Where is Heaven/Where is Hell

Wanted to bring out a debatable topic this time. Where is heaven and hell? To me, the concept of heaven and hell were coined to bring out some imaginary destination for life-after-death. It serves an utopia and nothing else. It is all about our mind w.r.t. what is heaven and what is hell!

The funny thing is that no person after death can come back to tell us, what is life after death :-) So it always stands a puzzle. The uncertainty, unpredictability and puzzling question of life after death has made lot of our ancestors coin their own version of death and also about life after death!

To me, there is no life after death. The whole world and its life force is an energy equation and we all know every equation needs a balance. The amount of positive energy should equal the amount of negative energy to balance the equation. To keep up this balance living organisms take [re]birth. When we die, the energy that we possessed, whether positive or negative, goes into the energy pool. Depending on what imbalance it creates, organisms get their birth. Humans possess more energy than animals, which possess more energy than worms/insects which possess more energy than trees and so on... The soul possess this energy and based on the good/bad it gets responsible for during its existence, it upgrades/degrades in its powers!

The above by itself is a big topic where I can ramble more :-) Not to digress here from our topic on heaven and hell. When I say, after death our energy goes to a central pool of energy, Why was heaven and hell coined? It was not actually to symbolize life after death. It has a lot to do with life that we live. The actions that we do during our lifetime take us through a trauma or bliss, which are characteristics of hell and the heaven. There is nothing more to it. We are responsible for our actions and we are the victim to the reactions that occur for our actions. When our ancestors say to do good to reach heaven, they simply mean to do good to be happy. It’s all about how to live our life happy and better. This generic information faded and distorted to different dimensions and made heaven/hell as destinations of life-after-death.

Now, who decided on what is good that helps us to be in heavenly state and what is bad that make us suffer in the 'hell' state? Nobody made these rules/guidelines. It evolved over time. Some of our actions would have given us unfavorable reactions and would have made us suffer. Some actions would have always helped us be happy. So over time our ancestors were able to shape up the principles of living. The strongest of these principles formed religions and the bits around them were just coined as practices towards better living.

This writing can go on and on, explaining/confusing more ... But, I just wanted you to think on these lines for sometime to see if it makes sense. I am not fully supporting this thought as I too have several questions over my head on the same lines! I just wanted to bring forth a dimension that heaven and hell are not really the destinations after death. They are our destinations towards all actions that we do during our lifetime.

Let’s try to live in the heaven always, while we live!
Mani

Positive Criticism - Shiv Kera and Me

Every time we cannot get a chance to meet celebrities and share our thoughts. I read, by reading a book during coffee break, we are having a coffee with that author :-) So the title sounds this way :-) I was reading 'You can Win - Shiv Kera' and felt like talking about Positive Criticism that he has mentioned about. It sounded nice to me on what he explained about it in 2 pages. Read the excerpt if you like.

Checkpoint to criticism:
If we are criticizing a person on the right lines which will help his personal improvement, it is perfectly fine. If criticizing the person gives us a pleasure, then it could be a false criticism arising out of greed or vengeance. We should check that before we do.

If we are subjected to criticism, we should check on the same lines. We should use our wisdom in accepting/rejecting any criticism. If the criticism is out of ignorance it can be answered by a proper explanation. If the criticism is out of jealousy we cannot do anything about it. Take it positive as a compliment that you got for your work.

Why search for positive critics?
In life, people usually will like to remain in their comfort zones. They would like to be with people who will appraise them for whatever they have done [or] at least adjust to them no matter what they do. The fact is that 50% of people whom we meet don’t care what happens to us and the remaining 50% people are happy about what bad happen to us :-) People who do positive criticism are required for self improvement. If we find one, we should catch hold of them.

Some tips on 'How to Criticize':
How to criticize is an art. Always step into others shoes before you comment on them, to first see what we are criticizing is right? Never use the words like "You never do that ...", "You always do it this way ..." kind of statements as it immediately hurts the self-esteem of the other person. Always comment on the action and not the actor, criticize on the performance and not the performer.

Courtesy: You can Win - Shiv Kera. Chapter - 8 :-)
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To extend my thoughts on this, self improvement is very much essential like the air we breathe. Life acts on us based on how we live it and thus we need to be with the right people who will prepare us in life to be a complete human.

To shell out of the comfort zone, needs a lot of struggle. To put us into the experiments is against the will of life, as everyone expects a relaxed trouble-free life. But the outcome of such a struggle elevates us to a place where the world will look upon with reverence.

Vivekananda said "In a day when you don't come across any problems—you can be sure that you are traveling in the wrong path". What a statement of wisdom this is!

Willingness to change towards positive suggestions helps us develop our wisdom. Slowly, our mind and soul can become our best critic. Conscience is a matter of, the way we are brought up. Even to tune ones conscience, wisdom is required. What the world sees to be good translates into positive criticism if you are with the right people. This criticism tunes our wisdom which trains/conditions our conscience. This makes us all set!

Someone said 'Live life when you are alive. Don’t die before you are dead'.

Love Life and Live it to the best!
_Mani

What we sow, we reap ?

