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Guru Gururaj Deshpande’s Inspirations from WHEF

This world is anything but prosperous. There’s inequality in terms of financial stability. This issue further leads to lack of education, lack of food, low living standards, etc. However, there are some very considerate people in the world who live their life to improve the condition of the society. Working for one person at a time and then making a worldly impact. WHEF is a combination of such determined souls.

World Hindu Economic Forum is an independent non-profit organization who wants to bring prosperity in the society. Their aim is to make Hindu society better by distributing surplus wealth. The organization has been working since 2010. Its headquarters are based in Delhi, Bharat, but it works all around the world with this positive intention. It was found by Y. S. Jain. The COO is Srinivas Chidumalla and the Steering Committee Convener is Arun Bajaj.

How WHEF is different

There are thousands of charities for helping the under privileged. But the one’s who get left behind are the middle class who are striving to reach somewhere in life. WHEF is the perfect platform for them. The organization brings the financially stable people of the society. This includes bankers, businessmen, economists, technocrats, traders and some thinkers too. These people provide their experience to the beginner level people.

They offer mentoring as well as resources to help those who need help for financial stability. Instead of giving money that would only last a little while, WHEF goes for the more permanent option which is to make these people capable of earning well throughout their lifetime. With help from these richer people, the talented ones get to earn well too and in the end, we have a prosperous society with surplus wealth. The seminars and conferences with this purpose are held very often.

They are conducted within India as well as in other parts of the world. The aim for this organization is to regain the lost economic strength of Hindus. There was a time when Hindus contributed up to 49% in the world economy. This is a proof that Hindus are capable of having that kind of success. The only thing needed to get back that status is some unifying platform which WHEF is offering.

The economic world isn’t in the best place all around the globe, especially in India. The people at WHEF believe that all Hindu brothers should come together. By offering whatever they have, as a whole they’ll quickly be able to get a stable point. The collective efforts are what are needed to get increased market access. Similarly, this will help get increased capital as well. Along with that, the use of technology will benefit everyone. The tech experts will provide help for those who aren’t so good with technology. Basically, the entire Hindu society will get the best outcome if they all come together to work for each other’s benefit.

Hindu Business Network (HBN)

Hindu Business Network is an organization that provides an on-line platform for the connection between entrepreneurs, businessmen and other professionals. The statement they use to explain their purpose is ‘Connections. Ideas. Opportunities.” It is pretty self explanatory. They provide the platform where anyone can come with their innovative ideas. Someone else can get inspiration or add into it. Others can suggest changes that they think will make it more practical. Someone else will pinpoint the flaws. Eventually, the interactions will help create a fool proof plan which will bring brand new opportunities.

The simplest ideas will be polished on this platform. Someone with the resources will fund it and voila! One idea from one corner of the country will find its way to the implementation. The only limitation to join this platform is to be above 18. It requires a yearly subscription. The first year is free for people who have attended the WHEF annual conference or any other event throughout the year. If you believe the WHEF concept should be supported, you are eligible for HBN.

Hindu Economic Forum (HEF)

Hindu Economic Forum works similar to WHEF. The only difference is that HEF, unlike WHEF, offers memberships. It brings together industrialists, businessmen, etc. to share innovative ideas, expertise and resources. HEF wants to ‘Grow together. Share together.’ They want to create wealth with the help of 100 hands so it can be shared among 1000 hands. Once again, the concept is to provide permanent source of success rather than offering simple donations to the underprivileged.

They want to gain economic success. With this sort if stability only will Hindu civilization be able to succeed in the world. And this cannot be achieved unless all business minded people come together. HEF wants to remove the barrier of financial support so that ideas can come together for the mere success of Hindus. It is a platform that the future generations can use for economic strength and prosperity.

Another blessed soul

Other than WHEF, there are some other considerate souls who want to solely work for the betterment of society. While they haven’t formed any organization, they’ve done some remarkable work on their own. One of these human serving souls include Tulsi Gabbard. Tulsi is a truly humble person who works entirely for the people. She has been interested in this positive work since a very young age. She constantly fights for a government that is truly for the people.

When Tulsi Gabbard was two, she moved to Hawaii with her parents. There she worked closely with the two family businesses from a very young age. Meanwhile, she also completed her degree in International Business from the Hawaii Pacific University. At the age of 19, Tulsi co-founded an organization. This was called the Healthy Hawaii Coalition (HHC).

The aim of this non-profit organization was to protect the environment, provide better community health as well improve individual’s life. In short, Tulsi wanted to make the world a better place and was on the road from the start. By working in this organization, she maintained an active role in public health matters as well as in the education system. HHC carved a curriculum that was adopted by over 50 public and private schools around Hawaii.

The start of her political career

She was extraordinary from the very beginning and this is what got her to be the youngest person in the Hawaiian State Legislature at the age of only 21. She passionately used her power for the betterment of the education sector, but also did work for the tourism and economic sector. Her brave character was proven when she volunteered to go on war in Iraq. She had no pressure, she could enjoy the comfort of her home and the state Legislature but still chose to go in the field just to work for the people. This was in 2004. Her second deployment to the Middle East was in 2009.

Tulsi’s commitment to work for a better society didn’t stop here. She decided to continue her political career so that she could make use of her powerful position to make a change in the world. She went to Washington D.C in 2006. Here she served Senator Akaka as a legislative aide. Not only did she get the honor of getting mentorship from such a renowned personality, she also made an impact by suggesting on environmental and veteran affairs.

After her return from the second deployment, Tulsi gained many important positions. She became the Chair of the Safety, Economic Development as well as Government Affairs Committee. She served as Vice Chair of the Budget committee. Tulsi was also the member of Zoning and Public Works committee. She used her position to work against dengue fever, medical waste and for APEC. She was able to bring many economic opportunities for the state.

Her success didn’t stop here. In 2012, she won a seat in the US House of Representatives. She won the general election by 80 points. Tulsi became one of the only two women veteran in the House of Representatives. Other than that, she was the first ever Hindu American to have gotten a seat in the Congress. The multi race woman encouraged diversity. She worked on various platforms to do uncountable goods for the world.

Her services were used in the House Armed Services as well as in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Tulsi started her work from Hawaii but continued it in America as well. She is a true representative of leadership qualities. Her veteran services have impacted the world in a very positive way. Just in three decades of her life, Tulsi has done work for the world that can never be paid back for.

Tulsi has spoken at one of the WHEF events. She delivered a speech on the topic of “Finding Happiness and Success Through Karma Yoga”. Her inspiration definitely provided motivation for many novices. Last year, Tulsi Gabbard and US tech guru and pioneering entrepreneur/venture capitalist Gururaj “Desh” Desphande shared the stage at the 5th annual WHEF event held in Los Angeles from 18-20 November 2016.

Hundreds of Indian American and NRI professionals filled the Grand Ballroom of central Orange County’s Hotel Irvine the weekend of Nov. 18-20 to discuss ways to improve market access in India and help the nation sustain its path as a growing global player.

Other key speakers included WHEF’ founder Guru Swami Vigyananda, Rep. Ed Royce of California, USIBC chairman Dr. Mukesh Aghi, VHP-A president Abhaya Asthana, and Manipal Global Education Services chairman Mohandas Pai.

