CHAPTER I
ALL
THE GODS ARE WITHIN YOU
The people who have attained or who have realized the God have been saying that you cannot search for God outside of you, God is your nature but is hidden because of different conditioning you receive in this world, you have to decondition yourself to realize your true self. As when clouds cover the sky it doesn’t mean that there is no blue sky, likewise if you penetrate through the conditions you will realize your true self.
"We of the Occident," declared Heinrich Zimmer at
the opening of a course on Indian philosophy delivered in 1942, “are about to arrive at a crossroads that was reached
by the thinkers of India
some seven hundred years before Christ. This
is the real reason why we become vexed and
stimulated, uneasy yet interested, when confronted with the concepts and images
of Oriental wisdom. This crossing is one to which the people of all
civilizations come in the typical course of the de-
velopment of their capacity and requirement
for religious experience, and India's
teachings force us to realize what its problems are.’
Concepts and words are symbols, just as visions, rituals, and images are; so too are the manners and customs of daily life. Through all of these a transcendent reality is mirrored. They are so many metaphors reflecting and implying something which, though thus variously expressed, is ineffable, though thus rendered multiform, remains inscrutable.
The functions of mythological symbols are four: mystic,
cosmological, sociological, and psychological; and today, as we have seen,
not only has science dissolved the claim of
the Church and its Book to represent the second of these, the cosmological, but
the social order once
supposed to have been supported by scriptural
authority also has dissolved. Even its social horizon has dissolved. The way in
which India might
contribute - and indeed already is
contributing - to the West’s rescue in this circumstance is through its
teaching in the Upanishadic and Buddhist
doctrines of the basically psychological
origin, force, and function of the same symbols that in Western system have
been read as a) revealed from a jealous personal God "out there" and
b) historically unique.
On the popular side, in their popular cults, the Indians
are, of course, as positivistic in their readings of their myths as any farmer
in
Tennessee, rabbi in the Bronx, or pope in Rome. Krishna
actually danced in manifold rapture with the gopis, and the Buddha walked on
water. However, as soon as one turns to the higher texts, such literalism
disappears and all the imagery is interpreted symbolically, as of the psyche.
This that people say [we read in the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad]: Worship this god! Worship that god! One god after another! The
entire world is his creation and he himself all the gods. . . .
He has entered into this entire world, even to
the tips of one's fingernails, like the razor in a razor case, like fire in
firewood. Him they see not; for as seen, he is incomplete.
When breathing, he is called the vital breath; when
speaking, voice; when seeing, the eye; when hearing, the ear; when thinking,
mind. These are but the names of his acts. Anyone meditating on one or another
of these aspects knows not; for as in one
or another of these, he is incomplete. One
should worship with the idea that he is one's Self (atman); for therein all
these become one. This - the Self - is the footprint of this All: and just as,
verily, one finds cattle by a footprint, so one finds this All by
its footprint, the Self.
Whoever knows "I am Brahman!" becomes this All,
and not even the gods can prevent his becoming thus, for he becomes their very
Self. But whoever worships another divinity than his Self, supposing "He
is one, I am another," knows not. He is like
a sacrificial beast for the gods. And as many
animals would be useful to a man, so is even one such person useful to the
gods. But if even one animal is taken away, it is not pleasant. What
then, if many? It is not pleasing to the gods,
therefore, that people should know this.
In India two ends were served in the course of the
classical order of a lifetime by dividing the life in two: the first half to be
lived in the village and the second in the forest, with each half, in turn, divided
in two, the first part of each a preparation for the second, as follows: 1. as
student, practicing obedience, learning the skills and duties of one's caste
(antevasin); 2. as a responsible householder in
marriage, fulfilling without question all of
one's caste duties (grhastha); 3. in middle life, departure to the forest, to
undertake seriously meditation (vanaprastha); and 4. Achievement of the goal of
life (moksa: "release" from the will to live) and aimless wandering
thereafter, as a rootless, lifeless mendicant (bhiksu, sannyasin), until the
body finally "drops off."
Exploring our past lives is a valuable way to understand ourselves better and often leads to healing and the resolution of issues plaguing us in this life. However, the key to working with past lives is maintaining an awareness of the current reality in which the present always takes priority. Past lives can be fascinating and entertaining, or emotionally seductive, and we can get lost in them, losing touch with the most important thing—the life we are living right now.
Of course, there is a deep connection between our past lives and our current life, so it's sometimes hard to say where one begins and the other one ends. For example, we may be aware that one of our closest friends or partners is someone we knew from a past life, and that connection feels like an unbroken chord reaching into the past, reminding us of the vast nature of the soul. We may have issues with this person that stem from the past, or we may just be blessed with a deep love that we are fortunate to have with us in this life. Either way, the issues must be resolved in this life, in the present moment. The love is our gift to experience in this life, not in the past. In many ways, the gift of dealing with our past lives is the profound revelation of how truly eternal we all are. Once we comprehend this, we can let go of focusing on the details of the past and simply allow our awareness of the eternal to positively influence our ability to be in the present moment.
You will know you have received the full fruits of past-life exploration when you find yourself even more powerfully present in the eternal now. The past becomes less distinct as it resolves itself, merging with the present and the future in the nexus of consciousness that holds all time and space. We realize that this moment holds everything within it, the resolved and the unresolved, the past and the future, and that it is from this moment that we must live our lives.
Krishna says in the Gita, “When righteousness declines, O Bharata! When wickedness is strong, I rise from age to age, and take visible shape, and move a man with men, succouring the good, thrusting the evil back, and setting virtue on her seat again.” If one is not born an avatar in this world one can certainly try to emulate a God or Goddess while retaining a human body.
A Goddess who is artistically and lovingly the most celebrated is Parvati and whom you may like to reflect in your life. Unlike Durga and Kali who assume their own independent religious status in the Hindu pantheon and are worshipped and venerated ritually, Parvati engages the greater attention of poets and painters, musicians and dancers. Numerous are her aspects, varied are her persona, multiple are her attributes and many her names. Of all the mythic beings in the Hindu pantheon she is perhaps the most loved and undoubtedly the most giving of her love. In her we have the true celebration of Hindu womanhood. Of unsurpassed sensual beauty, her endowment is not merely physical but spiritual, not narcissistic but meant as an offering. In her, it can be said that we have the grand personification of the Hindu expression, as well as the concept of beauty.
In classical mythology the raison d’être of Parvati's birth is to lure Shiva into marriage and thus into the wider circle of married life from which he is aloof as a lone ascetic, living in the wilds of the mountains. The goddess represents the complementary pole to the ascetic, world-denying tradition in the Hindu ethos. In her role as maiden, wife, and later as a mother, she extends Shiva's circle of activity into the realm of the householder, where his stored-up energy is released in positive ways
Much as in the Christian art of Medieval Europe, it is woman the Mother, the Madonna suckling a babe who has been painted with reverence, in the Indian Diaspora it is woman the beloved who has been painted with love and passion. The female friends of Krishna with their warm sensuous faces, eyes filled with passion, and delicate sensitive fingers, represent not the beauty of a particular woman, but the beauty of entire womanhood. In fact, she is there as the incarnation of all the beauty of the world and as a representative of the charm of her sex.
Parvati's name, which means "she who dwells in the mountains" or "she who is of the mountain, identifies her with mountainous regions. She was the daughter of Himavat (Lord of the mountains) and his queen Mena. She is usually described as very beautiful. She showed a keen interest in Shiva from the outset, repeating his name to herself and taking delight in hearing about his appearance and deeds. While she is a child a sage comes to her house and after examining the marks on her body predicts that she will marry a naked yogi. When it becomes clear that she is destined to marry Shiva, her parents are usually described as feeling honored. Parvati too is delighted.
At some point during Parvati's attempts to attract Shiva's attention for the purpose of marriage, the god of love, Kama, is sent by the gods to awaken Shiva's lust. When he attracts Shiva's attention with sounds and scents of spring, and tries to perturb Shiva with his intoxicating weapons, Shiva burns him to ashes with the fire from his middle eye. But steadfast in her devotion, Parvati persists in her quest to win Shiva as her husband by setting out to perform austerities.
One of the most effective ways to achieve what a person wants in traditional Hinduism is to perform tapas, "ascetic austerities." If one is persistent and heroic enough, one will generate so much heat that the gods will be forced to grant the ascetic his or her wish in order to save themselves and the world from being scorched. Parvati's method of winning Shiva is thus a common approach to fulfilling one's desires. It is also appropriate, however, in terms of demonstrating to Shiva that she can compete with him in his own realm, that she has the inner resources, control, and fortitude to cut herself off from the world and completely master her physical needs. By performing tapas, Parvati abandons the world of the householder and enters the realm of the world renouncer, namely Shiva's world. Most versions of the myth describe her as outdoing all the great sages in her austerities. She performs all the traditional mortifications, such as sitting in the midst of four fires in the middle of summer, remaining exposed to the elements during the rainy season and during the winter, living on leaves or air only, standing on one leg for years, and so on. Eventually she accumulates so much heat that the gods are made uncomfortable and persuade Shiva to grant Parvati's wish, so that she will cease her efforts.
The marriage is duly arranged and elaborately undertaken. Shiva's marriage procession, which includes most of the Hindu pantheon, is often described at length. A common motif during the marriage preparations is Mena's outrage when she actually sees Shiva for the first time. She cannot believe that her beautiful daughter is about to marry such an outrageous-looking character; in some versions, Mena threatens suicide and faints when told that the odd-looking figure in the marriage procession is indeed her future son-in-law.
After the two are married they depart to Mount Kailas, Shiva's favorite dwelling place, and immerse themselves completely in sexual dalliance, which continues uninterruptedly for long periods of time. The Love god Kama is resuscitated when Shiva embraces Parvati and the sweat from her body mingles with the ashes of the burned god.
Their lovemaking is so intense that it shakes the cosmos, and the gods become frightened. They are frightened at the prospect of what a child will be like from the union of two such potent deities. They fear the child's extraordinary powers. They thus plan to interrupt Shiva and Parvati's lovemaking. Vishnu goes with his entourage of gods to Kailas and waits patiently outside the quarters of Shiva. Many years passed and yet Shiva remained closeted with Parvati. Vishnu spoke in a shrill and plaintive voice and entreated Shiva to come out and listen to their problem. When Shiva disregarded this, Agni (Fire) disguised himself as a pigeon and entered the bedchamber of Shiva. Parvati immediately sensed that her privacy was violated. Shiva withdrew and a drop of his semen fell on the ground. Agni in the form of the dove ate the drop of semen. Parvati however was disturbed and angry that the gods had assembled and interrupted her erotic pleasures, and cursed them that all their wives would be barren. She was particularly enraged at Agni for having eaten the seed of Shiva.
When Agni was unable to bear the fiery seed he went to the banks of the Ganga. At that moment, the wives of the seven sages had come down to bathe. Six of the wives felt cold and went towards Agni. Agni dropped the seed and the seed entered the wives and they became pregnant. When the sages found this out they admonished their wives who placed the embryo on one of the peaks of the Himalayas. Thus was born Kartikeya, a lustrous child with six heads. Shiva and Parvati were delighted at the birth of their son and it added much joy to Parvati who had longed for a child.
Parvati's maternal instinct were indeed the most powerful emotions in her life. While Shiva exulted in his romantic dalliance with her, the true mother in her longed for a child. She would entreat Shiva to beget her a son and make her a mother but the ascetic Shiva would hear nothing of it. She reminded Shiva that no ancestral rituals are performed for a man who has no descendants. Shiva assured her that he had no desire to be a grahastha, householder, for such a state in life brings fetters. Parvati was disheartened and seeing her in that state Shiva pulled a thread out of her red dress and made a son and gave it to her. Parvati held him to her breast and he came to life. As he sucked on her milk he smiled and Parvati, pleased, gave the son to Shiva. Shiva was surprised that Parvati had breathed life in a child made of fabric but warned that the planet Saturn would prove inauspicious for this child and as he spoke those words, the child's head fell to the ground. Parvati was overcome with grief. Shiva tried unsuccessfully to put the head back together. A voice in the sky said that only the head of someone facing north would stick to this child. Shiva deputed Nandi to find such a person. Nandi soon found Indra's elephant Airavat lying with his head facing north and began to cut it. Indra intervened but Nandi was eventually successful, although in the struggle one of the tusks of the elephant was broken. Nandi took the head to Shiva and thus was born Ganesha. The gods celebrated the birth and Parvati was pleased.
For the most part Shiva and Parvati's married and family life is portrayed as harmonious, blissful and calm. In iconography the two are typically shown sitting in happy, intimate embrace. There were also many moments of philosophical discourse between the two. While Shiva taught Parvati the doctrine of Vedanta, Parvati responded by teaching him the doctrines of Sankhya, for if Shiva was the perfect teacher, Parvati too, as a yogini was no less. Parvati was constantly by Shiva's side, encouraging, assisting and, participating in every activity of his.
An important part of Shiva's daily routine was the preparation of bhang, his favorite intoxicant. Parvati would lovingly collect the best bhang leaves, crush them and then filter the decoction through a clean muslin cloth. At other times Parvati would help Shiva make a quilt that would keep them warm in the cold nights at Kailasha. At yet other times she would sit by his feet massaging them while Shiva reclined under a tree. Parvati's greatest pleasure was to serve Shiva and cater to his every need. Nothing was more important to her than being useful to her lord, tending to his every comfort and ensuring that he would not lapse into his solitary, self-denying ascetic ways. In these activities she combined the roles of a caring wife and an affectionate mother.
But Shiva and Parvati do argue and insult each other from time to time. Bengali accounts of Shiva and Parvati often describe Shiva as an irresponsible, hemp-smoking husband who cannot look after himself. Parvati is portrayed as the long-suffering wife who often complains from time to time to her mother but who always remains steadfast to her husband.
But Shiva too was passionate in his love for Parvati. Of the many games they played the one of great significance was the game of dice. Once it so happened that Parvati was initially losing to Shiva, but then gradually the tables turned and Shiva lost everything he had staked in the game, including the crescent moon, his necklace and earrings. When Parvati demanded that Shiva give everything he had staked, there was a fight between the two, much to the anguish of their attendants. Parvati removed Shiva's snake, the crescent moon and even his loincloth. The onlookers were put to shame and Shiva too was enraged and opened his third eye. Following this incident, the two separated. Shiva retreated into the wilderness and Parvati into her quarters. But she was tormented by this separation and at the bidding of her companions went in search of Shiva. She took the form of a shabari, a tribal woman, and approached Shiva who was deep in meditation. Shiva was attracted towards the shabari but when he realized that she was none other than Parvati, he realized his mistake and united with her much to their joy.
On another occasion, Parvati feels pique when Shiva calls her by the nickname Kali (blackie), which Parvati takes as a slur on her appearance. She resolves to rid herself of her dark complexion and does so by performing austerities. Having assumed a golden complexion, she then becomes known by the name Gauri (the bright or golden one). In some versions of the myth, her discarded, dark complexion or sheath gives birth to or becomes a warrior goddess who undertakes heroic feats or combat against demons.
The main theme of the Parvati cycle of myths is clear. The association between Parvati and Shiva represents the perennial tension in Hinduism between the ascetic ideal and householder ideal. Parvati, for the most part, represents the householder. Her mission is to lure Shiva into the world of marriage, sex, and children, to tempt him away from asceticism, yoga, and otherworldly preoccupations. In this role Parvati is cast as a figure who upholds the order of dharma, who enhances life in the world, who represents the beauty and attraction of worldly, sexual life, who cherishes the house and society rather than the forest, the mountains, or the ascetic life. Parvati civilizes Shiva with her presence; indeed, she domesticates him. Of her role in relation to Shiva in the hymns of Manikkavacakar, a ninth-century poet-saint from South India, it has been said: "Shiva, the great unpredictable 'madman', is rendered momentarily sane (i.e. behaves in a socially acceptable manner) when in the company of the goddess. . . Contact with his properly cultured spouse seems to connect him with ordinary social reality and temporarily domesticates him."
Throughout Hindu mythology it is well known that one of Shiva's principal functions is the destruction of cosmos. In fact, Shiva has about him a wild, unpredictable, destructive aspect that is often mentioned. As the great cosmic dancer, he periodically performs the tandava, an especially violent dance. Wielding a broken battle-ax, he dances so wildly that the cosmos is destroyed completely. In descriptions of this dance, Shiva's whirling arms and flying locks are said to crash into the heavenly bodies, knocking them off course or destroying them utterly. The mountains shake and the oceans heave as the world is destroyed by his violent dancing. Parvati, in contrast, is portrayed as a patient builder, one who follows Shiva about, trying to soften the violent effects of her husband. She is a great force for preservation and reconstruction in the world and as such offsets the violence of Shiva. A seventeenth century Tamil work pictures Parvati as a patient child who creates the worlds in the form of little houses. Shiva is pictured as constantly frustrating her purpose by destroying what she has so carefully built.
Parvati's goal in her relationship with Shiva is nothing less than the domestication of the lone, ascetic god whose behavior borders on madness. Shiva is indifferent to social propriety, does not care about offspring, declares woman to be a hindrance to the spiritual life, and is disdainful of the trappings of the householder's life. Parvati tries to involve him in the worldly life of the householder by arguing that he should observe conventions if he loves her and wants her. She persuades him, for example, to marry her according to the proper rituals, to observe custom, instead of simply running off with her. She is less successful, however, in getting him to change his attire and ascetic habits. She often complains of his nakedness and finds his ornaments disgraceful. Usually prompted by her mother, Parvati sometimes complains that she does not have a proper house to live in. Shiva, as is well known, does not have a house but prefers to live in caves, on mountains, or in forests or to wander the world as a homeless beggar. Many myths delight in Shiva's response to Parvati's domestic pleas for a house. When she complains that the rains will soon come and that she has no house to protect her, Shiva simply takes her to the high mountain peaks above the clouds where it does not rain. Elsewhere, he describes his "house" as the universe and argues that an ascetic understands the whole world to be his dwelling place.
Shiva is a god of excesses, both ascetic and sexual, and Parvati plays the role of modifier. As a representative of the householder ideal, she represents the ideal of controlled sex, namely, married sex, which is opposed to both asceticism and eroticism.
The theme of conflict, tension, or opposition between the way of the ascetic and the way of the householder in the mythology of Parvati and Shiva yields to a vision of reconciliation, interdependence, and symbiotic harmony in a series of images that combine the two deities. Three such images or themes are central to the mythology, iconography, and philosophy of Parvati:
- The theme of Shiva-Shakti
- The image of Shiva as Ardhanareshwara (the Lord who is half woman)
- The image of the linga and yoni
Shiva Shakti
The idea that the great male gods all possess an inherent power through which they undertake creative activity is assumed in Hindu philosophical thought. When this power, or Shakti, is personified, it is always in the form of a goddess. Parvati, quite naturally, assumes the identity of Shiva's Shakti. She is the force underlying and impelling creation. In this active, creative role she is identified with prakriti (nature), whereas Shiva is identified with purusha (pure spirit). As prakriti, Parvati represents the inherent tendency of nature to express itself in concrete forms and individual beings. In this task, however, it is understood that Parvati must be set in motion by Shiva himself. She is not seen as antagonistic to him. Her role as his Shakti is always interpreted as positive. Through Parvati, Shiva (the Absolute) is able to express himself in the creation. Without her he would remain inert, aloof, and inactive. It is only in association with her that Shiva is able to realize or manifest his full potential. Parvati as Shakti not only complements Shiva, she completes him.
Ardhanareshwara
The meaning of Ardhanareshwara form of Shiva is similar. The image shows a half-male, half-female figure. The right side is Shiva and is adorned with his ornaments; the left side is Parvati and adorned with her ornaments.
In the text of Shiva-Purana it is mentioned that the god Brahma is unable to continue his task of creation because the creatures that he has produced do not multiply. He propitiates Shiva and requests him to come to his aid. Shiva then appears in his half-male, half-female form. The hermaphrodite form splits into Shiva and Parvati, and Parvati, at Brahma's request, pervades the creation with her female nature, which duly awakens the male aspect of creation into fertile activity.
Without its female half, or female nature, the godhead as Shiva is incomplete and is unable to proceed with creation. To an even greater extent than the Shiva-Shakti idea, the androgynous image of Shiva and Parvati emphasizes that the two deities are absolutely necessary to each other, and only in union can they satisfy each other and fulfill themselves. In this form the godhead transcends sexual particularity. God is both male and female, both father and mother, both aloof and active, both fearsome and gentle, both destructive and constructive, and so on.
Linga and Yoni
The image of the linga in the yoni, which is the most common image of the deity in Shiva temples, similarly teaches the lesson that the tension between Shiva and Parvati is ultimately resolved in interdependence. Parvati as a sexual entity succeeds in tempering both Shiva's excessive detachment from the world and his excessive sexual vigor. In the form of the yoni in particular, Parvati fulfills and completes Shiva's creative tendencies. As the great yogi who accumulates immense sexual potency, he is symbolized by the linga. This great potency is creatively released in sexual or marital contact with Parvati. The ubiquitous image of the linga in the yoni symbolizes the creative release in the ultimate erotic act of power stored through asceticism. The erotic act is thus enhanced, made more potent, fecund, and creative, by the stored up power of Shiva's asceticism.
Though most arts give Parvati a religious aura, including a certain poetic truth, there is also an expression of both the romantic and motherly love of Parvati. Possessing a measured grace and refinement about them, these representations have a certain earthy charm and spontaneity. In h this form of hers, Parvati is not only more endearing and accessible, but also belongs to the shrine or the walls of the home. These are not mere icons or visual poetry, but mythic beings reduced to everyday reality. This real Parvati is the one that the common man can relate to, worship and celebrate, in his or her own personal way.
