Friday, November 23, 2007

Needs utmost attention and concentration while
reading,keeping in mind the topic.

Source: "Life after Death by Swami Vivekananda

IS THE SOUL IMMORTAL?
In the famous and great Sanskrit epic “MAHABHARATA”,
the story goes like this, Dharma asked Yudishthira to
tell what was the wonderful thing in the world? The
reply came that it was the persistent belief of
mankind in their own deathlessness in spite of their
witnessing death everywhere around them almost every,
moment of their lives. This is the most stupendous
wonder in human life. In spite of all the arguments to
the contrary urged in different times by different
schools of thought, in spite of the inability of
reason to penetrate the veil of mystery which will
ever hang between the sensuous and the super sensuous
world, man is thoroughly persuaded that he cannot die.

We may study all our lives and in the end fail to
bring the problem of life and death to the plane of
rational demonstration, affirmative or negative. We
may talk, write, preach or teach for or against the
permanency or impermanency of human existence as much
as we may like, may become violent or partisans of
this side or that, may lull ourselves into a momentary
rest under the delusion of having solved the problem
once for all, may cling ourselves with all our powers
to curious religious superstitions –but in the end we
find ourselves playing an eternal game in the bowling
alley of reason and rising intellectual pin after pin
only to be knocked over again and again. Behind all
these mental strain and stress, not infrequently
productive of more dangerous results than mere games,
stands a fact unchallenged or unchallengeable, the
fact, the wonder, which the epic points out as the
inability of our mind to conceive our own
annihilation.

Now before trying to understand what this curious
phenomenon means, it is better to note that upon this
one fact the whole world stands. The permanence of the
external world is inevitably joined to the permanence
of the internal and however plausible any theory of
the universe may seem which asserts the permanence of
the one and denies that of the other, the theorist
himself will find that in his own mechanism not one
conscious action is possible, without the permanence
of both internal and external worlds being one of the
factors in the motive cause. Although it is true that
when the human mind transcends its own limitations, it
finds duality reduced to an indivisible unity, on this
side of the unconditioned, the whole objective
world-that is to say, the world we know, is and can be
alone known to us as existing for the object and
therefore we would be able to conceive the
annihilation of the subject we are bound to conceive
the annihilation of the object so far it is plain
enough. But now comes the difficulty. I cannot think
of myself ordinarily as anything else but a physical
body. My idea of my own permanence includes my idea of
myself as a body, but the body is obviously
impermanent, as is the whole of nature a constantly
vanishing one. Where, then, is this permanence ?

There is one more wonderful phenomenon connected with
our lives, without which who will be able to live? Who
will be able to enjoy life a moment?-the idea of
freedom. This is the idea that guides each footstep of
ours and makes our movement possible, determines our
relations to each other-nay, is the very warp and woof
in the fabric of human life.

Intellectual knowledge tries to drive it inch by
inch from its territory, post after post is snatched
away from its domain and each step is made fast and
iron bound with the rail-readings of CAUSE AND
EFFECT.But it laughs at all our attempts and keep
itself above all these massive pile of law and
causation with which we tried to smother it to death!
How can it be otherwise?.The limited always requires
a higher generalisation of the unlimited to explain
itself. The bound can only explained by the free, the
caused by the uncaused. But again the same
uncaused,again the same difficulty exist. What is
free?The body or the mind ?It is apparent to all that
they are as much bound by law as any thing else in
the universe.The problem resolves itself into this
dilemma:- i.e either the whole universe is a mass of
never ceasing change and nothing more, irrevocably
bound by the law of causation, not one particle having
a unity of itself, yet is curiously producing an
ineradicable delusion of permanence and freedom or,
there is in us and in the universe something which
is permanent and free, showing that the basal
constitutional belief of the human mind is not a
delusion.

Now it is the duty of the science to explain facts by
bringing them to a higher generalisation.Any
explanation , that first want to destroy a part of the
fact given to be explained in order to fit itself to
the remainder , is not scientific, whatever else it
may be. Therefore , any explanation that wants to over
look the fact of this persistent and all necessary
idea of freedom, commits the above mentioned mistake
of denying a portion of the fact , in order to
explain the rest is therefore wrong.

The only other alternative possible then is to
acknowledge, in harmony with our nature , that there
is something in us which is free and permanent. But
it is not the Body or the mind, as the body is dying
every minute and the mind is constantly changing .The
body is a combination and so is the mind and as such
can never reach to a state beyond all change. But
beyond this momentary sheathing of gross matter ,
beyond even the finer covering of the mind is the
"Atman", the true self of man, the permanent and ever
free.

