On Wednesday, April the 7th PCGT (Public Concern for Governance Trust) and IMC (Indian Merchant Chamber) hosted the release of Mr Narayan Varma's book: 'Right to Information'
I am proud to count Mr Narayan Varma as my neighbour and my friend. So he was kind enough to invite me to the function.
I must say that it is an excellent book to possess. If one does not have the time to read full judgements, one should read this book as it contains summaries.
Mr JF Ribeiro, Dr Suresh Joshi and Mr Dara Gandhi released the book.
Ms Devika Punjabi read excerpts from the book.
Interesting pgs to read:
17, 86, 146, 147, 151, 153, 132, 170, 172, 173, 174, 175...

Detachment And Love
I got an email recently from a gentleman who, in one of the Spiritual meetings, had taken up the subject of the 'Art of Man-making'. They had been discussing 'The man of perfection' (as expounded in the Bhagvad Geeta)

Hindus tend to believe that a man of perfection is a man who is detached. To my relief, their teacher, had given them the assurance 'that detachment does not mean to be stoic and uninvolved in the world' A lot of people cannot differentiate between attachment and love. Read more, click:
http://www.dalsabzi.com/Wisdom_Script/detachment_and_love.htm

I was fortunate to be invited by Nan Umrigar on the 6th of April at the Flamboyante, to the launch of her new book 'Listening to the Silence' Her first book was ''Sounds of Silence'
Nan spoke about her late son Karl, showed video clippings of his short but well lived life and may I add 'after life'
People shared their experiences of a healing love from the Spiritual Masters.
Gary Lawyer treated us to a rendition of 'Amazing Grace'
Cyrus Khambatta said: "I run to the Centre, Meher Baba runs it!"
The main message I received: Concentrate on Love, Hope, Truth and self

If you would like to know more about my trip to Meherabad and my meeting with Nan Umrigar, click: http://www.dalsabzi.com/articles/divine_calls_and_meherbaba.htm

and http://www.dalsabzi.com/articles/Meherabad.htm

A reader appreciated the translation of 'Gagan mein thaal, Guru Aarti' thought that I should share it with you, He writes:
I found this a very interesting article, thank you for making the tarnslations, I was not aware of the beauty of the contents of the Sikh Scriptures. I hope that you will again share some of these most memorable passages with us translated. Click:


http://www.dalsabzi.com/Mantras/guru_aarti.htm

During this time of instant coffee. Instant soups…I shall provide you with instant up-lifters, which have worked for me.


http://www.dalsabzi.com/Articles/instant_uplifters.htm

A young friend has been reading the Shrimad Bhaagvad and had some pretty intense Qs like why did God create the light...I have read the Shrimad Bhaagvad and have tried to simlplify it as much as I could.
Click:
http://www.dalsabzi.com/bhaagvad/creation.htm

Our Body - A Temple
The Scriptures claim that ‘Maanav Shareer ko tarsey Dev’

Which means that the Devtas ( Angelic Beings) yearn for the Human body.

The reason for this is that, while the Devtas may enjoy immense joy and pleasure in Heaven, they fall short of achieving the Ultimate, which is their Union with God.

What has that got to do with Devtas yearning for the Human body, you might ask.

Well, it is only in the Human form that you can make the final leap to Divinity.

Which brings me to the point that I am trying to make.

The Human body is a Temple.

