The earth laughs in flowers

How do flower colors influence us? There are different interpretations for colors.

White flowers are associated with weddings and funerals. In China the white blossom of the orange tree is the traditional wedding flower. The orange blossom flower is also used in the wedding bouquet and crown in Italy and Spain. The orange blossom flower is singled out because the orange tree bears flowers and fruits at the same time. Continue reading

Be in the moment and laugh

Examine yourself if you are serious and unsmiling. Why are you like that? Observe a child playing a game and shouting, or just laughing. You can do the same. Stop trying to understand everything around you. Look at the magic, a spider’s web with dew drops in it. Sunlight going through them, and you can see a rainbow. Continue reading

998 – Our quest for mysticism

Mysticism is the belief that one can experience a direct connection with God, or a unifying principle in life. It can also refer to any altered state of consciousness or ecstasy that has a spiritual or religious meaning. In Hinduism one seeks the union with a higher being and this can be described as a mystical dimension. Continue reading

908 – Memories and Senses

Just as a strong wind sweeps a boat off its chartered course on the water, even one of the senses on which the mind focuses can lead the intellect astray. – Bhagavad Gita 2.67

We are very involved with our senses and are committed to them. We are ruled by them, if one is on the path of meditation, then it can be very distracting and we can succumb to temptation. Continue reading

902 – Sivananda Yoga

Sivananda Yoga is the best way to understand and express bhakti. The first step in Sivananda yoga is to serve. The second step is to love. Service and love are concepts of bhakti. When service and love become predominant in life, the mind is drawn to contemplation and remembrance of God. The devotee begins to see God and experience God’s glory within her/himself. That is why the definition of bhakti is serve and love. – Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Continue reading

901 – My Selfie, Self-image, my Self-Schemas

How do we perceive ourselves? We have forgotten that we went through 84,000 births to be a human. So why do we think that we are not perfect. I know one must be humble but one must not feel rejected. I came across jokes on dating sites in the New Yorker magazine. Now New Yorker magazine is read by cerebral persons and it is an amazing magazine. I love its articles, stories, jokes and poems. If one is published in this magazine, then one is recognized. Coming back to my original thought, I found the jokes funny but humiliating. They had a mean barb in it. They could lead to further undermining of one’s self esteem. Continue reading

882 – Change is the law of the universe

Whatever is happening is also for good.
Whatever will happen, shall also be good.
What have you lost that you cry for?
What did you bring that you have lost?
What did you create that was destroyed?
What you have taken, has been from here.
What you gave has been given here.
What belongs to you today,
Belonged to someone yesterday.
And will be someone else’s tomorrow. – Bhagavad Gita

Continue reading

840 – Three levels of self-understanding

The Bhagavad Gita talks about three levels of understanding ourselves.

The first is knowing what one is supposed to do (Swadharma). Swadharma is a term from sva: proper and dharma: law, duty in Hinduism. According to the Gita, Swadharma is to act in harmony with one’s inborn nature for oneself and society. Continue reading

809 – Water is life

 

Turned into strife.

Water makes up 60% of our bodies. On Earth, it appears as lakes, rivers, seas and oceans and it covers 71% of the earth’s surface. Water also exists in the air as water vapor. Currently 44% of all wastewater returns to earth untreated. This means that all our waste (human, household sewerage, toxic and medical) is released directly into the planet’s ecosystems.

We have forgotten what water means. Continue reading