Are humans better than animals ?

"You are a dog"

"Don't act like a donkey"

"As cunning as a fox"

Quite often we hear these phrases shouted at other people when they don't measure up to the expectations of the person shouting.

"He is as brave as a lion"

"You sing like a nightingale"

Sometimes (comparatively lesser) we do hear the goodies too :-)

Humans appear to have classified animals into good and bad depending on how they perceive the world and depending on whether people and situations measure up to their expectations.

Human mind is a challenge on the path to self realization

Human mind / thinking process that churns in the small organ called the Brain is such a magnificent thing to happen.

Happiness or sadness is a state of mind as most people say is 100% true. But it makes me think, why is it that we are unable to be eternally happy ? Why do we latch onto unhappiness and negativity throughout our life fully knowing that this unhappiness and negativity is coming out of our unfulfilled desires. We know that. Yet, we are unable to get out of it.

The mind is everything. What you think you become - Buddha

Such hard striking words from the Buddha.

In one of the discourses by Osho Rajneesh, he says the nature of the mind is to distract and influence the human and deprive him of the superior consciousness. He says, train yourself such that the mind listens to you. You should not be listening to the mind.

What is prayer and role of chanting

"Oh god, please help me"

"Oh god, save me"

Heard these before ? Most people think they are praying to god, so that he listens and acts on these prayers to protect the one who prays. If it worked the way priests make us to believe, people who know are going to die, who prayed in their last few minutes before the inevitable, would have escaped death in accidents, plane crashes, etc. Unfortunately, not so.

It's not their fault. Their upbringing, parental and societal conditioning have made people mechanical.

In my opinion, Prayer is a process of drawing the cosmic energy unto oneself, so that you can heal your own mind (more important) and body. The same energy force can also be used to heal or help others.

Probably that's the reason, in ancient Indian scriptures they say, to pray and do Karma for self does not result in any punya, but doing so for sake of others will.

It has now been discussed even in scientific circles that there is some vibration and some energy in the universe which influences humanity greatly.

Proper method of chanting will bring a person in contact with this energy which cannot be seen, but only felt. It can be AUM (OM) or any other that people feel like. It's the pitch and rythm that matters. The energy levels in the body increases. You feel happy within. There's a certain feeling of peace and stress-free state of mind.

Some people have claimed that chanting of Vishnu Sahasranama has even cured a cancer patient in a remote location. This, when doctors had ruled out that anything can be done to keep the person alive. It is quite possible that this is conceivable provided enough time is available. I do not think that someone on a deathbed will spring back energetically when chanting is done. Like any other healing, it takes time.

My point is, this is not about religion. Religions were created by humans. The state it is in, it's best left without discussion. I'm talking about the unknown force / energy out there in the universe, when comes in contact with us, is capable of keeping us healthy, peaceful, balanced and energetic.

The great thing is that ancient civilizations have figured out methods like meditation, chanting to connect and use this energy to live a good life.

So, practice 5-10 minutes of prayer, chanting and see the difference in your day to day life. It has helped me. I'm sure it will help you.

Take care. God bless.

Who will bell the cat - duty of a son/daughter towards parents

In India, it's taken for granted that elders command respect and children ought to obey them, no matter how old they grow. From one angle, yes, it's true that an individual is always a child to his/her parents. It holds true when it comes to sharing love and care, but not so when it comes to the individual's lifestyle.

Many may deny, but the truth is that when we are in trouble and go to someone to get some guidance, we are already in the process of problem solving. We just need that reassuring pat on the back. No matter of guidance will really sink in, because the thought process on how 'YOU' are going to solve the problem has already started.That's the animal instinct. We want to fix our problems ourselves. Someone just listening us out will be enough to recharge our energy many times.

However, most parents don't realize this. It's ridiculous to hear out their suggestions to younger kids which are not at all relevant in today's context. The world has moved on, but they have not. The problem does not lie in their suggestions, but insisting that their suggestion is the best thing that can happen to us and that we should do what they say.

