Final up matches the na like the na the na like this is tarah in telugu Articles (2025)

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

Krishna s Final Message In The Gita

Speaking Tree

The concluding chapter of the Bhagwad Gita begins by Arjuna asking for definitions of the two most important concepts in Vedanta sannyasa renunciation andtyaga resignation Krishna says sannyasa is giving up desiredriven action while tyaga is giving up fruit of action Contrary to popular perception neither sannyasanor tyaga implies giving up action Action continues giving up the two things that come in the way of excellence in action desire from the past and anxiety for the fruit which belongs to the future Desire is necessary to initiate action Without desire no action will be undertaken Similarly there is always a fruit in mind before acting However while executing action 100 of the mind must be focussed on the action If at this time the mind meanders into the dead past or unborn future it is not concentrating on the present action Action becomes faulty leading to failure The grandeur and magnificence of renunciation lies in growth to a higher dimension as a result of which the lower fascinations drop It is giving up that which comes in the way of your success and happiness The Gita asks you to remove the wrapper and relish the chocolate remove the unpleasant aspects of life and enjoy the world Renunciation is opening your mind to deeper and more fulfilling aspects of your personality while continuing to enjoy the lower joys Yet it has been horribly misunderstood as mere giving up of things that are dear to us As a result people have given up the Gita Tyaga is of three kinds sattvika rajasika andtamasika Abandoning obligatory action out of delusion is tamasika It is not tyaga at all False or rajasika tyaga is giving up action that is troublesome fearing physical discomfort True or sattvika tyaga is performance of obligatory action because it ought to be done giving up attachment and fruit Desire stands between you and your higher dimension In fact desire stands in the way of even obtaining objects of desire In order to rise above desire you need to perform acts of yajna sacrifice tapa penance and dana charity Yajna is acting in a spirit of service for a higher cause The highest ideal is Selfrealisation When your thoughts are anchored in the higher while you act in the world the lower desires get starved and fall away Tapa is going through the discipline required in order to achieve the ideal A sportsperson has to keep fit a musician needs to do riaz a student must study Only then will you achieve the goal When your mind is focussed on investing your energies towards the ideal you will not indulge in anything that takes you away from the goal The lower desires thus vanish In the final stage when you are on the verge of realisation you need to let go of the last thought themantra which is the last impediment This is the final act of renunciation that takes you to the exalted state of realisation Having given all that is needed for you to transform from an ordinary mortal to the extraordinary immortal Krishna asks you to do as you wish For the Gita is not a compilation of commandments it is a presentation of facts It is now up to you to decide which way to go remain imprisoned in the world or take off into the realm of the Spirit

Editorial By: Yogi Ashwini

Yoga Not Bhoga Is The Final Frontier

Yogi Ashwini

What is the point of playing the best music in the world to a person whose ears are plugged What is the point of showing the best scenery to someone who refuses to open his eyes What is the point of offering the finest delicacies of the world to someone who does not have the appetite for them Yoga is the final frontier a very serious subject If you are not ready to do the practices as taught to you there is no point of taking up yoga You will neither get the experience nor the glow because your higher senses will not awaken Even if those senses are forcibly activated for some time it is not going to last forever There are two kinds of people First is the kind in whom this sense is completely missing Second kind is that you have the sense but it is curtained with veils of maya For you to experience the truth these veils have to be removed Sanatan Kriya is the process of removing these veils The practices that you have been given individually or collectively are a process to remove the veils that have curtained your senses When you do the kriya you establish a connection with the gurutattva It is like inserting the plug into a socket and the current flows But if you do not want plug in despite having the sense you are unable to experience it You only perceive creation by your five senses sight touch smell hearing and taste You do not know anything beyond because you are veiled by the five senses maya At times a guru helps you to remove that curtain you are made to experience what lies beyond You see it appreciate it but after sometime the curtain is back because of your inherent desires There are five basics to yoga one asana one mantra one guru one isht and a single intent If your intent is evolution if your intent is of your guru you can never digress from the path Ego is the biggest roadblock for a sadhaka Jnana never comes from reading books or listening to lectures it comes from somewhere else Divine messages come in mysterious ways Ego is the greatest veil which never allows you to see the truth It makes you believe that you know everything The one who understands and accepts what is lacking in him where he is going wrong can very easily go ahead but the one who keeps denying till the very end nothing can be done for such a person Do not try assessing the subject of yoga with your limited five senses that this will happen or this should happen wait for your experience You are a normal human being you have five senses and certain desires Every soul has a desire and to fulfil that desire it takes a body and to rise above that desire it holds the hand of the guru The problem arises when people start doing yoga for bhoga Yoga is for rising above bhoga The body and five senses are for bhoga but yoga is to rise above desires Yoga chitta vritti nirodh Gita talks of control of senses What that control is the guru will guide you Just like indulging in senses is an experience similarly control of senses too is an experience But for this you need a guru

