Life and Spirituality

Simplicity  "Honesty is expensive. Do not expect cheap people to possess it" Warren Buffet I s it better to be clever or simple in life? What do sacred books have to say on the matter? In life one comes across two kinds of persons. There are some who are extremely simple, direct and straightforward in whatever it is that they have to do or say. Then there are others who are clever, who rather than going about the business of life in a straightforward manner try and discover that extra trick that might make one more successful; rather then come to the point directly they would rather beat around the bush as they weigh the consequences of various options, the various strategies as in a game of chess. When I was in school, my friends regarded me as a simple person. It was the clever street smart ones who were popular and most admired. Therefore it was natural for us simple ones to try and cultivate cleverness. However, as one matures one wonders about one’s...

A Glass of Milk for the Sweet Child While I made some critical remarks about some religious organizations in the previous post, it must also be reported that some of these organizations do a lot of good work too. BBC news showed what an excellent job of running free kitchens the Catholic Church in France is doing besides the church has also done a great job of providing excellent education through the schools it runs and I myself have studied in one for a few years as a child. On the other hands there are also sordid scandals that plague some religious organizations. As a comment to my previous post, Vincent a friend and fellow blogger pointed out that it is not always easy for people to walk out of a religion they may have been born too as it from a business organization that provides some service. Therefore a need exists for reform. Perhaps the scandals in some of these churches would reduce if priests were allowed to marry. It is fine to say that for attaining a high or...

Corporate Compensations It appears that worried heads are deliberating in the Vatican who the new Pope should be. A source of worry may be the falling membership of the church or perhaps how to deal with troubling scandals. Similar worries confront many other religious groups and organizations in the modern world. Some of the Hindu temples use a simple but apparently effective technique, they tell the innocents that they will get their heart's desire visiting and giving a gift to the deity in the temple. Apparently the deity does not collect the wealth but the priests do. Some have amassed a huge amount of wealth as result of it. Since ancient times, there have been sincere spiritualists who have tried to discover the hidden meanings of life and the universe. Large and small organizations including the great religions of the world have come up around the teachings of these seers. However, some of those who run these organizations are not all latter day saints. In fact ...

When reports came out that huge numbers of samples of beef products in Europe were found with horse meat the concern of this blogger was less with horse meat than with the fact of fraudulent labeling. If a company is willing to fool with adulteration who knows what else they may be mixing in to the meat? As a consequence, this blogger suggested in a previous post that samples must be tested not just for horse meat as was being ordered by regulators but with all kinds of other meats such as dog etc. Tests for just horse meat will not reveal rats for example.   I do not know if any one that matters read and followed up on my suggestion but it seems that the Chinese went ahead and tested for poop products. Guess what the chocolate cakes were being flavored with besides almonds? Read this post; http://grist.org/list/ikea-cake-turns-out-to-come-with-extra-feces/ To quote briefly from it, “Chinese officials  destroyed 1,800 pounds of -- almond cakes , when ...

A Red- tailed Bulbul feeding in the garden P utting out some bird food for the birds in one’s garden or terrace is a wonderful way to give something back to nature and also to fill surroundings with sweet song of birds all day. Occasionally they do make a racket but then which sweet creature including little children do not. Premixed bird seed is not available in Indian market to my knowledge but a variety of other foods that humans too use are available and one can prepare one’s own mix easily. millets are the most popular grain people use here to feed birds and there is also a special grass seed just for birds called kangani that is much tinier than millets and a favorite of bird lovers. My own practice is to prepare a five kg mix of millets, kangani, white and black sesame seeds, yellow and brown mustard, crushed peanuts, crushed wheat and some washed split lentils. I have added sun flower seeds to the mix too but usually avoid it because it is expensive here. This is ...

Vancouver Harbor: Enamel on Copper tile by Jean Grant Horner H umans who believe that there is a Supreme Almighty Who governs the universe and all actions within it, attempt to do good deeds so that it may be noted by the Supreme Intelligence and they would be rewarded. This is the rational basis for their doing good. Many of them even have a rational basis to explain the difficulties that came to them because of birth. Perhaps they were born to very difficult circumstances or even handicapped. The rational basis in this case is that it is a punishment for wrong acts in a previous lifetime. If a believer does not believe in reincarnation he just says that it is some of God’s doing that can not be understood by a human mind and put to rational reason. To that extent they are ready to live with irrationality. Well, even if they found a rational basis for the defects of birth through belief in reincarnation they can not escape the charge of being irrational by the non believ...

A young Silver Oak tree in the Author's garden W hen I started to build my present home more than twenty years ago, it was bereft of trees. Two of the first trees I planted were a cassia tree and a silver oak tree, the first because it grows quickly without care and I was away most times practicing my profession and the second because I have always loved the silver oak tree from childhood. It indeed grew into a handsome tall tree that was a home for many birds and the envy of the street during its somewhat brief life. In 2007 it suddenly dried up. Some trees do that here perhaps because of termites. Many have in my garden over the years but they have been replaced by other trees. However, I never replaced the silver oak because it was precious to me and I felt that nothing else could take it place. But it must have left some seeds behind, because a few years ago a small sapling sprang up nearby. I left it in but did not hope much future for it because the location was...