Difference: knowing god and singing

What's the difference between people who believe in god or who don't?
ans : There is no difference at all. They both are talking about something they don't know. No one has seen god unless they have some illusionary disease like 'Munna bhai' from 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai' who used to see Mahatma Gandhi. After reading this paragraph, people may think i don't believe in god but my thinking is slightly different and inspired by Sadhguru. Instead of blindly arguing about belief and disbelief, i like to question myself, does this argument takes me any closer to truth? will I realise god through this argument? What's even more important for me is, will I know myself? There is no point in knowing something else if we don't even know ourself.

Personally I hate these conflicts, created by so called fanatics of religion. Every religion is great, if you make proper study of your own religion you will ultimately know the truth, you will all loving and all caring. But for that you have to reach the pinnacle. Why I say pinnacle is because, there are various misbeliefs for starters spread for their own benefits. One such belief is that, follow just one religion and stick to it. This is misbelief that newbies need to follow strictly if they want to excel further. If there was no such rule, then people will just jump from one religion to another and reach nowhere. They will not know essence of even one religion and they will bring conflict. Next paragraph may be able to give reason behind this jumping nature.

Human is fascinated by new things. A youth gets excited when new model of phone comes in the market, a child gets excited when he sees new toy in the market and the list may go on. New things are exciting. First few days after buying a new mobile, we keep on playing with it and after few days or few months, same mobile is no more exciting. Eventually you want to get rid of it.

Same with religion, they look exciting and faultless at the beginning and then slowly you start to find faults. Here is the time when you need to stick with your religion. Once you pass this level, you will know, some of those faults you saw was due to lack of your own maturity and some were actually in need of change. No religion is faultless, but jumping from one to another is the stupidest thing to do!

Ok, why am I writing this?
I conduct meditation classes for kids. And religion conversion is so active in nepal that wherever I go, I find some kids who were recently changed into Christian. They refuse to say names of any hindu god. There is no problem with this belief but I think this is extreme! But again this may have been said to them to help them stick to one path. I don't interfere with their belief, but I just want to make sure no kids have grudge over other's religion. So I do something else in class.

I ask them, if I faint here while I am conducting the class, who will take me to hospital?
Children shout, "we will"
Then I say-" so that will save my life, that means you are god for me?"
children- yes
Me- ok, if something happens to your friend, will you take them to hospital?
Children- yes
Me- then aren't you god for your friend?
Children- yes
Me- so the god is within each of us, don't seek him outside. Everyone of you is god. Saying the name of god from other religion or not won't make any difference as long as you know everyone of you is god. You are free to choose.

Recently a famous singer said, she doesn't want to sing songs with names of hindu gods and then whole nation is about to go crazy. Comments are being passed, people are even saying bitch and other words which i will never write in my blog. Immaturity of both the singer and commenter is wide spread over the walls of social networks.

Two things I want to say in this condition are:

1. 1.Being popular means many people know them, not that whatever they do or say is right.
2. 2.Ageing and maturity are two completely different things, ageing is natural and unstoppable and maturity comes by continuous effort of practising right thing.

This gives her every right to pass that thought. People who know the big picture of religion know that she was taught that so that she doesn't keep on jumping from one religion to another. Nation may not be able to hear her voice singing the name of gods. There are other good singers who are willing to do this.

Singing may come naturally, knowing god takes lots of effort. A popular singer's view on religion need not be counted. Only a good guru can guide you in the quest of finding god and good guru is again hard to find. Lets not pass stupid comments about this situation.

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3 ROAD PUZZLE OF SUCCESS

There is a three way road…one goes directly to the destination but you cannot walk on it before walking on second..second ends just before the destination is reached…third reaches the destination but you have to go through the first….which way you should walk?

I saw this as facebook status of my teacher, at first I thought this question had no answer.

Next thought that came to my mind was what was this path of!

Then I assumed it was path of life, then answer was clear to me, one that can help me reach destination was third one. I cannot walk on third without going through first one and again second one before walking the first one. So second path is a must walk. We won’t reach destination but there is no escape. It looks like one time failure is not end to all of the possibility.

After walking on second, we can walk on first which will take us to our destination and then it opens third path.

I learned a beautiful lesson that, if you are not afraid of failing and even go on after failing once or twice or whatever times one has to then the path to success will open and once you are successful many more paths will open.

