Gayatri's Hermitage

The Art of Living Healthy

2012-01-20T19:18:00.001-08:00

I always love to go to conferences on Yoga, Naturopathy and Meditation as it teaches an altogether new dimension of thinking to the life. Change is the law of nature. Though the basic principles remain the same, the wonderful way of presenting it in a new perspective is so nice.

Here is an example. It was told in a session that:

"Atma mera naam Hi ". Just a little bit of contemplating on this line makes us understand that-" Yes. As long as the soul resides in us ie. the physical body (The temple for the soul), we are recognised by some unique name, else the common nomenclature- "Body". So we have to keep ourselves clean inside out.

"Satya mera Karm Hi". As per Karmic theory, we live as per our karma. We need to strive hard to keep doing Good Karma. So it is our Karma balance which is the guiding factor in our life.

"Yog mera Dharm Hi". By Yoga means equanimity in life. Balancing materialistic life with spiritual life is yoga. The goal of yoga is to yoke the Self inside with the Super Self.

"OM mera Paramatma Hi" OM is made up of three letters-A,U and M which is the representation of the presidential diety. As all rivers ends up joining the sea, so all manifestations of God, different names, forms, animate, inanimate everything is contained in OM. Chanting of Om relaxes the whole body and calms down the mind. So chanting of OM gives very good health and vibrations in the environment.

Meditation dilutes the karma, returns the health and it is an excellent medication for all agitations inside and outside us. So let us learn the art of meditation and effortlessly stay healthy doing Good, thinking Good and acting Good.

Personality:

2012-01-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

It was a discussion forum with Sri Narendra Bandhuji. It started like how many different types of persons with reference to the possessions we may have . Each one could put their imaginations to work and came out with wild guesses. Oh My God.It was very interesting.

Finally Naredraji was telling there are 4 kinds of people:

Danav (Demonic Personality): Who says " Yours is also mine and Mine is also mine"

Manav (Human beings) : Who says " Yours is yours and mine is mine"

Dev (Godly) : Who says "Yours is yours and mine is also yours"

Brahma (Super Self Personality): Who says "Yours, mine ,everything belongs to Him only"

Loads of imbalances felt as the Danav percentage dominates and Brahma percentage is too less. It is time for us to move on in the ladder of spirituality to improve our personality slowly towards Brahmatva to establish a Peaceful global atmosphere which is unfortunately is into pieces at present.

Emotional Freedom Technique

2011-10-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

I have been attending- A Worldwide Online Event on EFT and Meridian Tapping Brought to you Free of Charge by TheTappingSolution.com. It is an amazing experience and thanks to the host Ms. Jessica Ortner and other team of experts for educating millions of people on the technique of releasing emotional blocks and thereby helping to get physical and emotional health.

What is EFT:

Emotional Freedom Technique combines Ancient Chinese medicine with modern Psychology which optimizes the emotional health says Dr. Carol Look. Emotional health and physical health are like two sides of a coin and are complimentary. The old adage goes- Sound Body in a Sound Mind and vice verse.

How does it work:

EFT is tapping on acupuncture points on meridians used in 5000 years old Chinese Acupuncture along with voicing the positive affirmations to clear the energy blocks, but without the intervention of needles or other tools used in Acupressure. Here only the fingers are used and simply passing on the kinetic energy by tapping on the meridians one gets relieved of pains and negative emotions. Thus it works like a psychological acupressure. There are no complexities involved rendering it practicable to anybody. If we can access our meridian system with tapping, we release the tension and release the blocks in the system. Thus it is a self-help-tool. People will collapse their feeling with tapping.

World over EFT is spreading rapidly says Dr. Mercola, the NewYork times best- selling author.

How to Tap: Everyone should target on what they’re going to work on- an emotion, an event or a symptom. Decide the intensity of pain on a scale of 0 to 10. Next is the Set up statement: An affirmation. Eg: Even though I have headache, deeply and completely accept myself in any way. Here first Part is problem, and second part- acceptability. Say 3 times and tap on the relative meridian point. The tapping points are karate chop point on the wrist (The base of the palm on the pinky little finger's side), the start of the Eye brow near the eyebrow center, outside of the eye (the outside end of the orbit) , under the eye-bony orbit, upper lip- right under the nose , the center of the chin, bone Collar bone point, sides of the chest- 4” away from the breast and finally the Top of the head. The tapping points are pictorially presented in the website http://thetappingsolution.com

Emotions gets trapped in the body crystallizes as aches and pains in the body and with tapping on the meridians gets released thereby relieving the pain. Sometimes, the pain gets released immediately in the first time only, sometimes needs repetition depending on how they let go the emotions. Use the diagnosis word you experience specifically and not the doctor’s words. Complete focus without any distractions says Dr. Carol.

Beautiful Thought

2011-09-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

Today as usual I was talking tomy sister. I am very proud of my sister as she has abundant potentialitiesloaded with loads of virtues and spirituality. She pens poems extempore and asa musician by hobby, she assigns some ragas and sings the same. Every song isan emotional upsurge and a flow of her heart to the divine.

