What must be done?

Is it really so difficult to do what must be done? It’s not difficult at all, when you stop fighting against it. One little step will get you started, and once you’re started, you become interested and invested. Once you’re started, momentum begins to give you a push that becomes stronger with each effort.

Instead of putting off what you know must be done, what if you could somehow get yourself to be positively enthusiastic about it? You absolutely can, because you can choose how you wish to feel about anything.

It is indeed a privilege to be able to make good and useful things happen. It is a blessing to be in the position to undertake effective effort.

The genuine satisfaction in your life comes when you know you’re making a difference. And whatever it is in your world that must be done, is your opportunity to make that difference.

Go beyond intending, go beyond planning, go beyond wishing, and go beyond saying you need to get it done. Dive in, go to work, make something happen and be the positive, dynamic difference that makes you feel so wonderfully alive.

Here's how heaven looks like!

What happens when you die? It is most certainly one of life's biggest questions.
Several near-death survivors have come forward to narrate what they had a glimpse of when they were in heaven.

Now, Don Piper, an ordained Baptist minister, who was once pronounced dead following a car accident, has shared his intriguing story.

He says he remembers music that was "beyond spectacular" and aromas he'd never smelled before. His grandfather was there to greet him warmly, as dozens of others who had died in years past stood before him in front of a magnificent gate.

Piper, who insists it was no dream and visited heaven, has chronicled his experience in the New York Times bestseller, "90 Minutes in Heaven." "It was the most real thing that ever happened to me," he said.

There were lights reflecting off the gates, which looked like they were "pulsating with life.” That's because in heaven there is no artificial light, God illuminates it with his glory. In front of the gate stood his grandfather, welcoming him "home," he said.

"I was heartbroken when he died," he said. "Now I'm at the gates of heaven (and) he's the first person to greet me."

Piper, who was ordained in 1985, said he could not have imagined what he saw in heaven. "You know, if I was having a dream about it, this wouldn't be in it," he said. "Some of these people who met me at the gates, I haven't thought of in decades."

He believes he was sent back to spread a special message: "Heaven is a real place."

Eliminate Everyday Stress

Life brings with it, its share of everyday problems and stresses, whether related to work, family, money, health or other factors.

Our increasingly hectic lifestyles and pressures are making individuals less equipped to face these everyday stresses, thereby increasing the incidence of mental disorders related to stress. It’s fairly simple to get a hold on these problems if one focuses on practising stress-relieving techniques on a regular basis. Annoyances need not take over your whole life, and it is up to you to control them before they control you!

1) Learn to Say No

If you are feeling pulled in many directions, if you are feeling pressed for time all the time, and if you feel that your time is no longer yours, then it is probably time to learn to say NO! Give up the need to please everyone, and don’t take on responsibilities that you don’t have time for, or which invade your personal time. With room for compromise and discussion, it is always possible to let others know that you are weighed down by too much, and reduce your social and work obligations to a more manageable level. The next time your boss gives you another big project, or you promise to meet five different friends at five different venues in one evening, evaluate the pressure you are putting yourself through. See if the deadline is realistic, and see what adjustments can be made. Say no to some commitments if you feel it’s taxing you too much. Finally, ask for help if you think you need it!

2) Avoid Multi-Tasking

If you have too many things on your plate, the best way to tackle it is to only do one thing at a time. Do not get worked up and try to multi-task as this will probably only make you muddle up all the tasks. Instead, pick the most urgent task and complete it. Then go on to the next one and so on. This will help you systematically accomplish your to-do list and make you feel in control.

3) Take Time Out

If you are feeling frustrated, bogged down and overwhelmed, it is best to take some time off. Since you always have some amount of control over your schedule, try not to pile your schedule with too many activities. Meet your friends and laugh with them. Indulge in activities you’ve always enjoyed doing with them. This will ensure that you take your mind off stressful situations and your daily worries. Concentrate on the quality of the tasks in your daily schedule rather than the quantity. Stop over-scheduling yourself to the point of exhaustion, because it will only make you feel worn thin and distracted all the time.

