SVN YR SULE

 a

A

What are the most effective spiritual practices for creating inner peace?

I remember reading this story somewhere.

A man locked his house and was on his way on a bus to his office.

Suddenly he received a call telling him that his house was on fire.

He panicked, got off the bus, took a lift, and rushed home.

His heart was palpitating all the time, stressed, praying to all the Gods, and chanting all the mantras that he could munch.

On reaching home, he found that it was the neighbor’s house that was on fire, and it was being doused effectively.

All his stress vanished instantly………………….. it was just the neighbor’s house. Sigh!

Peace comes from psychological detachment.

Your mind is the sole repository of all your attachments.

Practice a psychological space between your awareness and your mind.

If you can, practice directly, and if you cannot, practice techniques beginning from the Pranayama.

A

HIE NN 

A

WITCON 

Witness consciousness or Sakshi Bhava is not a state.

It is awareness of whatever state the being may be experiencing.

It’s on top of experiences as an intelligent and detached abstraction. Sorry for the verbosity.

It cannot be practiced directly. It is not the same as mindfulness. Not even remotely.

It culminates from Sadhana and/or Grace.

Life situations do not matter to it.

It is the screen on which movie is played.

It doesn’t matter if it is a fire scene or flood scene. The screen is neither burnt nor drenched.

A

RM 

From ~~~ Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, T.54

Bhagavan.:

There is no help in the change of environment.

The obstacle is the mind.

It must be got over whether at home or in the forest.

If you can do it in the forest, why not in the home?

Therefore why change the environment?

Your efforts can be made even now,

in whatever environment you may be.

A

PURSUIT OF CALM

A

Umwelt

noun

• 1.(in ethology) the world as it is experienced by a particular organism:"the worlds they perceive, their Umwelten, are all different"

A

RD BK HW NT TO AGE 

A

According to one industry group, 60 percent of Americans sixty-five and older are pursuing anti-aging interventions,13 yet, according to the director of the Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, in almost all instances, these interventions are not supported by science.14 They sound like they are, though. Scientific breakthroughs exploited by the sensationalist press have long been opportunistically repackaged by profiteers

A

“old-line philosophy” that “aging is inevitable, nothing can be done, get used to it, grow old and die.

A

From a study of more than 42,000 consecutive autopsies, centenarians—those who lived at least to one hundred—were found to have succumbed to diseases in 100 percent of the cases examined. Though most were perceived, even by their physicians, to have been healthy just prior to death, not one “died of old age.” They died from disease, most commonly heart attacks.34 Similar results were found from other autopsy series of centenarians35 and those over eighty-five, an age bracket referred to in the medical literature as the “oldest old.”

A

Does Vishnu really exist as an individual personality or is he just a concept made by Hindu sages to explain preservance in the universe?

On my behalf let me quote Sri Adi Shankaracharya to explain the meaning of Vishnu Tattwa.

Vishnu Sahasranama Bhasya by Adi Shankaracharya:

60- Pratardanah

Commentary:

He is the eater of the movable and immovable ones

It means that Vishnu is the point of dissolution of everything that is perceivable, visible or that, which is produced.

49- Padmanabhah

Commentary:

Lotus ( symbolises ) source of all the Universe, which source is in his navel. The ( Taittiriya Samhita 4-6-2 ) says : "In the navel of Aja all this is established"

Vishnu is called Aja which means unborn. The name ‘Padmanabh’, belonging to Lord Vishnu, indicates that he is origination point of everything perceivable, visible or that, which is produced.

Now, the three principal deities or principles, Brahma ( symbolising Creation ), Vishnu ( symbolising Preservation ) and Rudra ( symbolising Destruction ) are the manifested forms of Lord Vishnu.

137- Chaturatma

Commentary:

He has four manifestations during evolution. The
Vishnu Pr. (1-22) says : " Brahma, Daksha, and others, time, and all creatures are the (four) energies of Hari which
are the causes of creation. Vishnu, Manu and others, time, and all creatures are the ffoar) energies of Vishnu for protection. Rudra, the destroying fire, death, and all crea-
tures are the four energies of Janardana for universal
dissolution."

Vishnu is not the object of senses. He is beyond touch, sound, taste, sight, etc.

169- Atindriyah

Commentary:

As he is not sound, etc., that are the objects of senses. The S'ruti (Kath. Up., 3-15) says: "He is soundless, untouched."

He is formless. He is not manifested.

129- Avyangah

Commentary:

In his wisdom, etc. ; or it means the unmanifested. Lord (Bh. G., 2-15) says : " He is unmanifested."

He is manifested into everything. He manifested himself. He is self-born.

38- Svayambhuh

Commentary:

Manu ( I-7 ) says : "He manifested himself" : because he is foremost of all : or self-born : He is both the persons who is above others as well as others. The Shruti ( Isa Upanishad 8 ) says "He is Omnipresent, Self existent"

He is free from attributes or qualities that we observe or imagine ( since he is beyond the comprehension ).

He is multiform. He appears as he wills.

240- Vibhuh

Commentary:

As Hiranyagarbha and others. The S'ruti"(Mun. Up.,
1-6) says : " He is eternal and multiform."

10- Putatma

Commentary:

The ( Svetasvatara Upanishad 6-11 ) says: "He is pure and devoid of qualities"

He is SELF of all beings. Hence, He is called Atman.

8- Bhutatma

Commentary:

Self. The inner ruler of beings. The Shruti ( Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5-7-4 ) says: "This is thy self, the inner ruler and immortal being"

A

 Because old age is the greatest risk factor for most of our killer diseases,45 one could argue that the leading cause of death is actually aging

A

LEELA

What is the purpose of the creation of this world?

Hindus call it leela.

Buddhists call it samsara.

I like the word leela - a play.

This world is a play of opposite energies - male and female, yin and yang, good and bad, day and night.

And…

Your life is also a play - don't try to find the purpose. Just relax and enjoy the journey.

A

The reason we focus on things like cholesterol is that it is a modifiable risk factor, but what if the rate of aging was modifiable, too?

a

Even if all forms of cancer were eliminated, the average life expectancy in the United States would only go up about three years.53 Why? Because dodging cancer would just mean delaying death from something like a heart attack or stroke. If one age-related ailment doesn’t get us, another will. Rather than playing “whack-a-mole” by tackling each disease separately, progress in decelerating aging could address all these issues simultaneously

A