Today’s topic goes like this – she was in her pooja roomtaking out the old flowers on God toreplace the same with fresh ones while offering the pooja, this thought came toher – “ Nobody offers the flowers which has been removed from God which inlocal language we call it as –Nirmalya. Our body is a temple for the God toreside. If we are loaded with bad thoughts, bad actions and bad mind (Kaya,Vacha, manasa) how is that we can surrender to God and His acceptabilitythereon. Definitely He will ask us to get cleansed and repeat the effort. Thiscleansing, if not learnt properly, may take life after life or in this lifeitself we can make earnest efforts to mindfully cleanse, to the best of ourknowledge. So we should be like a fresh fragrant flower which God loves.”

Yes, makes lot of sense. Thoughthe content is the same in all of us, like made up of panca bhutas, the samesoul, mind and body, yet we are different as per our Karmic loads. Life is agreat learning ground and learning is from womb to tomb. While basicinformation like alphabets of a language are prewritten which we call it asdestiny, yet we can modify the same by mindfully thinking, acting and using ourspecial faculty-“Intelligence”. As Swami Vivekananda says “We are the creatorsof our destiny”.

I was thankful to God for Hisprecious gift of this great sister and starting my day with beautiful thoughts.

Forgiveness

2010-02-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

Today, I was going through a quote by Hannah More which says:

"Fogiveness is the economy of the heart,saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred and the waste of spirits"

As per American Psychological Association -Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, and/or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution .

Forgiveness can be to our own self. Sometime, under emotional stress, we commit mistakes and failing to realise the same, we ramify on that and loose the enjoyment of precious today. At this juncture, what is needed is Forgiveness to self with a commitment of not to repeat such kind of acts or deeds. Become a better person.

In most of the cases, there is a forgiver and forgiven and the act of forgiveness keeps both happy. A win - win situation. Forgiveness can be with punishment or without punishment depending on the case to case basis and the severity of the situations.

Studies on forgiveness shows that people who forgive are happier, healthier, have improved functioning of their cardiovascular and nervous system than those who hold resentment and keep brooding . The energy loss due to restless thinking is also conserved and automatically mind becomes calm like a clear, still lake giving an experience of profound peace preparing us for meitation or prayer with single mindedness.

All religions promote forgiveness like in Christianity Jesus Christ says “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” in Hinduism the concept of performing atonement from one's wrong doing (Prayaschitta — Sanskrit: Penance), and asking for forgiveness. Even in day to day routine- "Aparadha sahasrani, kshamasva purushottama" is the prayer to God, ie O Lord! Knowingly , unknowungly I would have committed thousands of mistakes. Please excuse me. Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism, Bahai Faith, Islam all preach and practice the act of forgiveness in their own way.

Though benefits of forgiveness are many , benefits are experienced only on practicing. As the popular adage goes -" Parents are the first teachers and the house is the first school. Children learn by mocking the parents and not by their advice alone.", the practice of forgiveness starts from the house and right from the childhood itself. Even then, as anything, forgiveness can be learnt also , ofcourse with much focus, dedication and hard work.

"As human beings, with or without our knowledge, we commit so many mistakes, blunders in life, and God quietly without even telling , Forgives us. Not only that, He forgets also that He has forgiven us. So is it not our duty to forgive as we are all children of God, His reflection? Do we have to forget to forgive and be violent? Should we have to end up with self destruction in terms of our health and attitude at our individual level by forgetting to practice forgiveness?"

Come!!Join!! We shall preach and practice forgiveness for a better Peaceful and Healthy world. May God bless us all.

Organizing

2009-09-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

I had been to a Park in westlake, Ohio with my son and daughter-in-law and saw a creeper with leaves and flowers interwined as if manually arranged. Believe me, we went and touched to ensure that it is natural one. So amazing with green and red combination making the flow on the compound of the cinema hall.

The Macro Nature- in Sanskrit called as Andanda- is well organized. If we look at anything in nature right from the tree, as to how the branches, leaves, fruits etc are arranged- there is a definite symmetry. The natural cycles, flow, rhythm , the day, the night, anything we observe- there is a definite descipline and organisation. To understand these, what we need is focus. We need to Focus on any one activity at a time - like star gazing, watching the sea, get relaxed and appreciate the creation.

Man being called as Micronature- in Sanskrit called as Pindanda-is a reflection of the macronature. That is why in sanskrit they say- Yatha Andandam thatha Pindandam- How is the macronature so is the micronature. Different parts of the body having different shapes, sizes, nature of work, chemistry working in union under the presidentship of the Brain. If we close our eyes and have a deep breath and focus on this, it is equally amazing that without being monitored they work collectively so well. But as we keep growing in age, this harmony is tampered bit by bit depending on our outlook to life and the situations.

As a result, we see a lot of stress in each person right from the kid to the old. If we again focus, rather it is very clear, the missing link is -Organizing.

