Spiritual Fasting: Fasting is Food for the Soul

The followers of the Baha'i faith are on a 19-day fast from March 2 to March 20. In this context, it would be instructive to look at the significance of fasting in all faiths. Fasting may assume different forms across different belief systems but is an integral feature of humanity's common spiritual heritage.

We must ask ourselves why God wants us to abstain from food and drink. Obviously, as the all-loving creator, He would derive no pleasure from the mere act of making his creatures endure hunger and thirst for a specified period. We may as well go a little further and ask ourselves why we have spiritual laws at all.

Read more here: » Spiritual Fasting: Fasting is Food for the Soul

There is a distinction between personality and individuality. Many have no clear understanding of these two terms. They get these mixed up and are confused. Some people think that personality is individuality and individuality is personality. That which distinguishes a person from a thing or one person from another is personality. Personality in common parlance refers to the body. When a man is tall, has good complexion and beautiful features, when his face has a fine cut, we say that Mr. So-and-so has a charming personality. When one is able to influence others, people say that such-and-such a man has strong personality. When one is timid and shy we say that such and such a man has weak personality; he must develop his personality. Personality counts much in society for success in life.

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: » Soul After Death: Personality And Individuality

“All religions are ancient monuments to superstition, ignorance and ferocity,” said the French materialist phi-losopher Baron d’Holbach. Religion has been described as the root of human misery and conflict - that more people have been killed in the name of God than in any other cause.

Religion has never been the root of man’s miseries. The problem with man has been man. Religion is but an instrument; man its wielder. Like any instrument or organisation, religion can be misused. But, with religion there exists an agonising and eternal irony: it is the only path to transform the materialists who abuse it.

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

Read more here: » Religion: Clash of the Titans: Faith vs Reason  

The four main spiritual paths for God-realisation are Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Karma Yoga is suitable for a man of active temperament, Bhakti Yoga for a man of devotional temperament, Raja Yoga for a man of mystic temperament, and Jnana Yoga for a man of rational and philosophical temperament, or a man of enquiry.

Mantra Yoga, Laya Yoga or Kundalini Yoga, Lambika Yoga and Hatha Yoga, are other Yogas. Yoga, really, means union with God. The practice of Yoga leads to communion with the Lord. Whatever may be the starting point, the end reached is the same.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Hindu Yoga: The Four Paths of Hindu Yoga

How is Mahavira (599 to 527 BC), one of the Tirthankars of the Jain religion, relevant to modern times? After all he lived in an age when science had not brought about any revolutionary changes in the lifestyle of man. No BMWs, Pepsi, video parlours or McDonald's fast food joints were in existence then. Despite all the conveniences offered by the gadgets of science, there are moments when we feel that man's unrestrained accumulation and consumption are not an unmixed blessing.

Read more here: » Jainism: Mahavira, A Socialist

Short introduction and background to the Golden Age Foundation, Kalki and Amma. Kalki, or Sri Kalki Bhagavan, the founder of Golden Age Foundation, is considered to be the Kalki Avatar capable of bringing enlightenment and to introduce the Golden Age.

Read more here: » Enlightenment: A short introduction to Kalki, Amma and Golden Age Foundation

Who can measure the infinity of time? The flow of time is permanent; so it would flow on even if all the clocks in the world stopped ticking.

Night and day, months and years roll on, but to the individual, the period of time between his birth and death assumes prime importance. From this measure of time emerges the ethical value of that time.

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

Read more here: » Life and Death: From the Finite to the Infinite

We always look for the healing touch after someone has hurt, humiliated or insulted us. Samuel Johnson in " The Rambler " writes that a wise man will make haste to forgive because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

On the other hand, anger is a short-lived madness; when a man grows angry, his reason rides out. Fury and anger carry the mind away.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Forgiveness Helps Contain Anger

O Divine Mother Kundalini, the Divine Cosmic Energy that is hidden in men! Thou art Kali, Durga, Adisakti, Rajarajeswari, Tripurasundari, Maha-Lakshmi, Maha-Sarasvati! Thou hast put on all these names and forms. Thou hast manifested as Prana, electricity, force, magnetism, cohesion, gravitation in this universe. This whole universe rests in Thy bosom. Crores of salutations unto thee. O Mother of this world! Lead me on to open the Sushumna Nadi and take Thee along the Chakras to Sahasrara Chakra and to merge myself in Thee and Thy consort, Lord Siva.

Read more here: » Kundalini Yoga: Preface to Kundalini Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda

Love has the special quality of attracting abundance of love in return. Ahimsa means the largest love, the greatest charity. As a follower of ahimsa, I must love my enemy. I must apply the same rules to the wrongdoer who is my enemy or a stranger to me, as I would to my wrongdoing father or son.

