Women

Indic scriptures state that feminine energy is distinctive, because it is powerful, yet tempered with virtue. The feminine is the embodiment of Shakti and the primal source of all manifestation. She is also full of wisdom, compassion and sacrifice. As `mother', the feminine principle supremely embodies nurturing and caring instincts.

Men use their discriminative ability only to do their jobs, but women can discriminate and deal with any work according to the situation. People call women weak. Do not believe it. Women are not just homemakers; they make the nation and the world. They have a crucial role in individual and social uplift. There is nothing in this world that women cannot achieve.“ However, women do need to protect themselves from abuse and exploitation. With access to education and good opportunities, women can get equipped for greater responsibilities and create a safer environment for all.

The Bhagwad Gita states that women are equipped with seven strengths, whereas men are equipped with only three. However, these qualities are rarely known because most women are homemakers and they labour without any material compensation that they would have received if they had put in the same effort and time in a job outside the home as an employee. If men and women are equal in essence and equal to all modern day challenges, in society and home, what is the edge that women have, in today's context? The edge that women have is their basic qualities of compassion, of mutual cooperation, tolerance and sacrifice. These virtues are abundant in the feminine psyche and not so evident in the male. This is where `macho' comes in the male machismo which is mistakenly believed to be synonymous with manhood. Battles and wars in history have been waged on grounds of ego, dressed up in another garb. What the world needs to survive is not more male machismo, but feminine energy , that is intelligent and balanced and therefore has greater chances of restoring order and harmony in a fractured world.

Another area of women's strength is in their spirituality. Their spiritual aspect makes women more reverent, humble, serene and accommodating. Their innate wisdom comes from evolving over time in terms of handling and balancing multiple relationships, as daughter, daughter-in-law, wife and mother. Their impulse is towards making, not breaking since they are geared to nurture and not to destroy. Their natural tendency is towards rapprochement, not conflict.

Feminine energy that inclines toward preservation, restoration and healing, is the very basis of creation. It is high time society understood the importance of allowing for expansion of the base of this energy for a better, more peaceful and balanced world for the benefit of all beings.

What does Islam propagate?

I had to share this, great insight to Islam.

It won’t come as a surprise to hear a section of Muslims worldwide rejoice at the dastardly terror attack on the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. They will claim the killing of journalists, whose weapon of offense was their humor, is a just retribution against those who mocked and blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad, little realising that it violates the very spirit of the Quran.

What precisely is the spirit of the Quran is open to interpretations and contestations. However, since Chapter 2, Verse 256 says that “there is no compulsion in religion”, it is only natural to assume a person has the right to accept or reject Islam and pursue other alternatives, including not adhering to any faith.

It is this Quranic verse cultural critic Ziauddin Sardar cites in his book, Reading the Quran, to say, “If there is no compulsion in religion then all opinions can be expressed freely, including those which cause offence to religious people. The believers will show respect and use respectful language towards God and His Prophet simply because they are believers. Non-believers, by definition, take a rejectionist attitude to both.”

It is possible the rejectionist could use language the believers might find profane. This isn't difficult to imagine – an atheist, for instance, is not likely to share the devout’s sense of sacredness, his or her respect of it. So then, is an insult to God or the Prophet to be avenged?

Chapter 7, Verse 180 of the Quran says, “The Most Excellent Names belong to God: use them to call on Him, and keep away from those who abuse them – they will be requited for what they do.” From these lines it is obvious the onus for punishing the person insulting Allah lies not on the Muslim, but on Allah Himself. Thus, through their attacks on the Charlie Hebdo office the terrorists were playing God, usurping his role, an act both reprehensible and sacrilegious.

Since there is no compulsion in religion, the Quran inherently advocates choice. And choice can’t be exercised unless there are multiple options available, a situation in which votaries of different faiths are bound preach and propagate, even establish the superiority of their belief systems. Debates and rebuttals are bound to follow, perhaps assaulting the sensibilities of participants.

Instead of engaging in an interminable religious debate, Chapter 109, Verse 1-6 of the Quran tells Muslims: “Say ‘O unbelievers! I do not worship what you worship,\Nor do you worship what I worship;\ Nor will I ever worship what you worship,\Nor will you ever worship what I worship.\You have your religion\And I have mine.’”

