Everyone is special in this world.

Everyone is special in this world. Yes, indeed, everyone is special in this world.

How often we have been taught directly or indirectly by our elders, peers, education system and society at large that some people are special whereas others are not. And we often assume this fallacy as truth. But, the fact is completely different.

The fact is: “Everyone is special in this world. It is just that everyone’s speciality is in different areas/fields. The only thing that is needed is to recognize one’s areas/fields of speciality and work in those areas/fields with full courage, confidence and devotion.“

1. All judgment is determined by rajasic attributes.
2. Men of wisdom are neither deluded nor haunted by the spectre of birth and death. One should, without being inordinately confused by the words of wise men, follow strictly their methods of sadhana.
3. The endless, eternal supreme Self lives equally in all, and never perishes with the body. The ignorant and unrealized allude to it as death.
4. Those who shun all longings, lust and cravings, become devoid of any attachment, passion, ego or personal indications and are therefore able to arrive at the stage of ultimate peace.

5. Dhyana (meditation), jñana (knowledge), tyaga (renunciation), and shanti (peace) are, respectively, like four stages of sadhana (spiritual practice).

   The citta (mind) being pacified and controlled by meditation, it needs to be retained and anchored in divine enthrallment by nothing other than wisdom.

6. Attainment of wisdom gives rise to the death of all desires. In this way, if one is established in meditation, wisdom and renunciation, citta becomes introverted in the sushumna [subtle nerve of peace], demonstrating always a peaceful disposition. The sushumna is none other than a haven of peace. When mind is turned calm and still, the eternal all-pervading chaitanya (consciousness) manifests itself.
7. Chaitanya (chidabhas) is the manifestation of the creator of the universe and thus becomes the inner light of a being. Without this guiding light from within the being does not perceive or see anything. It is the consciousness of your inner Self that gives you the power of seeing. The seen and the seer are intrinsic parts of your indwelling soul.
8. If one performs one’s duty perfectly one derives happiness. The mind has a deep inclination for bliss and joy, and an entrenched aversion to misery and suffering which are the consequences of unrighteous deeds.
9. The performance of duties with unflinching attachment is one of the fundamental reasons that cause worldly bondage. Even some intelligent people often hesitate to untie themselves from the fetters of this kind of attachment and remain imprisoned within their bodies. All roads to ultimate liberation are closed, whether one’s work is righteous or unrighteous, unless one’s sense of body, mind, intellect and ego completely withers away and dies in the infinite essence.
10. Like removing one nail with the help of another nail, the evil propensities can be weeded out by good samskaras (latent tendencies). In every place, once a week, there should be aspiritual congregation or satsanga.
11. Every day do regular svadhyaya (self-study) coupled with meditation and the study of spiritual books and scriptures.
12. For the propagation and proliferation of one’s ideal and sadhana, you should form small spiritual groups.
13. To lead an ascetic life is not child’s play. To become a saint is not a religious spectacle or the exhibition of miracles, it is only for God-realization.
14. In creation everything is governed by a rule. In the external world scientists have discovered rules governing nature. But underneath, hidden very deeply and subtly inside are the rules and canons of the entire universe, the manifested representation of Brahman. By doing yoga and meditation you are able to realize this.
15. Wisdom is not a mere exhibition of one’s dexterity in giving a lecture. The average scholar studies philosophy superficially and searches only the outward meaning. In this light university degrees and honors seem inferior and are almost trivial. True darshan(philosophy) means self-realization.
16. If, through practice, one always trains the mind to stay absorbed in the sushumna, then through this royal path, the divine energy flows, as a result life becomes calm and quiet.
17. Wealth without wisdom cannot give joy.
18. Remember that you are to learn from one and all.
19. It is easy to renounce the family and the world, but difficult to renounce the ego that is so firmly established and so willing to grow. Always be humble and meek.

Great quotes

Be fearless.

To renounce the world is not easy. Wherever man is, the world clings to him.

A living being means Shiva [God].

Patience, ceaseless efforts and strong determination make everything possible Always remember that you belong to no one, and no one belongs to you. Reflect that some day you will suddenly have to leave everything in this world–so make the acquaintanceship of God now. Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception. Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles. Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. Cease being a prisoner of the body; using the secret key of sadhana, learn to escape into Spirit.Spiritual success and material success are both humanly possible-material success by hard work, and spiritual success through acquiring wisdom.

Solve all your problems through meditation. Exchange unprofitable religious speculations for actual God-contact. Clear your mind of dogmatic theological debris; let in the fresh, healing waters of direct perception. Attune yourself to the active inner Guidance; the Divine Voice has the answer to every dilemma of life. Though man’s ingenuity for getting himself into trouble appears to be endless, the Infinite Succor is no less resourceful.

