|| Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah ||

Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah
"Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions”

The word 'Hinduism ‘ does not appear anywhere in Hindu scriptures, The proper name for Hinduism is ‘Sanatan Dharma’ Sanatan = eternal Dharma = religion.
Hinduism cannot be described as an organized religion. It is not founded by any individual. Hinduism is God centred and therefore one can call Hinduism as founded by God, because the answer to the question ‘Who is behind the eternal principles and who makes them work?’ will have to be ‘Cosmic power, Divine power, God’
Hinduism is God centred whereas other religions are prophet centred. For this reason the whole of mankind has to abide by (or is affected by) the eternal principles. The question of acceptance or rejection of Hinduism by any individual simply does not arise, or is irrelevant. It is illogical to talk of conversion to Hinduism. It is like saying that the laws of physics (e.g.gravity) will apply to you only if you belong to an organization or organized religion.
[The ceremonies and rituals connected with Hinduism (and other religions) are designed to cultivate increased spirituality. At advanced level of spirituality, rituals and ceremonies are dispensed with]
Swami Vivekananda wrote:If you want to be religious, enter not the gate of any organised religion. They do a hundred times more evil than good, because they stop the growth of each one's individual development.... Religion is only between you and your God, and no third person must come between you. Think what these organised religions have done! What Nepoleon was more terrible than those religious persecutions? If you and I organise, we begin to hate every person . It is better not to love, if loving only means hating others. That is no love. That is hell! If loving your own people means hating everybody else, it is the quintessence of selfishness and brutality, and the effect is that it will make you brutes
"Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions"

- Rig Veda [Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah]

Parenting

Parenting
As a parent, you hold the reins, yet must learn to let go ever so often.
As the ancient saying goes, a child carries the legacy of the parents – not only the financial, but also one of attitude, character and behavior. According to the Shastras an individual’s life and character is shaped by four factors. One fourth of it comes from the parents. Another one fourth is acquired through education, upbringing and exposure to people and media, Karma and one’s own experiences make up the remaining half.
So parents form the very first foundation of a child’s life. A child starts his or her learning process by imitating the parents. We are often surprised to hear a small child saying something like, “I have been waiting for this all my life.” It’s nothing but parroting what her mother says.
Children normally are keen observers. They observe everything. Every moment. When the parents get angry tell lies or scorn at people, children imbibe their actions. Unfortunately, most parents are oblivious to the fact that children are scrutinizing them every moment.
It is important for parents to be free from stress because the parents’ stress or joy and their character and attitudes get transferred to the child. If the parents are violent, it they are devoted or at least they act devoted, the seed of devotion will sprout in the child and they will become genuinely devoted and mature.
While the parents have to ensure that their children do not become too aggressive, at the same time, they have to take care that they don’t become like a vegetable. If the children tend to be aggressive, the parents should soften them up, and they are too shy and delicate, it’s the parents’ duty to make them strong.
The parents’ greatest challenge is to guard against their children getting an inferiority or superiority complex. In many families, parents never scold their children and let them go the way they want. This makes children utterly weak. On the other hand, some people always put a noose around children’s necks, making them fearful or completely rebellious. It is really a skill to bring up children who are normal, creative, confident, and emotionally mature.

Parents need to learn the skill of pointing out a child’s mistakes without making him or her feel guilty. The courage to confess without the fear of alienation needs to be inculcated in children. There is an old saying in Sanskrit. “When your son or daughter turns 16, behave with them like a friend.”. Don’t be their teachers; don’t tell them what to do or what not to do. Just share their difficulties with them. If you relate with them as a friend and no a parent, they will be more open to you. Usually teenagers open up to their friends much more than to their parents.
Children should be taught to be truthful without being prejudiced. The parent must ensure that the child’s intellect is not clogged with prejudice and inhibition. In today’s world, people have prejudice about race, religion, professions and so many other things. Children must be able to communicate and be friendly with everyone.
It is important to ensure that children have the required exposure to broaden their vision and deepen their roots. It’s often seen that children who are not taught ethical and religious values feel lost in middle age, like uprooted trees. Youngsters in the west are so lost that they go in search of their roots. Modernization is a natural phenomenon. It is like a tree branching out. That’s why parents should make sure that their children have strong roots before they branch out. A cultural and spiritual foundation is vital to helping a child grow up to become an intelligent and unbiased individual.
It’s absolutely critical that children get a multi-cultural, multi-religious education. This is vital to avoid fanaticism and religious terrorism.
If a child goes up knowing a little bit about all other religions, cultures and customs, then there will be a sense of belonging with everybody. I feel that when every child in the world learns a little bit about every other religion, the child will not have inhibitions or hatred Towards other religions or cultures.
Teachers, gurus and mentors used to play the role of counselors. Increasingly, this is not available to children. Parents, will have to play the dual role of motivator and counselor. It is like riding a horse: you hold the reins tight and yet let it loose frequently.
By H. H. Sri Sri Ravishankar

