Do your best, the rest will be taken care of

                         Do your best, the rest will be taken care of.


     Faith and perseverance can achieve anything in life. Once a deer ran very fast, far away from the forest and found a beautiful meadow under a big tree on the outskirts. She was very tired , could not run further and found that green grassy place, a suitable one for giving birth to her child. Because she never wanted to get the baby frightened and devoured by the wild animals. She wanted to see the child in a safe place free from dangers and in a cheerful atmosphere. It was evening. The mother deer was exhausted and wanted to see her beautiful child. For a mother, there’s nothing more rewarding, more beautiful, more meaningful than to witness the birth of her child, the unique gift of the Almighty creator. The mother deer’s main concern was to see the child in a cheerful atmosphere. She saw from a distance, a hunter was aiming an arrow to shoot her. A tiger was coming out from the deep forest towards her. She was very tired, but not panicky. Her main concern was her duty to protect the child. She was not in a position to carry the child and run away fast from there. She simply closed her eyes as if praying to the Almighty, and with some inner strength , concentrated solely on her new born. Suddenly the clouds gathered in the sky with lighening and heavy thunder. The lightening struck the hunter killing him, his arrow missed the target deer and went piercing the tiger which fell down dead.  The deer was safe under the protection of the great tree.It started raining. The cool drops of rain removed the tiredness of the mother deer. She never bothered about the dangers surrounding her, but was intent on performing her duty. She was saved by the kind ‘Nature’ herself.

Obstacles are a part of life. They have to be there to test the strength of the doer. If things are achieved easily, they have no meaning, no value. Obstacles look frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. That is why it is said, if one has good faith and perseverance in performing one’s duty joyfully and peacefully, the forces of Nature conspire together to help the person achieve success. As the great poet Goethe said  " Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid." One should never bother about obstacles. Obstacles become barriers only when you bow down to it.

Without obstacles, life has no charm. It is the challenges and obstacles that bring out the best in man.

Human mind and the Earth’s geomagnetic field

                            Human mind and the Earth’s geomagnetic field

         King Bhoja of Dhara country was a king known for his justice and love for his subjects.

        Once people complained that wild animals were entering into the kingdom , resulting in the destruction of the lives and property. The king with some of his ministers and a small army went into the forest and cleared the place by driving out the wild animals from the outskirts of the country. Just outside the outskirts of the forest, the king and the tired men saw a beautiful garden with all kinds of fresh fruits. The king ordered his men to go and ask the owner about buying some of his fruits when they heard a shout from above. They saw a man standing on the top of an elevated ground and driving away the birds which were trying to enter into the garden. The man seemed to be very happy and shouted from the top saying,’ I am the owner of this garden. All of you seem to be tired. Please come in, help yourself with these delicious fruits.’ The king felt happy and ordered his men to go inside the garden. When they along with the king went inside, they felt some unusual soothing calmness pervading everywhere. They enjoyed eating the lovely and juicy fruits in the garden. Some were plucking the fruits, suddenly they saw the owner coming down and shouting at them, ‘ you thieves ! You look rich and you are stealing fruits from a poor gardener like me. The king and his men were shocked at this. The king said, ‘ Sir ! You only invited us. With your permission, we entered the garden and enjoying your fruits cherishing your kind hospitality. The owner-gardener looked shocked and bewildered, ‘ Me ? I asked to take the fruits ? I am taking care of the garden and sell the fruits for money. It is my livelihood. How can I give you free ? Am I a fool ? Saying thus, when the man saw the birds above he ran to the elevated ground to chase away the birds. From there, feeling happy the man smilingly asked the people to enjoy the fruits. When the retinue of the king started partaking the fruits, the same man came down and started scolding them . The behavior of  the gardener looked very strange. The intelligent king felt and concluded that there is some mystery behind that elevated place standing on which the man shows his hospitality and magnanimity and when he is away from that place he behaves like an ordinary, stingy person. The king revealed his identity by showing his royal insignia namely the ring and bought the garden at a high price and rewarded the gardener with ample riches.

When the king got the elevated ground dug, he found the golden throne of  the King  Vikramaditya with thirty two steps adorned with sculpted divine damsels , which became alive narrating the tales of  

wise Vikramaditya when the king Bhoja tried to ascend on each of the steps. King realised that the greatness and magnanimity of Vikramaditya got reflected in the behavior of  the gardener whenever he stood on that elevated ground. On the normal ground, he behaved like an ordinary man.

There is a natural harmonic relatioship between the earth and human beings. Even in the Vastu shastra, construction of houses and buildings on the soil containing ant hills, bones, skeletons is prohibited. Similarly lands near the highway, cemetry, rivers are not recommended for building houses.