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

The Final Destination

Speaking Tree

SURESH KHUNGAR writes about the ultimate goal of human existenceMany people have misunderstood the difference between purpose and goal Goals are different milestones that we want to achieve For most people these areacquiring possessions attaining power and achieving success In case a person succeeds in achieving his goals his desires multiply and he still wants more He is jealous of those who have more possessions bigger houses larger cars and more powerThis increases one s stress and strain He loses health and his whole life is spent in endless pursuits His thirst for more is never satisfiedIn fact it increases with advancing ageThe fact is that happiness and peace do not lie in worldly enjoymentsat best they give temporary satisfaction On the other hand when one fails to achieve the objects of one s desire he becomes a victim of worry anxiety despair envy and peevishnessThese produce anger stress and destroy one s mental equilibrium which in turn give birth to several diseasesMany persons fall prey to unethical and immoral acts of corruption and violence Real happiness springs from insideIt doesn t depend on external conditions In order to feel love inside we should serve others with lovewhile serving the energy of love flows through us it makes us feel light and happyWhen we shift our consciousness from expecting love and respect to giving love and respect we shift from the survive taking mode to the serve giving modeThe purpose of our life is therefore to serve others with our original qualities of love happiness and humilityWe should become aware of our positive qualities while achieving our goals In the survive mode we create competition fear and anger In the serve mode we create cooperationThis makes us emotionally stronger In the survive mode we dwell on dark moments of the past and feel depressed but in the serve mode we let go of past incidents and forgive the person it frees us from pain In the survive mode we create maps of people and want them to fit into our maps failing which we feel disturbed but in the serve mode we accept people as they are In the survive mode we become egoistic and start radiating rejection anger and hurt but in the serve mode we become humble Ego demands respect humility gives respect and naturally receives respect without demanding it In the survive mode we feel jealous of others which affects our physical and mental health but in the serve mode we rejoice their good fortuneIn the survive mode we try to find the faults of others but in serve mode we pay attention to others positive qualitiesThe purpose of life is not to survive it is to serve others with vibrations of love and peace Everything in nature serves others Our goals are external but the purpose emerges from insideGoals vary but purpose is constant A holy river serves humanity before it pours itself courageously into the ocean the purpose of our life is to remain happy and serve mankind before merging into the ocean of bliss which is our final goal

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

The Final Challenge To Enlightenment

Speaking Tree

What will we do when we stand on the threshold of enlightenment In that final moment of separation from the Divine the soul must stand firm in its determination to merge with Divinity Where there is ego there is separation To realise our oneness with the Infinite we must surrender the ego itself By our own free choice we must say I want the infinite Self not the little self It is not easy That highest and final test is the most challenging of all At that moment the ego recoils and says No no wait Paramhansa Yogananda s chief disciple Rajarsi Janakananda was just at the point of attaining the highest state when suddenly his meditations became filled with darkness For years his meditations had been filled with the light and bliss of God but suddenly it was gone He felt tempted to give in to doubts and disbelief but he nonetheless kept trying and continued to meditate After days of darkness Rajarsi saw a little point of light Gradually that point came closer until it became his line of gurus first Paramhansa Yogananda then Sri Yukteswar then Lahiri Mahasaya then Babaji And then finally Rajarsi merged with the Infinite Paramhansa Yogananda once said to Rajarsi Never forget where your power comes from With a sweet smile Rajarsi answered I won t Master It comes from you Yogananda once said to me Remember you will not be safe until you have attained nirbikalpa samadhi He told me about various saints who had fallen after they had attained the lower samadhi The real work on the spiritual path is to prepare the mind for the ultimate transformation If cosmic consciousness were to come without preparation the mind would be unable to contain it It would be comparable to highvoltage electricity burning the wiring of a house Human consciousness conditioned as it is by ordinary worldly experience is unable to accept what Yogananda called the liberating shock of omnipresence It isn t that omnipresence is devastating The ego rather must be conditioned by long and deep meditation to surrender itself to a greater Selfawareness Too sudden an expansion from its customary perspective might only bewilder it with its sweeping panorama of things as they really are Finding God is the simplest most obvious most supremely natural thing in the world At the end one doesn t find himself straining with desperate zeal Rather one relaxes supremely into perfect Bliss Strain tension ardour zeal all these end forever What is left is satchidananda everexisting everconscious evernew bliss You reach a point where you ve gotten rid of all selfdefinitions There s nothing to cling to anymore You re not a woman or a man You re not Indian or French or American You re not rich or poor You re not young or old You re not beautiful or ugly You re none of these things So in the beginning the process of finding God is a matter of continuous struggle until as Yogananda puts it efforts end in ease However only by mental attunement with the consciousness of an alreadyliberated guru can we make that leap The guru works from within on our thoughts and feelings Gradually his egoless consciousness seeps into our egocentred consciousness and transforms us with a new understanding of our own reality The storm of duality is finally stilled and the self no longer in rebellion against God merges completely into the Infinite Self becoming the Infinite

