Fear is the most common negative emotion. It is universal. It drains away our physical and mental energy. Fear is a great stumbling block to progress. The origin, type and intensity of fear varies from person to person. Nevertheless, fear haunts us all. It is a great shame that despite our inherent divinity, we continue to be held hostage by the psychosis of fear.

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

Most traditional religions assert that God is the ultimate Truth, while science, without admitting the existence of any personal God, claims that its motive force is the quest for Truth. Science and religion seldom see eye-to-eye; this is partly because science has played a big role in enhancing our material comforts.

Since religion has always regarded materialistic conquests and gains as being secondary and sometimes even detrimental to our spiritual progress, the spiritually-minded have come to look upon science as a sphere of activity that denies the existence of the Divine.

(See also: Spirituality and Science, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Moving out of my apartment to reach anywhere in Mumbai, I pass through slices of time. 'Yesterday' shows up, among other things, in the buffalo sheds I pass along-side my drive through the new, slick highway, which is 'today'.

'Tomorrow' is seen in the amazing imported car showrooms, right next to the buffalo sheds. Rows of shining cars that can go at dazzling speeds - for which we do not have the right roads.

(See also: Personal faith, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

 While the ultimate result of any truly spiritual path is the negation of the individual ego-self, one cannot begin on one's own personal path of spiritual realization unless one establishes his/her individuality. That means freeing oneself from the demands of organized religions, creeds, socially accepted beliefs, the dictates of any prophet. All of these characteristics of religious participation establish only the group-identity, the body of like-minded believers. People can spend an entire lifetime following the teachings and beliefs of others, without ever finding the path that is right for them personally.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: The Individual Path

Who we think we are, is what we grow up to be. Simultaneously, we also develop a corresponding sense of who we are not. What we think we're not is the stuff that makes up our 'shadow', that part of us which consists of the unexplored, feared and unwanted qualities - whatever does not fit into our image of how we should be.

Poet Robert Bly says we dump what we consider personally and socially undesirable into a sort of invisible bag we carry around, with its contents growing as we grow older. The shadow is not about our 'bad' parts. What makes it so undesirable to us is what we put there has remained unattended for long periods.

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

The nature of the mind is to accumulate. A gross mind wants to accumulate things; an evolved mind wants to accumulate knowledge. When emotion becomes dominant, it wants to accumulate people.

The mind’s basic nature is to accumulate. The mind is a gatherer - always wanting to gather something. The mind of a person on the spiritual path starts accumulating 'spiritual’ wisdom. Maybe it starts gathering the guru’s words but until one goes beyond the need to accumulate - whether it is food, things, people, knowledge or wisdom - it does not matter what you accumulate.

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

There exists a misconception in the field of western psychology, that one who is self-centred, turns out to be selfish. Spirituality or the goal of self-realisation is perceived as creating self-engrossed and selfish people who vitiate the character of society.

Self-realisation may mean self-engrossment but a self-engrossed person cannot be selfish; these are two different things. A selfish person does not know his inner self. There is an inverse relation between selfishness and self-realisation. The higher the degree of self-realisation, the lesser the selfishness.

(See also: Self-realisation, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Newton wasn't the only person in the world on whose head an apple fell. Yet, it was Newton who immediately grasped the meaning of gravity after this experience. When Einstein heard that a painter had fallen from the roof, he asked the painter how he felt while falling down. The painter's reply that he felt weightless propelled Einstein into formulating his General Theory of Relativity.

Both Newton and Einstein and countless other discoverers of truth produced great ideas from every day observations because their minds were in a state of preparedness.

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

Annual sports functions are quite similar in the choice of events and the manner in which they are conducted. But the one I attended recently was different, for purely personal reasons.

While viewing the events, my mind began exploring and searching for hidden messages behind each performance. I wondered whether the children and their parents, for whom all this was being enacted, were aware of the spirit behind the sporting events.

Could it be that the teachers, who conceptualised and organised the events, deliberately structured them in such a way as to make the participants more aware persons? I had no prepared speech; so I decided to take the children on an internal journey.

(See also: Self-defence, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Weak people say: "I resign myself to God because I am helpless to proceed further". But such words are not convincing for they reveal that there is, still, a trace of the crude ego left.

The exhibition of humility is only a pretence, a cover. And this is misinterpreted by others as piety. Hanuman says in the Ramayana: "I have surrendered everything to Rama and I have installed Him firmly in my heart. I am His faithful servant". Such a statement is convincing because it comes from a strong, fearless and intelligent person.

(See also: Self-surrender, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

The sense of "I" pertains to the person. When a man knows his true self for the first time, something else arises from the depths of his being and takes possession of him.

That something is beyond mind and body; it is infinite, divine, eternal. Some people call it the kingdom of heaven, others call it the soul and still others nirvana . Hindus call it moksha or liberation.

You may give it what name you like but when it happens, a man has truly found himself. The recognition of pure being - the absolute - is the supreme and ultimate truth.