This active necessarily includes truth and fearlessness. As man cannot deceive loved ones, he does not fear or frighten them. Gift of life is the greatest of all gifts; a man who gives it disarms all hostility. He has paved the way for an honourable understanding.

(See also: Practising Affirmations , Affirmations, Practising Affirmations, Life Transforming Affirmations, Essence of Affirmations, Faith and Belief, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Practising Affirmations: Let Me Hug All of You in Love and Friendship

The mark of Dharma is Achara or good conduct. Achara is the mark of the good. From Achara is Dharma born. Dharma enhances life. Man attains prosperity and fame, here and hereafter, through the practice of Dharma.

Good conduct is the highest Dharma. It is the root of all Tapas or austerities. Righteousness, truth and good works, power and prosperity - all originate from conduct.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Hindu Ethics: Ethics in Hindu Darma

Man can be compared to a plant. He grows and flourishes like a plant and dies in the end but not completely. The plant also grows and flourishes and dies in the end. It leaves behind it the seed which produces a new plant. Man leaves when dying his Karma behind—the good or bad actions of his life. The physical body may die and disintegrate, but the impressions of his actions do not die. He has to take birth again to enjoy the fruits of these actions. No life can be the first, for it is the fruits of previous actions, nor the last, for its actions must be expiated in the next life following. Therefore, Samsara or phenomenal existence is without beginning and an end. But there is no Samsara for a Jivanmukta or liberated sage who is resting in his own Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa.

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: » Reincarnation: Theory Of Rebirth

Supernatural phenomena are still being dismissed by the academic community. Influenced by recent breaktroughs leading to an explanation of some mysteries, they have come to the conclusion that science will explain all eventually.

Scientists, who would not dare to trespass in fields outside their speciality for fear of being torn apart by fellow academics, feel free to make all sorts of pronouncements in the media on subjects in the domain of parapsychological research, of which they have no knowledge whatsoever. Like in all other areas of science, parapsychology has narrowed down its research to specialist sectors, hardly anyone daring to voice an opinion on general issues.

Read more here: » Parapsychological Research: Parapsychology and personal survival after death

Hinduism and Creation: The 24 Principles of Creation & Samkhya Yoga

According to the Bhagavad gita, the Purusha enters the Prakriti and manifests the entire creation. At the human level, the purusha is compared symbolically with a man and the Prakriti with a woman. At the microcosmic level a union between the two indeed leads to the creation of a new being, which can be compared to the Hiranyagarbha (the golden embryo) at the microcosmic level. 

Read more here: » Hinduism and Creation: The 24 Principles of Creation Samkhya Yoga

Manu (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root man to think]

In Hindu mythology, the son of Svayambhuva, father and husband of Ila, parents of humanity as well as the prajapatis and other manus, who are the entities collectively which appear first at the beginning of manifestation, and from which everything is derived. They are identical with the sishtas, and function as prajapatis in a smaller but strictly analogical manner. Manu is collective humanity: "Manu is the synthesis perhaps of the Manasa, and he is a single consciousness in the same sense that while all the different cells of which the human body is composed are different and varying consciousnesses there is still a unit of consciousness which is the man. But this unit, so to say, is not a single consciousness: it is a reflection of thousands and millions of consciousnesses which a man has absorbed.

"But Manu is not really an individuality, it is the whole of mankind. You may say that Manu is a generic name for the Pitris, the progenitors of mankind. They come . . . from the Lunar Chain. They give birth to humanity, for, having become the first men, they give birth to others by evolving their shadows, their astral selves. They not only give birth to humanity but to animals and all other creatures. . . . But, as the moon receives its light from the Sun, so the descendants of the Lunar Pitris receive their higher mental light from the Sun or the 'Son of the Sun.' For all you know Vaivasvata Manu may be an Avatar or a personification of Mahat, commissioned by the Universal Mind to lead and guide thinking Humanity onwards" (TBL 78).

The manus are said to have emanated the ten prajapatis or progenitors of mankind, called also maharshis (great rishis). It is said of Brahma that he emanated himself as Manu, and that he was born of, and was identical with, his original self, while he constituted his female portion Sata-rupa (hundred forms). There are 14 manus in any manvantara ("between manus") arranged in pairs, a root-manu and a seed-manu for each portion of a cycle.

These pairs of manus in a planetary round, a root-manu on globe A and a seed-manu on globe G, are given as:

1)    Svayambhuva, Svarochisha;

2)    Auttami, Tamasa;

3)    Raivata, Chakshusha;

4)    Vaivasvata (our progenitor), Savarna;

5)    Daksha-savarna, Brahma-savarna;

6)    Dharma-savarna, Rudra-savarna;

7)    Rauchya, Bhautya.

"Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), while our Vaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven races of this our planet. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-race. And it is this Vaivasvata -- the Hindu ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deukalion, Noah and by other names -- who is the allegorical man who rescued our race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration" (SD 2:309).

Manu is in one sense the Third Logos; in another the spiritual man, the monad, the real and deathless spiritual ego in us, which is the direct emanation of the one Life or the absolute deity of our universe. The manus collectively, in this sense, are the four higher classes of dhyani-chohans who were the fathers of the concealed man -- the subtle inner man.

Thus root-manus and seed-manus are sishtas, for the seed-manu at the end of a life-wave's evolution on a globe is virtually identic with the root-manu on that same globe when the life-wave reaches it again to begin on that globe a new course of racial development or evolution. The difference between root- and seed-manus being that the root-manus are really the seed-manus plus the most evolved monads of the life-waves reaching the globe first, conjoining with the seed-manus and thus slightly modifying things.

Manu is likewise the name of a great ancient Indian legislator, the alleged author of the Manava-dharma-sastra or Laws of Manu.

(See also: Manu , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

For more dictionary entries, see » Man Dictionary

On September 22, 1931, two icons of the West and the East met in a humble tenement in London. Mahatma Gandhi impressed Charlie Chaplin with his view that supreme independence meant shedding oneself of unnecessary things.

Chaplin believed this principle was the basis of Gandhi's political-economic-spiritual argument against machinery.

However, what Gandhi told Chaplin that day echoes the Jaina principle of aparigraha.

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Renunciation Keeps Man, Nature Happy - Aparigraha

One should become perfectly desireless and should be full of Vairagya before attempting to awaken Kundalini. It can be awakened only when a man rises above Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and other impurities. Kundalini can be awakened through rising above desires of the senses. The Yogi, who has got a pure heart and a mind free from passions and desires will be benefited by awakening Kundalini. If a man with a lot of impurities in the mind awakens the Sakti by sheer force through Asanas, Pranayamas and Mudras, he will break his legs and stumble down. He will not be able to ascend the Yogic ladder.

Excerpt from the book Kundalini Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Awaken The Kundalini: How To Awaken The Kundalini

There are five great daily sacrifices that are to be performed by every householder. They are: Brahma Yajna, called also Veda Yajna, sacrifice to Brahman or the Vedas or the sages; Deva Yajna, sacrifice to the celestials; (iii) Pitri Yajna, sacrifice to the manes; Bhuta Yajna, sacrifice to all the creatures; and Manushya Yajna, sacrifice to men.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Pancha Mahayajnas: The Hindu Ritual Pancha Mahayajnas

Calvinism

A system of Christian interpretation initiated by John Calvin. It emphasizes predestination and salvation. The five points of Calvinism were developed in response to the Arminian position (See Arminianism).

Calvinism teaches:

1)    Total depravity: that man is touched by sin in all parts of his being: body, soul, mind, and emotions,

2)    Unconditional Election: that GodÕs favor to Man is completely by GodÕs free choice and has nothing to do with Man. It is completely undeserved by Man and is not based on anything God sees in man,

3)    Limited atonement: that Christ did not bear the sins of every individual who ever lived, but instead only bore the sins of those who were elected into salvation,

4)    Irresistible grace: that God's call to someone for salvation cannot be resisted,

5)    Perseverance of the saints: that it is not possible to lose one's salvation.

(See also: Calvinism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Man Dictionary

It was a beautiful night. Poets lay awake, drawing inspiration from the star-spangled sky. Lovers drew closer, gazing at the moon. The elderly came out to feel the cool breeze. Children were playing in the moonlight.

One man watched all this with increasing despair. He was a thief. If nobody slept, how was he to do what he wanted to do? The entire community was awake. He waited endlessly. Somehow the people of this town were just not sleepy that night.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Tolerance And Tranquility Go Together

At the time of death when the breathing becomes difficult the Jiva or the individual self that is in the body goes out making noises. Just as a cart heavily loaded goes on creaking, so does the Jiva creak while the Prana departs.

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: » Soul’s Journey After Death: How Soul Departs After Death

Old Man, Old Woman

Carl Jung said that the wise old man is the "archetype of the spirit" and the "speaking fountainhead of the soul." Dreaming about him may attempt to bring the dreamer into awareness of the larger meaning of ones life. Old people in dreams represent wisdom and maturity. They may appear in our dreams at times of confusion and lack of direction, or when we need consultation and help in decision-making.

See also: Meaning of Dreams about Aging

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Old Man, Old Woman , Meaning of Dreams about Old Man, Old Woman , Dream Interpretation Old Man, Old Woman )

For more dictionary entries, see » Man Dictionary