Yes! A well known proverb! I can say it is a hackneyed phrase. Wanted to draw some tangential thoughts to this. So let’s think. Is this always true? Do we always reap what we sow?

I agree that Good deeds beget goodness and bad ones yields the bad. But, I feel it is not just 'what we sow', it is also 'where we sow' that matters! A rich soil yields good harvest. Thus the environment is an important factor as well! If a soil is not conditioned well for a particular kind of crop, does the harvest still be rich?

A good person amidst 1000 bad people is seen odd. I am not trying to say here to get used to the environment we belong to! I am not persuading to loose our identity but to create a conducive environment and condition the surroundings before we 'sow' our thoughts or actions.

A weed-out process should happen, where we first customize our ambience to think in our lines. We can't force our thoughts in that environment but we will have to convince the environment. A set of beliefs ONLY when is well accepted and followed, forms a religion. Any religious moral is believed across generations. Thus any thought to be trusted and believed needs sincere followers who should be convinced on what we want them to believe. The thought whether it becomes pervasive or extinct is dependent on on how we prepare our surroundings before seeding our thought.

Thus, don’t just think about 'sowing the right ones'. Think about the right place. A right seed in the wrong environment perishes with no trace of its being. We humans have great sense to think and create our environment rather than crib on the environment we live in. Any effort in the wrong direction goes futile.

The difference between 'living' and 'adaptation' is the difference between humans and other living organisms. Animals adapt and evolve to their surroundings. But we humans have the ability to create our living. So rather than complaining/adapting on the society we should act in such a way that right morals and right actions will happen in the environment that surrounds us.

Next time, when we try to 'sow' will we think on where we are doing it? Prepare the base properly so that what we 'sow' grows well and becomes beneficial to ourselves and others. I think, I sowed my thought here in an environment, where I believe people who read it will think about it :-)

_Mani

Spending Vs Investing

What do we spend and what do we invest? The question came to my mind last week and I had to think more on it. The arena where this thought had to play was not just the financial grounds, but in our entire life. To hit the dart straightaway, ‘spending’ usefully towards a long standing benefit to you or others is ‘investing’!

Let’s go to a different dimension now by relating this to our life. How much of our time we spend and how much of our time do we invest? I keep 'time' as the baseline here, as this drives our age and lifetime.

If you put in your effort on something that is not useful to you the next moment, I call it spending. Say you getup late in the morning, catch an auto/taxi to reach on time to office, you might have reached office on time and could be perfectly ok with your official works. But, you have spent your energy, money and that travelling time in the wrong direction. A perfect start of the day is very important and you failed investing in that!

Devoting your time for your children is an investment on their growth. Investing time on music might make you feel pleasant. Investing time on meditation might make you feel inspired and strong. Interest varies between individual.

Another dimension here could be this! Whatever is against ones interest, he considers it a spending and the vice versa is investing. Putting your money to buy a big TV might be a spending for some. But, for some others they have invested their money towards entertainment. The few minutes they watch in that TV might still give them great happiness, energizes them and might fulfill their fantasies.

But, there are some universally accepted things which are investments for all of us. Think deep in your conscience and it will reveal you what is a real investment. Investments are more than just quenching your fantasies. It has to be something that gives you long standing benefits.

By analyzing on how much time in a day you 'spend' and think about how to convert that into an 'investment', one can improve his art of living. Iteratively doing this, the time we spend diminish and gives way to investments. I strictly believe that we should start investing in our life.

I consider blogging this, an investment. Not sure what you felt reading it :-)

Cheers!
Mani

February - The month of Love!

The month of February was the first of its kind for me. I read a lot after a long time. Thanks to one of my friends, who was the main reason behind me doing a non-techie read, after a long time :-) But, writing here about something which is not from the book I read ... This thought kept on bothering me for a long time. I felt only if I push this out I will get space for the next one ...

What is life without love? I can't imagine. When a new acquaintance bloom its way into a great relationship, the feel is inexplicable. Everyone in life should build great relationships. I read in one of Chetan Bhagat's words that small sparks will keep the vehicle of life moving. Small excitements are required to keep life moving. Very true! Begin life in iota of acquaintances and build great relationships there on ...

The month of February makes me reminded of two things, My mom's birthday [13-Feb] and the Valentine’s Day. Both streamline to Love for me. The feel of motherhood is something great! She doesn't know how the baby will look like, color or looks, what he will become in life, good or bad. What an unconditional love ... amazing! A woman can be wrong but 99.99% a mother cannot be wrong! Great metaphor for love, right? Also, it is the first love we see in our life! A salute to the motherhood in this 'month’ dedicated for love.

How great it is to feel that we have people around us, who care for us. To be choosy on relationships is great. You are the happiest and blessed in this world when the one you choose to be a friend with, acknowledge it and reciprocate it. Some words are coined after a great thought, I would say. The word horizon is one such word, I like the most. You see it but you can't experience it in reality. But you can imagine and feel it the way you want. You can enjoy it to any extent you want. The feel of love is the same I feel. It’s an utopia and I have my own gestures towards it and my own reverence for it. I like to show it to all who like me. I wish God gives me that time and space for that!

