Letting go of the past

Our lives are weighed down with past memories and expectations from the future. How can we let go of all that clutter and live life spontaneously? We feel burdened not because of our present but because of the past hanging around our neck like a heavy stone.

Osho gives some useful tips for separating psychological memories from the factual ones. It is good to remember that mere facts never burden us. The memory of our name or phone number is not a burden but a psychological memory of an insult or even a felicitation can become a hang up.

Interestingly, many of us tend to forget facts but we tend to remember and dwell upon psychological memories.

Osho points out, "Memory has technical uses. You have to know how to drive, you have to know where your home is, and you have to recognise your wife and your children. But those are not psychological hang-ups. Factual memory is useful. It enhances life, facilitates it. But if you come home and you look at your wife and think of all your past experiences with her then that is a psychological hang-up. If she was angry with you in the recent past, then that memory can cloud your eyes. If she was nasty or sad, then it too can colour your perception. Psychological impressions change your way of looking and perceiving her as she is standing in front of you at this moment. You are no longer looking at her but at someone who doesn't exist. You are looking at a ghost, not at your wife. And she may also be looking at you in the same way. Drop the past each moment. Just as you clean your house, clean your inner house of the past. All psychological memories have to be dropped. Just keep factual things and your mind will be very clean and clear."

Soon you will find that there is a new light in your life - the light of here-now, the Present.

The three Devis and creative energy

Durga is one version of the all-pervading Shakti, the powerful manifestation of the Supreme Energy. The eternity of this supreme manifestation of divine female power is considered to be pervading infinite space and time. The everlasting and all-pervading Shakti also presides over the processes of creation, conservation and annihilation. Concepts of creation, preservation and annihilation are crucial as "many-body" operators in physics. Almost all physical systems are many-body systems. The smallest many-body entity is a physical system with only two constituents. Atoms, atomic nuclei, molecules, solids, liquids, gases and the universe constitute important physical many-body systems. We, too, live in many-body systems that include family, our society and the world. However, these are not studied as physical systems, although some enthusiastic students of the subject do show some interest in them. Maha Shakti or Supreme Energy is manifested chiefly in three forms: Maha Saraswati, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Kali. The three devis represent three important facets of life: Creation, conservation and annihilation. Learning and wisdom play a far more important role than details of one's birth. Maha Saraswati stands for creation. The creative person who pursues knowledge and wisdom continues to live with the grace of Maha Lakshmi, who is responsible for the sustenance of life. Maha Lakshmi bestows her grace and bounty. Finally, Maha Kali, responsible for annihilation, completes the cycle. Physical energy has several forms. There are transformations among the different forms of energy. In the process, however, the indestructibility of the energy, and consequently matter, is not affected. The stability and functionality of different forms of energy and matter depend on the distribution of these in the atom, which is the source of all forms of energy and matter, the complete knowledge of which still remains elusive. This is also true with regard to the Universe. In spite of several propositions and expositions about the universe and its finiteness or infiniteness, the subject is still mysterious. This fact emphasises the boundless or infinite limits of knowledge. We are not bound by finite dimensions. We live free, and we are surrounded by infinite space, time and knowledge. It's all there, we only need to reflect on the metaphysics of it. Science is normally handled within only space time dimensions. With knowledge included, it becomes philosophy or metaphysics. Research in science is increasingly also revealing to us the infinite nature of knowledge: the more we know, the more there is to know and so on. What we might refer to as super-space is spanned by space, time and knowledge, all having both real and imaginary components; the imaginary components are the reciprocal or momentum space, frequency and ignorance respectively. That we are in this situation is not our doing. In this context, the concept of a Supreme Power is important. Philosophy and science have a common characteristic. Both are born of doubt and also evolve with creation of more doubts. Understanding the correlation between the seemingly contrasting aspects of science and philosophy is important in enabling further exploration of the mysteries and nature of space, time and knowledge.

