Secrets of Love

The first secret: The power of love.

Love begins with our thoughts. We become what we think. Loving thoughts create loving experiences and loving relationships. Affirmations can change our beliefs and thoughts about ourselves and others. If we want to love someone, we need to consider their needs and desires. Thinking about your ideal partner will help recognize him or her when you meet.

The second secret: The power of respect.

You cannot love anyone or anything unless you first respect them. The first person you need to respect is yourself. To begin to gain self-respect ask yourself, "What do I respect about myself?” To gain respect for others, even those you may dislike, ask yourself, "What do I respect about them?"

The third secret: The power of giving.

If you want to receive love, all you have to do is give it! The more love you give, the more you will receive. To love is to give of yourself, freely and unconditionally. Practice random acts of kindness. The secret formula of a happy, lifelong relationship is to always focus on what you can give instead of you can take.

The fourth secret: The power of friendship.

To find true love you must first find a true friend. To love someone completely you must love them for who they are not what they look like. Friendship is the soil through which love's seeds grow. If you want to bring love into a relationship, you must first bring friendship.

The fifth secret: The power of touch.

Touch is one of the most powerful expressions of love, breaking down barriers and bonding relationships. Touch changes our physical and emotional states and makes us more receptive to love.

The sixth secret: The power of letting go.

If you love something, let it be free. Even in a loving relationship, people need their space. If we want to learn to love, we must first learn to forgive and let go of past hurts and grievances. Love means letting go of our fears, prejudices, egos and conditions.

The Seventh Secret: The Power of Communication

To love someone is to communicate with them. Let the people you love know; that you love and appreciate them. Never be afraid to say, "I love you." Never let an opportunity pass to praise and acknowledge someone. Always leave someone you love with a loving word ... it could be the last time you see them.

The eighth secret: the power of commitment.

If you want to have love in abundance, you must be committed to it. Commitment is the true test of love. If you want to have loving relationships, you must be committed to loving relationships. When you are committed to someone or something, quitting is never an option. Commitment distinguishes a fragile relationship from a strong, loving one.

The ninth secret: the power of passion.

Passion ignites love and keeps it alive. Lasting passion does not come through physical attraction alone. It comes from deep commitment, enthusiasm, interest and excitement. The essence of love and happiness are the same, all we need to do is to live each day with passion.

The tenth secret: the power of trust.

You cannot love someone completely unless you trust them completely. Act as if your relationship with the person you love will never end. Trust is essential in all loving relationships. Trust yourself, trust others and trust the world. It is the foundation for LOVE.

7 SECRETS To a Great Life

A great life doesn't happen by accident. A great life is the result of allocating your time, energy, thoughts, and hard work towards what you want your life to be. Stop setting yourself up for stress and failure, and start setting up your life to support success and ease. A great life is the result of using the 24/7 you get in a creative and thoughtful way, instead of just what comes next. Customize these "secrets" to fit your own needs and style, and start creating your own great life today.

1. S-Simplify

A great life is the result of simplifying your life. People often misinterpret what simplify means. It's not a way to remove work from your life. When you focus on simplifying your life, you free up time and energy for the work that you enjoy and the purpose for which you are. In order to create a great life, you will have to make room for it in yours first.

2. E-Effort

A great life is the result of your best effort. Creating a great life requires that you make some adjustments. It may mean re-evaluating how you spend your time, or choosing to spend your money in a different way. It may mean looking for ways to spend your energy that coincide with your definition of a great life. Life will reward your best effort.

3. C-Create Priorities

A great life is the result of creating priorities. It's easy to spend your days just responding to the next thing that gets your attention, instead of intentionally using the time, energy, and money you have in a way that's important to you. Focus on removing the obstacles that get in the way of you making sure you are honoring your priorities.

4. R-Reserves

A great life is the result of having reserves -- reserves of things, time, space, energy, money. Having reserves means that you have a lot more than you need - not 6 months living expenses, but 5 years worth; not 15 minutes of free time, but 1 day. Reserves are important because they reduce the fear of consequences, and allow you to make decisions based on what you really want, instead of what the fear decides.

