Recently I had gone to attend a prayer
meeting to one of my relative's house whose mother had died all of a
sudden.When I reached, Punditji had already started the havan.,chanting hymns
in a whispering voice.I don,t think anybody could grasp anything what Panditji was chanting other than' Swaha'Those who are
sitting around the Havankund also started saying' Swaha' loudly and rest of the
mantra swallowing happily.I also sat in one corner and started whispering
'Swaha'.This prayer was performed for
giving Moksha to the departed soul.I
noticed Panditji bringing out the sanskrit words with great difficulty as if he
is trying to remember whatever he studied long back and coughing out ,closing
his eyes as if to hide out his embarrasment.This made me to become little more
attentive.Suddenly he started his' bhashan'.He says'when someone dies he will
go to yamaloka,there he/she has to pass under a tree.If his deeds were not good
when he was alive he won,t be able to pass under that tree.If at all he pass
-es then he has to cross a river of blood which he won,t be able to swim
because before he tries to swim itself
he will be in the webs of Yama,s servants . So the departed soul will
never get shanti.We have to perform one
more Pooja'...'I got very ferocious..Being a Pandit what rubbish he is
talking.! How he is misleading the crowd.

How any one on
the earth knows what happens to the departed soul.?Has anybody seen how this so
called heaven and hell looks like.?If this is the case then all these fraud
panditjis will never see the door of heaven.They are misguiding the peopleThey
do not have the sradha or gyan to grasp the vast knowledge in our sacred books
which is written by Great yogis.These people are not wise,They predict
themselves that they are scholars.They are Pundits without any wisdomThey are
not jnanis

Whatever little knowledge I have acquired
from Gita I would like to quote here.

Man is of three bodies:the physical
,subtle and casual.Only the physical body is visible to the naked eye.We can
see how the bodies of people are changing.Just as we do not take bath in the
same water again and again we do not have the same bodies always.From birth
till death human body undergo several changes.Along with this, the subtle
body-mind- also undergo changes.Mind too is ever on the move.The casual body
leaves the physical and subtle body (mind) after their death and assumes
another pair.It too is ever on the move from one body to the other, at its death and the consequent
birth.It is but a chain of birth death and rebirth. As the old clothes are
dropped to wear the new ones,the old or worn out bodies are dropped to assume
the new ones

This is a true story of a child
told to me by a friend of mine

A girl child who was studying in
primary school used to be very adament about taking her food.Her mother used to
get so fed up and tired because of this
child,s nature.Every day she had to spend so much time with her daughter and
her days ends up with unnecessary shouting and sobbing etc.Days passed on like
this.

One day her mother called her
with the food and as usual child started showing her tantrums.Then all of a
sudden child said"Yes I will eat all these on one condition.You should grant me
my wishes once I finish with my food."Mother became very hesitant.If she ask
something which I cannot provide... 'no I will not promise 'Mother tried to
reason it out with her.But the kid did
not agree,keeping her foot firmly on the ground.Hearing this commotion child,s
father also joined them.She repeated the same thing.Her demand put the father
also in a dilemma .My daughter might ask me to buy a computer or
something costlier than that which I cannot afford,then how can I fullfill my
promise to her.He got worried.Both the mother and father tried to cajole the
daughter .But everything was in vain.'I WILL ONLY EAT THIS, IF YOU PROMISE ME TO GRANT ME WHATEVER I ASK IN THE END.'At
last both of them had to agree and the child happily finished off all the
stuff.Then she kept her condition
infront of them'I want my head to be shaven,I don,t want any hair over
there.'Hearing this unusual demand from her daughter parents got very surprised, confused.Such long beautiful hair
how can they allow her to part
with,how can any body get it cut.off .They tried to make her understand and
demanded her to ask something else.But the kid did not agree.Their heart is
broken .PROMISE.. they have to fullfill.So with a heavy heart they got her hair
cut.