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

The most beloved one

Speaking Tree

HAJI SYED SALMAN CHISHTY Gaddi Nashin Dargah Ajmer Sharif writes of the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain a sacrifice that is invoked especially during MuharramAmong the believers are men who delivered their promise to Allah Ayah 23 Surah AlAhzab Hazrat Imam Hussain was martyred by the army of Yazid tyrant ruler of Syria on the 10th of Muharram 61 after Hijrah 680 CE at Karbala The tragedy shook the Muslim world and continues to be remembered by all those who love the Holy Prophet and his familyThe martyrdom of Hz Imam Hussain his struggle for justice and for upholding Al Haqq the Truth is commemorated today Hz Imam Hussain ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib was the grandson of the Holy Prophet and son of Amir ul Mominin Hz Ali and Hz Bibi Fatima az Zahra As a young man he was pious intelligent and handsome The Prophet loved his grandson very muchOnce the Prophet was leading the prayer As he went into sajda prostration it is said that the young Hz Hussain climbed onto the Prophet s backThe Prophet remained in that position for a long time until the young boy climbed downOn another occasion it is said that the Prophet was passing his daughter Hz Bibi Fatima s house and heard young Hz Hussain cryingThe Prophet stopped entered the house and said Fatima don t you know it hurts me to hear Hussain cry In a famous Hadith the beloved Prophet says Hussain is from me and I am from Hussain Meaning Hussain is like me Hussain s line is similar to my line Hussain s message is my message Hussain is from me and I am from Hussain Hz Imam Hussain acquired his knowledge from his father Hz Maula AliHe inherited virtues and a chivalrous character from his father Haqq Truth and freedom are not givenPeople are as free and as truthful as they want to beIslam the religion of truth justice and freedom came to a place and time where oppression and slavery were rampant and the weak were humiliatedKilling was seen as a way to solve problems Merely being born in the wrong family could mean eternal slavery oppression and stripping of rights The Prophet denounced those ways while striving to ensure justice and equalityHe gave us gifts of collective duty selfcriticism and stressed the importance of upholding the truth The Prophet taught us what the Quran amplified in many verses It does not require a majority to prevail but rather a profoundly faithful few who are keen to uphold the truth and sacrifice for it On the day of Ashura 10th Muharram Hz Imam Hussain made the ultimate sacrificeThe noble reason for his martyrdom firstly was to preserve Islam Muharram is also a reminder that one should overcome oppression and tyranny and help the oppressed Islam Haqq justice equality freedom and liberty are all precious values that demanded precious sacrifice and that is the supreme significance of martyrdom Hz Imam Hussain faced danger and hardships with honour never swerving from his duty hence he made the ultimate sacrifice and became a martyr He is therefore revered and remembered after more than 13 centuries living on in the hearts of those who cherish his contribution The Karbala tragedy took place on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq but Karbala is also a metaphor for upholding the right values In today s climate of violence it is more relevant than everThe tragedy of Karbala and its spirit of nonviolent resistance and Hz Imam Hussain s supreme sacrifice has been a source of inspiration for manyGandhiji said I learnt from Hussain how to be oppressed yet victorious Poetphilosopher Muhammad Iqbal said Imam Hussain watered the dry garden of freedom with the surging wave of his blood and indeed he awakened the sleeping Muslim nationIf Imam Hussain had aimed at acquiring a worldly empire he would not have travelled the way he did from Medina to KarbalaHussain suffered for the sake of truth Lebanese writer Antoine Bara described the tragedy of Karbala in his Hussain In Christian Ideology No battle in the modern and past history of mankind has earned more sympathy and admiration as well as provided more lessons than the martyrdom of Hussain in the battle of Karbala Among the most recited Persian poetry in honour of Hz Imam Hussain was written by Sufi master Khawaja Moinuddin Chishty of Ajmer Sharif Shah ast Hussain badshah ast Hussain Deen ast Hussain deen panaah ast Hussain Sar daad na daad dast dar dasteyazeed Haquebinney la ilaahaa ast Hussain King is Hussain King of kings is Hussain Faith is Hussian Protector of Faith is Hussain He gave his head but not his hand in the hand of Yazid Verily truth is nothing but Hussain Traditionally in Ajmer Sharif each member of the Khuddam e Khawaja family wears green cloth and observes Muharram in a sombre sublime manner The only ten days when MehfileSema musical Qawwali renditions do not happen in Ajmer Sharif is from the first to the tenth of Muharram The heartrending recitation of SalamiAkhir by Syed Nasir Jahan is recited on the final day of Merseyi Khani Bachay to aglay baras hum hain aur yeh gham phir hai Jo chal basay toh yeh apna salamiakhir hai If we live to see the next year then again we are here with remembrance of the sadness of KarbalaIf we don t then this is our last SalaamYa Hussain Follow Haji Syed Salman Chishty at speakingtreein