During the time he preached, particularly before migrating to Media from Mecca, the Prophet was often abused and blasphemed. Sardar writes, “He took no action against those who ridiculed him. If the Prophet himself did not penalize those who uttered profanities against him, who are we to act on his behalf?” His question will never be answered, for terrorists subscribing to any ideology, religious or secular, have a disdain for debate.

This doesn't mean the Quran advocates inaction against abuse or blasphemy. It gives the Muslim the right to retort in equal measure, writes Sardar. He cites the example of the Prophet, who instructed his followers: “When the Jews greet you with the phrase ‘death be upon you’, then you should simply say ‘and upon you.’”

This example demonstrates that words should be used against words and cartoons against cartoons, not bullets and bombs.

The Quran asks Muslims to ignore those who insult their religion or provoke them or make them doubt. Chapter 6, Verse 116 of the Quran, for instance, advises Muslims, “Now if you paid attention to the majority on earth, they would lead you away from the path of God. They follow nothing but speculation; they themselves do nothing but guess.” In other words, a Muslim is required to concentrate on following his religion, not get distracted by the utterances of others.

Yet, it is also true that this spirit of the Quran is violated too frequently. This is because there are few places in the Muslim world which allow for the freedom of expression. In such a milieu, it becomes impossible to have in the public domain multiple interpretations of the Quran, which, as any text, sacred or secular, can be read, and understood, in diverse ways by different readers.

As much of the Muslim world festers under totalitarian regimes, despotic rulers invariably seek to impose their own reading of the Quran on the subjects. They prefer an interpretation of the Quran conducive to perpetuating their power, popularly perceived to be illegitimate. Secular ideologies are proscribed, the space for civil society activism circumscribed. Dissent and opposition are minimal and brutally crushed.

Religious arena is the only public space where even the most autocratic ruler hesitates to encroach upon. The mosque consequently becomes the site of contest, and the Quran an argument for the rivals to justify their positions and actions. The opponents of authoritarian regimes tend to read and interpret the Quran in a way it justifies their militant opposition to them.

This has not only politicized Islam, but also sparked off the struggle to define what true Islam is. Since the socio-political context in which the contest for defining Islam isn’t democratic, the actors in the drama have sought to violently impose their version of ‘true Islam’ on people, demanding their adherence under duress. They portray themselves as the guardians of Islam, its indefatigable protectors.

It is this erroneous belief of theirs which has led them to attack the office of Charlie Hebdo, whose cartoonists lampooned the Prophet. It is for this reason they attack girls in Pakistan who dare to defy dictat to attend school. It is for this reason why Saudi Arabia, quite incredibly, continues to debate whether or not it is Islamic for a woman to drive alone in the city.

Islam needs to be rescued from authoritarian regimes and their obscurantist opponents.

Ajaz Ashraf’s book, The Hour Before Dawn, published by HarperCollins, tackles the theme of religious-political violence fictionally.

Courtesy - Firstpost

Happy birthday Voyager 1...

Think about the different pieces of consumer technology you own: probably a cell phone, a computer, maybe a watch, an e-reader, a few other things here and there. How old are they? For my gadgets the average age is, I'd say, about three years. Perhaps the figure ticks up a bit if you take into account your car, your microwave and toaster over, and a trusty stand-mixer (those things, people like to say, can last "forever").

But these things are all babies -- babies -- when compared with our two Voyager spacecraft, the first of which celebrates its 35th birthday today. (Confusingly, that Voyager, the first one, is Voyager 2. Voyager 1 lifted off 16 days later.) Last Monday Voyager 2 became NASA's longest-operating spacecraft of all time. Voyager 1, which has traveled a more direct route, is on the verge of becoming the first man-made object to ever leave the heliosphere, the bubble of solar winds coming from our sun.

What's so incredible is that in the intervening 35 years, the Voyager spacecraft have journeyed billions -- literally billions -- of miles (Voyager 1 is now 11 billion miles away from the sun and Voyager 2 trails about two billion miles behind), borne the extreme cold of outer space (mission managers recently turned off a heater on Voyager 1 in order to conserve energy, bringing its temperature below minus 110 degrees Farenheit), and still, miraculously (in a strictly scientific sense, of course), the little Voyagers continue to send data back to Earth every single day, updating us on the very outer edge of the heliosphere known as the heliosheath.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to speak with Edward Stone, featured above, who has been working on the Voyager mission since the 1970s. I asked Stone what we could expect as Voyager 1 leaves the heliosphere, and what it felt like to see this mission reach that historic achievement.