CHAPTER II
HIPPOCRATES OF COS 
Hippokrátēs; was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical
Athens), and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is referred to as the father of Western medicine in
recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic School of medicine. This intellectual
school revolutionized medicine
in ancient Greece, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other
fields that it had traditionally been associated with notably theurgy and
philosophy, thus establishing medicine as a profession.
Historians agree that Hippocrates was born around the year 460 BC on the Greek island of Kos (Cos), and became a famous ambassador for medicine against the strong opposing infrastructure of Greece. For this opposition he endured a twenty year prison sentence where he wrote very well known medical publications such as The Complicated Body, encompassing many of the things we know to be true today.
Soranus of Ephesus, a 2nd-century Greek gynecologist, was Hippocrates' first biographer and is the source of most information on Hippocrates' person. Soranus wrote that Hippocrates' father was Heraclides, a physician; his mother was Praxitela, daughter of Tizane. The two sons of Hippocrates, Thessalus and Draco, and his son-in-law, Polybus, were his students. According to Galen, a later physician, Polybus was Hippocrates' true successor, while Thessalus and Draco each had a son named Hippocrates.
Soranus said that Hippocrates learned medicine from his father and grandfather, and studied other subjects with Democritus and Gorgias. Hippocrates was probably trained at the asklepieion of Kos, and took lessons from the Thracian physician Herodicus of Selymbria. The only contemporaneous mention of Hippocrates is in Plato's dialogue Protagoras, where Plato describes Hippocrates as "Hippocrates of Kos, the Asclepiad”. Hippocrates taught and practiced medicine throughout his life, traveling at least as far as Thessaly, Thrace, and the Sea of Marmara. He probably died in Larissa at the age of 83 or 90, though some accounts say he lived to be well over 100; several different accounts of his death exist.
Hippocrates is credited with being the first person to believe that diseases were caused naturally and not as a result of superstition, and gods. Hippocrates was credited by the disciples of Pythagoras of allying philosophy and medicine. He separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the gods but rather the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits. Indeed there is not a single mention of a mystical illness in the entirety of the Hippocratic Corpus.
Ancient Greek schools of medicine were split (into the Knidian and Koan) on how to deal with disease. The Knidian school of medicine focused on diagnosis. Medicine at the time of Hippocrates knew almost nothing of human anatomy and physiology because of the Greek taboo forbidding the dissection of humans. The Knidian school consequently failed to distinguish when one disease caused many possible series of symptoms. The Hippocratic school or Koan school achieved greater success by applying general diagnoses and passive treatments. Its focus was on patient care and prognosis, not diagnosis. It could effectively treat diseases and allowed for a great development in clinical practice.
Another important concept in Hippocratic medicine was that of a crisis, a point in the progression of disease at which either the illness would begin to triumph and the patient would succumb to death, or the opposite would occur and natural processes would make the patient recover. After a crisis, a relapse might follow, and then another deciding crisis. According to this doctrine, crises tend to occur on critical days, which were supposed to be a fixed time after the contraction of a disease. If a crisis occurred on a day far from a critical day, a relapse might be expected.
Hippocrates was reluctant to administer drugs and engage in specialized treatment that might prove to be wrongly chosen; generalized therapy followed a generalized diagnosis. However, potent drugs were used on certain occasions. This passive approach was very successful in treating relatively simple ailments such as broken bones which required traction to stretch the skeletal system and relieve pressure on the injured area.
One of the strengths of Hippocratic medicine was its emphasis on prognosis. At Hippocrates' time, medicinal therapy was quite immature, and often the best thing that physicians could do was to evaluate an illness and predict its likely progression based upon data collected in detailed case histories.
Hippocratic medicine was notable for its strict professionalism, discipline, and rigorous practice. The Hippocratic work On the Physician recommends that physicians always be well-kempt, honest, calm, understanding, and serious. The Hippocratic physician paid careful attention to all aspects of his practice: he followed detailed specifications for, "lighting, personnel, instruments, positioning of the patient, and techniques of bandaging and splinting" in the ancient operating room. He even kept his fingernails to a precise length.
The Hippocratic School gave importance to the clinical doctrines of observation and documentation. These doctrines dictate that physicians record their findings and their medicinal methods in a very clear and objective manner, so that these records may be passed down and employed by other physicians. Hippocrates made careful, regular note of many symptoms including complexion, pulse, fever, pains, movement, and excretions. He is said to have measured a patient's pulse when taking a case history to know if the patient lied. Hippocrates extended clinical observations into family history and environment. "To him medicine owes the art of clinical inspection and observation. “For this reason, he may more properly be termed as the "Father of Medicine"
Hippocrates and his followers were first to describe many diseases and medical conditions. He is given credit for the first description of clubbing of the fingers, an important diagnostic sign in chronic suppurative lung disease, lung cancer and cyanotic heart disease. For this reason, clubbed fingers are sometimes referred to as "Hippocratic fingers". Hippocrates was also the first physician to describe Hippocratic face in Prognosis. Shakespeare famously alludes to this description when writing of Falstaff's death in Act II, Scene iii. of Henry V.
“Nay, sure,
he's not in hell: he's in Arthur's
bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. A' made
a finer end and went away an it had been any
christom child; a' parted even just between twelve
and one, even at the turning o' the tide: for after
I saw him fumble with the sheets and
play with flowers and smile upon his
fingers' ends, I knew
there was but one way; for his nose was
as sharp as
a pen, and a' babbled of green fields.
'How now,
sir John!' quoth I 'what, man! be o' good
cheer.' So a' cried out 'God, God, God!' three or
four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him a'
should not think of God; I hoped there was no need
to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet. So
a' bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my
hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as
cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and
they were as cold as any stone, and so upward and
upward, and all was as cold as any stone.”
Hippocrates began to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic, and use terms such as, "exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak, and convalescence.” Another of Hippocrates' major contributions may be found in his descriptions of the symptomatology, physical findings, surgical treatment and prognosis of thoracic empyema, i.e. suppuration of the lining of the chest cavity. His teachings remain relevant to present-day students of pulmonary medicine and surgery. Hippocrates was the first documented chest surgeon and his findings are still valid.
The Hippocratic School of medicine described well the ailments of the human rectum and the treatment thereof, despite the school's poor theory of medicine. Hemorrhoids, for instance, though believed to be caused by an excess of bile and phlegm, were treated by Hippocratic physicians in relatively advanced ways. Cautery and excision are described in the Hippocratic Corpus, in addition to the preferred methods: ligating the hemorrhoids and drying them with a hot iron. Other treatments such as applying various salves are suggested as well. Today, "treatment [for hemorrhoids] still includes burning, strangling, and excising." Also, some of the fundamental concepts of proctoscopy outlined in the Corpus are still in use. For example, the uses of the rectal speculum, a common medical device, are discussed in the Hippocratic Corpus. This constitutes the earliest recorded reference to endoscopy
The Hippocratic Corpus contains textbooks, lectures, research, notes and philosophical essays on various subjects in medicine, in no particular order. These works were written for different audiences, both specialists and laymen, and were sometimes written from opposing view points; significant contradictions can be found between works in the Corpus. Notable among the treatises of the Corpus are The Hippocratic Oath; The Book of Prognostics; On Regimen in Acute Diseases, Aphorisms; On Airs, Waters and Places, Instruments of Reduction; On The Sacred Disease; etc.
The Hippocratic Oath, a seminal document on the ethics of medical practice, was attributed to Hippocrates in antiquity although new information shows it may have been written after his death. This is probably the most famous document of the Hippocratic Corpus. Recently the authenticity of the document's author has come under scrutiny. While the Oath is rarely used in its original form today, it serves as a foundation for other, similar oaths and laws that define good medical practice and morals. Such derivatives are regularly taken today by medical graduates about to enter medical practice
After Hippocrates, the next significant physician was Galen, a Greek who lived from AD. 129 to AD. 200. Galen perpetuated Hippocratic medicine, moving both forward and backward. In the Middle Ages, Arabs adopted Hippocratic methods. After the European Renaissance, Hippocratic methods were revived in Europe and even further expanded in the 19th century. The most severe form of hair loss and baldness is called the Hippocratic form.
According to Aristotle's testimony, Hippocrates was known as "The Great Hippocrates". Concerning his disposition, Hippocrates was first portrayed as a "kind, dignified, old country doctor'" and later as "stern and forbidding". He is certainly considered wise, of very great intellect and especially as very practical. Francis Adams describes him as "strictly the physician of experience and common sense."
His image as the wise, old doctor is reinforced by busts of him, which wear large beards on a wrinkled face. Many physicians of the time wore their hair in the style of Jove and Asklepius. Accordingly, the busts of Hippocrates that we have could be only altered versions of portraits of these deities. Hippocrates and the beliefs that he embodied are considered medical ideals. Fielding Garrison, an authority on medical history, stated, "He is, above all, the exemplar of that flexible, critical, well-poised attitude of mind, ever on the lookout for sources of error, which is the very essence of the scientific spirit." "His figure... stands for all time as that of the ideal physician,” according to A Short History of Medicine, inspiring the medical profession since his death.
Most stories of Hippocrates' life are inconsistent with historical evidence and similar to stories told of other figures (such as Avicenna and Socrates), suggesting a legendary origin. Even during his life, Hippocrates' renown was great, and stories of miraculous cures arose. For example, Hippocrates was supposed to have aided in the healing of Athenians during the Plague of Athensby lighting great fires as "disinfectants" and engaging in other treatments. There is a story of Hippocrates curing Perdiccas, a Macedonian king, of "love sickness". Neither of these accounts is corroborated by any historians and it seems unlikely that they ever occurred.
Another legend is that Hippocrates rejected a formal request to visit the court of Artaxerxes, the King. Though ancient sources accept this as fact, some modern scholars doubt it. Another tale states that Democritus, supposed to be mad because he laughed at everything, was sent to Hippocrates to be cured. Hippocrates diagnosed him as merely having a happy disposition. Democritus has since been called "the laughing philosopher".
Not all stories of Hippocrates portrayed him in a positive manner. In one legend, Hippocrates is said to have fled after setting fire to a healing temple in Greece. Soranus of Ephesus, the source of this story, names the temple as the one of Knidos. However, centuries later, the Byzantine Greek grammarian John Tzetzes wrote that Hippocrates burned down his own temple, the Temple of Cos, and speculated that he did it to maintain a monopoly of medical knowledge. This claim directly conflicts with the traditional account of Hippocrates' personality. Other legends tell of his resurrection of Augustus's nephew; this feat was supposedly created by the erection of a statue of Hippocrates and the establishment of a professorship in his honor in Rome.
CHAPTER III
PEACE OF MIND
Repose in peace now while you can still enjoy it'. Says Rev.Ajahn Brahmavanso whose treatise on MEANING OF LIFE is reproduced below.
Achieving peace of mind is a lovely way of describing the meaning of life. It is something that everyone aspires to. However, peace of mind is often like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow- it tends to be elusive for most people. I would like you to reflect on the times when you were the happiest. You would probably find that your happiest times were when you experienced a deep sense of contentment or peace of mind. But when you reflect on these experiences, you realize they didn't occur because everything around you was perfect. On the contrary you realized that peace of mind occurred in spite of your surroundings not being perfect in spite of difficulties, problems and imperfections of life.
That is my first important point. Don't think peace of mind only comes once you have fixed up all your problems and finished all your business. All your worrying, all your striving and struggling, has it ever got you where you really wanted to be? You can't control the world and change it the way you would like it. Therefore you can only find peace of mind and achieve the meaning of life by embracing the imperfections of life. How do you do that? By knowing that imperfection is the nature of the world. So make peace with imperfection. Another thing you can't change is the past and yet lingering on the past, people worry about and feel guilty and angry about it but since you can't change it the only wise thing to do is to make peace with it. But how do you do that when there is so much unfinished business? You make it finished.
One of my favorite stories is about the abbot who was building the main hall for his monastery. It takes a lot of time and effort to make such a big building, and the building work was still in progress when the time came for annual rains retreat. The abbot told the builders to go home and come back in 3 months. A few days later, A visitor came to the temple and asked when the hall was going to be finished the abbot replied '' It is finished '' the visitor was quite stunned and said '' What do you mean it is finished? There is no roof are you going to leave it like that? There is no glass in the windows, there are pieces of wood and cement bags all over the floor''. To which the abbot unforgettably replied: "What is done is finished."
What a beautiful response that was. It is the only way to find peace in life. If you want all your building work to be finished before you stop to find peace, All your jobs out of the way, All your letters and emails replied to, You will never find peace of mind because there is always more to be done. As I have often said the only place in our modern societies where you find people resting in peace is in the cemeteries, but then it's too late to enjoy it. So I say RIP now while you can still enjoy it. I'm making the observation that you only find peace when you realize that what's done is finished. The past is gone; let it go. One of the signs of true spirituality- of whatever tradition- is forgiveness and letting go. I was once asked how many times you should forgive, and I replied, ''Always one more time," that is, forever.
Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful acts that humans are capable of. In South Africa, Just after apartheid had been dismantled and Nelson Mandela had been made president, instead of seeking revenge, instead of punishing all those people who people who punished him, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Anybody who had done a crime was able to go this commission and confess what they'd done. As long as they were truthful, no matter how horrendous their crimes they would be given amnesty and forgiveness. It was a brilliant way of dealing with the past. One of the moving events of that commission was a policeman recounting, in the presence of the man's widow, how he had tortured and killed her husband, a black African activist from the ANC. Can you imagine this scene? There was a woman whose husband had disappeared, probably in the middle of the night, and she suspected what had happened, but didn't know the true story. Now she was facing a man who was confessing in detail how he had tortured and killed her husband, the father of her children, the man she loved. Apparently this white police officer was shaking and trembling as he recounted the details of what had happened. At the end of her testimony the widow rose from her seat and went towards him. The guards were supposed to stop her but they froze. She went up to him put her big black arms around him and said "I forgive you." Not just the two of them wept, but apparently the whole room.
This sort of beautiful act is one of true spirituality. Both the victim and the perpetrator would move on and become better people. They would learn real compassion, gain real wisdom, and find a real way of moving forward. Now if that woman could forgive the murderer of the man she loved, then each one of us- if we really put our minds to it - is capable of forgiving anything.
I was once counseling a woman who was dying of cancer. I asked her what was the worst thing she'd ever done, an act she might carry to her grave and feel terrible about. She told me she had kissed a man who was not her husband. I said "If that's the worst thing you've done, you lived a pretty good life." When she saw my reaction she realized for the first time that it wasn't all that bad. To me it seemed like a small thing, but she had been eaten up inside. It was such a release for her to tell someone.
When you keep things to yourself even the smallest things can become huge. When you acknowledge them, especially if you tell a good friend, you can see that they're no bid deal and you can let them go. The way to forgiveness is to realize that you're worth forgiving and so is the other person. That realization is step number one. That black woman in South Africa saw something in that policeman who had killed her husband, something she could respect something worth saving, so she forgave. Remember there's no such thing as a murderer; no such thing as a thief; only a person who has stolen; no such thing as a cheat, only a person who has stolen. If you understand that, you understand why forgiveness is possible: there's something more to any person than the bad acts. And that's true of each of one of you. No matter what you've done, there's always something inside of you that is worthy of forgiveness.
Another thing which stops inner peace is worrying about the future. People often think they need to worry about global warming, the credit crunch, the wars, the natural disasters, AIDS, and the cancers. But it's only worthwhile thinking about things you can do something about. IF you can't do anything why worry? In addition, you can't predict the future; it’s totally uncertain.
On one occasion when I was just a school kid my mother told me I was going to the dentist the following morning. I told my mum "Mummy don't send me to the dentist; you don't love me; you're sending me to the torturer." But try as I might, I couldn't get off it. When I went to bed that night, I was worried and didn't sleep well. The following morning my mother had to drag me to the dentist, and I was screaming and crying. But I eventually got to the surgery, my appointment had been cancelled. All that worry, all that crying for no reason. That was a very important experience for me. I learnt there's no point worrying about the future when you don't know what’s going to happen. Life is completely unpredictable. When you understand that, you can have peace of mind in the present moment.
You can have peace of mind even when you're dying. Why not? No more worries about taxes, global warming or anything else. Because you're soon about to depart, The problem of the word become irrelevant. When there are no problems, you become peaceful. And because you never know how much time you've got left you might as well be peaceful now. This was Ajahn Chah's great teaching to me when I was sick in hospital. He came to visit me and gave me the sort of teaching you remember for the rest of your life. He told me " Brahmavamso you're either going to get better or you're going to die." That really didn't hurt at first because it wasn't what I had expected. It wasn't the usual bedside manner of your best friend. But when I started to think about it, I realized that it meant the sickness wasn't going to last. That was such a relief. Sometimes you meet people who have understood this; they are dying and supposedly in agony, but they still tell jokes. They're happy and peaceful.
You must also make peace with whatever you have to do in life, with your duties and responsibilities. Peace of mind is not achieved by always trying to do what you like. On the contrary, you find the peace of mind by making peace with whatever you are called to do. Whatever your role, whatever your duties you can always have fun, enjoy it, put happiness into it and make peace with it. You can make peace and have fun with anything, anywhere. Peace of mind is not found by searching for a deep cave, in a perfect monastery; in a wonderful place high in the Himalayan Mountains. If you're looking for peace that way, you are looking for what Ajahn Chah called a tortoise with a moustache. People look for the impossible and of course they can't find it. There is no such thing as a tortoise with a moustache.
You find real peace of mind by accepting your life as you have it now, even in the midst of great tragedy. What a wonderful thing that is. How do you find this peace? Let go of all the past and guilt, by forgiving don't worry about the future, and learn to appreciate the moment. Do your duty and put the fun into whatever you have to do.
Peace of mind is as free as the air: Drink it, enjoy it, and take it with you. It's always there if only look in the right place.
WHO AM I?
At some point in our lives, or perhaps at many points in our lives, we ask the question, “Who am I?” At times like these, we are looking beyond the obvious, beyond our names and the names of the cities and states we came from, into the layers beneath our surface identities. We may feel the need for a deeper sense of purpose in our lives, or we may be ready to accommodate a more complex understanding of the situation in which we find ourselves. Whatever the case, the question of who we are is a seed that can bear much fruit.
It can send us on an exploration of our ancestry, or the past lives of our
soul. It can call us to take up journaling in order to discover that voice deep
within us that seems to know the answers to a multitude of questions. It can
draw our attention so deeply inward that we find the spark of spirit that
connects us to every living thing in the universe. One Hindu tradition counsels
its practitioners to ask the question over and over, using it as a mantra to
lead them inevitably into the heart of the divine.
While there are people who seem to come into the world knowing who they are and
why they are here, for the most part the human journey appears to be very much
about asking this question and allowing its answers to guide us on our paths.
So when we find ourselves in the heart of unknowing, we can have faith that we
are in a very human place, as well as a very divine one. “Who am I?” is a
timeless mantra, a Zen kon ultimately designed to lead us home, into the part
of our minds that finally lets go of questions and answers and finds instead
the ability to simply be.
GOOD THINGS WE HAVE
Sometimes we underestimate the good things we have while chasing after the mirages or false treasures.
We often see people letting go of their children, their families, their spouses, their friends, and their profession. But they know not what God has given them so freely, things which were nourished with so much care and effort.
Look around and appreciate what you have – your home, your loved ones, friends on whom you can really count, the knowledge you have gained, your good health and all the beautiful things of life that are truly your most precious treasure. We can no longer shower kindness on those we love after they have died.
It is useless to want to re-do the work that we may have done negligently. It is best to appreciate and do things well now.
Ask of God at every moment that our problems and concerns never degenerate into feelings of sadness and anxiety. Be in union with God, who will provide the courage needed for victory in the struggle; because God gives with abundance what we need. We are all imperfect. Always praise and value your family. Do all you can do make it even better. Always value and praise your work-companions. See what you can do to improve your environment.
Instead of isolating yourself because of weakness or failure, seek to invest in true and constructive friendship in your life.
Faith in God is necessary to strengthen self-esteem in dealing with daily problems. My wish for you – be with God – and may God be with you.
ONE-MINDED FOCUS
Our entire lives we have been told of the importance of focus in anything that we need to succeed in. When we where in school, our parents continuously said focus on your studies, when we were at college they repeated the same. If your parents were supportive of extra curricular activities they similarly stress you must focus on your practice of sport, drama or your other areas of interest.
The importance of discovering ones niche, calling or innermost desires, and then devoting our selves with One Minded focus to achieve the splendid lives we all deserve.
But as easy as the concept of Focus is to understand, as tough it is to implement, or at least for the most of us. However Shiva epitomizes focus and prescribes it as the key to success to anything in our lives such as Professional success, beautiful relationships or even critical subjects like parenting.
Shiva is known for his ability to intensely focus on the most important task at hand, to ensure the achievement of the desired outcome.
Our Minds continuously wander in several directions, hence making it tougher for us to focus and achieve individual and yet important tasks in our daily life
There will always be factors and people that we cannot control; how we respond can determine the quality of our lives.
There are many stories of spiritual masters embracing the presence of an annoying student in their community. There is even one story that documents a teacher paying an irritating person to live among his students. From an everyday perspective, this is difficult to comprehend. We generally work hard to avoid people and things that we find annoying so they don’t bother us.
From a deeper spiritual perspective, however, irritation can be an important teacher and indicator that we are making progress on our path. Being able to remain centered and awake even when we feel uncomfortable is much more impressive than doing so in an environment where everything is to our liking. No matter how good we are at controlling our circumstances, there will always be factors and people that we cannot control. How we respond to these experiences to a great degree determines the quality of our lives. The goal of spiritual development is not to learn to control our environment—which is more of an ego-driven desire. And while having some measure of control over our external reality is important, it is when we are confronted with a person or situation that irritates us and we can choose not to react that we know we have made progress spiritually. It is when we have mastered our internal reality that we will have become the masters of our lives.
