Inspiration for Change

Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together.

Difficulties are opportunities to better things, they are stepping stones to greater experience.


With faith anything is possible...just believe

How do you find inspiration to heal and overcome difficulties? To be inspired what does that mean to you? So much is wrong in the world today. We are surrounded with war, poverty, starvation, disease and more. Millions of families are torn and in despair due to economics, natural disasters, laws and regulations. Some continue to seek a cause as a necessity to harm others.

More can be found on this link

Thank you inspirationforch.

The Democratic Nature of All Creation

Dr. Deepak Ranade's another elusive article was published in the Times of India's Speaking Tree:

The original undivided pluripotent being had the option of remaining unmanifest. Manifestation was one of the limitless options available to this source.

For awareness to experience itself, a state of duality had to be induced. It needed to cleave itself and induce a pseudo-dichotomy of perceiver and perceived. This process is similar to the process of a developing embryo. The single cell replicates itself rapidly and metamorphoses into this complex and differentiated multiorgan form. In reality, we all are just one cell that has differentiated itself into specified functional units. When i touch my hair it actually is the manifestation of a single cell touching another expression of itself and the same cell also has the capability to comprehend this “touch” phenomenon.

All creation is an induced illusion of duality to enable the source to experience itself. The process of creation is in itself a gratifying experience. All artists, when they create a work of art, experience ecstasy on giving birth to a new idea, new thought. The sheer joy of manifesting in such diversity may be the objective of this exercise by the source. He not only created multiple loci of consciousness but also ensured that His creation was made oblivious to the source of its origins.

Time and space were introduced as illusory media to ensure the delusion of separateness of creation. This being was programmed with the ability to discover his origins, and provided the means to enjoy the rest of creation as well. Since the being was just a manifestation of the source, he also had all the attributes of the source. The resolve and ability to achieve anything he desires, the capacity to experience total bliss, and above all the freedom to exercise choice.
Selfless creation mandated that the being was given an illusion of being the ‘doer’. The self-effacement of the source could be a precondition for nourishing the identity of His creation. This illusion of being the doer and the center of the universe manifests as ego. Ego served initially as a tool for self-preservation but as it crystallizes further it totally envelops the consciousness and impedes realization of its true nature.

The ego constantly reaffirms this illusionary duality. The more the ego hardens the farther it moves the being away from the knowledge of his true identity. It then embarks on a game wherein the being gets an illusion of having control and the ability to manipulate the environment for its own happiness.

Awareness when focused outward gets entangled in a web of duality. Then there is no limit to its indulgence. This kaleidoscopic creation has a potent arsenal to engage this awareness into its diverse forms. Indulgence is addictive and it keeps drawing this awareness into its throes, distancing itself from its true identity. Obsession with the materialistic world is actually as ludicrous as my hand being obsessed with my nose.

The ultimate objective is for consciousness to be able to perceive itself. This could be attained by various means and paths. This knowledge is already there within. The illusion is to look for it ‘without’. All other knowledge is duality-based and may at best help in providing analogies. However, analogy is a cheap substitute for experience. The purpose of creation was for the source to experience itself. Creation is like democracy. Made of the source, by the source and for the source. Self-awareness or unperceived is self-realization.

Thirukkural verses 2: The Blessing of Rain

English Translation of Kaviyogi Maharishi Shuddhananda Bharatiar

The genial rain ambrosia call,
The world but lasts while rain shall fall.

The rain begets the food we eat,
And forms a food and drink concrete.

Let clouds their visits stay, and dearth,
Distresses all the sea-girt earth.

Unless the fruitful shower descend,
The ploughman's sacred toil must end.

Destruction it may sometimes pour,
But only rain can life restore.

No grassy blade its head will rear,
If from the cloud no drop appear.

The ocean's wealth will waste away,
Except the cloud its stores repay.

The earth, beneath a barren sky,
Would offerings for the gods deny.

Were heaven above to fail below,
Nor alms nor penance earth would show.

