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The Magic of Nature…

 

The magic of nature is one of the most important fundamental things in the Universe, because it is required for life to exist. Nature’s ways of creating things are very magical as it uses the power of imagination and thought to manifest energy into matter.For you to understand what I mean when I say the “magic of nature,” you will have to understand how nature creates life at the most fundamental levels.If we want to understand how the material world is created and what keeps it in a perpetual motion, we need to study the language of the living energy codes of matter, which is made of light, sound, frequency and vibration. Most of us know that the material world is made of matter, but we do not understand the mechanics behind it. 
 
The significance of nature should be understood in this way that our biological mother keeps us for only 9 months in her womb but Mother Nature[planet Earth] thereafter nurtures us for the remaining of our lives till we reach our ends.We should think of and respect Mother Nature in the same way that we look after and protect our own biological mother.Mother Nature is the one who gives us air to breathe,water to drink,food to eat,warmth,climatic changes causing seasons and the resources essential for the survival of our human race. But we humans have always considered this Planet Earth / Mother Nature as a material object to be used and not as a source of Creation.We should be pained on seeing exploitation of resources,deforestation and not leave the protection of Mother Nature in the hands of the government only. We need to become more sensitive & grateful towards our Mother Nature ;we should leave no stone unturned in protecting and maintaining the ecological balance Thereby,we would be filled with naturalistic wisdom and become responsible towards the source of all creation and existence.Currently we have become complacent and assume that since we humans are working hard,earning our livelihoods and creating comfortable lives. But the actual order and alignment can only be provided by the Existence / Mother Nature which conducts all the events and processes that cannot be created by humans.
 
I would like to share an incident from the life of Shivaji Maharaj to further explain the supremacy of the Existence over human efforts.Once he had come to meet his guru Swami Raamdas and upon being asked by his guru that how was everything and if the subjects were happy in his kingdom. To which Shivaji Maharaj replied in a boastful manner that under his able rule his subjects were very happy without any dearth of food,water and contentment.Being his guru,Swami Raamdas was quick to realize that this was an egoistic reply filled with false pride coming from Shivaji Maharaj.So,smilingly the Guru with his foot moved a nearby stone ; from underneath a small frog jumped away.To this the Guru asked Shivaji Maharaj that if his able rule was providing for this small frog also. On hearing this, Shivaji Maharaj understood his folly ; with tearful eyes he fell onto the feet of Guru Raamdas and begged for his forgiveness. His Guru further explained that it was only because of the Existence/Mother Nature that we as humans are able to live and enjoy the ample resources. We humans are mere facilitators ; the entire Existence is the actual creator & controller.

Improve Concentration through Meditation…

 

I would start by elaborating the literal meaning of the word Concentration -this is the ability to direct one’s attention in accordance with one’s will. It means control of the attention. It is the ability to focus the mind on one subject, object or thought, and at the same time exclude from the mind every other unrelated thoughts, ideas, feelings and sensations.
 
Concentration and meditation are two mental states of mind often confused with each other. Concentration relies on self-control and mind focusing. It usually involves a prolonged focus and consciousness of the mind. It involves the inner world (the person’s mind) and the outer world (the person’s environment).In the act of concentrating, there is the act of concentration on the object. There is also a limit on concentration. It has a start and a finished stage. Often concentration causes exhaustion and frustration, especially if the desired effect is not achieved.On the other hand, meditation is also a state of mind. Meditation is often the opposite of concentration. The nature of meditation is not an unfocused mind but an uncluttered mind. Unlike concentration, there is less or no brain activity when performing this function.
I would also mention here that the actual purpose of concentration is relaxation of our mind such that it may be emptied out of all vague thoughts and can thereby focus on the particular task at hand.  
But if we just undertake an activity to concentrate onto a particular object / subject,we will start feeling strained and our eyes would start paining.So,the ideal way is of relaxation through meditation.This also ensures being stress free and maximum energy concentration for better & lasting memory.
 
Hereby, I would like to share a small activity for concentrating our energies internally which just takes few minutes of our time.Starting with your eyes closed,we need to inhale;keeping the breath inside,we need to start counting and then exhale only when we are no longer able to keep the breath inside.Thereafter,the second step is to exhale the breath ;start counting and inhale only when it becomes unbearable.Practice and repeat these two steps for 5 minutes daily and this would make certain that our inherent energies would start getting concentrated internally.The collated energies would then be within our control and at our disposal as per requirements.This technique allows our thoughts to be stable as well and I would like to name this state to be that of perfect Synchronisation / Alignment.

The secret for healthy relationships…

 

Healthy relationships with our partner and family members can enhance our life and make everyone feel good about themselves. They don’t just happen though; healthy relationships take time to build and need work to keep them healthy. The more positive effort that you put into a relationship, the healthier it would become. 
 
