Life and Spirituality

T hose who have lived in a village or town filled with green spaces but have later had to move to a city for work, as very many humans have to do, continue to miss the green and open of countryside. A viable option for some is, if they have the savings for it, to purchase even a small farm of a few acres or a small building plot of a few hundred yards in a picturesque mountain village and build their own tiny dream cottage on it to visit in holidays or even move to for longer stays in retirement if conditions permit. One on sale may already be available but renovations cost a lot and one may never figure out where the kitchen drain leads to or how to fix the leak in the roof. Earth is not paradise but bits of it lie scattered across the Earth. If one looks around one can locate one such in most any country, at a location that is not difficult to access. It may be pointed out that investing in land is likely the best option in these uncertain economic times. After having ...

Birds sing all day around my home, day after day, year after year in ever changing compositions. Here is a brief recording I made of them yesterday morning The birds begin their chirping very early in the morning while it is still dark, here is another one recorded at that time yesterday

An old picture of Nand Rani (Nando) from around 1950 with her first born Deepak Malhotra I n life one shall come across humans who habitually create stress, conflict and hate while there are others who are peacemakers and spread love and peace. I have intimate experience of both kinds. My father who retired as a Colonel from the Indian Army was of the first type while mother was of the second type. She was indeed a godly soul if ever there is one among humans. Much of her life was spent in smoothing out obstacles and conflicts father would create for himself and others in the family, until she breathed her last on April 25 th  1999. They came to love each other nevertheless perhaps because life creates attraction of opposites. Moreover, she had confided in me that when she fully realized that at a young age, she had infant children on her hands and there was no question but to stick by him for the sake of children. The marriage had been an arranged one and I have des...

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...

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...

While the planet needs humans to grow many more trees and forests to make up for the loss of last hundred years, food producing trees must be the choice now for the huge human population at present time. Walnuts, almonds, chestnuts, apples, mulberry family trees, bananas, coconut, drum stick trees are excellent choices depending on location and a grape vine on home walls is a near must for the modern age.

Ram Ram is a common greeting in central Himalayas and elsewhere that invokes the divine. Here is one from me as a musical video with best wishes for the new year for all