Life and Spirituality

A Galaxy, one of many in the Universe. The Universe is the father of all life, Earth is the mother I n a previous post it was mentioned that the basic purpose of life appears to be to evolve. In ancient times when civilization began, humans applied their mind to this notion. They came up with a large number of practices designed to improve body, mind and soul of humans. Many such practices were described by a common name Yoga. There are very many different types of yoga such as hatha yoga, kriya yoga, karma yoga and so on for the ways to improve body, mind and soul are countless. This author has had deep interests in both physical sciences as well as spiritual sciences. As a result of this combination, the author had described a form of yoga that emerged from an intersection of both these sciences and gave it the name Entropy Yoga. It has been followed and taught by some in different parts of the world since it was introduced. An interested reader can find it in ...

   S ome persons that we run into in our journey through life are neutral, neither good nor bad in any substantial manner. Yet, there are also others we may encounter who are intensely evil or immensely good, who did much harm or much good to us respectively or at least tried to. It is not that they always succeeded because eventually what happens to us has to do with our own fate. The difference between good and evil persons is that an evil person will easily harm others for the sake of their own self interest, ego or pride, whereas good persons often sacrifice their own self interest to do good to others. Evil persons also tend to impose their will on others and will easily do to others what they would not like done to them. Therefore a cruel person is an evil person. Good persons on the other hand appreciate the freedom of others to choose and tend to be compassionate to all life most of the time. Having said that, it must be recognized that some good exists in e...

A Tulsi, Holy Basil plant in the author's  home   W hile all trees, plants and herbs are regarded as carbon breathing life forms that exist in conjunction with oxygen breathing life such as humans, there is a herb amongst them that is not just regarded as a life form but also as a goddess and it is the holy basil known in the Himalayan belt as Tulasi/ Tulsi. It belongs in the basil genus, and as one would expect there is also much ancient mythology associated with this plant. Being a goddess it is not just some of its components such as leaves and seeds that have highly beneficial health giving properties but its mere presence in a home is regarded as auspicious in South Asia and elsewhere in ancient parts of the world. It keeps away evil influences from the home in which it grows. Therefore it is not surprising that many in South Asia treat this plant with much respect and reverence. For example it is not fed dirty water and its leaves etc. that fall of...

    Harad, the King of Medicinal Trees O f all medicinal trees, perhaps the most useful one is Terminala Chebula known locally as Harad or Haritaki in the Himalayas. It truly is a gift from the gods and mother earth for mankind and this blogger is sorry he did not learn of it much earlier. It is a deciduous tree growing to 30-metre tall, with a trunk up to 1 meter in diameter.   The flowers are dull white with spikes. The fruit is hard and each fruit has a single seed.  The seed of the fruit has an elliptical shape, enveloped by a fleshy and firm pulp. It is regarded as a universal panacea in  Ayurvedic Medicine and Traditional Tibetan medicine. It is reputed to improve eyesight in the aging and is believed to inhibit the growth of malignant tumors, is rejuvenating and helps to control weight. It also helps cure many common disorders of stomach as well as the entire digestive tract. It helps the mind, memory and nervous system. In fact, so br...

     Balsam flowers W hile a huge variety of seasonal flowers grow on our planet when it is neither too hot nor too cold, unfortunately some do have to put up with extreme heat or cold for a part of the year. In northern Indian plains, summer temperatures may easily exceed 40 Celsius in the months of April, May and June and it is only the early mornings and evening that are cool to get out into the garden and have late evening garden parties. However the difficulty at this time is what flowers to grow in the garden. Few can tolerate that heat. However, with the grace of the Lord, there are some. The most popular are Zinnia, the yellow Cosmos, Portulaca and Balsam. The botanical name of the flower is Impatiens Balsamina.   It is an annual plant growing to 20–75 cm tall, with a thick, but soft stem.   Aside from the flowers the plant has beautiful leaves that are toothed and spirally arranged and that is something one has to look for in a pret...