Human mind and brain have connection with the Earth’s geomagnetic field. Since the animals live close to the earth, natural disturbances like earthquakes, tsunami, before these happen, is sensed by them and is reflected in their strange, abnormal behavior.

In meditation also, one becomes one with Nature by completely sublimating the ego by surrendering oneself to God or Universal Consciousness and this enables the mind to get tuned to the gravitational
field of the earth resulting in mditation and complete absorption. Scientists believe that the human brain evolved in such a manner that the earth’s gravity has influenced the alpha wave production.

When one is close to nature, he experiences soothing calmness and unique joy within himself.

Since the wave frequency of the earth’s geomagnetic field may vary from place to place, this could be the reason that some places may be more conducive to creating posive thoughts and creativity eliminating evil and negative thoughts from the mind. In ancient times, this could have the reason for selecting centers for pilgrimage in all directions , facilitating purity of the mind, understanding cultures of people and integration of the world.

Is man the possessor of riches or trustee of the riches ?

                            Is man the possessor of riches or trustee of the riches ?



      Man is very ambitious and thinks whatever he gets belongs to him only. At times, he becomes so egoistic that barriers are created between man and man. He loses the joy of enjoying the real beautiful world and gets caught in his narrow web. But riches are not ever-lasting in life. But the human touch and human contact is above this and the most precious possession to be experienced. That he also knows. The question is not that man should not be ambitious or do anything extraordinary or earn enormous wealth. He should be ambitious, do good and great things and earn enormous wealth in a righteous manner. In fact, all should work according to their talent and capacity happily. But he should not allow ego to come into play. On the other hand, his things should be for his comforts and also something for sharing with humanity also, which is his big family. Nature is a great teacher. The rivers flow for others, they don’t drink their water.Trees produce fruits not for their eating but for others. Even the farmers use their knowledge in growing plants. They cannot create flowers, fruits or grains. They are just instruments. Like that ,we are also instruments of the creator in achieving various things.The greed should be nipped and live and let live policy should be the guideline of man’s life. The human qualities of love, kindness, charity and other noble qualities should be the foundation of his wealth. When the pride and ego are curbed, everything and everyone will be his only. If this spirit pervades, there is no poor man, no rich man. This is what man’s life in this world is meant for.
Rabia, the woman saint of Islam is known for her unflinching devotion to the Divine. Once a rich man offered money to Rabia. She told him that she was ashamed to ask for wordly things even from the Divine, to whom everything belonged. How then could she ask or take money from a person to whom the money did not belong ?

Getting at fascinating facts from the kingdom of Fauna

                          Getting at fascinating facts from the kingdom of Fauna

• Studies show that the farmers who called their cows by name reported higher milk yield than those who did not.
• No two tigers ever have the same stripes and this is how individual tiger can be identified.
• The female lion does most of hunting.
• Birds can recognize landmarks.
• A camel’s hump stores fat rather than water.
• Sheep prefer to drink running water.
• Rats multiply so quickly that in eighteen months, two rats could have over one million descendants.
• A mole can dig a tunnel about thirty feet long in just one night.
• The crows can remember the faces of humans who pose a threat to them. They retain those memories.
• A group of horses will not go to sleep at the same time- at least one of them will stay awake to look out for others.
• When ants find food, they lay down a chemical trail, called pheromone, so that other ants can find their way from the nest to the food source.
• The swans have monogamous marriages that last for many years. If one swan dies, its partner may remain celebate and mourn its mate for several mating seasons.

News from the kingdom of Flora

                                News from the kingdom of Flora

•  The darker the shell of the pumpkin, the longer the pumpkin lasts.
•   Oranges and strawberries do not ripen after being picked. Avocados and bananas do.
•   To speed up ripening of a pineapple, stand it upside down ( on the leafy end). 

•    The fragrance of flowers is due to the essence of oil which they produce.
•     One cup of raw kale contains more vitamin C than one orange 

•       The darker green a vegetable is, the more vitamin C it contains.
•       Blackberries are a natural source of vitamin K, which helps with muscle relaxation. 

•     Bananas are actually herbs. Bananas die after fruiting, like all herbs do. In India, once the bunch of fully grown raw bananas or fruits are plucked, the tree is cutdown and the inner white stem is taken out after peeling off the green layers of the tree ,and is used as a vegetable for cooking various nutrious dishes.
•  Some seeds stay alive for only a few days and after that they won’t sprout at all. Some other seeds need a rest period before they can sprout.         