I would share few instances that I have come across while interacting with the current generation.They keep complaining about being unable to cope up with their relationships. The challenge is that they have started to search for business opportunities within relationships.The new fad of Multi-Level Marketing,selling life insurance or inhouse business schemes has further complicated the already strained relations where people tend to make members out of their uncles/relatives for fringe monetary benefits.This trend has pushed the love out of our otherwise cordial relationships.We need to increase the feeling of bonding & love in our relations.The best thing would be to build lasting relations while doing our businesses. We should through our integrity and open communications- try and convert the customer in our businesses into our close confidante.Such a customer would then start to respect,love and support us.Hence,I would highly recommend you to develop relations within the business.
 
A real life example in the current scenario is the complaint of the new-age moms that their kid/children are not attached to them.Their grouse is that their kids have become self-centred and do not pay heed to motherly concern.The kids try to spend more time away from mothers and with their friends circle.This pains the mothers no end.I would like to mention here the analogy given in a lighter vein by a very famous personality that -earlier the mother’s used to wipe off the running nose of their kids with the loose end of their sarees and nowadays in contrast,the new-age mom would start searching for tissue papers on seeing the same.
 
I would like to share a small story to make you further understand the above concept- One day,Rukmani asked Lord Krishna that between his two sisters namely;Subhadra and Draupadi,what made him more attached to Draupadi. Rukmani mentioned that she knew very well that Lord Krishna loved them both equally, but the Lord was all praise for Draupadi always. On hearing this,the Lord asked Rukmani to follow him as he first reached the palace,intentionally pricked his index finger and it started bleeding.The Lord called out to Subhadra to come fast and see that his finder was bleeding.On seeing this, Subhadra panicked ; started running around & calling out her servants to rush along with first-aid to attend to the bleeding finger. Soon after, Lord Krishna moved to the adjacent room of Draupadi and on seeing the bleeding finger of the Lord, without losing a moment,she tore a piece of cloth from her saree and immediately bandaged the finger with it to stop the blood flow.Rukmani witnessed both the events and said that now she clearly had understood why Draupadi was more close to the Lord.
 
 Hence, to build and sustain healthy relationships,we should invest our time,appreciate others efforts,develop our people skills,love unconditionally,be empathetic and avoid gossiping.People who have healthy relationships are more likely to feel happier and satisfied with their lives. 

The Power of a Grateful Heart…

 

                      We have so much to be grateful for in this life every day. But reality is that, sometimes the struggles and worries give more room to sadness than to a heart full of thanks. Sadness is the human emotion that all people feel at certain times during their lives. Feeling sad is a natural reaction to situations that cause emotional upset or pain. There are varying degrees of sadness. But like other emotions, sadness is temporary and fades with time.

Lord Buddha has aptly mentioned that life is a misery and the reason for all our suffering.He also says that we humans have the tools to alleviate our misery as well.I would like to share a parable/story from Bible which explains the reasons of our sadness and shows how ungrateful we are towards our own blessings.Lord Jesus used to tell this parable to his disciples on a number of occasions as he knew human nature very well that humans need to be continuously reminded of their follies.
 
The parable is very simple and it tells of a rich businessman who plans to build a big mansion[house] and one day hires few labourers in the morning by 8AM for a wage of a silver coin each. The labourers start digging & working and again the rich man goes out in the market around 11AM to hire more labourers,promising them a silver coin each as well. As the day progresses,the labourers who had started working in the morning see more hands pouring in around 3PM to work and help them in the construction. The rich man hires more labourers by 6PM as well to speed up the ongoing construction activity. Around 8PM when the day ended,the rich man calls all the labourers together to pay them their wage.He starts with the hands whom he had hired around evening 6PM and pays them a silver coin each.He does the same thing with the labourers whom he had hired around afternoon 3PM. Now,the labourers who had been hired and were working since morning 8AM started discussing among themselves that the rich man would definitely pay them more as he was giving a silver coin each even to the ones whom he had hired in the later half of the day. 
         
When the turn of the morning workers came,the rich man paid them too a silver coin each as promised. But the morning workers started grumbling and arguing with the labourers who had been hired in the second half of the day & late evening.They felt that since they had put in more labour & hours in that day,they should have been paid more than a silver coin.When this conflict reached the rich man’s ears,he  called them together again & said to all of them that since he was the master of his money and as promised & agreed, he has not paid anyone less / anyone more. Therefore,Jesus concluded that this human mentality of comparing our blessings is what makes us ugly/repulsive from inside. Because we are never grateful for the blessings / possessions we already have,but are more worried & saddened by the possessions of our peers / neighbours. We should always keep in mind that GOD is very benevolent and always gives us more than what we actually deserve.
 
Hence,I would like to restate that this simple mantra of being grateful for our blessings should be daily nurtured within us.This habit of our’s is what can make a lasting difference. We have a choice, every day, to express our gratitude towards the CREATOR.A heart of gratitude leaves no room for complaining,thereby enabling higher levels of optimism and life satisfaction.It opens up the door for continued blessings.
This trait of being forever grateful will enhance our intrinsic beauty manifold and we would be able to create wonders with the boon called LIFE.

