reality and the likes

From Wikipedia: Trance denotes any state of awareness or consciousness other than normal waking consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden. The term trance may be associated with hypnosis, meditation, magic, flow and prayer. It may also be related to the earlier generic term, altered states of consciousness. Trance is an amazing experience. It is difficult to explain to one who hasn't been in the state himself. A state resembling deep sleep, An out-of-body experience in which one feels they have passed out of the body into another state of being, a rapture, an ecstasy. Trance conditions include all the different states of mind, emotions, moods and daydreams that human beings experience. All activities which engage a human involve the filtering of information coming into sense modalities, and this influences brain functioning and consciousness. Therefore, trance may be understood as a way for the mind to change the way it filters information in order t...

Amazing movie on the 12 yearly Kumbh Mela See the Trailer here See Reviews and Buy the DVD here

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The Bhagavad Gita The infinite joy of touching the Godhead is easily attained by those who are free from the burden of evil and established within themselves. They see the Self in every creature and all creation in the Self. With consciousness unified through meditation, they see everything with an equal eye. I am ever present into those who have realized Me in every creature. Seeing all life as My manifestation,they are never separated from Me. They worship Me in the hearts of all, and all their actions proceed from Me. Wherever they may live, they abide in Me. When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union. Compare this to what Mother Theresa said, you will be left stunned and cold! Click for the Video Some months ago we went out in Kolkata and we picked up four or five people from the streets, and we took them to our home for the day. One of them was in a very bad condition, I told the sisters, ...

On Death The Self, having in dreams enjoyed the pleasures of sense, gone hither and thither, experienced good and evil, hastens back to the state of waking from which he started. As a man passes from dream to wakefulness, so does he pass from this life to the next. When a man is about to die, the subtle body, mounted by the intelligent self, groans--as a heavily laden cart groans under its burden. When his body becomes thin through old age or disease, the dying man separates himself from his limbs, even as a mango or a fig or a banyan fruit separates itself from its stalk, and by the same way that he came he hastens to his new abode, and there assumes another body, in which to begin a new life. When his body grows weak and he becomes apparently unconscious, the dying man gathers his senses about him and, completely withdrawing their powers, descends into his heart. No more does he see form or color without. He neither sees, nor smells, nor tastes. He does not speak, h...

About why Arjuna should fight The demonic do things they should avoid and avoid the things they should do. They have no sense of uprightness, purity, or truth. "There is no God," they say, "no truth, no spiritual law, no moral order. The basis of life is sex; what else can it be?" Holding such distorted views, possessing scant discrimination, they become enemies of the world, causing suffering and destruction. Hypocritical, proud, and arrogant, living in delusion and clinging to deluded ideas, insatiable in their desires, they pursue their unclean ends. Although burdened with fears that end only with death, they still maintain with complete assurance, "Gratification of lust is the highest that life can offer." Bound on all sides by scheming and anxiety, driven by anger and greed, they amass by any means they can a hoard of money for the satisfaction of their cravings. "I got this today," they say; "tomorrow I shall get that. This wealth is m...

"When the ghosts read the writing on the skulls Shiva wears around his neck, they know, 'This one is Brahma, this one is Vishnu, this one is Indra, this is death,' as they play happily with them, Shiva smiles, he laughs, our god --Basava, vacana no.537 translated in A.K. Ramanujan.

To many it is not given to hear of the Self. Many, though they hear of it, do not understand it. Wonderful is he who speaks of it. Intelligent is he who learns of it. Blessed is he who, taught by a good teacher, is able to understand it. The truth of the Self cannot be fully understood when taught by an ignorant man, for opinions regarding it, not founded in knowledge, vary one from another. Subtler than the subtlest is this Self, and beyond all logic. Taught by a teacher who knows the Self and Brahman as one, a man leaves vain theory behind and attains to truth. The awakening which you have known does not come through the intellect, but rather, in fullest measure, from the lips of the wise.... Words cannot reveal him. Mind cannot reach him. Eyes do not see him. How then can he be comprehended, save when taught by those seers who indeed have known him? Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart. Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closes Lives in the Self. He is the source...

This is a Random collection of quotes. They are not necessarily in the right sequence. If you want to study the Upanishads or the Gita in their entirety, pl refer to sites dedicated to this. I have some links ion the left pane Select a clean spot, neither too high nor too low, and seat yourself firmly on a cloth, a deerskin, and kusha grass. Then, once seated, strive to still your thoughts. Make your mind one-pointed in meditation, and your heart will be purified. Hold your body, head, and neck firmly in a straight line, and keep your eyes from wandering. With all fears dissolved in the peace of the Self and all desires dedicated to God, controlling the mind and fixing it on Me, sit in meditation with Me as your only goal. With senses and mind constantly controlled through meditation, united with the Self within, an aspirant attains Nirvana, the state of abiding joy and peace in Me. Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not...