5. E-Eliminate Distractions

A great life is the result of eliminating distractions. Up to 75% of your mental energy can be tied up in things that are draining and distracting you. Eliminating distractions can be a difficult concept to many people because they haven't really considered that there is another way to live. Find ways to free up your mental energy from the nagging distractions for the things that are really important to you.

6. T-Thoughts

A great life is the result of controlling your thoughts so that you accept and allow for the possibility that it can actually happen to you. Your belief in the outcome will directly dictate how successful you are. Motivated people have specific goals and look for ways to achieve them. Believing there is a solution to the same old problems you encounter year after year is vitally important to creating a life that you love. Whatever you think and believe, you create. Listen to what you're telling yourself, and adjust that voice if you need to.

7. S-Start

A great life is the result of starting. There's the old saying that everyone's familiar with: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." In order to even move from the couch to the refrigerator, you have to start. There's no better time to start creating a better life than today. Don't wait for a raise, or until the Kids get older, or the weather is better. Today, right now, is the right day to start to take a step in the direction of your heart's desires. It's what you do TODAY that will make a difference in your life tomorrow.

Art has the power to alter moods

Art has the power to alter moods, to inspire, to comfort and to bring great happiness. In this collection, we have focused on bringing you works that can bring you great joy.

Viewers respond differently to this transformational effect based also on their personal choice of styles of paintings: figurative, landscape, abstract.

A landscape can capture a moment of some real or imaginary "scene" with the ability to evoke memories or transport you timelessly to another realm. There is ample scope for the artist to interpret it individualistically. An abstract work is completely devoid of any familiar figure. The viewer is free to explore, to interpret, to imagine and get lost in its timeless appeal. A figurative work captures forms either realistically or through the artist's senses and strokes. It is more 'literal" but with immense scope for

Positive Thoughts..Like Champagne, Make Your Life Sparkle

Stuff happens. What happens is neither good nor bad. It merely is. But we, in our attempt to understand everything, stick labels on things. We call things big or small, hot or cold, smooth or rough. These descriptive words can help, but where we go astray is when we label things as `good' or `bad.' These two words (and other negative and positive words) do not describe reality; they merely describe how we FEEL at the moment.

For instance, as I write this, it is raining and the sky is grey. Suppose a friend calls from another city and asks me what the weather is like. If I were to answer, "The weather is lousy," that does not describe what is happening outside (the weather), but what is happening inside (my feelings). We cannot master life until we master how we describe it, for the words we use determine how we feel. Does it make sense to describe a rainy day as `lousy'? Why would I want to feel bad?

Suppose I had answered my friend's question differently. If I had stuck to the facts and said, "It is raining and the sky is grey," then I would have been detached from the events (rain and grey sky) and free to go on enjoying life. The way we see things is not based on reality but, on a choice we make. Why not choose to see things pragmatically. That is, pick a viewpoint that works for you, empowers you. Why spend time choosing a viewpoint that works against you and prevents you from getting the most out of life?

Suppose you lived at the foot of a mountain. Would you see the mountain as a glorious opportunity for adventure by conquering it and yourself? Or would you see it as requiring too much effort to scale and just an inconvenient barrier? "An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."

A mountain is whatever we say it is, inconvenience or adventure. So it is with life. The choice of how we look at it is a switch that fills our lives with light or darkness. Why is it that many people still don't realize that it is THEIR FINGER that is on the switch? I choose to see life as a magnificent adventure, not a struggle that I have to put up with. As a result, I have known and continue to experience many adventures.

Today, many of us work with computers. Although I love computers, every now and then something goes wrong, such as misplacing a file. But when something goes amiss, it is not because the computer doesn't like me or life is unfair, but because I did something wrong. I try to learn from my mistake and avoid making similar errors again. I'm sure you behave in the same way.