(See also: Self-realisation, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

We all yearn for the improvement of our fortunes. So we wish to know the future. Palmistry is an effective reflector of what the future holds for us.

Indian ascetics have said that one should take a good look at the palms of both hands for good fortune and luck before getting out of bed early in the morning.

The hand is a symbol of mystic power for it mirrors the individual personality. Those who desire improvement, invigoration and achievement in their lives should rise early in the morning and look at their palms, and then rub them over the face lightly.

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

Buddhists do not deny that a conventional reality exists 'out there'. It appears substantial, solid, permanent and self-existent. In fact were it not so, then all scientific research would be futile, for, the main concern of science is to investigate the ultimate nature of reality of the physical universe.

The madhyamika prasangika view of Mahayana Buddhism postulates that though beings exist in the conventional world, their existence is only through nomination, designation and mental imputation. When an investigation is made into the ultimate nature of phenomena and persons, a permanent self-existing entity cannot be found.

(See also: Moha And Krodha, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Walt Disney died months before the much-awaited opening of his second theme park at Florida, USA. At the opening ceremony, someone said to Roy Disney, Walt Disney's brother: "It is a shame that your brother did not live to see this." Roy replied: "Oh, yes, he saw it; that is why it is here."

Sir Edmund Hillary became the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest - but only after failing several times. After one failure, he shook his fist at the mountain and said: "You have defeated me, but I will return and I will defeat you, because you can't get any bigger, but I can." And he did in 1953. If you want to be bigger, better and bolder, you need to have faith.

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

Newton wasn't the only person in the world on whose head an apple fell. Yet, it was Newton who immediately grasped the meaning of gravity after this experience. When Einstein heard that a painter had fallen from the roof, he asked the painter how he felt while falling down. The painter's reply that he felt weightless propelled Einstein into formulating his General Theory of Relativity.

Both Newton and Einstein and countless other discoverers of truth produced great ideas from every day observations because their minds were in a state of preparedness.

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

Today, dealing with change is perceived as a huge challenge. In fact, 'change management' has become a major preoccupation of leaders in all walks of life, including in government, business and institutions.

Employees too are grappling with changes in the work place. More than ever before, the number of people individually striving to learn more and grow at a personal level is increasing by leaps and bounds. So they have to learn to adapt themselves to changing situations. Most of us are fairly quick at learning, at cultivating new tastes and fashions. Yet, our first reaction to change is always tinged with suspicion and caution, and in some cases, resistance.

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

Earth, water, fire, wind, sky, the astral bodies, dawn, night, thunderstorms and lightning are all worshipped and deified in Hinduism. If God is 'all’, then where is his abode?

"The Hindu firmly believes that the countless viewpoints of God (the different religions) are all valid and will lead us to the same God. The ultimate experience is beyond the pale of the ego; but the highest spiritual experiences, too, may differ from person to person, as is revealed in the different religions... "Even they who seek material gains - or even spiritual perfection - resort to God only through the various divinities; and God responds to them through the same channel. We adore God in various ways. This knowledge frees us from fear, attachment, anger, intolerance and proselytism".

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

On his return from a pilgrimage to Amarnath, Swami Vivekananda hardly spoke to anyone. A disciple asked him what the matter was. "Oh that," said the otherwise fiery monk: "Since visiting Amarnath I feel as if Shiva is sitting on my head all 24 hours, not coming down for even a moment!"

Many of us go on pilgrimages, but not all our experiences are similar. Individual narrations differ in content and feeling. Every individual has a different experience to relate. All perceptions and reactions stem, however, from a common desire to forge a close relationship with the Divine. And it is this personal experience that makes a pilgrimage so different from a holiday or business trip.

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

Meditation is the natural process of withdrawing attention from environmental, physical, and mental processes and consciously directing it inward to a chosen focus of attention. But not many people know how to practice meditation for personal benefit and spiritual growth.

The beneficial side-effects of regular meditation practice include stress reduction, strengthening of the body's immune system, more orderly thinking, improvement in powers of concentration, and a slowing of the biological ageing process. For these reasons, meditation practice is recommended by an increasing number of doctors as a harmless way for patient-clients to be more responsible for their own total well-being.

(See also: Effects of Meditation, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Rabindranath Tagore lived up to his name. Rabi means the Sun and like the Sun's rays the myriad-minded "Great Sentinel" - as Mahatma Gandhi called him - never failed to dazzle with his creative genius, enlightening us with his sagacious insight.

Tagore's songs, poems, plays, short stories, novels, essays, letters, and paintings take us through his personal reflection of reality, which soon become our own because they touch the core of our heart, bonding us with nature. His writings are a heartfelt appeal for universal peace, love and harmony.

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

 We can be drawn into others people's consequences by giving consent to their actions or by judging their behavior. The energy field that links us together works on all levels, spiritual through physical. We constantly put out energy for the approval or disapproval of our friends and family. When energy in any form comes to you from another person, the judgment you put on it ties you to it, regardless of type of judgment made.

Read more here: » Judgment: The Road To Delusion