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

Where Is God In The God Particle

Speaking Tree

Thanks to unusually intense media coverage of a scientific discovery announced on July 4 2012 at CERN people all over the world have by now heard about the God particle They may also have heard that physicists do not much like the name God particle coined with some hesitation by the Nobel Physicist Leon Lederman at the suggestion of his publisher But one doubts that news of the discovery would have generated such buzz had the Higgs boson not been given such a portentous nickname Perhaps not since 1919 when Sir Arthur Eddington demonstrated the truth of Einstein s mysterious prediction from his theory that starlight would be bent by the Sun s gravity has any scientific discovery so captured the public s fascination Physicists are rightfully ecstatic about the discovery of what they fondly call the Higgs which has eluded detection for nearly fifty years since it was first posited From the verification of its existence we would finally know what process allows matter to acquire mass This would also provide a compelling validation of particle physics cherished standard model At CERN using the world s most advanced particle accelerator known as the Large Hadron Collidera modern day equivalent of the Pyramids two teams announced their independent discovery of a new fundamental particle whose mass is in the right range to qualify as a Higgs boson This is exceptional news for physics It would be fair to assume however that the public s interest in the God particle stems most likely from the hope that its discovery may allow us to catch a glimpse of God or the ultimate Source of creation But is there indeed any trace of God in the God particle In a news conference CERN scientists announced that they had definitely discovered a new particle with a mass between 125 126 Gev which is 133 134 times heavier than a proton They also confirmed that it is a boson Since no other boson except the Higgs boson is expected to be that heavy the DirectorGeneral of CERN declared We have a new particle consistent with a Higgs boson So it s a boson to be sure and is most likely to be the Higgs although this will require confirmation through further studies The physics community expects to have such confirmation soon Scientifically the discovery is a bonanza Beyond providing an explanation for why subatomic particles have mass without which there will be no stars no planets and no peoplethe discovery of the Higgs boson lends credence to the existence of bosons with spin zero Quite possibly a Higgslike boson dubbed the inflaton was involved in starting the expansion of the universe from a tiny nugget of space to its unimaginably vast extent today But most tantalizingly the Higgs also provides the last missing puzzle piece for the first phase of the demonstration of the unity of nature that was first brought into science by Albert Einstein He envisioned that all natural phenomena ought to have a common foundation describable by the tenets of a unified field theory His belief in the elegantly simple unity of nature was so strong that he devoted the last thirty years of his life to it but until recently the object of his quest remained out of reach The New Physics is coming close to revealing that all of the particles and forces of nature come from one single source Quantum Field Theory has established that the quantum fields progenitors of all the particles and forces that constitute physical reality are present in each element of spacetime In our current scientific view the final unification of all the particles and forces of nature culminating in one source would occur gradually in three stages of unification as we move closer to nature s own scale the tiny Planck s dimension of 1033 cm These stages are known as electroweak grand and super unification In the first stage of unification at dimensions smaller than 1016 cm the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force behave as different aspects of the same force and can be described using a single mathematical frame work But our laboratory observations show the photon that conveys the electromagnetic force has no mass while the particles conveying the weak nuclear force are almost hundred times as heavy as the proton How can then these two very different forces be just different aspects of the same force Peter Higgs and others illustrated mathematically that the hidden symmetry involved in the first stage of unification is broken at ambient dimensions and that by interacting with the Higgs field the masses of the carriers of the two forces become very different The newly discovered Higgs particle validates the reality the of a Higgs field that permeates all space and in interacting with elementary particles endows them with mass Thus the Higgs boson is the missing ingredient and its discovery provides confirmation for the first stage of unification and paves the way for the next stage and beyond all the way to a common source The second stage or the grand unification is expected to occur at distances unattainable by experiment which forces us to look for indirect evidence Extrapolation of our laboratory measurements substantiates that the strength of the strong nuclear weak nuclear and electromagnetic forces indeed becomes equal at 1030cm Recent observation of neutrino oscillations gives further corroboration of grand unification The continuing experiments to observe proton decay are expected to furnish decisive confirmation of grand unification The strength of gravity ascends to equality with those of the other forces at or near the Planck s dimension Thus in the words of the physics Nobel Laureate Franck Wilczek we find here a concrete semi quantitative indication that all of the basic forces arise from a common source In addition to the basic forces the common source that Wilczek refers to also enfolds the various matter fields The matter fields package energy into the elementary matter particles while the force fields use them as building blocks to generate everything necessary for our physical reality The discovery of the Higgs boson which affirms the reality that two very diverse forces can be unified has broken the barrier in the physicists minds against the seeming impossibility of unification of all nature Most physicists now appear to believe in the distinct possibility that there is a common source for everything that exists in physical reality In this sense discovery of the God particle does indeed give us a glimpse of God at work Dr Mani Bhaumik is a retired physicist and the author of the international best seller Code Name God He lives in Los Angeles

Editorial By: Speaking tree

Wisdom In The Days Of Corona Virus

Speaking tree

Wisdom is the ability to see situations in relation to ultimate ends whether these ends are assumed as oneness with God or attaining moksha or moral perfection The modern world the world of autonomous selfcontained individuals is one of discontinuities It affords many advantages but it is as T S Eliot says a heap of broken images Ancients vision was different from this The ancient custom of memento mori was that of exhibiting a skeleton at a feast in order to remind the banqueters of the fate that awaited them The awareness of the hidden link between banquet and death distinguished a banqueter from a glutton It is no civilisational gain that they become oneToday we don t need to have recourse to skeletons Death surrounds us with its ubiquitous presence Consider this irony We are currently gearing up nationwide to ward off the coronavirus for the virus is an emissary of death Yet it was only a few days ago that humaninflicted death had a free run in the national capital What if there was a margin for coronavirus in the format of that riot or of strategies of aggression in the pursuit of power and pelf Imagine a lowly virus humbling the might of ChinaIt was native to the Indian spiritual vision that one should stand apart from one s actions and become as it were a spectator to them This was implied in the dispassionate pursuit of one s duty This distancing of self from what would outwardly seem to be its own actions is practical only through connecting one s actions to something beyond the self of the doer Actions are like hats They need pegs to hang on Such pegs are either the egos of individual doers or the will of the eternal Brahmn Being in tune with Brahmn the supreme spiritual goal is the medium through which the distancing of self from its doings is possible at allWhat helps in this process is a double vision comprising an awareness of the mortality of self and an intuition of the immortality of Atman which needs to be at one with the Divine The death of the physical the shaking away of the mortal coil is the necessary approach road to final oneness with the Divine The spiritual truth is We are in death even while we are in the midst of life Illness and death are intimations of human mortality They are also means necessary for our species to maintain objectivity in relation to mundane actions and advocacies Awareness of death as inalienable to the human condition is as relevant to victims as it is to their victimisers Everyone exists within the web of mortality Seen objectively there is something funny about mortals killing mortals for we could not have killed anyone if human beings weren t mortal And if we as killers are indeed human how can we kill anyone without killing our own humanityGreater sanity will prevail in public life if we have the sensitivity to bracket viruses and manmade violence together as symptoms of the imperfection of the scheme of things in which we have to undertake the adventure of earthly life In its web the agent of power with assured impunity to consequences and his defenceless victim share a common destiny