This may not be the exact answer the questioner was seeking, but it is my way of solving the question. Can you solve it by any other means? Do comment 

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STORY OF SAGE ASHTAVAKRA’S MARRIAGE

The story of Sage Ashtavakra’s marriage is found in the Anusasana Parva of the Mahabharata. The sage wanted to marry Suprabha, daughter of Sage Vadanya. Ashtavakra disclosed his love for Suprabha to her father. Sage Vadanya decided to test Ashtavakra before giving his daughter’s hand.

Ashtavakra should go north to the Himalayas pay homage to Shiva and Parvati and further go north and talk to a beautiful woman residing there. When Ashtavakra returns successfully, he will win the hands of Suprabha.

Sage Ashtavakra accepted the challenge and he went north. First, he went to the palace of Kubera. Here, the treasurer of the gods entertained him. He then went further north and had darshan of Shiva and Goddess Parvati.

He then went further north and met a beautiful woman named Uttara. The woman tried to entice Ashtavakra in many ways. But the Sage did not fall for her tricks. Finally, Uttara asked the sage to marry her.

Ashtavakra denied her request by saying that he was in love with Suprabha and will only marry her.

Uttara was pleased with the Sage and revealed her true form. She was the queen of the north and was testing the fidelity of the sage.

She then blessed the sage and helped him in his early return.

Sage Ashtavakra successfully returned and married Suprabha.

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WHAT SHOULD BE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN MEDITATION?

When people come to know that you meditate, first question that strikes in their mind is “what happens when you meditate?”

People every now and then come to me asking whether what they experienced during meditation is right or wrong. They want to know how do I feel during meditation. I have been meditating since last 2 years and beginners assume that I am doing right meditation as I am experienced and they might be doing it wrong way.

Yes there are right and wrong way of doing meditation but there is nothing to worry if you have found right master.

The myth of meditation: meditation is concentrating on something.
This is so wrong, meditation is not concentration but concentration is the outcome of meditation. Meditation is simple process of observing thoughts and meditation cannot happen by trying to stop some thoughts or flowing with some thoughts. I don’t know if I’m going little bit deeper but this post is not aimed to teach you how to meditate.

Now answering the question from the topic, what should be your experience in meditation? The answer is: each and everyone who meditates has his/her own experience and every time s/he meditates it is a unique experience. So asking someone, what should be the experience in meditation is just illegal question. One who is not foolish will never start essay of his/her experience but s/he will just say everyone has their own experience every time they sit for meditation.

However 3 golden rules of meditation are always applicable:

1. I am no one.
2. I do nothing.
3. I want nothing.

One should follow these three rules while sitting for meditation.

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SHLOKA IN HANUMAN CHALISA CALCULATES THE DISTANCE BETWEEN EARTH AND SUN

The 18th shloka in Hanuman Chalisa talks about Hanuman jumping to sun thinking it is a fruit. It is now suggested that the particular shloka in Hanuman Chalisa calculates the distance between earth and sun. Hanuman Chalisa was written during the 15th Century.

The 18th Shloka reads like this:
Yuga Sahastra Yojan Par Bhanu
Liliyo Tahi Madhur Phal Janu

Yuga means the sum of Four Yugas (1 complete Mahayuga) with unit in divine years. Sahastra is 1000. Yojan is 8 miles. Bhanu is Sun

Satyayuga= 4800 divine years
Tretayuga=3600 divine years
Dwaparyuga=2400 divine years
Kaliyuga=1200 divine years

So 1 Mahayuga= 12000

Now next is sahastra common Sanskrit word meaning “1000″

Next is “Yojan” also know as that equals to 8 miles

Yuga X Sahastra X Yojan (in miles) = 12000X1000X8= 96,000,000 miles
Now 1 mile= 1.6km

So 96,000,000 miles= 96,000,000X1.6 km = 153,600,000km.

Today estimated distance is approximately 150,000,000 km which is close to above.

Note – There are some doubts in the above theory; By Yuga did Tulsidas mean a Mahayuga. In some translations the Yuga Sahastra Yojan is given as Juga Sahastra Yojan. Juga then mean 12000 years in that interpretation.

