When we seek the perfect diet, what is it we are really seeking? At the soul level, beyond appearances and the everyday concerns of the outer self, the longing for absolute physical health reflects deeply held convictions about transcending earthly limitations, about going beyond sickness and disease to a state of perfection. We must remember, however, that immortality and perfection do not represent the human experience in the physical realm.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Soul: Nourishing the Spirit

The first and foremost of all thoughts in the human mind is the primeval thought - IÓ. Only after this thought, other thoughts arise. Ramana Maharishi says that if you could mentally follow this - I - thread until it leads to its source, you would discover that the first thought to appear, is also the last to disappear.

Read more here: » Body Mind Spirit,: Eat Your Mango and Enjoy ItToo

In the ultimate analysis, the healthiest form of certainty arises from a sense of being grounded, deeply rooted in the spiritual, where we have a solid connection with our inner source. With that connection, we may still be thrown off by accidents, mistakes and mishaps in life. But like a good compass, when bumped, we always return to true north in our orientation. The pull of the "north" is strong to us; it is a shaping force in our lives.

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Health is a key factor in the human evolutionary process. Health is not just physical fitness or absence of disease. In ancient India, the term health had a much wider connotation; it was something that went beyond physical and mental dimensions. The spiritual dimension reinforces and also uplifts the physical and mental dimensions of health.

Read more here: » Mind, Body, Spirit: Strike a Balance

We learn with the help of four methods, says the Srimad Bhagavatam: through experience, deduction, studying history and oral traditions.

What we learn with the aid of our physical organs Ñ seeing and hearing with our eyes and ears for instance Ñ fall under the category of experience. The second method of learning is deduction.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Spirit: Attaining the Infinite With the Spoken Word

The word - health comes from the root word - whole. When we say we are - feeling healthyÓ, we are saying that we have a sense of wholeness within us. A person can be said to be of good health only if he feels complete in body, mind and spirit. Mere medical fitness does not indicate complete wellness in the true sense.

In order to experience this sense of wholeness and oneness, its important that in body, mind, and energy functions, there is a certain level of intensity.

Read more here: » Body mind and spirit: Oneness and Wellness - The Yogic Way

 As humanity moves forward in understanding and acceptance of the next level of soul development, it would be wise to remember that we are not here to suffer, rather we are here to transcend suffering and become the stars that we truly are.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Spirit: Soul Purpose And Co-creation

Science and Spirituality: New Physics Points To Cosmic Spirit

'God is dead' proclaimed a cover story in Time magazine in the 1960s, and held science responsible for it. Case closed? Far from it. By the 1990s, people were talking about things like 'can spirituality promote health?' The pendulum is now swinging in the other direction. Ironically enough, it is the same science that once killed off the notion of God that is now strengthening humankind's belief in a 'supreme power'. Latest revelations in cosmology and quantum physics are fostering this paradigm shift.

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The Experience Of The Spiritual

It is said that it is much easier to begin training in the Mysteries as a youth. One advantage of an early start is that there is considerable energy for growth and exploration of life in the early years while the quota of life, of prana, is full, before it is exhausted in the excesses of later life. A greater advantage, though, is that there is much that does not need to be unlearned. The knowledge of our Western, materialistic civilization is both a blessing and a curse. It informs us; it gives us power over material things; it has a great deal of truth to it. Yet with regard to things on the spiritual side of life, it has huge blind spots, huge gaps it won't recognize.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Spirit: The Experience Of The Spiritual

Christian Definition of True Reality

How does one define reality from the perspective of faith? St Anselm defines theology as "faith seeking understanding".

St Augustine, citing Plato, argued for the necessity of eternal, universal spiritual principles and laws on which our contingent and temporal realm of existence is based. For Augustine, God is the author and overseer of these principles and laws.

Making this Platonic distinction between the spiritual and material, early mediaeval Christianity came to value the spiritual realm of life far more than the material. The attendant dualistic anthropology led to an overvaluation of the development of the soul, in comparison to the body.

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Mantra Yoga: Music with Mantras - A Divine Experience

A feast of heavenly music awaits those who can tune in. If you don't know how, you can learn the art from the science of Mantra Yoga. The world around us is full of vibrations. Tyagaraja created a raga upon hearing the hum of a bee. But only a pure mind can receive the finer vibrations. Mantra Yoga helps us purify our minds.

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Jainism: Tension of Opposites Central to Existence

According to Acharya Mahaprajna, opposition is a fundamental rule for existence. "There is no type of existence in which opposites do not co-exist. In a sense, existence may also be defined as the coming together of opposites. It is the principle of the quest for unity between two apparently different characteristics of a substance. It tries to point out that the characteristics which differences have, also have an identicality. Reconciliation, which is a principle of anekant , comes about only with the recognition of the identity principle.''

