Life and Spirituality

Nainital in the Evening Light A lthough all of us hope that life should run its course peacefully and happily, and that is the sincere wish of this blogger for all visitors to this blog, there are times that does not happen. Life goes through its ups and downs. My own view is that the best approach in good times is to use some of it for refreshing and cleansing the soul of past burdens, and, to involve oneself in meditation in bad times to enhance  knowledge for the soul. Recently I enquired from the Babaji of Nainital, my favorite spiritual master, as to how to deal with times of adversity. This was the answer I received, “ When one enters the dark phase in one’s life, when times are bad and more bad times to follow are feared, then sit back and reflect. Reflect first on the worst possible outcomes, then on what your best response to that would be. If you have done that honestly and with satisfaction then you will find a new and renewed confidence since the actu...

A honeycomb at home A t a time when modern medicine did not exist, humans depended directly on what was available in nature not just for food but also medicine. Ancient literature has sung glories for the medicinal and tonic virtues of honey. The Sanskrit Ayurveda has praised it and I recall a statement from the bible that went something like this, “Eat honey and the honeycomb, for it is good” I too am a fan of natural tonics and remedies, viewing modern ones with suspicion and caution. The reason being that the period of research into modern remedies is not as long as ancient ones and more so they are tainted by the greed of commercial interests. Recently the news was full of a leading Pharmaceutical company apologizing profusely for such practices when discovered just so that they can save on possible fines and not perhaps because they were really sorry. However, my study and experience of modern honey too is not a good one. Its beneficial properties come from its...

Clean air, sunshine, clean water and appropriate food are central to health of all life. Knowledge about food is essential knowledge for any human. It is surprising that in our world there are many persons, especially the young, who know more about sports and films than the basics of what constitutes good and healthy food. The first thing to know about food is that healthy food is not expensive. Much of it is derived from grass and other vegetation that grows in abundance on our planet, in spite of a burgeoning human population that exceeds seven billion. Milk and meat is produced by grass eating animals and we as humans consume the seeds of grass as wheat, corn, rice etc. let us just briefly list the types of food a human requires: Carbohydrates : These are a primary requirement to mitigate human hunger. Wheat is a primary source for it supported by other food grains such as rice, corn etc. Wheat has excellent storage capacity and it can be consumed in a variety of ways s...

Although a scientist and engineer by profession, I have had deep interests in spiritualism and spiritual practices albeit tempered by scientific wisdom and logic. One of the side effects of this indulgence is that one develops certain symptoms and side effects that are similar to spiritualists of a more rigorous kind. I too have not been able to escape such symptoms and one of these is the reading of signs and occasional prophecy.   Thus, years ago when I served for a few years as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering in Saddam’s Iraq, I noticed that the population throws away bagfulls of bread on a regular basis. This was before the gulf wars. One of the things that Saddam Hussein used to do to keep his subjects happy, besides the supply of fine European booze at subsidized rates, was the supply of near free bread through kiosks that were littered throughout Iraqi cities. The idea was that no citizen, howsoever poor, should go to bed on a hungry stomach. Booze was ne...

  I have had the good fortune to live and work in different parts of the world. Everywhere, it was my cardinal principle to enjoy local culture including local foods and drinks rather than stick to the habits from back home. I was introduced to good wine as a doctoral student in Canada during the department Christmas party at UBC and still enjoy it on occasions. If you are a wine lover too then you may enjoy some simple facts about wine and wine making that have been gathered through my travels and experiments that most books don’t tell. First of all as regards alcohol uphold the principle enshrined by King Solomon the wise some thousands of years ago as recorded in the Old Testament of the holy Bible “Give wine to a person heavy of heart but give strong drink to a person who wishes to destroy himself” There is really much wisdom in this statement that personally experienced. Many persons consume an alcoholic drink once in a while. At times that drink happens to b...

Without groves of trees cities lack beauty: Image source: https://twitter.com/BEAUTIFULPlCS/status/634229660528869376/photo/1 S everal earlier posts in this blog have mentioned it is better to live in a rural or country area surrounded by greenery rather than in crowded cities. An earlier post proposed a configuration of farm lands (termed AM farms for identification) that combined some of the advantages of urban living with rural life. However many persons are still compelled to, or prefer to, live an urban life in big towns or cities. That is just as well because the population of our planet is now around seven billion and with such a heavy population it is a necessity. A large proportion of humans must continue to live in cities. However, it is possible to live amidst greenery even in urban settings provided cities are designed for it. This post proposes the configuration of a city that brings some of the advantages of a rural life along with its greenery to towns and...

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...