The more we try to eliminate annoyances, instead of learning to handle them gracefully, the further we get from developing the qualities that come with spiritual growth, such as patience, tolerance, and acceptance. It is often in the presence of people and experiences we find annoying that we have an opportunity to develop these qualities. Fortunately for most of us, our lives offer an abundance of opportunities to practice and cultivate these traits.
We all have an inherent nature which we have derived through our genes or early childhood experiences, and for all the successful people I have met in this life the one thing I found common among them, was their ability to nurture the positive points of there own inherent nature.
The best way to make this part of your Svaibhava I would say is to practice the charactersitics of Shiva, and try and imbibe them in your own life. Have Ekagrata or one minded focus when you need to achieve something, be able to be passionate with your loved ones, and be detached when you feel personal loss or trauma, understand that it’s a part of maya. When you imbibe these characteristics you could become one with Shiva.
Parvati’s Persistence and Shiva Obeys for the Sake of Love
Sati took rebirth as Parvati and as the daughter of the mountains. She was a devotee of Shiva, and she decided that she would marry no one, but the one and only Shiva. She thinks of Shiva single mindedly, she did not care if there were creatures around her, even Shiva himself tried to test her by changing his appearance as a young man. But all in vain, all Parvati wanted was to marry and be with Shiva.
After a while, Shiva admired Parvati’s persistence and decided to marry her.
When Shiva in his original and honest appearance, reached the Palace, Himavan (Parvati’s father) refused to open the doors as he perceived them to be demons. This was because Shiva was the lord of beasts and also lived a minimalistic life himself.
Parvati thought of Shiva and communicated her message to him, “My lord for me, show them what they want to see, not who you really are”. Shiva heard her prayers, and came dressed as the most handsome man anyone had ever seen. His Ganas were dressed as beautiful men and women.
Himavan was confused, he had just seen a party of demons and now they were transformed into beautiful people. He looked to Vishnu (the Preserver as per Hindu Mythology) for his advice; and Vishnu responded saying: “The auspicious moment may pass if we wait to too long in our search for answers”.
The Meaning
The unconventional truth that I mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, which you might have drawn from the story, is that Shiva praises and communicates with us that there are times when we should change and present things in a different light for our loved ones. And that is acceptable if done for this particular purpose alone.
It is great to love, it is great to honor your love and it is even better to be able to do things for the ones you choose to make the centre of your life. Like Shiva changes his attire and look for Parvati as she expects him to do the same to please her father. Look at the beauty of it, as a goddess she requests the almighty to change his form and be someone who would please her father and Shiva actually understands and fulfills her request. Beautiful, isn’t it.
THE STAGES OF LIFE
According to Indian mythology life has many stages and each stage is charming in its own way. It has its own set of rules, virtues and goals that an individual seeks to attain. These stages can be replicated in most human endeavors and activities that humans perform during a lifetime that make life worth living. They hold true in relationships, professional pursuits, entrepreneurial organizations and other emotional endeavors. Indian Mythology offers a rich inventory of experiences in each of the stages of life and the inherent simplicity of the principles that act as guidelines in these experiences can change the way the modern world approaches professional and personal challenges. The Shiva experience tries to use these principles, capture their spirit and make life more fulfilling.
The stages of life as described in the scriptures start with the description of a ‘student’, who, with the help of a Guru learns the ways of life and educates himself to build sufficient intellectual and practical ammunition to face the challenges of the future. Next, the student progresses to be a householder, where he is responsible for not only his well being, but also the development of his family and dependants. Next, the householder retires and plays the role of a coach, who mentors the next generation and passes on the invaluable knowledge that he has gathered over the years. The final stage is that of renunciation where the individual searches for greater meaning to his actions and realizes the importance of detachment. In Indian Mythology this phase is represented by a ‘vanvas’, where an individual, through deep mediation and extensive travel finds the path to god.
The stages of life described above, can be
applied to an organization with the same degree of simplicity. As an
entrepreneur, the first stage would be to study the market and educate oneself
of the threats, opportunities and competition. Next, once the business is
established, the entrepreneur is required to fulfill the needs of all
stakeholders and the society to run a successful business. The next natural
step is to train the younger management to ensure sustainability of the
business and maintain the intellectual capital. In the end, the entrepreneur
has to develop a succession plan to ensure that the transition to the young
generation is smooth and the organization can be a going concern in the true
sense.
The
stages of life hold good in personal relationships too. For a new couple, the
first stage is to get to know the other person, their motivations, interests,
insecurities and ambitions. This phase is similar to that of education and in
many ways similar to the life that a student leads. Once the couples are more
aware of the persons they have chosen to spend a lifetime with, they progress
to building a home by creating their own way of life, set of rules, and even
look at creating a family through a sustaining relationship between the couple.
They then play the roles of mentors for their near and dear ones before
treading on the path of self actualization and eventual detachment from all the
material pleasures that they relished during their younger days.
The thing to note about the stages of life is that like life, all fulfilling endeavors follow a generic pattern, which allows sufficient room for healthy development. In the laws of nature, there are no short cuts, and one needs to be patient in each stage before they can progress to another. The life of a human being is similar to that of a tree, which needs to be nurtured at each stage from a seedling to a plant to fruit bearing asset.
To all those who have given up their lives to another, allowing them to take away the free choice God has given you, please wake up and know that no man, woman, boss, child or parent is the source of your supply. God is your only source of supply and God’s Spirit dwells in you. Do not feel that you have to depend on them for anything.
Of course you can live your life without them. With God in you, you have the wisdom and strength to get out; with God in you, you have complete power over your life. Others have made it out of lack and limitation and so can you.
To all people who have forgotten that slavery is abolished. Let me remind you that: To enslave another is to enslave yourself because you have to stay near to the cell to watch over the prisoner/slave.
When you abuse someone you are committing murder. You are killing that person’s spirit, soul/ mind and will, causing them to die to their true powerful self. Jesus said “Fear not those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul/mind; but rather fear him who can destroy both soul/mind and body in hell.”
When you abuse someone you deprive yourself from getting the best of that person. They conform and comply out of fear. Wouldn’t you feel more loved if they did the same things and more on their own? Besides, after squeezing the life, individuality and joy out of them, you are left with a zombie, a mere shell, a living dead.
As abuser you are living a life of fear just like your victims. You are afraid they will not love you so you force them to love you. You are afraid that they will leave your life, so you hold them captive. You are afraid that they will hurt you and ridicule you, so you do it to them first.
Can’t you see, you are living a life of fear instead of love and trust? How stressful! You cannot force someone to love you. You can get all that you want and more from the same person by pouring out the love that dwells inside of you. Try it, practice it and it must come back to you. In you is the beautiful individualized Spirit of God waiting to express Itself as you. It is waiting for you to turn within and draw from that well of divine qualities that cannot ever be depleted.
Pray for the abuser and the abused. The Spirit of God is now freeing your mind from the bondage of negative and erroneous thoughts and fears and frees you to be the loving, wise and powerful spirit that you were created to be. Stand up and claim your freedom.
ther. Persons with hope, cheerfulness and confidence attract similar thoughts from others - they are always successful in their attempts. People with negative moods of depression, anger and hatred do positive harm to others - and great damage in the thought world.
Try to eradicate depression through prayer, meditation, counter-thoughts of joy, chanting Om; self-enquiry and singing divine songs. There are various causes for depression - cloudy day, associating with evil persons, indigestion, influence of astral spirits and revival of old impressions of depression. When you get into a talking mood - practice mouna (silence) at once. When you are in a mood of hatred, develop the opposite virtue, love, and the mood will pass quickly. When you feel selfishness arise, do selfless work. When you are in the mood of separateness, mix with others - through service, love, kindness and forgiveness. If you feel lazy, do some active work.
A liberated being is free from all moods - he has become their master. In Atman (self) there are no moods, there is only pure consciousness. Identify with Atman and you will easily destroy all moods. However, there is one good mood - the meditative mood. When this manifests, immediately give up reading, writing, talking etc., and begin to meditate. Watch for this kind of mood - when meditation comes by itself, without effort.
Laugh and smile. How
can a mind that is dull and gloomy think of God? Try to be happy always.
Happiness is your very nature. The spirit of cheerfulness must be cultivated by
all aspirants.
With the growth of the mind, the pains will
increase. But with its extinction there will be great bliss. Having mastery
over the mind, free yourself from the world of perceptions in order that you
may be of the nature of jnana or wisdom. Though surrounded by pleasurable or
painful objects which disturb the equilibrium of your mind, remain rock-like,
and receive all things with equanimity.
A meditation with your angels can provide a new gentleness into your normal meditation routine.
Though your host of spirit guides encompasses many diverse beings, all of which willingly watch over you, meditating with angels can be a uniquely insightful experience. The angels stationed at your side are both powerful and knowledgeable—they possess a limitless understanding of your needs and desires, your strengths and weaknesses, and your purpose. However, angels take an active part in our lives only when invited to do so. Meditation allows you to make contact with your angels and lovingly request that they participate actively in your day-to-day life.
To begin, retreat to a solitary place where you won’t be distracted by concerns. Incense and candlelight may aid you in achieving a meditative state but are not necessary. However, laying an image of an angel, angel statue, or item symbolizing your angels before you can focus your thoughts. Sit comfortably, breathe deeply, and let yourself relax. When you feel peaceful, invite your angels from the highest of light to sit with you as you meditate. Mentally repeat your request and reiterate that this time together is important to you. Then, in your mind’s eye, visualize a bright-white light floating above you. As you breathe, draw this light first into the crown of your head and then into the whole of your physical self. Allow this light to spread through your arms and hands, your core, and your lower body. Repeat this integration of illumination with a violet light.
Once again, ask your angels to be with you. Let the stillness surrounding you enter your soul, and open your heart to your angel guides. If they wish to communicate a message, they will do so now. Allow them to wrap their wings around you and infuse you with their bountiful love. Breathe them in as you did the light. As the meditation draws to a close, you may feel a presence, fluttering wings, or billowing fabric, or you may see an angel in your mind’s eye. Thank them for providing you with love and light, and being with you as you meditated. If you don’t sense or feel anything, there is no cause for worry—you can be certain your angels are with you. Don’t be surprised if you start to see signs throughout the day that your angels are near, perhaps a feather at your doorstep. As you practice this meditation, you will become increasingly adept at recognizing when your angels are near and sensing their presence.
Your thoughts and actions are like stones dropped into still waters causing ripples to spread as they move outward.
In a world of six billion people, it’s easy to believe that the only way to
initiate profound transformation is to take extreme action. Each of us,
however, carries within us the capacity to change the world in small ways for
better or worse. Everything we do and think affects the people in our lives,
and their reactions in turn affect others. As the effect of a seemingly
insignificant word passes from person to person, its impact grows and can
become a source of great joy, inspiration, anxiety, or pain. Your thoughts and
actions are like stones dropped into still waters, causing ripples to spread
and expand as they move outward. The impact you have on the world is greater
than you could ever imagine, and the choices you make can have far-reaching
consequences. You can use the ripple effect to make a positive difference and
spread waves of kindness that will wash over the world.
Should the opportunity arise, the recipient of a good deed will likely feel
compelled to do a good deed for someone else. Someone feeling the effects of
negative energy will be more likely to pass on that negative energy. One act of
charity, one thoughtful deed, or even one positive thought can pass from
individual to individual, snowballing until it becomes a group movement or the
ray of hope that saves someone’s life. Every transformation, just like every
ripple, has a point of origin. You must believe in your ability to be that
point of origin if you want to use the ripples you create to spread goodness.
Consider the effect of your thoughts and actions, and try to act graciously as
much as possible.
A smile directed at a stranger, a compliment given to a friend, an attitude of laughter, or a thoughtful gesture can send ripples that spread among your loved ones and associates, out into your community, and finally throughout the world. You have the power to touch the lives of everyone you come into contact with and everyone those people come into contact with. The momentum of your influence will grow as your ripples moves onward and outward. One of those ripples could become a tidal wave of positivity.
As we ascend, we gain consciousness of the more subtle aspects of our being and begin to connect with all that is.
We are one with the cosmos whether we realize it or not. Realizing it, though, quickens our spiritual energy and allows us access to higher realms. In those higher realms lies the awareness that we are more than just finite physical beings living one life in one place at one point in time. Connecting with this awareness is to awaken to the truth and take a step forward, and upward, on our soul’s journey. This upward movement is known as ascension because the more we remember who we are and embody that truth, the higher our energy vibrates; we ascend up the scale from the gross physical plane to the subtle spiritual plane. As we ascend, we gain consciousness of the more subtle aspects of our being, with the ultimate outcome being a complete identification with the light body, an experience of unification with the cosmos.
As you look around you, you will see that many people are not even interested in these ideas. Others are open and paying attention. Still others have devoted their lives to deepening their understanding of the truth. All these people are on the path of ascension, but they will ascend at different rates. Each soul chooses its own path. The more devoted a person is to remembering and being guided by spirit, the more quickly the soul will ascend. These people are at the forefront of an important process of raising the energetic vibration of the whole planet. The earth, made of the same energy we are, is undergoing this shift along with us. This evolutionary process, while seemingly chaotic at times, is as natural as the process that unfolds a flower from a seed and we are all part of it.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that the earth too is on her own ascension path as she is sentient. The best way to support this process in yourself and in the world is simply to relax and be open to its unfolding. Listen to your inner guidance, and let it guide you to the path that brings your heart the most joy.
PEOPLE OFTEN HAVE DIFFICULTY ACCEPTING THAT THEY
HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH PSYCHIC CAPABILTIES.
Psychic experiences are a natural part of our everyday lives. People often have
difficulty accepting that they have been blessed with psychic abilities because
without a frame of reference it is almost impossible to identify an
extrasensory experience and to distinguish psychic sights, sounds, and
sensations from the projects of the unconscious mind. To some extent, every
human being on the planet is clairvoyant, clairaudient, and clairsentient,
although most people discover that they are naturally adept at one more than
the others. When you trust in and take steps to hone your innate clairvoyance,
clairaudience, and clairsentience, you will enter a new realm of being in which
the universe, your higher self, and your spirit guides lovingly conduct you
toward a more aware existence
Clairvoyance, or clear seeing, is the ability to see with the mind's eye. An individual who has honed their clairvoyant abilities may be able to see in their mind's eye events in a remote location; to witness incidents that have yet to occur; or to perceive shapes, colors, and other images that are physically invisible. Clairaudience, which means clear listening, is the ability to hear sounds not physically audible. A person with the gift of clairaudience perceives psychic information as auditory resonance and may hear angelic voices, music, or other sounds. A clairsentient, or clear feeling, individual is able to sense physical, emotional, and spiritual energy in the form of seemingly unearthly scents, touches, and movements. Each of these psychic abilities can manifest themselves within us voluntarily or involuntarily. It is natural for us to have these abilities; we need only practice.
Developing your psychic talents is a matter of releasing your fear of seeing, hearing, or feeling inexplicable or disquieting stimulus. Before you attempt to consciously tap into your gifts, ground yourself to anchor your mind in the present to disconnect from any involuntary psychic experiences you may be having. Concentrate on your intuitive responses to the world around you and notice any sights, sounds, or feelings that enter your mind. If you trust your perceptions, you'll discover that each psychic impression you receive will be in some way relevant to your experience—even when that relevance may not be immediately recognizable.
When Are You Superconscious? Swami Brahmananda
It is easier to know when you are not superconscious than when you are superconscious, because your superconsciousness is such a natural state. It is such a beautiful state. It is such a full, wholesome state to be in, that you are not aware generally that you are superconscious.
When you are not feeling too well within yourself, you are not superconscious. When you are feeling really good and satisfied within yourself, you are superconscious. When your timing is right, when everything is happening just right during the day, you are superconscious. When nothing seems to be happening right, then your awareness is flowing through one of the congested areas of the thought realm. When everything seems to be going wrong, you are flowing through an instinctive area or a congested intellectual area.
When you are arguing with yourself, you are not superconscious. You are flowing through an area of the intellectual mind, taking two points of view and flowing from one to another. When discussing something with someone, you are not superconscious, for superconsciousness is a one-way street. You speak right from the core of existence without really thinking about what you are going to say. You just speak out and hear what you said afterwards.
When you are arguing with someone, you are not superconscious. You have moved into a congested area of the thought strata of the mind and you are verbalizing it, and are congesting the aura, too. Then awareness has to be unwound from that area of the mind and directed back again to superconsciousness. When you are disturbed about yesterday, or even have a consciousness that there was a yesterday, you are not in a superconscious state. When you are afraid, you are not in a superconscious state. When you are peaceful, when you are calm, when you are in the eternity of the moment, when you feel secure on the inside of you, you are in a superconscious state.
Superconsciousness is not something you will get, because you have never been without it. You are superconscious this very minute, and functioning in all five states of the mind.
We shall now compare the superconscious mind to an onion of seven layers, each interior layer more subtle than the outer ones. 1) Experiencing the consciousness of the eternity of the moment, as if the world was revolving around you; 2) Experiencing a cosmic energy, a divine force, flowing through your external mind which is more real to you than the external mind itself; 3) Experiencing hearing voices singing, music playing--the divine sounds of the flute, mridanga, vina and tambura--while in meditation or early in the morning just before awakening; 4) Experiencing seeing the faces of Gods or devas, or a rishi's face, looking into yours while in meditation or early in the morning just before awakening; 5) Experiencing the peace and inner poise of the all-pervasive Satchidananda; 6) Experiencing the anandamaya kosha, the body of the soul, as it comes into conscious union with the physical body; 7) Experiencing being on the brink of the Absolute, Parasiva, the void, having lost consciousness of the physical body and of being any of the five states of mind. These seven states of superconsciousness are only a few, to be sure, of this vast area of mind.
Worldly entanglements, let us understand, will always remain around. One will have to get over them with the help of a strong will power and right attitude. We should plan out our life in such a way that we gradually reduce our worldly entanglements and devote more and more time to higher life.
Hindu view of life says that the very purpose of a householder’s life is to gradually fulfill one’s worldly duties and withdraw from active life — after one’s son or daughter takes up the responsibilities. This is the concept of vanaprastha or retirement, when both husband and wife devote more and more time to spiritual practices.
The instinctive mind in the young soul is firm and well-knit together. The intellectual mind in the adolescent soul is complicated, and he sees the physical world as his only reality. The subsuperconscious mind in the mystically inclined soul well perfected in kriya longs for realization of Siva's two perfections, Satchidananda and Parasiva. Through yoga he bursts into the superconscious mind, experiencing bliss, all-knowingness and perfect silence. It is when the yogi's intellect is shattered that he soars into Parasiva and comes out a jnani. Each time he enters that unspeakable nirvikalpa samadhi, he returns to consciousness more and more the knower. He is the liberated one, the jivanmukta, the epitome of kaivalya--perfect freedom--far-seeing, filled with light, filled with love. One does not become a jnani simply by reading and understanding philosophy. The state of jnana lies in the realm of intuition, beyond the intellect. The Vedas say, "Having realized the Self, the rishis, perfected souls, satisfied with their knowledge, passion-free, tranquil--those wise beings, having attained the omnipresent on all sides--enter into the All itself."
The feeling of the eternity of the moment is experienced upon the first arrival into the subsuperconscious state of mind. This occurs when the subconscious state of mind is in a quiescent state, a state of full receptivity to superconsciousness. It has not been destroyed, but has been purified of all barriers, such as negative attachments. When this occurs, the devotee has the feeling that there is no future, there is no past and the only reality is the eternity of the moment.
The subconscious mind, thus opened to the influx of actinic power, creates a force field called an actinodic force field. That is, the odic forces of the subconscious, having been permeated with enough actinic energy so that the odic forces are quieted, organized and controlled through actinic power, form a new state of mind called the subsuperconscious state of mind.
Great vistas of creativity are opened to those who learn to keep open and receptive to the subsuperconscious mind. Music, art, drama and dance flow most spontaneously, and answers to questions in the subconscious, previously unanswered, come forth in intuitive flashes, without the use of reason, while not conflicting with reason. A feeling of contentment and confidence resides within an individual who has learned to consciously identify and use the subsuperconscious mind.
To consciously use the subsuperconscious mind, before you go to sleep at night repeat this affirmation to yourself, over and over again: "Tomorrow, I shall awaken filled and thrilled with cosmic energy of God Siva, creatively alive and in tune with the universe." Say this several times unto yourself and feel the actinic force begin to move, the life force begin to move within your body. You will awaken in the morning filled and thrilled with creative energy and with a desire to be productive, to create. Answers to problems will be immediately unfolded from within yourself. You will experience the mechanism of playback, of finding solutions to questions that have been unanswered within your subconscious mind perhaps for years. All this and more will come to you through the grace of God Siva and our many Gods if you diligently and regularly fulfill your sadhana.
When you can see a white light aglow in your head in a darkened room, or even see a flash of it, or hear the inner, high-pitched sound, "eee," humming in your inner ear, then you know that you are consciously functioning in the subsuperconscious state of mind.
All that is beautiful has come from the subsuperconscious powers awakened within man. So, let your life shine by your actions rather than by your advertising subsuperconscious powers.
We can conclude that it is the point in time and
space where our awareness resides that keys us in to seeing only one frame at a
time on this circle of creation, preservation and dissolution of form, which
leads into the creation of the same form again.
The mystic, once recognizing his particular point in time and space can travel
around this circle of life at will, his control being prior sadhana performed
well during early years of unfoldment.