Water is life that comes from rain,
Sans rain our duties go in vain.

14th March is a crazy day

Why?

Since yesterday was one of the greatest nights ever.


Megadeth played in India for the First time ever. There aren't many words to express how the concert was.

Immense power at the Palace Grounds with thousands of long-haired humans gathered at one place and radiating extreme energy. It started drizzling when Megadeth played the first track!


Dave Mustain is this really elusive, mysterious personality. "We know who you are, and you know who I am", is the way he introduced himself. He almost killed most of the people.

Some other great stuff of March 14th:


Happy Pi Day!

According to a physicist at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the number Pi has been calculated out to over one trillion digits. But that’s not the interesting part.

No number has captured the attention and imagination of people throughout the ages as much as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Pi–or ? as it is symbolically known–is infinite.

Oh, and just for a bit of trivia, Albert Einstein’s birthday is today, and he was a big fan of pi. But that’s not it. His birthday, and pi day, both fall on March 14th. That’s 3-14, and pi out to two places is 3.14! Coincidence? I don’t think so. We all know God doesn’t play dice.

Thanks you guys:

Amazon, dmiessler.com, This Orkut profile for the pics

‘Ignorant gurus cause more damage than evil ones’

Credits: TIMES NEWS NETWORK



Coimbatore: Ignorance has led some people to think that becoming a guru is entrepreneurship, that it’s just another profession, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of the Isha Foundation informs T S Sreenivasa Raghavan. Excerpts from an interview.

Q: To believe or not to believe is the basic issue. What do you suggest? If one is to believe, one should believe in whom? In God? Or in those who deny the existence of God? Or in those who believe in God? Or in that man who claims he himself is the God?

A: People are always questioning whether to believe in God or not to believe in God, but tell me: ‘do you believe you have two hands or do you know you have two hands?’ Even if you had no eyes, if I tell you that you do not have two hands, will you believe me? Why is it that about hands you know, but with gods and godmen you’re talking about believing? This is because you are not sincere enough to admit that you don’t know.

Q: Astavakra says awareness alone can result in realization. No master, no scripture, nothing will be of any help if one is not aware about what one’s doing. So is a master really required in the man’s spiritual peregrination? Can we not do without a guru?

A: Ashtavakra himself was a guru. He took on disciples. If he thought a guru was not necessary, why would he take disciples? Obviously, there’s a misunderstanding in what he said. He’s talking about being aware. Unless you’re aware, nothing will work. I, too, am constantly repeating to all the people here that unless you’re aware even I won’t work for you. You may be here with me, but nothing will work for you unless you’re aware.

Q: These days we hear about pseudo gurus who bring a bad name to acclaimed masters who’re doing good work. How to choose the right master?

A: The first thing is you don’t seek a master; you deepen your longing within you. If your longing is deep the master will choose you, not the other way round. You will choose what you like. You will choose somebody who supports your ego. If he is constantly pricking your ego, will you choose him? So if you choose a guru who supports your ego, what is the point? So you never choose your guru; you just deepen your longing. Unfortunately, there are pseudos in spirituality. The crooked ones are one thing. It doesn’t take much time for you to see somebody is crooked; but I am more concerned about the ignorant ones, who are dangerous. Ignorance always causes more damage than evil. Don’t bother about whether somebody is a good or bad guru. Because this is not about the guru, this is about you. By going to him, if your life gets transformed, you continue to go. Even if he’s crooked, how does it matter so long your life is getting transformed? If he starts leading you on to something wrong, improper, then you leave. Till then, you make use of him. This is not the best way to do it.

Q: Mahashivarathri is a big festival at Isha. But you always identify yourself with the religion of humanity. Why this contradiction?