4) Work Your Body

As always, exercise and proper sleep are mentioned as the two constant factors to improve the quality of your life. Exercise helps you manage stress better and get your body functioning at its best, which automatically helps your mind function better too. Exercise relaxes your mind, helps you make better decisions and also keeps you healthy and fit. As for getting enough sleep, it is very important. Without it, you become lethargic, and your mind can’t function to its best ability. An average adult person needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep, which gives the body enough time to recover and rejuvenate. Without enough sleep, you also have a tendency to get more stressed and worked up about your daily worries.

5) Watch Your Diet

If you love your daily ten cups of coffee, smoke regularly and drink more than once a week, you’re only making it harder on your body to handle stress. If you maintain a balanced diet, your body automatically copes better with changes in your schedule. It will also give your more energy and keep your mind alert to handle day-to-day worries. Decreasing the amount of coffee, alcohol, sugar and cutting down on smoking can only help increase the quality of your life. Limit your intake of comfort foods or junk foods and you’ll begin noticing the difference in your stress levels.

6) Take a Vacation

Most people wait till they are burned out before they take a break from their routines. But it’s an obvious fact that if you take periodic time off from your work and daily schedule, you will come back refreshed after the change and will be able to handle daily stresses in a healthier manner. You will not realise how stressed out you are until you break the daily routine, and go in for a drastic change in pace. So, don’t wait to take those days off!

7) Give Yourself Alone Time

Giving yourself alone-time might seem impossible, especially if you have a packed schedule that leaves you with no time. But maybe just before you hit the sack, you could find time to reflect on your day for 15 minutes, read a book, listen to some music or solve a puzzle. The key factor is giving yourself time alone to recuperate and refresh yourself.
At the end of the day, we all know that people’s lives have become way more stressful and hectic than they used to be before, but that doesn’t mean we cannot adapt to be able to cope. It is just a question of cultivating healthy habits for the mind and body.

The third eye of wisdom

Once, the Tamil saint Manikkavasagar, who was the chief minister of a Pandiyan king, was sent on a mission to buy horses for the military. On the way, he met Shiva who appeared in human form, as a guru. Shiva simply looked at Manikkavasagar and the latter got completely transformed. Manikkavasagar forgot all about his identity as chief minister, about his wife and children – all these identities vanished into thin air. He used the money that the king had given him to buy horses, to build a temple for Shiva.

After the initiation was over, Shiva disappeared Manikkavasagar recounted that during this meeting he had a trade-off with Shiva: “You give your Self to me and take my ‘self’’’. He wondered who had the better trade-off; while Shiva got nothing from him, Manikkavasagar received everything. Hence it is said that a true guru is the one who can give you liberation just by a glance.

The Shiva Sutras mention a path called ‘Shambava Upaya’, which refers to receiving the results of meditation instantaneously.

Here, you experience an immediate expansion in your awareness and acquire divine consciousness. Actually, it is not accomplished through meditation; it is done through the grace of the guru. You don’t do anything; you don’t even meditate, once you have a guru in your life. Through grace, the guru is able to transfer everything to you. You can read books and gain understanding about the process of enlightenment. However, you will still remain in the theoretical domain. The fundamental thing in enlightenment is the opening of the third eye.

The third eye will just not open by theoretical understanding and it is extremely rare to open it through one’s own practice. You need to do more than that.

When the third eye opens, you can always stay in a higher state of consciousness and are totally focused on God. Then, you are not pulled by karma, maya and ego, and do not return to the old state of consciousness. Then, you know what is going to happen in the future and what is going to happen to the world. The third eye is also the place for manifesting your thoughts and desires.

How can you open the third eye? You can do that through grace. Keep on praying for mercy. When the divine light enters the third eye, you will find that you are awakened. Who is going to do that? It is the guru. That’s why, in Indic spiritual tradition, the guru is everything. What about the traditions and religions where there is no guru? There, the Messiah and the Prophet are gurus. They are called by different names; they are representatives of God on earth In karma removal too, the guru can play a great role.