O ne teaches by example Examples never fail to teach One whose lust rapes a girl One who hurts another Sets an example For same to be done to him An angel of the Lord Is one from amongst us Just one more life In this universe so very wide Who loves the Lord so To serve Him so That there is nothing to cover The light that shines forth With his burdens lifted Is it a surprise? If far he flies One who loves and trusts the Lord How can the Lord disappoint such a soul? But one who does not believe How can the Lord interfere in his goal? Yet all cry for Him When difficulties arise And this perhaps is His reply Had you called in time Why would difficulties arrive? Secrets and deepest intrigues Some for love some for discord With much ease He does read The angels and the Lord A human judge one may mislead Not the Lord, beware do heed   Public domain art images, courtesy of Wikipedia comm...

  E very now and then one hears of news items from the developed world as to how persons on a low income or welfare are trying to manage their food on a low budget and the difficulties they are facing. I have seen this at first hand with some of my students in Canada who were facing similar difficulties. Often I had to step in with a bit of friendly advice as to how to go about dealing with the situation based on my experience of South Asia where very many families have managed to get by on very little for centuries. In North Western India for example, these are the five things that bring down food costs when a household is facing financial difficulties: Meat is not consumed but when a vegetarian meal is balanced people are just as healthy or healthier. There are earlier posts in this blog describing how some of the healthiest, strongest and longest lived persons are in fact vegetarians or near vegetarians. All food items are prepared starting from bas...

Fruit and Vegetable Seller, Louise Moillon, 1631. Musée du Louvre V egetables and fruits come from plants that are a complimentary life form. They have genes, chromosomes and blood (chlorophyll) just like us except that at the center of the blood molecules in plants there is a magnesium atom instead of iron and therefore its color is green. Different shades of green in plants are because we see this green blood in combination with other plant matter that differs from plant to plant.   The Universe created the two different life forms so that they may support each other and prosper together. Our waste including the carbon dioxide we breathe out as well as the other waste we produce daily is fresh food and air for plants. When we pass away, the bodies we leave behind provides more food for plants. Similarly the exhaled waste breath of plants- oxygen is fresh air for us. However while plants satisfy themselves with our waste we go further and kill them too for our ...

Author's backyard greened with help of kitchen waste water   W hile we hear of water shortages in California, several arid parts of the world have had to manage with little water for centuries. Human habitations exist in semi desert areas of the world that have little green growth around them A partial solution to this problem is to direct water used for bathing and washing clothes to a patch of green near the dwelling while directing toilet water to a septic tank and growing trees around it. Fruit Trees or a grape wine grown around it would only have to be watered a little for a couple of years. thereafter their roots shall find the nutrient rich septic discharge to convert the shit back to the fruit it came from :) One difficulty with directing waste water from washings to plants is that some of the available soaps and detergents harm plants and ruin the soil, some more than others, whereas some could even benefit certain plants. But, how does a consumer know which ...

The Driveway Very many posts in this blog have stressed the usefulness of growing more trees and green plants of all kinds to improve the planet we live on. It may be mentioned that an increasing human population on the planet has caused an expansion of cities and this is one of the factors that contributes to adverse climate changes. Not only is there less oxygen and bird songs when cement and concrete filled spaces increase but such cities act as heat sinks contributing to global warming. Humans do need strong homes to live in but there are ways in which cement can be minimized. An example is my urban home. A portion ahead of the gate is paved to create a driveway in my area, but mine has left a foot unpaved on a side to grow trees and bushes as shown in photo. Then a central portion on which a car tire would not come has been pebbled. That way rain can soak in. There was a time grass grew in the pebbled portion but now because of shade it does not. Some worry about ...

Relaxing with a college friend, Bittoo in the Garden R ecently a friend who had just retired from an active professional life in USA dropped in for a visit. Among other things we talked about how to make retirement years meaningful. As a thinker I have pondered over the subject from time to time. Many persons on retirement at 60 or 65 end up doing less than the best because of insufficient planning for these golden years. While some adjust happily to a new life of freedom some undergo a period of depression or confusion that may be called retirement blues.  As a result the health may suffer a bit too. A second category of persons are those who struggle to find re-employment and their situation is not very good either since they end up working just as hard in years they should be taking it easy at a job that in most cases is less than satisfactory as compared to their earlier one. Moreover they simply kick the can down the road and postpone the inevitable to a poi...