Freedom is understood as the absence of physical and mental boundaries or restrictions. Physical freedom is when you enjoy freedom of movement. Mental freedom is when you are free to choose and make your own decisions.

Both of the above freedoms are external. True freedom, however, is internal. In the external freedom, although we seem to make our own choices, in reality, the decision-making apparatus, the mind, has itself been formed through many layers of societal influences in the form of ego.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Road to Freedom is Less Travelled

Vision is the ability to see beyond the present; to be able to chart a map of the future. Is such a vision possible for a universal religion? When all technologies and knowledge in the world are converging, why should humanity have different religions?

One basic question has haunted us for long: Are the many religions of the world opposed to each other? If their common goal is universal welfare, why do we need so many religions? All religions echo the need for righteous conduct, truth and non-violence. But they differ in their rituals, which are unfortunately being projected today as their core. Dress, mode of worship and language of rituals have come to symbolise purity of faith.

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Universal Faith for World Harmony

Sri Vimalakirti Dasaji, one of the monks of the Golden Age Foundation shares his view on how to come out of fear and how to develop self-confidence.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: Sri Vimalakirti Dasaji on coming out of fear and develop self-confidence

Success can be external or internal. Externally, it is the measure of a job well done and the accompanying recognition from society. Internally, it is a feeling of achievement, satisfaction and fullness which comes on the completion of a task or the fulfilment of a desire. What is a true measure of success, the outer accolades or the inner joy and peace?

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Secret of Success: Team Spirit

In today's fast-changing world, materialism and stress have become part of our everyday lives. We are constantly looking for answers: How to live a successful and happy life?

One way of finding out answers to this question could be to explore the Spiritual Quotient (SQ), relating to our ability to understand and comprehend the spiritual aspects of life, which, contrary to popular belief, are not necessarily connected to religion.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Surrender the Ego, Attain Happiness

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Waging Peace With An Awakened Mind

Why are friends so special? Byron, while dedicating the fourth canto of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage to his friend, John Hobhouse, wrote: "To one whom I have known long, and accompanied far, whom I have found wakeful over my sickness and kind in my sorrow, glad in my prosperity and firm in my adversity, true in counsel and trusted in peril - to a friend often tried and never found wanting."

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: True In Counsel, Trusted In Peril

I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Isaiah 43.25

Whatever defect I have of eye, of heart, of mind,

or whatever excess there is,

may Brihaspati remedy it.

Gracious to us be the Lord of the world.

Yajur Veda

Carry us across, as by a boat

across the sea, for our good,

Shining bright, drive away our sin.

Rig Veda

Without forgiveness life is governed by... an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.

Roberto Assagioli

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury.

E H Chapin

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Hannah Arendt

It is far easier to forgive an enemy after you"ve got even with him.

Olin Miller

He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.

Thomas Fuller

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

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Quotes on Forgiveness

If you are disappointed today about something, it does not mean that it is a permanent condition. There is always a tomorrow to look forward to.

If you refuse to be optimistic or hopeful for the morrow, you will find yourself getting dragged into a whirlpool of despair, which is in itself a generator of unhappiness.

Is there a secret, a magic formula for happiness? If there is, does it lie inside you or outside? Logically, it has to be inside you.

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

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Selflessness Can Be A Huge Burden

A happy relationship is a universal ideal. Yet, few among us can claim to have perfect relationships. Worldwide, divorce rates are going up. Even most couples who do stay together for a considerable length of time allow their relationship to turn mechanical - there is little room for romance, intimacy or joy. Such couples end up transforming a beautiful partnership into a mere social institution, no more than a familial commitment empty of true love.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: The Fine Art of Staying in Love

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

In the simplest form, it is reasonable to look at life as a series of relationships Ñ some momentary, some perpetual. However, the way we deal with these relationships is dependent entirely on the thought process through which we approach them.