Yet, when it comes to managing the greatest computer of all (our brain and mind), many act differently. When they get bad results, rather than trying to learn from what they did incorrectly, they search for scapegoats. Instead of seeking solutions they search for excuses.

Many computer users are familiar with the term GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out), which simply means that the results we get are only as good as the input. The same is true for the computer that controls my life (my brain and mind). If I put garbage in my mind (negative thoughts), the output will be garbage (an unhappy life).

It is essential that we clearly understand the relationship between our thoughts and the life we experience. If I insist on dwelling on negative thoughts, I will feel negative, which will lead to negative behaviour, which in turn will bring about negative results. Of course, when I choose to focus on the positive, the opposite happens. In a word, what I choose to think about acts as a switch that either opens the blinds, flooding my life with light, or closes the blinds, shutting out the light.

Since we have a choice, doesn't it make sense to look at life as an exciting adventure? Many have already done so, and here are two examples:

1. "Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle."

2. "What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for."

Before we can make the right choices, we have to be aware of our choices.

"All men and women are born, live, suffer and die; what distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, whether they are dreams about worldly or unworldly things and what we do to make them come about... We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within this realm of choicelessness, WE DO CHOOSE HOW WE LIVE."

Thus far I have been emphasizing the power of choice for good reason, but in all fairness, not everyone is equally free to make the right choices. You and I will choose to cross the street when the light is green and choose to wait when the light is red. But what if you are blind? Well, depressed people are blind. They cannot see the joy, wonder, and glory that surround them. Not because they are lazy or stupid, but because they suffer from a mental disorder. So, if you know some very negative people, try not to judge them harshly and wish them well.

Adventure is the champagne of life. Like champagne, make your life sparkle. But what of those who have not yet discovered that life is an adventure? What can they do to bring themselves closer to this empowering point of view? Developing the curiosity, courage, and commitment of a child would help.

Children are filled with insatiable curiosity. Each step they take is a step into the unknown. What will they discover next? What will they encounter around the corner? They lead the life of an adventurer and explorer. They don't understand the meaning of `boring.' You were once that child and you have the right to reclaim that inquisitive spirit.

It's not hard to do so. Start by shifting your attention away from that empty, banal chatter that clutters your mind and focus on what is happening around you now. What do you hear? Can you tune in on something enchanting or fascinating? Be curious. Search for it. Find it.

Do the same with your other senses. For instance, how many of the surrounding odours, aromas, or fragrances can you identify? How many of them were you ignoring or overlooking? Let's try the other senses. What about touch? Can you feel the warmth or coolness of your environment? Where do you feel it most?

How about taste? Lick your lips. How do they taste? Why do they taste that way? Is it because of something you ate or drank or because of the environment (the rain or a sea breeze)? Look around you. What do you see that is interesting or different? These exercises help to draw us out of the fantasy world of our imagination and replant us in reality. How can we enjoy life if we are unaware of its presence?

Also, be curious about your own mind. Explore it. Rather than ignoring the chatter of your mind, observe it. What are you usually thinking about? Are your thoughts helpful or harmful? If harmful, what thoughts should you replace them with?

Because every step a child takes is a step into the unknown, it takes great courage to continue on its journey of discovery. Courage is the second trait of a child that we need to reclaim. For without it, our journey may come to an abrupt halt.

"When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and you take the first step into the darkness of the unknown. You must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for you to stand upon or you will be taught to fly."

Here are two more lessons about courage:

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

As young children explore their world, they may slip, stumble, or stagger, but if they fall, they simply pick themselves up and go on again. This is the third characteristic of children that we need to reclaim, commitment. Those who are committed, never give up. Their mind-set doesn't allow it. To them, there is no such thing as failure, only lessons to be learned. Of course, we are free to ignore our lessons and drop out of life's school, but at what price?

"It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers.

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

Within you is a bud waiting to blossom. It is a little child with curiosity, courage, and commitment, that is eager to participate in the adventure we call life. Are you willing to embrace that child, take it by the hand, and join it on its remarkable journey?

