Life and Spirituality

In some earlier posts the issue of health and nutrition had been taken up. It was mentioned how some health issues may be addressed in a natural manner through a proper selection of food. The health issues that I had faced over the last three years are not uncommon with age. The ones I had to deal with are stiffness of muscles, chronic fatigue, disturbed sleep and some lapses of memory, particularly short-term memory. These issues had persisted for me since mid 2007, subsequent to a prolonged bout of ill health that lasted for about six months. The cause of that illness has not been fully found although inadvertent chemical poisoning has been suspected. That illness had disappeared without medical intervention but I did rely extensively on spiritual help during that period. The illness had disappeared but it left in its wake the sort of problems mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph. In the following three years, in spite of the fatigue, I have led a rather eventful life with ma...

  T here may be reason enough to reject a religion but that is not a reason to reject God; Because God is Love. It is unfortunate that some persons regard some religion or the concerned preacher in consideration as an authority on God and rejected God because of that. Such persons make another error when they refer to God, as this god or that god because there is Just one God. In a recent response to Stephen Hawking elsewhere who claimed that God may exist but theology was not necessary to explain creation, that could take place spontaneously by laws of gravity and quantum theory. I agree fully with Stephen Hawking. Theology of the many types that goes around is not necessary to explain creation, but Gravity is, and as mentioned elsewhere in this blog more than once, Gravity is one of the manifestations of God that makes Him create the universe spontaneously. There are many other manifestations of God. Another is love. Without the motherly love, one of the ...

A t the present time our world has various types of people based on their religious beliefs or disbelief. First there are the atheists who do not believe that there is any significant higher power in the world than that possessed by humans. There is another category of atheists that admit to the possibility that there might me more advanced life forms on other planets in the universe considering the immense vastness of the universe and some might be more powerful or intelligent, further ahead in evolution, but there is no God, although perhaps the very advanced life forms may be called god-like or gods. Some affirm their faith in only what has been ascertained by science so far. However many of these latter persons are themselves not scientists and do not have a complete understanding of science or the extent of its present reach. As regards the scientists themselves, many are/were firm believers in God including Einstein. Theists or those who are not atheists are of seve...

F ew people realize how much of our food comes from grass. Wheat, Sugar, Rice and Corn are forms of grasses. Animals we depend upon for food, such as meat, eggs and milk, produce that after consuming grass. Grass as bamboo is an excellent building material. In fact more research is needed for construction of human dwellings based on a structure of bamboo combined with minimal use of wood, plastered with mud, inner walls covered with wallpaper made of grass and the outer surfaces covered in waterproof paint. Floors may be made of jute matting and roofs out of clay tiles and solar panels. One need not avoid cement, steel and glass completely but all of them use copious amounts of energy for their production and it is wise to minimize their use. With proper design such a hybrid building can be just as strong and elegant while being much greener. Just as humans stand out amongst oxygen breathing life forms, the tree stands out in the plant world. Trees as a food source have no...

A s one advances in age it is inevitable that one would have to contend with some health issues. Some that I have faced in recent years is reduced energy, occasional disturbed sleep, stiffness in muscles and occasional lapses of short-term memory. However if one works on these or other such health issues it is definitely possible to improve the situation. It is wonderful if one can age gracefully without any major health issues and move on to the next world when still physically independent. It is tragic and basically bad karma if one undergoes a prolonged disability requiring help or hospitalization before exit from this life. There is much about karma in older posts. I do not rely on modern medicine and allopathic methods for chronic and minor ailments. For me allopathic methods are a resort for acute conditions, emergency or diagnosis. Therefore I have been working on my health issues through more natural means such as diet, exercise, yoga, life style changes,...

Wealth and Happiness Graph The desire for happiness is widespread amongst humans. A misunderstanding about how that happiness is to be achieved is equally widespread. It appears that humans do not fully understand the mechanism for the production of happiness. Humans do know that a sensuous spicy meal, a breathtaking sexual experience, a binge drink of good champagne, a sudden appreciation of the look of awe on the faces of friends and acquaintances by a flashy car or a swanky apartment produces a sudden surge of Joy. But they are also aware (or become aware of it sooner rather than later) that this sort of joy does not last very long. It is followed by depression in the very least or pain in severer cases. Therefore some possibly wiser humans seek and cultivate other more durable avenues for happiness such as philanthropic pursuits to add happiness in the life of others that just reflects back on them, learning to commune with nature or finding and spending life in the comp...

