4. Niruthi lingam 5. Varuna lingam 6. Vayu lingam 7. Kubera lingam 8. Eesanya lingam ). Also during the girivalam , places not to be missed are the Pancha Mukham , the Nandhi mukham and the idukku pillaiyar kovil.

I missed the Pancha Mukham and the idukku pillaiyar, one of the locals pointed out the Nandi Mukham as I was capturing some footage. During my walk, I was overwhelmed with thirst as the February morning warmed up. I was on the lookout for coconut water - the favored drink of the tropics. But as it happened, I was in a portion of the stretch that didn't have any homes or shops. Finally I spotted this local on a cycle carrying the green coconuts that were dancing in my thoughts. He kept looking at me with the hope that I would ask him to stop. I did. He had this utter humility about him that reminded me of Bhagwaan Ramana. I tried to respond with equal humility. The coconut water that I then got to experience were totally blissful. It seemed like there was God's play in it. They turned out to be the sweetest and freshest ones compared to any other I had ever had before. Back at the Ashram, fresh idlis were waiting for me packed away - as planned earlier. The ashram food was just so simple and yummy too...the food by itself is another everday miracle at that pious spot. Watch out for this spot :-), I intend putting the video of my girivalam here too - long pending but a must do. The girivalam became an obsession as I took the rickshaw tour almost everyday of my stay. Did the walk only once, but I am now looking forward to being there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachaleswara_Temple
I also stopped by at the Arunachaleswara Temple as is the tradition at the end of the walk. The inner chambers of this temple where Lord Shiva is housed, is very very warm - the heat from the Shiva Lingam I was told. I was absolutely fascinated by this temple. I went to the temple every morning, wanting to imbibe the blessings of Lord Shiva as much as I could. At that early hour (around 5:30 - 6AM) there were very few people. One of these mornings as I stepped out after doing darshan, I could see the peace wrapper that engulfed the temple and surrounding areas before the daily hustle bustle started. The birds were chirping away as the early rays of the sun were emerging onto the landscape. I observed the Arunachala peak in the distance and it had a strange cloud cover, over it - kinda like this picture but the clouds followed the curvature of the slopes on the sides like a thin veil. It was a bit uncanny, as if the spiritual energy of Arunachala wanted to present itself. I sat for a few minutes gazing at Arunachala, soaking it in and trying to preserve the memory.

As I walked later that day from the base Ashram to the Skandashram, I imagined how it would be when Bhagwaan Ramana walked that path. I sorta felt blessed to have the chance to just be there. As Stuart said Arunachala was inside us before we came to Tiruvannamalai, and it will be with us after we leave. Arunachala was always in us. We only had to be awakened to its presence.

Just to make sure, I had one of the stone carvings brought with me to preserve the memories and the spiritual vibrations.

PS - I also had the chance to go visit the Chidambaram temple (AIR LINGAM) - a quick day trip from the ashram. Do plan to visit the Nadi place - which is very close to Chidambaram and have someone pick out your life history, without you providing much specifics on who you are. On the way back to Chennai we also visited the Ekambareshwar temple in Kanchipuram.


Mona Lisa smiles

I quote from here
Siva has promised that He will always be present in Tiruvannamalai in three forms: that of the hill, Arunachala, a Siva lingam (in the temple), and a Siddha. Yogi Ramsuratkumar was considered the Siddha to have succeeded Ramana Maharshi.

Sri Ramana's astonishing spiritual powers were observed by others but never remarked upon by Ramana himself. It must have been a golden time at Arunachala for devotees to be able to meet both Sri Ramana and the great avadhuta Sri Seshadri Swamigal.

In South India, Alick McInnes, a Scottish scientist, witnessed the strange spectacle of Sri Ramana Maharshi on his evening walk. Within seconds of his leaving his house, cattle tied up in stalls in the village half a mile away would struggle to get out of their ties. When released, they careered along the road to accompany the old man on his walk, followed by all the dogs and children of the village. Before the procession had gone far, wild animals and even snakes joined it from the jungle. Thousands of birds appeared, almost blotting out the sky. There were tiny tits, huge kites, heavy-winged vultures and other birds of prey, all flying in harmony around the Maharshi on his walk. When he returned to his room, said McInnes, all the birds, animals and children would quietly disappear.

[A vignette of a normal day at Arunachala by an American Devotee]

I wish you could see what is so difficult to describe in terms of the sounds, smells and colors in this place. The air has a vibrancy and is soft and muted at the same time. And the quality of the light is indescribable. Everything shines with the reflection of this honeyed colored sunlight, as if the plants and trees and rooftops were emanating crystal clear light.

Giripradakshina of Arunachala is regarded as most auspicious but to perform circumbulation of the Hill on the first night of the lighting of the Deepam flame (this year December 3rd) is regarded as the most blessed day, regarded holiest in the Arunachala calendar.

Yogi Ramsuratkumar December 1, 1918 to February 20, 2001

One of the recent Mahatmas of Arunachala was Yogi Ramsuratkumar who inspite of his undoubted spiritual attainments in speech, always cultivated humility and self-effacement. He always spoke of himself as, 'this dirty beggar', 'this useless madcap fellow', 'this great sinner' and of His Father (i.e. The Lord) as, 'very great'.

He always acknowledged with reverence his huge debt to sacred Arunachala and Arunachaleswarar Temple, saying: 'This Hill and this Temple, they have saved this beggar,' and with the utmost gratitude for the sanctity of Mount Arunachala, he would say:

'This beggar wandering here and there, tired of wandering but having no home; Arunachalesvara, in the form of this hill, had mercy on this miserable sinner. So he gives thanks, a thousand thanks, to this holy hill, this holy temple. Oh, the magnanimity of the Lord! He has given me shelter for twenty long years. Whereas others who come are enabled to stay only days or weeks . . . For thousands of years the hill has given shelter to so many dirty sinners like me; and Arunachala will give us shelter for thousand of years to come.'

When Yogi Ramsuratkumar used to walk around the Hill, out of humility, he would always walk in the opposite direction of all the other pilgrims.

Many times Yogi Ramsuratkumar would say: 'The mountain helps us'. He himself spent many years wandering on the mountain, taking shelter in its caves. Based on his own comments, his transformation seems to have been connected in part to his subtle relationship to the divine force within Arunachala.

Where is the Fire?
The Fire is there on the hill there.
But I don't see it there.
You can see it if you are really bent upon seeing it.
Are you afraid of being engulfed by it?
Then you can't see it
Have courage, no fear
You are sure to see it

[Yogi Ramsuratkumar]

The 'Fire' referred to by Yogi Ramsuratkumar (as poet) is the mystical Fire of Creation, the light that is perceived burning within Mount Arunachala as the embodiment of Shiva:

'This holy Fire burned at the core of the beggar's absolute certainty: his faith in a Power that governs everything, controls everything.'

[Yogi Ramsuratkumar]

His samadhi is enshrined at the Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram on the southside of Arunachala and in close proximity to Chengam Road and Sri Ramana Ashram and Sri Seshadri Ashram.

For more of his life please check link at:
http://www.arunachalasamudra.org/yogiram.html

'. . . So, I am a simpleton. Not only can I not define (even to myself), but that lifelong obsession of mentally grasping has dropped; even the desire to 'know' this or that has dropped. It is futile. The mind will never, and can never know anything except its own concepts. So ultimately all we can do is to describe a concept, and from a literary point of view it can be entertaining, but I don't think there is anything truly revelatory or long lasting about it all. It doesn't really make an impact and that is why, whatever really does is a complete mystery and cannot be described. And Arunachala does make an impact, it is a chemical, so subtle, like a breeze. And so, for my life, to be here close to the fire of this holy place, this ancient embodiment of Shiva, who could possibly express their thanks for this destiny?

Who can even comprehend the grace to be here: to have the eyes fall upon this Arunachala at any moment; being outside, going to town the hill is there, doing pradakshina or just sitting in a field, it is there. Looking out the bedroom window, it is there; in the darkness the silhouette of its shape stands out. The many moods of light and cloud upon the surface of the Hill, now green, soon brown and again the monsoon and green again. It is a palpable life force ever present, our father and mother. Sometimes pure fire, sometimes sweet tenderness. It is alive and full of power and you drink it in whether aware or not aware, this energy permeates my very being down to the smallest cell. Atom to atom it fills me and transforms the heart in secret, unknown ways. Such a mystery this Silence of the Hill, such a mystery.'

We are the Time's person of 2006 (Phew, finally)

You' named Time's person of 2006
(Very appropriate - This is the year that the internet seemingly changed course and it truly feels like the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The world of open source and open collaboration truly rocks. It is explosive- what collaborative minds will contribute).

From the December 25, 2006 issue of TIME magazine

[TIME.com] -- The "Great Man" theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men." He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year.

To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006. The conflict in Iraq only got bloodier and more entrenched. A vicious skirmish erupted between Israel and Lebanon. A war dragged on in Sudan. A tin-pot dictator in North Korea got the Bomb, and the President of Iran wants to go nuclear too. Meanwhile nobody fixed global warming, and Sony didn't make enough PlayStation3s.

But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. Not the Web that Tim Berners-Lee hacked together (15 years ago, according to Wikipedia) as a way for scientists to share research. It's not even the overhyped dotcom Web of the late 1990s. The new Web is a very different thing. It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it's really a revolution.

And we are so ready for it. We're ready to balance our diet of predigested news with raw feeds from Baghdad and Boston and Beijing. You can learn more about how Americans live just by looking at the backgrounds of YouTube videos those rumpled bedrooms and toy-strewn basement rec rooms than you could from 1,000 hours of network television.

And we didn't just watch, we also worked. Like crazy. We made Facebook profiles and Second Life avatars and reviewed books at Amazon and recorded podcasts. We blogged about our candidates losing and wrote songs about getting dumped. We camcordered bombing runs and built open-source software.

America loves its solitary geniuses its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses but those lonely dreamers may have to learn to play with others. Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime to fend off user-created Linux. We're looking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started, as millions of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy.

Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.

Sure, it's a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred.

But that's what makes all this interesting. Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail. There's no road map for how an organism that's not a bacterium lives and works together on this planet in numbers in excess of 6 billion. But 2006 gave us some ideas. This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It's a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who's out there looking back at them. Go on. Tell us you're not just a little bit curious.

Blogger's moment

The first moments of self-doubt - where is the blogging taking me?

By an utter strange coincidence, this one is my 108th blog
Click here for significance of 108

Trying to explain `a brush with the divine' (From LA TIMES)

UC Irvine


Dalai Lama in Colorado




Dalai Lama Rocks - music tribute

Trying to explain `a brush with the divine'

FIGURES LIKE DALAI LAMA ARE CREDITED WITH TRANSFORMING LIVES IN A MOMENT

By Louis Sahagun

Los Angeles Times

If there was ever someone in need of good vibrations, it was Paul Ekman.

The psychology professor at the University of California-San Francisco was as gnarly as an old oak, hardened by a lifelong struggle with impulsive anger.

All that changed one spring day in 2000 after a brief exchange with the Dalai Lama.

``He held my hands while we talked,'' Ekman recalled, ``and I was filled with a sense of goodness and a unique total body sensation that I have no words to describe.''

The Dalai Lama prefers not to talk of such things. ``I have no extraordinary energy,'' he says with a dismissive wave his hand. ``I'm just a Buddhist monk.''

But some familiar with the Dalai Lama, and those who study religious figures, agree that every so often, people emerge who are perceived to offer proof of a higher authority, understanding or wisdom.

``It -- whatever it is -- can't be defined and is not to be confused with stardom or fame,'' suggested someone who knows a lot about both, Maria Shriver. ``I think the Dalai Lama would say look within because it's in you, not someone else. It all comes down to whether you're open to being touched in your heart.''

Shriver, a member of the Kennedy clan and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife, appeared onstage with the Dalai Lama in September at a conference in Long Beach on women's issues. She also knew Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II and said they too projected a sense of spiritual authority.