It would be nice, fulfilling even, if at the edge of the heliosphere there were, well, an actual edge, a boundary between our bubble and the cosmos. But, it's probably not going to be so cut and dried. "The boundary," Stone postulates, "will not be an instantaneous thing. [Voyager] won't suddenly be outside." Rather, the exit will be turbulent, "a mix of inside and outside," and the work of Stone and the other Voyager scientists is trying to square the different data -- the particles and the magnetic field -- to try to understand what that transition from inside to outside looks like. That turbulent region may take several months to get through.

But even without a clean break in the offing, it's hard not to sit on the edge of your seat to wait for this moment -- this months-long moment -- to pass. "We're looking at our data every day -- we listen to these spacecraft every day, for a few hours every day -- to keep track of what's going on. ... It's very exciting from a scientific point of view, when you're seeing something that nobody's seen before."

So perhaps Voyager won't make its mark with a sudden, defining event that echoes across generations as a sort of before-and-after dividing line through human history, like the line separating the time when a human's voice had never traveled across a wire to an ear miles away -- and when it had -- or before a human foot had left its imprint on the moon, and when that print was there. But Stone is okay with that: "Well you know actually Voyager has had a lot of those moments as we flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. One after the other, we found something that we hadn't realized was there to be discovered."

With that, we wish a very happy birthday to both the Voyagers, and many, many more.

COURTESY :- http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2012/08/nasas-voyager-35-years-later/261346/

Essence of being an Indian...

I met a Swedish national in Berlin while I was taking rest in the Press Centre during IFA 2007 trade show. He said he is a part-time technology journalist and part-time pastor. He did his higher studies in UK. “So…you are from India…are you a Hindi?” he asked, while having coffee with me.

“Hindi is our national language. You mean to ask am I a Hindu?”

“Yes – I mean religion…”

“Yes. I am a Hindu by birth”

“Do you have Christianity there?”

“Yes, of course. Christianity came to India, centuries before it reached
you in Europe” I said.

“Oh, really? Still you are a Hindu?” he asked again.

“Yes – why?” I was curious.

“Don’t tell me you worship monkeys and rats…” he said with a smile.

“As a matter of fact, yes, we do”

“You can’t be serious. You look like an educated person…”

“I am very serious and I worship monkey-god and an elephant-god…what’s that
to do with education?” I said.

“You must be joking….People were worshipping animals and trees during
pre-historic times…but todays educated people, no way!”

“In fact, we have a pantheon of many gods and we can worship god in any
forms…”

“Hey, come on….there is only one GOD” he said.

“Really? I am not sure about it…”

“There is only one GOD…a singular GOD…”

“Better say, you have the concept of a single god…that’s your belief…”

“Concept? Belief…I am telling you the truth…”

“Who said so…?”

“All religious scriptures and sacred books say so… Christianity and Judaism say there is only one God. Islam also says so…”

“Those are great religions…what they say must be true. I don’t know about it… I am not a scholar in Semitic religions or in Hinduism. So let’s don’t talk about the Holy books and religions…I am not capable to discuss it….But about GOD, I have a question.”

“Yes – of course…”

“Ok… you shouldn’t feel angry…I didn’t feel angry when you ridiculed my gods…My question is based on your opinion of single god concept…” I reminded him.

“Shoot”

“You say that there is only one god – single god, right?

“That’s right”

“Your single God claims that he is the only God, who demands you to should worship him failing which he would roast you in hell fire…”

“It is not fully correct…but continue…I am listening…”

“That means. You are following Monotheism – that is the belief in a single god. Monotheism insists that only a single God exists. Other gods are “false” or even demonic…”

“Yes- you can say that…”

“For me, it is difficult to accept…”

“Why?” “If a God says: “You will worship none but me, that you will associate none with me, and that none of you shall set up mortals as deities besides me. If you commit the foulest sin by worshiping any other Gods (other than me) or associating partner with me, I shall throw you in hell fire as a punishment for this sin.” – That’s what, in a nutshell, your GOD says right?”

