A Wisdom Archive on real life

"Hey, I'm in Nirvana!" We talk like this when we feel good. But what is it like to actually attain nirvana, otherwise known as moksha or self-realisation?
 
Self-realisation is the goal of life. Vedic rishis found that everything in the world that blooms is also subject to ultimate decay. Are we here just to live a brief life and then pass away? They reasoned that life cannot be devoid of some higher purpose.

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

Read more here: » Life and Death: In Search of the Real 'Me'

Vedanta literally means culmination of knowledge. Veda means knowledge, anta means end. You are aware of the body, mind and intellect, but not your real Self. Vedanta helps you discover the true nature of your inherent Being.

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

Read more here: » Life and Death: Liberating Role of Vedantic Thought

Detachment is a great wealth. Devotion is the real asset in life. Why does man not work for such a wealth? This is due to the fact that the mind has not been purified. Impure mind craves impure things.
 
Mantras help us to purify the mind and uplift the quality of life. Mantra yoga is all about working on purifying the mind. The object of yoga is to lift a person off the psychological mess he rests upon.

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

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Mantra Yoga - A Tool For Great Inner Order

Most people see money as the starting point of exchange, a means to acquiring goods and services. To be able to access more and more of goods and services, we strive to acquire more and more money, working extra hours.
 
What we often tend to forget is that money comes at a real price. Money is not the first point of exchange in this world: it is an intermediate point. You earn money for a good life, and, ironically, even as you are struggling to earn money, you are exchanging your good life for it.
 

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Make Time For Higher Pursuits

Many people study religious scriptures profusely - which is a good thing. But they feel that the 'scriptural word' is enough. That is a mistake. A scripture is like a map. And a map is not the territory.
 
What may appear as a beautiful mountainous range on paper could well turn out to be a treacherous obstacle in real life. Similarly, a river painted in brilliant hues of blue on a map, might be infested with snakes and crocodiles in reality.

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

Read more here: » Life and Death: How to Identify a Modern Saint

Universals A philosophical and logical term, used in opposition to particulars. For example, matter may be called a universal, and material bodies may be called particulars; or life may be a universal, and living beings particulars.
 
The universal is sometimes defined as that which is left when all particularities or differences have ceased to be. The question arises as to which shall be considered real. If the particulars are realities, then the universals become mere abstract ideas: thus mankind would be merely an indefinite number of human beings. But if the universal is real, then we regard particular humans as being each a manifestation on respective lower planes of man, the Heavenly Man or Qabbalistic ''Adam Qadmon. Again, if living beings are real, then life becomes an abstraction. But if life is a real entity in itself, then living beings are its particular manifestations. The philosophy which starts with universals and proceeds to particulars is called deductive: it is that of theosophy and of Pythagoras and Plato.
 
The inductive philosophy of Aristotle and Francis Bacon proceeds from particulars to universals. Space, motion, duration, intelligence, etc., in themselves abstract realities, are regarded by theosophy as universals, whereas from the opposite viewpoint they appear as only abstractions from experience. The deductive method has its uses in applied science, but in fact it tacitly assumes certain universals and reasons back to them from particulars.

 
(See also: Universals, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul )