From Dust to Dust

The following biblical adequately captures the essence of why we need to focus on repentance and forgiveness which signify the inner meaning Ash Wednesday that was observed this week, marketing the beginning of the period of Lent: “Remember, O man, you are dust and unto dust you shall return” (Genesis 3.19). Ash Wednesday falls on the first day of Lent, on a Wednesday, after Quinquagesima Sunday or Hall Sunday followed by Blues Monday and Shrove Tuesday. The Lenten season is a 40 day period of abstinence and fasting which culminates in the feast of Easter on April 23.

Masses or services of worship are held for Christians in churches. During this prayerful service the faithful approach the altar to receive the application of ashes. The officiating priest applies the ashes in the shape of a cross on the forehead or on the tonsured head of the clergy, while reciting the litany “for dust you are and to dust you shall return”. The applying of the ashes reminds the believers of their inherent mortality and transgressions and that repentance is essential to become one with God.

The cross symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is through Him salvation is possible for faithful. The ashes are obtained Sunday of the preceding year. This is so because Palm Sunday is celebrated to rejoice Jesus’s arrival into Jerusalem, and later on realizing that he came only to die for our sins. In the blessing of the ashes, four ancient prayers are invoked. The penitents allow the ashes to remain till evening before washing it off. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of repentance, penance and a spiritual flowering of the spirit with the aid of absolution and confession.

The earliest mention of Ash Wednesday can be traced to the Gregorian Sacramentary. On this day, Christian believers repent for their sins b fasting, praying and asking for God’s forgiveness. The purpose of observing Ash Wednesday is to remember Jesus Christ, who died for the dins of the whole world and was crucified on the cross and repent for all the sins that they have committed. The believers also confess their sins this day to priest. The whole rationale is to mourn, repent, fast and pray, and find one’s way to the Lord to attain forgiveness through which one gets eternal life.

Today, the practice of wearing sackcloth and applying ashes on the whole body as a sign of repentance is disappearing from the Christian customs. For Jesus himself cautioned people saying, “Moreover, hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to people to be fasting…. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to people to be fasting, but to your heavenly Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Mathew 6:16-18)

Jesus was telling people to be more bona fide in their deeds. Thus, the essential constituent of Lent is true repentance with genuine prayerfulness.

Golden Egg Technique

When you purify your centre, you become receptive to higher vibrations. Creativity happens in this space. Carnatic music composer Thy agaraja discovered a new ranga by listening to a bee. A monk observing a snake and a crane fighting discovered the martial art, Tai Chi

When your centre is full of impurities, your perspective and understanding are confused. This confusion tends to act as blockages and so there is no scope for the blossoming of creative ideas. Hence there is the need to set about clearing the obfuscation.

When purification happens, higher vibrations flow in. New ideas become understandable. We should thus insulate ourselves from negativity and keep our centres pure and receptive, so that the higher states of consciousness can guide us.

There’s a technique called the golden egg technique: Imagine that there is an egg and in it there exists gold. The gold is hidden inside the egg. Treat every problem you encounter as one such egg. Imagine that there is a golden opportunity hidden inside every problem. Whenever you are faced with a problem don’t lose hope. Instead of getting disheartened, try to understand that it is only an egg with precious gold tucked away deep inside. Delve deep into the problems and recognize golden opportunity. This attitude will invoke creativity in you.

There are many more ways of dealing positively with problems. Try this, when you come face to face with a problem, think of at least 20 ways of dealing with it. Play a game. Write down all the possible solutions. OK, now that you’ve written down 20 options, choose five out of the 20 and begin working on the,. With those five kinds of solutions find 20 ways of fulfilling them. Ask your friends to give ideas. The mother of creativity is the attempt to generate ideas. Play with it.

All these methods can be applied provided you remember not to view a problem as a pain. If you do so, then your hurt body will increase and you will pass on your pain to your children. Are you distressed that your son is lazy? Apply the golden egg technique. In the problem of your lazy son, there is gold hidden…. An opportunity hidden. Treat it as a why he is lazy. Be an anthropologist and study the causes of his laziness. By doing this you are in a proactive state and this state of your being will motivate your son.

Next apply the second method. See 20 ways to make your son active. Take help from friends, as this will help in expanding your ideas. Creativity opens up when there are ideas. Include your son in the game plan and make him your teammate. You will observe the inspiring energy that you create and as a result your family will have a meaningful goal. Use empowering language. There are no winners in an argument. Hence use words wisely. Try and understand others’ points of view instead of branding and labeling them as something or other. The moment you brand them, you will see only the labels. As a result you miss seeing the person.

