When PY meets PY: Political Yogi meets Paramahansa Yogananda

On 27^th September 2014 when Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he espoused the idea of celebrating International Yoga Day, besides focusing on many other critical issues relevant for all in today’s interconnected world. Now, mention of Yoga at a global geopolitical event could have sounded a bit out of sync to some cynics but for Indians who pride themselves on their Indian-ness, it was music to their ears. What better message could the prime minister of India give to the world than talking about Yoga, India’s biggest gift to the humanity!

And the setting was perfect! The concept was of Yoga. The countries involved were India and America – world’s largest and oldest democracy respectively. As the history chronicles, there has always been a divine connection between these two powerful and functional democracies of the world, set and strengthened around Yoga. The person propagating the message of Yoga was himself a yogi – a political one albeit. 

  

Whenever mention of Yoga is made anywhere in the world, one remembers two most revered spiritual Gurus from India - Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda. PM Modi mentions his namesake’s – Narendra Nath Datta alias Vivekananda – contribution in spread of Yoga worldwide but so far he hasn’t talked about the Yogi from whom the world learnt to practice Yoga and meditation i.e. Yoganandaji. Not his fault entirely because still many Indians aren’t fully aware of this most famous Indian abroad, besides Mahatma Gandhi, and his monumental works in the field of Spirituality and Yoga. For the world population, Paramahansa Yogananda is synonymous with Yoga.

I am sure that when our respected prime minister initiates his International Yoga Day celebrations, he will revolve his concept around the teachings of Yoganandaji as well and involve the disciples from his spiritual headquarters in America – SRF-YSS in Los Angeles, California – and spearhead the mission worldwide.    

It’s been 120 years since Swami Vivekananda swept America off its feet! The date was 9/11 – 11^th September, 1893. The city was Chicago. The venue was the Arts Institute of Chicago. The event was the opening day of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. And sitting on the dais was a young turbaned Hindu Monk whose holy handsomeness defied his deep spiritual stature. India, a predominantly Hindu nation, was still under the British rule.

The world had a strong sense of India as a wealthy nation and thus the desire for every explorer-voyager to discover it for its treasures and thus had inspired Christopher Columbus earlier and then Vasco da Gama to set sail for Indian shores from Spain and Portugal respectively in different points in time. As we know, Columbus instead ended up discovering the US; da Gama was fortunate to set his foot on the beaches of Calicut in southern India. India’s invasions were continued by Muslims and Mughals and then came the Britishers. Britain decided to deceive India into becoming its richest colony because of its ‘Golden Bird’ image. When we look into the history book pages, we realize that all these plunderers remained poor in spite of looting Indian wealth. The fact that they could not learn from the vast spiritual heritage of India is testimony to their almost blind-like vision and mindset. And therefore we see that when Vivekananda was chosen to represent India at Chicago World Congress, the world had very little idea about the most ancient and the complete religion of the humans i.e. Hinduism.

Swami Vivekananda got up from his chair and overcame his nervousness by inwardly bowing to Goddess Saraswati and began his talk: “Brothers and Sisters of America!” The entire arena burst into loud applause! Never before had any preacher got this kind of reception in the world convention on religions. After two minutes of rapturous and heart-warming response, Vivekananda resumed speaking. And as they say, the world got its first and full glimpse into the Hinduism. The audience was mesmerised by the divine knowledge of spirituality flowing from the spell-binding oratory of the Hindu Monk! After familiarizing the rapt spectators with the cornerstones of Hinduism and Vedic Philosophy, he talked about Yoga, and for the first time in their life the West became aware about this concept – the focal point of Spirituality – and about which they were to learn more from another Hindu Monk twenty seven years from then – in 1920 – who was to devote his life in the Divine Duty of teaching and spreading Yoga to the Western Populace, from his base in America. This seer was Paramahansa Yogananda.

In fact, on the 11^th September of 1893 when Swami Vivekananda was speaking at the Parliament of World’s Religions at the Arts Institute of Chicago, back home in India in Gorakhpur, an 8 month old infant by name of Mukunda Lal Ghosh had already been predicted by his parents’ Guru Lahiri Mahasaya as the Divinely destined Yogi to undertake the Divine Mission of teaching and spreading Kriya Yoga beyond the shores of the country. This Divine Design had been told to Lahiri Mahasaya by his Guru, the deathless Babaji, who had been living in the Himalayas for almost 2000 years and had chosen the advanced soul of Mukunda based on the request of Jesus Christ. Unbelievable? Yes, it could be so for the ignorants but not for the spiritually conscious souls.

Therefore, as predicted by Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya in 1893, twenty seven years later on 3^rd August in 1920, another Hindu Monk left the shores of India from the city of Calcutta via Bombay on the ship City of Sparta as an Indian delegate at the International Congress of Religious Liberals being held in the city of Boston.

The scene of 1893 was repeating itself. The date was 10/6 – 6^th October, 1920. The city was Boston. The venue was the Unity House in Boston. The event was the opening day of the International Congress of Religious Liberals. And sitting on the dais was a young turbaned Hindu Monk whose holy handsomeness defied his deep spiritual stature. India, a predominantly Hindu nation, was still under the British rule.

Swami Yogananda got up from his chair and got over his nervousness by inwardly sending prayers to his Guru and Mother Divine to help him sail through his maiden speech in America in English. The reception to his talk on ‘The Science of Religion’ can be gauged by the comments of the secretary of the American Unitarian Association: ‘Swami Yogananda, delegate from the Brahmacharya Ashram of Ranchi, …In fluent English and with a forceful delivery he gave an address of a philosophical character … which has been printed in pamphlet form for a wider distribution. …’ Soon after, his talk was published in a book under the same title.

And as was destined and divinely designed for him, Paramahansa Yogananda remained in America for the rest of his years and dedicated his life in dissemination of timeless teachings of ancient Hindu Philosophy and God Realization through the practice of scientific method of Kriya Yoga.

His Boston lecture was so enthusiastically received that soon he became the most sought after speaker in the country! He gave public lectures, conducted Kriya Yoga classes and wrote a book of poems ‘Songs of the Soul’. As was said by Sri Yukteswar, Yoganandaji’s Guru, his words on yoga were being heard in the West by thousands of thronging seekers! Babaji’s prophecy was coming true: ‘Kriya Yoga, the scientific technique of God Realization, will ultimately spread in all lands, and aid in harmonizing the nations through man’s personal, transcendental perception of the Infinite Father.’

