Life and Spirituality

Nainital in the Evening Light A lthough all of us hope that life should run its course peacefully and happily, and that is the sincere wish of this blogger for all visitors to this blog, there are times that does not happen. Life goes through its ups and downs. My own view is that the best approach in good times is to use some of it for refreshing and cleansing the soul of past burdens, and, to involve oneself in meditation in bad times to enhance  knowledge for the soul. Recently I enquired from the Babaji of Nainital, my favorite spiritual master, as to how to deal with times of adversity. This was the answer I received, “ When one enters the dark phase in one’s life, when times are bad and more bad times to follow are feared, then sit back and reflect. Reflect first on the worst possible outcomes, then on what your best response to that would be. If you have done that honestly and with satisfaction then you will find a new and renewed confidence since the actu...

A honeycomb at home A t a time when modern medicine did not exist, humans depended directly on what was available in nature not just for food but also medicine. Ancient literature has sung glories for the medicinal and tonic virtues of honey. The Sanskrit Ayurveda has praised it and I recall a statement from the bible that went something like this, “Eat honey and the honeycomb, for it is good” I too am a fan of natural tonics and remedies, viewing modern ones with suspicion and caution. The reason being that the period of research into modern remedies is not as long as ancient ones and more so they are tainted by the greed of commercial interests. Recently the news was full of a leading Pharmaceutical company apologizing profusely for such practices when discovered just so that they can save on possible fines and not perhaps because they were really sorry. However, my study and experience of modern honey too is not a good one. Its beneficial properties come from its...