You will be surprised to hear, I developed a good friendship for a lizard at my home in chennai. I was staying alone for 2 weeks with no one to speak. The disturbance on the first day was that lizard but as days went on, when I didn’t see it for 3 or 4 days and it appeared suddenly on one day, I felt so happy :-) I kept on looking for it on all the other days!

Robhin Sharma said this ... "When a baby is born, it cries while people surrounding the new-born are in gay! When a person dies it should be the reverse, where he/she lies down in peace with all-smiles and people around cry for the demise”. Build great relationships.

Stopping it here ... Feel like experiencing Love in all forms, all through my life ... Love is something great. isn't it?

Yours Lovingly,

_Mani

How to look at life? – Letter to the soul!

The question keeps troubling me quite often. In fact, it haunts me. Sometimes going by strict guidelines and containing our life within those borders puts us to boredom. But, the way I feel like looking at it today, is to fight it brave! Yes ... It is a big battle that is given to us and we need to put in a relentless effort to sustain here.

Don’t bother much! There are ways to handle whatever that troubles you. It is not that you need to fight against the trouble always. Nor, we need to trouble the trouble before it troubles you. We can't be so proactive in life at all times. Sometimes, getting rid of [bypassing] the trouble is better than facing it. See, if you can do better without addressing it. That could be a wise decision rather than spending years to fight against it.

Everybody will commit mistakes in life. It can be a small one or a big one. Could stop there or might create a chain of mistakes. But yeah, the fact is life is too long to live it fully right. Always have this in mind. A small 2-D 8x8 chess board has so many tricks in it to master and so many knots to unravel. Life has many dimensions and many puzzles to solve. Lets not look life complex thinking of this. The intent is to say, life is big enough to spend it fully right.

The thing we will have to have in mind is not the cause of the mistake. But it’s effect. If you are able to correct the bad effects of your mistake and see things peaceful and serene, don’t bother about that again. The history of the mistake should be forgotten there. The lesson has to be taken. That mistake was one game given to you in your life where you didn't play well but you were able to come out of that debacle and the story ends there. Don't connect it to anything else in your life that happens in future.

See the God in you! Be kind to people. Love mankind. Enjoy and imbibe the nature. Who ever may console you when you are depressed, it’s you who should be willing to come out of it. Don’t rely fully on external sources to be consoled. It is mostly within you! Get to speak with those whom you like to ignite the engine and then on run the engine by your internal motivation force.

Play life like a bravo! It’s all about patching up the gaps and downs to make life smooth and even. Every mistake is corrigible when realized and acted upon at the right time. If not corrigible, at least its effect becomes negligible when you act fast upon it.

You will be fine and will rock the way you want[ed] to! Life is too short to spend worrying! On a practical note I remember this saying: "It's not wrong in life to expect to walk on a path full of roses; But its greedy to expect not even one thorn should prick your feet"

_Mani

Tough Times - Way to look at it!

Challenging Situations, Muddled minds and confused murmurs are the ones I see these days among people. Yes, we are circled by tough times these days both inside and outside. But, it is all in our perception and how we look at this scene. I felt like giving you a different dimension or a consolation to feel comfortable in this crisis!

We have been facing challenges in life. Some we faced unknowingly, some as part of our commitments/predicaments and some after hibernation into our comfort zones.

• Unknowingly as a little toddler, we learnt to walk. As a child we slowly prattled to get our speaking ability. These are the main and major things one should have in life. I mean the ability to walk and speak. Right? Luckily, as a child we never had the fear or thinking as to what will happen if I can’t walk? [or] what will happen if I cant speak? Without that fear/tension we were able to tackle it easily!
• As part of commitments: We struggled to get settled in life. No other go we got to do it. Else, life becomes a trouble. We had to clear our exams and there was no other option. So we did it!
• After getting settled in life we entered into a routine and got comforts. We were into a hibernation mode, out of troubles. And suddenly now, when a crisis or a challenge comes we panic or get confused!

Do you see the difference in all the above phases of life? Challenges were there always, they were unique but its our attitude towards it that made the difference.

Lets face it. Only tough times unravel the strengths of a man. Success is not about winning always. It’s also about how quickly we can raise out of debacles! Even the smallest of the grass has to put its new root into the ground firmly, even if it sees a new stone on its way. Only when you keep rocking yourself strong against the obstacles, you get deeply firmly rooted. Mind it!

Think of your surroundings, ambience and dependents. You cannot stumble so easily and also collapse your dependents. The struggle of a seed inside the ground is two-fold. In one direction, it has to stretch and push out of the soil to help the world with its fruits, flowers, shade et al. On the other direction, it has to root itself deeply/firmly so that it can stand strong to support the world and sustain its fruitfulness. Can you evaluate which direction is important? We can't be partial to one of this, obviously. Both are crucial dimensions to concentrate on! How many trees we see daily? But, do we realize this fact? Let’s be strong and keep others and our ambience lively and strong as well! Growing on both sides is very important and these tough times help us do that!

Its time, I leave your mind free to ponder on this. To end with a cliché, "Tough times never last; but, tough men do!!!"

Yours inspiringly,
Mani

Life - Being Accountable, Yet Keeping it Lite!

Hi,

It has been a long time ... How are you? Yesterday when I was heading back home, I thought a few things which I felt sharing with you.