In India, one of the most popular spiritual leaders is Mata Amritanandamayi, a Hindu woman who is said to impart divine energy with a hug. Over the years, according to her followers, the ``Mother of Divine Bliss'' has hugged more than 20 million people.

``Personally, I don't know what it is she has, but I don't think it's a scam,'' said Dara Mayers, who has written about her travels with the guru. ``It reminded me a little of a quality I've seen in some performers and politicians like Bill Clinton, who is famous for making the focus of his attention feel like the only other person in the room.''

What these special figures have in common is their effect on others. They are perceived as being able to bring people to a higher state of being through their example, teachings, sufferings or touch.

``These people are operating at a level most of us are not, and they're not limited by denominations. The spirit blows where it will,'' said Thomas Craughwell, a devoted Catholic and author of several books on saints. ``We don't run into them very often but when we do, we're rattled because it's like a brush with the divine and because we want a piece of what they have.''

Anne Harrington, a professor of the history of science at Harvard, still marvels at how her colleagues responded to the Dalai Lama during a meeting with him in India a few years ago.

``There was one physicist who, after a few days with the Dalai Lama, tearfully confessed that his wife had cancer,'' she recalled. ``He wanted a blessing. Specifically, he wanted a red blessing string for his wife.''

Years ago, stories about the Dalai Lama's healing presence would have placed him squarely in Ekman's ``Oh, give me a break'' camp.

Now, Ekman desperately wants to know how the Dalai Lama relieved him literally overnight of the temper that had him in psychoanalysis for years.

Ekman recently interviewed eight people who say they experienced similar transformations after meeting the Dalai Lama. All had telling things in common, including emotionally traumatic childhoods, Ekman said. In addition, each individual was facing a major turning point around the time of the meeting.

``In my case, my mother took her own life when I was 14,'' Ekman said, ``and I was considering retirement after monomaniacally pursuing a career in the psychology of emotion.''

In May, Ekman crossed paths again with the Dalai Lama at a conference in Illinois and popped the question: What is it?

Without accepting credit for Ekman's case, ``The Dalai Lama smiled and said there are things science can't explain, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't try to,'' he said. ``The Dalai Lama also said, `Maybe science will figure these things out, which would be very nice. Maybe it won't.' ''

Paul Brunton - Search in Secret India

Here is what Paul Brunton learnt during his two-hour period of
enlightenment. This is what we may realise upon when we finally
perceive of the real us.. These are excerpts from the last chapter of
his book From "A Search in Secret India". Anyone has an electronic
copy of this book? This book is well worth reading.

`Man is grandly related and a greater Being suckled him than his
mother. In his wiser moments he may come to know this. ...

Man does not put the true value upon himself because he has lost the
divine sense. Therefore he runs after another man's opinion, when he
could find complete certitude more surely in the spiritual
authoritative centre of his own being. ...

He who looks within himself and perceives only discontent, frailty,
darkness and fear, need not curl his lip in mocking doubt. Let him
look deeper and longer, deeper and longer, until he presently becomes
aware of faint tokens and breath-like indications which appear when
the heart is still. Let him heed them well, for they will take life
and grow into high thoughts that will cross the threshold of his mind
like wandering angels, and these again will become the forerunners of
a voice which will come later, the voice of a recondite and mysterious
being who inhabits his centre, who is his own ancient self....

The divine nature reveals itself anew in every human life, but if a
man walk indifferently by, then the revelation is as seed on stony
ground. No one is excluded from this divine consciousness; it is man
who excludes himself. ..

He who has once seen his real self will never again hate another.
There is no sin greater than hatred, no sorrow worse than the legacy
of lands splashed with blood which it inevitably bestows, no result
more certain than that it will recoil on those who send it forth. Hate
will pass from the world only when man learns to see the faces of his
fellows, not merely by the ordinary light of day, but by the
transfiguring light of their divine possibilities....

