Ancient Indian literature always referred to the mind as a monkey – jumping from one branch to another i.e. one useless thought to another. To counteract this, the Smritis teach us Mansik-Ekagrata or centering the mind. A centered mind is free of worries and emotions. It is quiet, at peace, concentrated and focused. But it is not […]
An ancient Indian legend tells of a prince who met a maiden with the body of a Goddess and eyes of a gazelle in spring-time. He told her, “I know why you are wearing this black sari embroidered in gold –it’s coz in a primeval forest you were a tigress and I was a tiger. […]
The famous Meherbai Mandli ‘girls’ (all over 75) and ‘boys’ (all over 80) met for a Club-lunch and the discussion turned to relationships. “The most important relationship is the one we have with God” said Meherbai, confessing she was not very religious or a ritualistic freak, but rather a spiritual person who never hurts others. […]
Every disease starts in the mind. Mental disorders are becoming frequent in the world today. All physical illnesses, including cancer, have their genesis on a mental level and are mere manifestations of negative emotions which have gone out of control in the patients’ mind. To control and counteract illnesses, to enjoy optimum good health (especially […]
In India we are exposed to the writings of Western authors, doctors, scientists and others, but rarely do we get exposure to Japanese and Chinese authors. I recently came across a book on psychotherapy developed by a Japanese, Dr. Shoma Morita, a contemporary of Dr. Sigmud Freud and would like to share the same with […]
Musicologist Joachim-Berendt says in his book, `The Third Ear’, that in this Aquarian (spiritual) age, we are moving out of the age of sensory dominance of the eye and moving towards the age of the ear which is a more receptive organ because hearing is the first sense within the foetus to develop in the […]
Sacred symbols have been used since ages to express the profound spiritual, metaphysical and philosophical concepts regarding man and his evolution towards the Supreme Reality. Symbols are found in various forms across different religions of the world and their universality can be substantiated by their appearance in widely separated cultures. Every symbol yields a wealth […]
Love is a double-edged sword that can cut as well as heal. If we are under the illusion that love is some external commodity available for consumption, we may fantasize that perhaps someday, someone will manage to package it into a free, small, plastic gizmo that we sometimes find at the bottom of a cereal […]
As human beings, we crave physical connection and suffer ‘skin hunger’ in its absence – touching, holding hands, a friendly pat on the back are all part of human nature. Like our bellies, our skin needs to be fed. It needs to be stimulated or else we feel deprived. ‘Skin hunger’ can cause restlessness and depression. […]
The summer heat became unbearable for Meherbai as she suffers from high blood-pressure. In spite of BP pills, her head felt like a pressure-cooker and when it became too much to endure, she let off the pressure (like a cooker-whistle) on Merwanji by doing Khit-Pit and Chipur-chipur, picking on him for every little thing. Arguments inflamed when Meherwanji […]
The WESAK festival (called VAISHAKH in India) occurs annually at the time of the full moon of TAURUS Zodiac sign in late April or early May. A ceremony takes place on this day in a Tibetan valley on the further side of the Himalayas 390 miles west of Lahasa wherein blessings are given to all those […]