And just like that, 2011 is upon us!

Please no comments on how I'm late in wishing (better late than never, I say)!

May going forward life be peaceful, joyous and healthy for everyone on this planet! Our constant struggle is to evolve our consciousness to the point where we can be better friends, parents, children or simply human beings. Perhaps this year will teach us how to do that and where we can find that reservoir of selflessness hidden deep inside us.

For me personally, I am going to make it a year of growing patience. I believe each of us has a distinct lesson to learn in each lifetime and for me this lifetime is surely about developing patience; and to implement it in all walks of my life -- not just personal but also incorporate into my work ethic, in my rushed judgement of others (at work, home or while walking on the street) and give everyone a chance to showcase themselves. 

Patience with work is perhaps the biggest area of growth -- not rushing to finish things but taking my time and making sure its done right. Sometimes its hard not to do so, especially when you have a mountain of emails in your inbox (yes, it happens to me too; albeit sometimes) or when there is a cascade of tasks waiting for your attention or when what you are doing is ridiculously boring. No matter what, I will concentrate on the present and focus on what I am doing right now, properly.

That said, its also going to be a year where I let the soul speak louder than the mind! By that I mean, if a thought arises in my heart I will be spontaneous and implement it and not wait for my brain to catch up and analyze. So if I see a homeless man and my first thought is to get him food, I will do so before my brain says, "you know what, that's really not necessary. Why don't you get your ass home in this bone-chilling weather?"

I don't believe in New Year resolutions because the resolutions I speak of above shouldn't be implemented only when a New Year begins but should always be worked on. I have only begun to realize how important these are to me this year so I shall begin now!

What about you? Anything specific you are working on this year?

P.S.: I will talk about my experiences with Passport to the Cosmos shortly.

Should we pay attention?

The passage below appears as an introduction to the 2nd chapter --

"The power of the encounters comes from acknowledging your helplessnes and keeping the whole matter in question, because the deeper the question goes, the more you attempt to come to some kind of resolution. If you keep asking them [the beings] questions, they keep reforming the thing in such a way that the questions get more provocative but can't quite be answered...If you start saying, "Well, they are aliens and they're from this planet," you're lost...I've often been in situations where the question has been impossible to live with. You can't not answer it, and you can't answer it either. And there you have it. You sit in a situation where you can't bear to be -- and you grow."

WHITLEY STRIEBER 

Interview with Dr. J.E. Mack

Wagner, South Dakota

June 16, 1996

Some additional food for thought --

Although abductees cannot be distinguished physiologically from others, when an abduction is relived or remembered, a frontal-lobe hyper-arousal pattern is detected by EEG. This pattern is similar to the one seen only in advanced spiritual meditators.

I'm just amazed at how much more human beings need to learn and how far we need to go to grow. As I said earlier no matter how ridiculous it sounds I am keeping my mind open, far from judgement and fear. Perhaps that might be the only way to free it!

Passport to the Cosmos

Yesterday the beloved New York Library pinged me that a book I had reserved was now available. I normally don’t like reserving books because it leaves you at the mercy of the library and not your mood on what you read. But this one was particularly intriguing so I promptly picked it up.

A few weeks ago, before I went to India, I was reading about Dr. Brian Weiss (Many Lives, Many Masters) on the internet which led me to someone similarly esoteric – Dr. John E. Mack. The late Dr. Mack was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and for many years researched into people’s claims of being abducted by E.T.s.

His research was not focused on little green men and whether they are real but on what effect this “abduction” had on the people who claimed to have had these experiences. Interesting, isn’t it?

So far I have read that the West is close-minded about these experiences (yeah, we knew that) and a lot of cultures in the East think this is actually normal. “Sky people” as they are called in the East abduct to impart knowledge, heal mental or physical defects, show you how the world is degrading or sometimes just bring you closer to the realization of truth. Aha!

This communication is done telepathically and involves images shown on television-like monitors, by contact with huge eyes of the beings.

So Dr. Mack took the approach of a clinician and carefully documented his practices and his experiences with his clients to write Passport to the Cosmos. His only aim was to see what such anomalous experiences and phenomena can tell us about ourselves and thereby help us in our evolution.

Now, some people might say what a load of nonsense! Well, not too long ago the concept of meteors falling from the sky was also considered nonsense. I am approaching this book with an open mind; simply because we don’t understand something or it seems beyond our intelligence doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It only highlights our limitations; the cosmos on the other hand, is not bound by any such thing!