Life is a gift or a pain? Have we ever counted how many moments in a day we were happy or sad? Is that happiness or sorrow because of our mistake or the other? There are definite answers to everything in the world. But, it depends on whether you want to accept it or not. If you ask me, for all the 'effects', the 'cause' is you. You started something which gave that 'effect'. But does that always mean you are the one who did that mistake? Not actually!

Certain things have to start. When I say 'Certain Things', it can be any work, a conversation, an acquaintance, a project, your own vision, a desire or anything. Who starts it is not of concern. But once started, how you attribute yourself to the series of events that happens around it, makes you accountable for the happiness/sorrow that you got.

To be simple, A desire to buy a car is bound to happen for anyone. If you buy as per your plan you are happy else, you are sad. But the desire by itself is not the cause for your sadness. How did you approach towards accomplishing your desire, makes you accountable for the happiness/sorrow the desire caused. If you had put all your efforts towards buying the car and your mind is convinced of your efforts, you need not worry about it at all. Start finding the external factors which caused your desire to fail and try approaching/complaining that factor rather than blaming you. More than complaining, we will have to actually think of circumventing that factor the next time, when you aim to approach that desire again.

Keep life simple. Do your best and leave the rest on God. I bet it is simple. 'Life is a gift or a pain' should not be our debate. Keep it aside. What you want to do today to be happy is what that pays in a long run. Think like your whole life is just today, is a usual cliché to be happy in life. But that doesn't mean no planning is required for future :-)... Be cool and do your best.

Spend time with your family and friends, everyday. It’s very hard to get people who love your presence. A small mail or a minute of chat will not digress you out of your vision. A smile exchanged daily is worth millions of talk. See life as a piano [or any musical instrument] and think of how to bring beautiful melodies out of it. Remember, it’s the person who plays the piano brings in it a cacophony or euphony. Learn that art! As they say 'A lazy man always blames his tools', there is no point in blaming the piano [life], for what you played on it.

Blame yourself and make you accountable for the RIGHT mistakes only. Keep life as light as possible. Stop debating on 'life - a gift or pain'. If you still keep doing the debate, you will forget to live it.

Yours lively,
_Mani

The Sanctum Santorum - Garbha Griha

Information from Wikipedia gives the definition as follows
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Garbhagriha or garbha griha is a Sanskrit word meaning the interior of the sanctum sanctorum, the innermost sanctum of a Hindu temple where resides the murti (idol or icon) of primary deity of the temple. Literally the word means "womb chamber" from Sanskrit word garbha for womb and griha for house. Only priests are allowed to enter. Often associated with Hindu temples, it is also found in Jain and Buddhist temples.

The Architectural Science behind this place states that the main idol of the temple is kept exactly under the "Spire" of the temple. The spire can be a conical shape [or] pyramid-like shape [as in Brahadeeshwara Temple, Tanjore]. The spire in line with the garbhagriha chamber is said to form the main "Vertical Axis" of the temple. Garbhagriha is also said to be also on the main horizontal axis. If there is a cross-axis, then it is at the intersection of these axes.
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What I feel, thought and gathered about Sanctum Santorum is here...

The main powers of the temple area get focused at the intersection of these axis and thus all powers streamline to focus this chamber, where the main idol of the temple is kept. To streamline the power the temple structure is kept in a conical or pyramid-like shape, which has the tendency to attract positive vibes and disperse into the garbha-griha. This place is thus more pious and pure in the whole of temple, where only the priest enters to perform their religious offerings to God.

The Sanctum Santorum is usually dark. With today's technology, we see lot of lights inside the Sanctum Santorum, which I feel should not be done. People say that there was no electricity in olden days which is why the maim chamber was dark and now that we have electricity, it is good to have it bright. This could be a fallible vision.

Lot of temples in Kerala, had provisions for oil-wick lamps to lit the exterior walls of their temples with good light. When they had this option, why didn't they light the garbha-griha to make it look bright? This has an insight definitely!

The word 'garbha' in Sanskrit means 'Mother's Womb'. The place where life begins is Godliness and this place [the Womb] is dark indeed. So Garbha-Griha by its appearance is a powerful place that is dark as well. For example, when we see lightning and close our eyes, do you still perceive the image of it, inside your mind for sometime atleast? When something appears to us in a black background, the subconscious mind gets a clear image of it. I can compare the ‘mind’ and ‘image’ to the 'Photo' and 'Negative', where a black negative when developed across a 'white photo paper', gives the image's reflection. Subconscious mind exhibits the same effect.

Thus the garbha griha with the idol is purposefully kept dark. When the priest lights the camphor and shows light on the idol, our subconscious mind can easily register the image against the dark background. It is thus even said not to close our eyes and pray when the priest shows camphor in front of God. We should actually admire God in that camphor-light and register his image on our minds.

I hope you see a difference when you stand in front of The Sanctum Santorum, the next time!

Yours Spiritually,
_Mani

Fire - The Element

I was sitting in front of God, to offer my prayer this weekend. It is my usual practice to switch off the lights and sit to meditate in silence, with just the oil-wick lamp lit in front of God. The view of God looks so pleasant and powerful in that light.