Under the divine guidance, Paramahansa Yogananda made America his base and established SRF-YSS – Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsang Society – headquartered in Los Angeles, California. There residing in one of his SRF-YSS centers at Encinitas in 1946 he penned down his Autobiography of a Yogi, the book which is credited as ‘the book which changed the lives of millions’ and became the best-selling book on spirituality and autobiography globally and has remained so since then. Paramahansa Yogananda’s spiritual brilliance earned him many celebrity followers, a few noted ones being the Beatles, Mark Twain’s daughter Clara Clemens, nobel botanist Luther Burbank, soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, tenor Vladimir Rosing, and the sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar. Mahatma Gandhi took initiation in the liberating techniques of Kriya Yoga from Yoganandaji when he visited him at his Wardha Ashram in August of 1935. Yoganandaji took Mahasamadhi on 7^th March, 1952. His spiritual legacy has since been shining all over the world and has transformed the lives of millions of humans and continues to do so.

The modern age celebrity follower of Paramahansa Yogananda was the legendary Steve Jobs whose entire spiritual mooring was centered on the Autobiography of a Yogi, the only download he had on his iPad and the book which had inspired him in his early quest for spirituality and the book which continued to guide him even later – in his super successful days as the CEO of the iconic Apple; he used to read the Autobiography once every year.

Therefore, if India of today has to stake its claim to its rich heritage of Spirituality and Yoga for the world population, it has to do so through Paramahansa Yogananda’s teachings because then only the world will be able to connect with this noble initiative wholeheartedly.

  

Mr. Prime Minister, may God and Gurus bless you and guide you in your International Yoga Day mission … 

Resurrecting Spiritual India, the NaMo way !

At the outset I join billion plus Indians and congratulate Mr. Narendra Modi for a spectacular victory! The credit is his entirely! After all ‘abki baar Modi Sarkar’! I am proud of the ‘thinking’ Indian voters who voted decisively and prevented the parliament from once again falling into the chaos of coalition politics and its inevitable adverse effects! Great job, India!

Soon the celebrations will cool down and so will the heat of having ‘arrived’ for Mr. Modi. He is at 7 Race Course Road, trying to settle down as the 15^th prime minister of India. Sitting alone, provided he gets to spend some time with himself in the midst of the conundrum of hectic national politics and governance, I am sure he is going to look back at his life and feel proud of his life’s journey from being absolutely ordinary to becoming extraordinary. His transformation from an individual with a humble family background to becoming an idealist RSS pracharak to being regarded as a crucial cog in the BJP’s national politics to garnering his mentors’ – LK Advani and AB Vajpayee – confidence and completing successive successful terms as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and along the way getting national and global recognition for his Modinomics and Gujarat Model of Development despite the stubborn stains of post Godhra riots of 2002 and finally arriving in a grand style in Delhi to fulfil his national top-job responsibilities – is almost complete. Now the country and the world are waiting with their fingers crossed to see if this new butterfly will retain its beautiful colours and wings and for how long …

The world knows about the factors which led to the unstoppable rise of Narendra Modi in the Indian national landscape otherwise littered with political mediocrity all around, with a few bright spots nevertheless; and how he emerged as the most credible alternative for the prime ministerial post in a period when India was suffering a perpetually silent and subservient prime minister to an arrogant grand old party stalwarts, rampant corruption and unprecedented scales of scams being unearthed almost on a daily-basis and reeling with policy paralysis being served unapologetically under the garb of coalition compulsions. Therefore, in the 2014 General Elections the common agenda the voters of India followed was to get rid of the Indian National Congress and its equally inefficient allies. And whole-heartedly gave a thumping majority to the Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Namo: ‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar’ and ‘Achhe din Ayenge’ slogans caught the national imagination. So we have the Modi Sarkar; now the wait is on for the assured achhe din …

We Indians expect Mr. Modi to steer India to a magnificent future which he has promised to do so. How successful he will be the time will tell. So far, he has shown a grand start with an unprecedented show at his swearing-in ceremony with all SAARC nations heads’ presence, pulling a diplomatic coup smoothly. From Day1 he has made his presence felt strongly all across the world. He has articulated his intentions clear and loud both within the country and abroad, especially in the neighbourhood. He is being received with open arms by the global leaders. All of a sudden India has become a favourite destination for the powerful presidents and prime ministers. So, everything seems to be in place and progressing as per the plans and expectations. And knowing about Mr. Modi’s personality and characteristics as a political leader, I am sure that he will succeed and soon. His determination and aspirations will continue to drive him – and India – on the right path.

However, today I want to touch upon another less talked about aspect of his being elected which caught my attention in his Varanasi Victory acceptance speech. It was his pledge to take India back to its glorious era of spiritual splendour, besides economic dominance. And as a first step he prodded the people of the spiritual capital of India – now his constituency – to keep the country’s oldest city clean. He assured the Benarasi-babus and all fellow Indians that he will undertake Ganga-cleansing as one of his first few priorities as the prime minister of India. On that evening his short speech threw a never before seen spiritual side of his personality which if he is able to take forward he will re-catapult our country into the sphere of spiritual dominance alongside a strong economic place on the global high table.

I really don’t know how the majority of the Indians would have reacted to his promises of spiritual endeavours but I for sure was elated because as a proud Indian I want to see my great country once again shine in the world as the once-upon-a-time ancient Bharat i.e. Sone-ki-Chidiya with a spiritual core!

India’s unmatched spiritual legacy and treasures are known to the world but I feel those have got lost with majority of Indians, the blessed heirs of the heritage. As the land which gave humans their first life’s philosophy i.e. Vedic Philosophy which went on to evolve as a religion as Hinduism, and based on its spiritual teachings all the other religions of the world came into existence, it was not so long ago that India had retained its place under the Sun before its spiritual core started to get eroded with faulty religious interpretations and social ill-practices.