“What’s wrong in saying that? You need to have faith in Him”

“Friend, isn’t this self-contradictory and dangerous?” “How come?”

“First, explain to me about the contradictions…Had there been really only one God, it would not have been possible for man to find another God to worship, right?”

“Hmm…”

“Had the God been confident that there is no other God except him, he should not have been jealous of another God, right?”

“Yes – but who is jealous here?”

“Think…If the GOD knew that there is no other God, he would have been confident that people will not find any another God to worship, right?”

“These are all mis-interpretations….that’s not just right…” his voice became bit feeble.

“Think without biased, without conditionings…think with clarity….”

- The behavioral pattern of any single GOD in such concepts suggests that he is not confident that he is the only God. He seems always to be suspicious that there may be other Gods and people may worship those Gods instead of him.

- So the insecure GOD warns man not to worship another God. It, of course, is not a real god’s message. Can’t you clearly see the insecurity and whims and fancy of a narrow-minded human being behind this message?

- Can any GOD be always feel threatened that a member of his followers’gang may slip out of his grip and start to worship another God (probably the real creator of the universe)? So he had to enforce strict law that if any one of his gang tries to desert Him, he should immediately be put to death for apostasy.

- How can any GOD be so insecure? The single insecure god theory converts the basic instinct to insecurity right from the childhood. The follower’s behaviour may be fostered by GOD’s violent teachings for establishing Himself as the sole proprietary God of the world.

- And one more thing – you say, your singular god does everything. If there is only one powerful god who controls everything, doesn’t that also mean he creates bad things and causes bad things to happen?

“Do these reflections make any sense? Should I believe such a story or such a GOD?”

“You are talking non-sense, ridiculous…” his face turned red.

“Sir, I told you – why do you feel angry and insecure when I talk about your concept of god? We are having a dialogue here…”

“Shouldn’t I defend my beliefs?” he asked angrily.

“Now you are saying those are just your beliefs…”

“Sorry…Truths…”

“You may. But why should a human try to protect GOD? Why should you feel so insecure if somebody criticizes your concept of God? Isn’t it insecurity?”

“You won’t feel hurt when somebody criticizes your beliefs? You people worship cows…even dogs…are you not ashamed of it…”

“Do I look hurt? But fanatic followers – even in Hinduism – will get angry and violent. I am not fanatic or fundamentalist…I am a humanist…”

“Ok…ok…so you say defending the GOD shows insecurity?”

“One may feel insecure when somebody questions his beliefs. If somebody questions truth, why should you feel insecure? Its truth after all…Should you defend the existence of sun? Your defending won’t change anything with sun…Don’t you think that fanatic god theory is the very root is insecurity
– that is why we see a lot of followers have aggression and blind faith. We can find the seed of the real insecurity when a GOD is not confident that he is the only God in the world (and not in the universe)….”

“Your god doesn’t ask you to fear Him”

“No…Never…There are two things. One -The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as divine messengers’ time-to-time, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make any sense to me.”

“What’s the second thing?”

“Is God as silly autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him? Can God stoop to such a low level of narrow-minded like a jealous human being? Or is it those human beings created such God?”

“So you don’t fear GOD…”

“I am afraid, I don’t…”

- The Monotheistic God is jealous and wrathful. There is one God, and one correct method of worship. Those who deviate are heretics and may be punished, tortured or killed. In its exclusive devotion to the worship of one God, monotheism has inspired much ferocity and fanaticism….that’s how fear comes in.

- At the heart of monotheism is the sure conviction that only a single god
exists, a tendency to regard one’s own rituals and practices as the only
proper way to worship the one true god.

- When one starts with the presumption that one is absolutely and utterly
“right” and anyone thinking otherwise is just as completely “wrong”, it
does not promote the flexible thinking required to keep pace with the
rapidly fluctuating pace of modern civilized society.

-Monotheism “demands” a right/wrong, heaven/hell, black/white worldview.

