In the series, Evolving Towards Enlightenment I-V, Carl Johan Calleman explains the links between the Mayan Calendar Enlightenment and the significance of the year 2012.

Read more here: » Mayan Calendar: Evolving Towards Enlightenment - IV

Praying in Buddhism: Examples of Buddhist Prayers

Including:

Universal Love Aspiration

Daily Affirmation Prayer

Golden Chain Prayer

Prayer for Light

Refuge Prayer

Metta Karuna Prayer

Buddhist Mealtime Prayer

Read more here: » Praying in Buddhism: Examples of Buddhist Prayers

The art of wise living involves four steps: Plan purposefully, prepare prayerfully, proceed positively and pursue persistently.

The joy of wise living involves the art of joyous looking. There are two types of looking. You can look at the world with thoughts; you can also look at the world without thoughts, from a pure Being.

When you look at the world with thoughts, then you should be aware of the subtle pollution that exists. Thoughts come from memory, memory is the representation of an experience of the past, and so from the past you see the present. Hence, pollution happens.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Art of Wise Living Brings Great Joy

The Healing Path begins with an event that changed my life as violently as an earthquake wrenches a river from its course. Its medical label, "cancer," means little. Like other words that try to describe deep human experience--- love, hatred, joy, grief---it only hides the enormity it signifies. Our most personal moments are immune to language. And disease is so ineffably ours, so much part of our own irreproducable tale, that we are almost obliged to call it by our own proper name.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: Book Excerpt of 'The Healing Path...' - Illness As An Inward Journey

Until thought is linked with purpose, there is no intelligent accomplishment. With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to "drift" upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.

Read more here: » Power of Thought: Thought and Purpose

Generally, quietude, calmness, peace, silence and stillness are taken to be identical states of mind. But in reality, this is not so. All these are states of a deepening order of consciousness, silence being the deepest. In a state of deep silence, there are no thoughts, feelings or mental movements that can disturb or alter the peace of the inner-being.

The human mind gets absorbed in the core of silence where it touches the original source of energy, love, purity and bliss of The Being, and discovers the soul. The mind is transmuted into the Mind of Light. This transmutation is the bridge that leads us to our true Self within. There, God becomes a living presence, and silence a conversation of the soul with God, wordless and wonderful.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: The Wonderful Depths of Silence

Marx wrote: "Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life". He assumes that man's ability to think, and the quality of his thoughts depend largely on the quality of the life he lives.

Marx's thrust is primarily to improve the living conditions of man, a pre-condition for intellectual growth. Marx thus attributes primacy to living by establishing a hierarchy of 'living' and 'thinking'. Descartes' cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) can be placed antithetically to Marx's perception. The Cartesian proposition, which is translated as "I think, therefore I exist", subverts the Marxian hierarchy by attributing primacy to 'thinking'.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Longing For Right Action

In a conversation with his consort Parvati, Shiva is believed to have said that through self-knowledge, one can attain salvation. People are born as human beings due to their past good samskaras, but to attain liberation they will have to attain self-knowledge.

In ancient times, Parvati symbolised the spirit of enquiry. She would pose questions to Shiva, and Shiva's answers provided deep insight into the nature of spirituality. Parvati's questions are collectively known as the Nigama shastra. Shiva's answers are philosophical; they are also of great practical value.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Spiritual Evolution Is The Key To Salvation

twelve stages of healing: extraordinary approach to healing physical, mental, and spiritual ills. Its developer, Donald M. Epstein, founded Network Spinal Analysis. His theory posits twelve stages of consciousness common to all humanity.

Nearly all of Epstein's stages involve:

(a)   yoga- or Qigong-like exercises, and

(b)  ) declarations.

For example, the first stage (Suffering) involves declaring: Right now, I am helpless and Nothing works at this time. In The Twelve Stages of Healing: A Network Approach to Wholeness (1994), Epstein states: The most appropriate response to Suffering is to stop thinking about its causes. The seventh stage involves declaring: Oooh, Ahhh, and Whooosh. The ninth stage involves declaring, I experience my vital force; and the eleventh stage, May it be on Earth as it is in Heaven.

(See also: Twelve stages of healing , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

A death poem from Isavasya Upanisha.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Death Poem: Prayer of a dying man

Integrating the Energies with Feng Shui

In the philosophy of feng shui, before you were born, you existed as part of the five elements in nature. At the instant you are born, the energy field created by the placement of the planets when you enter the world affects you, and in many ways, determines your lifehart" that defines your life in accurate detail and what your dominant element is. I call this your "birth element".