Coupled with it came the cloak of secularism in a Hindu-dominated divided India, a large chunk of which was annexed by the departing Britishers leaving behind a bloody trail of mangled and lost lives among both Hindus & Muslims. To compound the situation further, as the politics became competitive over a few decades after Independence, political parties of all hues started to exploit secularism and democracy for their narrow gains and an unfortunate pattern of minority appeasement started which was nothing but fooling them into believing about their betterment. The result was further alienation of the people belonging to the smaller religious communities, Muslims relatively being in a worse state of existence due to their cocooned mentality and unwillingness to mingle with the rest of the country-folks. Their orthodox and closed religious approach and lack of proper education made them survive on the fringes of the society. The Hindu-Muslim mental divide was not easy to patch as the latter were strongly regarded as the ones being responsible for severe anti-Hindu activities by the Muslim invaders.     

Secularism also perpetrated a strange public behaviour among the so-called literate strata of the society which primarily comprised of England-educated politicians, bureaucracy, academics and the media; they tried to keep themselves away – in public - from anything having Indian-ness lest they got branded as ‘anti-secular’ because almost all things ‘Indian’ had strong essence of Hinduism. And why not because India has been a Hindu nation since its origin; the other religions as and when they came into existence also came to India and flourished due to the tolerant religious environment of the country, a scenario not seen anywhere else in the world then, and even now. Strangely, the same set of highly placed, educated class was deeply Indian in their private lives. The Great Indian Hypocrisy? 

Therefore, the biggest casualty of this post-Independence acquired characteristic of India was its age-old treasure of Spirituality. As Spirituality was the foundation of Hinduism and in a newly legally secular India, it became a sin to be seen or display one’s religion, primarily among its influential people – the elites and the powerful. Bizarre as it may sound but the truth is bitter. The ancient Holy Scriptures of India viz. Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads which were the foundational stones of the Hinduism were forgotten completely and with them we lost the immeasurable treasure of ancient wisdom and knowledge. The seemingly more popular and easier to read ones viz. Ramayana, Mahabharata and the greatest of them all The Gita were relegated into prayer rooms of homes, worshipped in private but seldom read or discussed in public. The Gita found another purpose in an Independent India; not yet convicted criminals were made to take oath of truth by putting their hand on the holy book of Gita: ‘Main Gita pe hath rakh ke kasam khata hoon ki main sach kahunga aur sach ke siva kuch nahin kahunga!’ … Ved-Vyasa would have never ever imagined even in his wildest dreams that his divine composition of the never-revealed-before universal wisdom by Lord Krishna to his blessed disciple Arjuna would be treated in this fashion in his own country!

In all countries of the world it is normal to teach and learn about their official state religion in their schools but not in India! However, in the same India, exceptions are the minority religion-based missionaries-run schools which unapologetically teach their about their religion to students. But just talk about including Indian Spirituality in the school curriculum and the entire country will come down tumbling with the fear of having seen to be so-called hurting the so-called sentiments of the so-called minorities! Why should any person feel hurt by having to learn about Indian spirituality when every Indian belonging to whichever religion is originally an Indian? Why should there be different standards of judgement in India for various groups of Indians, just because they practice different religions?

Mr. Modi has made the start to his spiritual mission by creating a new ministry dedicated to the mammoth and urgent task of cleaning the Ganga. But this is just one of the many initiatives he needs to undertake to resurrect the spiritual India.

Whenever anybody talks about India in a positive tone, he mentions about our country’s gift of spirituality; and the foreigners talk also about Yoga which is a spiritual method of attaining The Spirit. And besides the desire to see the beautiful Taj Mahal, majority of the tourists visiting India are here to experience its spirituality and learn yoga. Their favourite place is of course Varanasi, now the Prime Minister’s constituency.

Therefore, Varanasi was the natural choice of place for Mr. Modi to start his spiritual resurrection of India. Varanasi, or Benares as is its local name, is the oldest city of India, and the most evolved one. Mark Twain had once remarked reverentially that Benares is more ancient than anything ancient and yet more modern than any place on the earth! The city has been the center of spiritual evolution of India and has shaped the contours of Hinduism and Bharat - India. All the stalwart saints and philosophers of India, whether from south or east or west or north, have gained spiritual knowledge at Benares. Many of them made Benares their permanent abode as Gurus and many others spread across the country and taught and took the Vedic Philosophy to the core of every countryman. Still many seers chose the path of complete renunciation and headed towards the Himalayas to spend their life in search for the God through the path of meditation.

Benares is the holy city which saw emergence of the spiritual greats of our country: Babaji – Guru Nagaraj, Shankaracharya, Patanjali, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar Giri, Paramahansa Nikhileshwar Giri, … There are hundreds of exalted spiritual gurus whose names I do not know or remember now, for which I offer my sincere apologies.

So, as we know, Benares is the spiritual headquarters of India. Every part and path and corner and monument and Ganga ghat and temple and ashram reflects spirituality. But Benares is not religious; it is hard core spiritual. And this is the prime reason that we see the city retain its spiritual structure in spite of repeated attempts by Muslim invaders to destroy it. In fact, the influence of Benares was so strong that the Islam also got integrated into the city’s spiritual way of life. The foundation of a Secular India was laid at Benares by its spiritual gurus and the legacy carried forwarded by their followers.

So, simultaneously to cleaning the Ganga and restoring the city of Varanasi to its ancient glory, Mr. Modi has to take Benares – Varanasi – to the world, and to the rest of India. I suggest he creates a special ministry for this noble mission – Ministry of Spirituality under his direct supervision. He should set up spiritual centers all across the globe. He should also integrate the already established spiritual centers in India and abroad. He could make the start by taking the help of the immensely popular Yogoda Satsang Society founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, with its headquarters in Ranchi in India and in California, US. The association of Mr. Modi’s spiritual mission with Yoganandaji’s YSS-SRF would give it the best start and acceptance globally.

Paramahansa Yogananda is one of the two Indians revered and followed by the world population; the second figure, of course, is Mahatma Gandhi. Yoganandaji took the ancient form of scientific meditation, Kriya Yoga, taught by Lord Krishna to Arjuna but got lost over centuries, to the West under the spiritual guidance and blessings of the greatest of all Indian Gurus – Babaji and his line of disciples Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar Giri. Babaji was born a couple of centuries in BC and has retained his human form and lives in the Himalayas.