G S TRIPATHI

Religion, rationality & development

The 'Ram sethu' controversy was highly avoidable. An issue, which should have been a simple one of a conflict between environment and economic development somehow got converted into one of religion versus development. Even more alarming, the central issue became one of the existence of a Hindu god! The government must be faulted for allowing such a strange turn of events especially as the last issue is still with the courts and (rightly so) unlikely to be resolved in my lifetime at least. Though the government did the right damage control, it is useful to consider some of the questions which were thrown up. Are religious beliefs rational? Is the "scientific" Sethusamudram project crucial for development? What happens if the two are in conflict? Let us look at these in turn. There is now a wealth of material on how to "objectivise" religion (The Probability of God - Stephen Unwin, Crown Forum, NY, 2003). The main theme seems to be the old one of science versus religion. Thus, can science explain all events? In particular, can science explain many of the "knife edge" observations on real life experiences? For example, why is water the only liquid whose density does not fall continuously as temperature increases? (If it did all sea life would cease to exist). There are many other "knife edge" problems. The answer seems to be not that science cannot explain such phenomena but that at this point we "do not know". Herein lies the clue to why faith in religion transcends all social, economic and geographical barriers. Economics defines "individual rationality" as the attempt to reach the highest level of satisfaction given existing knowledge. So, for an individual for whom life is coming crashing down around him (for example, due to poverty or a terminal illness) belief in something he cannot explain (and which will somehow get him through the crisis) may be an extremely "rational" calculus. In fact, given the imperfect world we live in, this "blind faith" may be crucial to social order. This is really the sense in which John Lennon sings the line paraphrased at the beginning of this article. As he implied, an individual may not have all the trappings of a religion and yet have faith in the unknown. Mr Karunanidhi's attempt to trivialise the "existence of Ram" debate was obviously an attempt to cater to the "Periyar lobby". But it raises the issue of what happens when faith and development conflict. But can we seriously "rationalise" something which is a matter of individual faith? Consider the two crucial events in the Christian calendar: Christmas and Easter. The first celebrates the birth of Christ: a perfectly rational scientific event. Yet the Christian faith itself is based on the second of the two events which symbolises the "resurrection" of Christ. We all know that India is a country with an excessive number of holidays. Can one then rationally argue that while Christmas is an understandable holiday, "good Friday" should be dropped since it derives its importance from the resurrection of Easter Sunday? This is a valid question when posed as a scientific query (how can the dead come to life?) but a foolish one when applied to the touchstone of faith in a religion. The reader can come up with any number of such arguments which can be advanced (a la Mr Karunanidhi) in the context of other religions and faiths. Yet, the celebration which a holiday symbolises is based on acceptance of the faith rather than the scientific validity of an associated event. And faith, as one has argued, is perfectly rational. How crucial is the Sethusamudram project? The main argument seems to be the time saving for ships which will no longer have to go around Sri Lanka in moving from the east coast to the west. While the ecological problems are still not clearly defined, the economic gains of the canal are not likely to be high. A look at maritime statistics indicates that shipping costs are now such a small part of the final price of most products that tariff barriers between countries (and within countries) are a greater deterrence to trade. The one month time saving is thus not likely to translate into substantial price advantages. The bottom line? If economic development is the objective then it is wisest to pose trade offs that we are familiar with: is the canal cost-effective and what are the environmental concerns? Yet, politicians seem to pitch the issue as one of 'scientific' rationality versus faith. This is a dangerous trend as faith is non-negotiable and the only casualty would be much needed development. Let us stay off what we only imperfectly comprehend. ( The author is professor, Centre for International Trade and Development, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University )

Why should nature be more natural?