All that is truly grand in nature and inspiringly beautiful in the
arts speaks to man of himself. Where the priest has failed his people
the illumined artist takes up his forgotten message and procures hints
of the soul for them. Whoever can recall rare moments when beauty made
him a dweller amid the eternities should, whenever the world tires
him, turn memory into a spur and seek sanctuary within. Thither he
should wander for a little peace, a flush of strength and a glimmer of
light, confident that the moment he succeeds in touching his true
selfhood he will draw infinite support and find perfect compensation.'

"Those who have been held under the bitter waters of sorrow, those who
have moved through shadowed years in the mist of tears, will be
somewhat readier to receive the truth which life is ever silently
voicing. If they can perceive nothing else, they can perceive the
tragical transience which attends the smiles of fortune.


"Those who refuse to be deluded by their brighter hours will not
suffer so greatly from their darker ones. There is no life that is not
made up of the warp of pleasure and the woof of suffering. Therefore
no man can afford to walk with proud and pontifical air. He who does
so takes his perambulation at a grave peril. For humility is the only
befitting robe to wear in the presence of the unseen gods, who may
remove in a few days what has been acquired during many years.


"The fate of all things moves in cycles and only the thoughtless
observer can fail to note this fact. Even in the universe it may be
seen that every perihelion is succeeded by an aphelion. So in the life
and fortunes of man, the flood of prosperity may be succeeded by the
ebb of privation, health may be a fickle guest, while love may come
only to wander again. But when the night of protracted agony dies, the
dawn of new-found wisdom glimmers.


"The last lesson of these things is that the eternal refuge in man,
unnoticed and unsought as it may be, must become what it was once –
his solace, or disappointment and suffering will periodically conspire
to drive him in upon it. No man is so lucky that the gods permit him
to avoid these two great tutors of the race."

Click here for - Studies related to Paul Brunton


This is available from the local library and also from Amazon.



http://www.members.shaw.ca/abhishiktananda/Images/slide0023_image014.gif

Below, for your Enlightenment pleasure, you will find listed ten
modern era Awakening experiences as selected and presented as examples
of same from Folder Five of AWAKENING 101 that should be read for
comparison purposes with:
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/bodhidharma/modern-era.html

http://www.angelfire.com/realm/bodhisattva/brunton.html

Karmic play and progress

Our human body is inhibited and hindered by karmic forces that we bring to our current life from previous lives. The good, bad, ugly deeds from lives before have to play out in our current life - after all it is all a path, a journey - that we need to pass through.

Thus, the destiny - astrological stars - that we are born with - enforce their will on our lives - seemingly dictated by these very karmic forces. For spiritual growth - for us to progress in our journey, it seems clear that we shouldn't mess with these karmic forces, but bear
the consequences - accept unequivocally the good and the bad. That is the key for our progress

But, in case we attempt to fix the bad because we are unable to bear the 'pains' - through mantras, stones, rudrakshas, poojas etc etc. - does it postpone the karmic play, to maybe our next life? Does this still play out in some other form in our current life?

Are we hindering our progress by trying to fix the bad?

I do feel quite strongly that our karma should be left to play out and that will help lead to spiritual growth.

Excerpts from - http://www.koausa.org/Saints/Wangnoo.html

Then Swami Akalal performed a parikrama of the holy spring and we walked in step with him, listening to the instructions he gave us further. I vividly recollect the two crucial observations he made:

i) He was categorical in saying that we had to make the best possible use of our present lives - this should consist of consolidating what we had achieved in our past lives. It is the stability that has to be prized most in the spiritual path, he emphasized. This brings to my mind what Lord Krishna reveals in the sixth chapter of the Gita--that the aspirant has to build on what he has attained in his past life until he is firmly established in sadhana (a 'long' pursuit, indeed!).

ii) Cautioning us, the Swami said that during the course of his life, an aspirant has to remain mentally alert and vigilant throughout to avoid pitfalls. Inward purity and peace have to be cultivated at all costs. This calls for patience and perseverance - qualities highly necessary for advancement in spirituality. The Swami gave an illustration to drive home the point: just as the flowing stream "swallows up" whatever refuse is thrown into it, so should an aspirant develop in himself the capacity for bearing hardships; he should remain unruffled in the extremes of joy and sorrow, never losing his mental equilibrium. The Swami observed further that facing the severities of life heroically and retaining mental composure even in adverse circumstances are a kind of penance that pays the aspirant rich dividends in spiritual terms.