Past Life wanting to know, who I was in my past life

Before we tread into the domain of Past Life... we need to understand the present and the future carefully. Before indulging in our Past Life we also need to know the purpose of life journey as a whole.

Starting from the beginning... in the chronological order as the evolution took place... we shall find that we started the journey as an Amoeba (single cell formation)... this was the first manifestation which occurred in the life of every Human Being.

Travelling further into the Past Life we find the evolutionary tendencies existing within every living being prompted this single cell formation to multiply into two cell formation and finally multi-cell organisms. (All these form the core of Past Life of every Human Being).

With passage of time... the multi-cell organism evolved into an insect, then into plant life, an animal and finally as a Human Being. It takes an average of about 7.3 million manifestations before every journey culminates into the level of a Human Being. A long journey of about 80 earthly million years!

This is by no standard a small journey by our Soul / Atman existing within every living being. Here while talking of Past Life we also need to understand that the journey is being undertaken by the Soul within every living being and our body... the manifest from is but the outer covering for every Soul / Atman which is necessitated for our soul / Atman cannot remove the dross from within on its own. It requires a body for this purpose.

Our Soul / Atman never desires to look back into the Past Life... then why is it so that the manifest body... the form of a Human Being strongly desires to look back into the Past Life. Knowing very well that it is not possible to retrace our steps and walk into our Past Life... still the desire within most human beings to look back into the Past Life is very strong.

Why is it so... why do we not get out of the clutches of the remembrances of our Past Life (if any) for ever? Is it by any means possible to look back into the Past Life... no, it is not within the means of an average Human Being to look back into the Past Life but some astrologers and people with Tantric powers can look back into our Past Life. But to what avail!

Trying to look back into the Past Life carries no meaning... what we were in our Past Life, what is our relationship with our Past Life, maybe after knowing some incidents of the Past Life we may be able to change our future life... is the hope of many, why?

Why do we fail to understand that such a phenomenon of reflecting back into the Past Life is not permitted by God ? Had it been so... every Human Being, rather every living being would have remembered all the events of past lives... but the truth is absolutely adverse? We do not carry even faint memories of our Past Life the moment we step into the present life.

Remember for a moment that if you come to know that the best friend of yours in this life was the cause of your death in the immediate Past Life... would you be able to carry the same relationship as you are doing it now? Maybe... never! Also if you come to know that you were born into the house of your present parents to avenge your death in one of your past lives... then what would be your fate in this life? Would you continue to give the same respect to your parents... or maybe you go a step further and become the cause of death of your parents in this life!

The total crux of the Past Life is relegated by the power of karma. It is karma and karma alone which plays a very vital role from one manifestation to another. The complete residual balance of our acts and omissions in a particular life is carried forward to the next life only through the process of karma. As we perform so shall we get... nothing more or less! In the time of ages Our Rishi Muni used to do less karma use to sit on Meditation, for worshiping offering to God they never plucked flowers. For eating fruit they will wait the fruit to leave its branch.

Whatever was the result of our earlier manifestation lead us to the next manifestation. If the balance of karma resulted in our being born in the house of a cobbler... then, by no means it was possible that we would have been born in the house of a king. Yet, if we desire so in present life then we need to perform the Karma accordingly in present life and only if the balance of karma in present life at the end of life permits our being born in the house of a king in next manifestation... it shall be so and none can change our destiny!

On the contrary... if the Karma (the actions performed by us in totality) performed by us in present life demands our being born in the house of a farmer in the next life than it shall hold good... come whatever may! None can change the destiny of any being except the being himself. Even God Almighty who always acts as on onlooker (Dhrishta as we call it in Hinduism) never interferes in the working of his.

The balance of karma from one life to another gets passed on to the next life through the complex process of chromosomes which get activated during the union of the parents. The child thus born carries the balance karma of all the previous lives one has lived. It is simply like the balance of accounts in a balance sheet which get carried forward from one year to another.