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Emotions: We Know too Much, Feel too Little

A telephone operator in a small town would receive a daily call from a man who asked for the exact time. Finally, the operator asked him why he called every day. "Because", he said, "I am the man responsible for blowing the whistle at noon each day." "Well, that's strange", the operator replied: "Every day, exactly at noon, I set my clock by your whistle".

Individual lives cannot be compartmentalised; through our actions, we impact each other more than we realise. It follows that there is a profound relationship between the individual and the universe. So it's important for us to understand one another better. One way is to learn more about emotions, a key to understanding human behaviour and relationships.

Read more here: » Emotions: We Know too Much, Feel too Little

New Global Order and Oneness Principle

Thirty years ago the historian Arnold Toynbee and Daisaku Ikeda, head of the Japanese Buddhist Soka Gokkai International, discussed at length various pertinent issues, trying to discern the future direction that our world must take if it is to survive these "times of the end".

Toynbee remarks, "...The question of mankind's future religion arises because all the current religions have proved unsatisfactory... A future religion that is to bring into being, and to keep in being, a new civilisation will have to be one that will enable mankind to contend with, and to overcome, the evils that are serious present threats to human survival."

Read more here: » Oneness Principle: New Global Order and Oneness Principle

Break Your Mental Barriers

Most of us find ourselves trapped in our mortal ken because of our ingrained habit of linear and sequential thinking. We find it difficult to break this habit. The habit arises from our innate striving to discern patterns in our sensory perception of reality. Our mind interprets these perceptions by piecing together their constituent elements with other entities in our mental database of past experience. By systematically stringing these patterns together we have created the corpus of human knowledge.

Read more here: » Cosmic Consciousness: Break Your Mental Barriers

Bhagavan stuti: Open Your Mind With Songs of God

Stuti literally means praise and a stotram is a hymn or song dedicated to God's glory. Is it necessary to praise the Lord? Would He be affected by our praises and does He really need them? What could be the benefits that accrue from singing His glory? From our experiences of dealing with the empirical world, we understand it is natural to appreciate someone who has performed well.

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Meaning of Dreams in Islam

Few Western dream researchers have any familiarity with the rich dream traditions of Islam. The Muslim faith first emerged in seventh century B.C.E. Arabia as a profound revisioning of early Jewish and Christian beliefs and practices. One theme the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) drew from the scriptures of those two religions was a reverence for dreaming. In the Quran, as in the Jewish Torah and the Christian New Testament, dreams serve as a vital medium by which God communicates with humans. Dreams offer divine guidance and comfort, warn people of impending danger, and offer prophetic glimpses of the future. Although the three religions drastically differ on many other topics, they find substantial agreement on this particular point: dreaming is a valuable source of wisdom, understanding, and inspiration. Indeed, as I will propose in this brief essay, Islam has historically shown greater interest in dreams than either of the other two traditions, and has done more to weave dreaming into the daily lives of its members. From the first revelatory visions of Muhammed to the myriad dream practices of present-day Muslims, Islam has developed and sustained a complex, multifaceted tradition of active engagement with the dreaming imagination.

Read more here: » Meaning of Dreams in Islam: Reflections on the Dream Traditions of Islam

Grihastha vs Sanyas - The Eternal Dilemma

Once, a king asked his guru: Who is superior, a sanyasi or a householder? In response, the guru took him to a kingdom where the king had announced that his daughter's husband would be given half the kingdom. The princess chose a sanyasi , who refused to marry her. Even after the king offered his entire kingdom, the sanyasi walked away. The guru and his king-disciple followed the princess, whom they found crying in the forest where the sanyasi had disappeared. Hungry and lost, the three lit a fire for warmth.

Read more here: » Sanyasi: Grihastha vs Sanyas - The Eternal Dilemma

Divine Import of Krishna Leela

It was the darkest hour of the era. The brutalities perpetrated by despot king Kansa had become unbearable. In such a period of crisis, during the Dwapar Yuga, the Divine Power descended on earth in human form as Krishna. He is Raagi as well as Vairaagi; Nar and Narayan; Chakradhar and Murlidhar - all blending into one incarnation, Krishna.

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Prayer for children in need

ÒPrayer for children in needÓ tells of Oprah Winfrey's Christmas gift giving to children in Africa, and the author's own life of helping children through foster care and adoption

Wondering how to celebrate the holidays with meaning, Oprah recalled her most remembered Christmas. When she was 12, her family had no money to buy gifts for her and her two younger siblings, so she went to bed thinking there would be no Christmas that year. After she was in bed, she recalled hearing a knock at the door. Some nuns surprised the family with gifts and food.

Read more here: » Christian Science: Prayer for children in need