Mr. Modi has to boost spiritual tourism back home.

• He has to ensure that all spiritually aligned cities are neat and clean with good infrastructure and connectivity, coupled with the assurance of security and safety of visitors.
• Dedicated websites with complete information about the Vedic Philosophy in various global languages have to be created.
• The Holy Scriptures – Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata - and thus the vast wealth of spiritual knowledge need to be translated and made accessible to the global seekers, both as static information and through regular distant learning courses.
• The social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, Blogs - have to be utilized to their full potential.
• Spiritual international bestsellers like Autobiography of a Yogi and The Gita should be used as a tool to initiate the beginners. Movies, television programs, newspaper columns, advertisements, plays, music and books should be used as mediums to spread Indian spirituality.
• Yoga and meditation being integral parts of spirituality, these should be taught at all spiritual centers.
• Credible ‘living’ gurus should be made spiritual ambassadors and spiritual speakers for lecture tours and road shows abroad.
• Spiritual literary festivals should be organized globally.
• In fact, every Indian embassy and high commission should have a spiritual consulate in-charge of the spiritual mission.
• International Spiritual Congregations and Conferences should be held and participated in, with celebrations of special spiritual occasions.
• Spiritual theme parks, spiritual museums with wax statues of ancient founding spiritual gurus, spiritual theme cafes should be set up all across the world.
• Spiritual souvenirs – mugs, fridge magnets, albums, post cards, t-shirts, bags, pens, paintings, photographs, figurines, handbooks, calendars, diaries, DVDs, CDs, wrist bands, pendants, shawls, wall hangings, ties, notebooks, writing pads, mobile phone covers, umbrellas, stickers, tattoos, etc. – should be merchandised in these centers and also online.
• Simultaneously, all these spiritual efforts should be replicated back home. Because, if anyone needs a strong dose of spirituality to infuse ‘life’ in living, it is an average Indian, who is today bereft of the benefits of his ancient heritage!

Well, if the prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi ever gets to read my spiritual suggestions, I am sure he would find something good and implementable from the list of probable initiatives and adopt them to resurrect the spiritual India … I wish you, Mr. Modi, all the Divine Blessings in your – our, every Indian’s – spiritual mission … Aum … :)    

Tracing My Soul's Journey through the Three Worlds

The story was retold a little more than two hundred years ago and we modern day humans became familiar with the scientific concept of evolution of life on the earth through Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution; in a prequel many millennia – 10 approx. – earlier the illumined masters of India had unearthed the secrets of Creation. The difference between the two theories lied in the fact that while the former talked about creation sans creator, the latter gave sole credit for creation to the Creator.

Interestingly, in spite of tremendous advancements in the field of science, Charles Darwin and all other evolutionists have not been able to answer many fundamental questions so far, the most pertinent being: Why did the cycle of evolution stop after humans?

Intriguing as it may seem to an unaware mind, the answers lie in the Holy Scriptures accessible to all the willing and believing souls on the earth. There are billions who know the truth though most may not fully comprehend the truths.

As our God-realized saints have told us, God – the ever-present Creator – got the idea of creation and It initiated the Creation. In the initial moments everything was in form of idea – thoughts as vibrations. And came the first Cosmic Sound of Creation from the Creator as Aum (Om). Then the God decided to accord a solid characteristic to Its creations and came the universe into existence; billions of years later a few super intelligent species of humans explained it as ‘Big Bang’. God wanted to experiment further so It let souls emanate from Itself, again, initially in form of ideas only. The beauty of Its creation was that the Creator was a part of every single element created and simultaneously was beyond them as well: Omniscient!

However, when It carved out souls from Its own self It immediately realized that It had given away parts of Its own Being and thus wanted them to come back to It! That would have meant the end of the creation story but It decided to play a bit of drama so It gave three distinct characteristics to Its universe: the grossest plane was the physical / material part of the universe, earth included; the next higher plane consisted of everything made up of slightly condensed form of vibrations i.e. light; and the highest plane It kept closer to Itself – resembling the initial stage of creation i.e. in ideational state. God then structured the journey of a soul to pass through all the three planes of existence before it could come back and merge in It.

Thus started the journey of a soul; all souls. Initially the God gave primitive physical forms to the emanated souls; they had to live the life of respective creatures and get the higher form of life in subsequent births. The next form of living body depended upon the actions – Karmas – of the soul in its previous births. This is how the evolution process progressed karmically. Satisfied with the advancement of souls through multiple life forms, It decided to bestow Its own Image to Its best and the highest creation and thus was created the human. A human being is the Supreme Master’s Masterpiece!

Now, as the God created the human in Its image itself, It also blessed it with Its Intelligence! The Divine Intelligence was imparted to the human albeit God kept them latent in the human mind and the body. God did not want to interfere – as It had not done so far – in Its Cosmic Life Drama, so it gave Free Will to the human along with. The human was supposed to exercise the free will and awaken the latent powers and embark on the path towards reunion with the Source. Human was the microcosm of the Macrocosm - a miniature God!  

The human life’s journey would have been simple and unidirectional, and one birth only, had the God thought so. However, the Divine Design was altogether different! It created the Illusions – Maya! Illusions, the Cosmic Veil was thrown over the human mind by the opposing and the evil forces in the Nature, again created by the God itself, enslaving the human being – body, mind & soul - disguised as temptations and sense pleasures; the Satan/Devil trying to tempt the divine soul by giving it a limited false identity perception of being apart from the Supreme Soul and therefore establishing the human Ego - the pseudo soul - as a diversionary tactic to deflect the soul from its salvation course.        

Because the human body encases the soul divine in nature, its own characteristics at the core mirrors the God’s: Sat-Chit-Anand i.e. Absolute Being i.e. Truth, Consciousness and Bliss respectively. This is the prime reason why a person is really happy – blissful – when he manifests these divine qualities in his daily living. Nothing else can make a person truly joyful. Rest are all delusions and temporary. A person knows that he is in contact with the God dwelling within when he experiences boundless bliss all the time without any influence of external factors – of fellow humans or material things or so-called events and experiences. This blissful person’s soul is in communion with the God.