Book recommendation - Ramana Maharshi and the path of self-knowledge

I read this book a couple years back and I would highly recommend it .....
Goes to great lengths in intermixing Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi 's life with actual explanations and practises.
I found this in the local library.
But you can also buy from here

Rich Dad Poor Dad -

Reading this book currently based on a recommendation


Robert Kiyosoki says in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad , “Life pushes all of us around. Some give up. Others fight. A few learn the lesson and move on. They welcome life pushing them around. To these few people, it means they need and want to learn something. They learn and move on.”


Here is the link @ Google Book
Recommend reading pages 33 to 35

Here is the link if you want to purchase it

Rudraksha and Bilva Tree

Eleocarpus sphaericus (Rudraksha) and Aegle marmelos (bilva) .

Here is the biological name, makes it easier to find them.

The Spiritual path - Awakening 101

There are some very well written accounts here:

Here is a fascinating account of awakening @
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/ZenEnlighten01.html.
Completely grips me, and very many links that might give you lots of
answers, and hopefully a lot of inspiration too.
Enlightenment is our birth right, it is upto us to go and get it...

Phil Servedio's journal of awakening
http://heartspace.org/writings/journals/may94.html

Read the power of Lord Shiva, manifested in Arunachala
http://davidgodman.org/asaints/powerofa1.shtml

Realization (Quote from unknown)
Take a piece of glass, paint colours and forms on it, and put into a
magic lantern, turn on a white light, and the colours and forms
painted on the glass are reproduced on the screen. If that light were
not turned on, you would not see the colours of the slide on the screen.
So is it with an ordinary man. His mind is like the screen. On it
shines the light, dulled and changed because he has allowed the
many-sided world to stand in the way of the Light (God). He sees only
the effects of Light (God) instead of the Light (God) Himself, and his
mind reflects the effects he sees just as the screen reflects the
colours on the glass. Take away the prism and the colours vanish,
absorbed back into the white light from whence they came. Take away
the colours from the slide and the light shines clearly through. Take
away our sight the world of effects we see, and let us look only into
the causes, and we shall see the Light (God).
A Master in meditation, though the eyes and ears be open, fixes his
attention so firmly on "That which Sees,'' that he neither sees nor
hears, nor has any physical consciousness at all - nor mental either,
but only spiritual.
We must take away the world, which causes our doubts, which clouds our
mind, and the light of God will shine clearly through. How is the
world taken away? When, for example, instead of seeing a man you say,
"This is God animating a body,'' which body answers, more or less
perfectly, to the direction of God, as a ship answers more or less
perfectly to her helm.

http://www.jyotirlinga.com

Covetous glance

So during my meditation, I am thinking of God's love - if we could feel it - how would it truly feel like?

And I think of ...... the child like joy over simple things... I remember some of that.
But a lot more vividly, I remember the covetous glance, the heart sinking gaze that met with positive responses and the come hitherto look, how that rocked my world for that instant (YESS!)
And of course, of THOSE moments too....

Pool them all together, Magnify that a trillion times. That is how it would be, if I could well and truly connect to God's love (already there, but hidden beneath the illusory world).
Yes, that would certainly pale the world into insignificance.
That is something to die for - as they say.
I can imagine Tenzing Norway and Edmund Hillary gazing up covetously....a few meters away.

Covetous Glance Unholy lyrics

Artist: Unholy
Album: The Second Ring Of Power
Year: 1994
Title: Covetous Glance

Oh, beauteous one Goddess of all men
She has a violent craving for me
I'm the minister of enraged copulation
Supporter of violent passion
I grew out of childlike anima to find
True personal love
Is it me who has Covetous Glance ?

Think Clearly with no forbidden thoughts
Everything is acceptable
Your animus is personification
of Dream Warrior
With four Left Hand Path symbols

"Come o lonely warrior or drown"
...Her divine body clothed with pleasure
"Come..."

