http://tamilblog.ishafoundation.org/pirappilaeye-azhagatrupponathu-en-thavara/
How I wish I could translate this!
It's such a beautiful piece.
How I wish I could translate this!
It's such a beautiful piece.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Aging and living a rich life
I recently read "Tuesdays with Morrie". It was a simple, fascinating read. It spoke a little of love, death, aging and relations.
One of the thing that I really loved in it was - you want to go back in time just because you did not live it well enough. You're in your 20s and you think a lot about your teens or 30s. You live your 20s less. So, when you move on to your 30s you miss your 20s.
I loved that point. I already read that we are less and less inhabiting our bodies. We're less and less inhabiting the present moment.
http://www.brainpickings.org/tag/alan-watts/page/2/
http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/06/alan-watts-wisdom-of-insecurity-1/
Excerpts:
Indeed, my own New Year’s resolution has been to stop measuring my days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence. But what, exactly, makes that possible? This concept of presence is rooted in Eastern notions of mindfulness — the ability to go through life with crystalline awareness and fully inhabit our experience.
Nearly a century earlier, in his funny and wise reflection on feeding the mind, Lewis Carroll admonished that “mental gluttony, or over-reading, is a dangerous propensity, tending to weakness of digestive power, and in some cases to loss of appetite.” And yet, cut off from both our bodies and our brains, we constantly oscillate between distraction and mental gluttony, seething in a cauldron of our own making, unwilling or unable to still our minds long enough for the truly meaningful to settle and coalesce.
Analysis:
Why do we miss our old days? Because they were too good or because we rushed through them?
For me, I think I never lived my childhood consciously. So I think I miss it. I wish I was more conscious and wise. But now, I try to live in awareness. I can see myself becoming more patient and better over time.
I have realized that what is given to you, is life. The life that others lead or what the movies show - are fantasy. It's not your life and craving for it makes your own life unpleasant and intolerable. You do not get certain events in your life. Certain things shown in movies never happen to you but you crave for them. I feel it's bad.. I do feel that the movies make us more unhappy than happy because we are constantly fed an alternate world and reality that never exists! We're left craving.
All man wants, at the end of each day, is to probably feel that he has led a very rich life. A rich life does not necessarily entail material prosperity. It includes mostly intangibles. It includes the feeling that one has given his best and been his best. One has moved forward to realize one's goals. One has done his best for his friends and family. One has contributed to society and done less harm to society and the environment. One needs to love and feel loved in return. One needs to feel warm and cozy wherever he is. Then, one can claim to have a rich life.
One of the thing that I really loved in it was - you want to go back in time just because you did not live it well enough. You're in your 20s and you think a lot about your teens or 30s. You live your 20s less. So, when you move on to your 30s you miss your 20s.
I loved that point. I already read that we are less and less inhabiting our bodies. We're less and less inhabiting the present moment.
http://www.brainpickings.org/tag/alan-watts/page/2/
http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/06/alan-watts-wisdom-of-insecurity-1/
Excerpts:
Indeed, my own New Year’s resolution has been to stop measuring my days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence. But what, exactly, makes that possible? This concept of presence is rooted in Eastern notions of mindfulness — the ability to go through life with crystalline awareness and fully inhabit our experience.
Nearly a century earlier, in his funny and wise reflection on feeding the mind, Lewis Carroll admonished that “mental gluttony, or over-reading, is a dangerous propensity, tending to weakness of digestive power, and in some cases to loss of appetite.” And yet, cut off from both our bodies and our brains, we constantly oscillate between distraction and mental gluttony, seething in a cauldron of our own making, unwilling or unable to still our minds long enough for the truly meaningful to settle and coalesce.
Analysis:
Why do we miss our old days? Because they were too good or because we rushed through them?
For me, I think I never lived my childhood consciously. So I think I miss it. I wish I was more conscious and wise. But now, I try to live in awareness. I can see myself becoming more patient and better over time.
