Showing posts with label Hinduism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hinduism. Show all posts

Wednesday, 22 September 2010

Death: By Choice or By GOD?

Death by Choice?? Isn't that a coward's act? Only those, who do not have the courage to face the future take the easiest way out.

Who are humans, mere mortals, to take away something the GOD has given? It is GOD given. So it is upto the GOD to take it. That's the right thing.

I believed the same - till recently. But, let's look at an alternate thinking.

Men and Women, when born on this earth, are the same. They cry, with all their might, throwing their hands and legs up into the air and they keep crying. The similarity ends there.

Thereafter the experiences which each person goes through, shapes each individual. Someone becomes bold. Some light hearted. Some cruel. Some kind. Some philosophical. Some logical. Some whatever.....

When someone feels that his dreams are shattered and only smoke exists now, When his worst fears becomes true, When he is repetatedly being cheated, When he finds no meaningfulness to his existance, he may take the suicide route. Can we blame that person?

Afterall, GOD has given us the freedom of choice. Right?

Is it a cowardly act? I don't think so. It is the circumstances that force people to execute such choices. Ofcourse, these circumstances are the outcomes of the choices the very same people made a while ago.

The sad fact is that some of them doesn't realise that the choices made by them created these circumstances and end up blaming the circumstances or their inability to find a solution.

So what's the solution?

Hinduism says that the problems you face in life may be a Sanchita Karma - the accumulated bad acts of your past births. Unless you finish off with all your Sanchita Karmas, you will not attain Moksha (Nirvana). Hence it is better to deal with it now rather than postponing to your next birth by choice.

Life never has a closed door. There is always a way before you. It is just that you may have to take a deviation. It may not be obvious for you. You might have to search for it. It may take some time before you figure out your way forward. But, there is always a way forward.

When you are thinking of Death by Choice, it is only one among many doors before you. Afterall, if you do not have anthing to lose, why not try the other choices? If they fail, you can always come back to the trivial choice.

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

My experience with Nadi Astrology : Part 1

Do you know that some one some where in South India, has written down your entire past, present and future in palm leaves about 2000 years ago?..Surprised?..Consult a Nadi Astrologer right now...

Nadi Astrology - the most accurate mode of revealing life, is a prime school of thought in Vedic astrology. According to Nadi Astrology, Lord Siva, the prime God in the belief of trinity in Hinduism, pleased with the siddhas(Seven Sages) devotion, blessed them with some exclusive powers. He gave them the incredible ability to read and know the past, present and future of people. They etched their immense knowledge in palm leaves called Nadis. Nadi in Tamil means "In Search of".

The nadi leaves, initially stored in the premises of Tanjavur Saraswati Mahal Library, were auctioned by the British and came into the posession of families of astrologers near Vaitheeswaran Kovil in Tanjavur. These leaves are handed over from generation to generation in these families who earn their livelihood by reading the palm leaves. The younger members of the families are trained by the older members in reading and interpreting the Nadi leaves. The texts in the leaves are written in poetic form in Vatteluttu, which is an ancient Tamil script. Nadi astrologers would like to call themselves as Nadi readers as they do not perform astrology, but just reads what is written in the leaves. Hence, any thing which is not written in the leaves cannot be predicted by the Naadi reader.

The Procedure:
Once you apporach a Nadi astrologer, he takes your thumb impression and analyses it. The Naadi leaves are classified according to the type of the thumb impression. There are 108 types of thumb impression like Sanku ,Meru, Sikari, Vattam, one dot, two dots, three dots, etc. My thumb impression was found to be of three dots category. For each thumb impression there are likely to be around 5 to 6 bundles with the nadi astrologer; and each bundle contains forty to fifty different people’s general prediction leaves.

Once your thumb impression is identified, the astrologer returns with a couple of bundles from that category and starts reading. He starts asking you a series of questions for which you have to answer only Yes or No. The questions can be like "you have two sisters", "your father worked with government", "Does your mother's name contains the letter K" etc...All you have to do is say Yes or No. The nadi reader skips the leave if you answer no and goes to the next one and asks a different question. You will be surprised when the reader correctly asks your parent's name to you. The nadi reader can tell you about your past with almost 100% accuracy.

Once your general leaf is identified, he proceeds to read/write the contents of the leaf. There are about 12 different kandams/chapters that can be read. You can select which all kandams that are to be read. The naadi reader charges based on the number of leaves you take. Special Kandams cost more.