The theme of Tulsi Gabbard speech was “Finding Happiness and Success Through Karma Yoga”. Tulsi said Karma yoga is rooted in this understanding of Sanatan Dharma which is directly coming from supreme guru Sri Krishna. Karma meaning action, and yoga meaning in connection or union with God; in other words, karma yoga is action in loving service to God and humanity. If it turns out your business plan created wealth along the way, all the better—you can use that capital and those profits you worked so hard for in service to others.”

Tech Guru “Desh” Deshpande said “Growing up in India, there was a lot of scarcity and hardly any business, but there was an abundance of Hindu values such as respect and love.”. He went on saying “Hindu Dharma is a living thing and has an amazing ability to reinvent itself and stay relevant—it’s very entrepreneurial in a lot of ways.”

WHEF’s approach is based on the foundational wisdom in the Bhagwad Gita: “Think in future, for the future”. The Bhagavad Gita is respected by many spiritual teachers, guru and yoga masters around the world. The teachings of the Bhagavad Gita directly come from the God through a disciplic line of self realized bona-fide spiritual master.

The success of India, like any other country, depends on its people. Committed people who work for the benefit of their country are the only ones who gain ultimate success. If you think you can’t make an impact like Tulsi, you can do your part by simply attending WHEF conferences. With a spirit like Tulsi and platforms like WHEF, India will definitely gain a very high status in the world.

Discovering Your Real Essence: Life Force is Eternal

Discovering Your Real Essence: Life Force is Eternal

“The self is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. The self is not slain when the body is slain.” This quote from the Bhagavad-Gita (2:20) as read by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda, a world-renowned yoga spiritual master, explains that the body’s essence—its life force particles—remain to exist long after the body’s death. This is what Jagad Guru spoke to his audience during a lecture on the topic of the existence of self.

On this deeply involved topic, Jagad Guru teaches that “a life particle is what brings matter to life, or makes matter appear like it’s alive. Matter by nature is dead and a life particle is, in essence, intrinsically alive.” Therefore, our body—made of matter—may die, but our essence lives on in the life particles that were previously wedded within the matter substance of our physical body. When our life force particles are “in connection with matter, then matter appears to be alive. But matter, by nature, is always dead.”

On the other hand, Jagad Guru proclaims, “My existence is not going to cease” upon physical death because we do not live in the matter of our body, but in the life force particles. “Life is alive. Life is life. So, I am life. I am a life particle….the body takes on its natural characteristic: dead, a dead body, when the life particle leaves it.” He explains that this is a very traditional view, varying slightly throughout different religious perspectives, but this was even a perspective held by Socrates.

Continue reading Discovering Your Real Essence: Life Force is Eternal

Tulsi Gabbard & Guru Gururaj Deshpande inspirations from WHEF

This world is anything but prosperous. There’s inequality in terms of financial stability. This issue further leads to lack of education, lack of food, low living standards, etc. However, there are some very considerate people in the world who live their life to improve the condition of the society. Working for one person at a time and then making a worldly impact. WHEF is a combination of such determined souls.

World Hindu Economic Forum is an independent non-profit organization who wants to bring prosperity in the society. Their aim is to make Hindu society better by distributing surplus wealth. The organization has been working since 2010. Its headquarters are based in Delhi, Bharat, but it works all around the world with this positive intention. It was found by Y. S. Jain. The COO is Srinivas Chidumalla and the Steering Committee Convener is Arun Bajaj.

How WHEF is different

There are thousands of charities for helping the under privileged. But the one’s who get left behind are the middle class who are striving to reach somewhere in life. WHEF is the perfect platform for them. The organization brings the financially stable people of the society. This includes bankers, businessmen, economists, technocrats, traders and some thinkers too. These people provide their experience to the beginner level people.

They offer mentoring as well as resources to help those who need help for financial stability. Instead of giving money that would only last a little while, WHEF goes for the more permanent option which is to make these people capable of earning well throughout their lifetime. With help from these richer people, the talented ones get to earn well too and in the end, we have a prosperous society with surplus wealth. The seminars and conferences with this purpose are held very often.

They are conducted within India as well as in other parts of the world. The aim for this organization is to regain the lost economic strength of Hindus. There was a time when Hindus contributed up to 49% in the world economy. This is a proof that Hindus are capable of having that kind of success. The only thing needed to get back that status is some unifying platform which WHEF is offering.

The economic world isn’t in the best place all around the globe, especially in India. The people at WHEF believe that all Hindu brothers should come together. By offering whatever they have, as a whole they’ll quickly be able to get a stable point. The collective efforts are what are needed to get increased market access. Similarly, this will help get increased capital as well. Along with that, the use of technology will benefit everyone. The tech experts will provide help for those who aren’t so good with technology. Basically, the entire Hindu society will get the best outcome if they all come together to work for each other’s benefit.

Hindu Business Network (HBN)

Hindu Business Network is an organization that provides an on-line platform for the connection between entrepreneurs, businessmen and other professionals. The statement they use to explain their purpose is ‘Connections. Ideas. Opportunities.” It is pretty self explanatory. They provide the platform where anyone can come with their innovative ideas. Someone else can get inspiration or add into it. Others can suggest changes that they think will make it more practical. Someone else will pinpoint the flaws. Eventually, the interactions will help create a fool proof plan which will bring brand new opportunities.

The simplest ideas will be polished on this platform. Someone with the resources will fund it and voila! One idea from one corner of the country will find its way to the implementation. The only limitation to join this platform is to be above 18. It requires a yearly subscription. The first year is free for people who have attended the WHEF annual conference or any other event throughout the year. If you believe the WHEF concept should be supported, you are eligible for HBN.

Hindu Economic Forum (HEF)

Hindu Economic Forum works similar to WHEF. The only difference is that HEF, unlike WHEF, offers memberships. It brings together industrialists, businessmen, etc. to share innovative ideas, expertise and resources. HEF wants to ‘Grow together. Share together.’ They want to create wealth with the help of 100 hands so it can be shared among 1000 hands. Once again, the concept is to provide permanent source of success rather than offering simple donations to the underprivileged.

They want to gain economic success. With this sort if stability only will Hindu civilization be able to succeed in the world. And this cannot be achieved unless all business minded people come together. HEF wants to remove the barrier of financial support so that ideas can come together for the mere success of Hindus. It is a platform that the future generations can use for economic strength and prosperity.

Another blessed soul

Other than WHEF, there are some other considerate souls who want to solely work for the betterment of society. While they haven’t formed any organization, they’ve done some remarkable work on their own. One of these human serving souls include Tulsi Gabbard. Tulsi is a truly humble person who works entirely for the people. She has been interested in this positive work since a very young age. She constantly fights for a government that is truly for the people.

When Tulsi Gabbard was two, she moved to Hawaii with her parents. There she worked closely with the two family businesses from a very young age. Meanwhile, she also completed her degree in International Business from the Hawaii Pacific University. At the age of 19, Tulsi co-founded an organization. This was called the Healthy Hawaii Coalition (HHC).