Here is yet another article that talks about "Benefits of Meditation" at work The needs of business environment are fast demanding some techniques that can be incorporated to cater to the mental needs of the employees and executives. Tension, anxiety, and fatigue are common phenomenon that almost all the corporate sector is complaining about.The competition and market demand does not allow them to be moderate in their work. They need to work like machines. This is actually where the problem lies, and meditation at work can easily have its impact. Meditating at work can prove almost to be a panacea for work environment problems.... (Read the rest of the article here ) The summary "Benefits" seems to be " Increase in productivity " and " Improvement in performance ". My take on this is, firstly this sounds like you are describing a machine, secondly Yes, we all know one needs to enter the inner sanctum to be at peace, weather at work or not. The g...

If there were a competition to decide who is the 20th century's a) most voracious reader; b) most prolific author; and c) assembler of the largest personal library, India would have a candidate. His name is Osho, a spiritual leader, who attained, before his death in 1990, a substantial following both in India and the West. India's esteem for Osho can be measured by the fact that he is one of only two authors whose entire works have been placed in the Library of India's National Parliament in New Delhi. The other is Mahatma Gandhi. From 1958 to 1966, Osho was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Jabalpur. Thereafter, he devoted himself entirely to spiritual study, reading close to 100 books a week. He is said to have read 100-200.000 titles over a period of forty years, some fiction, but mostly philosophy, psychology, religion and science. In Books I have loved (1985), a book dedicated to the memory of Alan Watts and his effort to bridge the gap between Eastern and ...

In the name of socialism today a great uproar is being raised all over the world. In this huge crowd, shouting hurray to socialism, my position is like that of the little child who exclaimed, "Father, the king is stark naked; there are no clothes on his body." I feel it is time somebody said it. Human nature is such that it accepts a well-published lie as truth. A lie repeated again and again begins to look like truth. And truth said for the first time does not look like truth. For the last hundred years a systematic myth has been created around socialism. And its constant propaganda and slogan-mongering have made socialists of those who are not socialists at all. Even those who do not accept it in their hearts have begun to sing hymns of praise to socialism. And no one seems to have the courage to speak against it. I am an inexperienced man in the world of the experienced, and, therefore, I am going to speak out against socialism. The crowd has always accepted great lies, an...

Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life. This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new. At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable. Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill. When thou commandest me to sing it seems that my heart would break with pride; and I look to thy face, and tears come to my eyes. All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony ---and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across the sea. I know thou takest pleasure in my singing. I know that only as a singer I come before thy presence. I touch by the edge of the far-spreading wing of my song thy feet which I could never aspire to reach. Drunk...

What has destroyed love? it is the continous teaching of love that has destroyed love. Hate is still pure, love is not. When you hate, your hate has an authenticity but when you love it is only hypocricy. For thousands of years all the religions, politicians have been teaching one thing - love. Love your enemy, love thy neighbour, love your parents, love God! Why did they start this strange teachings of love? they were afraid of your authentic love, because the authentic love is beyond your control... you are possesed by it. You are not the possesor, you are the possessed. And every society wants you to be in control. The society is afraid of your wild nature, its afraid of your naturalness, so from the very begining it starts cutting your wings. The most basic thing which is dangerous in you is the possibility of love because if you are possessed by love, you can go even against the whole world

The end proves the means right. The whole question is about how to go up the ladder but you never come to the end of it. Who so ever is in front of you creates jealousy in you. The whole life, you will find somebody is always ahead of you. Somebody below you. Amazingly there is always somebody ahead of you whoever you are in the world. So everybody seems to be in the middle. Perhaps the ladder is a circle, a wheel? So why not jump out of the ladder? Well this is not possible! because you see, there is always someone below you... this makes you feel good! you want to be in the ladder... Drop competition, drop jealousy. Its absolutely pointless. If you have found yourself you have found contnetment, fulfilment...Esctasy

The class 6 student history text books in India make the following proud statement about the glorious days of ancient India. “Ancient India was a pioneer in science and mathematics. We invented the zero….” The lesson goes on to state various accomplishments in medicine, astronomy and mathematics. All of these are amazing accomplishments in their own right but it is the statement about the zero which has always intrigued me. What are we proud of? of inventing nothing? of inventing a mere symbol for nothing, which is probably the most insignificant number of all? At that time, for the little me, it was even a little embarrassing. We are the proud owners of the sunya (zero). Is that Indicative of how we are a big zero in contribution to modern science, sports, medicine or industry? Yet, the statement was never once retracted. Everybody seems to think that it is an important claim, but nobody seems to explain its importance. So, what is the importance of the discovery of zero? The answer t...

OSHO: Satsang Why are we able to see faults of others more easily than our own? Here Osho talks about the self and the other. Why are we not able to see ourselves easily. Who are we? What happens when we see ourself? What is awareness? Rise and Fall of Rajneeshpuram University of Oregon video on the 64,000 acre land that Osho sanyasins transformed into the worlds biggest meditation resort. Tom Robbins about the Indian Mystic Osho Tom talks about his experiences with teachnigs of Osho. Shares his opinion on the most powerful teachnings of Osho like the grandest joke he played on consumerism. OSHO: Nataraja Meditation Video description of of all 5 stages of the Natraja Dynamic meditation pioneered by Osho. The video is informational and not instructional. That is you cannot use this to acually perform the meditation. For instance it is not the actual length of the meditation 10mins stage one + 10 mins satge two etc OSHO: Medicine - Mind - Meditation A video documentary on John Andre...