Henry David Thoreau, the 19th century American transcendentalist famously embarked on a two-year course in simple living when he moved to a small self-built cabin in a forest. Thoreau regarded this sojourn as a noble experiment with a threefold purpose. First, he was escaping the de-humanising effects of the Industrial Revolution by returning to an earlier, agrarian lifestyle. Second, he had more leisure and recreational time. Third, and most important, he was putting into practice the transcendentalist belief that one can best transcend normality and experience the Ideal, or the Divine, through nature. It's hardly surprising therefore that Thoreau quickly became an icon for everybody who wanted "to get in touch" or "commune with nature." But what is it about nature that makes it more "natural" than, say, a city? If by nature we mean the material world along with the forces and processes that produce and control all its phenomenon - the laws of nature as it were - then surely a city also qualifies since it doesn't fall outside any of these laws. If by nature we mean just the world of living things, then too cities qualify. No, it's actually a third definition of nature - namely, a primitive state of existence, untouched and uninfluenced by civilisation - that people like to apply when they mean nature to be somehow qualitatively "better" than a city. Unfortunately, this definition comes into being only because civilisation has come into being. Otherwise, there's absolutely nothing primitive about it. Or, if there is, then every cave dwelling ancestor of ours would have to be transcending normality and experiencing the Ideal, or the Divine, all the time. So would those diminishing pockets of humanity which have largely remained cut off from civilisation and even today live in Stone Age conditions. Humans make cities like corals make reefs. For their purpose, neither is more - or less - elegant or functional than the other. The amazingly intricate arbour the bower bird makes to attract a mate is not greater or smaller in creative architecture than the extraordinary complex circuitry built inside a microprocessor. Therefore, why should any Ideal or Divine choose to be rapped with, only in the ambience of one set of artefacts and not the other? Especially if it created both in the first place? Or is it simply we who wield the knife of discrimination and do the choosing on absolutely arbitrary grounds? How humanising is that?

For a healthy mind & body

According to ayurveda and yoga, both mind and the body are made up of five elements, the Panchabhutas of earth (prithvi), water (jal), fire (agni or tej), air (vayu) and ether or space (akash). While the body is made up of the heavier elements of earth and water (the kapha type), it functions through the lighter elements of fire (pitta or fire type) and air (vata or vital energy type). The pitta, fire or heat of the body controls all digestive processes and the vata, air or vital energy lends its spark to the nervous system. The mind, one of subtlest parts of our being is composed of air and ether, the lightest elements. In substance our minds resemble ether formless and all pervading and in motion, it resembles air-penetrating, constantly in flux. Just as the right type of food and right amount of food is necessary for a healthy digestive system, the right type of thoughts and the right amount of thoughts are essential for a healthy mind. Therefore, the simple formula for a healthy mind is allowing only positive thoughts to come, having just enough thoughts in the mind, and finally, being without any thoughts for at least some time, that is, meditating. Meditation is not only extremely conducive to mental well being and peace; it is also the first step towards self transformation and spirituality. Posture: Sit erect in a comfortable position preferably on the floor. The important factor is keeping the spine absolutely straight. Environment: Sit in a well ventilated place that is quiet and receives natural light. Set up a meditating room with soothing music and aroma in order to infuse the atmosphere with spiritual energy. Time: Meditate at the same time daily, twice a day for best results. Beginners are recommended to meditate for about half an hour daily. Attitude & Technique: Be a receptive observer while meditating. Try to observe the mind, the breath or the immediate physical environment without thinking anything in particular, watching the mind slowly empty itself out.