I was observing the light when offering my prayers and my thoughts started to digress [but towards the good]. I saw the wick in the lamp was a bit bend but the light [or fire] was still upright. It’s a well known unique property of fire that fire is always upright. We can’t see fire flaming downwards. It’s always high in esteem. I started thinking more about fire then...

Fire, one among the FIVE ELEMENTS of nature, is more pious and is used in all religious ceremonies. Without a fire and offerings to fire, a prayer is not complete in Hindu Mythology. I have heard that Shiridi Baba also was doing offerings for Fire in his prayers and that too inside the mosque. Even after His demise, people keep the same fire going till date. It is also ’Nithya Karma' for a bachelor [Brhamacharya] in Brahmin community to offer his prayers to Fire and take its blessings. I have also done it few days [though it is a daily duty] to see how powerful it is. A lot greater about fire, we can add upon. But what makes it special?

I felt it to be pure. The air, water, land, space can all be polluted by humans or by evolution. But Fire is pure and there is nothing like 'Impure Fire' that exists. It either goes off [or] flames up. Till the time it flames up, it converts all that is put into it, into Fire again. We can't pollute fire. So is that given more importance? My mind was thinking...

Might be yes! Though the oil wick faces downwards, the light [or fire] faces only upwards always. Is a woman expected to keep the reputation of the family always high, no matter how irregular/erratic/downwards the family is? Is that the reason why a bride who enters her husband's house made to lit a lamp in front of the God, first?

Marriages are done in front of Fire, keeping it as the witness for the marriage. Does that symbolize “No matter what impurities/obstacles/issues happen in life, the married life [like the fire], should keep going”? I am not sure again!

But these questions came to my mind ... Possibly I thought right about 'Fire'. To the next generation kids, we can give this as a convincing explanation? I am not sure! They might have more questions :-)

Yours Inquisitively,
_Mani

Motherliness and Spirituality

There is a strong eternal binding that I see between Motherliness and Spirtuality. I believe a 'Mother' is respected like a God because of the sanctity observed in motherliness. Anywhere Sanctity is observed, its Godliness. Am I Right?

It is true that there is only one purest state of human that exist! That is a privileged stature observed only in a woman. It is her stature as a 'Mother'. A woman can go wrong in her traits but not a 'Mother'. A girl, a wife, a grandmother or any other stage a woman goes by, has some or the other flaw. Before marriage a woman selects a person whom she likes as her husband. There could be many criterias like looks, salary, profession et al. When she was a small girl she does only what she likes. Even as a grandmother a lot of expectations gets piled up in her. But as a mother no flaw happens.

Motherliness is an untainted form of a woman. No matter how bad, how mischievious, how mean, how rude the child is, mother's love on the child never changes. As a woman one can be faulty but as a mother the woman is impeccable. How many times we would have scolded our mother for silly/reasonable stuffs. Do you see any ego in her after you scold. She is the same. They even say that a man's love multiple for his wife, when his wife becomes a mother. But a woman's love starts to divide soon after she becomes a mother.

Now to the Godliness. I have heard and read that the very popular symbol of worship "The Shiva Linga" is a structure that demonstrates the hormonal balance of life. The "Linga" in sanskrit is the male genital and is placed on a pedestal kind of structure which is called Yoni [The female genital in sanskrit]. This doesn't mean anything obscene but shows the cause behind "Start of Life". I can also say that the place/state where life originates is what we worship as God. Dont you think a Woman bears this unique feature in her when she brings a life into this world?

Its sure Motherliness is Spirituality!

Mani

Thinking Ahead of Time

I was thinking the other day about 'Thinking ahead of time'. It was my feeling all these days that if one thinks ahead of time, he will be abused by people as 'Insane' as they cannot perceive his/her thought. It becomes hard to survive by thinking ahead of time. Don't you think this has some sense?

But I also feel, just because others will abuse should one stop thinking ahead? If everyone starts to think this way and try to stick on to the thinking of society then how will radical changes happen in this world? There have been lot of people who have been considered eccentric at first and got well accepted later. Few examples could be Swami Vivekananda, Einstein, Netwton et al.

Not many can think ahead. Its a gift; You can't ask for it but can be happy if yoy have it! Mind is locked to think new and Keeping our senses open is the key to open up! Keep hearing to all thoughts. Every minute sound has its cause and effect. More than hearing, you should listen. Every touch, Every argument and Every Sight has its own relevance. We never know when will the synergy be created from the information we have gathered. These external sources gives only information. The synergy should be created in ones mind/soul!

Vivekananda said "You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. The goal of mankind is knowledge! Now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man "knows," should, in strict psychological language, be what he "discovers" or "unveils"; what man "learns" is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge."

To end up ... To any right idea/thought there is first an opposition, then an apposition and then an acceptance! Keep thinking and inculcate on the yound minds, how to think out-of-the-box! Its really required. Who knows? You can bring a big difference in this world!

Love,

_Mani

Positive Thinking

I have been reading about Positive Thinking, Auto-Suggestions and Toxic Speaking for a long time now! Wanted to give my thought here so that it can benefit you.