Stop treating differences as conflicts. View them as points of view. Learn t appreciate variety. Appreciate differences rather than viewing them as pain. The moment you relate to differences as pain, you will experience them as pain. View differences as creative versions and you will feel positive energy flow through you.

The Ways of the World

Why does God burden me alone with so much strife?

In a village a young boy was playing by the river’s edge. Suddenly he heard a cry for help. “Save me, please save me!”

A crocodile was caught in a net and it cried out for help. The boy hesitated: What if the crocodile ate him up? But the crocodile pleaded with him and said, “I promise you that I won’t devour you. Please save me!”  Moved, the boy began to cut the net that had trapped the crocodile. No sooner was its head free from the net than the crocodile grabbed the boys leg in its jaws.

Now it was the boys’ turn to cry “How unfair you are!” he shouted. The crocodile said: “What to de? Such is the way of the world. Such is life,” and continued.

The boy was not worried about dying; he couldn’t accept crocodile’s ingratitude. While his leg was slowly sliding into the jaws of the crocodile, the boy looked at the birds on a nearby tree and asked: “Is the crocodile uttering the truth? Is life unjust? Are not words honored?”

The birds replied, “We take such care to build save nests on the tops of trees to protect our eggs. Yet, snakes come and swallow them. The crocodile is right. Then the boy saw a donkey grazing on the banks of the lake and repeated his question. “When I was young, my master loaded soiled linen on my back and extracted maximum amount of work from me. Now that I am old and feeble, he has abandoned me. Such is indeed the way of the world. There is injustice and unfairness and such is life!” said the donkey.

The boy, still not convinced, noticed a rabbit and repeated his question. The rabbit said “No no! I cannot accept what the crocodile is saying. It is utter nonsense!” Hearing this, the crocodile became angry and wanted to argue with the rabbit, even while holding the boy’s leg in its strong jaws. The rabbit protested, saying that as the crocodile’s mouth was choked with the boy’s leg it was not able to decipher what the crocodile was trying to say. The crocodile laughed heartily at this and said, “I am not a fool! If I let go the boy would run away!”

Now you are really stupid, said the rabbit. “Have you forgotten how strong your tail is? Even if he runs, you can smash him with just one mighty lash of your tail!”

The crocodile fell for this and releasing the boy, continued its argument and the boy took to his heels. Only when it tried to raise its tail, did the crocodile realize that it was still entangled in the net. The crocodile glared at the rabbit. The rabbit smiled sweetly, saying: “Now do you understand? Such is the way of the world! Such is life.

In a short while, the young boy returned with the villagers. A dog came along spotted the rabbit and started chasing it. The boy screamed at the dog. “This rabbit saved my life; don’t attack him.” Alas, before the boy could intervene, the dog had chased and killed the rabbit in a jiffy.

The distressed boy cried and said to himself, “What the crocodile said was true. Such is the way of the world. Such is life!”

Unfairness is a part and parcel of life. Such is the way of life. Can we teach ourselves not to be victims of unfairness and face it with the understanding that life’s mysteries cannot be fully understood?

Up Your Self-Esteem

An important lesson in life is to value ourselves. If we do, we will walk with confidence and see ourselves and our experiences from the right perspective. We cannot avoid people holding us and our achievements in contempt. Once we learn to believe in ourselves, our innate goodness and our value as unique beings created in God’s image and likeness, we will start living from a different paradigm. We will start also begin looking at others s fellow human beings, all on the path to the divine and sharers in this journey of life.

All areas in life are important after ourselves and maintaining ourselves physically, keeping our spirits high and in tune with the divine, widening our horizons keeping ourselves centered and being conscious of the spiritual and divine.

Innate value is something that is independent of the circumstances of our birth, socio-economic status and the slot we occupy in life. We will find that all the joys of sharing a simple life and a humble position have led us to add value in life. While the most fundamental moral values are almost universal, life does not stop with morality. Life is also about giving and taking, about love and friendship, about generosity and vision.

We will find that even if unconsciously, we all have a mission statement in our lives. This mission statement will encompass all the good we do on life and all the potential we develop to do good to others. On the other hand, if we continue with narrow motives, what we would have really is a distorted view of the world. With narrow world views we will judge others by our own subjective standards that are colored often by prejudice and acrimony.

If, on the contrary we look at life as an open book on which we write messages of harmony, brotherhood and sisterhood, encourage others to brave living and see our actions as a furtherance of the divine purpose, our lives will be informed by the values that are close to true humanity.