It is this freedom that his freedom percolating
through layers of thought and matter, is ever
asserting its unshackled existence, it is His
deathlessness, His bliss, His peace, His divinity that
shines out and makes itself felt in spite of the
thickest layers of ignorance. He is the real man, the
fearless one, the deathless one and he is free.

Therefore freedom is possible only when no external
power can exert any influence and produce any change.
Freedom is only possible to the being who is beyond
all conditions, all laws, all bondages of cause and
effect. In other words the unchangeable alone can be
free and immortal. This being the truth, this "Atman",
this real self of man, the free, the unchangeable, is
beyond all conditions and as such it has "neither
birth nor death". Without birth or death, eternal ever
existing is the "SOUL OF MAN"

The answer to the ? Is soul immortal? has now been
explained.

JK

Sunday, November 18, 2007

DO IT "RIGHT" THE "FIRST TIME" ITSELF-THAT'S "SUCCESS."

INADEQUACY OF SKILLS IS THE BARRIER TO SUCCESS.

Business Leader view inadequacy of skills is the biggest barrier to success and its indeed true. With a glut of new career options being wide open by the economy as well exodus of locally available talents to greener pastures overseas, many industries are facing acute skills shortage . There are several factors contributing to this state of an affair.

Jobs are challenging and requires higher level of skill. The vast majority of jobs today needs some kind of specialised training that goes beyond mere school education and university degrees. The pervasive change in technology is also one of the major contributing factor to the deficiency of the skill,with the skill going obsolete in less than the time it takes to learn it. Another reason could be that our schools and colleges are still not fully equipped to churn out industry ready candidates . Even people with sufficient work experience are lacking in technical,management and leadership skills and competencies. To add to this they lack in skills like persistence,self discipline and self awareness.

Inadequacy of skill is not an isolated crisis, nor a short term hurdle that needs to be tackled with temporary solutions. In fact its a looming problem and if left unresolved, could result in far reaching consequences on future growth and development. With mounting attrition rates and traditional talent pool running dry, its a big ? mark how companies are going to to tackle the skills gap?

Determing the the right solution for eliminating the skills gap challenges begins with research,planning and development at basic level, identifying the skill gap in core business functions and preparing to fill the gap., this could encompass a risk assessment to determine the impact of skills gap.

Imparting training to upgrade the skills of the existing employees is a welcome option. Apart from helping employees update their technical skills. Seminars,workshops, demonstration, on the job training etc can assist the employees improve managerial skills needed in the areas like, supervision,planning, management,problem solving, decision making and team work.

Organisations and the environment in which employees operate are rapidly changing than they were a few decades ago and the chasm between the skills required and that are available too is widening rapidly and this can be expected to continue. However the key to overcome the gap is to be able to adapt and change with the times by planning ahead with future.

PLEASE ALWAYS REMEMBER "DO NOT FAIL TO PLAN ,UNLESS YOU HAVE PLANS TO FAIL."

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Accept others as what they are-That's the quality,respect and enduring value of Humanity.


Accommodating others as "what they are" is a quality to be imbibed if one wishes to enjoy freedom. Among other things, accommodating others includes:-

Accepting people as they are, without attempting to forcefully demand a change in their attitudes or behavioural patterns.

PLEASE DO REMEMBER, THE BEST WAY TO CHEER UP YOURSELF IS TO CHEER UP SOMEBODY ELSE.

Doing good to, others ,notwithstanding the fact that their actions might have resulted in ours, undergoing moments of distress and sufferings.

Enduring pains that are inflicted upon us, may be by our own past actions, or the actions of others, without trying to take advantage/revenge. Please remember at this stage the famous saying "WHAT CANNOT BE CURED HAS TO BE ENDURED".

While there is dire need for all of us to accommodate others, it is more essential in the case of particularly those who HEAD ORGANISATIONS and are responsible for the outcome of the activities of the persons to be managed.

To gain such a mind one has to develop values and attitudes accommodating others is a real value.As a matter of fact our anger is only due to lack of accommodation. Do not expect others to follow our dictates and try to understand that the other person(s)behave in a given manner just because they can't behave differently and as you expect, and we have no rights to demand that they act as we want him to or according to our whims and fancies.