Claim yourself to be the watcher at early stage, and obey the two don'ts – mental arguments and sexual fantasy. Beautiful philosophical thoughts and refined feelings will fill in and take the place of minutes or hours previously used in mental argument and instinctive fantasy.
There is no reason to ever fear God, whose right-hand gesture, abhaya mudra, indicates "fear not," and whose left hand invites approach. God is with us always, even when we are unaware of that holy presence. He is His creation. It is an extension of Himself; and God is never apart from it nor limited by it. When we act wrongly, we create negative karma for ourselves and must then live through experiences of suffering to fulfill the law of karma. Such karmas may be painful, but they were generated from our own thoughts and deeds. God never punishes us, even if we do not believe in Him. It is by means of worship of and meditation on God that our self-created sufferings are softened and assuaged. God is the God of all--of the believers within all religions, and of the nonbelievers, too. God does not destroy the wicked and redeem the righteous; but grants the precious gift of liberation to all souls. The Agamas state, "When the soul gradually reduces and then stops altogether its participation in darkness and inauspicious powers, the Friend of the World, God, reveals to the soul the limitless character of its knowledge and activity."
Each time you practice being the watcher and begin to succeed, you will immediately receive the impact of realization of the extent of involvement in the external mind that had occurred between these periods of practice. You will find that the more you practice regularly, increasingly, more frequently, you will remember to continue "the witness" in the midst of daily life--while riding in conveyances, talking with people, shopping in crowded stores, even in the midst of a disagreement or at the pinnacle of a creative flow. "You," the watcher, will preside, and in presiding will carry that inner presence so necessary for a full and fruitful life.
Communicating with your Marriage Partner
Throughout the course of a successful marriage or long-term commitment, the two people in the relationship may shift in and out of various roles. For example, one person in the couple may support the other person going back to school. In order to do this, he or she steps into a supporting role, setting aside certain goals or aspirations in order to provide a stable base from which his or her partner can launch in a new direction. There are many gifts of learning inherent in this role—from having the opportunity to embody a nurturing stance to feeling the pleasure of seeing a loved one thrive. When our partner expands his or her horizons, ours expand, too, and we gain access to a world that would otherwise remain closed to us.
However, there is also much to be said for having
a turn to be the one stepping outside the box, perhaps taking time to attend to
our personal healing, spiritual pursuits, or other interests. In order to
maintain balance within our relationships, it’s important that we address these
issues each time one person steps into a supporting role so the other can try
something new. When we are conscious about acknowledging that one person is
bearing a bit more of a burden so that the other can grow, we stand a better
chance of making sure the ebb and flow in the relationship remains fair and
equal.
The most important part of this process is open
communication in which each person has a chance to express how they feel and
come to an understanding about the roles they have agreed to play and when they
expect them to shift. Each time a dynamic shift occurs, a ceremony of
acknowledgment can lend an air of distinction to the moment. This can be a
simple dinner date or an elaborate ritual, depending upon what works best for
us at the time. Perhaps the most important thing is expressing gratitude to the
person in the supporting role and encouragement to the person moving in a new
direction. When the flow of feeling and communication is open, a healthy
closeness develops that allows each person in the relationship to have a turn
at each of these important roles.
Communication with the divine
Forging a spiritual connection with the divine is the ultimate goal of many forms of worship. In our devotions, we transcend the limitations of our humanity using prayers, rituals, and invocations, or we seek the celestial in sacred items such as statuary, imagery, or natural objects. In the Hindu tradition, worshipers bond with the divine through the puja ritual. The purpose of the ritual is to create an atmosphere in which humans and spiritual beings can enjoy communion with one another. Though participants show reverence for their chosen deities, Puja serves to bring the former and the latter together on an energetic level. Performing a Puja ritual is thus a wonderful way to experience direct communication with the divine.
There are no limits as to whom may serve as the focal point of your Puja. You need only choose a spirit guide to commune with and an object to represent them. Preparing for the Puja ritual, however, can take some time, depending on the number of devotional acts you will perform. A classic Puja includes 16 acts, including meditation, chanting, the reading of sacred texts, offerings of food and drink, and cleansing. You may also wish to present gifts of incense, flowers, and jewelry during the ritual. An altar or table covered by an altar cloth provides space for the representation of the divine and the seat of the Puja. To begin, prepare your offerings and place them to the right of the altar. Then center yourself and release any stress you may feel—the Puja is meant to be a joyful experience. Typically, the ritual begins with the ringing of a bell and an invitation, and progresses from chanting to the cleansing and dressing of the deity to the offerings to meditation. You can modify your Puja in any way you wish.
Though the elaborate Puja rituals performed in Hindu temples take place at sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight, Puja performed in the home primarily takes place in the mornings and evenings. When your intention is to invite your spiritual guides into your home and heart, however, the time of day matters little. With practice, you will create a direct path to spiritual oneness that allows you to experience an amazing sense of closeness that reinforces your connection with the divine.
Co-creating with the Universe
Most people don’t always fully realize that we all have within us the ability to co-create our lives with the universe. So many of us are taught to accept what we are given and not even to dream of anything more. But our hopes and dreams are the universe whispering to us, planting an idea of what’s possible while directing us toward the best use of our gifts. The universe truly wants to give us our hearts’ desires, but we need to be clear about what they are and ask for them.
To ask for
something does not mean to beg or plead from a place of lack or unworthiness.
It’s like placing an order—we don’t need to beg the salesperson for what we
want or prove to them that we deserve to have it. It is their job to give us
what we ask for; we only have to tell them what we want. Once we have a clear
vision of what we desire, we simply step into the silent realm where all
possibilities exist and let our desires be known. Whatever methods we use to
become still, it is important that we find the quiet space between our
thoughts.
From that still and quiet place, we can announce our intentions to the pure
energy of creation. By imagining all the details from every angle, including
scent, color, and how it would feel to have it, we design our dreams to our
specifications. Similar to dropping a pebble into a pond, the ripples created
by our thoughts travel quickly from this place of stillness, echoing out into
the world to align and orchestrate all the necessary details to bring our
desires into manifestation. Before leaving this wonderful space to come back to
the world, release any attachment to the outcome and express gratitude. By
doing this daily, we focus our thoughts and our energy while regularly mingling
with the essence that makes it possible to build the life of our dreams.
When
the vibrations of our physical and spiritual bodies are out of harmony it can
cause disease.
Everything in the universe is in a constant state of vibration, including our
bodies. Sound is vibration that can be translated by the delicate structures of
our inner ear, but it moves more than just those tiny receptors. It is part of
the spectrum of energy vibrations that affect us on the mental, physical, and
spiritual levels. Long ago shamans recognized the power of sound when they
first used chants and drumming to heal people. In ancient Egypt, Greece,
and India,
the use of sound and music for healing was a highly developed sacred science.
Sonic vibration has been one way of experiencing the energy of the universe for
much of humanity’s history.
When the vibrations of our physical and spiritual bodies are out of harmony it
can cause disease. Sound healing gently massages the molecules back into the
right places, clearing blockages and restoring harmony. Ancient healing systems
such as Chinese medicine and Indian Ayurveda associate specific musical notes
with subtle-energy systems of the body, such as in yoga where particular notes
of music correspond to each of the seven chakras. In Tibet, priests have long used bells
and bowls over and around the body to tune and clear the energy centers. Chimes
and tuning forks are other tools that have been used to heal not only the body
but the energy in a room as well.
Knowing that sound has the power to heal, we should also try to remember that sounds from modern life can have a negative affect. Choosing silence over discord may help us maintain a state of equilibrium. As we seek soothing and harmonizing sounds to surround us, we may be doing more than creating a balm for the noise of the world. We may actually be performing an act of self-healing that connects us with one of the most basic vibrations of the universe.
Devoting time each day for happiness will change your day and change your brain chemistry.
It can be so easy to get caught up in the rigors of modern life that we tend to forget that happiness need not come with stipulations. Happiness becomes something we must schedule and strive for—a hard-won emotion—and then only when we have no worries to occupy our thoughts. In reality, overwhelming joy is not the exclusive province of those with unlimited time and no troubles to speak of. Many of the happiest people on earth are also those coping with the most serious challenges. They have learned to make time for those simple yet superb pleasures that can be enjoyed quickly and easily. Cultivating a happy heart takes no more than five minutes. The resultant delight will be neither complex nor complicated, but it will be profound and will serve as a reminder that there is always a reason to smile.
So much that is ecstasy-inducing can be accomplished in five minutes. Alone, we can enjoy an aromatic cup of our favorite tea, take a stroll through the garden we have created, write about the day's events in a journal, doodle while daydreaming, or breathe deeply while we listen to the silence around us. In the company of a good friend or treasured relative, we can share a few silly jokes, enjoy a waltz around the room, play a fast-paced hand of cards, or reconnect through lighthearted conversation. The key is to first identify what makes us dizzyingly happy. If we do only what we believe should bring us contentment, our five minutes will not be particularly satisfying. When we allow ourselves the freedom to do whatever brings us pleasure, five minutes out of 14 wakeful hours can brighten our lives immeasurably.
It is often when we have the least free time or energy to devote to joy that we need to unwind and enjoy ourselves the most. Making happiness a priority will help you find five minutes every day to indulge in the things that inspire elation within you. Eventually, your happiness breaks will become an established part of your routine. If you start by pursuing activities you already enjoy and then gradually think up new and different ways to fill your daily five minutes of happiness, you will never be without something to smile about.
Living a Life of Grace
Grace exists inside of all of us and around us. It is our inner beauty that radiates outward, touching everyone we meet. It is that unseen hand that comes from the divine, raising us up when we most need it. To be able to live in a state of grace is not based on worthiness, nor is it earned through good deeds, ritual, or sacrifice. Rather it is an unearned favor, freely bestowed and available to all, that is inherent to our birthright. All we must do is open our eyes to its presence and we will find and experience grace everywhere.
Grace is in the
rain bringing relief to drought-ridden farms, and the unexpected lead for the
perfect job opportunity that comes from a stranger. Grace is what happens to
someone when they miraculously escape injury; it is even the simple events that
happen to us that we call “good luck,” like when we don’t get a parking ticket
after are meter has expired. Grace resides in the love between two people, the
gift or check that comes unexpectedly in the mail, the cozy comforts that make
up a home, and in the acts of forgiveness we bestow upon others. It is grace
that moves us to go out of our way to help a stranger. In music, a grace note
is the pause between notes that is so important to the pacing of a song. Grace
is the state we are in when we are doing nothing but just being who we are.
When we accept that we always exist in a state of grace, we are able to live our lives more graciously. Knowing we are graced gives us hope, makes us more generous, and allows us to trust that we are taken care of even when we are going through difficult times. Grace is our benevolence of heart, and our generosity of spirit. Grace is unconditional love and the beauty that is our humanity. When we know that we are blessed with grace, we can’t help but want to live our lives in harmony.
I want to see what happens if we start everyday
with setting an intention, and defining a GREAT day! I don’t mean some complex
stuff, but something as simple as saying “My intention today will be to be
Joyful” This would mean at any point of time you feel low, you will just remind
yourself that your intention of today was to be joyful, and you will be joyful
again. Second, I want you to say two things that will make your day a great
day. An example could be, I will have a great conversation today. And if you
have a great conversation, you will say today, was a great day. It could be a
simple thing like, today I will think of Shiva and appreciate his creation. And
that will be it, you spend a minute just appreciating the world and you will
have a great day. I bet this will increase your happiness by 20% or maybe a
little more.
CHAPTER IV
PHILOSOPHER ON THE THRONE
CATHERINE II, THE GREAT
The Russian empress Catherine II, known as
Catherine the Great, reigned from 1762 to 1796. She expanded the Russian
Empire, improved administration, and energetically pursued the policy of
Westernization (the process of changing to western ideas and traditions). Under
her rule Russia grew strong
and rivaled the great powers of Europe and Asia.
Childhood
Catherine II was born Sophia Augusta Frederica in the German city of Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), on April 21, 1729. She was the daughter of Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst and Princess Johanna Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. Catherine's parents, who had been hoping for a son, did not show a great deal of affection toward their daughter. As a child, Catherine was close to her governess Babette, who Catherine described as, "the kind of governess every child should have." Catherine's education emphasized the subjects considered proper for one of her class: religion (Lutheranism), history, French, German, and music.
When Catherine was fifteen, she went to Russia at the
invitation of Empress Elizabeth to meet the heir to the throne, the Grand Duke
Peter (1728–1762), an immature and disagreeable youth of sixteen. Soon after
Catherine converted to the Russian Orthodox faith, she and the young Grand Duke
were married in 1745.
The marriage turned out to be an unhappy one in which there was little evidence of love or even affection. Peter was soon unfaithful to Catherine, and after a time she became unfaithful to him. Whether Peter was the father of Paul and Anna, the two children recorded as their offspring, remains a question.
However, her loveless marriage
did not overshadow her intellectual and political interests. A sharp-witted and
cultured young woman, she read widely, particularly in French. She liked
novels, plays, and verse but was particularly interested in the writings of the
major figures of the French Enlightenment (a period of cultural and idealistic
transformation in France),
such as Diderot (1713–1784), Voltaire (1694–1778), and Montesquieu (1689–1755).
Rise to power
Catherine
was ambitious as well as intelligent and looked forward to the time she would
rule Russia.
Unlike her husband, the German-born Catherine took care to demonstrate her
dedication to Russia
and the Russian Orthodox (an independent branch of the Christian faith) faith.
This loyalty, she thought, would earn her a rightful place on the throne and
win support of the Russian people.
When
Empress Elizabeth died on December 25, 1761, Peter was proclaimed Emperor Peter
III, and Catherine became empress. Only a few months after coming to the
throne, Peter had created many enemies within the government, the military, and
the church. Soon there was a plot to overthrow him, place his seven-year-old son
Paul on the throne, and name Catherine as regent (temporary ruler) until the
boy was old enough to rule on his own. But those involved in the plot had
underestimated Catherine's ambition. They thought that by getting rid of Peter,
Catherine would become more of a background figure. She aimed for a more
powerful role for herself, however. On June 28, 1762, with the aid of her lover
Gregory Orlov, she rallied the troops of St. Petersburg
to her support and declared herself Catherine II, the sole ruler of Russia. She had
Peter arrested and required him to abdicate, or step down from, power. Shortly
after his arrest he was killed in a brawl with his captors.
Early reign (1762–1764)
Catherine
had ambitious plans regarding both domestic and foreign affairs. But during the
first years of her reign her attention was directed toward securing her
position. She knew that a number of influential persons considered her a
usurper, or someone who seized another's power illegally. They viewed her son,
Paul, as the rightful ruler. Her reaction to this situation was to take every
opportunity to win favor among the nobility and the military. At the same time
she struck sharply at those who sought to replace her with Paul.
As for general policy, Catherine understood that Russia needed an extended period of peace in order for her to concentrate on domestic (homeland) affairs. This peace could only be gained through cautious foreign policy. The able Count Nikita Panin (1718–1783), whom she placed in charge of foreign affairs, was well chosen to carry out such a policy.
Attempts at reform (1764–1768)
By 1764
Catherine felt secure enough to begin work on reform, or improving social
conditions. Catherine's rule was greatly influenced by the ideas of the
Enlightenment, and it was in the spirit of the Enlightenment that Catherine
undertook her first major reform. Russia's legal system was based on
an old and inefficient Code of Laws, dating from 1649. Catherine's proposal,
"The Instruction," was widely distributed in Europe
and caused a sensation because it called for a legal system far in advance of
the times. It proposed a system providing equal protection under law for all
persons. It also emphasized prevention of criminal acts rather than harsh
punishment for them.
In June
1767 the Empress created the Legislative Commission to revise the old laws in
accordance with the "Instruction." Catherine had great hopes about
what the commission might accomplish, but it made little progress, and
Catherine suspended the meetings at the end of 1768.
War and revolt (1768–1774)
Foreign
affairs began to demand Catherine's attention. She had sent troops to help her
former lover, Polish king Stanislaw (1677–1766), suppress a revolt that aimed
at reducing Russia's
influence in Poland.
Soon Turkey and Austria joined in by supporting the revolution
in Poland.
Two years later, after lengthy negotiations, Catherine concluded peace talks
with Turkey.
From this Russia received
its first foothold on the Black Sea coast.
Russian merchant ships were allowed the right of sailing on the Black Sea and
through the Dardanelles, a key waterway in Europe.
Even before the peace talks ended, Catherine had to concern herself with a revolt led by the Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev (1726–1775). The rebel leader claimed that reports of Peter III's death were false and that he was Peter III. Soon tens of thousands were following him, and the uprising was within threatening range of Moscow. Pugachev's defeat required several major expeditions by the imperial forces. A feeling of security returned to the government only after his capture late in 1774.
Domestic affairs (1775–1787)
Much of
Catherine's fame rests on what she accomplished during the dozen years
following the Pugachev uprising. Here she directed her time and talent to domestic
affairs, particularly those concerned with the way the government functioned.
Catherine was also concerned with expanding the country's educational system.
In 1786 she adopted a plan that would create a large-scale educational system.
Unfortunately, she was unable to carry out the entire plan, but she did add to
the number of the country's elementary and secondary schools. Some of the
remaining parts of her plan were carried out after her death.
The
arts and sciences also received much attention during Catherine's reign. Not
only because she believed them to be important in themselves, but also because
she saw them as a means by which Russia could earn a reputation as a
center of civilization. Under her direction St. Petersburg was turned into one of the
world's most dazzling capitals. Theater, music, and painting flourished with
her encouragement.
As she grew older, Catherine became greatly troubled because her heir, Paul, was becoming mentally unstable and she doubted his ability to rule. She considered naming Paul's oldest son, Alexander, as her successor. Before she was able to alter her original arrangement, however, she died of a stroke on November 6, 1796. While her legacy is open to debate, there is no doubt that Catherine was a key figure in developing Russia into a modern civilization.
CHAPTER V
HISTORY OF WOMEN IN MEDICINE
Ancient medicine
The involvement of women in the field of medicine has been recorded in several early civilizations. An Egyptian, Merit Ptah (2700 BC), described in an inscription as "chief physician", is the earliest woman named in the history of science. Agamede was cited by Homer as a healer in Greece before the Trojan War. Agnodike was the first female physician to practice legally in 4th century BC Athens.
Medieval Europe
During the medieval period, convents were an important place of education for women, and some of these communities provided opportunities for women to contribute to scholarly research. An example is the German abbess Hildegard of Bingen, whose prolific writings include treatments of various scientific subjects, including medicine, botany and natural history (c.1151-58). She is considered Germany's first female physician.
The 11th century saw the emergence of the first universities. Women were, for the most part, excluded from university education. However, there were some exceptions. The Italian University of Bologna, for example, allowed women to attend lectures from its inception, in 1088.
Within the Islamic empire, between the 800s and 1300s, women generally treated other women, and were trained privately. Practitioners were well respected, with support from government, and many kept their fees low so that any good student could join them.
The attitude to educating women in medical fields in Italy appears to have been more liberal than in other places. The physician, Trotula di Ruggiero, is supposed to have held a chair at the Medical School of Salerno in the 11th century, where she taught many noble Italian women, a group sometimes referred to as the "ladies of Salerno". Several influential texts on women's medicine, dealing with obstetrics and gynecology, among other topics, are also often attributed to Trotula.
Dorotea Bucca was another distinguished Italian physician. She held a chair of philosophy and medicine at the University of Bologna for over forty years from 1390. Other Italian women whose contributions in medicine have been recorded include Abella, Jacobina Félicie, Alessandra Giliani, Rebecca de Guarna, Margarita, Mercuriade (14th century), Constance Calenda, Calrice di Durisio (15th century), Constanza, Maria Incarnata and Thomasia de Mattio.
Historic women's medical schools
When women were routinely forbidden from medical school, they sought to form their own medical schools.
Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (founded 1850 as Female Medical College of Pennsylvania)
London School of Medicine for Women (founded 1874)
Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women (founded 1886 by Sophia Jex-Blake)
Saint Petersburg State Medical University (founded 1897 as Female Medical University)
Tokyo Women's Medical University (founded 1900 by Yoshioka Yayoi)
Historic hospitals with significant female involvement:
New England Hospital for Women and Children (now called Dimock Community Health Center), founded in 1862 by women doctors "for the exclusive use of women and children"
New Hospital for Women (founded in the 1870s by Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and run largely by women, for women)
South London Hospital for Women and Children (founded 1912 by Eleanor Davies-Colley and Maud Chadburn; closed 1984; employed an all-woman staff)
Pioneering women in medicine
Merit Ptah (2700 BC) - earliest cited women physician
Agamede pre-Trojan War healer
Agnodike was the first female physician to practice legally in 4th century BC Athens.
Trotula of Salerno 11th century physician who is supposed to have held a chair at the Medical School of Salerno. Several influential texts on women's medicine are also often attributed to her.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) is considered Germany's first female physician. She conducted and published comprehensive studies of medicine and natural science.
Dorothea Erxleben (1715–1762) The first female doctor granted an M.D. in Germany.
James Miranda Barry (179?-1865) A renowned woman doctor who passed as a man to gain a medical education and practice medicine.
Lovisa Årberg (1801–1881) first woman doctor and surgeon in Sweden.
Amalia Assur (1803–1889) first woman dentist in Sweden and possibly Europe.
Ann Preston, (1813–1872) first female dean of any medical school.
Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) First woman to graduate from medical school in the US; MD 1849, Geneva College, New York.
Rebecca Lee Crumpler, (8 February 1831 – 9 March 1895) first African American woman physician in the United States.
Lucy Hobbs Taylor (1833–1910) The first woman dentist in the United States.
