Life and Spirituality

  T his week seems to have been a great one for all those who wish to understand their journey through the universe and make it joyous. Two books have become available to make this possible for all, over the preceding week. The first of these books is ‘ Astrophysics for People in a Hurry 1st Edition’ by Neil deGrasse Tyson .   He has explained the universe and the cosmos and our place in it in a way that is both interesting and easy to understand by an average reader. https://www.amazon.com/Mystic-Pathways-Love-Peace-Happiness/dp/1546343792/ While we cannot travel physically through our vast and infinite universe, according to mystics our souls can. In fact that is what it is has been doing over several life times. Our physical bodies are born of Mother Earth and cannot go very far from it but our souls are born of Father Universe and may travel to any part in new life times. The challenge before us all is to ensure that this journey is a joyous one an...

W hen one bases one’s life on greed, lies, hate and other forms of evil, then extent of punishment of such persons and when it should begin is decided by Universal Consciousness in keeping with the personality and deeds of such persons.   W hen one bases one’s life on love, truth and simplicity and other forms of goodness then the extent of reward of such persons and when it should begin is decided by Universal consciousness in keeping with the personality and deeds of such persons. H owever, the punishment is one of love like that from a loving parent to a child, for reform and education, never for retribution as human ones at times tend to be. T here is a gullible and foolish person who looks at evil ones and thinks, “look they are enjoying great wealth and power, let me also become like them and enjoy what this world has to offer, this talk of God and goodness is stupid talk designed by clever humans to enslave and exploit the rest,” for it is from among ev...

S ome of the most highly revered spiritual personalities such as Buddha and Jesus have recommended in their teachings that it is better for humans to work for their liberation and eternal salvation rather than focus much on transient and temporary worldly gains such as wealth, power and fame. However they have made no bones about the fact that the journey is a long one and there are only a very small number of humans who reach that goal in any given lifetime. Why is it then that they recommend striving for that goal for all humans? Failing in that goal, would they also not miss worldly gains? This has been explained further in spiritual texts that it is not so; that when one works for liberation one has a greater chance even for worldly peace and joy in that journey. A mark of great evolved souls is that they feel the pain of others just as much as their own pain. They feel a deep sense of compassion for all life. Gautama Buddha was so moved with the pain of other humans a...

T he unfortunate suicide and demise of Robin Williams has renewed a debate on depression in the social media. In an earlier post in this blog – The Joy of a rustic life –  it was described how the poor seem to be far happier than the rich. Yes there are times of devastation when the poor have no support or buffer, such as a poor farmer in debt and drought who is driven to suicide but in the main I have found this conclusion to hold most times. This phenomenon appears to apply not just to the rich and poor but also between rich and poor countries. Levels of stress and depression are much higher in the richer countries of the world than the poor who seem to laugh much more after saying Manyahna with a banana for lunch. I have experienced this at close quarters after having lived in both types of countries for several years. When a poor country or even a rich one is mentioned here, the reference is to those that are not disturbed by an internal or external war, even an inter...

H umans as well as plants and animals live comfortably in the temperature range of 10 to 30 degree centigrade. When temperatures fall below 10 or rise above 30 it begins to get uncomfortable. Below zero or above 40 it sure is like hell. There are very few parts of the world where temperature remains in the range of 10 to 30 and therefore most humans do suffer a bit of hellish or hell-like conditions for at least a part of the year, unless they have implemented man-made measures to mitigate the discomfort.. Aside from these hot and cold hells there are also dry and wet hells on earth. The dry ones are near desert areas and the wet ones are those that are prone to floods almost every year such as in the Philippines and Bangladesh. Aside from what the climate gives, humans can do a lot to improve their living. Thus while some in Canada have made life comfortable through things like central heating, some other parts of the world have made living worse and closer to hell due to cor...

The planet we live in, and the universe beyond has both beautiful and ugly things. Deep within us one may find the connection to the beautiful and joyous side of the universe. One may find this connection in a quiet moment beside a clear lake, in a beautiful green forest, in the company of a loved one, in meditation, sitting or lying in bed. Once we have found this connection it is possible to return to it frequently at will even when one is not in a green valley or in the company of a loved one. This inner bliss does not need a thing or place to connect to, although at first beautiful things may help us to make the connection. It needs a mind that is relatively free of thoughts, sense inputs and a consciousness that just experiences. The joy that comes from sense inputs is a temporary and different one. This joy is difficult to describe in words but wonderful to experience. It is free of fear, even fear of death because it knows that this consciousness and this universe of which it i...