Mercy, forgiveness, freedom from fire

Ramadan is a month whose beginning is Mercy, whose middle is Forgiveness and whose end is freedom from fire, according to Hadith of the Prophet. Ponder on the inherent logical sequence... We cannot be exempt from fire without first being forgiven. And to be forgiven, we must be graced by Allah's mercy. The theme of the first 10 days is mercy of Allah. Can we expect to receive mercy if we only deprive our bodies of food and drink? Of course not. Because Ramadan is meant for spiritual development through fasting. Physiologically, by fasting, the body eliminates toxins efficiently and the mind becomes clear for "power thinking" so that one may ponder on the meaning of the Qur'an, Hadith and the necessity of Zhikr. One must also do some selfanalysis to monitor and correct one's behaviour if necessary. With meditation the mind becomes quiet and so should our tongues. Allah is looking for a sincere commitment from us... Ramadan does not end at every iftar. It ends only on sighting the hilal of Shawwal. So hard spiritual work must carry on for the whole of the month. One must plead for mercy and sincerely try to receive it because without it, we are stuck at stage one and our prospects of "freedom from fire" will be bleak. Therefore, stage one is for sincere confession to Allah that we are weak and sinful and that we desperately need His mercy. We have only about 10 days to qualify to stage two. The next 10 days of Ramadan are about forgiveness. We must now beg for Allah's forgiveness because we have broken so many of His rules and covenants and disobeyed His commands during the year, knowingly and unknowingly. We must say istighfaar day and night and ask in every sajda for forgiveness. We must be afraid that if Allah does not forgive, we will surely be losers. Here again, Allah will be assessing the degree of sincerity in our repentance. He looks not for lip service but for soul service. We must also be forgiving to other people's mistakes and tempers. The last 10 days of Ramadan are about freedom from fire. Instead of just focusing on Laylat Al-Qadar - the night of power - one should intensify supplications for the remaining period of Ramadan. If possible and affordable then do go for Umrah... it will be probably the most spiritually fulfilling experience you will have, aside from Hajj. And Umrah in Ramadan is equivalent to having done a Hajj with our Rasool. At the completion of the last fast, be optimistically hopeful that you will be alive to give similar pious worship during the forthcoming Ramadans. And if you remain guided in your life then you'll be admitted to Paradise, insha'Allah, by the Ryan gate of Paradise! The month after Ramadan is Shawwal. Those who fast just six days of this month get the reward of fasting the whole year. So if one has missed fasting for 12 years of his life, just six days of Shawwal fasting gives one an opportunity to make up for our past deficiency of fasting days. "Your good deeds are accepted during Ramadan. So are your invocations. You must invoke your Lord in right earnest with hearts that are free from sin and evil. That Allah may bless you, observe fast and recite the Holy Qur'an". "Anyone who may cultivate good manners in this month will walk over the bridge in qiyamat though his feet may be shaking".

Krishna: Expert dancer, uninhibited lover

"I would believe in a God who could dance", said German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche। During his time, God was generally portrayed as a frozen perfection, remote, static, and wholly unsociable। No wonder he was disillusioned by this stereotypical idea of God। Nietzsche would have been pleasantly surprised had he heard of Krishna, who danced expertly on the hood of the venomous serpent Kaliya. He also danced to the tune of his mother just to get butter, and he danced with gopis in celebration of divine love, in rasalila. He is Vrindavananatabara, dancer par excellence in the pastoral paradise of Vrindavana. All theistic traditions assert that God is great. In Krishna, that greatness is graphically demonstrated. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna gives a glimpse of his awe-inspiring greatness through his vishva-rupa darshana, which is one of the greatest mystical visions in world literature. Arjuna saw within the Universal Form - within Krishna - everything and everyone in existence. He saw all the planets, stars and universes as well as all living beings: celestial, terrestrial and subterranean. Krishna also exhibited his omnipotence by effortlessly overpowering numerous demons, who were the scourges of the universe. Most endearingly, Krishna delights, not in the magnificence of godhood, but in the sweetness of uninhibited love. Krishna expresses his sweetness in His lila as a prankster who steals butter from the homes of elderly gopis. Krishna as God is self-satisfied and doesn't need anything for his enjoyment. Moreover, when everything belongs to him, where is the question of his stealing anything? Yet just to reciprocate love with those devotees who love Him in a parental mood (vatsalya-bhava ), Krishna plays the role of their darling child and speaks and behaves mischievously. The disarming hospitality that Krishna extended to Sudama and the subsequent generous benedictions that he bestowed upon his poor gurukula-friend are also eloquent testimony to Krishna's personal warmth and sweetness. For the demoniac, Krishna's sweetness gives way to his greatness. Krishna went as a shantiduta (peace messenger) to dissuade Duryodhana from war with sweet words. But when the arrogant prince tried to arrest him instead, Krishna foiled the attempt by manifesting the gigantic universal form. But for devotees, Krishna is sweetness. During the rasa-lila, Krishna disappeared and reappeared as the majestic four-armed Vishnu. When his most beloved consort Radha offered him obeisance and asked him where Krishna had gone, He tried to point in a false direction. But seeing her selfless love and her intense anxiety caused by separation, Krishna could no longer maintain his guise. His two extra hands disappeared and Radha beheld before her the sweet Lord of her heart. The laws of karma impartially and unerringly deliver everyone of their karmic dues sooner or later. But if we turn to Krishna with devotional love, He manifests his sweetness as a forgiving father: "Abandon all varieties of religion and surrender unto me. I will free you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear". We can easily surrender to Krishna by chanting his holy names, which manifest both his greatness and sweetness. The holy name has the great power that even nuclear weapons don't have: the power to destroy all our negative habits and tendencies. Janmashtami is a reminder that our right to enjoy divine sweetness is beckoning us. Krishna is ready for us. Are we ready for him?