The state of Divine Communion is achieved by the advanced souls – yogis – with their consciousness expanded universally and rooted in the Spirit, with ever-new joy permeating every cell of their body. Simultaneously the person is beyond the limiting perception of Self as different from the Source; he is simply there – I am – as a witness to the Cosmic Drama being played out; he plays his role with utmost sincerity and morality but is absolutely non-attached to anything in his life; no sorrow or even happiness can disturb his inner peace and joy – equanimity of mind and body. This person is one with the God. By realizing one’s Self, he realizes the God. But the soul is not yet the God.

God realized souls through Self-realization are the Gurus and saints. At this stage of existence, the soul is prepared to enter the higher realm of creation i.e. the Astral World.

However, for a soul in human body to attain sainthood and be astral-ready may take several hundred human births. Only when a person works out all his Karmas – in multiple births - through moral and spiritual deeds guided by profound wisdom with absolutely no attachment to body, mind or matter or has no desire whatsoever when his soul gets liberated from the cycles of births and deaths on the grosser physical world i.e. earth. This free soul gains entry into the finer plane of astral world where everything exists in its sublime state, i.e. in form of higher vibrations - light.

Astral plane is also the abode of all souls after death, whether liberated or otherwise. A non-liberated soul is sent back to the earth into a human body – or any other form of creature - based on its past Karmas – to live the life of that person in a particular chosen family, place and environment - termed generally as that person’s destiny.  At the same time, the liberated souls in the astral world are assigned duties to guide other souls on path of liberation. So we see that the soul’s journey is always directed towards the God in whichever world it may inhabit!

The divine incarnations like Jesus Christ, Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, and Lord Buddha are those astral inhabitants who were sent on the earth to show the way of salvation to humans. These personalities are completely heavenly in their characters and powers.  They perform their prearranged divine duties and advance into the causal world which is the finest sphere of existence in the universe in which everything – including souls – is in ideational form; no embodiment, as abstracts, the ideas which the God had thought of in the initial moments of the creation. Here the soul is closest to its Source. Passing a pre-allotted period ironing out the last of creases, the soul finally attains the perfect state of being as a celestial essence, enters the Heaven and dissolves permanently into the Spirit. This is the Nirvana - Moksha, liberation - of the soul.

Now, whether this God-realized soul will be made to re-enter the cycle of creation as a primitive being and will be required to live the lives of millions of creatures before getting born as a human being to work out its hundreds of karmically linked births and deaths before becoming enlightened and God-realized through self-realization and enter the astral world and sent back again as a divine incarnation to guide the mortals and return back to the Omniscient through the causal existence and merge finally and fully into the God is something i have no idea absolutely! ... God save all souls from this cosmic curse!  

God Bless all souls and may every human being be guided by God-realized Gurus towards spiritual upliftment and realization of self and progress faster on its salvation journey and gets blessed with communion with the God. Aum :) 

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When i became aware of the profound - mind blowing - wisdom about a soul’s journey my initial reaction was purely transcendental! Gradually i internalized the eternal truth deep within and gained a new perspective on my life and the life per se. I could have also acted naive and remained ignorant and dismissed the entire knowledge as purely tangential for me the mere mortal, thinking them to be mainly for the exalted souls only, and would have continued to pass my ordinary earthly existence with my ‘destined’ share of happiness and sorrows in this birth, not bothering about what happens in my next births as i don’t remember anything from my previous births. Well, even if the present life’s few decades are almost insignificant in the millions of years of my soul’s journey, nevertheless, these few earthly years and my karmas are extremely consequential in determining my destiny in the future births. In addition, quality of my life in my current incarnation is strongly coupled with my consciousness about self which will put me on a faster path towards bliss and liberation: Sat-Chit-Anand.   

God Bless me and every soul :)

India: Boosting Secularism through Spirituality

• The Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary defines Secularism as ‘the belief that religion should not be involved in the organization of society, education, etc.
• The Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary defines Religion as ‘the belief in the existence of a god or gods, and the activities that are connected with the worship of them.’
•  The Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary defines Spirituality as ‘the quality of being concerned with religion or the human spirit.’

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When India got its Independence from the British Rule our founding fathers decided to go secular and secularism became one of the cornerstones of our country’s characteristics. Secularism and the ‘Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship’ were not the newly added affirmations in the Indian Constitution’s Preamble, but they were purely reemphasizing India’s secular credentials.

Imagine: India of 1947-48, just free from the 6 centuries of colonial rules of Muslims, Mughals and Britishers in succession, with over 80 percentage of its population practicing Hinduism, had recently suffered a bloody religion-inspired partition into Pakistan (and Bangladesh), was still reeling under the shocks of brutal assassination of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, and simultaneously had all world religions thriving with freedom and dignity.

In the post Independence India the prevailing political and social scenario must have posed two choices in front of the founding members: whether to retain India’s ancient identity as a Hindu nation or to declare it as a secular country. The newly born India proudly chose to be the latter – a Secular Democratic Republic. 

Now, take a look at India of 2014: a securely sovereign nation with its national characteristics intact in terms of secularism and democracy. The demographics have largely remained the same in religious practices with over 80% of its population following Hinduism, and all world religions flourishing with freedom and dignity – giving India its distinction of being the only country in the world to have this respectful environment - strengthened by laws - towards all religions. India is home to the second largest Muslim population in the world, larger than even Pakistan. Well, a few blemishes are there but not serious enough to sully its image.

Success of secularism has been possible because of the inherent qualities of tolerance and respect in Hindu Philosophy towards all religions. Hinduism’s - the oldest and the most evolved religion of the world with an extremely rich and unmatched treasure of sacred scriptures - fundamentals are centred on that one God around which is centred the entire existence and life in the universe; all religions are the various paths propagated by respective messengers - Sons of God - to reach the same one God. Hinduism in its primary form is a philosophy and not a religion; an individual’s personal experience of the Spirit and in essence is Spirituality - the communion of the soul with the Supreme Soul, the Spirit, the God. And, that every soul has emanated from that same Soul and thus each soul is same as all other souls.  The purpose of human lives of a soul is to work out its Karma and attain its natural state of existence i.e., bliss, before merging with its Source. Religion in actuality is a moral ‘way-of-life’ so as to guide a soul on its path to Moksha – Nirvana – liberation from the cycles of births & deaths.     

