Life and Spirituality

Photo snapped from road to Hairdakhan in Nainital District of Himalayas I f you reflect carefully you would realize that in the ultimate analysis the Universe is the father of all life and Earth the mother. While mother feeds us, father works at a distance to bring in the means to get the food. The Sun a visible part of the universe provides the means for earth to produce that food, oxygen and water and everything else besides. Father built the home; the universe built our planet, the stars and the moon. Mother decorated it. The Earth did with pretty trees, rivers, mountains and flowers; and what wonderful delicacies she prepares in her kitchen for humans and animals, on plants and trees, with such a wide variety to choose from. When we were young we messed up the home and mother fixed it. We played and never bothered much about mother and father. Have we grown up yet? If we have, it is time to bring them some gifts and help in cleaning up the home. Have you planted a f

He was shocked to see that on being squeezed, the live black birds she had enjoyed for breakfast escaped from her, LOL O ne of the unpleasant things a human has to contend with in life is something called fear. All humans suffer from it in varying degrees. At the extreme end are the paranoid, those who see a demon lurking behind every shadow, or consider every person they spot as someone stalking them and out to do grave harm the first chance they get. These are the paranoid few who need treatment through spiritual, herbal or medical means. The ordinary human, although not paranoid, also faces assorted fears from time to time. There is the fear that the TV or Fridge would blow up or worse the economy would and all their savings would be wiped away in an instant. If that did not happen they may soon catch cancer from the genetically modified vegetables they have been eating and the savings would be wiped out in medical bills, unless they picked up the Ebola virus or ano

Nanda devi and Sunanda Devi peaks of Himalayas. The identification of Nanda Devi East as Sunanda Devi in the modern era was done by the present author some years ago.   W hile a human is an organic whole, one may try to understand a human by classifying his abilities in three parts – Physical, Intellectual and Spiritual. While we can understand what physical and intellectual abilities mean, the spiritual side is less understood for there is a hidden or mystical dimension to it. When Soma an ancient drink of the gods, was still amongst the ancient Himalayan dwellers, Soma drinkers rose up with a roar and a battle cry to defeat minions of the devil that have always lurked amongst mankind, at times in the shadows and at times leading from the front, so that things like military style assault weapons are not handed to all and sundry for killing each other,  even those wonky in their heads to blast the shits out of fellow humans to kingdom come, just for the fun of it, a b

A thousand shining red stalks of Soma rise up towards the heavens ready for harvest by ten virgin maidens to prepare a drink of the gods with ten gentle fingers  (description as per Soma hymns in Rig Veda).   This research is dedicated not to a patent but to the planet and to International Yoga day , June 21 for peace, harmony and brotherhood amongst nations and mankind W hile the ancients composed thousands of hymns in praise of Soma while it was around, such hymns stopped when the plant disappeared. Recently on reading these blog posts, on a likely rediscovery of this plant a few days ago, a dear friend Vinod Khurana composed a new one (he retired as the senior most officer of the equivalent of IRS of India a few years ago). Soma by Vinod Khurana  (A modern hymn in praise of Soma composed after a gap of more than three thousand years) Soma is no ordinary plant it grows in the heavens much loved by the gods who rule over the earth They drink of it much to quen

   ---------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This blog post is an extract from a more formal note with some informal elaboration, from https://www.scribd.com/doc/266317668/On-the-Identification-of-Soma-of-Rig-Veda-with-Cornus-SericeaSoma-Article ------------------------------------------------------- Thou by thine insight art most wise, O Soma, strong by thine energies and all possessing, Mighty art thou by all thy powers and greatness, by glories art thou glorious, guide of mortals...,    Rig Veda   T he previous post described the god of plants, Soma that made humans who consumed its juice processed in a certain manner like immortal gods. Please do read that post to appreciate this one fully.  The god of plants was lost to mankind ever since ancient times .   It may be pointed out that even though Soma became extinct in ancient times in the Himalayas especially in areas where it was usually collected from, perhaps because of excess harvesting, it

  --------------------------------- NOTE: This blog post is an extract from a more formal note with some informal elaboration, from https://www.scribd.com/doc/266317668/On-the-Identification-of-Soma-of-Rig-Veda-with-Cornus-SericeaSoma-Article ----------------------------------- A n earlier article described how holy basil plant is regarded as a goddess that has taken birth on earth as a plant, yet there was a plant of earth that grew around Himalayas that was regarded by ancients as a powerful god that had taken the shape of a plant on earth. While the foremost effect of Tulsi the goodess are at spiritual level and therefore not visible to all, the effects of Soma the god are at the physical and intellectual level first. Ancient Indo-Aryans saw a god in all parts of nature and the universe, all parts of one infinite God. Amongst plants this god was seen as the plant called Soma. It was so precious that it was harvested to extinction even in ancient times and thereafter

Death of Adonis by Luca Giordano O n a walk back from the corner store yesterday, I noticed a man walking towards the market. He was in his early fifties and the unfortunate thing was that his legs, hands, back etc. were bent and crooked. The poor man was an ugly sight indeed as he made his way towards the market. At other times, one notices someone beautiful and is wonder struck at their beauty. A Human can change clothing easily but making changes to the body, at least in any major way, is not possible. A body forms at birth automatically based on genes its inherits and then changes with age according to a gene map and external influences, much as a tree may develop from   seed. One can not help but reflect on these differences between humans, some are ugly or insipid looking and others full of charm and charisma. One famous personality I noticed in media has a nose that goes in one direction while his lips go in another. However as explained next, how poor or awful a per

Stevia the natural sweetener O ur planet produces such an immense variety of foods that humans still do not even know about them all even in this modern age of rapid information exchange and the internet. Often what is consumed as a great food in one part of the world is discarded in another because people have no knowledge of it. An example is mustard (a close cousin of rapeseed). It is grown widely in many countries for its oil. Persons in the northern provinces of India also consume the young leaves of this plant in the same way as spinach. Many of these persons are some of the healthiest persons in the world (from the provinces of Haryana and Punjab). It has a different taste from spinach and to prepare delicious food out of it, one has to know the recipes. However, just to the south, in the Province of Rajasthan, where too this plant is grown widely, poor villagers who cannot afford even spinach regularly do not know that this leaf is an excellent replacement available