Positive Thinking is not just about mental tuning of a person. It would have been told to you by your mother, father or grandma many-a-times. Whenever we were in trouble and mourned to our parents, they would have told us to think positive. But we have kept ignoring them. "Think Positive" is not just an advice given by old-age people. It is a science!

Psycologist and people who treat patients though 'mental healing' say that brain cannot process negative statements. It simply ignores the negative connotation used in your command and does consider the remaining part of your statement.

You still dont believe it? Fine! Let me ask you to stop reading the remaining for a while and just concentrate on this question. "Dont think of a Blue Elephant". Read it again now ... "Dont think of a Blue Elephant". Now tell me one thing. Did your mind pictured an elephant blue in color? Shiv Kera in 'You can Win" told this example. Though you said to your brain "Dont think of a Blue Elephant", your mind picutured a blue elephant. Now do you believe in what I say?

Tuning your Child through positve statements!

If to a child you say "Dont drop the glass", it immediately drops it. It is not that the child wants to irritate you [or] is trying to be mischievious. It is the way brain responds to negative statements! Instead you tell the same child "Hold the glass", it will hold it for sure.

A story which I read should be another good example for "Toxic Speak"! Two children were on the top of a small tree. When their parents observed strong wind blowing, they frenzied to ask their kids to be careful. One shouted "Hold the tree firmly" and the other screamed "Dont fall down". You now know what would have happened :-)

Speak positve to your kids! Remove words like 'not', 'dont', 'but', 'try', "might', 'could' et al as much as possible. You can speak these words to mentally sound people but, to kids whom you want to tune better, speak positive!

People who are addicted to smoking/drinking also should practice to stop them using positive statements. If they keep telling to them "I should not smoke today", they will eventually smoke. Rather they should think about how good it is to breathe fresh air. Institutes which train people to come out of addictions, talk about benefits of being good. They never talk about "NOT" doing the bad!

As part of our high-school we would have studied about brain. We had to write about 'Cerebrum', 'Cerebellum' and 'Medula Oblongata' to get our marks. Knowing them is no more helpful to many of us except doctors. Lets know that "Brain Cannot process negative statements" to score good in our life!

"Euphemism" is the art of expressing unpleasant things in a pleasant way. Practice it. Its good and will bring lots of friends to your life. By talking and thinking positive your brain will be your good friend too!

Cheers!

_Mani

Deriving From Swami Vivekananda!

Vivekananda said "I have neither fear nor death; never was I born, never did I die; I never hunger or thirst. I am It! I am It! The whole of nature cannot crush me; it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of lords and God of gods! Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!"

I wanted to extend on this. The below has my thought and what I discerned from other viable sources...

I always felt that the powerful asset of a man is his SOUL. When you apply the above Vivekananda saying to SOUL it suits the best! The only pride and possession of a man should be his SOUL. How much you enlighten and elevate it, you will see yourself a proud possession to all in this world.

Like eyes, ears etc being senses for the physical form, SOUL is the sense for your eternal form. It can see beyond ages and can transcend births and carries a lot of powers in itself. You see people telling future or remembering previous births? This means that the physical and the eternal forms are interacting and this happens to a powerful few!

I always feel that the soul travels from one body to another and becomes an integral part of one body at a time. All the deeds done by that body are not accountable to the soul. Only the ones that happen to the knowledge of soul, the soul is accountable for! Any sin committed but your conscience is not aware of, doesn't account as a deed of your soul. So the soul is not held accountable for that sin. Did you get me?

Have you observed Nature termed as Mother or God. Like how Hindu Mythology says Krishna, Rama et al. are the human lovable forms of Lord Vishnu; I also feel nature is a lovable form of Universe. Worshiping nature is like worshiping God! Soul being the virtual and integral part of Universe can thus be worshipped and enlightened. It is a form of God that is tightly linked with us [or] God's gift to us as a token of remembrance. You nourish it and you can see HIM through it.

The soul with a lot of +ve OR -ve deeds cannot attain salvation. Very similar to the chemical science where we see acid neutralizing the base, which creates the end of a laboratory experiment. Soul has to go neutral which means that the soul mixes with the universe and is no more accountable to be part of any material body. Universe and its neutral [NO AIR/VACCUM] form is the source of salvation. Universe is still a mystery and beyond the knowledge of great scientists. Universe is God and thus God is called invisible, powerful, mysterious et al.

An Atheist questions if number of souls is constant and if same souls moves from one body to another, how does population increase. I can say that it is a smart question to put any God-believer in doubt. But I feel it this way ... Newton's law and theology can be put together to give a reply to this question. It sounded valid as I thought about it …

Newton said "Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed but, can be transformed from one form to another". The net energy of this universe is always the same. A soul with lot of positives bears more positive energy and that with -ves bears negative energy. Number of souls or living beings is not the matter to the universe. Nature/Universe brings organisms into existence based on this total energy available. Every soul counts for some energy. The count is not on the number of souls but it is a count on the net-energy. How much of positive energy, how much of negative energy and how much of energy got neutralized [salvation], is what that counts in effect! Total energy being constant, population/souls may vary!

Wanted to write more on each of the above derivations! But for want of time, stopping here...