Also it is the vehicle that transports us to Godhead.
Read more,
Click:


http://www.dalsabzi.com/wisdom_script/our_body_a_temple.htm

I was reading: The attempt to recognize the will of God and to consciously and willingly submit to it, to practice 'sharan' is for a seeker of God one of the most effective means of living in the divine presence and finally becoming God....As paradoxical as it may sound, anyone who surrenders confidently to God attains the greatest safety in life. Do google search surrender dalsabzi to know more on what i hv researched on 'surrender'

Sharan is a Sanskrit word that means 'to take shelter' and to 'submit unconditionally'

Excerpt from Adventure of Faith by Shraddha Liertz

Would you like to start on your spiritual journey?
For you to succeed, your personal effort and the Lord's Grace is required.
...and what is your personal effort?
Your sincerity...
To succeed...When to succeed is in the Lord's hands.
In Hindu parlance, the first step is 'Jignaasa'
ie wanting to know how to start...
Then comes the 'Sadhana'
ie...the efforts

My husband has been unwell :(( His sodium level dropped...Good thing we caught it on time:) He is much much better. Decided to surrender to God, Docs and children decision. My observation? O Lord! it is a ceaseless 'letting go' if one wants to sieze you!
click to read on surrender

http://www.dalsabzi.com/articles/surrender.htm http://www.dalsabzi.com/Mantras/surrender.htm

I spoke at the Queens city Rotary Club in Bombay. The topic was:

Literacy in the 21st Century
Vidya and Avidya

Sharing some points with you

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write,

The 3 Rs
Reading Writing and Arithmetic

but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

What do we unlearn?

1) We must unlearn
To discriminate between Education of Boys and Girls

Education does affect a girl’s marriage prospects
But
It is imp that a girl is financially independent
What happens if the marriage does not work or she is widowed?

2) We must unlearn that we cannot learn because we are getting older.

“I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.”
- Eartha Kitt


“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
- Henry Ford


Each one Teach one
Teach your help
Take time out to volunteer

“The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.”
Anisthenes




“Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”
Abigail Adams

Computer literate
Tech Savvy

Mobiles
sms

Learn
Emails
Google search

In fact you must learn as you are getting older
You have more time to have fun

Websites
More structured
To sell goods
Spiritual
Poems
Jokes
Sayings

Blog
Journal
Twitter
Facebook

The above is Avidya
What is Vidya
Finding you real nature
The real goal of human life.

Vidya is real literacy

Hindus believe in 4 different Paths
Karma

Bhakti

Dhyaan Gyaan

In Advaita Vedanta
The work of avidya is to suppress the real nature of things and present something else in its place. In essence it is not different from Maya (pronounced Māyā). Avidya relates to the finite Self (Sanskrit: atman) while Maya is an adjunct of the cosmic Self. In both cases it connotes the principle of differentiation which is implicit in human thinking. It stands for that delusion which breaks up the original unity (refer: nonduality) of what is real and presents it as subject and object and as doer and result of the deed. What keeps humanity captive in Samsara is this avidya. This ignorance is not lack of erudition; it is ignorance about the nature of 'Being' (Sanskrit: Sat). It is a limitation that is natural to human sensory or intellectual apparatus. This is responsible for all the misery of humanity. Advaita Vedanta holds that the eradication of it should be humanity's only goal and that will automatically mean Realisation of the Self (Sanskrit: atman).
[edit] Adi Shankara on avidya
Adi Shankara says in his Introduction to his commentary on the Brahma Sutras, "Owing to an absence of discrimination, there continues a natural human behaviour in the form of 'I am this' or 'This is mine'; this is avidya. It is a superimposition of the attributes of one thing on another. The ascertainment of the nature of the real entity by separating the superimposed thing from it is vidya (knowledge, illumination)". In Shankara's philosophy avidya cannot be categorized either as 'absolutely existent' or as 'absolutely non-existent'





“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
B.B.King

I have often been asked: If ‘Prabhu ke ishaarey key bagair patta bhee naheen hilta’ (Without the consent of the Lord, not even a leaf sways) then where is the free will of man?

I answer that there are two schools of thought. One believes the above, others believe that within a certain amount of space, man has free will.

I believe that certain aspects of life are predestined and cannot be altered, like birth, parentage, color of skin…yet, free will plays a great role in the attitudes one adopts towards the various vicissitudes that confront one, in life.

Read more, click

http://www.dalsabzi.com/Song_of_life/destiny_or_free_will.htm