This is not a final statement. You should look for the correct interpretation of the Shloka in books and if possible talk to scholars about the translation of the 18th Shloka. Then come to a conclusion.

source: internet

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Do we really love others? (Yagyavalkya's explanation)

Once maitreyi asked Yagyavalkya "You want to take sannyas(renunciate) and leave all worldly pleasures because they hinder your strive to immortality, but is love of me and kattayeni is also a bondage that you want to leave?"

Then Yagyavalkya replied "Husband is dear to wife not because she loves him or wife is not dear to husband because he loves her, they are dear because they love themselves. Human loves everything that gives him happiness. He does not love something that gives pain. Human wants wealth not because he loves wealth but because wealth can make his living easier."

"I love myself so I love whatever can give me happiness. I love myself thus my nature is bliss(ananda). This soul(atma) is bliss. That's why I want to renunciate. I am going beyond happiness and non-happiness.Now my sole purpose is to understand soul. This soul is only able to see, hear and meditate."

This was conversation between yagyavalkya and his wife maitreyi when Yagyavalkya expressed his desire to take sannyas.I wrote it here so that I could let readers know that we only love ourselves and none others. So trying to say 'you should love me because i love you' or trying to claim love is futile exercise. We just need to realise our love is for us only and no other. :D

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Do you know how to quench your thirst?

Once there was a big drought on land. There was a guy who used to live nearby an ocean of freshwater, It turned out that he was the only survivor there. One day, he was very thirsty and went near the ocean to drink water. He found a pot and then an idea came to his mind, I will store water for future, so that I won't have to travel the distance for water so frequently.
He dipped the pot into water and pulled back, the pot had holes and water was leaking continuously. He quickly ran to his house to store it in tank. Hardly a drop fell down. He felt very happy with his achievement, he went back to ocean and again brought water. The process continued, boy just collected water, he did not put even a drop of water in his mouth and eventually he died of thirst and his dream of filling the tank remained incomplete.
And then there was a big rainfall and the rainwater swept his body to the ocean.

Is this story related to our lifestyle? Don't we try to plan our future based on present scenarios which may or may not exist as it is till the time we have planned for arrives! We try to collect, happiness, wealth but by nature they can't be hold for long time. They are like leaking water from the pot. Even when we are in front of ocean we don't drink water, isn't this like having wealth and not using it but we love to store that for future use. We don't even know where all those earnings are spent and our savings are very little. In the process actuall happiness is lost, only the dream of better future remains. But our life has no guarantee and anytime it may finish. The dreams remain incomplete. Then what happens with our wealth? It's all swept!

Conclusion: Quenching the thirst is very important before storing water. Being happy now is very important before trying to build happiness and luxury for future!

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How to enjoy your work?

On a certain day, three men were working in one place. Another man came by and asked the first man, “What are you doing here?” The man looked up and said, “Are you blind? Can’t you see I’m cutting stone?” This person moved on to the next man and asked, “What are you doing here?” That man looked up and said, “Something to fill my belly. So I come here and do whatever they ask me to do. I just have to fill my belly, that’s all.” He went to the third man and asked, “What are you doing here?” That man stood up in great joy and said, “I’m building a beautiful temple here!” All of them were doing the same thing, but their experience of what they were doing was worlds apart.

Every human being, every moment of his life could be doing whatever he is doing in any one of these three contexts – and that will determine the quality of his life, not what he is actually doing. How simple or complex an activity is doesn’t change the quality of your life. With what context you do it changes the quality of your life.

They all are doing same thing yet their state of mind is different. People may not have choice in the varieties of work they can do but everyone has a choice in life to do their work in either of these three states of mind. Wouldn't it be better if you just start doing things in pleasant state of mind rather than whining about it!

So next time you hate your office work, or your studies, you can remember this simple thing. Changing the context can make your life a lot easier.

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Is this world an illusion?

Suppose you are hungry and you see stone, how do you feel? Do you feel anything about stone?
Suppose you are angry and you see same stone, how do you feel? You don't see that stone as stone, you see that as a weapon. The weapon you want to hit someone with.
Suppose the same stone is inside temple, at the main place where you worship. How do you feel? Worship? you will probably put tika on that stone also.
Suppose an animal enters temple and sees the same stone, will it mean something for that animal to worship? But will you argue with that animal if that animal thinks you are stupid to worship stone. No! but if person from other religion says same thing then conflict will arise!