•  The best fertilizer for the growth of the plants is the reflection of the gardener. That is to say that the gardener should go to look at them daily and attend to their needs with love and care. This is good both for the gardener and the plants. One can notice the joy of physical and mental growth reflected in both the thing grown and the grower. This is a gift and beauty of Nature.

A glimpse into the past

                              A glimpse into the past

• Early Egyptians created a compound for reversing baldness using the fat of crocodiles, goats, snakes, cats, lions and hippopotamus.
• The Romans had many techniques for dyeing the hair. They would use vinegar, berries, or crushed nutshells. They also used the henna , a plant that would produce a reddish brown dye. One of the stronger concoctions for dyeing hair was made from leeches mixed with vinegar. The mixture would be allowed to ferment and after two months they would apply to their hair. After letting it bake in the sun , it would turn the hair black.
• In the traditional Inca cuisine, different types of edible clays were used as ingredients in sauces. They provided an additional intake of minerals to the diet and also detoxification.
• In ancient Greece, sick people slept in ‘ medicine temples ‘ to dream about how to get better.
• In olden days live ant heads were used as stitches in surgery as mentioned in Sushruta samhita.
• Ancient Romans believed that lemons would provide an antidote for any and all poisons.
• Chocolate was used as a medicine during the eighteenth century. It was believed that chocolate could cure a stomach ache.
• Pretzels were invented by an Italian monk who used the treats as a bribe to get kids to memorize sciptures.
• It is believed that during the tenth century, Japanese Buddhists discovered tofu while on a missionary work in China. Vows taken by the Buddhists prevent them from eating meat, thus tofu became a nutritious dietary supplement. Over the years, the Japanese cultivated soybeans resulting in fine quality of tofu.
• Pumpkin carving was initially an Irish tradition.
• The game of marbles dates back to the Stone Age and is found in almost every culture.
• The game “ Snakes and Ladders” originated in India. Intially , the game was invented as a moral lesson to be taught to children about karma. People doing good works get elevated to higher realms through ladders and people doing bad actions are thrown down through the mouth of snakes into the lower regions. The game was earlier known as “Swarga patala”and “ Moksha patala”.

The discovery of joy

                                           The discovery of joy



         Once in a hermitage, the disciples prepared sweets known as laddus on the eve of some festival for worship. They placed them in a big plate. Their next worry was how to prevent ants from entering the sweet balls, because ants have such an unique power to be drawn to sweets that they appear from nowhere that to in swarms. The teacher understood their problem and to solve it, he put a lot of sugar grains at a distance around the plate. The students were perplexed. Soon their eyes fell on the armies of ants coming to the sugar crystals, trying to carry them and go back without even looking at the sweet balls.
The teacher smilingly explained to the students, 'Look, some people like ants are satisfied with external things and don't try to look beyond for better ones available.'

This world also has a beautiful exterior and a blissful interior. The human being is endowed with senses which have the outgoing tendencies. Mind follows the senses only. So, it is but natural for most of the people to get satisfied with external appearances only. They are carried away by the show. But show is not the substance. A swine notices only the mud and mire in the pond that also bears the lotus. A camel looks at the thorns only even in a beautiful garden. Such people are happy with external things like money and comfortable living. Such people get easily dejected or upset with obstacles in the way and cannot get over them. They curse the life and blame the world. But world is more than that. No use blaming it. You must dive deep into the sea to get the pearls. What good does it do to dabble among the waves near the shore and assert and cry that the sea has no pearls?

The same man has been given a powerful mind and the power of discrimination. But very few, wise men strive to go deeper for the elixir of life. When you take the peel of a banana, you can enjoy the sweetness of the fruit. If you break the harsh outer shell of the coconut, you get the sweet,healthy coconut water and white fleshy coconut to relish. It is the case with everything whether trees, or animals, or birds or subjects or any art or any game. Where there is absorption deeper into the thing, you can find joy. The more a man explores, the more rare things illumine him. There is a mystery underlying in the beauty of this universe. One can find the master stroke of the art of the creator in everything created. For that you need the inner eye. Once you realize and experience this, life is nothing but a joy, joy and joy only.For such a realized soul, seemingly called obstacles are nothing  but stepping stones to joy only. The goal of life is to realize oneself in everything, merging himself into eternal bliss and peace.
Learn to see things and what's beyond. You will be amazed at how much you missed along the way. Every single moment, it is a learning experience, every single moment, you'll discover something new.
If a man explores only by much searching and mining ,are gold and diamonds obtained and man can find everything truth connected with his being if he digs deep into the mine of his soul.

To put it in the words of Albert Einstein,

" The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious . It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger , who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."