There'sa crooked line drawn on land: One side of it is called India, the other side, Pakistan. People living on either side of this human made line could well kill one another - in fact, precious lives have been sacrificed to ensure that the line stays where it is.

You cannot have only peace, only love or only light, how much ever you wish it were so. Yin and Yang, Shiv and the Shakti, Krishna and Radha, are in perfect equilibrium in the cosmos. Their play is this universe, without and within. This unceasing play of opposites generates infinite hues. Murder and mayhem exist; so do loving and caring.

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Drawing The Line - LoC To Infinity

Simply put, happiness is satisfaction of mind. However, different individuals have different perceptions of how to achieve happiness. For some, happiness lies in wealth; for others, it is in rank and position; yet others find happiness in fame and name. Commonly, happiness is measured by achievement in terms of money, property, other material possessions, power, name, fame, education, lifestyle, position and social status.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Mantra for Happiness - Loving Detachment

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

Let's talk about pleasure and pain. Pleasure first, because it makes you feel good. But life's pleasures seem so fleeting and evanescent, like glistening dewdrops that evaporate with the first hint of the warm rays of the sun.

A pleasant state of being , we instinctively feel, is intrinsically unstable. Pleasure vanishes like a transient bubble, while pain endures. What is pleasant is short-lived because the human mind quickly gets used to it, and subconsciously craves to heighten and intensify that feeling of pleasure, as it lingers in the memory and haunts the mind.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Fleeting Pleasure, Enduring Pain

Prayer is common to all religions. Love for God is universal, the mode or method of prayer could be different since everyone is free to pray to the divine power in their own way. Prayer should be acceptable to all, simple and easy to adopt in daily life. Generally, people follow the path of prayer practised in the family. The Gayatri Mantra and any other prayer should be recited with sincerity and for the love of God. Only then its true benefit can be derived.

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

Read more here: » Gayatri Mantra: Gayatri - Mother Of All Mantras

Until 3,000 years ago, all religions were pantheistic and polytheistic as Hinduism, Taoism and Shinto still are. They tolerated the religions of other tribes and cultures, recognising in their worship the same divine energies as their own, albeit with different names.

Why then did patriarchal, monotheistic religions arise in the Middle East 3,000 years ago, and spread in their Christian forms throughout Europe and then on to the European colonised overseas territories during the last 1,500 years? Why did these monotheistic religions fight so fiercely to eradicate nature worship in the lands they controlled? Why did Christianity promote a dualistic antagonism between the spirit and the flesh, with only the former conceived as being in the "image of God"?

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Cosmic Balance and World Peace

Why have children? I often put this question to parents and I get varied answers: For the sheer joy of having them around, to ensure the continuity of the family tree, to produce heirs, for security in old age, and so on.

Others say that children enrich their lives. But how? I've always wanted to hear more on this, but they usually stop short of giving a deeper explanation.

In fact, very few parents have been able to give expression to the learning experience they undergo in the process of raising or interacting with children. Raising children or educating them is not just a one-sided affair where all learning / teaching flows from the parents or teachers to the child-students.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Discover Yourself Through Children

Citizens everywhere today are demanding that their leaders make choices to advance the cause of peace. What is disturbing is the grotesque imbalance between our powers of destruction and our failing ethical capacity for empathy and self-restraint.

Genuine leadership must be based on a solid commitment to protecting the precious fabric of daily life. The ordinary citizens of the world are raising their voice, insisting that all decisions - whether political, military or economic - be made with this human reality firmly in view.

The common cause of human happiness is the strongest basis for human solidarity. In a world of intimate interconnection, solidarity cannot be limited to just one group or nation. It must embrace all the people everywhere.

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Protect The Fabric Of Daily Life

Once while visiting an old age home, a resident asked me to join her for an evening cup of tea. While making tea, she looked at me closely and asked: "Aren't you Tina Munim?" When I nodded my head in the affirmative, her face lit up. The joy and elation I saw in her eyes moved me and changed my perception of the elderly.

Now, I regularly visit homes for the aged; those are my special moments. My elderly friends tell me stories, and I tell them mine, and we share tales of life's little joys and sorrows. To them, I am not Tina Munim or Tina Ambani. I am just another human being who wants to be a part of their life..

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: How We Learn An Age-Old Lesson

Silence is the womb of the tangible world. In the Christian Biblical version of Creation, God 'spoke' and the world came into being. With the pronouncing of the Word, speech became primary, but silence remained primordial.