Madeleine Brès (1839–1925), the first French female MD
Nadezhda Suslova (1843–1918), the first Russian female MD, a graduate of Zurich University
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836–1917) Pioneering woman doctor and feminist in Britain; co-founder of London School of Medicine for Women.
Frances Hoggan (1843–1927) First British woman to receive a doctorate in medicine (1870).
Edith Pechey-Phipson (1845–1908) Pioneering doctor in the United States; MD 1877, University of Bern and Trinity College Dublin.
Margaret Cleaves (1848–1917) Pioneering doctor in the brachytherapy; M.D. 1873.
Maria Cuţarida-Crătunescu (1857–1919), the first Romanian female MD, a graduate of Zurich University
Dolors Aleu (1857–1913), the first female MD in Spain
Anandi Gopal Joshi A (or Anandibai Joshi)(March 31, 1865 - February 26, 1887)-Anandibai addressed the community at Serampore College Hall, explaining her decision to go to America and obtain a medical degree. She discussed the persecution she and her husband had endured. She stressed the need for Hindu female doctors in India, and talked about her goal of opening a medical college for women in India. She also pledged that she would not convert to Christianity. Her speech received publicity, and financial contributions started coming in from all over India. The then Viceroy of India contributed 200 rupees to a fund for her education. She graduated with an M.D. on March 11, 1886, the topic of her thesis having been "Obstetrics among the Aryan Hindoos". The princely state of Kolhapur appointed her as the physician-in-charge of the female ward of the local Albert Edward Hospital.Anandibai died early next year on February 26, 1887 before reaching age 22. Her death was mourned throughout India.
Kadambini Ganguly (1861 – 3 October 1923), Ganguly studied medicine at the Calcutta Medical College. In 1886, she was awarded a GBMC (Graduate of Bengal Medical College) degree, which gave her the right to practise. She thus became one of the two, Anandi Gopal Joshi being the other, Indian women doctor qualified to practice western medicine. A social reformer herself, Kadambini overcame stiff opposition from the teaching staff, and orthodox sections of society. She went to the United Kingdom in 1892 and returned to India after qualifying as LRCP (Edinburgh), LRCS (Glasgow), and GFPS (Dublin). After working for a short period in Lady Dufferin Hospital, she started her own private practice.
In 1883 she married the Brahmo reformer and leader of women's emancipation Dwarkanath Ganguly. They were actively involved in female emancipation and social movements to improve work conditions of female coal miners in eastern India. She was one of the six female delegates to the fifth session of the Indian National Congress in 1889, and even organized the Women's Conference in Calcutta in 1906 in the aftermath of the partition of Bengal. In 1908, she had also organized and presided over a Calcutta meeting for expressing sympathy with Satyagraha - inspired Indian laborers in Transvaal, South Africa. She formed an association to collect money with the help of fundraisers to assist the workers. In 1914 she presided over the meeting of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, which was held in Calcutta to honour Mahatma Gandhi during his Calcutta visit.
As the mother of eight children she had to devote considerable time to her household affairs. She was deft in needlework.
The noted American historian David Kopf has written, “Ganguli's wife, Kadambini, was appropriately enough the most accomplished and liberated Brahmo woman of her time. From all accounts, their relationship was most unusual in being founded on mutual love, sensitivity and intelligence… Mrs. Ganguli's case was hardly typical even among the more emancipated Brahmo and Christian women in contemporary Bengali society. Her ability to rise above circumstances and to realize her potential as a human being made her a prize attraction to Sadharan Brahmos dedicated ideologically to the liberation of Bengal's women.”
Emma K. Willits (1869–1965) Believed to be only the third woman to specialize in surgery and the first to head a Department of General Surgery—at Children's Hospital in San Francisco, 1921-1934.
Vera Gedroitz (1870–1932) - the first women-professors of surgery in the world
Maria Montessori (1870–1952), the first female MD in Italy
Hannah Myrick (1871–1973), helped to introduce the use of X-rays at the New England Hospital for Women and Children
Yoshioka Yayoi (1871–1959) One of the first women to gain a medical degree in Japan; founded a medical school for women in 1900.
Marie Equi (1872–1952) American doctor and activist for women's access to birth control and abortion.
Muthulakshmi Reddi (1886–1968) One of the early women doctor in India; major social reformer; founder of a significant medical institution; MD 1912, Madras Medical College.
Dame Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (2 February 1889 – 2 October 1964) was the health minister in the Indian Cabinet for ten years after India's independence from the British Raj in 1947. She was an eminent Gandhian, a freedom fighter, and a social activist.
The Rajkumari was born on 2 February 1889 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (then United Provinces), India. She and her seven brothers were the eight children of Rājā Harnam Singh, a member of the princely family of Kapurthalā in the Punjab region and his wife Rāni Harnām Singh, who was the daughter of a Bengali Presbyterian mother and an Anglican father.
The Rajkumari had her early education in Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset, England, and had her college education at Oxford University. After completing her education in England, she returned to India.
Raja Harnam Singh enjoyed the confidence of many Indian National Congress (INC) party leaders, including Gopal Krishna Gokhale. After her return to India from England, Rajkumari got interested in India's freedom struggle through the occasional visits of those leaders to her father's home. After meeting in person Mahatma Gandhi in 1919 in Bombay (Mumbai), she felt drawn to his thoughts and vision for the country. The notorious Jallianwala Bagh massacre of mostly Sikhs the same year by the British Raj troops convinced her of the necessity of India's gaining its freedom from the Raj. She joined the INC, and began to participate in India's struggle for freedom, and also in social reform activities in India.
Rajkumari co-founded the All India Women’s Conference in 1927, became its secretary in 1930, and president in 1933.
For her participation in Gandhi-led 240-mile Dandi March in 1930, British Raj authorities imprisoned her.
Rajkumari went to live at Mahatma Gandhi's ashram in 1934, and took up the austere life there despite her aristocratic background. She served as one of Gandhi's secretaries for sixteen years.
As a representative of the INC, in 1937 Rajkumari went on a mission of goodwill to Bannu, in the present day Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The British Raj authorities charged her with sedition and imprisoned her.
In 1942, she participated in the Quit India Movement, and the Raj authorities imprisoned her again.
Rajkumari championed the cause of universal suffrage, and testified before the Lothian Committee on Indian franchise and constitutional reforms, and before the Joint Select Committee of British Parliament on Indian constitutional reforms.
Rajkumari served as the Chairperson of the All India Women’s Education Fund Association. She was a member of the Executive Committee of Lady Irwin College in New Delhi. The British Raj appointed her as a member of the Advisory Board of Education; (she resigned from that Board during the Quit India Movement). She was sent as a member of the Indian delegation to UNESCO conferences in London and Paris in 1945 and 1946, respectively. She also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the All India Spinners’ Association.
Rajkumari worked to reduce illiteracy, and eradicate the custom of child marriages and the purdah system for women, which were prevalent then among some Indian communities.
After India’s independence, Amrit Kaur became part of Jawaharlal Nehru's first Cabinet; she was the first woman to hold Cabinet rank. She was assigned the Ministry of Health and was one of only two Indian Christians in the Cabinet (along with John Mathai. In 1950, she was elected the president of World Health Organization, becoming the first woman and the first Asian to hold that post; for the first 25 years of that organization’s history, only two women held that post.
Kaur was a strong moving force behind the establishment of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, and became its first president. For establishing the institute, she secured aid from New Zealand, Australia, West Germany, Sweden, and USA. She and one of her brothers donated their ancestral property and house (named Manorville) in Simla, Himachal Pradesh to serve as a holiday home for the staff and nurses of the Institute.
Kaur served as the Chairperson of the Indian Red Cross society for fourteen years. During her leadership, the Indian Red Cross did a number of pioneering works in the hinterlands of India. She initiated the Tuberculosis Association of India and the Central Leprosy Teaching and Research Institute in Madras (Chennai). She started the Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing and the National Sports Club of India.
From 1957 until her death in 1964, she remained a member of Rajya Sabha. Between 1958 and 1963 Kaur was the president of the All-India Motor Transport Congress in Delhi. Until her death, she continued to hold the presidencies of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Tuberculosis Association of India, and the St. John’s Ambulance Corps. She also was awarded the Rene Sand Memorial Award.
Today, her private papers are part of the Archives at the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, at Teen Murti House, Delhi
Safieh Ali (1900-?) First Turkish doctor, educated in Germany.
Virginia Apgar (1909–1974) Significant work in anesthesiology and teratology; founded field of neonatology; first woman granted full professorship at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.
Jane Elizabeth Hodgson (1915–2006) Pioneering provider of reproductive health care for women and advocate for women's rights.
Nancy C. Andrews (b.1958) First woman Dean of a major medical school in the United States (2007, Duke University School of Medicine.
Women's history and women's health movement
Scholars have been examining the history and sociology of medicine for decades. Biographies of pioneering women physicians were common throughout this time, but the study of women in medicine took particular root with the advent of the women's movement in the 1960s, and in conjunction with the women's health movement. Two publications in 1973 were critical in establishing the women's health movement and scholarship about women in medicine: First, the publication of Our Bodies, Ourselves in 1973 by the Boston Women's Health Collective, and second, "Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Female Healers", a short paper by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English also in 1973 The Ehrenreich/English paper examined the history of women in medicine as the professionalization of the field excluded women, particularly midwives, from the practice. Ehrenreich and English later expanded the work into a full-length book, For Her Own Good, which connected the exclusion of women from the practice of medicine to sexist medical practices; this text and Our Bodies, Ourselves became key texts in the women's health movement.
The English/Ehrenreich text laid out some early insights about the professionalization of medicine and the exclusion of women from the profession, and numerous scholars have greatly built upon and expanded this work. These scholars include: Diana Elizabeth Long, 1938- PhD 1966 Yale University Department of History of Science and Medicine; 1999-2006 (significant work as Project Scholar, "Literature and Medicine," Maine Humanities Council); pioneering research in medical indexing and gender with national and international acclaim; 1989 first director of University of Southern Maine Women's Studies.
Breast cancer awareness campaigns are an outgrowth of the women's health movement.
CHAPTER VI
HISTORY OF AYURVEDA
A Description of Dhanvantari, Avatar of Health reads as follows:
"Armed with conch, discus, leach and the golden pot of 'Amrita'-Elixir of Immortality, clad in yellow silk garment, An exquisitely textured cloth around the coiffure, with eyes as dark as the rain-cloud, Who annihilates disease and suffering, like the raging forest fire, Which totally consumes the forest"
History of Ayurveda
The true history of Ayurveda starts from the time of the Holy books, the Vedas. Ancient mythology contends that the concept and essence of Ayurveda was revealed by the creator of the world himself – Lord Brahma.
There are four Vedas. They are –
- Rigveda
- Yajurveda
- Samaveda
- Atharvaveda
The Vedas date back to about five thousand years. They preach the philosophy of life. The Atharvaveda contains the principles of healing on which Ayurveda is based. 'Ayur' means 'life' in Sanskrit. Ayurveda is the most ancient science of healing which enhances longevity. It has influenced many of the older traditional methods of healing including Tibetan, Chinese and Greek medicine. Hence, Ayurveda is considered by many as the 'mother of healing.'
The hymns, the mantras and the medical information contained in the Vedas were contributions of Rishis and munis or sages, over a period of time. Many of these sages were learned saints who devoted their life to understanding the world
Aryavarta, the native land of Aryans, covers a large area surrounding the Himalayas and is believed to be the place where the Rishis and Munis lived. At present it covers areas in countries like Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Tibet. The civilizations of these countries are deeply influenced by the unique intellectual contributions of these Rishis and Munis.
The practical tenets of Ayurveda are divided into eight sections or branches. These sections include:
- Internal medicine,
- Surgery,
- Organic medicine,
- Pediatrics,
- Toxicology,
- Rejuvenating remedy,
- Aphrodisiac remedies and
- Spiritual healing.
These eight
sections are called "Astanga Ayurveda".
Ayurveda is a complete or holistic system that
integrates the mind, body and spirit. For a few centuries, the tradition of
Ayurveda was dimmed due to the natural and human calamities and also by the
invasion of foreign cultures into India. The sacred texts were either
destroyed or stolen. However there were many ‘Vaidyas’ or doctors in India who
managed to preserve some of the knowledge available in these Holy Scriptures.
Divine plants that sustain long life and good health are now being
rediscovered. Many renowned families of Vaidyas, who are specialized in certain
branches of Ayurveda, have started functioning again in India. Today
there is a revival of the ancient culture and traditions inherent to Ayurveda,
which is a true gift of the ancient civilization to the modern world.
Entire Ayurveda is explained in three strings (Trisutra), namely Hetusutra, Lingasutra and Aushadhisutra, which are extremely helpful in maintaining health and treating diseases.
Hetusutra: It is the causative factor of disease.
Lingasutra: These are the sign and symptoms developed due to the disease.
Aushadhisutra: It is the means of treatment
Ayurveda traditionally involves a holistic treatment of the entire human being and its full cosmic nature. According to the Upanishads, study and treatment of disease is the highest form of asceticism (tapas), whereby the truth of life and the truth of one's own self can be revealed. Ayurveda stresses, self-examination and introspection is the first step and fundamental basis of understanding and resolving any disease. Ayurveda has been found to be useful in treatment of all types of diseases, especially the chronic diseases like arthritis, skin diseases, diabetes and certain types of cancers.
Shalya
The word shalya refers to the things that cause discomfort to the body and the
mind. Shalya is of two types, namely: shaarir (within the body) and agantuj
(outside the body).
The shalya present
inside the body is considered as the Sharir Shalya.. Example: Unhealthy teeth,
Hair, Nails, imbalanced doshas, dhatus and mala, abscess, tumor, fetus etc.
Whereas agantuj are the shalya present outside the body. Example: Thorns, Stone
pieces, iron pieces, dust particles, worry etc.
Shalya tantra (Surgery):
It deals with the means
such as Yantra (Tools), Shastra (Instruments), Kshara (Alkalies) and Agni
(Fire) to remove the shalya in the body by different methods.
Shalakya
It deals with the diseases related to Nose, Ear, Throat and Eyes. In other
words it deals with the disease of Urdhva Jatru region i.e. diseases in the
organs above the Clavicle (Jatru) and their treatment.
Kaya Chikitsa (Medicine/ Therapeutics)
It is the branch of Ayurveda that deals with internal medicine. The treatment involved is called "Kayachikitsa", where Kaya means "Agni "and Chikitsa means "treatment".
It is notable that the
entire Ayurvedic therapeutics is based on this concept of Agni. The concept of
Kaya (Agni) is unique and is responsible for bio- transformation.
As it is known that energy can neither be created nor can it be destroyed. In
human body Kaya provides the necessary energy for all bodily activities. As
energy can be changed from one form to another the living bodies derive energy
from the food eaten and breathing air. Biological Kaya transforms this energy
to the energy, which is utilized by our cells.
In simple words, the
vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats etc. eaten are bio transformed by this
Kaya to the bodily substances. As long as Kaya is proper all the activities in
body are carried out smoothly. Any disturbance in Kaya causes imbalance in the
homeostasis (equilibrium) and disturbs physiology which is nothing but the
disease. In Ayurveda therapeutics devotes to correction and maintenance of
biological Kaya through the means of Mantra, Mani and Aushadhi.
It must be kept in mind that anything and everything that is herbal can not
naturally become Ayurvedic medicine, but only the therapy which considers the
above mentioned concepts of Ayurveda qualifies to be called as Ayurvedic
medicine.
Bhoota (Graha)
It is the branch of Ayurveda that deals with diseases acquired or inherited from apparently unknown causes. In modern terminology it can be considered as idiopathic diseases in which the exact cause of disease is unknown.
According to Ayurveda, diseases are caused by affliction due to Deva, Asura, Gandharva, Yaksha, Rakshasa, Pitara, Pishacha, Naga and other bad demons or evils. The exact patho- physiology of these disorders is to be extensively researched.
Bala / Kaumara:
It is the branch of Ayurveda
that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases related to
preconception, childbearing (Pregnancy), childbirth (delivery) and diseases of
children (Pediatrics).
Rasayana Tantra
It is the branch of Ayurveda that deals with various aspects of preventive health care. Without rasayana it is possible to gain neither oratory nor the desirable aura. It includes longevity, improved memory, health, youthfulness, glow, complexion, generosity, and strength of body and senses. Rasayana improves the metabolic activities and results in best possible bio- transformation leading to health.
Vajikarana
It is the branch of Ayurveda that deals with the sexual aspects. It includes
medications for diseases related with reproduction namely spermatogenesis,
aphrodisiacs etc.
According to Ayurveda the body comprises of three primary life forces. In Ayurvedic terminology they are called doshas. The state of balance or equilibrium between these three doshas in the body is called health and the state of imbalance or disequilibrium is disease. The imbalance may be in one, two or all the three doshas. For example excess of vata causes arthritis and excess of pitta causes acidity, ulcer and liver disorders.
All causative factors of disease internal or external directly or indirectly create an imbalance in these doshas first and only then do the symptoms of the disease manifest. The causative factors can be the food, life style or other activities. All these factors are affecting one, two or all the three doshas.
So if you want to stay healthy, you must know what these factors which create an imbalance of doshas are. As said earlier these factors could be your diet, life style or daily activities. You will soon discover that majority of foods and activities we practice in the modern world are increasing one or more doshas. They are discussed briefly as below.
Factors responsible for increasing vata:
- Eating too much bitter, astringent and pungent tasted foods like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts, beans, dry fruits, mushrooms and raw foods.
- Too much traveling by any means of transportation.
- Staying awake till late night or not sleeping at all.
- Eating of junk food, frozen foods and food that has been micro-waved.
- Excessive exposure to high noise level or high sounds.
- Watching too much television and over exposure to computers or any other kind of electric gadgets from strong waves are emitted.
- Indulging in too much sexual activity.
- Excessive imagination, overworking or too many sports.
- Taking too much medicinal, recreational and stimulating drugs.
- Suppression of natural urges like urination, defecation, sneezing, cough, tears etc..
- Emotions like fear and grief.
Aggravation of vata weakens the nervous system. Other symptoms caused by excess of vata in the body are joint pains, constipation, dry skin, loss of memory, palpitation, insomnia, stiffness of muscles, weight loss, loss of strength, migraine, vertigo, tremors, grief and fear etc.,
Factors responsible for increasing Pitta
Drinking too much tea, coffee, alcohol.
Excessive smoking.
Eating salty, sour, hot and spicy food, eating too many chilies, tomatoes, egg plant or onions.
Too much exposure to heat and sun.
Anger.
Some of the symptoms caused by excess of Pitta in the body are hyperacidity, skin diseases, burning sensation, fever, infections, ulcers, liver disorders, malfunction of sense organs, fatigue, loss of taste and sleep disturbances.
Factors responsible for increasing Kapha
- Eating sweet, salty and sour tastes in excess, fats, oily and fried foods, ice creams, meats, dairy products, and nuts.
- Too much sleep, especially during day time.
- Not doing much physical activity.
Some of the symptoms caused by excess Kapha in the body are asthma, cold, and congestion in the chest, anorexia and obesity.
Thus we can relate every aspect of our life with these three doshas. If we have proper knowledge, we can maintain a balance of these three doshas and avoid many serious problems and can thus stay healthy. The treatment according to Ayurveda is to balance the tridosha. While making a diagnosis the Ayurvedic physician finds out which dosha is out of balance and tries to make the balance by prescribing some natural medicines, diet and life style.
The Basic Principles of Ayurvedic Treatment
The essence of treatment is the removal of the cause and avoidance of causative factors. Ayurvedic treatment does not mean suppressing the main symptoms and creating some new ones as side effects of the main treatment. It is to remove the root cause and give permanent relief. The medicines for the treatment mainly comprises of powders, tablets, decoctions, medicated oils etc. prepared from natural herbs, plants and minerals. Because the medicines are from natural sources and not synthetic, they are accepted and assimilated in the body without creating any side effects and on the other hand, there may be some side benefits.
The famous Ayurvedic physician Charaka identifies four factors that are essential for successful medical treatment: The Physician, the remedy, the nurse and the patient. The physician should be an expert in theory and in practice, skilful, and pure in body and mind. Easy availability, appropriateness, utility in a variety of forms and high quality characterize the optimal remedy. The best nurse is knowledgeable, skilful, sympathetic and pure. The ideal patient is courageous, able to describe what he or she is feeling, and remembers all the physician's instructions and follows them carefully; all these qualities help the patient get well more easily.
Along with medicine, proper diet and living style is also advised. This is equally important. If we are taking a medicine to remove the root cause and at the same time we are taking some food or following a life style which is increasing the cause of disease, then we may not get well or will be getting less relief. Panch Karma therapy is also used as a treatment in many diseases.
Most of us have many levels of toxins accumulated
over a lifetime of indiscretions, all of which cannot be released at once
otherwise they will overwhelm the excretory organs and ravage the mind. Your
mind and body have become habituated to these poisons, which have become part
of your equilibrium equation. Removing them all at once would seriously
imbalance your physical body and confuse your mind so that you no longer felt
like 'yourself' .Purifying the system is a long, slow process, requiring many
cycles to expunge the many layers of dirt. You must be patient with the process
and with the newly developing you, just as you would be patient with a slowly
growing tree.
When you
backslide and return temporarily to your old unhealthy ways, you must learn to
always pick yourself up, like a child learning to walk, and begin again.
The basic principles of Ayurvedic treatment are immutable: how they are applied differs from case to case.