By accommodating others, as they are and allowing them to be what they are, we gain a relative freedom in our Day today life and when we analyse it, will observe that every one interferes in every one's life.
Neither we are free from any one's influence nor do we perform an action without affecting someone. Say for instance ,if you get disturbed by some one else's comments, we allow them to disturb us and enjoy limited freedom, they grant to us. On the contrary if you allow them to be what they are and think what they may think, then you are free in this world.

By developing the concept of accommodating others a person learns to be free and by being so, he lets others enjoy the freedom . The solution lies in expanding the self which is referred to as "spreading the self" in Indian Philosophy and speaking on this Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (VI 32):-

"One who is able to see happiness and sorrow everywhere(in every other being) with the same intensity as that is experienced by oneself is considered to be the foremost amongst the yogis."

In trying to develop this philosophical truth one necessarily imbibes accommodating others as what they are , without demanding change in them, and this of course is an ardent task, nevertheless possible to achieve with persistent practice.

All said and done, we may not be able to change the world, but can certainly try and change our view of the world and it is precisely in the context "accommodating other as they are without demanding changes ,comes handy and a person learns how to accept people and situations as they are without trying to bring about changes.Any individual who has imbibed this ,will be able to let the self free and thereby does not get carried away by events happenings around him. Such a person apart from enjoying absolute freedom for himself, by his presence also contributes to others to reach this state. Therefore accept others as you accept the stars. May be you can pray for a change if you think and feel they need a change or do what you can to help them change,before all these accept them first and create an environment in which one is able to be happy and make others too happy.

J.K

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Temple entry and celebrations of Hindu Festivels abroad.
Dear all,

On 9th of this month, I have forwarded a mail to you all on the subject "Temple Entry by Non-Hindus", a subject under created controversy by malloos managing and administering Sri Krishna Temple at Guruvayoor.

Kindly re-collect and then proceed reading the three articles send herewith (courtesy HPI). What an amazing and alarming difference in thinking by both Hindus and Non-Hindus living outside our country.

I prefer,better Malloos read these articles and learn useful lessons in the interest and for the benefit of our Indian community and society. Shred your weight from the head and ego from the mind and be practical and righteous in thinking and doing, my dear Temple administrators in the God's own country(where you guys even don't care to give place to GOD but claiming to be God's own country.)

Wake up from your sleep and be active,actual and be yourself to be of use to society/community to build up amity and unity rather than creating fuss and fur.

See how magnanimous and great the Royal families of UK, the Head of the state of UK and people of USA encouraging Hinduism,Hindu rituals , rights , festivels and respect for Hindu Temples etc.Indeed great people with great hearts unlike Malloo Temple administrators and priests with shrunken heart with egoistic minded people(Truth is always bitter- more so when expressed fearlessly).

Take this in right spirit, my dear friends without any prejudice or spite and mend your ways of doing and thinking.

J.K



1.Hindu Temple in California, consecrated and opened- An amazing event.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today, attended these opening events.) In a ceremony steeped in symbolic ritual and centuries-old tradition, the first Hindu temple in the city's history opened Friday. Paramahamsa Nithyananda, a noted Hindu swami, led the ceremony at the 24,000-square-foot Nithyananda Vedic Temple and Vedic Sciences University at 9720 N. Central Ave. The site originally was a six-theater United Artists cinema before housing the Rock of Life Community Church, which sold the building last month to Duarte-based Life Bliss Foundation, a Hindu organization running the new temple.

With a hand bell, a flaming lamp and a vase filled with sacred water, Nithyananda consecrated a number of Deity statues made of marble and black granite that adorned a large, colourful meditation hall. One large statue, of the Hindu Deity Venkateshwara, stood 12 feet tall, while several others, including the multi-armed, dancing Hindu statue of Nataraja, towered over about 500 people who came to celebrate and worship at the grand opening. The Deity statues include 24 Tirthankaras, or enlightened masters of Jainism, and one of Buddha.

The music of Indian flutes and drums filled the hall as a smiling Nithyananda motioned the lamp around each statue and then toward devotees who raised their hands. "Everything in the universe is made up of the five elements of fire, water, air, ether and earth," said Ma Ananda Vibhooti, a Nithyananda devotee. "When we are worshipping, we are worshipping through these five elements. "

Umesh Hari of Houston travelled to the temple opening with his wife and two children. "We're very blissful because the cosmic energy here is omnipresent," Hari said. The temple will provide free vegetarian food to the public every day, free medical advice once a month, and courses such as yoga, meditation and traditional Indian architecture. Nithyananda's goal is to spread Indian religious culture - the Vedic tradition - throughout the world. Nithyananda has missions in 34 countries and counts 1.2 million initiated disciples worldwide, devotee Sevakananda Nithya said. The Montclair temple is Nithyananda's flagship mission in California.