ॐ शांति शांति शांति ||

ॐ शांति शांति शांति ||

असतो मा सद्गमय |
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ||
मृत्योर् मा अमृतं गमय |
ॐ शांति शांति शांति ||

Asato maa Sat gamaya
Tamaso maa Jyotir gamaya
Mrityor maa Amritam gamaya
Om Shaanti Shaanti Shaanti

Lead me from the Unreal to Real,
Lead me from Darkness to Light,
Lead me from Death to Immortality,
OM Peace, Peace, Peace.

This shloka is extracted from Brihad-aaranyaka-upanishad (1.3.28), contained within Shatapatha-braahmana, belonging to shukla-Yajur-Veda!!!

ॐ शांति शांति शांति ||

Sarvey Gurudev Namah ll _ Jai Guru Dev

Gurubrahma Guruvishnu

Gururdevo Maheshwaraha |

Guruhu sakshaat Parambrahman

tasmai Shrigurave namaha ||

GLORY OF THE GURU

The Hindu shastras have hailed such a GURU immeasurably:

SKANDA PURANA -GURUGITA

Above famous verse known by heart by all Hindu children glorifies the GURU:

"The GURU is Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva), veneration to the GURU who is Parabrahman manifest."

The second line of the couplet does not literally mean that the GURU becomes Parabrahman - God, rather he is venerated as if God is manifesting through him.

On this day of GURU PURNIMA, disciples introspect, and resolve to offer pujan and reverence to the GURU in mind, action and speech; implicitly obey his unvoiced wishes, commands, serving him as one would God and lauding his glory and redemptive attributes.

Bhagwan Ved Vyas The day of full moon, PURNIMA, in the month of Ashadh is traditionally celebrated as GURUPURNIMA by Hindus. Also known as Vyas PURNIMA, the day is celebrated in remembrance and veneration to sage Ved Vyas. He is the Adi (original) GURU of the Hindu Dharma, who classified the Vedas, wrote the eighteen Puranas and the Mahabharat.

ROLE OF GURU IN LIFE

The Sanskrit word "Gu" means darkness or ignorance. "Ru" denotes the remover of that darkness. Therefore one who removes darkness of our ignorance is a GURU.

Only he who removes our ultimate darkness, known as Maya, and.

who inspires and guides us on to the path of God-realization is the true GURU.

Students also refer to their school teacher or college lecturer as GURU. The connotation of the word GURU in this case is one who imparts temporal knowledge (Apara Vidya) and is thus accordingly offered respect.

A spiritual aspirant, no matter how brilliant, can never attain such knowledge by his own endeavor. This is stipulated in the Shrimad Bhagwatam in which Jadbharat reveals to king Rahugan :

"O Rahugan! One cannot attain knowledge of Atma and Paramatma by performing penance, sacrifices, renunciation, Vedic study or worshipping deities of water, fire or the sun.

But when the dust from the feet of a satpurush (God-realized GURU) sprinkles on our heads, then we can surely attain this knowledge."

"If a person, despite possessing: a handsome, disease-free body, fame, a mountain of wealth, and even if he has studied the Vedas and all other scriptures, and has himself composed many scriptures, but has not surrendered himself at the feet of a GURU, then he has achieved nothing, nothing, nothing & finally also nothing."

The GURU plays a vital role in boosting the aspirant frequently, when he loses track, becomes despondent or simply runs out of steam. The aspirant is thus better able to obey the GURU if he understands the GURU'S GLORY.

In the presence of the GURU you become more alive. The pinnacle of intellect is awakened intelligence.
The GURU invokes not only intelligence but also the intellect in you. Knowledge may not invoke intelligence, but in intelligence, knowledge is inherent.