"Treatment is rooted in measure": the effect of any particular therapy on any particular patient depends on its dosage, which again depends upon the climate, the doshas involved, the strength of the patient versus the strength of the disease, the patients age and constitution, the specific syndrome, the patients social environment, the goal of treatment and so on. Time cycle, including 'disease time' and the joints of seasons, are especially important, because the doshas are controlled differently at different times, depending upon both external time and the disease's momentum within the microcosm.
Treatment is totally individualized, and so different diseases may sometimes share a single therapy, while a single disease may be treated differently in different patients according to the measure of the factors involved
Thus we find that the methods of treatment are based on simple and natural principles. To summarize we can say that Ayurveda teaches a very systematic and scientific way of life which is important to pursue both materially and spiritually. Fundamental principles, health rules, knowledge of individual constitution of our body, use of various herbs, minerals and specially Panch Karma therapy can be very safely used by one and all, all over the world to, promote good health, prevent diseases and acquire longevity.
Some Tips on Healing
As soon as you notice you are not feeling well, make an effort to get extra sleep, whether by going to bed earlier than usual or working naps into your routine. You can also support your body by eating as healthy as possible, drinking plenty of water and herbal teas, and taking vitamins. Vitamin C is especially galvanizing to the immune system. Homeopathic remedies can also aid you in assisting your body in its time of rest and recovery. Talking lovingly to yourself, and your body, will also help. Beyond that, simply letting go of thinking and resting in the deep silence of your true self will speed your recovery. In addition, you can always call upon your guides and angels, asking them to ease the symptoms.
It is natural to go through times of feeling under the weather, so there is no reason for you to worry. On the contrary, feel free to let go of worry and rest peacefully in the knowledge that this too shall pass, leaving you stronger, healthier, and further along in your healing process.
When we feel pain, our first impulse is often to eradicate it with medication. This is an understandable response, but sometimes in our hurry to get rid of pain, we forget that it is the body's way of letting us know that it needs our attention. A headache can inform us that we're hungry or stressed just as a sore throat might be telling us that we need to rest our voice. If we override these messages instead of respond to them, we risk worsening our condition. In addition, we create a feeling of disconnectedness between our minds and our bodies.
Physical pain is not the only kind of pain that lets us know our attention is needed. Emotional pain provides us with valuable information about the state of our psyche, letting us know that we have been affected by something and that we would do well to focus our awareness inward. Just as we tend to a cut on our arm by cleaning and bandaging it, we treat a broken heart by surrounding ourselves with love and support. In both cases, if we listen to our pain we will know what to do to heal ourselves. It's natural to want to resist pain, but once we understand that it is here to give us valuable information, we can relax a bit more, and take a moment to listen before we reach for medication. Sometimes this is enough to noticeably reduce the pain, because its message has been heard. Perhaps we seek to medicate pain because we fear that if we don't, it will never go away. It can be empowering to realize that, at least some of the time; it is just a matter of listening and responding.
CURES FOR COMMON AILMENTS
Ayurveda is not just a treatment, rather a lifestyle; a lifestyle which has defined ways of eating habits, meditative practices and herbal medications when fallen sick. Human body is prone to several infections and ailments anytime as we live in a world which has polluted atmosphere and increased bacterial spread levels. It is quite common that each one of us periodically or frequently gets infected with one or other bacteria or virus; thus falling sick. Ayurveda has prescribed several simple homemade medications to prevent and fight such common ailments. Let us see few of the very common diseases and the Ayurvedic remedies for them.
Common Cold
Cold is not at all counted as a diseases as it attacks everybody so frequently and vanishes after a while troubling us enough. Cold is called a symptom rather an ailment by physicians, as cold could be indicator of a possible fever or other such diseases. Cold could be prevented and cured successfully with simple Ayurvedic herbs. Boil a cup of water with one teaspoon of dry ginger and pepper. Consume the mixture two three times a day. This medication will cure common cold. Another Ayurvedic way of treating common cold is to inhaling the steam from a mixture of eucalyptus leaves and ginger powder boiled together.
Common Fever
Same as common cold, common fever also affects everybody frequently. Unlike the cold, fever could be considered seriously as when neglected the fever can transform into pneumonia or such deadly diseases. Ayurveda suggests certain food types to be consumed and others to be avoided when suffering from fever. Fruits are recommended for fever patient. Cold food and ice creams are to be avoided strictly. A boiled mixture of cinnamon, pepper and honey is said to be the best Ayurvedic cure for fever. Cumin seed, which is a proved antiseptic, is effective in treating fever. Ginger extracts also helps reducing fever. Consume ginger extracts several times a day.
Toothache
Toothache is another common disease that can affect you at any time. After a particular age, teeth become weak and chances are high for broken and infected tooth which causes severe pain. There are nerves passing through each tooth; thus an infection on teeth can cause very severe pain. Cavities, exposed tooth, gum diseases etc… can result in frequent toothaches. Asafetida, clove and onion are used in Ayurveda to treat toothache. Asafetida acts fasts on teeth and reduces pain. It also protects the teeth with the mineral and vitamin content in it. Clove reduces the pain using its antiseptic and astringent content
Dandruff
Dandruff is very common among people. It is nothing but the condition of the skin where skin scales are separated from the scalp. It makes the head dry and the scales fall on your cloth and body creating itching. Fenugreek seeds, lime, green gram powder and snake guard are recommended by Ayurveda to treat dandruff. Massaging the scalp with curd is another effective way of getting rid of dandruff. Applying the mixture of lime juice and gooseberry juice can cure dandruffs.
Skin Allergy
Being the organ that is exposed highly to the atmospheric and weather conditions, skin has greater chances of getting affected with diseases and allergies. Skin allergies are common among people. There are different types of skin like dry, oily, cracked etc... The allergies differ on each skin types. The cause of allergy is over reaction to any of the allergens. The prescribed Ayurveda medicines are Azadiracta indica, Tinospora cordifolia, Rubia cordifolia, Curcuma longa etc… Drinking extra amount of liquids will help preventing allergies. Hygienic lifestyle helps protecting the skin from allergies.
Headache
Headaches are common among people especially in the modern lifestyle. People often complain of a headache when they are in tension and trouble. Ayurveda suggests the main causes of headaches as hypertension, overwork, fever, mental depression, stress, nerve problems, anemia, sleeplessness etc… Proper rest for the body as well as mind is the foremost medicine for curing headache. Eat simple cooked vegetables. Consume enough water and fruit juices. Do not eat fried, oily and sweet food when suffering from headache. There are few Ayurveda medications that may help curing headaches. Mixture of clove, cinnamon and almond in a paste form is effective medicine for headache. This paste is to be applied on the forehead. Take one tablespoon of milk and mix half tablespoon of ginger powder in it. Drop this mixture into the nose drills. This medicine will cure headaches very fast.
Gastritis and Peptic Ulcers
Food becomes fermented in the gut as a result of excessive acidity. This fermentation is usually as a result of a high intake of pungent food, as well as an increase in pitta. Foods to eat for treatment are milk, coconut water, dishes containing barley and wheat, bitter vegetables (like eggplant, Brussel sprouts, spinach) rice with sugar and honey. Chilies, hot spices, sour vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes and citrus fruits, and pungent foods, such as cinnamon and garlic, should be avoided. Also to be avoided are work and exercise in the hot sun over heated conditions, mentally stressed activities and situations, and anger and grief.
Indigestion
Fasting followed by light easily digestible food is
a good treatment.
Rest is recommended. Suggested remedies are:
· A chutney made of fresh mint, dried dates, black pepper, rock salt, fried asafetida, black rasins and cumin seeds with lemon juice is very good for improving digestive power and appetite.
· Equal quantities of cinnamon, ginger and cardamom ground into a powder are helpfulful in treating indigestion.
· A mixture of equal parts of green ginger, lemon juice and rock salt, taken before meals relieves indigestion and improves appetite.
Constipation
For treatment foods to eat are: broccoli, cereals, dairy products (milk, ghee, cream), green leafy vegetables, spinach, wheat, whole grains and fruits, such as pear, guava, grapes, orange, papaya and figs. And foods to avoid are cheese, hard-boiled eggs, refined sugar, and white-flour based products, such as bread, cakes, pastries, biscuits and cookies. The patient should attend to the call of nature regularly even if he does not have a motion without straining or inducing urges. Regular exercise and brisk walks would help and so will sleeping well at night.
A Final Note
Remember, Ayurvedic preparations should be prescribed by a qualified Ayurvedic doctor. Each treatment is tailored to the physical constitution of the individual patient and the specific underlying clause.
CHAPTER VII
VAIRAGYA - THE POWER OF
LETTING GO
Have you ever faced a situation where you have hit the turf and failed to move away from a particularly negative feeling.
..It could be missing someone special
..It could be missing family and friends
..It could be losing someone who was dear to you
..It could be losing something that you built, with your own hands
It’s painful. And it hurts deeply.
Shiva had several such experiences in his life as well.
Let me share with you a story from Shiva’s life.
Sati was Shiva’s first wife; she married Shiva after a lot of prayer and against her father’s wishes. This left negative emotions in Daksha’s (Sati’s father) heart.
Later, Daksha organized a grand yagna (yagna is “a holy sacrifice that serves penance to the universe’s divinities) to which all the Gods were invited, with the exception of Sati and Shiva. Wanting to visit her parents, relatives and childhood friends, Sati sought to rationalize this omission.
She reasoned within herself that her parents had neglected to make a formal invitation to them only because, as family, such formality was unnecessary. Certainly, she needed no invitation to visit her own mother and decided to go anyway. Shiva dissuaded her, but Sati’s has made up her mind. On seeing her persistence and desire to visit her family, he provided her all his ganas (ganas are followers or supporters who used to stay with Shiva) to escort her.
Sati was received coldly by her father. Soon, they were in the midst of a heated argument about the virtues (and alleged lack thereof) of Shiva. Every passing moment made it clearer to Sati that her father was entirely incapable of appreciating the many excellent qualities of her husband. The realization then came to Sati that this abuse was being heaped on Shiva only because he had wed her and that she was the cause of this dishonor to her husband. She was consumed by rage against her father and loathing for his mentality.
Calling up a prayer in which she asked that she may, in some future birth, be born the daughter of a father whom she could respect, Sati invoked her yogic powers and immolated herself.
Shiva sensed this catastrophe, and his rage was thunderous. He created Virabhadra and Bhadrakāli, two ferocious creatures who wreaked havoc and mayhem on the scene of the horrific incident. Nearly all those present were indiscriminately felled overnight. Daksha himself was decapitated.
Vishnu was asked to help Shiva detach himself from Sati, as the inability to do so would have lead to the destruction of the world. He achieved detachment.
The moral of the story is, You can destroy YOUR world in case you are not able to detach yourself when need be, from the external world, including your loved ones.
I do understand that detaching yourself can be difficult, especially when it concerns your loved ones. Let me share a quick exercise with you that might help you.
The idea of detaching yourself is to be able to become an observer, instead of being a participant.
Next time when you are overwhelmed, do this.
Empowerment.
Empowerment means, giving power to oneself. Let me tell you, this is the single biggest thing that will turn your life around; in the direction that YOU want it too.
Once the POWER of YOUR Life lies with YOU, there is absolutely NO way that you would not be able to achieve and create your reality in the way you want it.
There is a very powerful mantra that I want to share with you here:
“Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham”
It means:
I am indeed that eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.
It means that once you surrender yourself to YOUR OWN SELF you shall achieve Shiva, you shall reach the state of knowing, bliss, love and consciousness.
Powerful. Isn’t it.
Allow me to guide you through one of the most powerful exercises that will help you achieve Empowerment.
I want you to close your eyes. Repeat the mantra “Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham” – while you are chanting the mantra, I want you to become conscious of a glowing light slowly intensifying inside of you.
This light is a representation of you gaining power on your thoughts, actions, reactions.
While this light grows, you will command yourself and your emotions to be governed by your desire.
While this light grows, you will experience yourself and your heart. This light is a representation of your soul rising and letting you release from any boundaries, or self imposed restrictions on yourself.
“Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham”
As we chant this mantra you will experience going deeper and deeper in your mind, and feel like you are touching your soul.
Are you there yet? Are you feeling it?
Do this one final time, and you shall feel a greater sense of being liberated.
This time I want you to chant this mantra 50 times.. Even better, don’t count it. Let yourself sink into the mantra.
Feel the Shiva in You.
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham. You are Shiva, You are Consciousness, You are Love, You are Knowledge, and You are Bliss.
The mind is by its very nature fickle and restless. Hence it is extremely difficult to keep our mind fixed on the Supreme God (Para-Brahman), who is without form and of extremely subtle essence. To help out the aspirant therefore, the Upanishads prescribe certain focused meditations known as Upasanas which gradually help him make progress on the spiritual path.
What is Upasana?
The
support which helps in keeping the mind fixed on one particular thought is
known as ‘Alambana’. For example, the sound of Om, the inner recess of the
heart, or the Prana etc. (Chandogya Upanishad 8.1.1). The scriptures prescribe
many Alambanas according to the competence of the aspirant. Choosing any one
Alambana prescribed in the scriptures, and meditating upon that with only the flow
of thought as delineated in the Vedas, without allowing any other thought not
related to it from coming in the way, is known as Upasana. This leads to
purification of the mind (chitta-shuddhi), and is also easier than
concentrating directly on Parabrahman. However, it eventually leads to Advaita
Jnana in due course (Shri Shankaracharya’s introduction to the Chandogya
Upanishad).
An Alambana is but God only. Even then, because of being qualified by different features, they are known by various names.
Basically Upasana is keeping the mind in only one mental form over a long period of time. This does not mean that there should be no movement in the mind at all and it should be fixed only on a given shape or sound. On the other hand, the mind should be pondering over the Alambana and its connection with the ‘Chaitanya’ (consciousness) it represents and the essential nature of the Chaitanya – all as delineated in the scriptures. For e.g. as one is uttering AUM he should be ruminating over its syllables (matras: A-U-M) in the following manner, as outlined in the Mandukya Upanishad:
‘A’ is the waking state (Vaishvanara). ‘U’ is the dream state (Taijasa). ‘M’ is the state of deep sleep (Prajna). The waking and sleeping states both merge into deep sleep; and when we get up the two states emerge from it. Similarly, when the articulation of aum terminates in m, a and u enter into m. When aum gets repeated, a and u emerge out of m. (Mandukya Upanishad 1.9-11).
This is the correct, scriptural method of meditating on OM. When the mind is ruminating over the ideas in this manner there is fickility because the mind is by nature very unstationary. However, the important point is that no other thoughts should be entertained during this rumination. When another thought enters the mind it should be forcefully subdued.
The Difference between Upasana and Nidhidhyasana
The scriptures speak of a three-layered sadhana (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad: 2.4.5)
1). Shravana: Listening with full faith and concentration to Vedanta from the mouth of the Guru.
2) Manana: One who has an exceptionally powerful reservoir of Samskara can achieve Moksha by merely listening (Shravana). However, ordinary people need to reflect and think upon what they have heard. This is known as Manana.
3). Nidhidhyasana: On continued reflection one understands that the aim of the Vedas is to make us realize the ultimate unity of Jiva and Brahman. Meditating on this conviction born out of Manana is known as Nidhidhyasana.
Though in both Nidhidhyasana and Upasana the mental idea that one is himself Brahman is nurtured, even then there is an important difference between them. When this mental form is born out of conviction obtained after Shravana and Manana and then nurtured, it is Nidhidhyasana. However, if it is nurtured through an Alambana, even before this conviction is developed, then it is Upasana. Nidhidhyasana therefore represents a much higher state than that of Upasana.
Upasana on a Symbol (Prateeka Upasana)
There are also Upasanas using a symbol, which are less difficult than the Upasanas using an Alambana (support). The symbol is an effect (Karya) of Brahman like the sun, Shalagrama etc, whereas an Alambana is Brahman itself qualified by certain attributes (Upadhi). This is the difference between Alambana and Prateeka. In Prateeka Upasana the Prateeka is deemed as God, which is really much greater than that and Upasana is done through it. For example., one meditates on the sun as Brahman or the Shalagrama as Lord Vishnu. Nowadays what people do in their daily Puja is this kind of Upasana only.
Upasana should be done till death. Repeatedly ruminating over the idea has the following gain: It causes the mental form corresponding to the Upasana to emerge at the moment of death. It is this mental form which acts as a blueprint for the next birth in which the fruit of this Upasana is experienced (Brahma Sutras 4.1.12).
As we said earlier, the Bhagavad Gita too says:
Whatever a person has meditated/thought upon his whole life, that is what he remembers at the time of his death, and that is what he obtains in his next birth. (8.6)
In meditation, we reclaim what we already are. It is a returning to our centre. It may be termed a process of upward relaxation into superconsciousness. Superconsciousness is forever our reality. It is our true state of being.
You will attain superconsciousness more quickly, and not only in meditation, if
you seek to attune yourself with it in your daily activities. The more you seek
to be guided by intuition, which is an aspect of superconsciousness, the
greater success you will meet in every undertaking. For the rational mind can
only point to probable solutions. Intuition, rooted as it is in
superconsciousness, will supply you with clear answers. From a superconscious
perspective, all life is a unity.
To live superconsciously is to maximize our abilities in every department of
life. The rational mind, with its focus on differences, is essentially
problem-oriented. The superconscious, with its broader, more unitive view, is
solution-oriented. The unitive view is justified objectively in Nature. Every
natural problem has a corresponding solution.
Superconscious living means to trust one's life to the flow of a higher wisdom.
Superconsciousness arranges things in ways that we might never imagine. I've
seen this principle at work on countless occasions. Always it has worked better
than any solution I might have provided myself.
Can we really attract inspiration at will? Yes indeed! Strong energy, powered
by confidence (which must be rooted in faith; it must not be ego -confidence)
can attract inspirations, opportunities, solutions to problems - anything. It
isn't a question of wanting anything personally, but of wanting it because it
is right. It is important to exclude ego-motivation as much as possible and to
see that faith doesn't become an excuse for irresponsibility. To live
superconsciously means to cooperate with the superconscious flow, not to expect
that flow to do everything for you. It's a question of energy in cooperation
with faith. Be wholly focused on whatever you are doing, without seeing
yourself as the doer.
Guidance often comes only after an idea has been made concrete by setting it in
motion. If, therefore, you receive no answer in meditation, act in whatever way
seems reasonable to you, but continue to listen for guidance in the heart. At a
certain point, if your direction is right, you will feel the endorsement you've
been seeking. But if your direction is wrong, suddenly you will know it is
wrong. In that case, try something else, until the endorsement comes. To refuse
to act until you receive inner guidance is good only if you can keep your level
of energy and expectation high, for it is high energy and high expectation that
attract guidance.
In seeking guidance, form a clear mental picture of what it is you need. Then
hold that picture up to superconsciousness at the point between the eyebrows.
No time at all is needed: only sufficient mental clarity and energy.
Never use the claim of inner guidance as an argument for convincing others to
listen to you. The flow of superconsciousness is always humble, never boastful.
It doesn't cooperate with attitudes that discourage others from seeking their
own inner guidance. To tell a person, "This is what my intuition tells me,
so this is what we must all do," is to say, in effect, "God will
speak only through me, not through anyone else." The divine law does not
endorse pride.
Remembering Past Life
Many of us wonder why we do not remember who we were before we were born. We wonder what it was like to be a soul without a body and what it will be like to be one again. Many of us have a strange sense that we do remember, as if we did experience a bodiless existence, but we can't quite recall the details. We may remember feeling as if we were flying, or as if we were just incredibly light and unrestricted in our movements. Still, most of us do not recall anything in detail about the time before we incarnated into a human body.
There are many possible reasons for this deep forgetting, one of which is that remembering would probably impinge upon our ability to fully commit to this life. Experiencing life on earth without any memory of an alternative existence allows us to be here completely, and that is what is required in order for us to learn much of what we must learn here. Most of us are not meant to spend our time here preoccupied with concerns beyond the realm of this lifetime. Instead, it is our job to occupy our bodies and our planet with a fullness that would not be possible if we were constantly aware of another, and extremely different, realm of existence.
There is no doubt that life on earth is difficult in ways that life outside of a body is not. As we modulate our energy to move into a body, our consciousness changes, and this is a necessary change. Forgetting other levels of being protects us from a confused and divided experience. Soon enough, we will be back where we started, so thinking too much about it now is a bit like being on a fascinating journey and spending the whole time thinking about going home. It is more in alignment with our purpose here to be fully present in the gift of this journey, unreservedly offering our energy to the experience we are having right now.
Rainy Days
A rainy day spent indoors can be wonderfully uplifting. As the rain pours down, fill your home with light, sound, and comfort so that you can fully appreciate the loveliness of being snug and dry during a downpour. Storms literally change the energy in the air, and you may feel driven to follow suit by burning incense or sage, ringing bells or chimes, lighting candles, or singing. You may even feel compelled to talk to each room in your home in order to express your gratitude for the protection they give you. If, however, you feel claustrophobic rather than calm because you cannot venture outdoors, you can clear away negative energy by getting rid of clutter, sweeping away dust, and freshening your up spaces. The happier you are in your home, the more beautiful and wondrous a simple rain shower will seem.
A sheltered spot like a covered porch, sunroom, or bay window can provide you with a wonderful vantage point from which to meditatively observe raindrops as they make their descent to earth. And the pitter-patter of rain on a rooftop or car window can even be a therapeutic and soothing sound—one that reminds us that while the unforeseen will always be a part of our lives, we should never forget that nearly every cloud that comes into our lives will have a silver lining.
CHAPTER VIII
INFLUENCE ON THE WORLD OF
CYRUS THE GREAT
Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia, parts of Europe and Caucasus. From the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen.