-On the contrary, Polytheism is an open-ended and easy going approach to
religious beliefs and practices, a willingness to entertain the idea that
there are many gods and many ways to worship them. Many roads lead to the
mountain top. A person may choose any path.

- Polytheism accepts that there can be more than “one true way”. This
allows for more rational thinking when discussing things like belief system.

Hence, polytheism is more compatible with a naturalistic view of the
universe than monotheism.

“Ok…I understand your view points, though I don’t agree with you… But you
didn’t answer my question. What does your gods say about worshipping them
and fearing them?”

“Very simple. An Indian saint, Adi Shankara said: “Aakashat patitam toyam,
Yadha gachhati saagaram, Sarva deva namaskara: Keshavam prati gachhati!!”

“What- what’s that? Come again?”

“It is in Sanskrit. It means: Just as every rain drop that falls from the
sky flows into the Ocean, in the same way every prayer offered to any Deity
flows to the divine cosmic power (Kesava).”

“Oh…”

- “In short, you may worship or believe in any God. No problem…Even if you
don’t worship or don’t believe, still it is no problem….This message from
the GOD is so confident, so secure, secular and broad-minded. Because it
can only come from the true creator of the universe, if at all there is a
creator. And you are not asked to protect this GOD and resort to violence.”

“Ah..That’s why you don’t get angry?”

“Yes – You don’t have to spread the message of this God. You don’t have to
defend the God. If somebody says badly about this God, I don’t have to get
angry or fight for this God. A true Hindu believes that God protects us; we
don’t have to protect God. So a true Hindu cannot get hurt in the name of
God or religion….”

“So your religion is against single and personal god”

“Not like that… You can worship personal god or impersonal god…everything
is manifestation of the same cosmic divinity…so no problem…you have freedom
there too…You don’t have to market this God and convert others into his
fold and increase market share. That’s why I remain as Hindu. How can you
believe in concepts of any other insecure Gods?”

“OK, you made your point clear. But why do you worship monkeys, cows and
elephants?”

“An ancient scripture says: “Isavasyam idam sarvam” (Isopanisad)
…Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is Divine.
This entire manifest Universe is enveloped by the Divine, the cosmic
power….Hence you can see God in everything – the monkey, donkey, rat, and
elephant or even in protozoa….”

“That means you can worship anything in this universe?”

“Yes – Be it Sun or Moon, Be it Hanuman or Ganapathi – whoever you worship,
you are worshipping the cosmic power. My favourite God is Hanuman
(Monkey-God). My traditional village God is Narasimha (Lion-God)….”

“Don’t you feel awkward? Shameful?”

“Why should I? I am not ashamed or apologetic to admit it….Nobody forced me
to worship or believe in them. I had a choice there. I am in a democratic
country. Nobody told me that this God would roast me in the hell, if I
don’t worship it. I just love the stories of Hanuman and Narasimha. And I
am free to criticize or make fun of those stories….”

“But, the animal gods are not scientific… So ancient tribes considered
everything as GOD…There is no science in it…”

“On the contrary, there was scientific advancement among our
ancestors…While my ancestors were learning and teaching the secrets of life
and universe, the homo sapience of the West were still crawling in all
fours and living in the caves….”

- While my ancestors were calculating the exact distance to the minutest
details, between the earth and sun or teaching Vedic mathematics and
astronomy, the West was believing the earth is flat till a couple of
hundreds of years ago.

- Should I challenge my ancestors and convert my belief to the extent that
Coco Cola is better than natural honey?

No – I don’t need a certificate or empirical scientific proof approved by
any international scientific body to understand the presence of God in
monkeys and lions. At least monkeys are our ancestors and lions are the
kings in the forest. It is anyways better than worshiping an insecure GOD.
And I don’t expect monkey or lion to show any magic and miracle to prove
that they represent divine energy…

Every God -everything in the universe- is manifestation of the divine power.

And the Hindu scripture neither demands you to worship the GOD nor will a
Hindu be roasted in hell. Even if you don’t worship GOD, nothing can change
– because your karma decides your destiny- the God has little or no role in
it – The Gita too assures this.

- “I hope this answer to your question – why do I continue to be a Hindu? I
follow “THIS” Hinduism; hence I cannot be a fundamentalist or fanatic….”