The aim of this non-profit organization was to protect the environment, provide better community health as well improve individual’s life. In short, Tulsi wanted to make the world a better place and was on the road from the start. By working in this organization, she maintained an active role in public health matters as well as in the education system. HHC carved a curriculum that was adopted by over 50 public and private schools around Hawaii.

The start of her political career

She was extraordinary from the very beginning and this is what got her to be the youngest person in the Hawaiian State Legislature at the age of only 21. She passionately used her power for the betterment of the education sector, but also did work for the tourism and economic sector. Her brave character was proven when she volunteered to go on war in Iraq. She had no pressure, she could enjoy the comfort of her home and the state Legislature but still chose to go in the field just to work for the people. This was in 2004. Her second deployment to the Middle East was in 2009.

Tulsi’s commitment to work for a better society didn’t stop here. She decided to continue her political career so that she could make use of her powerful position to make a change in the world. She went to Washington D.C in 2006. Here she served Senator Akaka as a legislative aide. Not only did she get the honor of getting mentorship from such a renowned personality, she also made an impact by suggesting on environmental and veteran affairs.

After her return from the second deployment, Tulsi gained many important positions. She became the Chair of the Safety, Economic Development as well as Government Affairs Committee. She served as Vice Chair of the Budget committee. Tulsi was also the member of Zoning and Public Works committee. She used her position to work against dengue fever, medical waste and for APEC. She was able to bring many economic opportunities for the state.

Her success didn’t stop here. In 2012, she won a seat in the US House of Representatives. She won the general election by 80 points. Tulsi became one of the only two women veteran in the House of Representatives. Other than that, she was the first ever Hindu American to have gotten a seat in the Congress. The multi race woman encouraged diversity. She worked on various platforms to do uncountable goods for the world.

Her services were used in the House Armed Services as well as in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Tulsi started her work from Hawaii but continued it in America as well. She is a true representative of leadership qualities. Her veteran services have impacted the world in a very positive way. Just in three decades of her life, Tulsi has done work for the world that can never be paid back for.

Tulsi has spoken at one of the WHEF events. She delivered a speech on the topic of “Finding Happiness and Success Through Karma Yoga”. Her inspiration definitely provided motivation for many novices. Last year, Tulsi Gabbard and US tech guru and pioneering entrepreneur/venture capitalist Gururaj “Desh” Desphande shared the stage at the 5th annual WHEF event held in Los Angeles from 18-20 November 2016.

Hundreds of Indian American and NRI professionals filled the Grand Ballroom of central Orange County’s Hotel Irvine the weekend of Nov. 18-20 to discuss ways to improve market access in India and help the nation sustain its path as a growing global player.

Other key speakers included WHEF’ founder Guru Swami Vigyananda, Rep. Ed Royce of California, USIBC chairman Dr. Mukesh Aghi, VHP-A president Abhaya Asthana, and Manipal Global Education Services chairman Mohandas Pai.

The theme of Tulsi Gabbard speech was “Finding Happiness and Success Through Karma Yoga”. Tulsi said Karma yoga is rooted in this understanding of Sanatan Dharma which is directly coming from supreme guru Sri Krishna. Karma meaning action, and yoga meaning in connection or union with God; in other words, karma yoga is action in loving service to God and humanity. If it turns out your business plan created wealth along the way, all the better—you can use that capital and those profits you worked so hard for in service to others.”

Tech Guru “Desh” Deshpande said “Growing up in India, there was a lot of scarcity and hardly any business, but there was an abundance of Hindu values such as respect and love.”. He went on saying “Hindu Dharma is a living thing and has an amazing ability to reinvent itself and stay relevant—it’s very entrepreneurial in a lot of ways.”

WHEF’s approach is based on the foundational wisdom in the Bhagwad Gita: “Think in future, for the future”. The Bhagavad Gita is respected by many spiritual teachers, guru and yoga masters around the world. The teachings of the Bhagavad Gita directly come from the God through a disciplic line of self realized bona-fide spiritual master.

The success of India, like any other country, depends on its people. Committed people who work for the benefit of their country are the only ones who gain ultimate success. If you think you can’t make an impact like Tulsi, you can do your part by simply attending WHEF conferences. With a spirit like Tulsi and platforms like WHEF, India will definitely gain a very high status in the world.

Relating with God As Our Best Friend

God, the Supreme Person, is our Best Friend. Spiritual life is relating with God, loving Him,  as our very Best Friend. We are related to God eternally through a bond of kinship. He is our closest relative and the very foundation of our existence. There can be no person closer to us in an absolute sense than our Supreme Friend. However, when we come into this material dimension, we are immediately plunged into forgetfulness. Although we are eternal spiritual beings, part and parcel of the Supreme Person, when we fall under the influence of material nature, we forget our spiritual origins.

We become covered by layers of material energy that we take to be our self. Instead of knowing that we are the spiritual individual merely wearing the material clothes of the body and mind, we become convinced that we actually are these clothes. Our natural spiritual inclinations and activities become increasingly suppressed as we become more and more absorbed in the world of matter. We forget what our life was like before we entered the material world, and also do not remember our past lives within the world of matter. We even forget our relationship with very closest Friend, the topmost love of our life, God.

The depth of our forgetfulness is so severe that many of us have completely forgotten that God even exists. And among those of us that do at least remember His existence, very few remember what He is like. In such a forgetful condition, it is very difficult for us to have a close relationship with Him. We feel much closer to our parents, spouse, children, peers, even our pets, and so we spend most of our time and energy cultivating our relationships with them. Because we do not feel a deeply intimate and loving personal connection with God, we do not give this relationship priority in our lives – even though He is actually the closest Person to us.

Continue reading Relating with God As Our Best Friend

Turning Our Hearts Back to Goodness

It is not at all surprising to every one of us -we meet miseries everywhere. Starting from our bodily miseries (like disease, pain & death), miseries from economic problems, relationship, natural calamities, dangers and personal delusions etc. It would not be wrong to define all these as – “misgivings of the material nature”. This is inherent to this world. Many other similar things affect our lives as a whole, affect our peace and happiness. We feel that we cannot escape these. We continuously struggle to find an easy way out – at least temporarily.

And we often fail 🙁

Consequently, we suffer from fear, we lose faith, our hearts are hardened, we gradually lose the natural tendency to care others, we deliberately close our eyes to worldly problems to comfort ourselves and think as secure. Moreover if we focus on the larger band, we witness killings, wars, and political quagmire which spoil life of uncountable masses. In the end, we feel practically helpless.

Where are we heading to? Have we ever stopped by and thought about the real cause and the results.

We cannot experience true happiness living just for ourselves. The unnatural selfishness and ignorance has kept us away from all kinds of goodness and natural state of the heart i.e. compassion, lasting happiness and joy. In other words we have lost our hearts to artificiality & self-centeredness.

Continue reading Turning Our Hearts Back to Goodness

Terrorism – The Current Situation & What is Our Role ?

We humans have made remarkable progress ever since we have been part of this beautiful planet and it is due to this nature of ours to consistently work towards leading improved lives it has resulted into some incredible breakthroughs in several fields.

