serveloveandrealise

But this was not to be so!

serveloveandrealise — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:25:18 +0000

I was eagerly awaiting my family to return back to Dubai after spending their summer holidays in Mumbai. They were scheduled to return on 18th Aug, but this was not to be so. I had planned to leave for Mumbai on 19th Aug 2011, after spending one day together with my family in Dubai. But this was not to be so, instead I arrived Mumbai earlier on the 16th August.

My purpose of visit to Mumbai was to serve my aged father (85) as he was not keeping well. But this was not to be so. Instead; “Papa” my Father-in-Law 81 years young person, was admitted to ICU of Kokilaben Ambani Hospital (one of the best hospital in the suburbs). He was diagnosed of a mild heart attack and excess of Calcium in the body.

We thought he would recover in 3/4 days of stay in ICU, but this was not to be so. he was in ICU for 22 days until he passed his last breath. My father-in-law left us to be in heavenly abode on 1st September 2011.

Nanik Vaswani - my father in law

I booked my tickets for the 16th Sept to leave back to Dubai after completing the rituals and ceremonies. But this was not to be so. I had to again postpone it for the 22nd September as my Dad was admitted in the same Hospital on 15th September. He was diagnosed with mild Heart Attack and a stroke that affected his speech.

Serve with devotion and love

serveloveandrealise — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 05:26:53 +0000

Karuna my daughter is a one embodiment of devotion and love. In Hindu culture, Karuna means compassion. I can proudly say my daughter Karuna, befits not only her name but as a real human being. Selfless and with complete devotion she loved and served my Dad whenever an opportunity would arise.

She did not confide in me as much as she did with my Dad. Loving a person is one thing, but to feel and show compassion in deeds, my daughter karuna stood at the forefront in my family.

When my Dad visited Dubai, Karuna ensured that she is with my Dad and offer any assistance in any form and ways. It was very heartening to see her shaving my Dad during his visit to Dubai in Dec 2009. She actually enjoyed massaging Dad’s feet, pedicure his toes, apply mud-pack on his face, shave and then facial massage to my Dad. Karuna is a blessed child. may God protect her and keep her happy at all times.

Service to mankind with love and devotion is a deed in attainment of God realisation.

A religion of freedom

serveloveandrealise — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 02:05:41 +0000

Hinduism is a religion of freedom. Hinduism allows absolute freedom to the rational mind of man. Hinduism never demands any undue restraint upon the freedom of human reasons, the freedom of thought and will of man. It allows the widest freedom in matters of faith and worship. It allows absolute freedom to the human reason and heart with regards to questions such as nature of God, soul, creation, form of worship and the goal of life.

Hinduism is not founded by any prophet. Buddhism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism owe their religion to the prophets. Their dates are fixed. But no such date can be fixed for Hinduism. Hinduism is not born of the teachings of particular prophets. It is not set on based on a set of dogmas preached by particular set of teachers. It is free from religious fanaticism. Hinduism does not force anybody to accept any particular dogmas or forms of worship. Unlike in other religions, people are required to convert to a religion to be accepted. Hinduism, there is nothing as conversion. Hence all sorts of faiths, various forms of worship and diverse kinds of rituals and customs, have found their honourable places isde by side within Hinduism and are cultured and developed in harmonious relationship with one another.

Hinduism does not condemn those who deny God as the creator and ruler of the world, who do not accept the existence of an eternal soul and the state of Moksha or state of liberation. Hinduism does not render the upholders of such views unfit to be recognized as pious and honourable members of the Hindu religious society.

The religious hospitality of Hinduism is proverbial (well-known). Hinduism pays respects to all religions. It does not revile (condemn or abuse) any other religion. There are considerable numbers of followers of other religions in India. And yet, the Hindus live in perfect harmony, peace and friendship with all of them. Their tolerance and fellow-feeling towards the followers of other religions is remarkable.

