Life and Spirituality

California Poppies have come to my garden W hile our conscious minds contain some knowledge, far more is knowledge is contained in the depths of our being. It is from here that intuitions, sixth sense and feelings arise. We may not be able to explain or understand the source of our feelings but they drive us much through life. One of these feelings is what is known as love at first sight. This love at first sight does not take place for another human only; it can take place for other things too such as flowers. Two flowers that have grabbed me thus in life are cosmos and California poppy. I had chanced upon a bed of California poppy in childhood somewhere and it grabbed my attention much. Everything about it - ferny leaves, pointy buds like hats of some elves in story books and delightful gentle flowers were delightful as is with everything about someone we love deeply. Even their flaws add a special charm as long as we remain in love with them. In the years since I have...

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ocean_Hawaii_landscape.jpg B eginning with the love of a mother, humans experience love of other humans for brief or long periods through life in various forms. It is rare for human love to last for an entire life time though. For those who believe in God, it is only His love that is everlasting. What about those who do not believe in God. His love nevertheless flows for them although they miss the full experience and benefit of it. If you ask them what created this vast and wonderful universe of which we all are a small part, they would say, if they had some scientific knowledge, that it was fundamental laws - laws such as the law of gravity which resulted in this universe. One may ask them then who created those laws and perhaps they would say nothing. That is it dear friend, this vast infinite Nothing that created this universe, planets, stars and galaxies and every cell of your body and all other life besides. If it was powerfu...

Words of Love for Muslims T oday there are some words of love in a picture for my Muslim friends and brothers across the world, especially those In Iraq and Syria. I have lived for several years amongst Muslims and Arabs and some of my most loving friends have been from amongst them. I love them even though I could not become a Muslim myself (Ahna Yishrab – Two words in Arabic that only my Arab friends will understand). This message, because it is from the depths of the heart, is really perhaps only through me and more from the Spirit of the Universe. The message also appears on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/dr_ashok_m/status/667186530583121920 It will also be shared on Google plus too so that it reaches as many as possible.

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...

American Crisis C hildren scared out of their wits are fleeing their homes, even two year old children, a violence fueled by War against Drugs that appears to have been initiated and encouraged by America, not just in Central America but around the world by pressing unwilling governments such as those in India to classify cannabis as an illegal drug, a herb that has been held as divine for thousands of years. Prior to 1985 many a poor farmer under distress from debt and drought calmed himself with a drink or smoke of cannabis. Now he commits suicide instead to the howls and wails of his screaming children and wife left behind. Alcohol is not an option, it is considered a crime causing and addictive poison in many an Indian village, which in fact is true. Thank you America but the world is not surprised when you can do it to your own Veterans who defended your country and now suffer from PTSD, compel them to ruin their guts and livers for big pharma profit perha...

Y ou would have come across a piece of advice that says, trust your feelings. It is not recommended by this blogger unless one knows what the source of those feelings are. An individual consciousness is plugged both into the universal consciousness of which it is a part and the individual mind where it dwells for the most part. Feelings arise from both of these sources. The source of feelings of compassion and motherly love as well as many others derive from the all knowing infinite source that sustains all life whereas feelings of greed, ego, lust and anger arise from the individual mind and habits born out of its working. You would have heard the old adage that the mind is the devils workshop. Hence it is appropriate to say that God dwells in the heart and the Devil in the head ( certainly not all heads though :-). Therefore, whereas a person rooted in love, truth and simplicity may do well by trusting his or her feelings, another who is rooted in lust, anger, greed or p...

Artist: Pompeo Girolamo Batoni “Your task is not to seek love, merely to seek barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ― Rumi, the prophet of love A t times, some of my younger and not so young friends ask how to find romantic love that they are missing in their lives, based on my experience in the journey through life, at a time when I have seen what I wished to see and have nothing more to seek in this lap of an eternal journey, this life, and have come to the end of the road to share and reflect on what I saw. I did a post on this topic a long time ago in this blog. However, since a visitor to this blog raised a comment on the issue to the last post, I had promised that I shall do a post on it again. Especially, because to be frank the earlier post was primarily directed at an older friend with a philosophical bent of mind and the answer in the older post was therefore philosophical and somewhat advanced. Other younger persons wish for simpl...

A s the monsoon has receded a white rose bush has suddenly come to bloom at home. My experience with plants and bushes are that they are sensitive beings and choose the time and place to thrive and bloom. Some are more sensitive than others and the rose is one such. To me all roses are symbolic of love, different colors for different kinds of love. Thus whereas the deep red rose signifies romantic love the white one is for spiritual love, the yellow for friendship and the pure pink for grace and regards. Thus if one were to gift a bunch of roses to a friend, the yellow roses would be most appropriate, whereas if one were to gift a bunch to the queen the pink would be the best. There is a peach pink too, pink with a tint of yellow and this is best for the king or your boss on his birthday. Definitely avoid gifting him a red lest he misunderstand :)  There are also other colors signifying different less common types of love. Thus there is a deep violet, blackish rose and t...

Simplicity Remorse Right Effort Wickedness and Lying Some words in a picture! universal love order and beauty Non violence

There are person who proclaim that they do not believe in God and there are others that firmly affirm that they believe in God. Both of these statements should not be taken at their face value because after all what these persons are proclaiming as God means different things to different persons. Let us consider both these type of persons a bit more First let us consider the people who say they believe in God. Perhaps they even visit a temple, mosque or church or belong to one of the many religious organizations that exist on our planet. Or, they may be independent believers who do it on their own. Amongst these are some that practice their faith in a visible active manner, yet, it has been found that some from amongst them may lack in compassion for their fellow human beings or other life that makes up our world. They may even lead a life that exploits or hurts the planet, other humans and other life forms directly or indirectly for personal gain. To my mind these person...

A visitor to this blog – Sam- commenting on a title line of this blog wished to know which of the true virtues is greater – love or truth. I promised that I would write an entire post on that question but instead I composed the following story to illustrate the point King of Blue Mountain Once upon a time at the foot of the blue mountain lay the Kingdom of Blue Mountain. The kingdom had a pretty castle in which lived a fat King. The castle was surrounded by farms and homes of the five hundred or so citizens of this state. The citizens of this country did not have to farm much because it was surrounded by forests of trees that produced a lot of nuts and fruits round the year and they could get lots to eat by just gathering the fruit and catching some fish from the many small lakes and streams around the kingdom. Instead the farmers kept cows and allowed them to graze freely on their fields. In the days of the fat king, on top of the mountain, there used to...

Jai Bajrang Bali at the entrance of the Naini Mata Temple If you see that someone else has something nice and good that you do not have, Remember, That everything nice and good of this world comes with some problems attached. Feel blessed that Nature has chosen to shield you from such problems. If you see the life of another is rising with success whereas your own is going no where, Remember, That every sunrise is followed by sunset, the dark night and that Nature has chosen to spare you the pain of the night that shall follow. If you see that another has great riches that you do not have, Just look a bit wider, And you shall see many that have even less and feel blessed and grateful. If your life is filled with pain, sorrow and darkness, Remember, That wisdom comes from sorrow and there is no gain bigger than that and look forward to the bright day that follows every dark night If you fear for the future, Laugh, That th...