Scientifically and Spiritually,
_Mani

Think Life - Hard Ways and Smart Ways

Life in this world always has Hard Ways and Smart Ways. It is left to us to look at the scenarios case- by-case and choose the hard one or the smart! This is what is called the sixth sense that resides uniquely in we humans!

They say "A Chain is as strong as its weakest link". It means something simple. Say, a chain has 100 links. The person who made it might have given 200% of his effort in making 99 links very strong. But, if has slipped on the 100th link the chain is not strong. This cliche is again relative.

Suppose the 100 links we are talking about is something about a team of 100 people. The person who is the most disjoint is the one who will be blamed for the disunion in the team. So even if you are disjoint in your mind but not as intense as the other person you will not be blamed. This is the smart way of being inculpable. Am I Right?

However, if the context of links is extended towards a person's character, I would take this cliche very optimistic. A collection of good behaviors make a man wise. Even if there is one week link in his character, will he be respected by all? Here we talked the same cliche in the HARD rigid way!

Everywhere in this world we can think of a lot if issues in hard way or the smart way. How we evolve and live bug free depends on how we think. I would like to end this indite with another cliche I read long back. This is again about living 'relatively competitive' in life. Also it has a good message ...

"Every deer has to run faster than the Fastest Lion to save its Life. Every Lion has to run faster than the slowest deer to get its prey". Isn't this thinking an ideal one for smarter living :-)

But, ultimately the aim here is to keep running in life. The day you stop running, you are lost! So, Keep Running!

_Mani

Knowledge is potential power, wisdom is real power !!!

Extrapolated from a forward ...

===

Knowledge is Power ? We hear every day that knowledge is power. But, not really.

Knowledge is information. It is potential power and it becomes power only when it is acted upon. What is the difference between a person who cannot read and a person who can but does not read? Not a whole lot. Right? Lets think here ...

Learning is like eating food. It is not how much you eat that matters, what counts is how much you digest. Only when we digest energy is produced. In our context of knowledge and wisdom I should say, if knowledge is energy then wisdom is the synergy. By synergy I mean the judgements and inferences that we can bring up using the knowledge we have!

Knowledge is potential power, wisdom is real power. Education does not mean that you get the wisdom to do good judgement. Many times we confuse intelligence with good judgment. A person may have high intelligence but poor judgment.

Intelligence is quickness to learn.
Ability is the skill to apply what is learned.
Competence is the ability and the desire to apply what is learned.
Desire is the attitude that makes a skillful person competent.

Good one to think! Am I right?

They say every teaching/preaching can lead to 3 Cs. Convinced, Confused or Corrupt. I am sure I didnt take you to the THIRD-C :-)

The purpose of our life

A heavy topic to talk about. I know! But, do we all need to think about it at some point in time? I am not sure. But I am confident that lot of people end their life without thinking on this.

Just one question keeps lingering on my thought always. Did God brought us into this world only to enjoy the worldly pleasures. Are we so gifted that we are exclusively born to enjoy. I am not saying that we always enjoy. I also know all of us have problems in life. But, they are relative to each other. Our problem is atleast 100 folds lighter than the people who live on slums. Am I Right?

Keeping apart, your aspirations and ambitions to grow even stronger I can tell that we are all blessed by the Lord with a good contended life which lot of people just dare to dream of. My mind keeps thinking this. The goodness and merriment that we experience in this birth are not just the result of goodness of our previous births. God probably wants to tell us something else, which we have probably misunderstood.

It is not just relishing the life we have got, that we should do. Its fine! We have got a good life by God's grace but what next? What is the purpose of our existence? Just to relish the good life we have got? Remember, when we relish, we deplete our goodness by reaping the benefits. So when do we replenish?

When we are able to think on growing even stronger why we fail to think of bringing up others? A man who is not into a big physical/mental trauma will have a stable mind to think properly. We have this biggest asset with us, the stable mind. With this mental stability we need to think goodness to others to the level we can. This mental stability has been blessed to us, not just to relax the stableness but to think where next we can advance.

We will have to think of us. I am sure. We need to improve self centered as well. Life has become competitive. But atleast something to the poor, the abandoned and the old. Do we realize that the poor dream 10 times less than what we live in our day-to-day life? Not even in their dreams they think of what we aspire[or dream] to become. Should we atleast make them view a good life and make them live a bit better?

To get assimilated and get ourself diffused and dispersed into service mode, is something divine. That is not my point here. Let some cells of our body think of service. Let these cells multiply in its own time. Let us nurture these thoughts on others. The number of cells will increase organically and inorganically. I am sure our children will get the flavor of this in them as well, because of us.

Something made me write here all this! I am not sure on what I wrote here. If something good is conveyed here, I am happy ...

_Mani

Let's Evolve!

Hi,

My last blog of this year! Not sure, this wish puts you in the right direction! But this indite is specially scribed for you. Not with the intention of putting you down but, packed with lot of care and affection exclusively for you. Not just for you, but getting scripted in my heart as an advice to me as well, as and when I write this for you!

...

A New Year is a New Beginning. But can the year 2008 arrive until 2007 ends? The relevance of the past makes me tell you all that 'A New Year' gives us new hopes not just to start something new but also to complete the incompleteness of the past!