Though modern Hinduism has acquired a strong religious hue over centuries of practice, it has retained its spiritual core, nevertheless. As the Hinduism have its Chief Gods – The Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh/Shiv for creating, sustaining and destroying/completing the life cycle respectively, and the combined powers of the Trinity in form of Shakti (Power) as Goddess Durga, and their incarnations, a large pantheon of Gods - 330 million! - with varied faces and names could be a reality in the Indian society due to freedom of choice granted under the Hindu Philosophy of worshiping the God either as a formless Being or as a Being with a form. Since its beginning the heart of the Hinduism has kept throbbing around its foundational elements of Vedic Philosophy and has never let the religion become the centre stage of governance per se. Therefore, the success of India as a secular democratic republic could become a possibility.

So we applaud ourselves for keeping the flag of secularism high and flying! But let us also look at the other side of this success.

Indians, like people in rest of the world, are deeply religious. But because the country has vowed to observe secularism, India has forsaken all valuable teachings and learnings which our rich cultural heritage had to offer. Because the definition of secularism is ‘the belief that religion should not be involved in the organization of society, education, etc.’, we have literally followed it to the t, without reflecting about the implications it could have on our society’s evolution on the humanity index. Almost all countries in the world officially recognize the God’s existence and pray to It for blessings - God Bless America!, the most commonly heard political statement – but we in India refrain from even uttering the word God in public, lest we get branded as a non-secular! And in businesses, just speaking of and about God gets a person termed as an unprofessional!

And, India is a country with 330 million Gods! What an irony!

It is ironical because in our daily life we depend so much on ‘our’ Gods! Everything, every occasion, practically every element of existence is dedicated to the Gods, but anything related to public has to be God-free in India!

The God-free philosophy would have continued to be welcome in a secular nation like ours had it worked well, but a look at the Indian society does not project a pleasant picture. India of today is in a downward spiral with fast erosion of moral and ethical values, mad spread of materialism, proliferation of religious bigotry and intolerance towards other religions coupled with fanaticism and fundamentalism, besides other prevalent serious social, economical and political problems. Quality of life of an average Indian, belonging to all the so-called classes and creed and castes, is severely clouded due to these deepening disturbances in internal culture of the country.

All things can be corrected but only through proper - real - education.

In modern India, definition of education is to acquire bookish knowledge so as to qualify to get an appropriate job. Overall literacy rate is improving and currently it stands at around 75%. There are good schools and institutions for higher education, both in non-technical and technical streams. Some of the indigenously educated professionals are doing well in various fields all across the globe. Back home, millions of people with access to good education have become the ever-thriving workforce in the country, earning and adding to the growing economy of the nation. However, in spite of all these happenings India doesn’t qualify to be a Happy Nation! All global surveys pointers indicate towards the fact that the value of a human life as well as quality of life in India are among the bottom of the comparator table.

To reiterate, the problems persist and pervade every sphere of the society because of lack of real education. India, the land of rich cultural, religious and spiritual heritage, is today left wanting in all aspects of learning and life.

First and foremost thing to be undertaken is to correct our education system. Besides making education accessible to all Indian citizens, structure and pattern of teaching has to be completely overhauled. We should not be producing only workers – both blue & white collar – but nurturing good human beings, people who are happily living their lives.

However, in order to live life one has to first understand the meaning of life! And where else to look for the guidelines but in our precious historical legacy! India’s Spirituality is not only for the practice of saints but equally relevant for commoners as well, irrespective of the religion they may follow. Teachings of Spirituality have to be a part of regular school curriculum in all schools, irrespective of the funding partners’/management members’/students’ practiced faith. Because, Indian Spirituality is not a religion but a way of life – the Art of Living!

Spirituality subjects and chapters have to be designed in such a fashion so as to keep all religious references out of it, to whichever religion those ‘good things’ may belong to. The concept, of course, is inspired from the ‘Moral Science’ subject being taught compulsorily in Christian missionary schools since decades. We simply need to make it comprehensive and ‘religion-free’. Clubbed with it Yoga and Meditation should be made mandatory in schools in order to develop students with a healthy mind and a healthy body.

I know very well that if any such ‘Spiritual’ attempt is initiated in a secular India, all the self-appointed custodians of various faiths will spring into action in vehemently opposing this noble and much needed move, citing numerous self-created so-called religious reasons to prove their protests. Of course, no hasty measures should be undertaken. As is the so-called norm in our democratic country, extensive public debates should be carried on involving influential personalities from all possible walks of life so as to arrive at the consensus, converging core: Spirituality will further boost Secularism in India.

This revolutionary change can be possible with a wise and a courageous political leader at the helm. That is, prime minister of India has to take such initiatives along with his able teams and colleagues and administration in order to correct the Indian education system and make it comprehensive and meaningful – so as to complement the quality of life of all Indians per se. With real education we will witness dramatic positive changes in our society with vanishing double standards and misconceptions and chaos and confusions and inequality and crimes and corruption and insecurities and fears and frustrations and daily-living stress; in effect, ensuring a life worth living for all! The desired changes may take shape fully in a couple of generations to come; never mind, happen they will! We simply need to make the start ...

India, the land of earliest human civilization and the erstwhile wealthiest nation in terms of knowledge & wisdom and material prosperity, cannot be left to wilt; it is high time adequate steps through proper – real – education were undertaken so as to facilitate that India blossoms again!     

Then only the Preamble of the Indian Constitution will become a reality: 

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a                SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; ...

God Bless India and the world :) 

India's Divine Gifts: Spirituality & Gurus

Being an Indian I often get enquired about spirituality by foreigner friends. And it was in this context recently that i got to briefly put forth my basic understanding – acquired from Gurus’ teachings and preachings - in a discussion on the topic: India, Spirituality and Gurus.

Billions of years ago, the God - the ever-present being - got an “Idea”, wanted to experiment and thus decided to Create and created the Universe. Billions of years later, It’s latest and the best creation – Humans – realized the theory of ‘Big Bang’ and came a bit closer to the concept of Life.