But is it always that there are only hopes for betterment and there are no complexities involved when it comes to humanity. Well, it would have been dream come true had the above mentioned statement would have been the truth, but sadly this is not the case. One term which not only brings in fear, loss of hope, destruction, loss of lives, but also has actually been a huge setback for the human developmental process is “terrorism”.

On one hand we have this wonderful inventions that help in leading a comfortable life, while on other hand there is this ugly head of terrorism which creates nothing but devastation and loss of faith in humanity.

Continue reading Terrorism – The Current Situation & What is Our Role ?

Let’s not Forget the Unsung Martyrs : Inspired by Tulsi Gabbard

Some personalities need very less introduction, as we start to talk about Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. House of Representatives for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District. She’s even beyond inspiration. It won’t be wrong to describe her as a great luminary that personifies empowerment, sacrifice, willpower and selfless service.

The Amazing Tulsi Gabbard is aptly described as “A deep storehouse of personal strength and leadership qualities.”

Recently, on the event of “Bloody Sunday”, Tulsi released a statement that reminds of the great sacrifice made by African Americans 50 years back. They suffered a great degree of political injustice and civil rights inequality. They were not allowed to exercise their voting rights. In an attempt to answer this, they launched a mass movement marked by a huge public march from Selma to Montgomery to raise the attention of the then ruling authority.

Continue reading Let’s not Forget the Unsung Martyrs : Inspired by Tulsi Gabbard

Modi & Tulsi Gabbard follow Gita, taught by Guru & Spiritual Teachers of Millions of People

As parents we all want our children to follow in the footsteps of people we can trust. We become anxious when our children make friends with the dubious neighbours or seem a little attracted to the other kids who are just not quite on the right side of the law. As they grow up we want them to become good citizens, to do the right things, to know what is acceptable and what is not.

In today’s world finding such a person or people who are the role models we hope our children will copy seems elusive. If we look at the political arena, we can see that people start out with high ideals but often become embroiled in difficulties.

Tulsi gabbard has a foundation that places service to the people and to the creation of a strong and wise society at its fore. Tulsi is one such politician that we can easily place our trust in. This wisdom comes from her longstanding commitment to the principles laid out in the Holy scripture,  Bhagavad Gita followed and taught by all guru, spiritual teacher and spiritual masters worldwide.

Continue reading Modi & Tulsi Gabbard follow Gita, taught by Guru & Spiritual Teachers of Millions of People

Real Meaning Of Democracy

Democracy plainly can be defined as the representative government. In other words, it means government by the people’s representatives. The citizenry choose those to represent them and their interest in government.

Another school of thought see democracy as government of the majority with the interest of the minority protected. This is to say that the group or party with the majority of votes form government but the interest of the minority is guaranteed by the constitution.

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Real Meaning Of Democracy

Real Meaning Of Democracy

Democracy plainly can be defined as the representative government. In other words, it means government by the people’s representatives. The citizenry choose those to represent them and their interest in government.

Another school of thought see democracy as government of the majority with the interest of the minority protected. This is to say that the group or party with the majority of votes form government but the interest of the minority is guaranteed by the constitution.

To have a better understanding for the true meaning of democracy, it is important to know the how the modern democracy came about. The way democracy is today has serious import from the Greeks and the Romans. For example, the Athenians had three arms of government. They were Assembly of Demos, Council of 500 and people’s Court. While the Assembly and the Council of 500 legislate, the People’s Court was the judicial arm of government. The Romans had the senate who perform legislative duties.

Much modern influences of present day democracy are the “Magna Carta” of 1215 that gave liberty and political rights to the English people and the America constitution upon independent. This constitution had entrenched in it the doctrines of separation of power, civic rights and separation of government from the church.

When compared to other forms of governments like military, monarchy, oligarchy, feudalism etc. Democracy is more inclusive and representative in nature. It has the capacity to accommodate all interests and opinions of members of the society. This is why it is the most popular form of government.

It has been argued in some quarters that democracy is the most expensive form of government and as such not suitable for poor nations. This school of thought is premised on the fact that it is expensive to conduct elections; expensive to pay political office holders like legislators and political appointees; and expensive to run government in generally. As cogent as this argument might seems, the prevalent facts before us today shows that states that are not practicing democracy like North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba to mention but a few are repressive in nature. They manipulate and use so much propaganda to oppress their citizens.

Others believe that frequent elections, actually give room for populist issues and not enduring issues. Politicians tend to play safe, focusing on policies that are popular enough to attain power but not substantive for an enduring development of the society. A good example of this is the issue of taxes and immigration. Politicians seek the easier options out just to win election even when on the long run it will not be good for the society. They engage in so much propaganda (deliberate falsehood) to convince and confuse the electorates for votes. Economic issues are politicalized for political gains.

However, recent events has also shown that the more a state oppress or use repressive means to deny their citizens access to power, freedom and good governance. It is only for a while. The Arab spring that swept across states like Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and most recently Burkina Faso are clear examples of how people desire democracy. They want to be part of the government that govern them. So many have had to pay sacrificially to attain democracy. Others fought civil war just to ensure that democratic government is entrenched in their society and constitution.

There are two major types of democracy. They are direct democracy and representative democracy. While direct democracy is where the citizens of the state govern themselves directly. They would come out and legislate about the affairs that concern their welfare. This was the type practiced in ancient Greek city of Athens.

However, the act of governance is more technical and time consuming this days. Thus, the need for full time and knowledgeable individuals to be elected to represent their constituencies in government. So the second type of democracy is representative or indirect democracy.

Representative democracy have several types such as Authoritarian, Demarchy, Totalitarian, Non-partisan, Council or Soviet, Westminster, Jacksonisan, Electoral, Parliamentary and Dominant-party representative democracies. These models of representative democracies are practice or were practice in different states as it suits the particular nation state at the time.

Which type of government is best is not really the model that is being followed, but the people who are implementing the model.For example a nation might be democratic, but if the leaders are using stealth oppressive methods to rule and manipulate the country, than it is no better than an directly oppressive government. Simlarly a country under military rule might be better, if the military leaders are righteous people and work for the welfare of people, then there is no issues about that as well.

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Leaders Follow Bhagavad Gita – Taught by Spiritual Teachers of Masses

The Bhagavad Gita, Taught by Gurus & Spiritual Teachers of Masses

As parents we all want our children to follow in the footsteps of people we can trust. We become anxious when our children make friends with the dubious neighbours or seem a little attracted to the other kids who are just not quite on the right side of the law. As they grow up we want them to become good citizens, to do the right things, to know what is acceptable and what is not.

In today’s world finding such a person or people who are the role models we hope our children will copy seems elusive. If we look at the political arena, we can see that people start out with high ideals but often become embroiled in difficulties.

Tulsi gabbard has a foundation that places service to the people and to the creation of a strong and wise society at its fore. Tulsi is one such politician that we can easily place our trust in. This wisdom comes from her longstanding commitment to the principles laid out in the Holy scripture,  Bhagavad Gita followed and taught by all guru, spiritual teacher and spiritual masters worldwide.

