Life and Spirituality

W e look at a lovely rose and say, look how beautiful it is. At other times we look at other parts of the world, individually focussing our attention on that part. All these parts of the universe,  some lovely, others ugly  are part of just one single entity, the created universe, as is our physical body, every part in it changing with time, some rapidly, others slowly. There is something beyond the created Universe; it is the consciousness of the Universe.  As parts of it look at created parts of itself, some of those parts develop attachment or aversion to those parts and seem to develop their own individual identity in this vast infinite ocean of consciousness. Developing a desire to make changes in the observed part, shorn of their infinite power that can make changes by mere will, these parts acquire a physical body. From this is born life, an individual soul, and an aperture through which a part of the universe looks at its other parts. But, alas! The...

I n our journey through life we confront good and bad times for such is the nature of life. Troubles arise from a whole range of issues varying from natural disasters, accidents, health, financial or legal etc. A very large proportion of our problems are due to other humans. While some help us forward in our journey through life or are just joyous companions, there are others who spare no effort to make it miserable. One can move away from people who are not helpful or even evil but there are some one cannot move from in a hurry. These are people one works with in a job or members of one’s family if they turn out to be the difficult ones. The best one can do at such times is to cope with difficulties, the best one can, as they arise while hoping and working towards better days ahead. Quite often humans add another dimension to the problem. When they are wronged by other humans, they carry with them feelings of hurt or anger towards such persons. While difficulties when t...

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...

The Turquoise lake of Nainital in Central Himalayas, childhood hometown of author T he Himalayan mountain ranges are full of snow capped peaks, majestic panoramas, lush green forests, lichen covered pine trees, lakes, rivers, springs, wild strawberry patches, wild roses and scented wild flower valleys. These have been a favorite haunt of spiritual mystics since ancient times. Among their many spiritual discoveries is one that although humans die after a certain number of years, in reality they never die because they possess an eternal soul. It is merely the physical body that dies. When a soul discards a body after death, it finds another to continue its endless journey through the universe. The new bodies need not be human. It could be that of an animal, a demon or a god born on Earth or elsewhere in the universe where such life forms exist. What is the purpose of it all? It was concluded in an earlier post that the purpose of life and soul within is to evolv...

Love of a mother I n spiritual philosophy there exists the concept of a soul. It is described as an imperishable part of humans that does not die even though the physical body does. The soul is the reservoir of our personality and the source of our emotions. What happens to it after a human dies? Well it can acquire another body and dwell in heaven or hell or float about as Casper the little ghost did. The details of what all can happen to a soul after death vary in different spiritual traditions of the world. Nevertheless, all of the major traditions admit to the existence of an imperishable soul. It seems that some time in the past, some Christian philosophers got together and concluded that while humans have a soul other animals do not. This is in contradiction to eastern schools of thought such as Buddhism which asserts that all life has a soul even the lowest of animals, nay, even insects and bacteria, and that a soul evolves gradually from the lowest levels to a h...

Golu, (Naynesh), my God Grandson H uman life is made up of sad and happy moments, some very sad moments, and brief or prolonged periods of sorrow or difficulties as well as prolonged periods of happiness. Yesterday on TV one of the principal characters of a program I watch mentioned that an evolved human is one who can face both sorrow and happiness calmly with equanimity, since these are inevitable portions of life. I completely agree with this view and feel that the Universal Intelligence makes humans face sorrow for precisely such evolution. One of the things that has made me face sorrow and difficulties in life with calm is the belief in an afterlife – the belief in reincarnation. I know that many do not believe in a soul or reincarnation but I believe that when one firmly accepts reincarnation as a fact, then sorrows and difficulties of life become less serious, even trivial at times. Perhaps all of us would have experienced an unpleasant dream in which something awfu...

I n a previous post John mentioned that he does not believe in the concept of reincarnation. It is a concept that was mentioned by ancient mystics. It is an inherent part of Christianity (read more) as well as Eastern religions. One may define anything more than one life as reincarnation. Without it another life in Hell or Heaven would be impossible. But then, there is so much else that ancient mystics mentioned that has not been proven by science. In fact some of what the mystics said has been shown to be absurd (unless it is viewed metaphorically). Therefore it is perfectly reasonable for a modern rational person to disbelieve in this concept. I too regard myself as a modern rationalist. My profession is a scientific one and I have made useful scientific contributions during my career. However my reflections have led me to believe firmly in reincarnation.Read why. My spiritual belief begins with a belief that there is something deeper to my self than my body i.e. the soul. I ...

S ometimes humans live in rented or other temporary accommodation. At times they live in a home that they own. Even though humans spend effort in making their temporary homes comfortable, they do not make any large investments on it. If they own a home they spend much more effort in maintaining and developing this latter property. Humans that realize that their physical bodies are a temporary abode for their souls and that their soul is something permanent that lives in numerous bodies over many lifetimes then they would spend more time on assets connected with their soul rather than this temporary body. These assets are the experiences, memories, knowledge, evolution and karma that belong to the soul more than the body. Our family relationships, wealth, property, and even name are something that belongs to our bodies rather than the soul and these are left behind when we leave this body. It is good to maintain the body just as we maintain our temporary rented homes, becaus...