Around five thousand years prior to the ‘discovery’ of the occurrence of the ‘Big-Bang’, on one of the millions of planets in the universe, a few advanced sages realized the real meaning of Life – body, mind & soul being the principle constituents. From the humans’ evolution-index chronology, the land mass was on the earth in the solar system and was called Bharat or later Hindustan - where germinated the thought of human civilization in the ancient era. India, as it is referred to in the modern times, is the place of the origin of the ‘idea of spirituality’ i.e., a soul’s communion with the Spirit, the God.

Human, though came last in the chain of earthly creations, had the most developed brain with an unprecedented power of thoughts and feelings. Inquisitiveness being its inherent nature, and not being satisfied easily with its external/outer discoveries, soon humans embarked on their inner journey to explore the realm of life beyond the mundane world of daily living – littered with sufferings - and occasional happiness. During their exploration the celestially blessed saints experienced the Creator Itself and passed on their understanding of creation to the rest of the human race. Few spiritually dedicated followers recorded the realized souls’ preachings and teachings in form of the Sacred Scriptures for the benefit of the humanity. As Bharat was the holy land of the oldest human civilization, The Vedas, The Puranas, The Upanishads, The Ramayana, The Mahabharata and The Gita - the holy compilations of Divine Intelligence captured by the highly advanced human intellect - became the moral compass for living in the big, bad world.

Rest of the curve of human progression, spread of human civilizations and advent of various religions are well known facts to the world. In the same period India too witnessed those inevitable and gradual changes in its societies. From having a spiritual foundation to its life, the way-of-life went on to rest on the fulcrum of a new concept of connecting with the God called religion; Hinduism evolved from the Vedic - Spiritual – base. From an absolute-yet-abstract being, the God went on to get myriad faces and forms and names. As a natural progression, Hinduism influenced and embraced everything in its vicinity and within its reach including various non-Indian religions. However, Hinduism too became besotted with dogmas and unfounded beliefs and illogical practices; the erosion of its spiritual core was unavoidable. Spirituality – in all its glory and description – remained in hearts and souls of a blessed few whom the Indians and the world went on to revere as Gurus.           

India, the land of the origin of ‘the idea of spirituality’, is today as far removed from this concept of life as a goat would be from a guitar! For a few quasi enthusiasts, religion, in its modern form, has become the method of acquiring some iota of so-called spirituality. For the rest, religion, with its contemporary interpretations and current practices, is the sole way to connect with God – for praying for granting wishes and taking away pains; God-realization and Self-realization are terms ‘not-applicable’ to most. Simultaneously, in the name of spirituality, India has witnessed the flourishing of a new breed of beings called the modern gurus – God-men & God-women, who have severely damaged the spiritual fabric of India.

Many a times it feels to me as if the nation is carrying the baggage of anciently acquired spirituality, now considered archaic from its practical purposes.    

However, the issue is not of rejection of spirituality by the modern masses; the case is of mass ignorance. If made to understand or even exposed to the concept of spirituality in the right manner, many would be willing to get deeper into the subject.

For walking on the spiritual path one needs the guidance from a Guru, and in India of today there are well known gurus with millions of followers to boast of. However, how many of them will qualify to be revered as a real Guru is a million dollar question.

Nevertheless, the current situation does not paint so faded a picture of India’s fast-fading spiritual treasure. Real gurus are there; one needs to search for them - in cities like Banaras and in the foothills of Himalayas; a few saints are present in down south as well. Because they are not ‘mass-gurus’ – commercial gurus – general public is generally not aware about their existence; they too remain aloof and are not easily accessible. However, every person knows about all the revered Gurus of India who were the founding fathers of Spirituality and whose work were carried further by the contemporary yogis; their teachings and preachings are well recorded and preserved and accessible to all; the requisite is an individual’s desire for wisdom.

India’s widespread prevalence of spiritual ignorance has become chronic. Actually as we have progressed as a society over the millennia, our spiritual interior has worn out and diminished to the extent that today we suffer from spiritual-amnesia! We have lost the vast knowledge base we had built about Life: with its God, Its Universe, and Life in it; the purpose of life, a soul’s journey through many physical incarnations including human form, and inclination of a soul to remain in its natural state of being i.e. in Bliss, and its return to its origin – by merging into the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Spirit – the God.

Compounding the problem, general public has a perception that being a ‘family’ person one cannot practice spirituality. Ignorance, again! In fact, being a family person – a person of the world – an individual is subjected to various types of stress in daily life, leading to ever-present unhappiness, lack of peace, frustration and insecurity. The genesis of these miserable feelings is rooted in human relationships and in events & incidents of life. Not that everything and everyone in a person’s life are bad. But because a person does not understand the meaning of Life, therefore, he/she senses life’s ‘happenings’ in an altogether a different manner than the real occurrence. Reason: Ignorance.

So, as it becomes clearer, human ignorance is about Life per se. That Life is about the Soul and its journey into the Ether through a pre-destined time spent on the Earth, interacting and living with all other souls in various situations and relationships, is a simple theory not many can comprehend.

“But it is not souls we interact with! We live with humans! Soul is released from body after death of a person!” ...  So, for most of us mortal beings, a human is a body which turns into a soul - ghost ! - after death. 

The biggest ignorance of Mankind!

Therefore, what is the solution for a soul’s salvation?

A Guru.

A Guru, the enlightened, God-realised soul, sent to the earth to take people from the darkness (ignorance) to the light (knowledge and wisdom) and thus guide them on the path of God-realization through self-realization, for attaining soul’s salvation and union with the Supreme Soul – the God. 

A Guru, to talk to the mankind that there is One Soul, the Supreme Soul, from whom all souls have originated. And because the Supreme Soul is ever-present and cannot be destroyed or killed, thus all souls emerging from It cannot be destroyed or killed either. However, once a soul gets originated, it is given a life-form – the physical form of a lowly creature, to begin with. The soul has to live the life of that creature and then pass through many more – millions! – births & deaths before it gets the opportunity to inhabit a human body.

A Guru, to teach the humankind that they are fortunate to be born in the physical body of a human being, the highest creation of God, and they should utilize this opportunity to tune with the God and return to the Source, and be free from the burden of rebirths and life-associated miseries.

A Guru, to enlighten we humans that the blessings to live in a human body is given to a soul based on its past lives’ Karmas i.e., actions. The purpose of a human life of a soul is to utilize the birth to work out its Karmas and pave its way towards returning to its Origin – the God.