Islam in India is the second largest religion.
There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively

Despite all the differences of metaphysical doctrines, modes of relious discipline and forms of ritualistic practices and social habits prevalent in the Hindu society, there is an essential uniformity in the conception of religion and in the outlook on life and the world, among all sections of Hindus.
Excerpt from the book “All about Hinduism” by Swami Sivananda of Divine Life Society.

Why Hindus perform the havan (sacred fire).

serveloveandrealise — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 04:21:28 +0000

Hindus, worship in many forms. There is not one method that fits all. Various occasions, and purposes require different Pujas’s (worship). On many a religious occasion, Hindus perform the Havan, a form of puja (worship). The havan, or yajna, as described by Swami Krishnanada of Divine Life Society, is an external act of offering into the sacred fire, and is symbolic of the dedication of oneself to God in utter surrender. The formulae chanted during the havan are mantras which have the power to generate a vibration in the atmosphere around and to invoke certain divine forces.

Shukavak N. Dasa, in his blog refers the use of fire as a means of worship is the most ancient of all rites, going back to the earliest Vedic times. This fire ritual is described in elaborate detail in the Brahmanas. From the earliest of Vedic times and even to present day, fire (Agni) was viewed as the chief of the Gods. In fact, the first verse of the Rig Veda is addressed to Agni, the fire God. “I praise Agni, the chosen Priest, God, minister of sacrifice… .

Curb your emotions when disciplining your loved ones

serveloveandrealise — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:52:57 +0000

The temperature outside was 46 degrees C. at 15:10 hours. I left my son to walk just over 20 minutes from my house to the nearest Bus station. Reason, I had to reach my office and did not prefer to be late.
A day earlier, my son asked me if he could be dropped after lunch to his friend’s house. I said “No”, cause I will get late to reach my office. However I agreed to drop him to the nearest Bus-station. Today, one hour prior to coming home for lunch, I messaged through BBM (Blackberry messenger) advising my son to be ready so we could have lunch and then drop him to the bus station. I reached home, finished my lunch but there was no sign of my son. Upon asking my dear wife, she replied that he is getting ready. Few seconds later, he appeared and was handed with a lunch-plate from my wife. My patience was dwindling as I knew that I will surely be late reaching my office. However, I tried to control myself and asked my son to hurry up with his lunch that his Mom and he had just started.

This “Hurry – up” did not go well with my darling wife who choose to tell me that if desired, to please go to office and that our 16 yrs old son will go of his own only after consuming his lunch. Any guesses to my reaction???

I left for my work, leaving my son to walk 20+ minutes in the scorching heat to the nearest bus station.

While I was driving back to my work, thoughts about this situation made me very uncomfortable. I was asking to myself the following questions

Perhaps I should have waited and dropped him to the Bus-station.
My wife should not have commented asking me to proceed to my work.
She could have seconded my comments asking my son to hurry-up.
Perhaps its the right thing I have done to make my son realise the value of time, commitments, responsibilities, discipline and care towards other’s needs (In this case it was my need to be in time at my place of work).
What thoughts must be going in my son’s mind. Wheather, he is blaming himself or me.

I believe even if parents love and care for children, they must be strong in their will to take decisions and actions that perhaps may appear harsh, but will surely inculcate discipline in their loved ones.

Why is it that I’m not able to control the thoughts in my sleeping stage (dreams).

serveloveandrealise — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:15:23 +0000

Today, I was questioning myself, If I’m in my control then why is it that I’m not able to control the thoughts in my sleeping stage (dreams). Who is controlling this dreaming stage?

I’m in my senses when awake. I can feel that “I am”, however in my sleep, I do not know if “I am”. Swami Krishnanda of The Divine Life Society in his discourse “The mystery of one own’s self” says, we are not always awake; sometimes we sleep, and sometimes we dream. We are unconscious at times; we are semi-conscious in dream, and we say we are very intensely conscious in the waking condition. These three conditions are important from the point of view of deep philosophical studies.