The writer is a spiritual mentor at ISKCON, Pune.

CHAITANYA CHARAN DAS

A Guru to provide safe harbour

Prince or commoner, rich or poor, every individual who wishes to get empowered and enlightened benefits greatly from the guidance of an able guru। Even the gods sought out gurus for themselves. Lord Krishna's guru was Sandipanirishi. Rama and Laxmana along with many other princes learnt all skills from their spiritual master, Guru Vasishtha. When Swami Vivekananda first visited Ramakrishna Paramahansa he asked: "I have read the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures several times, i lecture and give discourses on the Gita and Ramayana. Do i still need harbour of a saint; do i still need a guru?" Ramakrishna didn't reply to Vivekananda's question. After a few days Ramakrishna called upon Vivekananda and handed him a parcel to be delivered at a nearby village a few hours away by the sea route. Early morning the boat and sailor would be ready and all he needed to do was to go to the village and deliver the parcel to the designated person. Vivekananda agreed and decided to start early. He found the boat and the sailor ready to put out to sea. Suddenly, upon sitting in the boat, Vivekananda realised that he didn't know the road to the village. He inquired of the sailor who had no clue, either. Vivekananda decided to go back to his guru to ask him the shortest way to the village. Upon this Ramakrishna said, "Narendra, this is my reply to the question you asked me when we met the first time: Today, you have the medium (the boat), you have the resource (the sailor), you have the road (the sea), you know what to do (deliver the parcel) and you also know where to go but you don't know the way. Likewise you have read all the scriptures, and you can conduct wonderful discourses on them. However, to realise the wisdom of scriptures one needs a guru, someone who has already traversed that path so that he can guide you through the journey and encourage you to not give up." In Sanskrit, 'gu' is one who dispels and 'ru' means darkness. Every individual who wishes to rise above his existing levels needs a lighthouse, a guiding star to guide him on the journey of life, who can help by dispelling darkness at every step. Lord Swaminarayan ordained Sikshapatri, containing 212 conventions of code of conduct for every human being. One of the points reads: "Even the most learned of men will become morally declined if he is not involved in devotion to God and in good acquaintance." Many seers have made various suggestions on how to embark on the spiritual path according to their perceived wisdom. Is there a universally accepted spiritual definition? How should one lead one's life which balances both the spiritual and the material? To understand all this and choose the right path for a balanced life of duty, responsibility, love, detachment and striving for higher consciousness, you need the grace and guidance of a spiritual master. As the saying goes "When the disciple is ready the Master arrives." Like a lone ship sailing in turbulent waters hunts for a safe harbour to anchorage, similarly one needs to constantly endeavour in the journey of life for a true guru, a harbour against all storms.