2.Diwali Greetings by British PM Gordon Brown-Great words from a Great personality.


British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described Diwali as "a wonderful inclusive festival" as thousands of enthusiastic Hindus and Sikhs in Britain celebrated the Indian festival of light last night. In a message telecast on different channels on Friday night, Brown said "I am delighted to send my warmest greetings to everyone in our Hindu and Sikh communities on the auspicious occasion of Diwali." He said "Diwali is such a wonderful inclusive festival, which reaches beyond your communities to people of many backgrounds all over the world. The symbolic lighting of lamps, representing life, hope and new beginnings sends a powerful message of unity and peace to us all. "I know that Diwali is a special time for families, who come together to celebrate and reflect on the year gone by. " "And it also gives me an opportunity to recognize and reflect on the huge contribution made by British Hindu and Sikh communities to our country's prosperity and our culture. Your involvement in every sphere of our national life is something we can all immensely be proud of," he added. "Once again, my very best wishes for a joyous occasion. Happy Diwali."




3.Royal visit to Hindu temple by Royal family-Great and an amazing event.

Their Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visited the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, London, on the afternoon of November 9, 2007, to participate in the celebrations of Diwali. After being welcomed in a traditional Indian manner, the Royal couple proceeded to the sanctum sanctorum where they offered flower petals at the central shrine and later also performed abhishek of the metallic murthi of Shri Nilkanth Varni (Bhagwan Swaminarayan). Upon entering the assembly hall, the Prince and the Duchess each lighted an oil lamp to commemorate their presence on this auspicious day, and then participated in a symbolic Lakshmi Puja while BAPS children chanted Vedic prayers.

In his address to the assembly, His Royal Highness began by speaking of his "great privilege" of visiting the temple on this "tremendously auspicious occasion of Diwali... the most wonderful festival of light." He specifically thanked BAPS volunteers for their "overwhelming warmth" on each of his previous visits to the Mandir - now totalling three - and felt especially touched for being allowed to participate in the sacred rituals, even joking about bringing his own account books to the temple so that they, too, could be "specially blessed."

The Prince then went on to recollect fond memories of when he received His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj at St James' Palace back in 1997, exactly ten years to the day. He recalled being "touched by [His Holiness'] humility and tremendous compassion for all living beings." Throughout his address, The Prince repeatedly commended the "peace-loving and values-based Hindu community" in the UK, adding: "It is a remarkable and precious fact that Hinduism as a faith still touches upon every aspect of day-to-day lives - professions, culture and, most crucially, value systems.... All I can say is, long may it last in this era of frenetic change and short-term thinking.

"This quiet and industrious approach to life is reflected in your remarkable achievements in education, in business, the professions, and so many other fields. Some of you may feel that your huge contribution to the fabric of Britain is not fully recognised, but it is my belief that today, more than ever, your community is one of the most positive forces which helps to bind the country together, and I can only thank you most sincerely for this. It really is a remarkable contribution."

His Royal Highness ended by wishing everyone a "Shubh Deepawali... and every possible success" in the year to come.
Temple entry for Non-Hindus:-

Is it that God chooses his devotees as per the wishes of Temple Administrators and Priests ?

Did Lord Guruvayoor Appan speak to these guys on this?

Is these guys capable of reading the mind and mood of the God ?

And are these guys capable of ascertaining and determine the right and ripe time for God worship by devotees?

Come on come out with explanations with evidence, guys.

God is common to ALL and its

Funny Guys in God's own country.

The Kerala government's move to open temple doors to all believers has run into a solid wall, this time in the form of the Lord of the Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple. An ongoing Deva prasnam (divination ritual to know the mood of the Deity) at the temple has found that the presiding Deity is not in favour of allowing non-Hindus into the temple. The Ashtamangala Deva Prasnam, conducted after 17 years, has found that only devotees who believe in Deity worship and rituals of the temple should be allowed inside. But this will be debated and discussed by acharyas (religious leaders) before arriving at a final conclusion. The prasnam is on for at least another 10 days.