Image source (modified here): http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/universe20110722-image.html B ack from my trip and checking out some of Vincent’s posts I was delighted to read that Vincent has now started to believe in the existence of Angels. He will not believe in anything easily unless he has very sound proof of it. I hope this belief of his is long lasting. Simultaneously, Vincent mentioned that he still does not believe in God. That is all right because as discussed much in this blog earlier that is a matter of definition. There is as yet no common definition of God among humans. I too disagree with several prevailing definitions of God.  My own definition of God is very simple and so I have no difficulty in believing in God. To me God is everything there is, the entire universe and beyond, if there is anything beyond the universe. I also believe that this Everything has an infinite intelligence and an infinite consciousness with our own being small pa...

T he source of our Karma is Free Will linked to our desires through various emotions that humans possess. All life forms possess it. It is the distinguishing feature of life much more so than ability to reproduce etc. as defined by scientists because after all a sterile person is a life form too. Whenever we exercise our free wills and make a choice or carry out an action based on that choice, it will influence some other life form or some other part of the Universe and most importantly our own soul and it may therefore generate Karma. The word “may” is used in the last paragraph because karma may not be generated at all. The Universe as a whole has a Will also, but the Universe does not accumulate karma in the exercise of that free will, because it does not influence anyone but itself. We are all parts of the Universe. We may not realize that fully but the universe is never in doubt of that. It is possible to align one’s free will with that of the Universe in a sp...

T he comments to the first post on Karma have raised several issues that need elaboration besides several other aspects that have not been touched upon yet. As Hayden has rightly pointed out the goal of the Karmic principle is not punishment, - how can that be, if the very consciousness that maintains this principle, the Universal Consciousness is compassion and love? We are born from a portion of this Universe and are therefore the children of the Universe. A loving parent punishes or rewards a child from time to time in order that the child will develop into a better individual and punishment is never so damaging that it causes permanent scars. The goal is progress. The role of the karmic principle is precisely that - To nudge us towards progress into compassion and love. A way to teach a person a lesson in compassion is to make the person see the other side. Thus a child who hurts others by throwing things may be taught not to do that through explanation. If an ex...

A series of four notes. Links to subsequent notes is given at the end of each note. T he principle of Karma is a central part of spiritual philosophies. Karma is a Sanskrit word used in eastern philosophies of Hinduism and Buddhism. In Islam and Christianity different words are used to describe the same principle. Basically the principle of Karma implies that everything we do, good or bad is recorded by the Universal Intelligence and causes a reaction similar to our deed. It is the principle of retribution. As you sow so shall you reap! The main difference between Christianity and Eastern religion as regards this principle is that in prevalent interpretation of mainstream Christianity the actions and reactions take place over two lives (this one and the next) because only a single reincarnation is assumed whereas in eastern philosophy it is something that can be executed over several life times with a soul taking birth repeatedly. The principle of Karma is a...

 Music of the Spheres W hile various debates on spirituality, life, nature and everything else are enlightening and needed, quite often, there is something else that is needed even more. Most humans in the modern world have to deal with a host of negative influences on a daily basis while trying to get on with their lives. All of us are in need of simple techniques that can empower us to deal with and remove these negativities so that we can do, whatever we have to do, most effectively and joyously. So here it is, the ancient technique that I have learned from ancient Buddhist sources - interpreted with further information and personal experience. The technique is mindful breathing. It is free of any philosophical baggage and very easy to practice. It is available from many sources on the Internet today with slight variations including an inspiring variation by Trish called the White Tornado (A link to it is in the comments section of the previous post). J ust observe y...

  Sparrow by  Laitche T he house that I live in presently was built in stages  beginning in 1991 during  vacations and sabbaticals in my career. By 1995, the ground floor of the house was more or less complete except for some finishing that continued later. In the center of the roof of the living room was a hole meant for a center light. To hide the protruding wires a small round plastic sheet covered it with another circular hole in the center of it for the light. A similar one existed in the front porch of the house. I lived in the house through most of 1995 with frequent visits of three or four days to Delhi. At this time a pair of house sparrows occupied the porch roof cavity and made it their home. There were no complaints about that since it was not intended to fix a light there in a hurry. Sparrows are cute little birds anyway and I often leave seeds out for them in the garden. Sometime later the female of the pair moved into the living roo...

I n an earlier post the hypothesis of Pansmeria (Pansmeria is this author's version of the widely discussed theory of Panspermia, discussed in greater detail in another blog of author http://alienaccount.blogspot.com ) was mentioned briefly. It is a theory that more and more scientists, including Stephen Hawking, have come to accept as the mechanism for creation of life on earth. It is not possible to go into the details of this hypothesis here. The interested reader may refer to panspermia.org for a scientific explanation of it. Here, we will touch on a few of the aspects of this theory. According to it, life evolved on earth due to the genetic code that arrived from other parts of the universe. It takes many millions of year for advanced life forms to develop while this code is installed in small steps. I almost wrote advanced life like humans but then checked myself. Widely prevalent beliefs, human ego and the fact that human life is the most advanced one intellectually o...