I have realized that what is given to you, is life. The life that others lead or what the movies show - are fantasy. It's not your life and craving for it makes your own life unpleasant and intolerable. You do not get certain events in your life. Certain things shown in movies never happen to you but you crave for them. I feel it's bad.. I do feel that the movies make us more unhappy than happy because we are constantly fed an alternate world and reality that never exists! We're left craving.
All man wants, at the end of each day, is to probably feel that he has led a very rich life. A rich life does not necessarily entail material prosperity. It includes mostly intangibles. It includes the feeling that one has given his best and been his best. One has moved forward to realize one's goals. One has done his best for his friends and family. One has contributed to society and done less harm to society and the environment. One needs to love and feel loved in return. One needs to feel warm and cozy wherever he is. Then, one can claim to have a rich life.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
NY times's quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe
I had read this long back. The NY times had conducted an elaborate search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. How cool!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.thekitchn.com/blogging-the-ny-times-the-perf-56529
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2008/07/10/the-new-york-times-smart-cookies/
I believed that a baker must have a stock of great recipes for a few items like:
Best vanilla cupcakes
chocolate cupcakes
chocolate cake - 2 varieties whose taste and texture differ.
brownie
chocolate chip cookie
Icings - any 2 varieties.
I haven't been baking a lot nowadays. The ingredients are expensive, it's time consuming and most of all - the weight issue :-)
This time around, I could not stop my temptation. I picked a couple of Ghirardelli chocolate chips.
I was also gifted a lovely Valrhona Manjari cooking chocolate :-)
I need to get my oven and beater repaired and bake something for christmas and new year.
Meanwhile, I love how much attention to detail some people give to food.!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.thekitchn.com/blogging-the-ny-times-the-perf-56529
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2008/07/10/the-new-york-times-smart-cookies/
I believed that a baker must have a stock of great recipes for a few items like:
Best vanilla cupcakes
chocolate cupcakes
chocolate cake - 2 varieties whose taste and texture differ.
brownie
chocolate chip cookie
Fruit cake.
blueberry muffin.
mousse
pound cake
cheesecake
Flourless cakes.
I haven't been baking a lot nowadays. The ingredients are expensive, it's time consuming and most of all - the weight issue :-)
This time around, I could not stop my temptation. I picked a couple of Ghirardelli chocolate chips.
I was also gifted a lovely Valrhona Manjari cooking chocolate :-)
I need to get my oven and beater repaired and bake something for christmas and new year.
Meanwhile, I love how much attention to detail some people give to food.!
Friday, November 7, 2014
Thoreau on success and following your dreams
If one listens to the faintest but constant suggestions of his genius, which are certainly true, he sees not to what extremes, or even insanity, it may lead him; and yet that way, as he grows more resolute and faithful, his road lies. The faintest assured objection which one healthy man feels will at length prevail over the arguments and customs of mankind. No man ever followed his genius till it misled him. Though the result were bodily weakness, yet perhaps no one can say that the consequences were to be regretted, for these were a life in conformity to higher principles. If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal — that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest reality. Perhaps the facts most astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man. The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.Then, in nearing the conclusion:
I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
New age spirituality blog
When the flow of the thoughts is continuous, it creates similar types
of emotions into your body and thus you take actions out of it. When
the flow of thoughts are continuous, its impossible to focus on work, as
the mind is the instrument of focus, and the attention of mind itself
wonders in different directions.
When you focus your mind, you develop control over it, and direct it in your desired direction.
To know your mind, know the twenty-four hour of your life, and start to bring the changes you wish to see, in that time span and improve upon every aspect of life to see the result, with your life.
Emotional body, astral body, spirit are the name of the same body. Emotional body is made up of feelings and emotions. The mental state, i.e. mind with the flow of thoughts creates feelings and emotions within the emotional body.
This emotional body holds all the feelings and emotions of the past life and each day positive and negative emotions are added to this emotional body. This can be realized once you start considering the emotional body as your primary body. You will feel the pain, every time the situation goes against your expectations, and you will notice the happening of the incident often many times of the day.
Any form of Physical exercise, breathing technique (pranayama) or meditation, is the best tool to get rid of your past emotional debris and renew your life in a natural way.
People who give up on small things are the one’s who give up on bigger things in life.