When you open your mind and spirit to the guru, it can help you to remove your ego, the part within you which holds on to karmic thoughts and actions. Why do we focus on the guru’s feet? It is to cultivate humility, to banish the ego. Keep visualising the feet of the guru; surrender to his wisdom and learn to acquire knowledge. By doing so, you can teach yourself to completely overcome suffering and doubt. The guru’s feet will help access divine energy and bring you incredible peace. You will be transformed.

What is Atma (Soul)

Every Atman soul is but a miniscule form of the bigger Atman soul, the Parmatman ... God, the mighty Creator himself. Atman soul is but a part of the puzzle ... God, the Almighty Creator being the whole puzzle. No clustering of thoughts ... everything is absolutely clear!

After the Big Bang has occurred ... all atmans souls get scattered all over the Cosmos... their prime purpose being to get a body so that they can cleanse themselves of all the impurities. For this it has to pass through a chain of 8.4 million manifestations ... a total life span of about 96.4 million years. Every atman soul starts on its cosmic journey as an amoeba and subsequently as a mosquito, further evaluating into a tree ... then an animal and finally into a human being. (Firstly is the minerals, which is by itself, then second comes plant, it has to depend on minerals. Thirdly comes the birds, which depends on minerals and plants, also has the ether (Aksh Tatwa)-that is why if they die, they don’t smell that much as the animals or human beings. Fourth is the animals, it has an ether and smells soon, but the Human being is having is too much ether (being intellectual than animal) that is why the dead body of human is smell soon.

That is all there is to life ... the small span of 70 years in the life of a human being is nothing compared to the total travel of 96.4 million years ... every atman the soul within has to travel in a cosmic life span.

When the body decays and the atman soul looks forward to a new body ... there are three stages it has to undergo ... the first stage being that atman the soul within immediately gets a new body ... if the manifestation occurs immediately then there is no Swarga Heaven or Naraka hell.... atman the soul within has to pass through. These stages are bypassed by atman the soul within.

The second and the third stage is when there are no suitable parents available for the atman soul to manifest (for any Atman soul to manifest ... it needs matching chromosomes of the parents). If for any reason parents with the matching chromosomes are not available then atman the soul within has to wait ... and the waiting is not in vain ... one either gets to live in Swarga Heaven or Naraka hell. Whether we get Heaven (Swarga) or hell (Naraka) is simply dependent upon the theory of Karma. As we sow shall we get!

If we have done pious deeds and have earned Punya Karma in result then we are likely to get Swarga Heaven as an interim a stage. If our deeds weigh us down and are full of sins then we are dumped into the Naraka hell ... the making is all ours ... God does not interfere at any stage ... why blame him all the time. It is the theory of mass Karma that USA suffered 9/11 episode. The doing of all the citizens of the USA resulted in their getting what was due to them since a long time. In present times of democracy one cannot forcibly rule the other ... might is not the order of the day. We suffer for our own doings ... none other can be blamed for our sufferings are they on an individual basis or a mass scale. God has made the system like that.

Every atman the soul within ... is always detached from the doings of the body ... yet, the sweet small inner voice which prompts us on the right path every now and then is the promptings of atman soul to the body to follow the right path all the time ... we need to practice patience to hear the sweet small inner voice. It is a lovely experience, which can be expressed only by those who experience it. People with higher Spiritual frame of mind are able to hear the voice more clearly than those at the lower level.

Human beings who almost behave like animals are those ignorant beings who permanently suppress hearing the sweet small inner voice ... for those human values have no meaning. For them their atman the soul within is a dead thing. This results in their carrying out heinous crimes all the time ... never heeding to the advice of the Spiritual masters ... not that they do not want to but they have become so thick skinned that the sweet small inner voice stops prompting them permanently ... this is to say that the voice always prompts us but our ignorance prevents us from hearing it.

Atman the soul within gets liberated from the cycle of birth and death only after 8.4 million manifestations ... that is cosmic journey of 96.4 million years. The Sacred Bhagavad Gita and various Upanishads corroborate this fact. This is what Bhagavad Gita is all about. Only after that can we say that one has become enlightened ... immortal (amar) forever. It is not that atman the soul within is liberated from day one ... but the sooner it liberates ... attains Moksha ... the journey gets completed.