KAMLESH DIXIT

Lord Ganesha

Universal appeal of the legend of Ram

Hey Ram! With these last words, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi breathed his last। What would he have thought of the current controversy over the historicity or otherwise of Ram, the epic hero? It would be interesting to ask: What is the historicity of the wind or cosmos? Behind visual reality, there exists something one can call supernature. Beyond history, there is the realm of metahistory. How can man with his arrested sensibility, give expression to eternal life or eternity, in a language which is itself man-made? When we do not have a recorded or authentic history of language how shall we be able to understand the word 'history' used in language? The word Ram means causing rest, charming, loving and delightful. Gandhi knew from the core of his heart that Ram is the hidden centre of all apparent reality. It is the unchanging reality, underlying a shifting reality. Ram is part of metahistory. Ram possesses highest power but never reveals himself as a possessor of power. People with inferior power exhibit their power in mindless activity and vanish like a bubble. Much of Bapu's philosophy was based on the substance of Indian thought. He did tend to believe in avatars or incarnations and believed in the saving power of the name 'Ram' in salvation through Lord Krishna. For Gandhi, the legend of Ram is so deeply embedded in the Indian way of life that it is difficult to think of India and Indian culture without any mention of his name. The metahistory of Ram has inspired many poets and artists to depict his character with all its glory and transcendental splendour. After having understood the superficiality of so-called history Oswald Spengler had said in his book, The Decline of the West, that history should be the business of a poet. The first such epic is the Ramayana, composed by Sanskrit poet Valmiki who is believed to be a contemporary of Ram. The whole of the Ramayana consists of 24,000 stanzas or 96,000 lines. It is a great work of art with many dramatic passages. Apart from the Ramayana other important epics of Sanskrit literature which characterise the life of Ram are Raghvansh by Kalidas and Uttar Ramcharit by Bhavbhuti. Ram gained immense popularity through the writings of Tulsidas, too, who depicted Ram's character with such devotion and sincerity that Ram became the inseparable part of the collective unconscious of the people. Abhinand, Kshemendra Jaidev, Pravassen, Kritivas Kambhan and at least 40 other poets have eulogised the greatness of the legendary Ram through their writings. So it is not difficult for any one of us to utter the name of Ram consciously or unconsciously as Gandhi did. Although Gandhi was acquainted with the basic tenets of all religions, he was deeply moved by Christ's Sermon on the Mount. Gandhi's passion for sustainable living and development was inspired by eternal and universal principles of faith in the oneness of religion and humanity. Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence, truth and simple living was derived from a belief in the power of the very same principles epitomised by Maryada Purushottam Ram - the ideal personality - immortalised in the legend's story, the Ramayana, narrated in as many languages, forms and cultures as its plural versions.

Kailash Vajpeyi

Not your true self

If all is God, why is there imperfection in the world? Negative emotions like lust, pride, attachment, anger, ego, greed and jealousy are distortions of love। These distortions manifest in animals also, but they have no way to go beyond them as they are bound by Nature. Endowed with the power of discrimination, human beings can move from these distortions to a state of pure love. Every sincere seeker wants to get rid of anger and reach a state of perfection. What can you do when anger rises in you? You may remind yourself a hundred times that you shouldn't get angry, but when you feel the anger, you are unable to control it. It comes like a thunderstorm. Emotions are much more powerful than your thoughts and the promises you make. Anger is a distortion of our true nature. It is part of this creation, but we still call it a distortion because it doesn't allow the Self to shine forth fully. And this is what sin is. Anger is a sin because when you are angry, you lose your centredness; you lose sight of the Self. Anger is a sign of weakness. A strong man doesn't get angry easily. When you focus on other's mistakes, you are bound to get angry. The cause of anger is the lack of total knowledge of what is happening inside that person. Showing anger itself is not wrong, but being unaware of your anger only hurts you. There is a place for showing anger, but when you get angry yourself, you are shaken completely. Are you ever happy with the decisions you have made or the words you have spoken when you are angry? No, because you lose your total awareness. If you are completely aware and you are acting angry, that is fine. In fact, anger is an instrument. It is useful when you are able to control it. It can work wonders when you know how to use it and where to use it. Spiritual practices help you maintain your centredness. This is where a little knowledge about ourselves, about our mind, our consciousness, and the root of distortion in our nature will help. It is when you are exhausted and stressed that you lose your nature and get angry. Breathing techniques and meditation are effective in calming the mind. Meditation is letting go of anger from the past and the events of the past. It's accepting this moment and living every moment totally with depth. Often anger comes because you don't accept the present moment. You look for perfection; that is why you are angry at imperfections. Even when someone commits a mistake, know that she is not the culprit; the stress inside is causing her to make that mistake. Just this understanding and a few days of continuous practice of meditation can change the quality of our life. Usually, you give your anger freely and your smile rarely as though a smile is expensive. To the ignorant, anger is cheap and a smile is costly. To those of knowledge, a smile is free - like sunshine, air and water - and anger is expensive. Make your smile cheaper and anger expensive.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Recreating ourselves