"Preliminary findings clearly show the time is not ripe for allowing non-Hindus into the temple. It seems the Lord is upset with some of the changes carried out at the temple," chief astrologer Irinjalakuda Padmanabha Sharma, who is heading the team of astrologers and religious leaders performing the ritual, said.

Apart from the entry issue, the prasnam revealed that the Deity is not too happy with some of the new construction inside the temple.

As the ritual was conducted with the permission of the tantri (supreme priest) and the devasom board, its findings are binding on all. Now, the acharyas will have to announce parihara kriyas (rectification rituals) to undo the damage. The supreme priest, Chenas Raman Namboodiripad, considered the final authority in temple customs, had earlier opposed the move to dilute exiting rituals and customs

Thursday, November 01, 2007

KNOW THE FACTS.


1.Spiritual instruction:

Literally it means restoring an object nearest to its true and proper place. The mind of the aspirant having become separated from its real and primal state of pure being i.e the Self which is referred to in the scriptures as" Being-Consciousness-Bliss, wanders away from it and in the form of thought ever runs after objects of sense gratification.

2.Relative knowledge:

"Know yourself" first and then ask about others and the world. If only you know the present first, you will learn the past and the future.

3.Fate & Free will:

By cultivating free will one can overcome fate. Fate applies only tom the body and not to the Self. Let the body act as found suitable and one need not be least concerned about it.By the process of 'enquiry',you will find "To whom is the fate".

4.Master's grace and instructions:

The aspirants experience of the grace of the Master by which he derives spiritual awakening is just like that of an elephant waking up from sleep on seeing a lion in its dream.

5.Grief or Misery:

Turn your mind inward and cease thinking of yourself as the body, thereby you will come to know that the Self is ever happy and neither grief nor misery is experienced in this state.

6.Self in one, self in all:

God is none other than the Self and to see the Self, destroy the ego and see the God, all else is but a vision of the mind.

7.Mind:

When camphor is burnt no residue is left, similarly the mind must be burnt without any trace being left out. It should melt and get completely annihilated and in the absence of the mind pure consciousness (Suddha Chaitanya) shines and the aspirant has to experience this.

8.Ego: To destroy the ego and to be as the Self, is the supreme method of attainment.To know all else except the knower is but ignorance.

9.Unique state, beyond comprehension:

Just as a lamp spontaneously goes out if not fed with oil, so also the ego becomes extinct if one meditates regularly and becomes merged in the Self.

10. The Truth:

The Truth remains as Truth whether one is aware of it or not. Non-duality was in existence even before it was revealed. To say that duality is the Truth is ignorance.The Truth might be lost to the ignorant ones , but not lost altogether and to all.

11.Love:

Love is the source of understanding. You know intellectually that within you resides the potential, expressed or not, for all human emotion, thought and action. Yet, you no doubt meet or observe people occasionally whose life and actions are repellent or unacceptable to you. The absence of love has created a vacuum of understanding. For the meditating person, there should not be a single human being whose actions, habits, opinions or conduct lies beyond your ability to love and understand.
Samadhi- The state of Union with God.

Samadhi is the highest step on the path of yoga as explained by Sage Patanjali, attained through abstract meditation. Samadhi(The state of union with God) is attained when the meditator,in the process of mediation by which the the mind is withdrawn from the senses by interiorization and the object of meditation i.e God becomes one.

There may be imperfect comprehension in Samadhi and if proceeded beyond this will derive tranquillity and a feeling of contentment born out of desirelessness, a state of perfect comprehension.

In the beginning state of God communion, known as "Sabikalpa Samadhi" ,the meditators consciousness merges in cosmic spirit, his life force is withdrawn from the body which may appear dead or motionless or rigid and the person is fully aware of the suspended animation.

During Samadhi only a taste of bliss is experienced whereas after Self-realisation the person becomes bliss itself which is beyond dualistic interpretation.

Intense meditation develops into Samadhi. wherein the meditator loses his identity in the object meditated upon and merges in the Self.

As a person progresses to higher spiritual state,known as"Nirbikalpa samadhi" he communes with God without bodily fixation and in his ordinary waking consciousness, even in the midst of exacting worldly duties. Both the states are characterised by oneness with the ever new bliss of spirit and the "Nirbhikalpa" state is experienced only by the most advanced spiritual Masters and in the advanced state, he is in rapport with the Self,this is a nataural state without efforts and there is nothing such as going in and out of Samadhi for him, as he is ever rooted in the Self.