Our response to relationships is seldom on the basis of an appreciation of events as they present themselves to us from moment to moment; how we react is predominantly guided by a large corpus of memory, impressions and preconceived notions that we have accumulated about the moment on hand.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: Living Life With No Past Baggage

Spiritual Growth: The Certainties of A Changing World

You can be at ease with the uncertainty of the world when you realise the certainty of the consciousness. Often people do just the opposite. They are certain about the world but uncertain about God. They rely on something that is not reliable, and they get upset. Uncertainty causes craving for stability. The most stable thing in the universe is our Self.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: The Certainties of A Changing World

Worry causes fear, anxiety, tension and stress. These emotions deplete energy and weaken the immune system. Worriers become sick and this is manifested in poor health, because of all the problems that are eating into their vitals.

And worry is certainly not the same as constructive thinking; if it were, we would have found solutions to most of our problems.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Don't Be a Worrier; Savour Your Life

Who doesn't want to be happy? We all desire happiness. We pursue pleasures systematically through life - it comes as naturally to us as the sunflower turns to the sun. But, pleasure once obtained does not last; so once again, the search begins. Moreover, pleasure is ephemeral; it eludes the seeker at the final moment. One may work very hard and get all that the world considers necessary for a happy life, yet none of these things can make us really happy.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Why Small Things Can Shatter Happiness

You deal with people and situations effectively only when you are happy. Otherwise, in your unhappiness, it won't matter what good intentions you have, you will only spread misery in the world. Being happy or unhappy is actually your choice.

People have chosen to be unhappy because they think that by being unhappy they will get something. Once you are unhappy, whatever you get, what does it matter? If you are happy, if you don't get anything, what does it matter? This is not a philosophy; this is your true nature.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Spread Happiness To Connect Effectively

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

Recently, this sentence stopped me short: "Before we can live in peace, we have to be able to imagine, to image peace." On similar lines, sculptor and activist Dana Toomey writes of how once, reading the newspaper, she counted 50 different kinds of war around the globe.

Why is it when most of us want peace, war is so prevalent, she wondered. Trying to envision a new culture without war, she asked herself - since humanity has never experienced life without violence, what would peace be like? How would we get the things we want? Who would be our heroes? Is anyone or anything pointing the way?

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Waging Peace Through Constructive Images

After having won the Mahabharata war, King Yuddhishthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, performed the Ashvamedha Yagna in which he gave away his riches to the deserving.

Just then a half-golden mongoose sneaked in and began rolling all over the ground. It then looked at its fur and seemed disappointed. The mongoose said sadly, "Ah! This is no sacrifice."

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Selfless Service And Sacrifice

Poet Terhune recollects how when he was a child, his mother, returning after an hour from a neighbour's, asked him, "When I left you were playing on the floor and a sugar candy was there on the table. Now you are there, but not the candy." "I ate at it up, Mother," replied the child.

"But you already had your share and I had forbidden you to touch what was left" demanded the mother.

"You had, Mother, but believe me, I wept while I was eating it," said the boy.

(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 Silent Soul Bides its Time

Most world leaders, international organisations and so-called peace summits tend to define peace in the shadow of war, as 'a situation where there is no war"between nations.

By doing so they are actually taking a negative view. By viewing the positive element in contrast to the negative, we will end up underrating the former'spotential. By defining light as the 'absence of darkness"or, life as the 'absence of death", we assign greater importance to the powers of darkness and death, or in the case of peace, to war, rather than peace.

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Peace Is More Than No War

Why are wars waged? Why are some conflicts never resolved? All fanaticism, militancy, terrorism and war are flashpoints of ativada. An ativadi is one who carries an opinion, viewpoint, argument or a case of grievance to excess.

That's why sages have said: Ati sarvatra varjayet - avoid excesses everywhere. No case or argument is strong enough to be an excuse for excess, for breaking peace. A mantra in the Mundaka Upanishad says: "It is one and the same life-force that shines forth as all these beings. One who realises this never becomes an ativadi" (3.1.4).

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Do Not Be Driven by Sentiment