Balancing our Mind through Meditation…

 

           There is no consensus on the question of what makes us humans special, or whether we even are special. The biggest point of contention is whether our thinking & analytical abilities differ from those of other animals “in kind,” or merely in degree. As we all know,the key differentiator between humans and animals is our brain which creates emotions,ideas and thoughts. The brain / mind is the most remarkable aspect of humans basis which we have evolved and progressed over the centuries.Humans have developed the quality to generate a practically limitless variety of words and concepts.Because,even after 5000 years of their existence,the ape has not changed much but we humans have evolved,came a long way and made several overall advancements to this planet and ourselves.
 
Some people who are not inclined to develop their mental faculties remain untouched by the ecstasy that we can convert our lives into.They are unable to unfold their artistic and creative abilities over the period of time.Therefore,to cater to this void,we have come up with an extensive course named-LIFE MANAGEMENT through which we specifically target & train the participants to develop the 12 aspects of LIFE. The course is of a duration of 6 days and 2 types of aspects are covered in a day’s workshop. The most dominant facet of the course is the Human Brain / Intelligence and we train the participants to get deep insights and thereby decode the mechanisms.
 
Now,to share an overview,I would like to explain that our human brain can be divided into two equal hemispheres[regions] namely right hemisphere and left hemisphere.Scientists and psychologists have after years of extensive research concluded, that some humans work from their right brain and others work from their left brain or we can say humans are right / left brain inclined.The people who are right brain inclined, find it easy to understand the beauty of lights,colours,music,have an artistic bend,they are emotional beings and sentiments come naturally to them. However,the people who are left brain dependent,are better off with logical reasoning,calculations,good with arguments/debates and may have proficiency with multiple languages. And the challenge of people with left brain inclination is that they find it very difficult to understand the beauty of lights,colours,music,emotions and with respect to the people with right brain inclination,they find it very tough to get a grasp / understanding of logical reasoning,calculations,languages or statistical figures.
 
Thus, to understand that why are our mental faculties designed differently,there are a lot many techniques in meditation[Praanayaam] and Yoga.They specifically serve this very purpose of aligning / connecting both the right and left hemispheres so that they are able to work in tandem. This fact causes some people to be full of love,emotions and sentiments, but they are paupers due to being right brain aligned while others may be filthy rich,good with reasoning,go-getters, but are utter failures in matters of love & long lasting relationships due to their left brain functionality. However,if this synchronisation of left and right brain can be achieved,then that would remarkably result in the smooth functioning of both our businesses and relationships in Life. During the course of the LIFE MANAGEMENT workshop,we take the participants through various meditation techniques,games,activities & thought provoking discourses so that both the right & left brain get equally engaged and work together.
 
The perfect balance of both these brain alignments make us humans COMPLETE thereby enabling us to lead a life overflowing with abundance,fulfillment and contentment. 

Meditation with Music enables Ecstasy !!!

 

Music performed to aid in the practice of meditation can have miraculous results.The concept also includes music performed as an act of meditation.There are a lot of indispensable reasons to practice musical meditation.The performers are instructed to play only when not thinking or in a state of non-thinking. 

Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment,which one can develop through the practice of meditation and through other training. Say for instance,if the world renowned flute player Sri Harprasad Chourasia ji says to himself that let me play the flute,involve the music and reach the state of Mindfulness,it is not necessary that the state would be achieved then and there.The achievement of the state of Mindfulness during meditation is not always possible.It is an event that naturally comes upon the Tapaswi through persistent practice, with or without music. But the Tapaswi / the practitioner of meditation would find it easy to get in and out of Mindfulness if he is a musician as well.If a musician tries to be a Tapaswi / the practitioner of meditation,then he could possibly become a Sage-the highest state of Enlightenment. 

 I would like to sincerely recommend music in our lives because it is the most effortless, simple & easily available way of reaching deep within and touching the innermost consciousness.We should listen to music as per our taste,try to hum songs,dance with music,live in that ecstatic moment- forgetting everything,our daily routine,the hustle bustle of life,even our mobile phones as well.We should self discipline our minds to not to be distracted by the caller on our phone,sms’es or social media notifications . We can create an environment of music at our homes by dedicatedly listening to soft music while having lunch / dinner so that our focus does not waver. This technique has long been implemented in schools where light music is played during subjective classes and while serving kids lunch because music heals as well as calms our restless minds. 

There was a research done in Russia on the effects of music on human mind power while engaged in academics / some other sort of work. The findings of the research went on to prove that if our mind is in a calm / stress free state then it has 10 times more capacity to learn / memorize; which is of vital importance especially in academics. So, while studying,we should play light music in one corner of our room and these musical waves / frequencies have the capability to overlap & overpower every other frequency that may be surrounding and distracting us. Because,the light music playing in our room enables to collate & converge all our focus allowing our conscious mind to vibrate on a single frequency, thereby enabling better assimilation and retention of information.This fact has been proven to be reliable & correct multiple times basis extensive research done the world over. 

Nevertheless,I would conclude by saying that it does not matter if we are good at music [vocal/instrumental],we should put in utmost effort to let music enter into every aspect of our lives and we need to keep humming…