It's very difficult to deal with people who are possessive towards children and consider daughter-in-laws as someone who will take away their son from them and leave them to die a lonely death. All it needs is a bit of a let-go attitude and respect to fellow human being whether it is the bride's parents / family or the bride herself.

It is very saddening to see that women become enemies of other women with their regular taunts. I've seen old women taunting daughter-in-laws in favor of their sons. It doesn't matter if the daughter-in-law is a sea of virtue or the son is notorious bugger.

If only these parents-in-laws respect the girl who came into their family and support her, will she keep everybody happy.

So, now comes the question of what the son should do. It's a very tricky situation for the married man. He cannot let go of his parents, he cannot let go of his wife. Doesn't matter who's mistake it is. Mistakes do happen. We are all human, right ? Being human and maintaining cordial relationships are more important.

I believe, going by dharma, it is wrong on the part of the son to keep quiet and not stop his parents or in-laws from showing disrespect to each other. He should speak out. In the process he may seem like an enemy to his parents. It's ok to take those brick bats. At the same time, he should NOT break communication with them or leave them. He should still continue to do what is right and take care of them. Parents are the channel through which God chose to bring you into this world. Try to keep them happy as much as possible especially during their sunset years.

Why is daana / charity important

Daana / donation / charity as known is a way of sharing what we have with others who are in need.

In some cases, it has been misunderstood that Daana is a good deed which should be done at the cost of one's own well being. But that need not be the case. As humans, we are all entitled to have what we need for survival and serve our purpose. Anything in excess should be offered to others who are needy.

As I see it, Daana is another way of developing detachment to the material things. It's a step closer for the soul to be able to let go of it's material attachments and move on to the next stage.

Daana should be a natural phenomenon of giving back what we took from this world.

What is Moksha or liberation

Many in hindu community believe that Moksha is the end result of breaking the chain of events of life and death and becoming one with the universal source of truth or God.

In my opinion, Moksha is the result of awareness of one's self, the soul not identifying itself with the body and moving beyond the earthly attractions.

I believe in the concept of soul, that the soul uses a body to serve it's purpose of evolving / growing towards Moksha.

Since the time of birth, our society and upbringing focuses so much on the material body, we get tuned to thinking the body is the self.

After going through the various turmoils life brings forth, somehow, we start to realize there is something beyond the obvious, another force, maybe another world.

That is when the soul searching happens. As we go in search of what it is, we get to know more about the life force.

God is one, formless is what all religions are saying

Since the last 15 years, I have been on the path of understanding religion, religious beliefs, concept of god and spirituality. Have listened to many gurus like Bannanje Govindacharya, Osho Rajneesh, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Jaggi Sadhguru.

One thing they all seem to be saying in common is that God is one, an unknown source of energy that is formless.

Last week, one morning I just woke up with this thought. Hinduism showcases the multiple forms of what we call god, christianity through Jesus, says God is one and Islam through Mohammed says God is formless, which is all true as even the ancient scriptures say the same. At the core the religions of today are preaching the same thing, but in a distorted manner

As hindus, we believe in many forms of God (Narayana, Shiva, Brahma, Ganesh, Durga, Lakshmi, etc). The belief has been carried over thousands of years and is probably true that many forms of God existed in those days. Some may believe, some may not. So, I'm not going to argue this point. My belief is that we should not reject something just because we are unable to see. This thought struck me when I was trekking in the himalayas in 2013. We camped in a forest and when the night came, it was mind boggling to see the amount of stars that filled the sky in that darkness. It is unimaginable to see so many stars in a city like Bangalore. The realization dawned upon me. Just because we cannot see something does not mean that things do not exist. And when there are 'n' number of stories which talk about rishis doing penance and some god appeared before them, it maybe true and may not just be a fig of imagination. It's true that, as he has become (so called) civilized, man has lost his insight into the godly world over a period of time. anyway, that's another story. Point here is that, the Indian civilization which existed thousands of years ago, may have experienced the various forms of God, the experience of which exists in the mantras, hymns which got passed on from generation to generation.