A: I don’t identify myself with a religion of humanity. I identify with a humanity without religion. They’re very different. So about Shiva, in the yogic culture Shiva is not seen as a god who came from heaven or whatever. Shiva is seen as the first yogi and first guru. He opened up the mechanics of life. He revealed everything to his first seven disciples, who’re known as saptarishis. So it’s from there yoga developed in so many different ways. Essentially, it’s his teaching we’re still doing. Mahashivarathri celebration is an expression of gratitude. It also has special benefits for the spiritual seeker. We create an exuberant night with meditation, music and dance. The best artistes come here and a huge festival happens from evening till morning. This has nothing to do with religion. We don’t want people to miss this night. So we throw a big party.

Q: All realized souls say: live in the plenitude of the present, the past is dead and gone, future is yet to come and dark; only the present is true. How does one apply this in practical life?

A: I never said that. If it’s not in the present where else can they live? Let them live somewhere else and show. If I ask you to go to future, can you go? You can think about future. But can you go? This is the reason why any intelligent human being doesn’t want to come into spirituality. Because it doesn’t make any sense. Anyway you’re in the present. You can’t be anywhere else. Then should we not think about tomorrow? Right now, these brainless spiritual people are telling you not to use your brain. Anyone who knows the usefulness of the brain cannot help thinking about the future and the past. All these things have come from confusion. Because they’ve read some nonsense somewhere, they’ve no personal experience of anything.

Q: It’s said faith is absolutely essential for anything to happen. Without faith, even the master-disciple relationship doesn’t blossom. Is faith an innate quality?

A: Faith comes out of a deeply devout mind. If one has to be truly devout, then one should have no agenda of one’s own. He should be willing to go with God’s agenda. If somebody has genuinely become a devotee he will attain very easily. Devotion is the quickest path. But that will happen to you only if you’ve a very child-like mind. Otherwise, devotion turns into deception.

Thirukkural verses 1: The Praise of God

English Translation of Kaviyogi Maharishi Shuddhananda Bharatiar

The Praise of God

'A' leads letters; the Ancient Lord
Leads and lords the entire world.

That lore is vain which does not fall
At His good feet who knoweth all.

Long they live on earth who gain
The feet of God in florid brain.

Who hold His feet who likes nor loathes
Are free from woes of human births.

God's praise who tell, are free from right
And wrong, the twins of dreaming night.

They prosper long who walk His way
Who has the senses signed away.

His feet, whose likeness none can find,
Alone can ease the anxious mind.

Who swims the sea of vice is he
Who clasps the feet of Virtue's sea.

Like senses stale that head is vain
Which bows not to Eight-Virtued Divine.

The sea of births they alone swim
Who clench His feet and cleave to Him.

The link between man and God is Faith

An Interesting Conversation

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?
Student is silent.
Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
Student has no answer.
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes Faith. And that is the problem science has. Now the student said can I ask something to you Professor.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is
only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure
cold.Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light...
But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as
the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolve from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where
the argument is going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class is in uproar.)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how
do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive. .

WANT TO KNOW WHO THAT STUDENT WAS?

This is a true story, and the student was none other than DR. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Ex-President of India.

Think you are well, and all that is well with you. And nature will read your thoughts and make them true.

The Great Scroll: The Union of Spirit and Flesh

(read this entire synopsis, and be transformed)