To create is to bring into being or existence। And to create something new, we have to die to what is. Something has to die for something new to emerge, and our soul is constantly taking quantum leaps of creativity. What is a quantum leap? It's when a subatomic particle moves from here to there without going through the space in-between. So it's here, then it's there. In between where was it? Nowhere. How did it get from here to there? Don't know. And it got from here to there instantly. There was not time for it to get from here to there. That's a quantum leap. Every death is an opportunity for a quantum leap of creativity. Through death, we recreate ourselves at every level: the material level of the body-mind, the intellect, the personality. All of these have to die in order to recreate ourselves. With every death we store the wisdom of our experiences since the beginning of time and take quantum leaps of creativity so that we can look at ourselves again as if for the first time. Cycles of birth, transformation and death keep us ever fresh so that we can imagine new realms for our existence. In biology there's a term called apoptosis, which means programmed cellular death. In the absence of apoptosis, cells forget to die and this condition is called cancer. Cancer cells don't know how to die and in their quest for immortality, they kill the host body upon which they are dependent for their life. Death, therefore, is the ticket to life and it is happening right now in our body-mind. Where is our two year-old body? It's dead. The body, thoughts, emotions and the personality of the two-year-old are dead. We traded all these in for the three-year-old by dying to the two-year-old. Birth and death are happening all the time at all these levels.