The eve of New Year is not just a day for merriment and party! Along with our achievements this year, we also have our mistakes, fights, hard feelings, apologies and conflict of opinions to supplement with! It’s not healthy to start a new year thinking of all these. But one part of the brain should have this loaded to correct ourselves from all these in the coming year(s)!

I don’t believe in resolutions but, I believe in evolution! Newton rightly said 'Every Action Has an Equal and Opposite Reaction'. Every time we take a resolution something comes on our way to break it. Thus, we have to evolve! Mistakes are inherent part of human life. They are so well rooted in us that it can't be removed in a day. Ignorance is the mud and clay which, firmly holds the roots of mistakes. The eternal bliss in the form of God, Nature, friends, family et al., gives the knowledge to become err free! This knowledge is the key to erode this mud and clay and make the roots of mistakes/faults weak!

You are a part of me. Rather, I should say that we are all parts of the whole! A mistake done by you affects me and vice versa. I will always pray that we evolve better and better every year! I Wish You A Very Happy, Prosperous, Successful and Peaceful Professional and Personal Life Ahead!!!

Happy New Year to You!!!

With Love,
Mani

Maintaining Relationships ...

Our wisdom grows with age, is a common belief! But can something grow when nothing is seeded? Or, are we monitoring what grows is the growth of the seed or an unwanted weed?

A thought about maintaining human relationships is here. Say, I meet a person and have some job with him, just for two days; I start my interactions with him towards attaining my objective. Will any of his bad traits disturb me? I very well know that whatever he does, I can bear for two days and push off. But, if I have to stay with the same person on a committed relationship, it starts troubling me. Things get worser if that relationship has to blossom into a friendship or family.

Why these Frictions? Any relationship goes smooth until it enters its commitment zone. This zone of commitment is a very sensitive one. Something like a fragile glass, where a break-and-fix still leaves a visible crack and a spoiled beauty. What should we do?

The answer is simple. Expect minimally and utter your expectations to your partner. The partner could be your parent, friend, lover, wife, children or any one. Another beautiful way of putting the same stand-point is, what do you expect and is your partner aware of it or not! Question your partner! I will suggest you to question your friend not the friendship, question your lover and not the love.

Questioning a person tells him of your expectation whereas question the relationship stains it. It means that the trust is gone and the relationship becomes brittle. You have the right to question because you are into a relationship with your partner. So, question the relationship is something like you entered into a wrong relationship!

I always feel that it is better to tell your partner on what you want. Dont wait and see what he/she does to you. A lot of people command certain relationships to have certain inherent qualities and thereby they risk their own emotional side as well as their partner's.

A person enters into a relationship, when he/she has a liking. So by knowing what you expect, he/she tries to be that way! If even after knowing your pragmatic expectations, your partner fails to fulfil it, the relationship itself could be questioned.

Relationships are too complicated to form by itself. We build this chain piece-by-piece, making it long and sustainable for years. Even if one piece is weak, the chain may break. They say "A chain is as strong as its weakest link" and so are relationships.

Are you with me?

Do we miss something when we go far from our dear ones?

Every coin has two facets and so is the answer to this question too. A common man thinks that he misses a lot. To learn and reap the benefits of life, we have to look at the other facet too! A separation for a short while, is good enough for many things though it pains!

A trough is required to define the crest. A valley is required to define mountains. Any big happenning has a silence before it. We require this silence too and it is this calm lonely time when introspection actually happens to the right dimension, taking us to superior maturity levels.

Our apprehensions and weakness stand with us when we are in our comfort zone. We lack confidence and stay ignorant of many things and feel, comfort zone is the right place to dwell. When we are forced out of this zone [or] try to come out by ourselves, we march against these downs to reach the top. Human mind is enormously powered and is so apative to challenges and increases our confidence-quotient and strengths. So start to march out!

Do we think that we miss people going far? Yes! We miss them. But, what are we trying to teach to our dear ones, being with them always. If you say that we teach love, affection and togetherness, I accept but also object to an extent. Love and affection when fed at right time to proper levels sustain beyond human-life! After all, nobody waters the tree! We water the plant, nuture it and then leave it independent. The tree gives us its fruitfulness till its end and after its life, no matter we water it further or not! So is Love and affection which can travel for miles and live beyond our lives!

A small separation has its gains. It makes people feel your importance. Rather I should say that it also explains you the importance of people who were around you. Adaptive mind gives the strength to our near-and-dear to withstand separation. Gives a mutual lesson of growing emotionally strong. They say that a wise person creates a vaccum, by his absence. In this modern world, I should say that vaccum is created by the absence of good and affectionate people itself. It is this vaccum that can define the importance of life-without-air, as I previously said.

A final touch to this blog, brings out the fact that a small separation brings in a strong eternal binding! Be prepared to face the separation and feel this wonderful bonding!

To end up this prolix, I would ask you to change the vision. Flip to the other facet of the coin! Dont see on what you miss, when you separate! Look at what you gain. It is true that only when you dare to miss something, you gain a new great thing, which a common man usually misses!

Gain this biggest miss of the common man and stand out amidst the very few uncommon people!