Life and Spirituality

The gate to my home, always open to well meaning friends T his is a photo of the gate from the street to my home. F rom time to time I have included photos from my home in this blog, but they are so scattered throughout the three hundred posts that even I can hardly locate them most times. Therefore the thought occurred today to pool at least  a few of them in one single post for a quick view. The home was entirely designed by me and built with minimum cost, bit by bit as I took off to work and earn more in Middle east, Canada, Delhi. Mathura and the Nainital District to build more of it. I ensured that the workers I engaged to build the home were paid the best possible wages promptly, even if I had to save on materials, without the slightest of delay along with a cup of tea and lunch besides. Every penny was earned from hard honest work that contributed good to the world and the lives of my students as a Professor and if occasions arose to compromise on integrity and e

A Lime or a Lemon? I n my younger days I suffered frequently from hay fever. The usual stuff prescribed by the doctors such as Avil would suppress symptoms for a while but it kept coming back between the ages of 16 and 24 until someone mentioned that a lemon a day helps and it did. In a few months the attacks stopped and have never occurred again. Perhaps one grows out of them with age too. Ever since, I have grown lemon or lime trees at home whenever the opportunity has arisen, preferring the variety without thorns for a home garden. Plants needed thorns in the wilderness to protect themselves from grazing animals but they do not need that kind of a protection in a home garden. As a small tree they are an excellent choice for small gardens and in hot summers remain at hand for a refreshing cool drink in tall galsses sweetened with a bit of honey or crushed jaggery and topped with ice cubes The distinction between lime and lemons is not made in India and they go by the sam

Dionysus the god of winemaking and wine, fertility and religious ecstasy depicted on marble sarcophagus showing Triumph of Dionysus, Hellenistic marble sculpture; Metropolitan Museum, New York "Hail Dionysus, The god of wine. May he with his grace, if he deems fit reveal to mankind the secrets of making a wine fit to offer to the gods, perchance some came to walk upon the Earth"  ashok   Las wines - Green, yellow and blue wines   Although, good wines are produced in Europe and other parts of world by fermenting grape juice, in the opinion of this author, it suffers from one major drawback that makes it unfit to be labeled as the wine of the gods. They are partly unnatural chemical drinks because of use of refined sugar added before fermentation. Refined sugar is a chemical, not a natural food, far from the best possible natural one. This deficiency can be overcome easily by replacing added sugar in the fermentation mix with natural sugar cane juice. It

Indian Gooseberry P erhaps of all trees, one that qualifies to be named as the godly physician tree is the Amla tree. It is also known as the Indian Gooseberry and its botanical name is Phyllanthus emblica. It is a pretty tree with its delicate foliage that grows well on the warm plains of South Asia. It is a truly precious gift of mother earth to mankind. This tree may not fruit well if grown as a single tree in a garden (some do though) or as several together in an orchard. However it will fruit very well if a grown in an orchard with about one fifth other trees spaced through the orchard or another fruit planted as every third row for ease of picking.  One may plant other fruit trees of a similar height for that. Several parts of this tree including leaves have medicinal value but the most beneficial part are the fruits. It is a difficult fruit to eat raw because of its strong taste; however its taste improves in salted or sweet preserves. It is especially useful for

  Y ou might recall from some fairy tales including the epic- Lord of the Rings – how trees become life like and come to the aid of the hero at a moment of need. Fairy tales are fantasies but born out of human consciousness, they symbolize hidden truths. I might just mention how in my life, trees came to my aid at a dire moment of need too. For over seven years beginning sometime perhaps (did not keep an exact record of dates) in 2004 and going on in to 2012, I suffered from fatigue and shortness of breath on slight exertion. My daughter is an internal medicine specialist and she as well as another doctor in my neighborhood conducted thorough medical examinations but could not find any real cause for the same. I am open to non-invasive diagnosis but averse to use of modern chemical medicines except in emergencies, preferring natural methods for chronic conditions. Personally I felt the cause might be related to an episode of angina I had suffered earlier and the after

A Cosmos Field   "The Lord created things of beauty in many colors, flowers and humans." M y favorite flower is not anything as sophisticated as roses, tulips or orchids but a very common flower that grows in both, wilderness and gardens even flower pots. This humble flower can lift depression, has antioxidant activity and makes one of the most delightful salads besides adding beauty to a home, garden or countryside. It is a variety of the cosmos flower called cosmos bipinnatus , commonly called garden cosmos. It makes an excellent cut flower too and has excellent vibrations when used on a bedside table promoting restful sleep. It comes in red, pink, purple, white, and mixed varieties. There are other varieties of cosmos including the yellow and orange one that will grow in hot summers but the latter is not as pretty because its foliage is not fern like. If some flowers like orchids and even roses are heavenly flowers, the cosmos is a fully earthly flower

A Galaxy, one of many in the Universe. The Universe is the father of all life, Earth is the mother I n a previous post it was mentioned that the basic purpose of life appears to be to evolve. In ancient times when civilization began, humans applied their mind to this notion. They came up with a large number of practices designed to improve body, mind and soul of humans. Many such practices were described by a common name Yoga. There are very many different types of yoga such as hatha yoga, kriya yoga, karma yoga and so on for the ways to improve body, mind and soul are countless. This author has had deep interests in both physical sciences as well as spiritual sciences. As a result of this combination, the author had described a form of yoga that emerged from an intersection of both these sciences and gave it the name Entropy Yoga. It has been followed and taught by some in different parts of the world since it was introduced. An interested reader can find it in