A Guru, to tell us that though the human life is the highest form of life, however, the Creator has made the return journey of a soul to its Origin fraught with challenges; nevertheless, It has given adequate intelligence to a soul to overcome the challenges and carve a path for its joyous reunion with It.

A Guru, to give us the wisdom that human intelligence is actually the God’s Intelligence, and, with the Intelligence It has given us Free Will – to choose between good and evil. It depends upon an individual to utilize his/her free will and the given intelligence to his/her benefit, by either getting caught into the illusions of life ‘Maya’ or get conned by the Satan – the evil and the opposing force in the Nature – and get sucked into the vortex of life or get carried to the God by employing the Divine features of the given intelligence and the free will in living the life.

A Guru, to inform we human beings that the God has bestowed us with Its Intelligence because It has made us in Its Image. And that is the reason why a human is Its best and the ultimate creation! It is no coincidence but by Divine design that the world hasn’t seen any higher form of life being created after humans. And, because we are created in the image of the Supreme Soul whose nature is absolute Bliss, a human being also becomes happy when at absolute peace. 

A Guru, to educate us that though we are made in the image of God but we are yet not God! All God-features are latent in us; all powers stored but hidden in our body and mind. The God wants us to learn and become conscious of our Divine nature and work towards God-realization through Self-realization – and return to It!

A Guru, to divulge to us that we can realize both Self & God only through good Karmas by following the path of Spirituality – the quickest and the surest method for a soul’s union with its Source!

A Guru, to reveal to us that the fastest and the highest spiritual technique for Self & God realization is through the scientific method of Kriya Yoga – Yoga with Action, centred around deep and intensive meditation. Kriya Yoga is a practical approach by which a person leads his/her normal day-to-day life and simultaneously is spiritually active and gradually evolves towards attaining the highest goal of his/her soul – union with the Supreme Soul.    

A Guru, to give sermons on the Kriya Yoga. Kriya Yoga, the ancient and the most complete form of yoga, was taught by Lord Krishna to his dearest disciple Arjuna while giving him the Divine Wisdom through his discourses of the Gita. The Guru of all Gurus, Babaji, revived the Kriya Yoga by teaching it to his most advanced disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, who in turn carried it forward through his followers – especially Sri Yukteswar Giri. Babaji, the still living Guru in the Himalayas for over three millennia now, further bestowed the Divine responsibility on Sri Yukteswar-ji to train his pre-destined and blessed disciple Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Kriya Yoga who, as Paramahansa Yogananda, took the ancient yogic teaching treasures to the West. Jesus Christ had requested Babaji to send a suitable soul to America to teach Kriya Yoga for liberation of deserving and willing souls there.

A Guru, to make us realize the real meaning of Life – human life in particular; that Life is not the few years a soul spends on the earth but its origin dates back to its emanation from the Soul itself and its existence is till eternity. That a soul’s human life is not one life but many human lives – till it has worked out all its karmas and has no desire left absolutely, a state when the soul is ready to travel to the next and the higher sphere of existence.

A Guru, to impart the knowledge on the intriguing intricacies of a soul’s human-life journey, which passes through many incarnations on the Earth to the Astral world to the Causal space before it dissolves in the Supreme Spirit. Earthly life form is the grossest physical form; a soul gets to go to the astral world – in its finer form made up of ‘light’ elements – once it is fully realized. An Astral being is either kept there for further evolution of other astral beings or sent back to the earth – as a Guru – to liberate suffering souls. Once an astral being has finished its assigned duties, it is brought closer to the God – by the God itself – as a Causal being. In the causal space every soul is in its finest and its initial state of existence - an abstract appearance, without any physical form - in form of an idea! The soul is now closest to the God in its character and power. After spending pre-assigned time in the causal world, the soul finally merges with its Originator. The entire journey of a soul takes millions of years. A causal being could be sent back to the earth if need is felt by the God. Jesus Christ, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are some of those souls!

A Guru, to highlight the fact that the Creator has ensured Its presence in every created particle – animate or inanimate – of the universe, which is in actuality a part of Its own body. It resides in the Heaven, a place beyond the universe and within the universe itself. There is absolutely nothing in this world without the manifestation of the Lord within it. And, at the fundamental level everything in the creation is made up of Its Idea - which is vibration and light in form. The entire cosmos and the life in it is Its’ show entirely; various creations have their allocated role to play and then exit into the next life, till the soul is able to overcome the births-deaths cycle and mingle with the Creator. Everything and everybody belongs to the God, and to nobody else.

A Guru, to put forth the essence of consciousness and its various stages: sub-consciousness, consciousness, super-consciousness and cosmic consciousness. Only a human being can comprehend the various stages of consciousness in one life – through the practice of Kriya Yoga. Sub-consciousness denotes the ‘sleeping’ stage; a human has consciousness when it is ‘aware’ and is ‘awake’ in the worldly sense; in super-consciousness a person is connected with the higher consciousness of the universe; and, a super advanced being - yogi - with a universally expanded consciousness can comprehend the cosmic consciousness - the God’s consciousness. Only a Guru qualifies to have the cosmic consciousness.    

A Guru, to explain to us that as all souls have come out of the same Supreme Being, thus, we all are one in every aspect. In numerous human births our individual souls have inhabited many places with various nationalities and races and religions and creeds and castes and colours, and have been in both genders and all possible relationships. Therefore, in effect, no single human life defines a human being. A human being is the sum total of all the human lives it has lived and will live.

A Guru, to reiterate that with the wisdom about Life per se, there is no need to obsess about anything in the world. A human being should do its worldly duties walking the path of morality and aspire towards its soul’s liberation. Rest all endeavours are foolish and cause only sufferings and miseries for all including the self, and make no sense at all. Universal unity, brotherhood, respect and love should be the fundamentals of our human existence. 

Finally, I pray to the Heavenly Father and the Divine Mother that It resends the Causal Souls as reincarnations - God’s Sons & Daughters & Gurus - to preach to each human being the practical paths of spirituality, following which every person will get uplifted into a higher being – transforming the Earth into the Heaven, with Love, Peace and Bliss pervading its every element and the ether!

Jai Gurudev :)    

P.S.: 'Hand of God' photograph courtesy NASA.