The reign of Cyrus the Great lasted between 29 and 31 years. Cyrus built his empire by conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Either before or after Babylon, he led an expedition into central Asia, which resulted in major campaigns that were described as having brought "into subjection every nation without exception". Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he himself died in battle, fighting the Massagetae along the Syr Darya in December 530 BC. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to add to the empire by conquering Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica during his short rule.
Cyrus the Great respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered. It is said that in universal history, the role of the Achaemenid Empire founded by Cyrus lies in its very successful model for centralized administration and establishing a government working to the advantage and profit of its subjects. In fact, the administration of the empire through satraps and the vital principle of forming a government at Pasargadae were the works of Cyrus. Aside from his own nation, Persia (modern Iran), Cyrus the Great also left a lasting legacy on the Jewish religion through his Edict of Restoration, where because of his policies in Babylonia, he is referred to by the people of the Jewish faith, as "the anointed of the Lord" or a "Messiah".
Cyrus the Great is also well recognized for his achievements in human rights, politics, and military strategy, as well as his influence on both Eastern and Western civilizations. To date, Cyrus the Great and his historical signature define the national identity for many Iranians. Cyrus and, indeed, the Achaemenid influence in the ancient world also extended as far as Athens, where many Athenians adopted aspects of the Achaemenid Persian (ancient Iranian) culture as their own, in a reciprocal cultural exchange.
The name Cyrus is a Latinized form derived from a Greek form of the Old Persian Kūruš. The name and its meaning has been recorded in ancient inscriptions in different languages. The ancient Greek historians Ctesias and Plutarch noted that Cyrus was named from Kuros, the Sun, a concept which has been interpreted as meaning "like the Sun" by noting its relation to the Persian noun for sun, khor, while using -vash as a suffix of likeness. Karl Hoffmann has suggested a translation based on the meaning of an Indo-European-root "to humiliate" and accordingly "Cyrus" means "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest." In the Persian language and especially in Iran, Cyrus' name is spelled as "Kūrošé Bozorg" which translates to Cyrus the Great. In the Bible, he is known as Koresh.
The Persian domination and kingdom in the Iranian plateau started by an extension of the Achaemenid dynasty, who expanded their earlier domination possibly from the 9th century BC onward. The eponymous founder of this dynasty was Achaemenes (from Old Persian Haxāmaniš). Achaemenids are "descendants of Achaemenes" as Darius the Great, the ninth king of the dynasty, traces his genealogy to him and declares "for this reason we are called Achaemenids". Achaemenes built the state Parsumash in the southwest of Iran and was succeeded by Teispes, who took the title "King of Anshan" after seizing Anshan city and enlarging his kingdom further to include Pars proper. Ancient documents mention that Teispes had a son called Cyrus I, who also succeeded his father as "king of Anshan". Cyrus I had a full brother whose name is recorded as Ariaramnes.
In 600 BC, Cyrus I was succeeded by his son Cambyses I who reigned until 559 BC. Cyrus the Great was a son of Cambyses I, who named his son after his father, Cyrus I. There are several inscriptions of Cyrus the Great and later kings that refer to Cambyses I as the "great king" and "king of Anshan". Among these are some passages in the Cyrus cylinder where Cyrus calls himself "son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan". Another inscription (from CM's) mentions Cambyses I as "mighty king" and "an Achaemenian", which according to bulk of scholarly opinion was engraved under Darius and considered as a later forgery by Darius. However Cambyses II's maternal grandfather Pharnaspes is named by Herodotus as "an Achaemenian" too. Xenophon's account in Cyropædia further names Cambyses's wife as Mandane and mentions Cambyses as king of Iran (ancient Persia). These agree with Cyrus's own inscriptions, as Anshan and Parsa were different names of the same land. These also agree with other non-Iranian accounts, except at one point from Herodotus stating that Cambyses was not a king but a "Persian of good family". However, in some other passages, Herodotus’ account is wrong also on the name of the son of Chishpish, which he mentions as Cambyses but, according to modern scholars, should be Cyrus I.
The traditional view based on archaeological research and the genealogy given in the Behistun Inscription and by Herodotus holds that Cyrus the Great was an Achaemenian. However it has been suggested by M. Waters that Cyrus is unrelated to Achaemenes or Darius the Great and that his family was of Teispid and Anshanite origin instead of Achaemenid
Early life
The best-known date for the birth of Cyrus the Great is either 600-599 BC or 576-575 BC. Little is known of his early years, as there are only a few sources known to detail that part of his life, and they have been damaged or lost.
Herodotus’ story of Cyrus's early life belongs to a genre of legends in which abandoned children of noble birth, such as Oedipus and Romulus, return to claim their royal positions. Similar to other culture's heroes and founders of great empires, folk traditions abound regarding his family background. According to Herodotus, he was the grandson of the Median king Astyages and was brought up by humble herding folk. In another version, he was presented as the son of a poor family that worked in the Median court. These folk stories are, however, contradicted by Cyrus's own testimony, according to which he was preceded as king of Persia by his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
After the birth of Cyrus the Great, Astyages had a dream that his Magi interpreted as a sign that his grandson would eventually overthrow him. He then ordered his steward Harpagus to kill the infant. Harpagus, morally unable to kill a newborn, summoned the Mardian Mitradates (which the historian Nicolaus of Damascus calls Atradates), a royal bandit herdsman from the mountainous region bordering the Saspires, and ordered him to leave the baby to die in the mountains. Luckily, the herdsman and his wife (whom Herodotus calls Cyno in Greek, and Spaca-o in Median) took pity and raised the child as their own, passing off their recently stillborn infant as the murdered Cyrus. For the origin of Cyrus the Great's mother, Herodotus identifies Mandane of Media, and Ctesias insists that she is fully Persian but gives no name, while Nicolaus gives the name "Argoste" as Atradates's wife; whether this figure represents Cyno or Cambyses's unnamed Persian queen has yet to be determined. It is also noted that Strabo has said that Cyrus was originally named Agradates by his stepparents; therefore, it is probable that, when reuniting with his original family, following the naming customs, Cyrus's father, Cambyses I, names him Cyrus after his grandfather, who was Cyrus I.
Herodotus claims that when Cyrus the Great was ten years old, it was obvious that Cyrus was not a herdsman's son, stating that his behavior was too noble. Astyages interviewed the boy and noticed that they resembled each other. Astyages ordered Harpagus to explain what he had done with the baby, and, after Harpagus confessed that he had not killed the boy, Astyages tricked him into eating his own broiled and chopped up son. Astyages was more lenient with Cyrus and allowed him to return to his biological parents, Cambyses and Mandane. While Herodotus’ description may be a legend, it does give insight into the figures surrounding Cyrus the Great's early life.
Cyrus the Great had a wife named Cassandane. She was an Achaemenian and daughter of Pharnaspes. From this marriage, Cyrus had four children: Cambyses II, Bardiya (Smerdis), Atossa, and another daughter whose name is not attested in the ancient sources. Also, Cyrus had a fifth child named Artystone, the sister or half-sister of Atossa, who may not have been the daughter of Cassandane. Cyrus the Great had a especially dear love for Cassandane. Cassandane also loved Cyrus to the point that on her death bed she is noted as having found it bitterer to leave Cyrus, than to depart her life. According to the chronicle of Nabonidus, when Cassandane died, all the nations of Cyrus's empire observed "a great mourning", and, particularly in Babylonia, there was probably even a public mourning lasting for six days (identified from 21–26 March 538 BC). Her tomb is suggested to be at Cyrus's capital, Pasargadae. There are other accounts suggesting that Cyrus the Great also married a daughter of the Median king Astyages, named Amytis. This name may not be the correct one, however. Cyrus probably had married once, after the death of Cassandane, to a Median woman in his royal family. Cyrus the Great's son Cambyses II would become the king of Persia and his daughter Atossa would marry Darius the Great and bear him Xerxes I.
Median Empire
Though his father died in 551 BC, Cyrus the Great had already succeeded to the throne in 559 BC; however, Cyrus was not yet an independent ruler. Like his predecessors, Cyrus had to recognize Median overlordship. During Astyages's reign, the Median Empire may have ruled over the majority of the Ancient Near East, from the Lydian frontier in the west to the Parthians and Persians in the east.
In Herodotus’ version, Harpagus, seeking vengeance, convinced Cyrus to rally the Persian people to revolt against their feudal lords, the Medes. However, it is likely that both Harpagus and Cyrus rebelled due to their dissatisfaction with Astyages' policies. From the start of the revolt in summer 553 BC, with his first battles taking place from early 552 BC, Harpagus, with Cyrus, led his armies against the Medes until the capture of Ecbatana in 549 BC, effectively conquering the Median Empire.
While Cyrus the Great seems to have accepted the crown of Media, by 546 BC, he officially assumed the title "King of Persia" instead. With Astyages out of power, all of his vassals (including many of Cyrus's relatives) were now under his command. His uncle Arsames, who had been the king of the city-state of Parsa under the Medes, therefore would have had to give up his throne. However, this transfer of power within the family seems to have been smooth, and it is likely that Arsames was still the nominal governor of Parsa, under Cyrus's authority—more of a Prince or a Grand Duke than a King. His son, Hystaspes, who was also Cyrus's second cousin, was then made satrap of Parthia and Phrygia. Cyrus the Great thus united the twin Achamenid kingdoms of Parsa and Anshan into Persia proper. Arsames would live to see his grandson become Darius the Great, Shahanshah of Persia, after the deaths of both of Cyrus's sons. Cyrus's conquest of Media was merely the start of his wars.
Lydian Empire and Asia Minor
The exact dates of the Lydian conquest are unknown, but it must have taken place between Cyrus's overthrow of the Median kingdom (550 BC) and his conquest of Babylon (539 BC). It was common in the past to give 547 BC as the year of the conquest due to some interpretations of the Nabonidus Chronicle, but this position is currently not much held. The Lydians first attacked the Achaemenid Empire's city of Pteria in Cappadocia. Croesus besieged and captured the city enslaving its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Persians invited the citizens of Ionia who were part of the Lydian kingdom to revolt against their ruler. The offer was rebuffed, and thus Cyrus levied an army and marched against the Lydians, increasing his numbers while passing through nations in his way. The Battle of Pteria was effectively a stalemate, with both sides suffering heavy casualties by nightfall. Croesus retreated to Sardis the following morning.
While in Sardis, Croesus sent out requests for his allies to send aid to Lydia. However, near the end of the winter, before the allies could unite, Cyrus the Great pushed the war into Lydian territory and besieged Croesus in his capital, Sardis. Shortly before the final Battle of Thymbra between the two rulers, Harpagus advised Cyrus the Great to place his dromedaries in front of his warriors; the Lydian horses, not used to the dromedaries' smell, would be very afraid. The strategy worked; the Lydian cavalry was routed. Cyrus defeated and captured Croesus. Cyrus occupied the capital at Sardis, conquering the Lydian kingdom in 546 BC. According to Herodotus, Cyrus the Great spared Croesus's life and kept him as an advisor, but this account conflicts with some translations of the contemporary Nabonidus Chronicle (the King who was himself subdued by Cyrus the Great after conquest of Babylonia), which interpret that the king of Lydia was slain.
Before returning to the capital, a Lydian named Pactyas was entrusted by Cyrus the Great to send Croesus' treasury to Persia. However, soon after Cyrus's departure, Pactyas hired mercenaries and caused an uprising in Sardis, revolting against the Persian satrap of Lydia, Tabalus. With recommendations from Croesus that he should turn the minds of the Lydian people to luxury, Cyrus sent Mazares, one of his commanders, to subdue the insurrection but demanded that Pactyas be returned alive. Upon Mazares's arrival, Pactyas fled to Ionia, where he had hired more mercenaries. Mazares marched his troops into the Greek country and subdued the cities of Magnesia and Priene. The end of Pactyas is unknown, but after capture, he was probably sent to Cyrus and put to death after a succession of tortures.
Mazares continued the conquest of Asia Minor but died of unknown causes during his campaign in Ionia. Cyrus sent Harpagus to complete Mazares's conquest of Asia Minor. Harpagus captured Lycia, Cilicia and Phoenicia, using the technique of building earthworks to breach the walls of besieged cities, a method unknown to the Greeks. He ended his conquest of the area in 542 BC and returned to Persia.
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Superimposed on modern borders, the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus's rule extended approximately from Turkey, Israel, Georgia and Arabia in the west to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Indus River (Pakistan) and Oman in the east. Persia became the largest empire the world had yet seen.
By the year 540 BC, Cyrus captured Elam (Susiana) and its capital, Susa. The Nabonidus Chronicle records that, prior to the battle(s); Nabonidus had ordered cult statues from outlying Babylonian cities to be brought into the capital, suggesting that the conflict had begun possibly in the winter of 540 BC. Near the beginning of October, Cyrus fought the Battle of Opis in or near the strategic riverside city of Opison the Tigris, north of Babylon. The Babylonian army was routed, and on October 10, Sippar was seized without a battle, with little to no resistance from the populace. It is probable that Cyrus engaged in negotiations with the Babylonian generals to obtain a compromise on their part and therefore avoid an armed confrontation. Nabonidus was staying in the city at the time and soon fled to the capital, Babylon, which he had not visited in years.
Two days later, on October 7 (proleptic Gregorian calendar), Gubaru's troops entered Babylon, again without any resistance from the Babylonian armies, and detained Nabonidus. Herodotus explains that to accomplish this feat, the Persians, using a basin dug earlier by the Babylonian queen Nitokris to protect Babylon against Median attacks, diverted the Euphrates river into a canal so that the water level dropped "to the height of the middle of a man's thigh", which allowed the invading forces to march directly through the river bed to enter at night. On October 29, Cyrus himself entered the city of Babylon and detained Nabonidus.
Prior to Cyrus's invasion of Babylon, the Neo-Babylonian Empire had conquered many kingdoms. In addition to Babylonia itself, Cyrus probably incorporated its subnational entities into his Empire, including Syria, Judea, and Arabia Petraea, although there is no direct evidence of this fact.
After taking Babylon, Cyrus the Great proclaimed himself "king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four corners of the world" in the famous Cyrus cylinder, an inscription deposited in the foundations of the Esagila temple dedicated to the chief Babylonian god, Marduk. The text of the cylinder denounces Nabonidus as impious and portrays the victorious Cyrus pleasing the god Marduk. It describes how Cyrus had improved the lives of the citizens of Babylonia, repatriated displaced peoples and restored temples and cult sanctuaries. Although some have asserted that the cylinder represents a form of human rights charter, historians generally portray it in the context of a long-standing Mesopotamian tradition of new rulers beginning their reigns with declarations of reforms.
Cyrus the Great's dominions comprised the largest empire the world had ever seen. At the end of Cyrus's rule, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from Asia Minor in the west to the northwestern areas of India in the east.
The details of Cyrus's death vary by account. The account of Herodotus from his Histories provides the second-longest detail, in which Cyrus met his fate in a fierce battle with the Massagetae, a tribe from the southern deserts of Khwarezm and Kyzyl Kum in the southernmost portion of the steppe regions of modern- day Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, following the advice of Croesus to attack them in their own territory. The Massagetae were related to the Scythians in their dress and mode of living; they fought on horseback and on foot. In order to acquire her realm, Cyrus first sent an offer of marriage to their ruler, Tomyris, a proposal she rejected. He then commenced his attempt to take Massagetae territory by force, beginning by building bridges and towered war boats along his side of the river Jaxartes, or Syr Darya, which separated them. Sending him a warning to cease his encroachment in which she stated she expected he would disregard anyway, Tomyris challenged him to meet her forces in honorable warfare, inviting him to a location in her country a day's march from the river, where their two armies would formally engage each other. He accepted her offer, but, learning that the Massagetae were unfamiliar with wine and its intoxicating effects, he set up and then left camp with plenty of it behind, taking his best soldiers with him and leaving the least capable ones. The general of Tomyris's army, who was also her son Spargapises, and a third of the Massagetian troops killed the group Cyrus had left there and, finding the camp well stocked with food and the wine, unwittingly drank themselves into inebriation, diminishing their capability to defend themselves, when they were then overtaken by a surprise attack. They were successfully defeated, and, although he was taken prisoner, Spargapises committed suicide once he regained sobriety. Upon learning of what had transpired, Tomyris denounced Cyrus's tactics as underhanded and swore vengeance, leading a second wave of troops into battle herself. Cyrus the Great was ultimately killed, and his forces suffered massive casualties in what Herodotus referred to as the fiercest battle of his career and the ancient world. When it was over, Tomyris ordered the body of Cyrus brought to her, then decapitated him and dipped his head in a vessel of blood in a symbolic gesture of revenge for his bloodlust and the death of her son. However, some scholars question this version, mostly because Herodotus admits this event was one of many versions of Cyrus's death that he heard from a supposedly reliable source who told him no one was there to see the aftermath.
Herodotus, also recounts that Cyrus saw in his sleep the oldest son of Hystaspes (Darius I) with wings upon his shoulders, shadowing with the one wing Asia, and with the other wing Europe. Iranologist, Ilya Gershevitch explains this statement by Herodotus and its connection with the four winged bas-relief figure of Cyrus the Great in the following way:
"Herodotus, therefore as I surmise, may have known of the close connection, between this type of winged figure, and the image of the Iranian majesty, which he associated with a dream prognosticating, the king's death, before his last, fatal campaign across the Oxus."
Ctesias, in his Persica, has the longest account, which says Cyrus met his death while putting down resistance from the Derbices infantry, aided by other Scythian archers and cavalry, plus Indians and their elephants. According to him, this event took place northeast of the headwaters of the Syr Darya. An alternative account from Xenophon's Cyropaedia contradicts the others, claiming that Cyrus died peaceably at his capital. The final version of Cyrus's death comes from Berossus, who only reports that Cyrus met his death while warring against the Dahae archers northwest of the headwaters of the Syr Darya.
Tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae, Iran,
Cyrus the Great' remains were interred in his capital city of Pasargadae, where today a limestone tomb (built around 540-530 BCE still exists which many believe to be his. Both Strabo and Arrian give nearly equal descriptions of the tomb, based on the eyewitness report of Aristobulus of Cassandreia, who at the request of Alexander the Great visited the tomb two times. Though the city itself is now in ruins, the burial place of Cyrus the Great has remained largely intact; and the tomb has been partially restored to counter its natural deterioration over the years. According to Plutarch, his epitaph said,
whoever you are and wherever you come from, for I know you will come, I am man Cyrus who won the Persians their empire. Do not therefore begrudge me this bit of earth that covers my bones”
Cuneiform evidence from Babylon proves that Cyrus died around December 530 BC, and that his son Cambyses II had become king. Cambyses continued his father's policy of expansion, and managed to capture Egypt for the Empire, but soon died after only seven years of rule. He was succeeded either by Cyrus's other son Bardiya or an impostor posing as Bardiya, who became the sole ruler of Persia for seven months, until he was killed by Darius the Great.
The translated ancient Roman and Greek accounts give a vivid description of the tomb both geometrically and aesthetically; The tomb's geometric shape has changed little over the years, still maintaining a large stone of quadrangular form at the base, followed by a pyramidal succession of smaller rectangular stones, until after a few slabs, the structure is curtailed by an edifice, with an arched roof composed of a pyramidal shaped stone, and a small opening or window on the side, where the slenderest man could barely squeeze through.
Within this edifice was a golden coffin, resting on a table with golden supports, inside of which the body of Cyrus the Great was interred. Upon his resting place, was a covering of tapestry and drapes made from the best available Babylonian materials, utilizing fine Median workmanship; below his bed was a fine red carpet, covering the narrow rectangular area of his tomb. Translated Greek accounts describe the tomb as having been placed in the fertile Pasargadae gardens, surrounded by trees and ornamental shrubs, with a group of Achaemenian protectors called the "Magi", stationed nearby to protect the edifice from theft or damage.
Years later, in the ensuing chaos created by Alexander the Great's invasion of Persia and after the defeat of Darius III, Cyrus the Great's tomb was broken into and most of its luxuries were looted. When Alexander reached the tomb, he was horrified by the manner in which the tomb was treated, and questioned the Magi and put them to court. On some accounts, Alexander's decision to put the Magi on trial was more about his attempt to undermine their influence and his show of power in his newly conquered empire, than a concern for Cyrus's tomb. Regardless, Alexander the Great ordered Aristobulus to improve the tomb's condition and restore its interior. Despite his admiration for Cyrus the Great, and his attempts at renovation of his tomb, Alexander would eventually ransack Persepolis, the opulent city that Cyrus had helped build, and order its burning in 330 B.C.
The edifice has survived the test of time, through invasions, internal divides, successive empires, regime changes and revolutions. The last prominent Persian figure to bring attention to the tomb was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Shah of Iran) the last official monarch of Persia, during his celebrations of 2,500 years of monarchy. Just as Alexander the Great before him, the Shah of Iran wanted to appeal to Cyrus's legacy to legitimize his own rule by extension.
After the Iranian revolution, the tomb of Cyrus the Great survived the initial chaos and vandalism propagated by the Islamic revolutionary hardliners who equated Persian imperial historical artifacts with the late Shah of Iran. There are allegations of the tomb being in danger of damage from the construction of the Sivand Dam on river Polvar (located in the province of Pars) and flooding, but there is no official acknowledgement of this claim. This has nonetheless, caused a petition to be drafted to the U.N. demanding protection of this historical entity. United Nations recognizes the tomb of Cyrus the Great and Pasargadae as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
In scope and extent his achievements ranked far above that of the Macedonian king, Alexander who was to demolish the empire in the 320s but fail to provide any stable alternative. —Charles Freeman in 'The Greek Achievement'
The achievements of Cyrus the Great throughout antiquity is well reflected in the way he is remembered today. His own nation, the Iranians, have regarded him as "The Father", the very title that had been used during the time of Cyrus himself, by the many nations that he conquered, as according to Xenophon:
The Babylonians regarded him as "The Liberator" After his conquest of Babylon, followed Cyrus's help for the return of Jews; for this, Cyrus is addressed in the Jewish Tanakh as the "Lord's Messiah". Glorified by Ezra, and by Isaiah, Cyrus is the one to whom "Yahweh, the God of heaven" has given "all the Kingdoms of the earth".
Cyrus was distinguished equally as a statesman and as a soldier. By pursuing a policy of generosity instead of repression, and by favoring local religions, he was able to make his newly conquered subjects into enthusiastic supporters. Due in part to the political infrastructure he created, the Achaemenid empire endured long after his death.
The rise of Persia under Cyrus's rule had a profound impact on the course of world history. Iranian philosophy, literature and religion all played dominant roles in world events for the next millennia. Despite the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century CE by the Islamic Caliphate, Persia continued to exercise enormous influence in the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age, and was particularly instrumental in the growth and expansion of Islam.
Many of the Iranian dynasties following the Achaemenid Empire and their kings saw themselves as the heirs to Cyrus the Great and have claimed to continue the line begun by Cyrus. However there are different opinions among scholars whether this is also the case for the Sassanid Dynasty.
Even today many consider Cyrus greater than Alexander in his accomplishment. In fact Alexander the Great was himself infatuated with and admired Cyrus the Great, from an early age reading Xenophon's Cyropaedia, which described Cyrus's heroism in battle and governance and his abilities as a king and a legislator. Alexander respected Cyrus to the point, that during his visit to Pasargadae, he paid significant homage to the memory of Cyrus the Great by ordering Aristobulus to decorate the interior of the sepulchral chamber of his tomb. According to Professor Richard Nelson Frye:
It is a testimony to the capability of the founder of the Achaemenian Empire that it continued to expand after his death and lasted for more than two centuries. But Cyrus was not only a great conqueror and administrator; he held a place in the minds of the Persian people similar to that of Romulus and Remus in Rome or Moses for the Israelites. His saga follows in many details the stories of hero and conquerors from elsewhere in the ancient world. The manner in which the baby Cyrus was given to a shepherd to raise is reminiscent of Moses in the bulrushes in Egypt, and the overthrow of his tyrannical grandfather has echoes in other myths and legends. There is no doubt that the Cyrus saga arose early among the Persians and was known to the Greeks. The sentiments of esteem or even awe in which Persians held him were transmitted to the Greeks, and it was no accident that Xenophon chose Cyrus to be the model of a ruler for the lessons he wished to impart to his fellow Greeks.
In short, the figure of Cyrus has survived throughout history as more than a great man who founded an empire. He became the epitome of the great qualities expected of a ruler in antiquity, and he assumed heroic features as a conqueror who was tolerant and magnanimous as well as brave and daring. His personality as seen by the Greeks influenced them and Alexander the Great, and, as the tradition was transmitted by the Romans, may be considered to influence our thinking even now. In the year 1971, Iran celebrated the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the monarchy by Cyrus.
On another account, Professor Patrick Hunt states:
If you are looking at the greatest personages in History who have affected the World, 'Cyrus the Great' is one of the few who deserves that epithet, the one who deserves to be called 'the Great'. The empire over which Cyrus ruled was the largest the Ancient World had ever seen and may be to this day the largest empire ever.
Religion and philosophy
Although there is no doubt about the influence of Zarathustra’s teachings on Cyrus's acts and policies, so far there has not been a clear evidence indicating that Cyrus practiced a specific religion; however, his liberal and tolerant views towards other religions have made some scholars consider Cyrus a Zoroastrian king. The religious policies of Cyrus are well documented in Babylonian texts as well as Jewish sources and the historians’ accounts. Cyrus initiated a general policy that can be described as a policy of permitting religious freedom throughout his vast empire. He brought peace to the Babylonians and is said to have kept his army away from the temples and restored the statues of the Babylonian gods to their sanctuaries. Another example of his religion, as evidenced by the Cyrus cylinder (see below),
'û-mi-Ša-am ma- h ar iluBel ù iluNabu Š a a-ra-ku ume-ia li-ta-mu-ú lit-taŠ-ka-ru a-ma-a-ta du-un-ki-ia ù a-na iluMarduk beli-ia li-iq-bu-ú Ša mKu-ra-aŠ Šarri pa-li- hi-ka u mKa-am-bu-zi-ia mari- Šu' (Cylinder,Akkadian language line:35)
'pray daily before Bêl and Nabû for long life for me, and may they speak a gracious word for me and say to Marduk, my lord, "May Cyrus, the king who worships you, and Cambyses, his son,' (Cylinder,English Translation line:35)
His religious policy was his treatment of the Jews during their exile in Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem. The Jewish Bible's Ketuvim ends in Second Chronicles with the decree of Cyrus, which returned the exiles to the Promised Land from Babylon along with a commission to rebuild the temple.
'Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath Yahweh, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people -- May Yahweh, his God, be with him -- let him go there.' (2 Chronicles 36:23)
This edict is also fully reproduced in the Book of Ezra.
"In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained, its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits; with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. ‘Also let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.’ (Ezra 6:3-5)
As a result of Cyrus's policies, the Jews honored him as a dignified and righteous king. He is the only Gentile to be designated as Messiah, a divinely appointed leader, in the Tanakh (Isaiah 45:1-6). Isaiah 45:13: "I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says Yahweh Almighty." As the text suggests, Cyrus did ultimately release the nation of Israel from its exile without compensation or tribute. Traditionally, the entire book of Isaiah is believed to pre-date the rule of Cyrus by about 120 years. These particular passages (Isaiah 40-55, often referred to as Deutero-Isaiah) are believed by most modern critical scholars to have been added by another author toward the end of the Babylonian exile (ca. 536 BC). Whereas Isaiah 1-39 (referred to as Proto-Isaiah) saw the destruction of Israel as imminent, and the restoration in the future, Deutero-Isaiah speaks of the destruction in the past (Isa 42:24-25), and the restoration as imminent (Isa 42:1-9). Notice, for example, the change in temporal perspective from (Isa 39:6-7), where the Babylonian Captivity is cast far in the future, to (Isa 43:14), where the Israelites are spoken of as already in Babylon.
Cyrus was praised in the Tanakh (Isaiah 45:1-6 and Ezra 1:1-11) for the freeing of slaves, humanitarian equality and costly reparations he made. However, there was Jewish criticism of him after he was lied to by the Cuthites, who wanted to halt the building of the Second Temple. They accused the Jews of conspiring to rebel, so Cyrus in turn stopped the construction, which would not be completed until 515 BC, during the reign of Darius I. According to the Bible it was King Artaxerxes who was convinced to stop the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. (Ezra 4:7-24)
Some contemporary Muslim scholars have suggested that the Qur'anic figure of Dhul-Qarnayn is Cyrus the Great. This theory was proposed by Sunni scholar Abul Kalam Azad and endorsed by Shi'a scholars Allameh Tabatabaei, in his Tafsir al-Mizan and Makarem Shirazi.
Politics and management
Cyrus founded the empire as a multi-state empire governed by four capital states; Pasargadae, Babylon, Susa and Ekbatana. He allowed a certain amount of regional autonomy in each state, in the form of a satrapy system. A satrapy was an administrative unit, usually organized on a geographical basis. A 'satrap' (governor) was the vassal king, who administered the region, a 'general' supervised military recruitment and ensured order, and a 'state secretary' kept the official records. The general and the state secretary reported directly to the satrap as well as the central government. During his reign, Cyrus maintained control over a vast region of conquered kingdoms, achieved through retaining and expanding the satrapies. Further organization of newly conquered territories into provinces ruled by satraps, was continued by Cyrus's successor Darius the Great. Cyrus's empire was based on tribute and conscripts from the many parts of his realm. Through his military savvy, Cyrus created an organized army including the Immortals unit, consisting of 10,000 highly trained soldiers. He also formed an innovative postal system throughout the empire, based on several relay stations called Chapar Khaneh.
Cyrus's conquests began a new era in the age of empire building, where a vast super state, comprising many dozens of countries, races, religions, and languages, were ruled under a single administration headed by a central government. This system lasted for centuries, and was retained both by the invading Seleucid dynasty during their control of Persia, and later Iranian dynasties including the Parthians and Sassanids
On December 10, 2003, in her acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi evoked Cyrus, saying:
I am an Iranian, a descendant of Cyrus the Great. This emperor proclaimed at the pinnacle of power 2,500 years ago that he 'would not reign over the people if they did not wish it.' He promised not to force any person to change his religion and faith and guaranteed freedom for all. The Charter of Cyrus the Great should be studied in the history of human rights.
Cyrus cylinder
One of the few surviving sources of information that can be dated directly to Cyrus's time is the Cyrus cylinder, a document in the form of a clay cylinder inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform. It had been placed in the foundations of the Esagila (the temple of Marduk in Babylon) as a foundation deposit following the Persian conquest in 539 BC. It was discovered in 1879 and is kept today in the British Museum in London.
The text of the cylinder denounces the deposed Babylonian king Nabonidus as impious and portrays Cyrus as pleasing to the chief god Marduk. It goes on to describe how Cyrus had improved the lives of the citizens of Babylonia, Al repatriated displaced peoples and restored temples and cult sanctuaries. Though not mentioned in the text, the repatriation of the Jews from their "Babylonian captivity" was part of this policy.
The United Nations has declared the relic to be an "ancient declaration of human rights" since 1971, approved by then Secretary General Mr. Sithu U Thant. The British Museum describes the cylinder as "an instrument of ancient Mesopotamian propaganda" that "reflects a long tradition in Mesopotamia where, from as early as the third millennium BC, kings began their reigns with declarations of reforms. The cylinder emphasizes Cyrus's continuity with previous Babylonian rulers, asserting his virtue as a traditional Babylonian king while denigrating his predecessor.
In the 1970s the Shah of Iran adopted it as a political symbol, using it "as a central image in his own propaganda celebrating 2500 years of Iranian monarchy." And asserting that it was "the first human rights charter in history". This view has been disputed by some as "rather anachronistic" and tendentious, as the modern concept of human rights would have been quite alien to Cyrus's contemporaries and is not mentioned by the cylinder. The cylinder has, nonetheless, become to be seen as part of Iran's cultural identity.
CHAPTER IX
THE ART OF LIVING CHEERFULY
1. Those who live with Siva are honorable, cheerful, modest and full of courtesy. Having removed the darkness of anger, fear, jealousy and contempt for others, their faces radiate the kindly compassion of their soul.
2. The essence of our soul, which was never created, is immanent love and transcendent reality and is identical and eternally one with God Siva. At the core of our being, we already are That--perfect at this very moment.
3. The path of enlightenment is divided naturally into four stages: charya, virtue and selfless service; kriya, worshipful sadhanas; yoga, meditation under a guru's guidance; and jnana, the wisdom state of the realized soul.
(i). "Before creation I alone existed. There was nothing, neither existence nor non-existence. I am that which remains after dissolution.
(ii). "Understand that to be Maya or illusion which is devoid of any purpose, which is not to be found in the Self and which is unreal like light and darkness.
(iii). "As the primary elements are amalgamated, with one another and also separate from one another at the same time, so I pervade the whole universe and am also separate from it.
(iv). "The aspirant should, by the method of positive and negative, know that thing which exists always and everywhere.
4. The highest discovery of the scientists of the spiritual realm was tat twam asi, thou art That. Thou art a part of that great Whole. And if thou art That, thou better start being that which you are and not be a counterfeit. This is the least that one can do when one has entered and adopted the spiritual life.
5. Do not be a dud, do not be a counterfeit, do not be spurious. Be genuine, be authentic, be true. In simple words, be yourself. Be what you are, and, therefore, let your life be what it ought to be— a reflection of your reality, a manifestation of your divinity, an expression of the truth of your essential being.
6. The Bhagavad Gita tells us how to live our life, how to relate ourselves to this phenomenal manifestation—which contains both light and darkness. Lord Krishna first warns us, “daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya(Verily, this divine illusion of Mine, made up of the three qualities of nature, is difficult to cross over).” Therefore, it is very difficult to deal with Her. But later He says, “daivi sam pad vimoksaya (The divine natüré is deemed for liberation),” meaning that if we relate ourselves to Her divine aspect, then we will be liberated.
7. This then is the secret of dealing with maya. She is both light as well as darkness. She is both awareness and wakefulness as well as slumber and self-forgetfulness. Therefore, relate yourself with Her divine aspect. Open yourself to Her divine aspect, not the demoniacal or negative. Open yourself up to the Divine, and then you will be liberated. Begin to apply in your daily life all such factors and aspects of Her being that are divine in nature. Adopt and apply in your daily life those factors within Her that constitute a liberating force as are explained in the sixteenth chapter of the Gita.
8. Now you have the key how to understand maya, how to relate yourself to maya and how to make use of maya to liberate yourself. Then She becomes your greatest asset. Do not hobnob with both sides. Then you are riding on the back of a tiger. Do not play a slick game. Do not trifle with God’s powerful Power. Do not think that you are cleverer than God.
9. Spirituality is a practical science. Religion is an applied affair, something to live by wisely. Therefore, we should use our knowledge and make it part of our day-to-day practical being and doing, our day-to-day practical life Then knowledge becomes a liberating knowledge. Then it becomes illuminating knowledge. It becomes your savior. The truth makes you free. Therefore, we have to apply truth— live truth in thought, word and deed.
10. I see God walking in every human form. When I meet different people, I say to myself, “God in the form of the saint, God in the form of the sinner, God in the form of the righteous, God in the form of the unrighteous.” Sri Ramakrishna, (1836-1886)
11. Thought control is
the highest form of prayer. Therefore, think only on good things, and
righteous. Dwell not in negativity and darkness. And even in moments when
things look bleak --especially in those moments--see only perfection, express
only gratefulness, and then imagine only what manifestation of perfection you
choose next.
12. In this formula is found tranquility. In this process is found peace.
In this awareness is found joy.
13. Do not make the
mistake of thinking that you are the physical body. That consciousness which
vibrates within you is the same consciousness which pervades the outer world.
This is the truth expounded by the siddhas, the perfected beings. To know this
is the highest attainment.
Swami Muktananda Paramahansa
14. Sugar is sweet at all times, even in the dark. So remains devotion for the devout, in times of comfort or discomfort, praises or insults, darkness or enlightenment.
15. Don’t put the key
to your happiness in someone else’s pocket. Swami
Chinmayananda
16. Once the bondage of personal ego is broken, it is seen that this mysterious God is all-pervading. He is what He has created. Think about that. It is very deep. Siva pervades His creation constantly as ever-present Love and Light of the mind of everyone, as Intelligence and Being; and yet God also has a form.
17. Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life – perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody. That is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority. When you learn about yourself, watch yourself, watch the way you walk, how you eat, what you say, the gossip, the hate, the jealousy – if you are aware of all that in yourself, without any choice, that is part of meditation.
18. A meditative mind is silent. It is not the silence which thought can conceive of; it is not the silence of a still evening; it is the silence when thought – with all its images, its words and perceptions – has entirely ceased. This meditative mind is the religious mind – the religion that is not touched by the church, the temples or by chants.
19. The religious mind is the explosion of love. It is this love that known no separation. To it, far is near. It is not the one or the many, but rather that state of love in which all division ceases. Like beauty, it is not the measure of words. From this silence alone the meditative mind acts. -- Jiddu Krishnamurti
20. "If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that." -- Wolfgang Von Goethe
21. When others ask you to take on work or do favors, consider their requests carefully. If you feel pressed to say yes, consider whether you are acquiescing out of a desire for approval or to stave off disapproval. Remind yourself often that the ability to say no is an important aspect of well-being, as it is an indication that you understand the true value of your energy, talents, and time. As you learn to articulate your personal power by saying no, you may feel compelled to explore the myriad consequences of the word by responding negatively to many or most of the requests put to you.
22. "Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you don't do it. There is someone who would miss you if you were gone. There is a place that you alone can fill." -- Jacob Braude
23. Stagnation is often a sign that great changes are on the horizon. Courting the change you wish to see in yourself and in the world around you is a matter of acknowledging that only change begets change. The results you so ardently want to realize are well within the realm of possibility, and you need only step away from the well-worn circular path to explore the untried paths that lie beyond it.
24. "Laughter is a part of the human survival kit." -- David Nathan
25. "Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece." -- Ralph Charell
26. The spirit of God within me is my source of spiritual strength. In God consciousness, I overcome any challenge and experience the joy of success.
27. By focusing on the ways our own actions affect our connection with others, we can bring a greater sense of productivity into our relationships. As much as we might like to take control of events and shift them in a more positive direction, we eventually realize that we are only in charge of our own actions. While this may seem limiting at first, we soon recognize the power of watching our thoughts, words, and actions to be sure they are contributing to healthy relationships. Either we set an example for our loved ones to change their destructive habits, or they feel inspired to work with us in more productive ways, and we end up with more harmonious relationships. Changing the dynamics of your relationships is as simple as allowing your actions to bring about the changes you wish to see.
28. It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few." – Pythagoras
29. Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds -- all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have."-- Edward Everett Hale
30. “Our work is going to fill a large part of
your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is
great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you
haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the
heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just
gets better
and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't
settle."- Steve Jobs
30. "Just one mental shift -- focusing on the abundance of your environment--switches your psychological settings so that your life automatically improves in many areas you may think are unrelated. This is essentially a leap from fear to faith." -- Martha Beck
60. Anger can be a powerful ally, since it is filled with energy that we can harness and use to create change in the world. It is one of the most cathartic emotions, and it can also be a very effective cleanser of the emotional system. However, when it becomes a habit, it actually loses its power to transform and becomes an obstacle to growth. Identifying the role anger plays in your life and restoring it to its proper function can bring new energy and expansiveness to your emotional life.
61. "If you have something to do that is worthwhile doing, don’t talk about it, but do it. After you have done it, your friends and enemies will talk about it." -- George W. Blount
62. "The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." -- Eleanor Roosevelt
63. "Winners take imperfect action while losers are still perfecting the plan."-- Tony Robbins
64. In the winter of our lives, we become stripped down to our essence like a tree. We may become more radiant than ever at this stage, because our inner light shines brighter through our eyes as time passes. Beauty at this age comes from the very core of our being, our essence. This essence is a reminder that there is nothing to fear in growing older and that there is a kind of beauty that comes only after one has spent many years on earth.
65. "The only way to get positive feelings about yourself is to take positive actions. Man does not live as he thinks, he thinks as he lives." -- Vaughan Quinn
66. “Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones." -- Benjamin Franklin
67. "Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves." -- Abraham Lincoln
68. "Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be." -- Samuel Johnson
69. "A daily routine built on good habits and disciplines separates the most successful among us from everyone else. The routine is exceptionally powerful." -- Darren Hardy
70. "The purpose that you wish to find in life, like a cure you seek, is not going to fall from the sky. I believe purpose is something for which one is responsible; it's not just divinely assigned." -- Michael J. Fox
71. "The possibility for rich relationships exists all around you -- you simply have to open your eyes, open your mouth and most importantly, open your heart." -- Cheryl Richardson
72. "We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing." -- Louisa May Alcott
73. "Focus on the present, and enhance your time and life now rather than always working toward tomorrow." -- Dr. Laura Berman
74. "Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend." -- Bill Watterson
75. "Life is about trusting your feelings and taking chances, losing and finding happiness, appreciating the memories, learning from the past, and realizing people change." -- Author Unknown
76. We can shift our attitude by considering how much we love our home as we clean it and how lucky we are to have a roof over our head. Any task can be transformed from a burden to a necessary aspect of caring for something we love. All we have to do is shift our perspective, and our attitude follows shortly behind.
77. "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful...that's what matters to me."-- Steve Jobs
78. Faith is an inner knowing that arises from my connection to Divine Mind. It allows me to move beyond the limitations of my fears. Faith does not mean always being strong--but faith gives me the courage to take the next step knowing strength will come. It does not mean having a perfect plan, but moving forward assured that guidance and direction will be provided in a perfect way. Faith does not mean always getting exactly what I want, but knowing that my good is available in every situation.
79. “[Mother Teresa] was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction.”
80. My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilization, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit. I can’t prove it, but you can’t disprove it either.” Christopher Hitchens
81. The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more."
82. “[George W Bush] is lucky to be governor of Texas. He is unusually incurious, abnormally unintelligent, amazingly inarticulate, fantastically uncultured, extraordinarily uneducated, and apparently quite proud of all these things.”
83. The search for nirvana, like the search for utopia or the end of history or the classless society, is ultimately a futile and dangerous one. It involves, if it does not necessitate, the sleep of reason. There is no escape from anxiety and struggle."
84. Islam makes very large claims for itself. In its art, there is a prejudice against representing the human form at all. The prohibition on picturing the prophet – who was only another male mammal – is apparently absolute. So is the prohibition on pork or alcohol or, in some Muslim societies, music or dancing. Very well then, let a good Muslim abstain rigorously from all these. But if he claims the right to make me abstain as well, he offers the clearest possible warning and proof of an aggressive intent.”
85. "Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." -- Tony Robbins
86. "Look within. Within is the fountain of
good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig."
-- Marcus Aurelius
87. "I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be." -- Ken Venturi
88. "It's almost Freudian. When you wear a mask, you're actually able to become who you really are. It becomes kind of like a drug." – Dave Montgomery, also known as Nihilist, who patrols Salt Lake City in costume with other self-styled superheroes on their mission to fight crime.
89. "The most wasted day of all is that during which we have not laughed." - Sebastian R. N. Chamfort
90. "To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. - “Ralph Waldo Emerson