Soul / Atman having a light of 16 Sun lights, but the light is covered by the Karma (As kavatch) these karma covered carried forward with the soul / Atma.

If we are talking of the year 2004 then we are only concerned with the closing balance of the year 2003 for the closing balance of the year 2002 was already incorporated in the balance sheet of the year 2003.

We also must remember that the present phase of life is a part of the total journey of 84 Lakh Yoni manifestations which can occur in the life of a Soul (Atman as in Hinduism). It is at the end of the journey that the Soul liberates for ever from the cycle of birth and death... and subsequently the Human Being is said to gain salvation / moksha in Hinduism.

The journey for the Soul from the first manifestation as an amoeba to the last manifestation as a Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed... is spread over a maximum of 84 Lakh Yoni manifestations. It is purely dependent upon every Human Being when one desires to curtail the journey and achieve the state of Salvation Moksha.

We also need to remember that contrary to the standard practices in account books... some events of past lives do not fructify in that particular manifestation or the next. It is possible that the karma enacted upon in a particular manifestation may fructify four manifestations later and this is the cause of all agony existing on Earth. Why so?

While deliberating on the subject of Past Life... we need to remember that on the spiritual plane... whatever phase of life we are passing through is not dependent upon the balance of karma of the earlier lives and the karma performed by us in present life alone. It is also possible that a certain karma performed by us in one of our previous lives may all of a sudden fructify and spoil the game (known as Prarabdha Karma in Hinduism). The vice versa may also happen.

Explaining the theory of Past Life further... we need to understand that we sometimes find that many people who continue to flout the set patterns of the society by carrying out a horde of sins yet continue to enjoy privileges which should not be available to them. Explaining this further... such a phenomenon is only possible for these people have in their store... a huge asset of pious deeds performed in Past Life.

It is only when the accumulated balance of the pious deeds gets nullified in present life shall these people face the wrath of the society. Never before! To the contrary we also find good people carrying out pious deeds in present life and yet continue to suffer. It is only because they have a good negative balance of karma from the Past Life in their hold and unless this negative balance (from the Past Life) is nullified by the pious deeds of the present life... such people can never enjoy happiness.

Trying to understand the complex process of the Past Life is not difficult, yet trying to get back into the Past Life carries no meaning for if we are suffering in present life... we need to carry out pious deeds and accumulate Punya Karma (positive balance of karma) in present life without heeding to the Past Life in any way. There is no other way to come out of the negative Past Life.

Life has been made like that by God Almighty. None can challenge his authority. Why brood over the Past Life and spoil the present life. If we are to get out of the ills faced by us in present life and which resulted because of the Past Life... the only way out is never thinking of the Past Life and concentrating on the affairs of the present life in order to accumulate more and more of Punya Karma (positive karma) in our favour.

This is the only way out of our Past Life! Why spoil the future by indulging in acts (trying to regress into the Past Life) detrimental to our leading a happy life in next manifestation. We need to live a life of concentration... our every effort leading to earning Punya Karma (a positive balance of karma) in our favour... the only way to leading a healthier and fruitful life! (It is time we stopped thinking what was I in a Past Life).

What is Death

There is no birth or death. Everything goes on changing from in the stream of eternity. Being born with a human body in this world’s itself destiny. One who has a taste for God’s love wants to be born again and again with a human body, because the taste of His love cannot be possible other than in that human birth.

Life has no death. Life is Eternal. What we call death or end of life is actually a phase and is concerned only with the body. Body consists of matters, which dissolve in time to their original form, but self has no dissolution. We have come for a few days not forever. Why should we bother for anything?

When an individual first appears in the Womb of the mother, matters appear instantly. At that stage mind lies in a state of inertia. Mind and matter are nothing but one. With their gradual manifestation the difference in them is identified. From that state the individual is in the domain of nature and a series of phenomena determine one’s every development. Sometimes it seems mechanical.