True humanity is represented by true values. We will not look only for gains but for opportunities to serve others. Everything in nature has an intrinsic value – fields, flowers trees, sky, infinite space, stars and all living beings. As human beings we need to realize our true potential and value.

Once we realize our intrinsic value, we will stop playing to the gallery; we will not look for constant approval or appreciation. Whatever we do, we will rest in the assurance that we have contributed something worthwhile.

This means that we accept ourselves as we are and remain content with what we have so far achieved. We do not respond to put downs or rejection with despondency or a sense of failure. We don into miss the point even if others have about us. It is strange how we sometimes have to experience ‘failure’ many times before something ‘works out’

Trial and experimentation are part of the process. We become more giving in our relationships, and receive life with open hands. Yes, it is possible, in fact probable that people will devalue us. But once we know who we are –precious children of a common God who is Father to all – we will become worthy children of God. “Not a sparrow falls from the skies without His knowledge”.

Kitchen Norms according to Vastu

Kitchen is the most important part in a house. It symbolizes a person's identity that is why one is so found of decorating it. Adapting the following written Vastu rules while construction and decorating the house can make a simple kitchen beautiful and prosperous:

1.    The kitchen should not be constructed in Brahma Sthal.

2.    One can built the kitchen in various architectural shapes such as square, hexagon, octagon as in vogue these days.

3.    The windows, ventilators and ceiling's height should be in appropriate proportion.

4.    Kitchen should not be built under the staircase.

5.    Kitchen should be constructed in the south east direction. This promises peace, good health and prosperity.

6.    The North East direction in not suitable for building kitchen as it affects the flow of wealth.

7.     Kitchen in the south west causes pain in the home maker's joints.

8.    It is advisable to construct kitchen in the north west.

9.    One should face east while cooking to make delicious and hygienic food.

10.The incoming of sun rays in the kitchen is auspicious as it kills the harmful germs.

11.The use of black stone on the kitchen slab is not advisable.

12.No object should be kept on the wall facing the north.

13.One should place the utensils rack in the south west direction.

14.The wall facing south east can be utilized for keeping spices, mixer grinder and geyser.

15.The water containers should be kept in the north east direction.

16.The sink should also be the placed in the north.

17.Cooking food while facing south invites un-peaceful and violent atmosphere.

18.Facing west while cooking can cause bone and skin related disease.

19.Colors like pink, white and brown like can be used in the kitchen.

20.The lavatory should not be adjacent to the kitchen.

21.The placing of kitchen sink and stove together is not advisable.

                The food's taste and aroma can be definitely enhanced by following these simple and easy Vastu rules. Vastu also helps in gaining good health and making life happier.

Piercing of Kundalini (Chakra)

It is a great science to pierce through the Chakras, reach up to the Kundalini at its base, awaken it and utilize its energies for spiritual development. Kunadalini Yoga is far more hazardous than nuclear science. One must undertake it only under the guidance of an adept and not by reading tests on the subject.

Piercing of chakras is done through meditation. Everybody knows that human brain is like an energy-house and the mind is its main power current. Ordinarily movements of the mind are flickering and unsteady. On account of this turmoil, there cannot be concentration of energy on one point, so nothing worthwhile can be accomplished so long as the mind remains disturbed. In the absence of such concentration, precious moments of life are wasted. When the rays of the sun are concentrated through a magnifying glass, fire is produced. In the same way, with the help of accumulated energy of concentration, a Sadhak can pierce through the six chakras. Meditation is the super-science of the mind by which energy scattered in multifarious channels can be collected and conserved, thus, producing an exceedingly powerful beam of light.

 A different text has prescribed different ways of piercing of Shat Chakras. There are some systems, which are traditionally in vogue, in which the spiritual master (Guru) imparts specialized training to his disciple. Success can be achieved by all these methods provided this Sadhana is performed with utmost faith, devotion and confidence under the guidance of a competent guide. The easiest Sadhana by which these Chakras can be pierced through and a wakened without any hazards is described below.