Our brain loves to be organized, being very nature of it. We confuse it with our random style of working. Stress which is a fight or flight response to the situation- is a result of not organizing. Organizing starts right from waking up in the morning, attending to different personal and professional activities to going to bed. As the adage goes- A short pencil is better than a long memory- the organizing starts at planning the activities of the day- preparation of To Do List- however small or big. The next step is allotting time frame for each activity. And finally it is prioritising under different quadrants of prioroty and schedule across. So, every night, if we do this exercise for the next day and as soon as we get up, go through the same to reinforce and ensure optimising our abilities to do the activities, I am sure we have plenty of time to relax. Carrying the To Do List with us and following this organised approach for 21 days so that it becomes our habit is the essence of organizing.

24 hrs is common across all and there is definitely no bias. The only edge for the successful people is -they are well organised and they value their time. Naturally the Success follows.

Majority of the diseases today are Psychosomatic in nature, that is contributed by psyche-mind due to stress. So let us relieve our stress, get good health without medication, focus on our innerself and be thankful to both macro and micro nature for accomplishing all our activities.

Mother's Love

2009-01-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

Mother is Devine incarnation and physical deity who can be felt, experienced, unconditional love personified. As per Upanisads they say there is only one Purusha and that is the Ultimate Nirguna Parabrahman and All the creation represented as Prakruthi - the feminine . So each one of us have to be motherly.Here I would like to share some of the great sayings about mother's love:

Forgiveness is the final form of love. In sanskrit there is a saying - Kshamaya Dharitri meaning Ultimate mother earth is forgiveness personified. So all of us are expected to be highly forgiving. As God keeps on forgiving and forgetting too, as true chidren of Him, we need to follow the suit.
A mother's love percieves no impossibilities.
The only genuine love worthy of the name is Unconditional Love.
When you are small and just a touch away, I covered you with blankets against the cool night air. But now you are tall and out of reach, I fold my hands and cover you with the prayer. -- Dona M Cooper
Mother's love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do impossible - Marison C Garetty
One touch is worth 10,000 words - Harold Bloomfield
As a mother my job is to take care of what is possible and trust God with the impossible - Ruth Bell Graham
No language can express the Power, Beauty and Heroism of mother's love - Edwin H Chaplin

Our Indian literature has full of respect for mother. It says Mathru Devo Bhava- Mother is the God. As Sri Swami Vivekananda says - Each soul is devinely potential. So we have to unearth this huge hidden, dormant potential with the power of love- unlimited.

We are the creators of our destiny.

Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached.

If every person makes an effort of uncovering the deep seated well of love in his/her heart and allows it to spring up, do we have to undergo the trauma what each one of us, irrespective of the age, sex, religion, caste, creed, occupation, designation etc are undergoing? Now the time has come for us to just have a reflection from within, erase all inequalities , forgive totally ,love each other and manage the unconditional love for the entire creation. Let us be accounatable for ourselves for all our acts, deeds and thoughts- physically, mentally and emotionally. Only then probably we can see a healthier, Wealthier, More Spiritual, More moral World.

Distance between God and Us

2008-11-28T01:09:00.000-08:00

Good is endless and Bad is limited
Six inches between Head and Chest
Six inches between Ego and Spirit
Six inches between Fear and Love
Six inches between Mind and Heart
Six inches that seperates us from God.
So keep trying to do good, think good and act good so that the gap between us and God can be minimised. Life is a Great journey, make it meaningful and leave your footprints for the younger generation to follow.

Motivation

2008-11-27T03:36:00.000-08:00

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value -Albert Einstein .

To become a man of value, one needs to understand his potential through Motivation. Motivation is an internal condition which activates one's bahaviour, energises and orients the behaviour towards the Goal. For identifying the potential and channelising it to the required goal, one may be self motivated or needs an external agency like parents, teachers, friends, peers, employers etc .

Even great people like Hanuman in Ramayana- an Indian epic, needed the motivation of Jambavantha to know his potential of growing as tall as sky and becoming as small as possible. With this motivation, he crosses the sea, reaches Lanka, communicates with Goddess Seetha and comes back and communicates everything to Lord Rama.

In Mahabharath, we come across with Sathi Savithri, who with her tool of persuassion and love for her husband will go behind Yama - the lord of death and conquers the death of her husband.

For Sathya Harishchandra, the tool of motivation was the Truth. For visionary people like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa etc, God realisation alone was the motivation. They sacrificed everything to achieve their goal.

Mahathma Gandhi, known as father of nation, most unassuming personality, though he was not very successful in his profession of Law, Truth and Non-violence were the tool for him to get us the Independence.
In Taittariya Upanisad, Bhrugu, son of Varuna,tapas or the meditation was the tool to reach his goal of knowing Brahman.

For Socrates, the great unassuming scietist, peace was the motivating factor even to drink the poison and die peacefully.

Like this if we look at our great personalities without having boundaries of caste, religion, country etc, we understand that the innate potential of a person is always positive and inspires with motivation. The motivating tools like peace , love, concern, compassion are needed by the different agencies to harness the wealth within each to realise the Goal of Peaceful World. Each one of us if we reach one in managing this show, probably we will be heading in the right direction.

My first post

2008-07-16T19:19:00.001-07:00

Reached here on the third of June