Do we exist in all these three states? Nobody can deny that we exist in all the three states. How do we know that we exist in all the three states? While a dreaming person cannot know anything of the waking world, and we cannot bring to the waking world anything that we saw in the dream world, and in sleep we knew nothing, how can we conclude that we existed in all the three states? Who told us this? Especially in sleep we are totally unconscious; we could not be aware that we were, and yet we say, “I was.” Who told us this? Who is making this statement that we existed in sleep and dream, as we were in the waking world? Is it this body? Can we say that the body is making this statement? No sensible person will say so.

The statement “I existed in all the three states” is not made by the body because, firstly, the body was not operating in the dream world. It was dead, as it were, lying like a corpse, and it had no consciousness of entering into the dream world. Read more…..

Is worshiping idols a crazy phenomenon?

serveloveandrealise — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:12:43 +0000

It’s the minds of the people that connect to each other. No mind = no connection, it’s so simple! Our relations such as mother, father, children, uncles, aunts and friends do not necessary need to be in physical contact to connect to each other. However, they are connected. How?; through the minds of the people. Even distance, time and space cannot separate the minds of two people who have some relationships.

Now, the question is how do we connect to the GOD? Although we all believe that God exists unless a person is an atheist or a non-believer, no one has seen God.

We do not even know how he looks, whether he is short, fat, tall, male or female, handsome or beautiful and what colour and shape is he or she? With such circumstances and predicament, how can a man connect to God?

God is one. He is Almighty ! The destination is one. The road to destination is not one. There are several routes of various natures that lead to that one destination. The road you take can be long, short, with lots of hurdles, easy and clear, foggy and unclear and so on.

To resort to some road, to connect to God, mankind that consist of different castes, languages, religion, culture need to assume something in their mind that can be related to the destination – “God”. That is why; such diverse mankind accepts and believes various forms to relate it to the Almighty God. Moreover, this approach makes people very easy to meditate and worship God by keeping that form as an image in their minds to connect to God.

In the house of some of my friends who follow Islamic religion, I have often seen a frame with a picture of Mosque and some also frame scriptures of Holy Quran. Why are these hung on a wall? There is nothing wrong in it as it also one of the ways and means of worshipping and believing the Almighty through such mediums.

I often see a Cross sign in the house of my Christian friends. It’s again not just a piece of wood or a metal; instead, it’s another form to associate with Lord Jesus.

Similarly, I often bow my head to the Holy Granth Saheb (vis-a vis – Bhagwad Gita, Holy Quran and Holy Bible)

All the above I mentioned are just reasons and beliefs in remembering the God Almighty! The same reasoning applies to Hindus worshiping idols that often made in stone, clay, wood or from any matter.

You can also get more insight on my previous blog “Why Hindus worship idols?“

Why do we ring the bell in a temple?

serveloveandrealise — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:41:52 +0000

Is it to wake up the Lord? But the Lord never sleeps. Is it to let the Lord know we have come? He does not need to be told, as He is all knowing. Is it a form of seeking permission to enter His precinct? It is a homecoming and therefore entry needs no permission. The Lord welcomes us at all times. Then why do we ring the bell?
The ringing of the bell produces what is regarded as an auspicious sound. It produces the sound Om, the universal name of the Lord. There should be auspiciousness within and without, to gain the vision of the Lord who is all-auspiciousness.
Even while doing the ritualistic aarati, we ring the bell. It is sometimes accompanied by the auspicious sounds of the conch and other musical instruments. An added significance of ringing the bell, conch and other instruments is that they help drowned any inauspicious or irrelevant noises and comments that might disturb or distract the worshippers in their devotional ardour, concentration and inner peace.
As we start the daily ritualistic worship (pooja) we ring the bell, chanting:

Aagamaarthamtu devaanaam

gamanaarthamtu rakshasaam

Kurve ghantaaravam tatra

devataahvaahna lakshanam

I ring this bell indicating

the invocation of divinity,

So that virtuous and noble forces

enter (my home and heart);

and the demonic and evil forces

from within and without, depart.