“Hmm…Somewhat…but don’t say that you are right and I am wrong…”

- “I don’t. What’s more, let me admit – the entry level Hinduism has some
mal-practices and superstitions without any scientific base. (Read
up-to-date science. tomorrow this can change). Most of the people blindly
follow lot of tradition without understanding its true meanings or
relevance. Some of those practices are either unessential or irrelevant in
today’s life….”

“That’s true in all religions…”

- “In all other religions you can see the follower has learned everything
about his/her religion and can beautifully explain all aspects his/her
religion. An ordinary Hindu doesn’t know or learn about his religion. The
Gita is read by less than one percent of Hindu population. That’s the
problem with a Hindu….”

“You told me about worshipping trees…And why do Hindus worship trees?”

“Hinduism has always been an environmentally sensitive philosophy. It is a
totally green religion. Our ancestors were not very much interested in
automobiles, petroleum products and plastics. What pollutes the earth? What
causes cancer? A cow or an automobile?”

- God exists in everything. The trees are held in a special esteem in
Hinduism as they provide food, oxygen, shelter, etc. By associating
religion with plant kingdom, our ancient Indians tried to instil in us a
reverence for them, so that we may protect, preserve and cultivate these
beneficial plants in the future.

- Plant kingdom gives me everything I that I need – so what’s wrong in
worshiping it? Worshiping a tree is better than worshiping an imaginary
God, isn’t it?

“OK – but I have a genuine question now…If you don’t have a personal God,
how will you pray? What will you pray? What will you ask for?”

“Should we pray? What should I pray?” When we know that isavasyam idam
sarvam, what’s there to pray? I am part of GOD and the GOD is part of me. I
cannot exist without GOD and GOD cannot exist without me.

* Aham Brahmasmi (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad) = “I am Brahman” I am integral
part of cosmic energy.

* Tat Tvam Asi (Chandogya Upanishad) = “Thou art That” The identity of
individual self as a part of the whole which is ‘tat’, Brahman.

* Ayam Atma Brahma (Mandukya Upanishad) = “This Self (Atman) is Brahman”

* prajñānam brahma – “Consciousness is Brahman” (Aitareya Upanishad 3.3 of
the Rig Veda).

“As everything in the universe belong to me, what else I need? What would
anybody gain by a prayer? God has provided me everything I need (not what I
WANT)”

“That means you don’t need anything?”

“If I answer philosophically, I need something, only if it is lacking in
me. Nothing lacks in me. I don’t feel I am imperfect or anyways inferior to
anybody. Because, I am created by a perfect divinity. It just can’t go
wrong.”

- There is a divine assurance for this:”Om Poorna Madah Poorna Midam
Poornaat Poorna Mudachayate Poornasya Poorna Maadaaya Poorna Mevaa
Vashishyate” (That is perfect; this is perfect. What comes from such
Perfection truly is perfect. What remains after Perfection from Perfection
is yet again perfect)

- The cosmic created me just as it created you. So nobody can be imperfect.
At least accept this truth: “I am perfect with all my imperfections”

– I don’t have to pray for anything as the force behind creation has seen
to it so perfectly that everything is perfectly managed for me. For
instance, before I was born, the cosmic has in-stored my food as my
mother’s milk – who can take care of better than this? Everything is being
taken care, so meticulously – so what should I pray.

- Whatever I need will be given to me by the divine. Am I a fool to think
that even a grass can move without the cosmic knowledge? No, I don’t have
to remind the cosmic what I need. It knows better what I need. Any
situation in life appears with cosmic wisdom – who am I to question it or
challenge it or pray against such a situation?

“You mean to say you don’t have prayers?”

- “We do have…. my ancestors taught me three most important and
non-personalized prayers”

1.       “Asatoma Ma Sadgamaya tamaso ma jyotirgamaya mrtyorma amrtam gamaya Om
santhi, santhi santhihi” (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad).

Take us from darkness to light’; from ignorance to awareness; from incompleteness to totality.
Let there be peace everywhere. This is not a personal prayer.

2.       ”Loka samastha sukhino bhavanthu.”

May happiness be unto the entire
world. Not just me. I should not pray for any selfish gain, my ancestors
taught me. If your neighbor is starving and I am binging, where is the
happiness? The entire world should be happy.