Each individual soul is responsible for his own salvation. No other person can fulfill that obligation for you. The people in our life are the companions, who needs equal support from us, as much as you expect from them. But if you carry an idea of dependency on anyone, than you dig your own pitfall.
The person should make every effort to know himself and has to choose the activity that serve in his upliftment and growth of life.
The life energy flows in its purest form within the emotional body. When you live from your heart, this energy turns into a positive emotions and flows through your body. If you don’t allow to express yourself, that which is happening in your inner world, and live life to please others, than you take your life’s energy in a negative direction.
Outer world is the manifestation of your inner world. When you connect with your inner world, you lead your life out of choice. Some people from their birth are connected with the heart and follow it irrespective of whatever happens in the outside world. It’s because their process of evolution continues from the previous birth.
When you hold onto your desire, or pain or sufferings of life, the mind and heart gets squeezed. But when you allow the natural process to take place, purest form of life energy that flows within allows to open the mind and heart and thus you become more responsive towards life, rather getting tensed and stress out in a moment.
When the mind is constantly forming images and thoughts and feelings and emotions are created out of it, and the physical body is made to act out of those thoughts and emotions, you can never understand what is happening in the outside life, or within your inner world.
With the regular practice of meditation, you can allow the life’s energy to move upward and heal all the wounds of your heart. The same energy rise higher to clear all the thoughts of your mind and opens the mind for you to connect with that space and experience the bliss from with in.
While in meditation, when you surrender yourself, this life’s energy allows to clear all your thoughts and you can experience pure silence. With the experience, you can go deeper into this silence to experience the wisdom and bliss from within.
When you make yourself the priority of life, you look forward to live life inside out, rather outside in. Here you come in terms with the understanding that love towards work comes from within, and not from work itself. When enough love flows from within, you can make anything out of the situation or things of life, and if your inner world is empty, you struggle to manage the small things of life.
Pure Intelligence:
When the mind perceives an object, it holds the feelings and emotions and past experiences with the object. When you make the choice or decision with an object, the emotions and your past experiences, will only allow you to see the object from that perception.
With pure intelligence, you rise above all your feelings and emotions and the experiences and impression of the past with the object, and see the things as it is, and makes the right choice out of it in the moment.
Pure intelligence is one. It’s only see the present moment and the situation in hand and gives his best resolution in the moment. It knows that, nothing can exist beyond him and it holds the solution for all the queries of the world. The life of pure intelligence is relax, calm and dwells in the moment.
Any form of physical exercise, breathing techniques, meditation, knowledge, love, Faith, awareness in the present moment, concentration are few ways to break the old patterns of mind, emotions and senses and tap into the pure intelligence.
The pure intelligence is beyond any images, thoughts or emotions in your body and thus access to it, is possible only beyond the mind and emotions.
The experience of the world is nothing more than a matter. When you look at the world beyond mind, the only thing you see is a matter. matter that is manifested out of thoughts and emotions and physical efforts of different people since ages. If you see something else, then it’s the projection of your mind.
With the pure intelligence, the case is different. You hold the power over your mind and emotions to create your own world, on this very existence.
With the pure intelligence, comes the bliss and the power to create anything on this earth. With the pure intelligence you hold complete control over the mind, body and emotions and can direct them in your desired direction.
Will power:
Choice is when you ask your mind, emotions and senses to act in a certain way. For the first time, it will refuse. When you use the will-power to execute your choice, the fight begins with the mind, emotions and senses in your inner world, that holds the habit to follow the old system.
Will-power is the identification with one’s thought, idea or emotions and refuse to give up on any condition, before it reaches to its final stage.
Day dreaming:
The imagination is useful for the creation and innovation in life. But when you imagine pleasure-seeking life, people and different situations into your mind, it only leads to chaos and takes you no where.
Look for the experiences in life and relish them, so that you can get over them to move on with life. If you get stuck in your mind, you will spoil every experience and no growth is possible with such experiences of life.
Face life head on:
When you dive into the experiences of life, you allow the mind to open up and it provides you with the different possibilities of life.