"The union of spirit and flesh is the 'one thing' spoken of by Hermes Trismegistus, who was also known as Mercurius, in his Emerald Tablet; it is the aqua vitae and quintessence of Alchemy; it is the Qi of Chinese Qigong; it is the Tao of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu; it is the Mysterious Female and tenuous matter of mystic Taoism; in Hinduism it is represented by Ardhanarisvara, who is the union of Shiva and Shakti, of being and non-being; it is the Great Way into Zen stillness, the Mother Luminosity or Rainbow Body of Dzogchen Buddhism, and the enlightened body of Buddha; it is the Tree of Life, linking Heaven and Earth; it is the transfiguration of the canononical Gospels, and the 'rapture' of Revelation; it is "of movement, and of rest", as declared by Christ in the Gospel of Thomas, and "The Word become flesh", of the Gospel of John; it is the ascension to unity spoken of in the New Age movement, and it is the eternal OM of the Goddess Lakshmi; it is the foundation of the Kabbalah; it is the unified wave structure of matter, of the new physics, and dark matter of astrophysics; it is the body electric of Walt Whitman, and the body divine. In short, the union of spirit and flesh is the essential component of all progressive cosmologies, for it is the true enlightenment. Historically this 'oneness' has be called advaita (non-dual). However, the non-dualists of history seem to have overlooked the flesh as being part of that oneness, and continually declared that the body, and all matter, were merely illusion. Fortunately humanity is at a point in its evolution where the flesh can be known to be divine, and a new advaita in which emptiness and fullness are one can come into being. For some people there must be a healing of the pain caused by division in order for them to return to the original harmony of the cosmos. The use of Tibetan singing bowls and Crystal singing bowls can assist in the re-union of our harmonic oneness. This eternal unity is well documented by Masaru Emoto, and Helena Blavatsky. One of the key players in this re-union is the Green Man. In traditional Buddhist spirituality this profound unification is known as Maitreya. In Hindu lore this new vibration is known as Kalki. In Taoism this union is practiced by the circulation of the light. Ken Wilber calls it the one taste, which in Tibetan Buddhism is known as Yab-yum. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother spoke of the divine body. It is through this new, and absolute, unity and oneness that the true ascension of Sophia, our cosmic being, occurs. This is when the vibration of flesh is raised into the vibration of spirit, and the vibration of spirit descends into harmony with the flesh. Within this new and holy oneness, nothing shall be alien: matter is mind, will is consciousness, and flesh is now holy ground! A truly Pagan event: the divination of matter has occurred. This unification is the actual intent behind the Christian Eucharist and the Catholic communion; the word 'catholic' means 'universality'- or, that which is without limits. Communion is thus the integration of the body (flesh) and the blood (spirit), of Heaven and Earth, of form and formlessness, of Creator and Created, and of He and She. The Aquarian Age is upon us, and Love is the one and only Law. And, as in the Jeweled Web of Indra- in which the entire cosmos is made of hollow gems, each filled with nothing but the reflection of all other gems- we must now know and feel that separateness is an illusion and we are all actually an interdependent, multidimensional, infinite oneness. Each of us is everything. A great silence. A new vibration. An holistic ascension. This is the Aquarian Awakening into the Cosmic Christ."

Blessings on your journey.

(Respect to: http://www.spiritandflesh.com/)

Consciousness Pervades The Real And Unreal

Satsang by Ramesh S Balsekar, published in the TOI speaking tree

What is Consciousness?

Consciousness is the One without the second; the Source of everything. The totality of manifestation, and everything therein, is Consciousness Itself. All there is, is Consciousness, not aware of Itself in Its noumenal subjectivity, but perceived by Itself as phenomenal manifestation in Its objective expression. There is no individual entity as insubstantial shadow, whereas what we really and truly are, is Consciousness Itself, the formless Brahmn.

Whether the manifested universe exists or not, Consciousness is there as the subjective Absolute... There is no relationship between Consciousness and the universe. The truth is that Consciousness alone exists and is immanent in what appears as the universe.

The appearance of the universe exists in infinite Consciousness, just as the notion of distance or emptiness exists in space... Consciousness alone exists. It creates the illusion of the world appearance and the ego-sense, and perceives the illusion of diversity in what is truly pure Oneness.

Consciousness cannot but be immanent in everything that appears to exist. And yet no phenomenal manifestation can have any kind of relationship with Consciousness because a relationship can exist only between two different entities. It is in this sense that Consciousness is transcendental to the manifested universe. The universe exists in Consciousness like future waves in a calm sea — only apparently different in potentiality.

What appears within Consciousness as its own reflection — the manifestation of the universe — is not separate or different from Consciousness. While the shadow, by itself, has no existence and is therefore unreal, the shadow is not different from the substance when seen together. When there is no mind in operation, when there is no conceptualising, it is clearly known, felt experienced, that phenomenality is only the objective expression of the subjective noumenon...