The heart of Christian meditation is to return to this primordial state of being. It is a journey from words into the creative word of God; this Word is enveloped by silence. By its very nature, silence is unexploitable, often purposeless and for that reason very frightening.

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

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Power of Silence

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

Gautama Buddha made a profound statement: "Be a light unto yourself". To this, Osho adds another: "Be a joke unto yourself". Osho would say: "I have to tell jokes because you are all religious people, you tend to be serious. I have to tickle you sometimes so that you forget your religiousness, your philosophies, theories, systems, and you fall down to earth".

Osho has seen that in spontaneous laughter the noise of the mind stops for a few precious moments, allowing us to experience mindlessness or meditation, however fleetingly.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Unburden Yourself With Laughter

The ultimate solution to all problems - ecological, social and personal - lies within you. However, when you embark on that spiritual journey to go within, you will find that the solution is not sitting there, waiting to be discovered.

It is hidden away, made almost inaccessible, under the many-layered maya or illusion, that keeps you mired in ignorance. The spirit, obscured by this many-layered veil, is unable to reflect and know the nature of its true self.

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Getting In Touch With Yourself

Wars happen when intolerance reaches epic proportions, when the reasons for war become greater than the sanctity of peace. Wars happen when we fail to realise the value of being alive. World leaders try to bring peace, but it is not an issue of institutions. It is human beings who start wars. Before a war begins outside, it starts inside.

The war on the inside is more dangerous because it is a fire that may never be put out. Wars are being fought because peace is not being found within, because it is not being allowed to unfold.

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

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Give Peace a Chance - Don't Go to War

Bhakti is founded in a spirit of universal fellowship and poetry is one more expression of this same fellowship. The verses of Mirabai, Tulsidas, Kabir, Ravidas and Tukaram are quoted frequently by people from all strata of life. Their poetry expresses concern about life: its difficulties, the loneliness, hypocrisy and pain. The bhakti poets seek God's help to sustain them on this difficult journey. So even today, through their poetry, the bhakti saints continue to influence our daily lives.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Universal Fellowship Through Bhakti Marga

There is something each one of us owes to everyone, whether we know them or not. Realise this will significantly bring down tension levels - both in this world and in the world within.

That something is ‘Anger Control'. Today, people are going berserk with anger. Even children are falling victim to this emotion. People say: "I don't know but my brain just seemed to explode".

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Manage Your Anger, Change Your Life

All of us need to believe that we are loved and are lovable. We begin life secure in our mother's love, swaddled in our innocence. Love was never in question, but over time, we become increasingly unsure...

In The Path to Love , Deepak Chopra says that by bringing spirituality back into our relationships, we can discover a world of depth and meaning. He says: "You were created to be completely loved and to be completely lovable for your whole life".

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Unconditional Love Brings Joy to All

An article published talked about how 10 per cent of your life is made up of what happens to you, whereas 90 per cent is decided by how you react. So most of the situations we find ourselves in are possibly self-created; maybe only 10 per cent are nature-generated. A self-audit can help us find out how much this applies to us.

I often think about the importance of self-audit - especially when I see the way a majority of youngsters today are faced with increasing pressures from family, peer groups and the outside world. Many find it difficult to handle all this with an even mind. The manner in which the youth is expending itself and the direction it is headed toward is somewhat alarming.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Come Alive! Try Zero Tolerance

There are some people who do little, but make others do a lot. Brahman, the pure Consciousness, too, is actionless - but in Its presence, everything else works.

Observe an infant. It does little other than kick about, cry and laugh but it spurs everybody into willing action. The mere presence of an infant brings joy. What makes a baby so lovable, a source of joy for all?

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Desire Management For a Full Life

There are some conversations that have a way of popping back to haunt you time and again. The one that I had with my older daughter when she was barely five, falls in this category.

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

Read more here: » Life and Death: An Unimpressive Report Card

Once upon a time, a musk deer went searching for musk. Round and round the forest she went, month after month, quite unaware that the heady fragrance, so desperately sought by her, lay beneath her own belly button. Many times, we humans, too, behave like the musk deer. We search for self-realisation outside, blissfully unaware that it lies within us, all the while untapped.

To experience this bliss, however, the seeker has to put in a different sort of effort with regularity and devotion. One way lies through the world of forms, through the path of bhakti, where the seeker concentrates on any of the manifest forms of the Ultimate.

(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 Ideal Way to Get Close to God - Bhakti

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