Looking for “Freedom”?

serveloveandrealise — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:42:30 +0000

Each one of us are looking for freedom. If asked, what type of freedom are you looking for, we are not able to decide. A person gets confused and is looking for answers to a simple question. No human being in this world is satisfied. Everyone is looking to satisfaction for something or the other. We simply can never be satisfied. Our list of wants is never-ending. More wealth, property, business, fame, better cars, latest mobile phone, computer, IT gadgets, latest softwares and so on.

In such circumstance how are we able to find peace within ourselves. In search of freedom, we tend to look and ask more from outside us, than within us. Unknowingly we are getting into bondage in search of freedom.

A businessman who is successful in earning profits from his business is not satisfied. Even though his house is filled with luxurious objects of desires and comfort, he is not satisfied. He wants more fame, more turnover, more spread of his business nationally and internationally. The thought in the mind that if I can get one more shop/property/business venture/ acquisition or whatever may be the desire, I will then be happy and rest in peace. This peace or freedom can never be achieved. No amount of external intake can fulfill the aim of freedom.

As Swami Krishnanda of Divine life Society, Rishikesh explains in one of his discourses that todays modern man is no better than people in bygone eras. Perhaps we are worse than before. In earlier times, human beings were as individuals living with other individuals. Anyone acted and did what seemed to be right in an individual capacity. Even then as an individual, there was no freedom as such. Individuals formed among them a society to protect everyone’s security. Thinking that they will get some freedom of security they were happy. But then they were bonded by the rules and regulations of the society that were formed by these same individuals. Similar to our present system of government, we are bonded by the systems and as much we find ways and means to find freedom, we get entangles with other associated bondage.

Take an example of your Laptop. You, perhaps wanted freedom of mobility in accessing and working at your own given time and place. You bought a Laptop and thought that you are now happy with this freedom. To ensure your Laptop never ditches, you ensure to immunize it with the best antivirus software. But that’s not enough, you also need to protect it from different ‘wares’ such as spyware, adware, malware and other softwares. So you are entangled in finding which is the best firewall to protect such intrusions. In this process, you get bonded with some obstructions. It does not stop here. The ‘Data’, at any cost must be safe, secured and accessible. Now you need to ensure the accessories for your notebook/laptop including all the wires and connections that go with it. Things do not stop here. It gets linked with many more objects of personal desires. As a result you are always tagged to chain of things in the pursuit of finding freedom. Ultimately, in your quest of finding freedom of mobility in accessing and working at your own given time and place, your Laptop now becomes your personal accessory that you have now tagged along with you where ever you go. Is this the freedom that you wanted? Instead you are now bonded by your Laptop.

One more ‘New Year’ !

serveloveandrealise — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 12:07:33 +0000

Every end of the year, perhaps a week or 10 days prior to 31st December we all get excited and unknowingly, all the family members and friends are buzzing on the topic of 31st evening. I’m sure this also becomes a cause for stress and sometimes worries.

Like a herd mentality we must, as though it has become a necessity to be out of the house to be to-gather with friends and relations. And what an irony, we are amongst friends and relations but without our children. The kids feel bore with parents ! Instead of wishing and hugging our own family for the New Year, we are once again under the mercy of the technology by sms’ing to our own kids.

No need to call them, as for sure their phones may be engaged. I need not elaborate on why it will be engaged.

So, we all listen to music, have drinks and food, try to keep up a smile for outside world to know that we are enjoying their company. Although there is no need to impose our views on others, we tend to indulge in this activity to keep oneself be known to the society.

Having said that, I feel very uncomfortable when I reflect it to myself. While I’m thinking about my kids not being with us, here is my Dad aged 87, who is staying alone while I’m with my family having a great time with this ‘society’. Again an irony. I then ponder what is this relation? How is it that, although I realise that my presence with my aged Dad is vital but at the same time it’s ok to be with my own family and among this so-called society to enjoy the New year’s eve? I feel very concerned with this unsettled and wavering state of mind.

Is the happiness of my kids more important than my Dad’s happiness? How can I ignore the fact that even my Dad will wish the same as what I’m wishing as a father for my kids?

Such thoughts make me take help of spiritual and God sent people. Reading and listening from such spiritual masters indeed gives me some peace: