6th Dec 2009, I think this
is of the most memorable dayz in my life, the day I finally got answers to some
of the questions that I had for a long time. It is something that really
changed my way of thinking. I am sharing this because it was very
impressive. This is what happed on the day.
I and my friend, Tejasvi went ISKCON
Bangalore to attend the second session of YOGA RETREAT. First of all these are
the series of lectures intended to develop mainly Spiritual Quotient in a man.
By hearing Spirituality we may be in a common misconception that Spirituality
means leaving all bodily possessions, shave one’s head, wear dhotis and go to
some holy places to worship god. No, this is wrong. Spirituality means knowing
about your inner self.The first session of this Yoga Retreat is about IQ,EQ and the most important Spiritual Quotient. The book 'IQ EQ SQ' is meant to serve as an introduction to the various aspects of IQ, EQ and SQ and is intended to help the reader sharpen his SQ.
Bhagavad Gita, the holy bible of the Hindus, is the book of facts given by Lord
Krishna Himself, is the ultimate source of knowledge.
Fact: Sir Isaac Newton, if we refer
to his biography, used to read Gita in his days. Newton's law 'For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction' was already there in our scriptures.
Gita says know about yourself, think about
who you were in the past and who you will be in the coming future. One may get
a quess why know about one’s previous life or past life? You see dogs and cats
around you, what is the difference b/w u and them. They eat v also eat
and they do most things v do. No doubt they are same as v are, but ‘Human Life’
is a developed form of living beings. We r given the intelligence to
discriminate what is right and what is not. Humans r at the Junction where you
decide between things. We all know how effective ayurvedic medicines are. These
are well written in our Vedas. Recent days some US people tried to
patent the ‘Turmeric' when they discovered that it has some medicinal value.
But turmeric was already in use in India since a long time as apart of Ayurveda. Likewise much hidden knowledge unknown to man is in Bhagavad Gita.
Even many scientists read Bhagavat Gita. So know the true knowledge, that too from the authenticated source, what is more
authentic than Gita, which the Lord Krishna Himself prescribes it to the people
of Kali Yuga. So do right things than doing the things right.
"People of
Intelligence will do by listening, less ignorant people will know the right
thing by perseverance."
As per Gita , these deeds called Karma
reflect ur own existence. There is ‘infallible Justice’ to one’s Karma.
Einstein
says: ‘If according to Karma we are destined to suffer, we can’t avoid
it’.
Karma may reflect immediately or in your
future life. Gita says human life forms follow a life cycle. When you die only
ur body dies but not the soul within. Depending on one’s Karma in the present,
you will be destined a life of human again or fish or tree or any other living
thing. It is also said that in the next life you will get the life that u desired at your point of death.
One simple eg: What happens when a child
touches fire, immediately the child is punished. It wont show mercy for the person being a child.
You may say, I didn’t know it as a wrong
deed, so God please give me less punishment. You have done ur Karma so get what
you deserve says Lord Krishna.
For eg: you just bought a new bike and your
r driving at a junction. The traffic signal showed red, but you went on.
Will the Police get convinced when you say that you didn’t know that you had to
stop when the signal is red? Ignorance of law is no excuse. So there is a
supreme law even if you escape from the eyes of this man made government. When
a person dies you’ll see his name is written along with ‘swargeya’, does it
mean that the person went to heaven after his death? No, it depends on the
Karma he has done.
Do your things first, leave the result to
the God. Don’t get too excited if u succeed and don’t get too depressed when
you fail. Teach your mind to control your emotions. Get satisfied over what you
have achieved, don’t be greedy.
An anecdote: A man
in a village got a very beautiful horse. Everyone in the neighbourhood cam and
congratulated him, ‘wow, you are really very very lucky for having this
wonderful horse’. One of the persons said ‘may be’. The others thought he was
crazy. Next day the horse ran away. Everyone from the neighbourhood showed their
condolence,’ oh how sad! how unlucky!’ But that person said, ‘may be’. Again
people thought he was a crazy lunatic. Next day that horse returned with
five more horses. Everyone from the neighbourhood again praised his luck. But
that person said, ‘may be’. Next day his son wanted to ride a horse and he
climbed one of the horses and got his limb hurt. Again everyone soothed him,
’that’s very unlucky’. But that person again said, ’may be’. Next day the King
ordered every young man in the kingdom to join the army but this boy was
rejected as he was injured. This time everyone cried and congratulated him.
’99 club’ :
One day the King of a kingdom wanted to know how his people are. He personally
went and observed some persons. He saw one farmer doing ploughing, whistling
and he was happy with his family too. The King asked him ‘how possibly
could you be happy when you are working hard in the field?’ The farmer replied,
‘I am a farmer, I cultivate food. There is enough food for my family to feed. So
I am happy’. The king looked stunned. He went and asked the minister to explain
him how the farmer was so happy even though he could not enjoy the pleasures he
enjoyed. The minister replied, ‘may be he is not a member of the ’99
club’’. The King asked him what that was. Minister replied,’ take a sac of 99
gold coins and place it at the door of the farmer, then you will understand’.
The King did the same. Next day morning the farmer was very excited to see a
sac of gold coins at his house. He immediately took the sac inside and started
counting the coins. They counted to 99, the farmer wondered if someone placed
the sac they would have placed 100 coins, a perfect number, now where the hell
that 100th coin was. He thought it might have been stolen by some thief.
He asked his family to cooperate with him in finding the thief. They refused
him. Apparently they started. The King saw this and asked the Minister what
that was. Minister said, ‘Welcome to the 99 club’. It means that human
desires are in that way they don’t get satisfied with what they get.
Food Activities: ( Veg vs Non-Veg ) By Mr.
T.R.P.Das
According to WHO Inactivity in the world is
increasing at a drastic rate, which is prime reason for many diseases. In
India, as per WHO, 47% are suffering from overweight, 27% from hypertension,
10% from diabetes. By 2010, 60% of the Indians might be suffering from
cardiovascular diseases.
Main reasons:
Poor attention to health
Poor lazy habits
Eating poor junk food between meals.
Foods affect our moods, including the level
of alertness and your behaviour. Take an example of Ferrari. We know Sachin
owns one. If he buys some cheap oil and fuels it, the engine might not run. The
same is the case with the body we have give it right supplements so that it
functions properly.
Vedic Perspective: Gita 17th
chapter
We eat food. To increase duration of life.
To purify the mind. To aid bodily strength.
There are three modes of food.
Satvik- mode of goodness : contains foods
which are juicy, fatty, pleasing to
heart and pure in nature. Eg: milk, cheese, honey, fruits, vegetables etc
Rajsik- mode of passion : contains foods which are bitter, salty, too
hot or mixed with red pepper. Eg: salt, pepper, mirchi, FRIED itemsetc. This
food reduces the amount of mucus present in the stomach causing gastric
troubles.
Tamsik- mode of ignorance: eating food
which is decomposed and putrid, food containg remnants and untouchable. Eg:
meat alcohol.
There are three YUGAS in history, the Satya Yuga (or Krita Yuga), the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga and finally the Kali Yuga. With every Yuga the life expectancy of man has been decreasing. Depending on the food habits and the way of living. The life expectany depends on the no of breaths taken in a lifetime. Do you know how the yogis in himalayas still live over 500 years? They hold their breath and practice 'Pranayama'
Why humans should eat vegetarian food?
1.Compare the teeth of a human
with some of the herbivores like horse, goat and some carnivores like tiger.
The design itself differentiates who are supposed to eat. The structure of
incisors and canines in these animals is designed to eat what they are supposed
to eat.
2. The digestive system of the carnivores and humans is different. It takes nearly 10-12 hrs for the food we eat to digest. But this is not the case with the carnivores, whose digestion period is far less. So with this we have gastric problem in our stomachs.
Why some humans prefer meat?
When compare with non-veg, veg doesn’t give
me
1.Cant get enough protein.
Then explain how elephant
and rhinoceros are such a strong beings.
2.Lack energy and protein.
Some famous athletes are
vegetarians.
3.Even vegetarians are guilty of
killing the plants.
Test your consciousness.
According to Journal of American Medical
Association:
1.People affected by some of the
dangerous diseases are 20% less likely to be vegetarians compared to meat
eaters.
2.90%-97% of cardiovascular diseases are prevented by
vegetarian diet.
3.Meat contains 14 times more
chemicals and pesticides than plant foods.
George Bernard shaw said, ’While our bodies
are the living graves of murdered animals, how can we expect peace.’
Consider this, say u have a small piece of
land, if u cultivate grain u may get some 16kg of grain, which will be
sufficient to feed 20 people. Whereas u get only 1kg of beef (in US) sufficient
for only 2 people.
We see many slaughter houses in the US,
which are killing nearly 6,00,000 animals per hour in order to satisfy the
tastebuds of the people. The cost buying hamburgers for a meal in the US is
cheaper than buying some vegetables. These companies have exploited in such a
way there. In India too there are many slaughter houses (cows’ too). So just
for satisfying our tatebuds it is inhuman to kill an animal when the same
proteins can be obtained from the milk and the pulses.
I was a non-vegetarian too. I, till recently,
used to eat meat almost 4 days a week . In BITS also , I used to have non-veg almost daily. Never gave my ear to the pleas of some of my friends who are vegetarians. But now I realised and I am trying to
avoid it. I was set aback on hearing these facts. If you are a non-vegetarian,
try avoiding meat eating. It is for our own benefit. You have see mediacally which is good. If you don’t believe these
facts try yourself think how you feel when u eat a healthy vegetarian diet
compare it with the non-vegetarian food.
May be
its time to be a vegetarian. Time to change. Say Hi to Healthy Diet.