Read more here: » Feng Shui: Integrating the Energies with Feng Shui

The word Jain has been derived from Jina, which means conqueror, implying one who has overcome all human passions. The Tattvarth Sutra, a book of supreme wisdom, was written by Umaswati, Kundkundacharya's disciple.

The opening aphorism of Tattvarth Sutra talks about enlightened faith, knowledge and conduct leading to final emancipation. The enlightened faith comprises Jiva or life, Ajiva or non-life, Asharva or flow of karma, Bandha or bondage of karma, Samvar or shedding of karma-particles and Moksha.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: Prevent the Influx of Karma Particles

The most well-known mystery in Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is said that three men died on crosses in occupied Palestine sometime during the fourth decade of the Christian era. The carrying out of a death sentence in this manner was a relatively routine matter. In this case, all three were convicted as disturbers of the Roman peace.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: Central Mystery of Christian Faith

Men pass, mountains remain. Little wonder, why mountains are a sign of solidity and stability. They tower over us, touching the sky, sometimes through clouds ... they convey a sense of mystery.

In fact, philosophers say that the mountain is the point where heaven and earth meet. Mountains, therefore, are considered holy in many faiths. They are believed to be the abode of gods, even a place where one can find salvation.

Christian literature reveals the symbolic role of mountains. In the Old Testament, God was depicted as God of the mountains. But God was also a God of the valleys.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Mountains - Source of Divine Inspiration

A friend told me about a temple she visited in Avudiyar in Tamil Nadu. Here, you will not find statues of any deity - only a daily offering of freshly cooked rice. The local people worship the steam that rises to the sky.

As she spoke, my mind flew back to my childhood, and to the cavernous kitchen, that pulsated with an energy that radiated through the house.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Retracing The Contours Of A Lost World

In most religious scriptures, Shabd or the Word is referred to as the creator of the universe. It is a current from the ocean of pure consciousness that is characterised by ethereal and sublime sound vibration.

It is the all-pervading manifestation of God, the radiant sound current, and it is the connecting link between God and His creation. All the powers of nature depend on and work through Shabd.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: The Wavelength Of Celestial Sound

Who is a good human being? Charles Dickens said people were good and bad. But he couldn"t figure out what made them that way. Unfortunately, Dickens missed - by about 50 years - the revolution in psychology brought about by Sigmund Freud.

Freud believed an individual'spersonality was shaped in his infancy, with later influences having only a negligible impact. However, Freud erred in focusing on natural instincts to the exclusion of social structures.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Goodness, a Lighter State of Being

On Kriya Yoga

 Extract from The Essence of Self-Realization by Paramhansa Yogananda.

Read more here: » Kriya Yoga: On Kriya Yoga

Sankara's views on advaita are best encapsulated in the classic line from his Brahma-Sutra Bhasya: "Brahma satyam jagat mithya, Jiva brahmaiva naparah - the Brahma alone is real, the world illusory, the individual and universal soul are one."

Using everyday references to illustrate advaitic concepts, the Atmabodha, set in 68 verses, seeks to put the abstruse philosophy of the Brahma-Sutras within easy reach of the average person. Sankara begins by stating that the Atmabodha will serve as a primer to those desirous of liberation, equipped with the tools of discernment and renunciation.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Atamabodha - Path of Self-Enquiry

We have our ups and downs, successes and failures, elations and disappointments. Nothing is certain but change. Winners turn losers and vice versa, for that is the law of nature. Impermanence is a permanent feature of life. The best way to deal with the transiency is to learn to maximise our spiritual quotient.

Many of us know of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People where he elaborates on habits we need to acquire in order to be effective. Twenty virtues have been elaborated by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Make The Most Of Your Life

Para vidya alone can show us the path to eternal bliss. Mundane knowledge, which produces 'intellectualism"cannot confer wisdom on us. Even the most amazing of scientific and technological advances have failed to bring lasting happiness in our lives. The exponential increase in knowledge has,surprisingly, led to more conflicts and destruction.

Para vidya is transcendental knowledge, which leads to wisdom.

Apara vidya or secular knowledge merely enhances our vision of the outer world. Wisdom is perennial while knowledge is mainly informative and therefore transient. The former is stable, the latter, subject to change.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Para Vidya, Path To Eternal Bliss

In Kant and the Platypus , Umberto Eco squares his shoulders and takes on the problem of pure being. For pure being is not just a problem, it is the problem in philosophy in that it underlies everything, including problems, philosophers and platypuses. Or should it be platypi? Even the question mark to a dubious lingual entity which does not really 'exist' has to have being, even if it is in the form of a being which we call 'non-existence'.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: The Problem of Being