The word “God” has been so richly abused that my first reaction on hearing it is to wonder just how the speaker plans to manipulate me. -Askold Melnyczuk
Optimism is like a light shining on a future filled with hope, and pessimism is like a narcotic eroding the well being of the spirit. - Hsing Yun
Though Bhakti yoga is generally viewed as love for and service to God, Bhakti can, and should be understood, in a much broader context, that as the way of devotion. This view includes a greater segment of individuals as it recognizes that women and men often devote themselves to a partner, to parents, to their children, to their study, to their work, to their calling as well as to their God.
Yogic scholar Archie Bahm elaborates: “The more one devotes himself to whatever he has committed himself to, the more he unites himself with it, the more he projects himself into it and the more he finds his own worth and value identified with it. Such identification is a kind of yoga. This is because the more a person feels at one with whatever he is dedicated to, the less he feels himself opposed to it. Feelings of opposition naturally generate tension and anxiety.” The Rajasthan state government is working on a proposal to provide horoscopes to all babies born in state-run and private hospitals and suggest a name for them based on their Hindu astrological sign, according to a copy of the proposal accessed by HT.
In the first phase of the plan, the scheme will be rolled out in five government hospitals in Jaipur where newborns will be given horoscopes free of cost. In the second phase, government hospitals will charge Rs 51, and private hospitals, Rs 101, for each horoscope. Rajasthan is home to 16,728 government hospitals and 54 registered private hospitals. The Congress party, which came to power in Rajasthan, had promised, in its 2018 Assembly election manifesto, to promote Sanskrit education and the Sanskrit language, and to set up a vedic rituals and education board in the state. The handout of horoscopes is part of an effort to fulfil that promise, according to the proposal. Adopt Yoga practices as a way of life and gain happiness in life by becoming more steady, healthy and flexible. - Sadashiv Nimbalkar A belief in rebirth is not important, but as you develop in meditation, it will become clear to you by your own understanding. Anyway, to me this present life is much more important than a future life. Why worry about a future life? If you do something to better your present life, then your future life will automatically become better. But if you are doing something for a future life and it doesn’t help you in your present life, then to me it is useless. - S. N. Goenka
Purity is very important because what is going on at meditation retreats is nothing less than surgery on the mind. When you have surgery on your body, you go to the surgery theater, which is kept very pure. No contamination is allowed because a wound is being opened, and if some outside dirt gets in, it will cause infection. It is the same in this surgery of the mind. - S. N. Goenka
The most beautiful moments in life are moments when
you are expressing your joy, not when you are seeking it. - Sadhguru The Chinese character for humanis made up of two characters: ‘human’ and ‘speech’ meaning if one’s speech is not trustworthy, then one is not worthy of being considered human.
That linguistic insight is something worthy of more reflection. The famed vipasanna meditation teacher S. N. Goenka said - “In the West you think that the mind is only in the head. That is a wrong notion. The whole body contains the mind.”
By that he means that intelligence is not merely a brain activity but that every part of the body has it’s own unique intelligence. A fascinating example of body intelligence is related by Deepak Chopra, MD., in his book Ageless Body Timeless Mind. There he tells of transplant patients who report unusual experiences after receiving a donated kidney, liver or heart. Without knowing who their donor has been and without knowing whether the donor is male or female, younger or older, they begin to experience memory associations belonging to the donor after his or her tissues are placed inside them. In one case, a woman woke up after a heart transplant craving beer and Chicken McNuggets. This surprised her as she had never been interested consuming either prior to the transplant. Additionally, she began to have vivid dreams in which a young man named Timothy came to her. Out of curiosity she tracked down the donor of her new heart and learned it had come from the victim of a fatal accident. When she contacted his family, she discovered her donor was a young man named Timothy and was stunned to be told that he had a fondness for drinking beer and that he had been killed on his way home from McDonalds. |
Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
May 2024
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