The stone which has no significance at first sight rises to a level where you worship it! Do you know what is the difference? Our eyes see stone, and we know it is nothing more than stone but we perceive that stone differently according to our own emotions.

When great saints said "this whole world and existence is illusion(maya)", they may not mean all existence is illusion. They probably mean, the world we are perceiving is illusionary. When we can see the stone as just stone regardless of any emotion/situation then we become free from maya.

How will our life be if we are not free from maya?
We will not feel like praying or visiting temple when we are happy, we may go on saying god doesn't exist. We will feel proud of whatever we are doing but if we fall in great misery we will be back to praying. No matter whom you pray, you will at least pray.
This is the nature of maya. You see things the way it is necessary for your survival. You won't be able to understand how another sees this world and misery will continue. The whole world is a misery if you are not free from maya.

But once you are free from maya, you will see Happiness as happiness, not mine or your happiness; Love as just love, not as mine, your, others love; Religion as religion, not as mine or others; Temple as temple, not as mine, his or others. This is also called opening of third eye.The third eye does not mean someone’s forehead cracked and something came out! It simply means another dimension of perception has opened up and that dimension of perception sees things as it is. Because the third eye is the eye of vision. The two physical eyes are just sensory organs.

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Root of every war is assumption

Suppose you are a science student and someone comes to you and says,"his grandfather painted the sky blue". What will you do? you will laugh at his ignorance.

Suppose someone else comes and says "it is blue because of reflection of ocean". You may now try to convince them that it is actually because of refraction of light. So at the same time another guy comes and says "you are talking rubbish, sky is not blue". Now what will happen, you will team up with two previous people and against this new person who says sky is not blue.

So, now starts the debate, which if is able to reach to any conclusion will end up with all four believing any of the assumptions above.

All 4 will say,

•  person no 1's grandfather painted it blue
• it is due to reflection of ocean
• it is due to refraction
• sky is not blue at all

But does that debate and conclusion takes them any closer to the truth? Truth is sky looks blue due to refraction and actually sky is not blue! Imagine if someone with this knowledge had been in between these previous 4 idiots, what would have happened? Either they all would have agreed with him or person 3 & 4 would have asked him to choose either side rather than talking 2 things at a time.

And then suppose they all agreed on the last person's statement and then next person comes and says that sky does not exist. Sky has no colour, and one that has no colour can not be seen and why should I believe on existence of such a thing that cannot be seen?

Leave the discussion, but do you realise what is happening in this story? They all have their own assumptions about sky. They go through the debate thinking they will find out the truth but they are only finding common assumptions until someone else has something opposite to say. Neither of them agree with each other from the beginning, but as they go on meeting with new thoughts they are uniting but the unity is against someone and his new assumption.

I wonder, is something similar happening with people who believe in religion or call themselves atheist or some other beliefs? Are they really worried about truth or are they just trying to argue based on their own belief. Won't there be peace if all of them realise that there is no point in discussing about sky. Can't I realise that I don't need to write a blog post like this about the sky?

Does whatever they believe really matter? Will sky lose it's existence if they don't believe it? So why is there war in this world? all because of the assumptions. And the very problem with assumption is that it unites only against another assumptions. Why can't everyone drop their assumptions and be in peace?

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SURRENDER-THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

Everyone wants to be succesful but the problem is not everyone knows key to success.What if I say “key to success is surrender”,any normal man will find it crazy.The reason behind this is surrender despite being most powerful tool of success remains the most misunderstood subject.

Surrender is not raising your hand in despair,it is waving your hand up in the air and saying hello to incoming success with a big smile on your face.

Everywhere surrender means giving up when things go beyond the limit you can handle.But how can one attain success if s/he gives up.If such questions arise in your mind then you are at the right place.Answers will be revealed as we go on reading further.

Before defining surrender we will obeserve how people live their whole life believing on either of these four things.

1.I can’t do anything 2.I can do something. 3.I can do anything 4.I can’t do anything.

Oh!!look at my list,looks like I have repeated 1 and 4 but the fun part here is I have done it on purpose so let’s look at each of these belief individually.

1.I can’t do anything:It is the way most people live their life.They try different things and can’t achieve success and say “I can’t do anything,I am really useless.”There are even more pitiful people in this category than this,they are the people who believe they are useless because others say”you can’t do it”.One thing to remember is noone knows you better than you,yourself.