When you can relate to the Gods

Reading Rama complain in the Yoga Vasistha about how meaningless life is, I could draw parallels with how I've been feeling lately. What I understood, that like me, actually like most of us Rama understood the intricacies and the greater philosophy of life. He could go on & on about how everything is transient, how everything is a delusion created by the mind and how we are trapped in this world of Maya (sort of what the movie, the Matrix conveyed). Some people might think drawing parallels to the Matrix is childish, but everytime I watch that movie I learn something new -- it tells me something that I can match back to my search of the absolute. Like the time when Morpheus tells Neo, "I can only show you the path. You have to walk through it." Or when he says, "there is a difference between knowing the path and walking it." I could go on and on, but really that should be another discussion.

Talking to a friend yesterday I realized that a lot of people are asking the same question Rama did all those years ago. Why? Why are we here? The answer to which we sort of know but don't understand perhaps because we are bound by the mind.

The one thing that brings me to what started this is when I read Rama say - "I am puzzled, holy sir, that a man roams here and there seemingly busy throughout the day and is all the time engaged in selfish activity..."

Past few days at work have been keeping me occupied but yesterday I once again went the route of asking why? And what for? Perhaps the biggest question for me is who is this benefitting? It's good that I am busy, but busy doing what? Can I go home and tell myself, yes I was busy helping someone today? By help I don't mean filling the coffers of someone better off than most people, but someone who really needs it.

Krishna said you can realize the absolute simply by doing your job and so he convinced Arjuna to fight the war because as a warrior, Arjuna's duty was to fight. What if my duty isn't what I am doing right now, but helping someone build their life? Or bring a smile on someone's face or just do something that puts someone's aching heart at ease? What if?

Yoga Vasistha

For many days, rather weeks I have shied away from introducing a book. Truth be told, I haven’t been reading anything. My busy vacation didn’t give me any chance to read and since returning, I have been trying to catch up with my life. That’s taking a lot longer than expected!

On Monday, my company’s holiday party took me to charted territory around 28^th and Lex, where lies India town. Earlier that day, when I was bored scanning the wide web I came across some ancient Indian philosophy and was introduced to Yoga Vasistha. Needless to say, I was intrigued and when I visited my old neighborhood I promptly bought the book.  

Now the author recommends we read one chapter a day, go back and meditate on the meaning and then come back the following day to read the next, just like a rosary. Since then I have been reading it and trying to grasp its meaning, understand it and incorporate it into my daily practice.

So what’s the book about?

Yoga Vasistha recounts a discourse of the sage Vasistha to a young Prince Rama, during a period when the latter is in a dejected state. The contents of Vasistha's teaching to Rama is associated with Advaita Vedanta, the illusory nature of the manifest world and the principle of non-duality. The book has been dated between the 5th and 14th Century C.E. and is generally regarded as one of the longest texts in Sanskrit, after the Mahabharata and Ramayana and an important text of Yoga. It is a religious text that is used to help newcomers understand the Hindu philosophy. The book consists of around thirty thousand slokas as well as numerous short stories and anecdotes used to help simplify the content. In terms of Hindu mythology, the conversation in the Yoga Vasishta takes place chronologically before Ramayana.

The contents and the style of delivery have captured my total attention but it is a long book and will take time to read. So for the time being, I am putting aside my race of 52 books and sacrificing quantity over quality. Come back for some varied learning from the Advaita Vedanta and reading other twisted things my mind comes up with.

Happy Holidays!

An anonymous 23 year old needs your help!

A few months ago I introduced this website here. Since then I have been regularly following it and reading the stories of women who otherwise don’t have a voice or a say in their own life. As sad as the stories are they are also hopeful because due to the extremely hard work of folks at AWWP, we are getting to hear from these ordinary women who the media isn’t interested in.

Last week I read a story by an anonymous woman – her identity is protected because she fears if her uncles and brothers find out they will kill her and she is not exaggerating. This 23 year old, a brilliant writer, is about to graduate university and  is facing the biggest crisis of her life. Her family has dealt her with 3 options and needless to say she HAS to pick one – “marry my cousin as a second wife, marry a man who is 50 years old, has connections to the government and is a drug dealer, or marry a man who is a widower with seven sons.”

Her story, for several reasons, tugs at my heart strings and I wish I could do something to bring her out of her current situation. I reached out to the AWWP and they told me they are partnering with several organizations and are hopeful.

All I ask of you is to read her story and spread the word about her. Please, please help her!

Who knows her life might have a miracle in store, thanks to you.

Living in harmony

I found this picture on www.mumbaimirror.com. If different kinds of animals can co-exist peacefully, what is our excuse?

P.S.: I know there have been no new book introductions in a while. I shall address that issue separately soon!