From a young age she realised that if she was to make changes not only to the society that she has chosen to serve but also to herself, that she would unflinchingly follow this spiritual guide. To date her actions and words have risen above the mundane and she has already achieved more in her short working life than many people dream of. These actions set her apart as an outstanding politician despite her youth. Tulsi uses the examples of self sacrifice and service in the Bhagavad Gita to further her own development so she can be that person who can be trusted and relied upon.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited America and Tulsi was honoured to be one of the people to greet him. She gave him a traditional garland of flowers and was able to converse with him not only on political topics but also on the underlying spiritual foundation of work ethics. Modi was presented the Bhagavad Gita by Tulsi Gabbard. Guru & spiritual teachers worldwide praise and follow this holy scripture.  Tulsi serves on the House of Representatives committees on Armed Services and Foreign Affairs and they discussed cooperation in those fields as well. They also looked at how India and the US could work together in fighting terrorism.

‘In a statement she said, “Mr. Modi’s visit marks a significant positive step toward growing the relationship between the U.S. and India, which is a bond based on shared democratic values and a focus on mutual prosperity and security.

Reacting to Modi’s speech at the community reception, she said, “It has been an honor to … hear his message of peace and friendship at his address to an energized crowd at New York’s renowned Madison Square Garden.’

Narendra Modi has been given high praise for his invigorating ideas to get India out of the economic doldrums and initiate development.He himself gives presents to all world leaders he meets a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.

‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Friday named ‘Asian of the Year‘ for being development-focused leader of India by editors of Singapore’s leading daily, The Straits Times.

Mr Modi has got India and the world excited about his country’s prospects again. He has given his people a renewed sense of direction and purpose, and there are hopeful signs that he is minded to using his strong mandate to good effect in one of Asia’s major powers. We wish him and India every success,” Warren Fernandez, editor of the daily said.’

To see and hear two people in such influential positions approaching their work with such enthusiasm and honesty is refreshing. Both are focused on lifting people out of the malaise that for the last decade or so has stifled any type of production leading to economic incentives. They both also work toward instilling into the general populace hope for a better world. Tulsi understands how much a clean environment and clean water mean to the future of us all especially to our children. She has made these issues part of her life’s work and it is because of her personal spiritual commitment we know she won’t give up. It is to her that we hope our children look to, take notice of, and emulate.

Tulsi Gabbard is the guiding light we are looking for to lead us away from the doom and gloom of political deceitfulness and into a better, honest and more enlightening way of living.

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Let’s not Forget the Unsung Martyrs

Let’s not Forget the Unsung Martyrs

Some personalities need very less introduction, as we start to talk about Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. House of Representatives for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District. She’s even beyond inspiration. It won’t be wrong to describe her as a great luminary that personifies empowerment, sacrifice, willpower and selfless service.

The Amazing Tulsi Gabbard is aptly described as “A deep storehouse of personal strength and leadership qualities.”

Recently, on the event of “Bloody Sunday”, Tulsi released a statement that reminds of the great sacrifice made by African Americans 50 years back. They suffered a great degree of political injustice and civil rights inequality. They were not allowed to exercise their voting rights. In an attempt to answer this, they launched a mass movement marked by a huge public march from Selma to Montgomery to raise the attention of the then ruling authority.

This is an important date in the American calendar as this commemorates the ghastly behavior of erstwhile ruling authority shown to huge number of silent protestors who were marching on the Edmund Pettus Bridge demanding the voting rights.

Most of them were attacked by the county policemen with billy clubs, and tear gas was also released to suppress them. This evoked a national outcry and attracted international attention. Many prominent leaders were attacked by the county policemen ruthlessly and the Whites even murdered some of the top flag bearers. The series of shameful events just created a black spot in the history of American politics. Finally the voting bill was passed by the President in 1965.

Tulsi rightly points out that even we have progressed a lot in all areas, still we lack the “aloha”  spirit. We are missing the spirit of compassion, love, care and respectfulness; still we witness bigotry and discrimination in our lives, society and nation as a whole. Still the national public are bugged by rising issues like terrorism, unfair economics, red-tapism and biased bureaucracy.

Even if 50 years have passed and we have achieved great economic and political milestones, our consciousness hasn’t changed much. We still see a lot of areas to work upon like – equal rights for all and racial injustice.

Tulsi inspires us to respect and appreciate the sacrifice made by the African Americans and this further reminds us not to repeat similar horrifying actions against anyone in the society.

Let us get together and pledge for a happy and better nation.

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Terrorism – The Current Situation & What is Our Role ?

Terrorism – The Current Situation & What is Our Role ?

We humans have made remarkable progress ever since we have been part of this beautiful planet and it is due to this nature of ours to consistently work towards leading improved lives it has resulted into some incredible breakthroughs in several fields.

But is it always that there are only hopes for betterment and there are no complexities involved when it comes to humanity. Well, it would have been dream come true had the above mentioned statement would have been the truth, but sadly this is not the case. One term which not only brings in fear, loss of hope, destruction, loss of lives, but also has actually been a huge setback for the human developmental process is “terrorism”.

On one hand we have this wonderful inventions that help in leading a comfortable life, while on other hand there is this ugly head of terrorism which creates nothing but devastation and loss of faith in humanity.

The attack on World Trade Centre shook the entire world and also surfaced the threat terrorism could possess to humanity. But this was not the end as terror attacks continue to take place and creating alarming situations. Different places at different point of times are attacked by terrorists leaving behind fear and anguish. The attack on Parliament of India in 2001 is another example of this deadly side of humanity. The current situation of terrorism is not an issue of any particular country, but has become an issue of global concern.

The latest event which took place in Nigeria reflects how this grave issue has affected the world. Maiduguri which is a Nigerian city faced an attack of twin bomb blasts taking lives of above forty-five people in the market place and the terrorist group which is likely to be suspected for this deadly attack is Boko Haram which has been creating destruction in Nigeria. What is disturbing, is the frequency with which such terror attacks are taking place in these times thereby increasing the seriousness of this threat to humanity.

The attack on Parliament Hill in Canada at Ottawa on October 2014 by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau resulting into death of the Canadian soldier Nathan Cirillo is another instance of inhumanity. A little while ago in July 2014 fourteen Tunisian soldiers lost their lives in a terror attack in the region of Chambi Mountain on two check points. What is essential to mention in the context of terrorism is that this is has gone international and the whole world faces the threat from this. The events like London Bombings of the year 2005 taking lives of fifty-two people and living hundreds injured in these suicide bombings, Madrid train bombings of 2004 which took the lives of 191 people and many wounded, Mumbai attacks of 2008, all depict the spread of terrorism across the world.

Violence, destruction, innocent killings, barbarism are some of the dimensions of terrorism. The groups like Hamas, Boko Haram, Taliban, ISIS, The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Al-Shabab, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda and FARC are some of the deadliest terror groups which possess severe threat to the civilians.

So whether it is Europe, America, Asia or Africa, terrorism has raised its ugly head all over the world killing many innocent people and causing massive destruction. Where we have this progressive side of the world where we have some highly useful and remarkable offerings from the various fields which contribute towards betterment of human life, there is terrorism which can not only causes destruction but is also a reflection of inhumanity.