3.       “Om Bhur Buvaha Suvaha Thath Savithur VarenyamBhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dhiyo Yonaha Prachodayath” (Gayatri).

We contemplate the glory of Light illuminating the three worlds: gross, subtle, and causal. I am that vivifying power, love, radiant illumination, and divine grace of universal intelligence. We pray for the divine light to illumine our minds. 

Wind chimes...

Using wind chimes to enhance the feng shui of your home is one of the most powerful items you can use. Depending on what your requirements are for your feng shui enhancement, they may be used to attract personal wealth, friends, improve your vitality, and to genuinely enhance the atmosphere of your home.

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese practice of harmoniously placing your furniture and objects within that space to flow with the Earths own energy spheres.

Choose your wind chime according to the space you are trying to enhance, for example you would not place a meter long wind chime in a home hallway. You need to choose the type of chimes you buy, whether they be metal or made from bamboo according to how pleasing the sound is to your ears. Make sure its rods are hollow, promoting the flow of energy through them.

Read below for tips on what types of chimes to place in which area

What Not To Do:

• Place your wind chime is such an area that it is going to interfere where you walk.
• Don't place a wind chime over the area where you eat, work or you sleep.
• Particular areas of your home determine the wealth, health, relationship, fame, family, children. knowledge, career, and helpful friend directions of your home. This is called the Feng Shui Bagua. 

Depending which hemisphere you live in it is determined as follows:

• Northern Hemisphere: Centre/Health, NW/Wealth, N/Fame, NE/Relationships, E/Children, SE/Helpful friends, S/Career, SW/Knowledge, W/Family.
• Southern Hemisphere: Centre/Health, NW/Helpful Friends, N/Career, NE/Knowledge, E/Family, SE/Wealth, S/Fame, SW/Relationship, W/Children.

According to which areas of your life you would like to enhance, place your wind chime in the area of your home that corresponds with the Bagua.

Area of Home and Type of Wind chime:

• Wealth Area - use bamboo or wooden chimes, or choose wind chimes that have coins or water themes.
• Career - Use metal wind chimes
• Family - Use bamboo or wooden chimes
• Children - Metal wind chimes
• Fame - Use bamboo or wooden wind chimes
• Health - Use bamboo or wooden wind chimes

Must Do's:

• Always hang a wind chime where two doors face one another in your home. This will slow down the energy running between both doors.
• Try to use crystal enhancements in bathrooms and toilet areas, if you must hand a win chime in a bathroom or toilet area, make it a wooden one.
• Make sure your wind chime has hollow rods to promote the flow of energy.

COURTESY:- http://www.helium.com/items/680319-placing-wind-chimes-for-feng-shui

MILK... protects your from HIV

 Cows' milk can be potentially developed into affordable creams that can help protect humans against HIV, a study has claimed. 

Lead scientist from University of Melbourne Marit Kramski found that when pregnant cows were vaccinated with an HIV protein, the first milk produced by the cow after giving birth, called colostrum, produced high antibodies to protect its newborn against disease. 

Researchers were now planning to test the effectiveness and safety of the milk before turning it into a cream which will hopefully allow women to protect themselves against contracting the virus during sex, without relying on men, the Herald Sun reported. 

However, the final result could be a decade off. The researchers were able to inhibit the virus from infecting cells when combing the virus cells with milk. 

"We think the antibodies bind to the surface of the virus and blocks the protein which needs to be freed to get in contact with human cells - like a key and lock system. If the key's not accessible or you change the key, you can't open the door," Kramski said adding "It's a very cheap and easy way to produce a lot of antibodies." 

Kramski had partnered with Australian biotechnology company Immuron Ltd to develop the milk, and would continue working with them to produce a preventative cream. 

"We have the antibodies at the moment - the next step will be formulation," Kramski said. 

Condoms were "cheap and easy" but not an option for everyone with millions of people getting infected with HIV every year, she added. 

"A lot of women, especially in Africa or South America they don't have the power to say you need to use a condom before we have sex. 

"This milk looks like it can be a cheap, easy new prevention tool, because if you use drugs it's really expensive," she said.

COURTESY :- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Cows-milk-protects-against-HIV-Study/articleshow/16847978.cms