2.I can do something:Movers and shakers of the world know they can do something in their life.They want to give something to this world,be something in their life.They achieve whatever they want but they are only at level 2 because they are satisfied with limited success.There is more of the thing they can do then they believe they can do.

3.I can do anything:Welcome to the world of columbus,the craziest way of living.No matter what the world says,what you believe is the ultimate truth.Anything is not undoable until you have tried it yourself.If you fall in this catagory then you are next colombus or next edmund hillary.

4.I can’t do anything:After living all previous level one reaches this level.The day he reaches level three he goes on trying anything and everything until the day no. of unsuccesful attempts overtake no. of successfull achievements.That day he may sit back and say I am useless and give up in frustration or choose to be the level 4 personality by realising everything is not in our control.There is some special power above us governing our fate.If you are religious that special power is god and if you are an atheist ,that power is just supreme energy.This is not the end of belief that things can be done but a way of going further than giving up your efforts.

Once you believe there are things beyond your capacity,you gain a new hope that the thing can be done with a little bit of extra help from the unknown power.This makes your belief that ‘something can be done’ even strong.This always keeps you in position where nothing is undoable,and when there is nothing that you cannot do,success will not be something you want,it will be your very nature or may be i should say success is your very nature,maybe you just need to realise the fact.

Hmm now post is about to end but did I really defined surrender!!

Surrender is never to be defined and taught, it is to be lived,when are you starting to surrender all your problems and start living happy?

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Introduction to my blog

Today, I am starting my new blogging journey with spilore.blogspot.com. You may be wondering which language is this term spilore from! actually I, myself don't know if such word even exists. For me, it is combination of two terms Spirituality & Lore. Today I will not discuss about spirituality but if you are hearing the term 'lore' for the first time then it means  Knowledge acquired through education or experience.

This blog will be my primary blog for the year 2014 and this year, I hope to be more active in learning as well sharing. And by now, you may already have rightly guessed what i will be sharing here ;)

Welcome!

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MEANING OF SHIVARATRI

Once upon a time in varanasi there lived a hunter named Suswara.He lived with his wife and child in a small hut.One particular day,hunter wandered all over the jungle whole day and at night forget his way back home.Due to fear of wild animals at night time he climbed a tree to safeguard himself.

He could not sleep the whole night due to fear of wild animals so he spent whole night plucking leaves from the tree he was sitting and dropping them on the ground.The tree he was sitting was of bela and another unknown fact to him was there existed a shivalinga just beneath the branch he was sitting.So unknowingly he was offering bela to shivalinga.That night happened to be Shivaratri so the hunter had unknowingly kept a night long vigil and worshipped Shiva.

The story above has different versions and is told differently in different places but today let’s try to understand what the story may symbolise.

Various wild animals live in the jungle: Here Jungle represents human mind and wild animals in jungle resemble negativities like lust,anger,greed,infatuation,jealousy and hatred which keep wandering in our mind.

Suswara(name of hunter): Suswara means “one melodious voice”.This may indicate purity of intent and speech which is actually outcome of mental purity.

Varanasi(the origin place of hunter): Vara refers to the forehead while nasi means the nose.The point where both meet is Varanasi i.e the point midway between eyebrows.This point is called ‘aagya chakra’ which is regarded as a nexus of the three nadis: ida, pingala and sushumna.A spiritual aspirant who concentrates his or her mind on this point gains concentration and gradual control over his senses. The killing of the animals thus indicates control over one’s vasanas [latent tendencies].

Bela tree: Bela tree resembles spinal column.The tree’s leaves are special:each stalk has three leaflets.The three leaflets represent three nadis mentioned above.The climbing of the tree represents the ascent of the kundalini shakti from the muladhara to the aagya chakra.

Awake whole night: Keeping awake is symbolic of the kind of awareness and oneness of purpose that a spiritual aspirant needs to reach the goal. He cannot afford to be slack even for a moment.

Shiva: Shiva is the Supreme Consciousness that illuminates the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Offering the threefold bilva leaves to the Shivalinga heralds the return to a level of consciousness beyond the three states, which is the fourth state, turiya. The dawning of that state is consonant with the awakening of the individual.

(special note, bela tree mentioned in the story is scientifically named as Aegle Mermelos)

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