Talks on terrorism have taken the mainstream in all major discussions and summits worldwide. During the US visit, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a grand welcome by US congress Democrat Tulsi Gabbard in New York and a wonderful reception was hosted in honor of Modi. So they both met and discussed on how both the countries can fight together against the deadly terrorism. This war on terror was the main topic of the whole discussion and many points were put forward by Tulsi, apart from this other topics such as cooperation, friendship, foreign policies, economic growth, peace and security was also discussed.

The specialties about these two leaders viz: Sir Modi and Lady Gabbard are not unknown to the whole world. On one hand, Modi has shown tremendous leadership and achievement in all sectors whereas Tulsi Gabbard has been exemplary in serving her district and has shown unexpected courage and sacrifice for her Hawaiian natives and soldiers. Many would be curious how they are so steady and solid. Yes, it’s true their conquest to work for the people is unbelievable. Recently the beautiful Gabbard tied her knots to her long time friend, Abraham and they hosted a beautiful Vedic wedding in a magnificent beachfront location.

So a vital relationship is essential between the two strong democracies namely India and US to fight terrorism and reach the roots of this heinous crime.

Terrorism is one such issue which needs immediate attention and even though lot of efforts are being taken to deal with this problem, and in this case proactive Tulsi is taking an active role to invite the global leaders to cooperate in this situation. This will make the world will be a better place to live as it will be terrorism free. Terrorism has become a global threat as said by Tulsi. It is an ugly development that has compelled world leaders as well as notable figures to set aside millions of dollars to beef up their security. In the midst of this security upgrade, thousands of lives have been lost to this scourge called terrorism.

Statistically, it has been proven that no nation of the world is an exception to attacks by terrorists. Recent terrorist attacks of the 21st century such as the plane crash against the  and the World Trade Center in Washington and New York respectively, the bombing of London’s underground railway etc were masterminded by terrorist organizations referred to as the Al Qaeda network.

Terrorism is indisputably a threat to global peace and security. As it thrives well in world like ours, where rising conflict and violence, human rights violation, religious, national and ethnic discrimination, extreme ideology and marginalization, and dehumanization of victims are prevalent in practice, it has succeeded in disregarding values and human lives, launching war on peace and freedom, multiplying conflicts and violence and posing a challenge on solving the menace of insecurity, injustice and a declining economy.

In the history of mankind, terrorism is recognized widely as the most famous villain of mankind in the world. It is the cruellest of crimes against mankind. Its remains have turned neighbors into adversaries and have made the society and the entire world unsafe for living and doing business. Its objectives are global and unrelenting.

Neither terrorism nor its perpetrators are new. Although it has been in existence since the inception of recorded time, history itself cannot with precision record the number of lives and properties that have been lost to acts of terrorism.

Terror affects us all; we must adopt a collective approach towards combating and conquering terrorism to ensure a peaceful and safe world. It is worthy of note that the world leaders, stakeholders and followers have important roles to play in countering terrorism and achieving global peace and security. These roles for the world leaders and stakeholders, goes beyond just organizing or attending world summit, seminars, conferences etc on the issue and consenting to global strategy for countering terrorism on paper. Resources need to be committed to the cause at all levels.

Our leaders need to be more objective and sincere in their judgements, more pragmatic in their approach, and create the enabling environment for conflict resolution, justice, equality, human rights protection, unity, stability, tolerance, prosperity, security and peace.

Above all, they also need to support and promote ultimately because of the respect for values and human lives.

For private individuals and followers in general, we need to promote the view beyond conferences that terrorism is unacceptable and inexcusable. We need to be involved in a one-one-one sensitization and education to enlighten ourselves on the destructive ad devastating effects of terrorism on our values and lives. We should emphasize that terrorism can never be a better way of championing a cause, be it religious, political or otherwise. We must acknowledge that the most valuable need of mankind is peace.

Thank You!

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Turning Our Hearts Back to Goodness

Turning Our Hearts Back to Goodness

It is not at all surprising to every one of us -we meet miseries everywhere. Starting from our bodily miseries (like disease, pain & death), miseries from economic problems, relationship, natural calamities, dangers and personal delusions etc. It would not be wrong to define all these as – “misgivings of the material nature”. This is inherent to this world. Many other similar things affect our lives as a whole, affect our peace and happiness. We feel that we cannot escape these. We continuously struggle to find an easy way out – at least temporarily.

And we often fail 🙁

Consequently, we suffer from fear, we lose faith, our hearts are hardened, we gradually lose the natural tendency to care others, we deliberately close our eyes to worldly problems to comfort ourselves and think as secure. Moreover if we focus on the larger band, we witness killings, wars, and political quagmire which spoil life of uncountable masses. In the end, we feel practically helpless.

Where are we heading to? Have we ever stopped by and thought about the real cause and the results.

We cannot experience true happiness living just for ourselves. The unnatural selfishness and ignorance has kept us away from all kinds of goodness and natural state of the heart i.e. compassion, lasting happiness and joy. In other words we have lost our hearts to artificiality & self-centeredness.

Yes at this point anyone may ask – are we capable of doing something regarding these miseries. One may feel himself very small and powerless to try something? Yes this may be true to some extent, but each small attempt can have a great impact. We can switch back to the real state of our hearts when we are enlightened, when we practice compassion, when we know the truth of our very existence. Putting it another way – when we turn our hearts back to goodness, we can feel happy, satisfied & real joy, we can be of some help to our fellow society too. So how we do it? Let’s read further.

Get Rid of Attachment, Lust & Greed

Due to over ambitiousness and huge economic proposition we build up cutthroat environments; we end up in pollution, uneven economy, deforestation, wasting natural resources and unfair distribution of commodities. Gandhi has said rightly – “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”

Due to lust and greed each one of us attempts to lord over the natural assets and misuse it. Individuals in power also try to manipulate the system or government for personal benefit.

For example: research and testing of weapons, manufacturing and testing of bombs pollutes the ocean and makes it difficult for the sea animals, moreover digging of oil wells in the middle of sea generates a huge amount toxic which simply kills the sea creatures. Wastes from industries straight go into the mouth of oceans which further make difficult for the lives of fish.

Use of chemicals and animal farming is just leaving the fields unusable for further crops. So it is already a danger signal for our food and water scarcity. All we need to stop these; else the harsh reality is not too far.

Rethinking on the Concept of Enough

“Is there enough to go round? Immediately we encounter a serious difficulty: What is “enough”? Who can tell us? Certainly not the economist who pursues “economic growth” as the highest of all values and therefore has no concept of “enough.” There are poor societies which have too little; but where is the rich society that says: “Halt! We have enough”? There is none.”

Quoted from E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful – Economics as if People Mattered (New York: Harper and Row, 1973), p. 25.

How much is enough, it’s not a debate to participate. We all know how much is enough? We simply need some food to eat, something to wear, a house to live and of course we need money for all these. We need to earn or work and we also need some money for emergencies. But in the name of earning our necessities we are over engaging ourselves in material endeavors. We are ruthlessly exploiting the nature and the planet to its best for our over-sized dream of a lavish life. We should only accept what is necessary and avoid exaggerations.