List of Kandam Details:

1) To be found out through thumb impression(For Gents, right; Ladies, left) of the concerned person. Will contain name, parent's names, present details of profession, brothers, sisters, children, wife and gist of future predictions for all the 12 houses of your horoscope. It is also a summary of the 11 following kandams.

2) Money, Eyes, Family, Education, Intuition and Speech.

3) Brothers and Sisters, affection, help or ill feeling between self and brothers and sisters.

4) Mother, House, Vehicles, Lands and Pleasures.

5) Children, Their birth, reason for infertility(if any), adoption of remedial measures for having children, future lives of children

6) Disease, Debts, Enemies and Litigations or Cases.

7) Marriage and status of married life. Also contains hints of valuable information about the name of the future spouse, horoscope, age of marriage, location of the spouse's house and some characteristic features of the spouse etc.

8) Longevity, Accident & Danger to Life, Age, Month, Date, Day, Time, Star, Lagnam, and Place of Death

9) Father, Wealth, Visit to Holy Temples/ Places, Advise from Holy men, Fortune, Charitable deeds and Social Life

10) Career, Job, Profession and Business, Good and Bad times in career. Future predictions about growth, prosperity and losses in one's job or business.

11) Profits in Business and Second Marriage

12) Expenditures, Foreign Visits, Next birth and Attainment of Moksha(Salvation).

In addition to these 12 kandams, there are 3 special kandams also which costs more.

Special Kandams:

13) Shanti Pariharam: Last birth, sins committed, and remedial measures that can dilute the effect of past sins.

14) Deeksha Kandam: Wearing Mantra Raksha(Talisman), to ward of enemies. Raksha ensures relatively better rewards for one's efforts and success in deeds.

15) Avushada Kandam: Medicines, prescription suggested to those suffering from chronic diseases.

16) Dasa Bhuktikandam: Prediction for the present major and sub period of the planet.

17) Prasna Kandam: Answers Yes or No, for five questions about a particular time thought by the person.

Generally Remedial measures like visiting certain temples, feeding the poor, giving alms to the Nadi reader. etc, are suggested. The temples usually suggested are the Navagraha Temples of Kumbakonam, Thirupathi, Sri KalaHasti Temple etc. Corresponding to the sins committed, the remedial measures are suggested.

Please note that the Kandams 2-12 talks about your future from the moment of consultation to the end of your life or for a range of 10-15 years from the moment of consultation, depending upon the type of Nadi you consulted. In the next part of this article, I will outline my experiences with two different types of Nadis.

Friday, 21 November 2008

ISKCON’s Akshaya Patra Programme- Truly Enlightening


The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as “Hare Krishna Movement”, has been practicising “devotion to god” ( Bhakti Yoga) for the past 4 decades. They were instrumental in attracting people to the ideals of Hinduism world over. ISKCON runs the Akshaya Patra Foundation – the largest mid-day meal non-governmental organization in the world, which is now feeding over 960,000 underprivileged children daily in over 5,700 schools in six states in India.


From their Website: “The Akshaya Patra Foundation makes a difference in the lives of underprivileged children and their families by evolving a free school meal program in government schools.

The mid day meal program motivates children to attend and remain in school thereby ensuring their holistic overall development. This in turn contributes to a self-reliant, productive society. It is therefore our endeavor to make sure that children continue their education.

It is a proven fact that children who are fed at school display a higher level of concentration, short-term memory and verbal fluency. Also, the drop-out rate is tremendously low amongst children who avail the mid-day meals in schools.

The program therefore plays a vital role in ensuring a better tomorrow, both for the child and the society at large.


In a detailed interview here at ODE Magazine( reproduced at Huffington Post), Chitranga Chaitanya Das from Akshaya Patra Foundation explains the concept.


Watch these videos to understand the difference Akshaya Patra has been making.



Akshaya Patra in Bangalore


Akshaya Patra in Puri


Akshaya Patra in Jaipur


Akshaya Patra in Vrindavan


Quite Overwhelming!!..... I never knew that we can mass produce Indian breads like chappati without compromising on quality. The scale at which Akshaya Patra operates is just amazing....


This is a best example of how corporates join hands with an NGO to make a difference to the society, thereby to the future of a country. Take a look at the honour roll.


Their USA arm, chaired by Desh Deshpande of Sycamore Networks, runs the "One for One" program where $28 donated to the foundation will provide nutritious meals to one child every day for an entire year.


An excellent cause and an excellent program....