Similarly as the iron within the iron ore cannot liberate itself without the help of the mining machinery ... similarly every Atman (has to pass through) a chain of manifestations for it to get purified. If we are two separate one KG of pure iron from a lump of hundred KG of iron ore then we need to remove 99 KG of impurities through the process of mining. Only after the impurities are removed can we term one KG of pure iron as a liberated Atman (a liberated soul) ... in other words ... the atman soul has become free of all liabilities and can be termed as having achieved the status of becoming immortal (amar in hinduism).

All purified Atmans souls ... man gods like Lord Mahavira, Buddha, Jesus Christ and prophet Mohammed and even the likes of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana all fall in the category of immortal souls ... those who in their lifetimes achieved Liberation forever from cycle of Birth and Death leading to their immortality (amaratva in Hinduism).

There is no shortcut path to immortality. In the form of a human being one cannot become immortal. Immortality means soul the atman within has liberated itself from the cycle of birth and that forever. While living these man gods were not immortal but the sooner they left their body they became immortal souls never to return back to cycle of Birth and Death.
There is no power in the Cosmos more powerful than God Almighty ... and as every atman soul is but a miniscule form of the bigger atman soul, the Parmatman ... all properties of Parmatman by default exist in every atman the soul within ... and does this mean the atman soul is all powerful in the Cosmos ... yes, there is nothing more powerful than the atman soul in the Cosmos only next to God.

Atman the soul within is our true inner nature ... it always prompts us on the right path. No one can deny this absolute truth.

Mann (mind) of a human being has no relation whatsoever with atman the soul within ... take one thing for granted that no individual body has an independent mind ... bodies can only have an independent brain ... a receiving and transmitting station for all thoughts. Nothing less or more. When music is relayed from a broadcasting station then two or more persons can simultaneously switch on their transistors or radios and listen to the music.

Similarly, in the cosmic system ... all Jnana wisdom contained in the Cosmos can be invoked by anyone by practicing concentration of our thinking pattern. The thinking prowess every human being possesses has no limits ... we all invoke the thoughts being transmitted from the broadcasting station of the cosmos.... the Mind Plus or the Mind Minus ... if we invoke positive thoughts ... we invoke them from the reservoir of Mind Plus. All negative thoughts emanate from the reservoir of Mind Minus. Our brain only acts as the receiving or the transmitting station ... nothing more or less.

Facts are absolutely clear ... we have only to assimilate them in totality. Mind (whether plus or minus) is the total source of all Jnana wisdom contained in the Cosmos. It is only through practicing Neti and Shruti Jnana can we reach the source of all wisdom Jnana ... once we reach the source we don't need any textbooks to refer.

This is possible and is explained thus- If I need to go to Bombay ... I can start my journey on foot and subsequently board a bus and finally a flight. Similarly we can cut short the Spiritual journey by having Satsanga and discourses with like-minded people of all Religions and Faiths. Being a Hindu does not mean all other Religions and Faiths have no meaning for me. The source of all is the same ... the destination of all is the same. We may take any path but we shall all reach the same goal. God Almighty is only one for all Religions and Faiths. Man gods can be many yet God Almighty is only one.

Who says that "every happening in the Cosmos ... on the Mother Earth is a wish ... a creation of God. True, everything exists in the Cosmos because someone has created it ... we may call it Brahma, Brahman (not Brahmin), Karta, Parmatman or God Almighty. We may even consider the whole Cosmos to be beginning less ... that also is a truth. When God created the whole Cosmos ... he created a self-propelling system ... he never interferes in the working of the cosmos ... he is a mere Dhrishta (an onlooker). Once the Cosmos has been created ... until the dissolution of cosmos occurs (pralaya as the call it in Hinduism) ... everything moves in the Cosmos as per the guidelines fixed by God ... none can change or mould the cosmic rules.