God is that formless subjectivity, pure Potential, the infinite, universal Consciousness which alone exists even after the cosmic dissolution. It is only within this pure, infinite Consciousness, the Potential Plenum, that phenomenal manifestation arose as a mere reflection of that Potentiality, as a mere objective expression of that pure subjectivity.

The phenomenal objectivisation of this pure subjectivity appears and functions in our outer world of consciousness in the waking state, precisely like sentient and insentient objects seem to exist and function in the inner world of consciousness in the dream state. Nothing really happens.
The final truth, as Ramana Maharishi, Nisargadutta Maharaj and sages before them have clearly stated, is that there is neither creation nor destruction, neither birth nor death, neither destiny nor free will, neither any path nor any achievement.

Consciousness-at-rest, Consciousness-in-action, I Am. In that original state — call it reality, Absolute, or Nothingness — there is no reason to be aware of anything. So Consciousness-at-rest is not aware of Itself. It becomes aware of Itself only when this sudden feeling, ‘I Am’, arises. I Am is the impersonal sense of being aware. And that is when Consciousness-at-rest becomes Consciousness-in-movement, when Potential Energy becomes actual energy.

One paragraph that explains life

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.
From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?
To this Arthur Ashe replied:
"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis,
500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam,
50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals,
when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'.
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

Death Is When You Are Out-of-body

By Soma Chakravertty (Published in TOI 13th February)

Life and death are two sides of the same coin. And the coin is Soul. When the soul assumes a physical body it is life and when it discards the physical body once the purpose — as designed by the Almighty — is completed, it is death.

Life and death are transitory phases till the soul completes its cycle of life and death. Our physical bodies are vehicles for the soul, for its journey towards the ultimate destination, uniting with the Supreme Soul. That’s salvation. Life and death are steps to reach Him.

Soul is an embodiment of Supreme Consciousness or energy flow that keeps the body alive, just the way electricity powers light, fan, television or any microfunction. We can switch off any electrical gadget; God, too, switches off this energy flow when His work is complete. The soul continues.

Life, like death, is an evolving course and evolution is a continuous process. Every beginning has an end and every end has a beginning. A plant flowers, the flower in turn sheds its petals giving way for fruits or seeds. Then the plant wilts but continues as a new plant through its fruits or seeds. Death, too, is a process in the evolution of soul. Death is just an out-ofbody experience.

Then why fear death? Fear of death arises when we identify ourselves with our physical bodies forgetting we are pure consciousness which is eternal. Senses and mind control our body. We identify pain and pleasure with the illusory material world and body. When we celebrate birthdays, in a way we are also celebrating death, as each year carries us towards a new life and conclusion of the present chapter.

Life can be compared with the phases of the moon. The waxing moon reaches its prime with the full moon and then wanes to become what we call the ‘new’ moon which is in fact is a moonless night. Like life, death too is an illusion. What is real is that your soul is eternal.

Your identity, as you are addressed, lives and dies. The real you goes on in which as in nature, there are changes of seasons. Life and death are a succession of change of scenes, till our role ends in the play scripted by the Supreme Soul.

Failure to comprehend the true nature of the Universal Self causes turmoil and torments in our life. Accept life as His wish, let His will flow. When the mind is not peaceful and the body is not stable, the struggle becomes formidable. Our endeavour should be to live in harmony with nature. As part of the Supreme Soul we have an instinct to free our soul from self-centred existence.

Suryayog is for penetrating darkness of gross materialism to find the enlightened domain of inner self. Suryayog can open our hearts and minds to let His grace filter through and show us the path for spiritual realisation as well as drive away physical afflictions and ignorance. The healing powers of the Sun’s rays and love-energy bring about balance and harmony of body, mind and soul.

Make your soul your Sakha, a constant companion, who will guide you through the ups and downs of life to the world of bliss where there is eternal peace, light and love.

Based on Swami Suryaji’s talks in Kerala. Camp on Discovery of Inner Soul, for details call +91(0)9810194026, +91(0)9249758552.