Whether you like it or not, the GURU principle pervades your life. Your mother is your first GURU and then from science to spirituality, from birth to death, GURU principle permeates your life.

There is a GURU for every discipline - a religious GURU (dharma), a family_GURU (kula), a raj_guru (GURU for the kingdom), a vidya_GURU (GURU for a particular discipline)and a sat_GURU (spiritual GURU).

In the Upanishads five signs of SAT GURU are mentioned. In the presence of the SAT GURU; Knowledge flourishes (Gyana raksha); Sorrow diminishes (Dukha kshaya); Joy wells up without any reason (Sukha aavirbhava); Abundance dawns (Samriddhi); All talents manifest (Sarva samvardhan).

Mind is connected with the moon and full moon is a symbol of completion and pinnacle of celebration.

Among the12-13 full moons in a year the vaishakha full moon is dedicated to Buddha (his birth and enlightenment), jyeshtha full moon to mother earth and .

The aashadha full moon is dedicated to the memory of masters and

this is GURU - PURNIMA.

GURUPURNIMA is also called Vyasa PURNIMA. Vyasa is the embodiment of scriptural knowledge as well as experience. When a GURU or acharya delivers a talk, the seat is called Vyasa peetha.

Vyasa is familiar with every avenue of existence, both material and spiritual. There is a saying Vyaso chishtam jagat sarwam that means there is nothing under the sun that Vyasa has not touched upon.

As no sanchita karma is left in an embodied GURU, self shines through, which becomes very obvious in the presence of the GURU. But all those qualities that you appreciate in a GURU are also in your very nature.

Being with the GURU is like being with one's higher self. GURU, GOD AND ONE'S OWN SELF are synonymous.

Often one recognises wisdom but sees a gap between wisdom and one's own life. The purpose of becoming a disciple is to bridge that gap. Being with a GURU means spontaneous integration of life and wisdom. Respecting the GURU simply means honoring your innermost nature.

GURUPURNIMA is the day when the disciple wakes up in his fullness and in the wakefulness he can't be but grateful. This gratitude is not of dwaita (you and me), but of advaita.

It is not a river moving from somewhere to somewhere, but is the ocean moving within itself. So, gratefulness on GURU-PURNIMA symbolises that fullness.

The purpose of the GURU PURNIMA celebration is to turn back and review and see in this last one year
how much one has progressed in life. For a seeker, GURU PURNIMA is a day of significance.

It is the day to review one's progress on the spiritual path and renew one's determination and focus on the goal.

As the full moon rises and sets, tears of gratitude arise and repose into the vastness of one's own self.

Sarvey Gurudev Namah ll

Om pUrNamadah pUrNamidam

Om pUrNamadah pUrNamidam pUrNAt pUrNamudachyate pUrNasya pUrNamAdAyapUrNamevAvashiShyateOm shAntih, shAntih, shAntihi

[Completeness is that, completeness is this,from completeness, completeness comes forth.Completeness from completeness taken away,completeness to completeness added,completeness alone remains.Peace, peace, peace!]

With our Vedantic knowledge, let us try to find out what the Infinite or Infinity is not or has not:
Infinity is unending. It never therefore began.
Infinity being boundless, it cannot have an outside. There is therefore no question of a second infinity. It is, therefore, one without a second.
Infinity therefore has no antonyms.
When there is no outside, no inside is warranted. So, infinity is without parts or contents.
When there are no parts, no separation is generated. Thus, infinity is spacelessness.
As space and time go hand in hand, infinity is timelessness too.
Infinity is thus fullness or completeness; nothing is there to add to it; nothing can be taken out from it; no outside agency can exist that can do the addition or subtraction!
Infinity alone remains.
Vedanta says that the experience of separation is an error and the multiplicity or duality generated thereby is non-real. The different entities objectified, including the limited me with all my internalizations, are mithyA. The seeming reality of duality is thus negated.
In contrast, mathematics, the first systematic language of ignorance, wants infinity to serve it as its house-maid while it does book-keeping for mithyA – the non-reality of finitude.(Madathil Nair)

http://www.advaitin.net/Discussion%20Topics/purnamadah%2520shanti-patha.pdf

Mahatma Gandhi's seven social deadly sins

You have heard of the seven deadly sins:
Pride, lust, envy, greed, sloth, wrath and gluttony.
These are concerned with an individual's misbehavior.
But recently I saw another list from Mohandas Gandhi. These are described by Gandhi as the seven social deadly sins.