The thoughts have a constant flow from the past, but when you look for the experiences, the different experience itself change the flow of thoughts and you can move towards the higher experiences of life.
The life in the present moment can help you to expand the life within you.
When you see your present life as a mess, don’t try to run away from it or imagine the better future in your mind. The best way to make your present better, is to start making the things better, wherever you get the chance and look for the possibility in every moment. This way you will change the reality of life, not by running away from it, but by facing it and living it to its core.
Subtle thoughts and their physical manifestation:
The subtle world holds the similar movie that you see in the outside world in the form of moving images and forms the thoughts and emotions out of it. When the images of the subtle world gets strong and develop enough emotions, into an emotional body, it manifest in the physical form in the outside universe.
The subtle world is no different than the physical world. It takes no time to develop the things in the subtle world, but for the manifestation of it in the physical world it takes time, as it includes many components in the outside world for its manifestation.
The images and thoughts in the subtle world needs enough energy to manifest them in the physical world.
Vibrations:
The existence has its own law, where you receive what you give in the form of vibrations. The existence only receive your vibrations. Your thoughts and emotions release the vibrations all the time, and you attract the similar vibrations into your life.
Beliefs:
Beliefs are the images and pictures of your mind.
Where do the images and pictures comes from?
Out of your experiences with life.
Beliefs are the thoughts formed from the pictures and images of your mind. Your belief creates the life of your future. The future experiences of life depends on the beliefs you carry from your past.
The greatest miracle:
Many people wait for the miracle or depend upon luck with their life. If you work towards in understanding yourself, you recognize that there is no bigger miracle than yourself, and you hold the power to set your luck by directing your thoughts in a right direction.
When you focus your mind, you develop control over it, and direct it in your desired direction.
To know your mind, know the twenty-four hour of your life, and start to bring the changes you wish to see, in that time span and improve upon every aspect of life to see the result, with your life.
Emotional body, astral body, spirit are the name of the same body. Emotional body is made up of feelings and emotions. The mental state, i.e. mind with the flow of thoughts creates feelings and emotions within the emotional body.
This emotional body holds all the feelings and emotions of the past life and each day positive and negative emotions are added to this emotional body. This can be realized once you start considering the emotional body as your primary body. You will feel the pain, every time the situation goes against your expectations, and you will notice the happening of the incident often many times of the day.
Any form of Physical exercise, breathing technique (pranayama) or meditation, is the best tool to get rid of your past emotional debris and renew your life in a natural way.
People who give up on small things are the one’s who give up on bigger things in life.
Each individual soul is responsible for his own salvation. No other person can fulfill that obligation for you. The people in our life are the companions, who needs equal support from us, as much as you expect from them. But if you carry an idea of dependency on anyone, than you dig your own pitfall.
The person should make every effort to know himself and has to choose the activity that serve in his upliftment and growth of life.
The life energy flows in its purest form within the emotional body. When you live from your heart, this energy turns into a positive emotions and flows through your body. If you don’t allow to express yourself, that which is happening in your inner world, and live life to please others, than you take your life’s energy in a negative direction.
Outer world is the manifestation of your inner world. When you connect with your inner world, you lead your life out of choice. Some people from their birth are connected with the heart and follow it irrespective of whatever happens in the outside world. It’s because their process of evolution continues from the previous birth.
When you hold onto your desire, or pain or sufferings of life, the mind and heart gets squeezed. But when you allow the natural process to take place, purest form of life energy that flows within allows to open the mind and heart and thus you become more responsive towards life, rather getting tensed and stress out in a moment.
When the mind is constantly forming images and thoughts and feelings and emotions are created out of it, and the physical body is made to act out of those thoughts and emotions, you can never understand what is happening in the outside life, or within your inner world.
With the regular practice of meditation, you can allow the life’s energy to move upward and heal all the wounds of your heart. The same energy rise higher to clear all the thoughts of your mind and opens the mind for you to connect with that space and experience the bliss from with in.
While in meditation, when you surrender yourself, this life’s energy allows to clear all your thoughts and you can experience pure silence. With the experience, you can go deeper into this silence to experience the wisdom and bliss from within.