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

Walking Up The Garden Path

Speaking Tree

Once you are enmeshed in physical intimacy you can kiss all sacredness goodbye writes Swami Chidananda Asked whether Tantra the practice of sacred sexuality which is becoming popular in the west today offer an authentic spiritual path Swamiji had this to say No I do not think that these teachings offer an authentic spiritual path Why Because of human frailty human weakness The human mind is so made that it always takes the path of least resistance It always wants the easy way Tantra is an approach to God through all types of sense enjoyment Everything is offered to God and so everything becomes sanctified nothing is profane One enjoys sense satisfaction and sees it also as part of God s bliss There is a view and it has something to it that while in all human experiences duality persists there is an I am enjoying this object feeling that in the ultimate sexual experience between a truly loving male intensely in love with the female and fully reciprocated by the female there is no consciousness of one s separate individuality There is a total fusion of the separatist consciousness in each one and there is only the awareness of bliss experience There is no experiencer They say this is a possibility when it is done to its perfection The two cease to be and there is only one nondual experience Experience Absolute Brahmicconsciousness So they say that the human body is an instrument that if properly made use of can bring about a rising above body consciousness For one in a million it may click The pursuit of pleasure is part of the western view of life The approach is You can have your cake and eat it too Mind you this was an authentic path that did once upon a time exist in India especially in the eastern part Even now it exists But it became grossly perverted People became enmeshed in it They said they were practising tantra but it was only wining dining and sexual pleasure It took them nowhere So it was dubbed by enlightened people of that time as the perverted path Two paths then came into existence the authentic path which was called the righthand path and the perverted path which was only after enjoyment That was called the lefthand path There is an episode in the life of Ramakrishna Paramhansa He practised all the yogic paths as well as Christianity Islam and others and he said that they all led to the same ultimate Godexperience And during one period of his spiritual life he practised tantra also A woman tantric approached him and said I have been sent here by God to initiate you into the tantric way of attaining God Day after day she expounded the tantric way But when it came to the final stage Ramakrishna who swore by brahmacharya replied that through this his body it is impossible She said Then I ll have the whole thing enacted before you So she got a tantric male and a tantric female to enact the ultimate consummation of the practice before him As he was observing it stage by stage she went on describing it to him Observe carefully Now you see how they are in ecstasy they are ecstatic They are losing their own consciousness And at that stage suddenly Ramakrishna lost all consciousness He went into deep samadhi So he vicariously proved to himself that ultimate sexual experience can lift one up into that state beyond all duality And so the science as such exists but there are very few authentic gurus The sex force is sacred sex is sacred It is one of the most sacred of all things But sacred sexuality is a misnomer Once you get enmeshed in sexuality the sacredness is given the byebye That is due to man s weakness frailty Therefore I am not going to be an advocate of it The Divine Life Society

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

Flow Of Faith Commerce

Speaking Tree

KALPANA SUNDER writes of her trip to Haridwar that turns out to be revealing in more ways than oneLucky Singh my drivercumguide is a handsome stylish young man with designer shades He walks me through the crowds like a scythe cutting through grass pointing out all the action on the ghats Bargain hard for everything here he cautions me I am on hallowed ground In the Puranas and Vedic texts this was Mayapuri Kshetra one of the seven holy cities that a Hindu must visit to ensure a place in the heavens It is one of the four places where a drop of the heavenly nectar fell when devas and asuras fought over a pot of the elixir during the cosmic churning of the ocean Haridwar is also one of the four tirthas for the iconic Kumbh Mela when millions take a dip in the holy river It is at Haridwar that the Ganga emerges past the final rapids and starts her 2 000km journey across the plains Saffron EverywhereIt s the Shravan month and driving here we see saffronclad Shiva devotees referred to as Kanwarias bearing colouful kavadis on their shoulders converge here from around the country some having travelled hundreds of kilometres They bring with them colourfully decorated long poles with pots at either end to carry the holy water back to their villages It s a pilgrimage sustained by government and local support It s a logistical nightmare how do so many people find shelter and food in this small town It is said that a drop of the water of the Ganga erases a thousand sins Maybe faith moves allLucky walks me through narrow serpentine lanes filled with shops selling lotas or shiny brass vessels to carry the water of the holy river red strings with pompoms rudraksha and spatika beads and mounds of red kumkum The omnipresent motif seems to be food There are lassi shops offering even a peda lassi stalls selling stringy falooda and spicy samosas the famous kadak chai or strong tea and a myriad street eats that demand an iron stomach The delicious aromas of fresh kachoris and aloosubzi distract us from shopping Sadhus in makeshift shelters dispense wisdom at a price If a saffron wardrobe is what you yearn for this is the right place Tshirts with Shivas and Ganeshas the Aum print emblazoned on kurtas and shirts orange lungis and capris all festoon the shops in a blaze of colourGanga AartiAs dusk approaches cloaking the spectacular river with a warm haze of orange we walk along bridges and walkways to the atmospheric Har ki Pauri and Brahmakund to witness the famed Ganga aarti This is the main scene of action priests on mobile phones conclude lucrative deals and commerce reigns supreme This ghat is supposed to have been built by King Vikramaditya in memory of his poet brother who meditated here Vishnu is believed to have left his footprint on the steps here Bathers in various stages of undress take a dip in the waters Urchins hunt for coins thrown by devotees People throng the ghats in a burst of clamour and there is pandemonium Sadhus with matted locks the aged and the infirm compete for every inch of spaceBabloo a feisty local notices my hesitation and assures us a small place to sit and watch the aarti He hustles people and perches us near a pujari I hesitantly hand out a tip for the favour Dismissing it he says No I don t need that just give me a Rs 10 note I am handed a basket filled with bright orange marigolds camphor incense sticks and small lamps to be lit and floated on the Ganga as an offering A priest in kurtapyjama beckons ceremoniously towards the river Dakshina And DipIt s a plunge of faith into the freezing waters I stand almost kneedeep in water not knowing what is in store for me I panic thinking What if I lose my balance and fall into the murky waters Like a programmed robot I follow the priest reciting Sanskrit verses and praying for the general wellbeing of the family and the nation Scooping up some water he anoints me as I shift restlessly with impatience He suddenly asks me How much do you want to give as dakshina to Ganga Maiya Despite my relative lack of faith I stammer Er Rs 50 to be met by the sheer discontent on his face I awkwardly fish out the money from my bag hand it over and march off with Lucky in tow to try watching the aarti from the opposite bank But there is no escaping commerce in this town On the other bank selfimportant officials with receipt books walk briskly trying to garner donations Rs 10 15 or 20 what do you want to contribute towards Mother Ganga There is someone standing tall on a platform singing bhajans rousing the crowd to religious fervour Pandits and babas clap the fragrance of incense and the cloying smell of ghee segues with the musky scent of humanity The hypnotic chants increase in decibel the temples light up one by one the enchanting river seems to glitter like a sleeping serpent coming to life there it is the first blaze of the aarti The priests sway in choreographed movements to the clamour of gongs and music Lotus leaf boats laden with offerings float away like phosphorescent fireflies towards the ocean 2 000km away Mesmeric and strangely soothing they seem to signal us to flee humanity I follow Lucky as he leads me out of the crowd past camping thousands past the oily food stalls and the omnipresent fragrance of incense I came to Haridwar for an uplifting spiritual experience my soul cleansed and my sin counter restored to zero I go home remembering a line from a song Maano to main Ganga hoon na maano to behta paani If you believe in me I am the holy one otherwise I am just flowing water Getting ThereBy Train Indian Railways has a railway station at Haridwar which is connected by trains from major cities across the country Reaching Haridwar by train is one of the most convenient and economical means to get there Trains from Ujjain Delhi Varanasi Mumbai Allahabad Amritsar Lucknow and Dehradun all ply regularly to HaridwarBy Road Haridwar is wellconnected by private as well as stateowned bus services All cities in and around Haridwar are connected by Uttarakhand and UP state buses Deluxe coaches to Haridwar are also available at regular intervals from Delhi with fares less than Rs 500 per headBy Air The nearest domestic airport to Haridwar is the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun The nearest international airport is the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and is served by airlines like Jet Airways Air India and Kingfisher Airlines among others

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

Continue Walking In The Corridors Of Eternity

Speaking Tree

In an article on ageing the author gave the following advice to those who live a sedentary life Walk walk walk Doing so will help you resolve health issues and remain fit and alert He was speaking about physical fitness There is also a spiritual dimension to this because as embodied beings our body is an important part of our spiritual natureIf we don t continue walking the lack of motion depletes our energy Spiritual walking like physical walking is moving towards productive goals like creating happiness nurturing loving relationships working hard spreading peace serenity and tranquility Many are stymied by a tepid attitude to life Lukewarm they have no passion for life Sometimes they are plain neutral in a pejorative sense But when faced with death we can no longer remain neutralThere are times when we need to be still but not motionless because motion is energy When i watch trees grow i notice how imperceptible their growth into full glory is They look so tiny in the beginning but there is an inner growth that finally manifests in full outside growthSpiritual walking is like that There are times when we may stumble and fall There are moments when our energies are depleted by stress dysfunction and regression But there is an inner momentum and if we make the right choices that will keep pushing us forward till we realise our destinyPeople have very different conceptions of their final destiny Some think in terms of annihilation and cessation of all our functions Others believe that beyond death there is eternal life Eternal life to me is that we keep walking If we walk in the presence of God on this earth we do it partially In the afterlife i believe that we will walk in the presence of God fullyAnd how does that tie up with the material world The material world is important so long as we remain detached from the results of our walking Will we always be successful Perhaps not Will we always attain our goals in this life Maybe not But the very fact that we are walking and creating motion and energy in sync with creative forces in the universe we are walking with the correct attitude which influences our choices inclinations and our intellectual and emotional lifeSpiritual walking is to walk in the now Though we integrate our backgrounds history and past consciousness by relating them to our walking in the present each step that we take today is taken in the present If we have any regrets the very forces that propel us forward are also the spiritual forces that bring renewal and rebirth helping us to overcome those regretsWe are accompanied in our journey by the God of the impossible He has loved us into being and we are a becoming because we continue to progress along the spiritual path By walking we move to higher levels of consciousness In this walk we carry people along with us We influence the other and begin to relate more with significant others and less with those who are sometimes a drag on our energiesSo as embodied spiritual beings let us keep walking past the clouds of doubt and distress despair and fear and hopefully we will still continue walking in the corridors of eternity

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

The End of the World 2012

Speaking Tree

What if the end of the world were near What if 2012 is the final chapter as is being reported or misreported according to the Linear Mesoamerican Long Calendar Soothsayers have zeroed in on December 2012 as the time of apocalypse Theories doing the rounds include the following The planet could get sucked into a black hole or get smashed by a speeding asteroid shifting galactic alignment might cause cataclysms throwing everything out of kilter human civilisation will come to an end with collective bad karma tectonic plates could go berserk causing irreparable damage and there are more such future scenarios being foretold whether by calendar makers scientists or ancient and modern oracles Or just fear mongers who like to say The End is Now Then you have Kalki Bhagwan the guru in south India who says that the year 2012 would mark the end of Kali Yuga and the dawn of a new era an improvement on the previous one New Age healers like Paula Horan and gurus like Andrew Cohen see the much touted portend of cataclysm as something that points not at all to the physical world but to the one that is to be played out in human consciousness There could be a consciousness revolution that would lead to evolutionary enlightenment paving the way for a new world order and this view is shared by many new faiths as well as forecasters like Bejan Daruwalla You can take your pick of perspective theory or speculation but it s not very clear what is meant by end of the world Let s assume for a moment even if it s mere mind game that what is intended to be conveyed is that it is the human species that would get annihilated That would certainly mean the world has ended for us What if all other species survived the cataclysm due to some kind of divine design or dispensation all save the human species Let s say you re a bird You flap your wings and fly out as usual and find that you don t have to dodge those noisy flying machines any more You re a chicken or goat no more slaughter shivers down your spine You re an elephant that worked for a lumber company no more weight lifting nor chains You re a circus animal now cagefree and no more tricks to perform at the crack of a whip You re a tree no more cringing at the approach of a freshly sharpened axe You re a flower no slow death for you in a vase You re a sensuous river meandering across hills and dales no more a receptacle of excrement industrial effluents and chemical toxins You re fish free of baits and nets You re a turtle no more dodging those mechanised trawlers that scoop you up in their monstrous nets without those turtle excluder devices insisted upon by savetheturtle activists You re a silkworm no more death by boiling You re oxygen no more choking on blasts from those belching furnaces and power plants You re a raindrop free of acid You re a pure snowflake no more sticky carbon that melts you down You re a mighty glacier no more retraction You re the ocean no more oil spills It s the end of cacophony leaving only sounds of birds chirping waters gushing surf breaks against shores leaves rustling wind whistling through trees bees buzzing and the pitterpatter of rain The stars Species can actually see them there s no more light pollution Hey Earth you can breathe free now It s time to celebrate