Human birth is the rarest of all the births; we should try to live our life keeping Him in view. Human life is meant to feel His divine Play and thereby understand the nobility of the Creator. The mystery of birth will be unfolded only when the sweetness and beauty of the God’s Divine Play, which is the eternal Truth, is realized by turning the consciousness inward

Birth means a soul entering a body and death is its departure from the Body. The soul itself has neither a beginning nor an end; it is eternal or anadi and ananta. The soul entering a body on this earth or on other planets of the universe performs some actions that are karma.

Karma may enable a soul to attain the eternal bliss or Mokska. On the other hand karma causes endless continuation of the cycle of birth and death of a soul. As you sow so shall you reap. Thus, Karma plays the pivotal role in a pilgrim’s progress towards Mokska; its attainment or the lack of it. In its Karma, the atama is absolutely free and unfettered. A soul charts its own course evasion on uncharted sea. How does an atma go about it? The 14th mantra of the 23rd chapter of Yajurveda gives an appropriate and crystal clear guidance:

We are here with this body. Just maintain the body, nothing else. Body is not ours. We have taken that body the temple of God as a temporary place to enjoy Him in the (God’s creative force which manifests in nature, and therefore God’s grace to us). When we have come here, we have come here with mind senses, desire and attachments. We shall have to give something to them. If we stop everything, they will revolt.

To be born with human form in this mortal world has only one happy object. That is the relish the joy of God’s Love. Only it is the tendency of human mind to run under the compulsion of innumerable allurements and attachments. But even being involved in them what a Supreme blessing is this human birth. How ineffably is this world filled with beauty and flavor! We have come to taste it! But we have become otherwise engaged. Be always with God’s name then the objective with which we have come here will be realized.

Human mind is similar to an Ocean, which are active at its surface and more and more quite (Silent) at its depth. Human beings are borne in the body with God from His blissful world to get real (Supreme Bliss) by the taste of His love in this mortal and illusory world. But superstitious human involvements and ignorant irresponsible attitude towards God do not allow us to come near to Him or to feel His love for which we get the rear human birth. We ignore God in pursuit of worldly pleasures, profits, and attachments, which please now and depress the very next moment. We waste the precious human birth given to us. We cannot give up the superstitious of our egoistic living in the world and we forget Him, the Truth.

What You Think Is What You Get

You don't have to know how it will come into your life, just lay the groundwork, follow leads, and prepare for its arrival.

The law of attraction is surprisingly simple: Like attracts like. It becomes a bit more complicated when it comes to training our minds to think in ways that will bring what we desire into our lives. The term "self-fulfilling prophecy" describes the same law. This well-known term explains that we create the circumstances our mind dwells upon, whether positive or negative. So our goal is to practice consistent presence of mind to make sure our thoughts are always directed toward the positive and what we want to create.

A key to the process is the word "frequency." This is true for two reasons: 1) The frequency you use when you passionately dwell upon or revisit a thought, dream, desire, or goal provides the energy your musings need for creation; and 2) just like a radio station broadcasts on a certain frequency, like the radio you must be "tuned in" to receive it. This means preparing for the arrival of your dream on every possible level--material, physical, and spiritual. You don't have to know how it will come into your life, just trust that it will. Your job is to lay the groundwork, follow any leads you can find, and prepare for its arrival. This can mean cleaning out your garage to make space for a new car, taking a tour of a model home to get the feel of it in order to feed your fantasies, or thinking of what you want in a mate and then living up to that list yourself.

Just like with any skill, the law of attraction must be practiced. We must decide what makes us feel abundant and use our imagination to create the feeling. It isn't enough to just want something--you must use the power of your thoughts to attract it. A series of choices is what brings us everything in our lives right now, every moment. When we know the direction in which we want our choices to take us, it is as if we've placed an order with the universe. We can then await its arrival with joyful anticipation. If we find ways to experience our dreams right now, we make creating joy a treasure hunt in which the seeking is just as much fun as the finding.