When you make yourself the priority of life, you look forward to live life inside out, rather outside in. Here you come in terms with the understanding that love towards work comes from within, and not from work itself. When enough love flows from within, you can make anything out of the situation or things of life, and if your inner world is empty, you struggle to manage the small things of life.
Pure Intelligence:
When the mind perceives an object, it holds the feelings and emotions and past experiences with the object. When you make the choice or decision with an object, the emotions and your past experiences, will only allow you to see the object from that perception.
With pure intelligence, you rise above all your feelings and emotions and the experiences and impression of the past with the object, and see the things as it is, and makes the right choice out of it in the moment.
Pure intelligence is one. It’s only see the present moment and the situation in hand and gives his best resolution in the moment. It knows that, nothing can exist beyond him and it holds the solution for all the queries of the world. The life of pure intelligence is relax, calm and dwells in the moment.
Any form of physical exercise, breathing techniques, meditation, knowledge, love, Faith, awareness in the present moment, concentration are few ways to break the old patterns of mind, emotions and senses and tap into the pure intelligence.
The pure intelligence is beyond any images, thoughts or emotions in your body and thus access to it, is possible only beyond the mind and emotions.
The experience of the world is nothing more than a matter. When you look at the world beyond mind, the only thing you see is a matter. matter that is manifested out of thoughts and emotions and physical efforts of different people since ages. If you see something else, then it’s the projection of your mind.
With the pure intelligence, the case is different. You hold the power over your mind and emotions to create your own world, on this very existence.
With the pure intelligence, comes the bliss and the power to create anything on this earth. With the pure intelligence you hold complete control over the mind, body and emotions and can direct them in your desired direction.
Will power:
Choice is when you ask your mind, emotions and senses to act in a certain way. For the first time, it will refuse. When you use the will-power to execute your choice, the fight begins with the mind, emotions and senses in your inner world, that holds the habit to follow the old system.
Will-power is the identification with one’s thought, idea or emotions and refuse to give up on any condition, before it reaches to its final stage.
Day dreaming:
The imagination is useful for the creation and innovation in life. But when you imagine pleasure-seeking life, people and different situations into your mind, it only leads to chaos and takes you no where.
Look for the experiences in life and relish them, so that you can get over them to move on with life. If you get stuck in your mind, you will spoil every experience and no growth is possible with such experiences of life.
Face life head on:
When you dive into the experiences of life, you allow the mind to open up and it provides you with the different possibilities of life.
The thoughts have a constant flow from the past, but when you look for the experiences, the different experience itself change the flow of thoughts and you can move towards the higher experiences of life.
The life in the present moment can help you to expand the life within you.
When you see your present life as a mess, don’t try to run away from it or imagine the better future in your mind. The best way to make your present better, is to start making the things better, wherever you get the chance and look for the possibility in every moment. This way you will change the reality of life, not by running away from it, but by facing it and living it to its core.
Subtle thoughts and their physical manifestation:
The subtle world holds the similar movie that you see in the outside world in the form of moving images and forms the thoughts and emotions out of it. When the images of the subtle world gets strong and develop enough emotions, into an emotional body, it manifest in the physical form in the outside universe.
The subtle world is no different than the physical world. It takes no time to develop the things in the subtle world, but for the manifestation of it in the physical world it takes time, as it includes many components in the outside world for its manifestation.
The images and thoughts in the subtle world needs enough energy to manifest them in the physical world.
Vibrations:
The existence has its own law, where you receive what you give in the form of vibrations. The existence only receive your vibrations. Your thoughts and emotions release the vibrations all the time, and you attract the similar vibrations into your life.
Beliefs:
Beliefs are the images and pictures of your mind.
Where do the images and pictures comes from?
Out of your experiences with life.
Beliefs are the thoughts formed from the pictures and images of your mind. Your belief creates the life of your future. The future experiences of life depends on the beliefs you carry from your past.
The greatest miracle:
Many people wait for the miracle or depend upon luck with their life. If you work towards in understanding yourself, you recognize that there is no bigger miracle than yourself, and you hold the power to set your luck by directing your thoughts in a right direction.
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