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

Tulsi In The Courtyard Of The Moon

Speaking Tree

In less than three moons from now Indian space voyager Chandrayaan2 will be docking in the vicinity of the moon before landing a robotic probe to figure out if humans can colonise space in the foreseeable futureThat the moon can become liveable and serve as a launchpad for deep space probes was magically revealed by the discovery of water in the moon s south pole by India s first moon mission Chandrayaan1 in 2008 Scientists have since estimated that the moon might hold up to 600 million tonnes of waterice the essential building block of life in the Universe Indian Space Research Organisation has now chosen a spot between two craters to land its moon rover on the south pole before exploring a large nearby cave for setting up future habitat in the event that conditions are found conducive for such an experimentTo mark its presence and commemorate the milestone Isro is mulling a name for the landing spot where the AIpowered rover Pragyan will make its first physical contact with the moon Isro chairman K Sivan told The Times of India recently that there is still time to zero in on a name The prime minister will have the final say on the matterChoosing a name is not an easy task then especially since the spot is pregnant with unimaginable possibilities for humankind s future Revisiting the past may well provide a pointer It has long been a custom in India to plant tulsi tulasi in Sanskrit the basil shrub in the courtyard of a new home For over hundreds of years the tulsi has acquired a mystic aura in Indic civilisation for healing body mind and soul A medicinal shrub native to the subcontinent it is revered for rejuvenating life from the depredations of kaala time What s more water mixed with its leaves is administered to the dying in the belief that it would ease the soul s transmigration to a parallel universe Which is possibly why the tulsi has for long been identified with Vishnu and his avatars the god of preservation in the holy Indian trinityThe three variants of the tulsi are known as Rama tulsi Krishna tulsi and the wild vana tulsi The shrub is also identified with Vishnu s consort Lakshmi goddess of prosperity and also Hanumana god of strength and immortalityResearchers say that the tulsi plant is native to the central Indian heartland and its evolution might be related with cultural migration patterns in the subcontinent The shrub is rich in oleanolic ursolic and rosmarinic acids with antitumour antiviral antiseptic and anesthetic properties Tulsi is used in ayurveda and siddha practices for treatment of common cold headache stomach disorders inflammation malaria and various forms of poisoning much of that on account of pollution It is also used in perfumes flavouring and as insect repellentGiven its ritual significance and everyday use it is small wonder then that the shrub that once grew in the wild has come to occupy the central spot in our hearth and home as the elixir of life Nothing then would be more significant and dramatic than naming the landing spot for Chandrayaan s Vikram lander as Tulsi Sthal or better still the simple short and sweet Tulsi For who knows future Indians could build their new home around this courtyard on the moon in the nottoodistant future

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

Devotional Way To Attain The Supreme State

Speaking Tree

Indic scriptures reveal that the Supreme is satchitanand eternal bliss All of us have three desires in common No one wants to die No one wants to be known as a fool and no one wants misery that is everyone wants to live forever be knowledgeable and happy These three desires relate us directly to the Supreme We are part of the potency of one organic system Jiva or individual conscious units are the outcome of the marginal potency of the Supreme As such they are prone to go either way that is to the spiritual or material realms Definition of a jiva in the Naradiya Pancharatra is Spiritual entities which have emanated from the potency of the Absolute spiritual substance and have their existence in the marginal potency when they become tinged with the three qualities of maya external deluding potency of sattva rajas and tamas are designated as jivas Jivas are eternal servants of the Supreme In one sense the jivasoul is identical with the Supreme as potency cannot be separated from substance or potency cannot be conceived of without the substance In another sense the jivasoul is distinct from the Supreme as it is an atomic part of the potency of the Absolute and not the substance itself Even the summation of all potencies of the substance cannot become the substance Krishna is the infinite Absolute entity while jivas are the absolute infinitesimals or spiritual atomic parts of the marginal potency of the Absolute just as the particle of the ray of the Sun is distinct from the Sun itself So jivas are simultaneously distinct and nondistinct from Supreme This is inconceivable As the real Self of the jiva is transcendental nirguna beyond the range of mundane mind and intellect and as Paramatma is also transcendental nirguna the relation between the two is nirguna or transcendental that is inconceivable So the relationship between the Absolute truth and the jiva and the world is known as achintya bhedaabheda inconceivable simultaneous distinction and nondistinction A living being strives to fulfil his desires come what may The world is hankering for the fulfilment of desires A minor mistake is that the direction is incorrect When the soul is eternal desires have to be eternal Hence fulfilment of desires should also be eternal Temporary worldly solutions for fulfilment of desires will bring noneternal satisfaction Hence we have the option to move away from the misery of birth and death We call it mukti or liberation We have a better option as well Realising that mukti does not allow us to go and live with the Supreme though it will liberate us from the cycle of birth and death we have more options namely sarupya salokya samipya and sharashti Sayujya is merging in the Supreme samipya is living near the Supreme salokya is living in the abode of the Supreme sharashti is being as powerful as the Supreme and sarupya is body as transcendental as the Supreme There are also twelve mellow states with five on top such as shanti dasya sakhya vatsalya and madhurya There are two types of madhurya svakiya and parakiya Parakiya is best amongst all A relatively easy way to attain any of these is chanting the Name Any of these goals if attained are eternal and is the final goal of all souls with an inbuilt desire for eternal living in the blissful knowledgeable abode of the Supreme

Editorial By: Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Practise Itikaf In The Month Of Ramzan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Itikaf is a very special practice marking the closure of the blessed month of Ramzan Observers of this practice are required to stay in a mosque for ten days or less during the last ten days of Ramzan Abu Hurairah reported The Prophet used to observe itikaf every year during Ramzan for ten days in the year in which he passed away he observed itikaf for twenty daysItikaf means going into seclusion for the purpose of concentration In the final days of fasting when a Muslim is more spiritually prepared and more awakened he goes into seclusion in the environment of a mosque freeing his mind of the activities of this world In spiritual terms it is meditation in intellectual terms it is contemplationThe purpose of itikaf is to engage in muhasaba which means introspection During this practice one finds time to reflect on one s life one s past and present and what course to follow in the future The tenday period of itikaf requires a person to undergo overhauling in the spiritual sense This means he must undertake introspection and read the Quran more deeply This reading is not only meant as recitation of the words of the Quran but is aimed at delving into the deeper meaning of the Quran and understanding its message This practice is like taking a spiritual bath by making oneself a more awakened personDuring itikaf a Muslim tries to look at himself in the divine mirror He makes an effort to rediscover the Quran and to reapply Quranic teachings to his life every yearRediscovery of the Quran is very important Life is everchanging and full of new situations In this sense it poses a continuous challenge to every person When a person goes into itikaf and studies the Quran in seclusion he discovers the Quran again with reference to the new situations he may be facing This practice keeps the Muslim intellectually alive In this way itikaf enables a Muslim to evaluate his response towards each new situation and update his life accordinglyIn some way or the other itikaf in terms of meditation in seclusion is common to all religions The form it takes may differ but in spirit it is universalIn the course of daily life in this world the individual keeps getting distracted Therefore it is essential to refocus The practice of itikaf aims at bringing one who has been derailed back to the right track The distracted soul has to be turned into a focussed soulRamzan is a month of profound spiritual experience When one drinks water after a long period of thirst eats food after a long period of hunger and is at rest after a long period of unrest he receives a special kind of spiritual uplift in his life This is the daily experience of the month of Ramzan Itikaf is meant to enhance and broaden these spiritual experiences In this sense itikaf means increasing these spiritual experiences on a larger scale Both Ramzan and itikaf are similar but with a difference Where fasting during Ramzan is a routine experience going into itikaf makes it an extraordinary experience ensuring a heightened spiritual preparedness for the moral challenges of lifeIf fasting is a spiritual experience itikaf is spiritual retreat designed to enable the rebuilding of self Ramzan is meant to foster this spiritual transformation and itikaf enhances this process during the period of retreat

Editorial By: Speaking Tree

Complete dissolution is fana The nothingness

Speaking Tree

Sufism is the path of love Sufis say Your innermost core is emptiness pure sky or nothingness They call this fana or dissolution The first layer around fana is that of baqa or individuality what Hindus call as atman soul or self But the soul is already a step away from your being Buddha calls this as noself or anatta dissolution or disappearance Your innermost being is nonbeing Nothing is there or only nothing is At the centre is fana dissolution disappearance Even at the pointof baqa or individuality you do not meet God though very little of you is left there maybe a thin line Even that has to disappear in fana Only then you attain GodSufism is among the easiest and a unique path to achieve ultimate flowering It is not a religion but the way It is the art and science of correct living through a systematic understanding and following of austerities This path has three pillars which form the basis Meditation master and the remembrance Zikr qulb or repeating the remembrance at the heart centre tasubbre sheikh or remembrance of the master and marakba or meditation Theassociation of the master is satsang and the world of the master is satnam or the only scripture Thus the entire edifice of the Sufi path rests on the MasterThe word Master does not refer to a specific person This is the state of spiritual awareness As an individual you cannot see beyond your understanding And as you are you cannot envision a master This is the reason the masters appear from time to time to manifest that state of awareness the light absolute and the path laid down by other mastersMost do not see beyond physical appearances You need to feel the undercurrentof consciousness behind name and form A master presents truth according to the context The masers presence enables us to experience love awareness and compassion to take that leap of faith A master is the bridge a guide towards our own inner masterThe master assures you that he has experienced the moments of inner joy love and trust You can trust only when you are ready to go into insecurity If you are ready to sail your boat without a map to navigate the unknown Trust requires immense courage Because only a courageous personcan say yes In the beginning trust is a feeling However in the final flowering it is being If you can trust something will always happen and will help you to grow You will be provided for Whatsoever is needed at a particular time will certainly be provided Such is the beauty of trust Thus by and by you learn the ways of how existence goes on providing and caring for youSufis use stories and parables These are not to entertain you These are teaching devices Each parable or story indicates something Parables are like the fingers pointingto the moonSufi masters use meditation as one of the pillars for transformation The master uses his energies to help bring about transformation in you Meditation works like an energy that is communicated to you Sufis call this tawajjuh meaning attention In doing so the master uses various centres from where the energy is communicated to you A master can only help you in removing the obstacles so that meditation happens Get integrated in the moment Listen Become Achieve fana nothingness the dissolutionExcerpted from the writers Meditation The Way to Selfrealisation