They are striking in their implications. I will list them and make a brief comment on each.

• Politics without principle. It seems that the lack of principle here is that one will do anything to get elected. And after being elected, one will do or say anything, take any bribe, bend any law to remain in office. Politics becomes a self- serving enterprise.

• Wealth without work. This brings to mind, among others, a certain hotel heiress, whose life has been corrupted by having it handed to her on a silver platter. I recommend the movie "The Ultimate Gift" as a corrective for this social sin. Gandhi himself set aside time for manual labor - perhaps as a reminder that he was not above the rest of humanity.

• Commerce without morality. Morality means having a sense of right and wrong. But to have a moral sense, one must have a conscience. Making and selling toys with high amounts of lead to enhance the bottom line shows a lack of morality. Devouring the natural resources of the planet and holding these resources hostage indicates that a company's bottom line has gone too low.

• Pleasure without conscience. Hedonism is a sister to lust. The lack of conscience in this case is that life is about my gratification. Everything, everybody serves to titillate and pleasure me. To degrade others, to use others - whether it's pornography or putting two people in a cage to pound one another - inevitably ends up degrading those who take pleasure in such activities. When an entire society, or individuals in a family, pursue this lifestyle, there is, to use a phrase, "the devil to pay."

• Education without character. In many instances, our "higher" education has become a job factory. Our classrooms produce people who are technology whizzes, but who will never read a book or newspaper. Nor will they understand the great issues that formed our society, and those same issues which continue to face our society. Without a grounding in the humanities, without being exposed to ideas and thinkers that form character, we can be one dimensional. That is, we have a job but no soul.

• Science without humanity. When the science for the atomic bomb was developed someone said that we had let the genie out of the bottle. Atomic energy has been a great boon for humanity as well as a great threat. We are on the verge of cloning humans. We have designer jeans to suit our taste. Will we have designer babies to suit our taste? The key here is "humanity." Will we serve our human needs, or will Mr. Hyde be the result of Dr. Jekyl's experiments?

• Worship without sacrifice. This seems to me to be the case when religion becomes entertainment. Which church has the biggest orchestra and can send chills down my spine? This seems to be the case when we preachers only preach the prosperity gospel. This seems to be the case when prophets cease being prophetic and tell people only what they want to hear. The central message is: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. We are called to die and rise with Christ. As with Christ that necessarily involves sacrifice.

Gandhi, although he was not a Christian, read the Gospels of Christ more than most people. The message of Christ inspired Gandhi to be a reformed and visionary. Gandhi's seven deadly social sins are food for thought indeed.
By Father Fred Nijem is the priest and pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Warner Robins.

Health is Wealth

1. Add just one fruit or veggie serving daily. Get comfortable with that, then add an extra serving until you reach 8 to 10 a day.
2. Eat at least two servings of a fruit or veggie at every meal.
3. Resolve never to supersize your food portions -- unless you want to supersize your clothes.
4. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. Whenever you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.
5. Start eating a big breakfast. It helps you eat fewer total calories throughout the day.
6. Make sure your plate is half veggies and/or fruit at both lunch and dinner.
Are There Any Easy Tricks to Help Me Cut Calories?
7. Eating out? Halve it, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage and dessert.
8. When dining out, make it automatic: Order one dessert to share.
9. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
10. See what you eat. Plate your food instead of eating out of the jar or bag.
11. Eat the low-cal items on your plate first, then graduate. Start with salads, veggies, and broth soups, and eat meats and starches last. By the time you get to them, you'll be full enough to be content with smaller portions of the high-calorie choices.
12. Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you'll lose 5 lbs in a year.
13. Juice has as many calories, ounce for ounce, as soda. Set a limit of one 8-oz glass of fruit juice a day.
14. Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice.
15. Keep a food journal. It really works wonders.
16. Follow the Chinese saying: "Eat until you are eight-tenths full."
17. Use mustard instead of mayo.
18. Eat more soup. The noncreamy ones are filling but low-cal.
19. Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lbs in a year.
20. Take your lunch to work.
21. Sit when you eat.
22. Dilute juice with water.
23. Have mostly veggies for lunch.
24. Eat at home.
25. Limit alcohol to weekends.