1. Self-realization does not occur through fasting, ritual or dipping in holy rivers. Control of body and mind, taking sattvic food and cultivating sattvic thoughts is conducive to God-realization.
2. Withdrawing the mind from worldly matters, if one turns it inwards he will rediscover the hidden treasure inside.
3. Constantly observe yourself.
4. As a rich harvest is reaped by regular cultivation, Godhood is attained by regular and constant practice of meditation.
5. The very touch of the Guru can elevate a sincere disciple to an advanced stage but only his unceasing practice combined with love, faith and devotion will lead him to God realization.
6. God is very subtle beyond the perception of senses and beyond description. He is omnipresent with no beginning and end. He is manifested by His own deeds and can be conceived only by consciousness.
7. God does everything. Life is only a medium. If one lives surrendering everything to Him one will not have any worries.
8. Dinner should be eaten before 9 p.m.
9. If one works with inner detachment even while remaining in the world one can mitigate the bad karma.
10. Sadhana is to be done without the thought of past or future. Always remain conscious of the prana (breath). Worldly duties are to be performed remaining always in paravastha[the supreme stage] of inner awareness.
11. The world is a training ground for many tests in many fields. Do not be deluded by satanic forces. Always be mindful of your soul.
12. Every one is inherently divine. No man is evil. It is only the mind, which may be good or bad.
13. Success in sadhana depends on deep love, devotion and mental disposition.
14. Delusion results from the sense of I and mine. Attachment to any objects leads to preoccupation of the mind.
15. Do not worry over ephemeral and perishable issues. Enjoying the fruits of your actions is inevitable.
16. Why do you think so much? Why do you fear? If you are weak you cannot be a yogi. As long as you have the shade of a tree and the water from the river there is no reason for fear.
17. Money makes people dance like toys. It does not bring real peace. Do not worry about the uncertainty of the future.
18. The sooner the delusive attachment to body and flesh is given up, the closer you are to God. That eternal truth is beyond good or bad. Even the good has to be surrendered to the Guru. In that state even your body feels like the body of Shri Gurudev.
19. First purify the mind by right eating and right thinking. When the breath becomes still the inner gaze will be ever fixed in the kutastha. There will not be desire for any work and even while working it feels like not doing. Raja yoga becomes a religion.
20. A saint can read the mind of anyone by fixing his gaze on his or her eyes. It will reveal to him the person’s nature, achievement and deception. This can relieve the sorrow of the person and also the means for liberation can be recognized.
21. Always pray:
    “O God my forgetfulness is
    my sin,
    please give me constant alertness.”

Forgiveness – the healing balm for broken hearts!

Q 1. Why does some people harm others and what is the right attitude to be developed towards those who harm us or others?

Ans. If we accept this self-evident truth that everyone (even the worst criminals) wants to have peace and happiness for at least himself (if not for others) and another self-evident truth that by harming and hurting others, no one can enjoy inner peace and happiness, the only wise conclusion that can be drawn that those who harm or hurt others, do so out of pure ignorance/immaturity. Wickedness is super-ignorance, because a wicked person, though, desiring to get peace and happiness for him/herself, ends up getting only pain and sorrow, because by doing wicked deeds, he/she sets forth a chain of reaction, which ultimately returns to him/her as pain and sorrow. Let us consider for example, Hitlar, the dictator of Germany, who made 6 million Jews suffer from death: everyday his sleep was full of nightmares and he would wake up from sleep with fear and trembling. He was not able to sleep peacefully nor in his waking period, he has any peace. A person who knows no peace of mind, suffers from the worst hell. Even if we agree that Hitlar was wicked and wanted to murder jews and all those who came on the path of his egoistic ambitions, we also should accept that Hitlar never wished such an utter lack of peace and constant sorrow for himself whole day and night. So, we can conclude that Hitlar committed his horrible crimes because of his ignorance about the eternal law of mind that by giving other pains and sufferings, he will not have even an iota of peace and happiness in his own life.

Now comes the case of those who harm and hurt others due to their impulsive nature or lack of proper decision-making. The same reasoning as explained in case of wicked people applies to them also.

Ignorance is the mother of all sins and mistakes. That’s why even if everyone wants supreme peace and happiness for him/herself, some unfortunate members of human family, due to their super-ignorance, commit crimes and mistakes, which rob them as well as their unfortunate victims of all peace and happiness.