Next day child got ready to go to school. That day she
appeared more happy than before.Father took her to school.On the way child
asked .father to stop infront of a house.It was her friends house.From
there ,came out a small boy who has got no hair on his head.Behind the boy came
out his father.He said with folding hand,'your daughter has saved my son.he is
suffering from cancer and due to medication his hairs have fallen. Because of
this children started teasing him at school and he is refusing to go to school
since many days.But just because of your daughter he has agreed to go to
school.

Father became dumbfounded.He thaught loudly'infront of
whom should I bow my head -to god or IN FRONT OF MY DAUGHTER.He started sobbing........

'Friends, this is an article
I read long back in R D.I thought I must share this with you so that this will
do some help in your day to day life
and I feel some of my friends will be benefited after reading this[if
only they read]

If somebody criticise you first of all try to
accept it ,if you cannot accept it try to top it,if you cannot top it try to
reason it out and if you cannot do any of these, then probably you may deserve it.'

Bejamine Franklin remarked 'only two things in life are
certain;death and taxes'But there is one more unpleasant thing-criticism.No
one escapes it entirely.

How are we going to react it?

There are two
kinds of criticism- one is gentle, tactful constructive variety and the other
is blunt, harsh hostile kind.It is easy to react with resentment and anger.But
this makes you more vulnerable.;if all you do is resent your critic, you are
only poisoining yourself.

The
first step is to force yourself to be dispassionate.But
this is never easy,but it can be done.Be
calm.Believe in this God-given inner
calm, he is not likely to be disturbed by any man made storms.Bible
says'pray for your critics,bless them that hurt you'.Try it ,it does relieve
the hurt.Great people have always been criticised.If you are determined to get
things done ,especially if you blaze new path,you are going to encounter
hostility and opposition.The greatest man who ever walked this earth was
bitterly criticised.

The
second step in coping with criticism is to be
rational.Take up the criticism and examine it objectively.'We learn much from the disagreeable things people say,
for they make us think;where as the good things only make us glad' told by Theodor
Leschetizky.How correctly said! Ask yourself honestly if there is any truth in
the criticism.Beware of self excuse or
rationalizations; if you give into these you may just compound the original
error.If you feel whatever the critics say is correct then accept it.,admit
it.After all if you agree with him what more he can say?Examine the qualification of your critic.Is he reputable
and sincere?If so, you had better not dismiss his words at
once.Dignified silence is often the best reply to slander.If criticism is false
and damaging,you must reply to it.

When
criticism finally reaches your ears, it may well have become exaggerated.There
are always people who enjoy the excitement and will add oil in the flame.So better re-examine it before reacting.

Gossip is
nothing but criticism motivated by jealousy or insecurity.But it is true that
we all gossip at some level.That is because we all are human.

As Disraeli remarked,'It is much easier to be critical
than correct'-so there will be plenty of critics in the world,some well
intentioned ,others cruel..You can defend yourself against the unkind ones by
learning to control your emotional reactions,by adopting a calm and rational
attitude and by honestly trying to help your critics to rid themselves of
their anger.But your best defence is your own day-to-day conduct.It
is keeping your moral standards high.

With the reference to the murder case which has rocked
the Noida well I am talking about
theArushi murder

Murder of a , fourteen year old student,like every
one it has rocked me also violently and alas! my heart is broken.I am
thoroughly disappointed depressed.'ham ek hastha kheltha parivar dha'.Then what
had gone wrong?Is this the end of an era-an era of a father daughter
relationship,the security one feels in
the hands of parents,the meaning of 'family'?.

.I leave it on to future.

What is
the reason for these unfortunate state of
affairs? The blame lies squarely on the elders of our society or is it
the youth?May be both are to be blamed.. Youth is an infinite store
house of power.Using this power a young
man can shape up his destiny.But our young men are blissfully ignorant about their incredible strength and
energy.There is fire of young blood in them but they are unable to achieve
anything great in life.Why is it so? Because they lack common sense.Who can
introduce this commonsense?It is the elders.We elders have not made our youth
to realize that youth is the right time to achieve big in life ..We have not made them realize that
if we waste our youth we will
repent in

our old age..Elders should made them realize that if
we utilize our youth then life will be
one of fulfilment. And if we misutilize it our whole life will be a tragedy.

But today we have many elderly people who are old only in years,but are
still very immature in mind.Life has added years up on years to these people
.But experience has not added wisdom to their personality.So who will open the
eyes of our youth.

Mahaganapathi has several names. He is the god
of plenty ,wisdom ,good fortune,peace
and spiritual success.Pleased by our prayers He removes all obstacles in the path of any work we undertake. So he is
called Vigneswara.He stands for OM, for his figure with elephant trunk
resembles the form of OM. Hence He is also called Pranava Swaroopa.

His elephant head
has a great symbolic explanation.The word "elephant" in sanskrit is "gaja"
Ga,means the Gati or the final goal towards which the entire creation is
moving.Ja stands for Janma,means birth or origine.Hence Gaja signifies god from
whom the world have come out and towards whom they are progressing to merge in
Him at the end.

His large ears
indicate continuous and intelligent listening to the teacher.His hearing is
very sharp and His concentration is very deep.

He has a long
trunk.The trunk of an elephant can pick up a pin and at the same time it can
uproot a big tree. It means that He can handle any work big or small.If a poor
and humble man prays,Ganesha fullfill his wants and if a demon challenges He
destroys him.He is most compassionate and powerful.

His vehicle
mouse is small but not insignificant.If a mouse wants it can rescue a lion
also.It also represent desires.Desires are men,s enemy.If man run after desires
he perishes.Ganesha sits on the mouse and controlls it.

He has a noose
or rope in one hand.It signifies worldly attachments which make us suffer
endlessely.Worldly attachments are a bondage like rope.The second hand
hold Ankusha or goad.It represents anger. Just as the noose bind us ,anger hurt
us like a goad.

When our
attachment and anger increases ,life becomes miserable.The only way to
escape from the tyranny of this is by
taking refugee in God. It is better for us to surrender our attachment and
anger to Him. When they are in His hands we are safe .The third hand hold
Modaka-a sweet preparation.If we please him by our good deeds and worship,He
bestows happiness on us.

The fourth hand is in the blessing
pose.He blesses the whole humanity.After all we are his children.He wants us
always to be happy and cheerful.

He has a
large belly.It indicates that all created worlds are contained in him.It also
shows his ability to stomach and digest all types of experience s, good and
bad.

Practicing Sadhanas ,people like us cannot do it.In
Vaishnav Sadhanas the devotees adopt five different attitudes of love to god.

Vatsalya: that of parent to the child or
of the child to the parents.

Sakhya:of a friend to a friend

Santa: of the tranquil mind to
all-love:

Dasya:of the servant to the master.

Madhura:of the sweetheart to the beloved

In this the highest form of Sahana is Madhura- Bhava.-the
relation between God as beloved and the human soul as lover.In the masculine
form of Sri Krishna is personified the idea of Paramatman ,the formless
Existence ,Knowledge,Bliss Absolute-the Purusha,the Male principle of the
universe.Everything with form in the universe,whether gross or subtle is the
Prakriti-Infinite nature or the Faminine principle,the consort of the
Purusha-personified as Sri-Radha`.The seeker takes up the attitude of Radha,the
cowherd girl of Vrindaban,whose burning love for Sri Krishna made her forget
everything but her sweetheart.In this Sadhana all forms of devotion are
consummated.

When Great Sri Ramkrishna practised this Sadhana he had
so much turned himself in to a woman that other women of the household felt no
constraint in his company. These practices brought him the vision of Radha in a
short time.After this vision ,he began to consider himself Radha,longing for
the vision of Sri Krishna.and he was finally blessed with the vision of Krishna