Seeking Help

We can seek help from those who have real wisdom; we can follow teachings of saintly persons or sages. Only they can enlighten us with the real knowledge that will help us to overcome the material miseries and achieve the real purpose and happiness. They have blessed us with so many literature that are applicable to our modern society. In real, the lessons from the bonafide scriptures or Vedas provide practical answers to personal miseries, envy, disrespect and social issues such as hatred, conflict and racism.

Quoting from Isopanisad Mantra Ten:

“The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge and that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience.”

So the core of our lives is gaining real knowledge from a perfect or bonafide source. So by following the teachings and instructions, we can gradually purify our consciousness and hearts. After which we cannot be easily provoked by the material nature.

From scriptures we learn that we should practice forgiveness, respectfulness, compassion for a better society. These are the qualities inherent to the heart. And by virtue of these qualities, the planet can be made a happier place to live.

See more profound insights here.

Turning our Hearts to Forgiveness, Truth & Respectfulness

Humility and happiness have a strong connection, in daily lives we go through many good and evils. We deal with many people and we face many bad experiences too. So we must understand that this is the part and parcel of our life – that someone may do some mistakes to us, we should forgive them for anything that has affected us personally. As we all know no one is perfect, if we hold onto it, then it will create bitterness and resentment in our hearts. One may feel stuck and miss the natural joy.

It won’t help us in growing the social relationship, if at all something is holding back, one simple way out is just frankly speak and discuss with the person. Else internal complaining within the heart will make us a different person altogether.

We are also not perfect, we also do many mistakes, but we are also forgiven by our friends, relatives and co workers. So this constant exchange of forgiveness helps us to progress personally. Forgiveness is a free gift! Free to give and to receive.

This act of forgiving is also a part of paying respect to others. We should respect the elderly and kids too. We should not hurt someone by our actions, mind or thoughts. We should avoid duplicity in relationships.

So, together we can make a change and fill the world with peace and harmony.

Turning our Hearts to Friendship

This is really a big world to get lost and feel lonely; this is such an unpleasant experience to the heart. We experience loneliness for many obvious reasons – we are continuously flawed by cheating. A young man cheats a young lady, the son turns away his face from his old parents, best friends’ part away easily for some minor issues, business or money even separates long standing relationships, our hearts crave for some shelter and direction, we all have to realize the original cause – all living beings have a natural tendency to love someone and be loved.

As a general practice, we always look online for a solution to these, but believe my dear friends, you will be overwhelmed by the solutions described, each one is a good writer or blogger and they describe their life and what they applied(so-called-solution) to come out of the situation. You don’t even know the truth. But that is not a perfect situation to just copy and paste in our lives. Great saintly persons have said about loneliness “We cannot live without any association, without any friendship or without any people in our lives” – This emptiness or loneliness of the heart is truly a spiritual longing for the Supreme Friend.”

Friendship Beyond our Personal Boundary

In essence, we all are relatives as we all are the children of the almighty Supreme Person. So, there is no one unknown or unrelated to us. We all are brothers and sisters of the world. And it’s up to us to take care of each other. We are all a part of one big family. We all should give respects to each other.

In an attempt to exercise this, at least to start – we can go online and find some charity or old age institutions – be friends with them, sing along them spend some time, exchange some gifts, read some stories; in short try to be good friends of them. Essentially, we should help them feel secure and comfort them with the idea that their drooping body is not a means to consider themselves as less fortunate and help them understand that death is not a cessation to their existence. They are essentially spirit souls temporarily residing in a material body by the name of “John” or “Smith” or “Roberts” or “Angelina” and so on – they must be aware of the reincarnation idea. They should be free of any doubts dwelling long on their mind and hearts.

Let their life be filled with some happiness. Have a delicious feast with them, see some videos with them, sing and dance with them to some good music. To listen to amazing music and sounds, you can check this YouTube channel. So I declare to all the intelligent young ones with all the energy lets run, repeat and relate with this less attended society of old friends.

This is not all – see more acts of benevolence.

How Meditation Will Help Us

Many have a general idea that meditation relaxes and calms the mind and brings an overall relaxation to the body and mind. That is good, but in the long run, when we realize that we are craving for some lasting happiness. We get into trouble, we are looking for true joy and blissfulness that lasts. At this point we have to understand that essentially, we are not the material body. We are spirit soul, the self or atma. This is our true identity. So there is a different kind of need for the self that is residing in this body. Why not check this enlightening quote on identity.

The secret to true happiness lies in knowing who you really are. So meditation will help us realize our true identity. So adding meditation to our lives will add a meaning and purpose to our existence in this world. It clears the mind of all misconceptions about true identity and helps us know to progress in the path of self realization.

So if the mind and heart meditate on the transcendental sound vibrations then the real self will feel peace and happiness. Gradually, by hearing and meditating on these sounds, the person or the self will feel some lasting pleasure, spiritual satisfaction and fulfillment.

These transcendental sound vibrations are also known as ‘mantras’ and sometimes this method can be referred to as mantra meditation. Elaborating more on this, the mantras are very powerful and effective in changing our consciousness and can purify our hard hearts. They do not originate here in this material world. These belong to the spiritual world and have come down via great saintly persons since thousands of years. To know more about the mantras or sounds check here.

The Last Thing

We are living in a lie consciousness – that we are the material body. We are always kept in illusion by the media, we are lured by the flashy ads that describe that they can satisfy us with material goodies. This is one of the prime reasons, we are getting engaged in so many futile endeavors in life to earn more and acquire more – and ultimately this is keeping us aloof from real happiness. Our material wants seemingly go unsatisfied. So now we must inquire what really matters in our lives and how to attain it. Yes there should be one simple wish – “To know and work on the real purpose of human form of life”

The real purpose of human life is to know our real identity and serve the Supreme Being.

All this can be made possible when our hearts will be cleansed and we realize our true essence and turn back to goodness of our hearts.

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Relating with God As Our Best Friend

 

Relating with God As Our Best Friend

God, the Supreme Person, is our Best Friend. Spiritual life is relating with God, loving Him,  as our very Best Friend. We are related to God eternally through a bond of kinship. He is our closest relative and the very foundation of our existence. There can be no person closer to us in an absolute sense than our Supreme Friend. However, when we come into this material dimension, we are immediately plunged into forgetfulness. Although we are eternal spiritual beings, part and parcel of the Supreme Person, when we fall under the influence of material nature, we forget our spiritual origins.

We become covered by layers of material energy that we take to be our self. Instead of knowing that we are the spiritual individual merely wearing the material clothes of the body and mind, we become convinced that we actually are these clothes. Our natural spiritual inclinations and activities become increasingly suppressed as we become more and more absorbed in the world of matter. We forget what our life was like before we entered the material world, and also do not remember our past lives within the world of matter. We even forget our relationship with very closest Friend, the topmost love of our life, God.

The depth of our forgetfulness is so severe that many of us have completely forgotten that God even exists. And among those of us that do at least remember His existence, very few remember what He is like. In such a forgetful condition, it is very difficult for us to have a close relationship with Him. We feel much closer to our parents, spouse, children, peers, even our pets, and so we spend most of our time and energy cultivating our relationships with them. Because we do not feel a deeply intimate and loving personal connection with God, we do not give this relationship priority in our lives – even though He is actually the closest Person to us.

He is eternally our very greatest and dear most beloved Friend, but because our consciousness is covered by material influence, we forget this. All too often, we erroneously perceive God as being distant, vague, aloof, even impersonal.

When we do not have a close loving friendship with the Person who is in actuality our very Best Friend, we experience in the core of our hearts the deep pain of missing Him. There is a persistent emptiness in our heart of hearts, a deep loneliness that cannot be filled by any relationship, situation, or thing of this world. We can cover it up temporarily, we can distract ourselves for a time, but this emptiness will remain until we are able to truly revive our lost relationship with our Supreme Friend.

So how can we revive this lost relationship with God? How can we again have a close and loving friendship with Him, given that we can barely even remember Him?

Fortunately, the Supreme Person Himself has given us instructions for reviving our lost relationship of loving friendship with Him. In the bonafide scriptures of the world, we will find God’s instructions to us. And in the Vedic or yoga scriptures, in particular, we will find very clear and detailed instructions on how we can awaken our remembrance of the Supreme Person and cultivate our love for Him.

In the yoga texts, it is explained that we can awaken our dormant love for God by engaging in devotional service to Him. I also found something great from a sincere student of Jagad guru who explains the prominent aspects of yoga in this video. Out of the nine types of devotional service, the most essential for this day and age are the hearing and repeating of the transcendental Names of the Supreme. In yoga, this is called Mantra Meditation.

The Names of God are not ordinary sound. Rather, they are the Supreme Person Himself in spiritual sound vibration. Out of His love for us, God makes Himself easily available to us in this form, so that we can directly relate with Him and revive our forgotten relationship of loving friendship with Him. The Supreme is always the Supreme regardless of where and how He chooses to appear. So when He appears in this material world as His Names, He is not influenced in any way by contact with matter. On the contrary, God’s Names have a purifying effect on the consciousness of every living being. Whenever we hear and chant or sing the Names of the Supreme Person, our hearts and minds are being cleansed of material misunderstandings and misgivings. We increasingly become aware of our eternal spiritual nature, and our dormant affection for our eternal Friend blossoms.

If we are interested in spiritual life, if we are interested in knowing and loving God, we are in the ideal position to take full advantage of this immeasurable gift. It is not necessary for us to be pious or austere or have any special qualifications. It is not necessary to be highly intellectual or born in a prestigious family. In fact, we can be preeminently unqualified and if we sincerely take to the hearing and repeating of the transcendental Names of the Supreme Person, our heart’s deepest desire to intimately know and love God will be fulfilled. The Supreme Person Himself tells us this over and over again throughout the yoga philosophy and this is confirmed in scriptures.

Because we have spent lifetime after lifetime deeply entangled in material nature, this is generally a gradual development. But if we earnestly apply ourselves to this process, we will find joy and sweetness blossoming every step of the way. As our remembrance of our eternal Friend returns little by little, as the seed of love for Him sprouts and grows, we will experience the most exquisite and profound stirrings within our heart of hearts. In due time, this seedling will flower and bear the sweetest of fruits.

Being engaged in a friendship with God is not some vague or fanciful idea – it is the most intimate, personal, and real relationship we are capable of having. God is a real Person. He has distinct characteristics, likes and dislikes, spiritual form, pastimes, and so on. He is happiest when He can relate with us in a very close, personal, affectionate way – literally in best friendship. And we are happiest relating with Him in this way also. By regularly, daily, hearing and chanting the Names of God – especially those Names that are specifically used to relate with Him endearingly such as Gopala, Govinda, Rama, Madana Mohana – we are actually able to come to know Him as our supreme Beloved. We are actually able to have our very Best Friend back in our lives and in our hearts.

God is the Best Friend, this is beautifully explained in this lovely article God given in this website we have been longing for all our lives. He is the eternal Soulmate who can absolutely fill the deep emptiness in the core of our being. When we come to truly know Him as such, we will know love and happiness as we never have before. It is the greatest treasure, the greatest gift, to have Him in our lives and be able to relate with Him in such an intimate loving way. It may seem amazing to us that lovingly relating with this one Person can fulfill us so completely and perfectly – but this is the most fortunate and wonderful truth of our existence. Saintly persons since time immemorial have been telling us this and showing us by the example of their lives. In filling our own hearts and lives with the sweet Names of God, we have the opportunity to experience this truth for ourselves.

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Discovering Your Real Essence: Life Force is Eternal

Discovering Your Real Essence: Life Force is Eternal

“The self is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. The self is not slain when the body is slain.” This quote from the Bhagavad-Gita (2:20) as read by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda, a world-renowned yoga spiritual master, explains that the body’s essence—its life force particles—remain to exist long after the body’s death. This is what Jagad Guru spoke to his audience during a lecture on the topic of the existence of self.

On this deeply involved topic, Jagad Guru teaches that “a life particle is what brings matter to life, or makes matter appear like it’s alive. Matter by nature is dead and a life particle is, in essence, intrinsically alive.” Therefore, our body—made of matter—may die, but our essence lives on in the life particles that were previously wedded within the matter substance of our physical body. When our life force particles are “in connection with matter, then matter appears to be alive. But matter, by nature, is always dead.”

On the other hand, Jagad Guru proclaims, “My existence is not going to cease” upon physical death because we do not live in the matter of our body, but in the life force particles. “Life is alive. Life is life. So, I am life. I am a life particle….the body takes on its natural characteristic: dead, a dead body, when the life particle leaves it.” He explains that this is a very traditional view, varying slightly throughout different religious perspectives, but this was even a perspective held by Socrates.

Although variations exist, the different religions share the “general idea that there is another world view, that it’s not just matter out there. It’s not just material energy that exists, but rather there’s another fundamental element, a spiritual element, an element that continues to exist [after death of the body], that a person is of this other element, of this spiritual element, this non-material element.”

Jagad Guru goes on to explain this more thoroughly: “Whether it’s one religion or another, the basic religious idea is that: there’s another element than matter; that element is eternal: and there is an abode, or dimension, which is made up of that energy, that non-material element, and that’s called the kingdom of God, or heaven, or the spiritual sky.” This is an element that is completely different from that which the world is made of. Indeed, it is easy to see that “the material world has death and [destruction]. Because matter comes together and then it separates; it breaks apart. This is the difference between matter and life force, or spirit: the forms, material forms, are combinations of parts of matter, molecular particles, whereas spirit is not like that.”

Basic religious thought is generally centered upon this theory—that there is another non-material element that makes up a dimension not of this world. This is where the Christians may say, “It’s better to be out of the body and at home with God than it is to be in the body and away from God.” Most religions believe in the presence of“a Supreme Being and that the abode of the Supreme Being is, in fact, made of this element.” Jagad Guru says that“the living being is now in this non-correct position—this is not our real home.” If the self is made of life force particles not belonging to the material world, then possibly the self may find its true home in the non-material abode of a Supreme Being.

For more Information on yoga wisdom, please visit:
https://soundcloud.com/scienceofidentityfoundation
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https://www.prnewswire.com/news/science-of-identity-foundation

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