So, the proper attitude towards such people should be to consider their crimes and follies as an effect of their ignorance and to have the attitude of protecting the innocent by restraining the evil/wrong-doers, but after restraining them, reforming the evil/wrong-doers through forgiveness, love and guidance.

Q.2. What is forgiveness and what is forgiveness not?

Ans. Forgiveness is

1. recognizing that the source of all crimes and mistakes is ignorance and that wickedness or foolishness is super-ignorance and a person possessing these wrong qualities, is more an object of concern that an object of hatred, more an object of understanding than an object of rejection, more an object meant to be transformed than an object meant to be destroyed.
2. letting go of the hurt from the past, in order to live and let others live with peace and happiness.
3. being well-wisher for even those who hurt and harm us, because at the core of their core, such people are highly ignorant.

What forgiveness is not:

1. defending or surrendering to others’ crimes or mistakes & cowardly allowing evil or mistakes to flourish.

Q.3. Why is forgiveness so challenging even after one recognizes its great importance in restoring peace and balance?

Ans. Nature has created a strong survival instinct in all animals, including humans. It is a biological fact that negative memories persist for a long time in human brain. The reason is negative memories are associated with events which threaten our survival, either in physical sense or psychological sense. As part of evolution (so that the species can survive from dangers), nature has designed living beings in such a way that we remember negativity well so that we may survive by avoiding the repetition of similar danger in future. Due to this reason, we find it very challenging to let go of negativity from past and forgive people for causing us harm intentionally or unintentionally.

So, we should understand that real biological reason behind negative memories persisting so much, is a positive one, but being more intelligent, humans have evolved at a much rapid pace over-growing some of originally well-meaning biological designs of natural evolution and hence, when negative memories pervade our life in excess, it becomes quite harmful for us. Thus, we should have a ‘learn, forgive and move on’ attitude towards negative memories, only then there can be hope for peace and happiness in life.

Q.4. What is the right attitude for forgiveness?

‘Learn, forgive and move on’ is the right attitude for forgiveness:

1. Learn from past negative experience, so that similar mistakes or sufferings can be avoided in future,
   
2. forgive yourself as well as others for the harm and hurt caused due to ignorance or lack of self-discipline,
3. move on with life and live life with a present and future oriented vision.
   

Q.5. Should we forgive those who don’t accept their mistakes?

Ans. Any person who wants to tread the path of peace, happiness and wisdom should forgive even those who don’t accept their mistakes, while simultaneously protecting him/herself and others from more harm caused by such people. The most important reason behind this is – like every other virtue, forgiveness is its own reward and like every other vice, unforgiveness (and resulting ill-will) is its own punishment. Let us consider numerous benefits of forgiveness even if other side is not accepting his/her mistakes:

1. It gives you peace of mind, without which life is more a hell than a heaven.
2. It allows you space to think constructively about life, otherwise constant meditation on negativity makes the life seem meaningless and hopeless.
3. It allows you to have a fulfilling relationship with others, as you let go of negativity through forgiveness and gain more positivity in the process.
4. It sets a great moral example for others, benefitting many more people and society at large. So, by setting an example of forgiveness, you do a great service to your family and society.
5. It makes you physically healthy and mentally happy.

So, my dear friend – please practice forgiveness.

Q.6. What to do when unforgiveness (and resulting ill-will) arises in mind towards someone?

Ans. One technique will suit all in such a case because it is based on two great insights:

1. As long as resentment (and resulting ill-will) is harbored in mind, one cannot enjoy peace and happiness despite desiring utmost to feel peace and happiness.
2. When one has to go to the roof of the house, no one can jump from ground and directly land up on the roof, but one has to use the stair and ascending it one step at a time till one reaches the roof. Even an adult cannot jump to roof from ground directly, whereas using a stair, even a small child is able to reach the roof.

The technique is following:

When resentment (and resulting ill-will) arise in mind towards someone, do the following for 10-15 minutes.

1. Close your eyes and sit with spine, neck and head in a straight line. If one cannot do this because of not being in a position to do so, one can practice this in standing or lying position as well.
2. Now, say to yourself for 2-3 minutes: “May I be full of peace, happiness and wisdom.” or “May God/Allah/Bhagwan/Guru give peace, happiness and wisdom to me.”
3. After that, say to yourself for 2-3 minutes: “May all my friends and family members be full of peace, happiness and wisdom.” or “May God/Allah/Bhagwan/Guru give peace, happiness and wisdom to all my friends and family members.”
4. After that, say to yourself for 2-3 minutes: “May all those, who unintentionally hurt me, be full of peace, happiness and wisdom.” or “May God/Allah/Bhagwan/Guru give peace, happiness and wisdom to all those, who unintentionally hurt me.”
5. After that, say to yourself for 2-3 minutes: “May all those, who intentionally or unintentionally hurt me, be full of peace, happiness and wisdom.” or “May God/Allah/Bhagwan/Guru give peace, happiness and wisdom to all those, who intentionally or unintentionally hurt me.”
6. After that, say to yourself for 2-3 minutes: “May all beings be full of peace, happiness and wisdom.” or “May God/Allah/Bhagwan/Guru give peace, happiness and wisdom to all beings.”