A Sadhak should sit in Padmasan (lotus) posture in the morning with purified body and quiet mind. After doing Brahma-Sandhya (achman, shikhabandhan, pranayam, aghmarshan and nyas), Jap of Gayatri Mantra should be performed hundred and eight times. Thereafter, Vedmata Gayatri should be meditated upon in the form of light in trikuti. (If a straight line is drawn from one ear to another and another line is drawn from the middle of eye-brows to the middle of brain the meeting point is known as trikuti). Mind should be settled in the light of trikuti in a way just as a blacksmith puts a piece of iron in the furnace, takes it out when it becomes red hot, hammers it and prepares the desired object. On being settled for some-time in the light of Gayatri in trikuti, the mind becomes illuminated. Then it should be brought in agya-chakra. Emanating from the spinal cord, Brahmanadi goes through trikuti to Sahasrar. The illuminated mind is made to enter into the hollow channel of Brahmanadi and taken to agya-chakra. When the mind is settled there it experiences all the characteristics of the chakra as already described. Mind of the Sadhak experiences the petals, their letters, elements, seeds, divine power, instrument, lok, mount, characteristic and color of that chakra. In the beginning such experiences are hazy and dim. Slowly some characteristics of the chakra are visualized clearly, some dimly and some in a deformed manner. By and by they become more and more clear. sometimes there are differences in the characteristics according to the internal shape of chakras.

By concentrated performing Sadhana of each chakra for a month carefully, it is stimulated. In meditation its characteristics become clearer and in matrikas as well as in organs of senses and organ of action there are sudden and strange vibrations and stimulation and an itching sensation. These are symptoms of awakening of the chakra. When the form of a chakra starts becoming clear the Sadhak should go ahead and try to penetrate another chakra below the former one according to the aforesaid procedure. It takes about a month's time to awaken each chakra. When the Sadhana becomes ripe the gate leading from one chakra to another opens. However, the Sadhak does not find the gate and remains entangled in a labyrinth so long as there is immaturity in his Sadhana.

Good health

Methods of eating food:

One should eat with a calm, pleasant and relaxed mind. It is not good to take or serve food when the mind is filled with grief, anger, excitement, pain or negative thoughts. During such moments the glands secreting digestive juices get dried and hence the juices essential for digestion are not make available for the food intake. It is well known that during excitement of any kind one does not feel hungry. This also proves that during that time body is not ready to take food. Thus one should eat with a cool and pleasant mind chewing each morsel thoroughly before swallowing it. There should be no hungry. The task of the teeth is to grind the food and the task of stomach and intestines is to digest the same. If the teeth do not grind the morsel properly and it is swallowed half-ground, the work of teeth has to be done by the stomach and the intestines and in this process they are overburdened. There are small glands in the mouth which secret digestive juices while chewing the morsel. If these juices are not made available to the food, it will be difficult to digest the food. According to Ayurveda, each morsel should be chewed thirty two times before swallowing it. In practice, such a counting is difficult. Nevertheless, one must pay attention to grind the morsel thoroughly before swallowing it. Daliya, Halua, Khir etc should also be chewed properly. They should not be drunk like water. Even milk or water too should not be consumed in one go. Rather they should be taken sip by sip retaining them in the mouth for some time.

Considering food as Amrit (nectar) and Prasad (food offered to God), one should eat it with joy and respect. It is a bad habit to get angry or find faults in food on slight reduction in taste or flavor. Food taken with ill-will, hatred, attribution of fault, disrespect etc generated disorders. Thus instead of producing a beneficial effect, it proves to be harmful to health. Even if a simple food is taken with gratitude, considering it to be nutritious and healthy, it will certainly be digested fast and will also produce pure blood.

Quantity item of food:

One should eat less than the hunger. Everybody's food intake and the digestive power are different. The same quantity of food cannot be prescribed for all. This decision has to be taken by the stomach of a person consuming food. The stomach tells what the requirement of the body is and what its digestive power is. We should provide whatever it asks for. Ayurvedic scriptures say that the stomach should be filled hold with food and half should be left empty (one fourth portion for water and remaining one fourth for air) Indeed it is difficult to do such measurements, but it must be kept in mind that food intake should be less than the hunger and some space should be left in the stomach. One should not eat so much that after meals, it becomes difficult to work or move around. One should feel refreshed and energetic after meals. But if laziness or heaviness is felt it should be understood that it is due to overeating. There is no harm if the food is taken in lesser quantity; rather it is beneficial because it is digested easily. The stomach has to work very harm to process heavy food. The bile present in the gall bladder falls short for assisting in the digestion. Hence food is excreted as half-digested faces. Therefore, it must be kept in kind that one should eat less than the full capacity of the stomach. The dinner should be taken 2-3 hours prior to sleeping. Sleeping immediately after dinner produces indigestion and also disturbs sound sleep.

Keeping in mind what to eat, how and when to eat and how much to eat; and acting accordingly removes all complaints regarding malfunctioning of stomach. This also removes constipation and strengthens the digestive system as a whole.