Deepak Chopra

Surrender to God

Total surrender to the Almighty is the highest form of bhakti। It stands for accepting every situation as a gift or prasad from God. It means living every moment to perfection by using all your mental, physical and spiritual potential to the maximum. Spirituality means doing things in the right spirit and with complete faith. No situation is frivolous or insignificant because it always contains a hidden message. There are no flaws in the Divine's design, this is what we all must be aware of just like one dev-doot, or angel, did when he was banished from the heaven to lead a life as a cobbler to make him realize the consequence of questioning the wisdom of the Almighty. This angel had become so evolved spiritually that he was just one step away from becoming one with the Supreme. Pointing to a young woman on Earth, God asked him to take away her soul as it was time for her to die. When the angel reached the woman's house, he witnessed a heart-rending scene. Dressed in rags, the woman was cradling a three-month-old baby in her arms and was trying to pacify her two other children, aged two and four, who were crying with hunger. All looked malnourished and pale. There was not a morsel in the house. The woman had lost her husband, their sole breadwinner, a few months ago. With three little children to take care, she was unable to make ends meet. Now she was running high fever and was wondering what was to become of her and her children. The sight of the poor family living in such trying circumstances brought tears to the angel's eyes. He could not be so unkind and deprive the helpless kids of their only living parent! His compassion and benevolence got the better of him so he decided to return to the Heaven empty handed. His disobedience earned him the Almighty's displeasure. Since every act of the divine is guided by divine love and benevolence, God decided to make him realize his folly of interfering with the Supreme Law or design by banishing him to Earth for a lifetime as a cobbler. The only way he could return and be with the Almighty once again was by laughing at his plight three times. Thus the angel was born on Earth into a family of cobblers. He grew up beating smelly hides into smooth leather to make footwear. One day as he sat making footwear, the irony of it all dawned on him and he laughed at his situation -- once a Dev-dhoot, God's chosen one, was now on Earth working with animal skins, making footwear for mortals. Any way, instead of whining, the Dev-dhoot accepted his situation and continued leading his life in total surrender to the Almighty, giving his whole being to what ever work that came in front of him, whether it was beating leather into shape or making footwear. Soon he became so good at his work that his masters and customers started praising his work. And one day he was asked to make shoes for none other than the king himself! The angel put his mind, heart and soul into his work and before he could realize, he had created the most beautiful pair of chappals ever. But his masters were livid with him for being so careless, wasting raw material and time on a pair of chappals instead of the shoes that the king's men had ordered. Soon they arrived but much to everybody's surprise, the king's men asked for a pair of chappals instead of shoes. The king had just died and they wanted chappals to the fit the corpse before it could be cremated. It was a ritual in those days that the body of the king was adorned with chappals rather than shoes on his final journey. The dev-doot was speechless. Nothing seemed frivolous or meaningless in the Almighty's scheme of things, he thought and laughed to himself the second time. As days passed by, the angel became increasingly well known for his fabulous footwear. One day, a rich elderly lady escorting three pretty girls came to his shop to place a huge order for fancy footwear for the girls as they were all of marriageable age. When the angel asked her whether the girls were her daughters, the lady shook her head and replied that she was a rich businessman's wife but could never have any children. But one day her neighbours told her about three helpless orphans who had lost their parents. She felt the Almighty had answered her prayers and she adopted the three kids. The lady was in fact talking about the same children whose mother the Almighty had once ordered him to take away! Marveling at the Divine's design, the angel laughed to himself the third time. It was all about surrender and accepting every situation as a gift from God, to be lived through with all our potential. He had been banished to Earth in the first place because he had failed to do so, but later he got the opportunities to laugh his way out of this human life because of his surrender. His life's mission was now complete. He was ready to leave for his heavenly abode where the Almighty was waiting for him with open arms. He knew it well that now he would be with the Supreme forever. He had learnt the ultimate message meant for all humans on Earth that the only way to cut our Karma Cycle, the cause of birth and death, for total liberation and merging with the Supreme is to perform every given act, whether in thought, word or deed, as an offering to the Lord in total surrender, without doubting or questioning the purpose behind it. This is true realisation. This is the essence of life.

Meena Om

How to find inner solace

We are all pilgrims in this world. A pilgrim comes alone, treads his chosen path for some time and then leaves, once more solitarily. His is a sacred destination, always dimly suspected, but usually not consciously illuminated. Whether consciously or by blind instinct, directly or indirectly, all of us ultimately seek joy - infinite, eternal and divine. Most of us though, wander about this world like pilgrims without a map. We equate joy with money, power, fame or good times. It is only after ceaseless roving, after being disappointed with the futility of our search that we stand in silent self appraisal. And it is then that we discover, that our goal was never distant from us at all - indeed, never any further away than our own selves. The path we tread has no fixed dimensions; it could be long or short, depending on the purity of our intentions. Ultimately, it leads inward and the goal is ours already. We have only to claim it as our own. If you walk the path towards joy then it's important to expand your awareness to embrace ever widening realities. There are a few universal principles which will help you in your search: Love all, for it is only by loving that we live in joy. By hating or resenting others we experience only deep inner restlessness and pain Understand that true satisfaction is not found in endless variety but in inner stillness Show mercy, especially when you have a chance to retribute a wrong that was done to you. Revenge merely increases the sense of injury. By banishing from the consciousness the very thought that you were wronged brings a lasting peace. By offering solace and comfort to others we find comfort within ourselves. Greet every trial with a smile and remain undaunted. Trials are not the misfortunes which they seem when we are in them. They are opportunities! Comfort comes only after challenges have been met head on and overcome. It never comes to those who seek to avoid or evade them.