What will happen when one practice this technique? The first prayer is for oneself – everyone will do that with full devotion. That will increase the level of peace and purity in him. The second prayer is for one’s friends and family members. Everyone will do this also. The first 2 prayers will increase peace and purity to a degree that the third prayer for those who hurt us unintentionally, will become possible. And the first 3 prayers will increase the peace and purity to a degree that the fourth prayer for those who hurt us intentionally or unintentionally, will also become possible. And after that, one should end with universal prayer for all beings.

It works for everyone because this technique doesn’t demand us to jump from ground to roof directly (i.e., directly ‘pray for’/forgive those who intentionally or unintentionally hurt us), but gives us a stair-based approach, which increase the level of peace and purity (sattwa quality) in us and gradually make us pray for those also who intentionally or unintentionally hurt us.

And what happens if we are not able to remove thoughts of resentment – they create a chain-reaction of thoughts bearing more and more resentment and ill-will, thus enormously wasting our time and energy and disturbing our peace and happiness for many minutes (and even hours). One who instead practises above technique, will be able to transcend resentment for the time-being rather than loosing minutes and even hours of time, energy and inner peace to it.

Please read other techniques on dealing with negative thinking here: “How to deal with negative memories from past and anxiety about future”.

Q.7. How to develop peace and purity which becomes the ground for a forgiving and loving attitude towards all?

Ans.

1. Develop the habit of positive and broad-minded thinking so that you can see the real level of peace and happiness that people who cause harm or hurt to others intentionally or unintentionally enjoy. Once this delusion is gone that such people are happy, we will be able to feel concern rather than disgust for them.
2. Always remember that there is at least one person in this world whom you always forgive and love despite all the mistakes that person does. And that person is YOU. If YOU can forgive and love YOURSELF despite all mistakes YOU do, YOU are quite capable of doing it for others also.
   
3. Always remember, every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. A sinner can become a saint in future – many examples exist. No amount of sin destroys the seed of humanity in a person – there is always a chance that given a good ground, the seed of humanity in a wrong-doer will germinate into the mighty tree of virtue and will yield the shade of peace and fruits of joy to all. So, hope for the best future for wrong-doer and work for their transformation with love, kindness and skillful guidance. This is how every mature person, should act.
   
4. Daily do yoga (particularly thoughtless awareness and breathing exercises – kapalbhati andnadi shodhana pranayama are most strongly recommended to readers) to store up peace and positivity in mind so that their cumulative effect is able to neutralize and help you in removing negative feelings arising in future.

I will end this post with one couplet by Saint Kabir.

Jo toko kata boye, tahe boye too Phool.

Phool ke phool hai, kata ke shool.

This means, those who sow thorns for you, you should sow flowers for them. By sowing thorns, they reap sorrow, whereas by sowing flowers, you reap joy and help in making them eventually realize and correct their wrong-doings.

5 principles which I have imbibed

1. Give your best.
2. Believe you can succeed.
3. Face adversity squarely.
4. Be confident you will find the answers when problems arise.
5. Then go out and win your battles.

about me

I am an ordinary person (one of many “mango men” or “aam admi” – hehe) who is pursuing 3 extra-ordinary life-long aspirations with utmost determination:

1. To have the spiritual experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi like Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda and other sages.
2. To contribute my utmost to social reforms in fields of education, health-care, gender equality, caste-free society, brahmacharya during student life, human values and healthy/functional families.
3. To clean up the politics of India thoroughly through a new political party along with like-minded people and to establish a new model of politically conscious sannyas whose aim will be to give India intellectually and spiritually evolved politicians for centuries and hopefully millenia to come. I consider Chanakya, Shiva Ji, Guru Govind Singh Ji, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Bhagat Singh and his comrades, Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi as my role-models in this political mission.

Only time will tell how much success will be realized in these aspirations, but on my part I will put up the most determined efforts for all 3 goals, irrespective of any amount of hardships and disappointments on the path. And I hope to find an adequate number of like-minded people to work out these socio-political goals for the betterment of society.

hi all

though late, finally i have created my own space