I watch Her charm with delight
Together we raise the veil of shadow
Two subjects, one will connect to Cosmos
I am the woman and you are the man

Covetous Glance
Opium Odor

[Lyrics by Jarkko Toivonen]

Strengths versus Weaknesses

I think of the inherent strengths within me, things that have come too easy for me, things that I have to scarcely give a thought to and things that are never a challenge for me.

And I think of the weaknesses, that are so difficult to surmount, things that hold me back, and that become a challenge from time to time.

I see the strengths that I didn't have influence over and the same with my weaknesses.
I do see some of my strengths that have lessened and some weaknesses that I have managed to get around to challenge. I do see a spiritual hand into this. Strengths something I was born with, when misused tends to debiletate for sure. And weaknesses that I do tend to get my arms around also have a spiritual hand in it.

The karmic veil that I want lifted to get to the Moksha door, demands a purification, and the atman takes up the challenge (I am going to do these 5 things to get to that door, kinda like a corporate development plan). Sometimes the atman takes up too much and life becomes a bit of a misery, and sometimes it takes up nothing at all - kinda like the traitor guy in Matrix who wants to be a movie star while he is enjoying the juicy steak. Thus, I am exposed to situations and challenged. For some I have the right attitude and I get that ticky mark - those weaknesses are forever gone and become a strength for the next run. For some others, it takes a bit more time. Of course, this is all a concept.

But getting the spiritual blessing - being tune with the spiritual side of life - I think helps in this purification process. Meditation is a great start towards this I think. Specially at 5AM in the morning - where I read once that karmic sins are washed away a lot more easily. Unfortunately, that is my bed time - at times :-(

But I do wonder then about the classic fate versus free will in all this. If everything is fated for, then do I really control the lifting of the karmic veil for myself?

Robert Frost poem - The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken is a poem by Robert Frost, published in 1916 in his collection Mountain Interval.

Life is all about choices. I think being true to ourself and making the right choices, is what helps the purification towards the path of self realization. Nothing comes easy in life, but no matter what, the choice has to be consistent with our conscience. I think back to some of the choices that

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Explanation and interpretations from the wikipedia site

It was written in 1916 when Frost met and wrote together with Edward Thomas in the village of Dymock, Gloucestershire, England during a brief period leading up to World War I. Two poets walked together around the woods where the were carpeted with wild daffodils — "yellow wood" — each spring. Thomas showed his American friend the local views and flora, but had a habit of regretting the routes he had chosen for their walks.

A popular explanation of this poem is that it is a call for the reader to forge his or her own way in life and not follow the path that others have already taken.

However, it contains key contradictions and ambiguities. Even though the speaker chooses "the one less traveled by," the speaker of the poem contradicts himself by saying the roads were ultimately the same. For example, lines 9-10 state "[t]hough as for that the passing there/Had worn them really about the same", and illuminated in line 11's declaration that, "And both that morning equally lay". Also, the closing lines, "I took the one less traveled by, /And that has made all the difference" adds the ambiguity. A close reading of this highly anthologized poem must admit that the speaker leaves the reader wondering whether the speaker means his choice has made a good or bad difference in the speaker's life. Also, why is the speaker telling it with a sigh?

One might, looking at the title ("The Road Not Taken"), come to the conclusion that he sighs because in retrospect, he wishes he had taken the other road, thinking his life may have been better somehow. Still, others interpret the title as an emphasis that he is taking the less traveled path. It is the "Road Not Taken" by most other people, and he is the exception.

Some believe readers must acknowledge that though the poem closes in ambiguity, it is clear the initial choice of the road taken has made all the difference, for because of that choice, "way leads on to way". Still, others suggest that the line "And that has made all the difference" is meant to be one of sarcasm. Thus the traveler (i.e., Frost) is trying to tell the reader that the most important issue is simply to choose and therefore not become lost trying to decide whether to take this or that road. The important issue, then, is to make the decision and then follow through, even if they are on impulse as some interpret the "equality" of the two paths.

There are some who suggest that the poem is, in fact, about how we recount our lives — especially those events that we believe either reflect or shape our identities — we confabulate, adding meaning to them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken