REAL PEACE

How long do you want to live a life of duality? A life of
restlessness and discontentment? How long do you wish to lead a life
of ignorance, hatred, bitterness, and separation? How long do you
wish to continue your own selfish struggles? How long do you wish to
behold differences and distinctions? How long do you wish to keep the
barriers between man and man?

You cry for santi, for peace. But where to get it? Through whom to
get it? Realise peace in your own heart through association with
sages and by meditation. You can find this peace only in the
stillness, only within your own self. You certainly cannot find it in
objects. Look within.

Sit silently in a quiet room for one or two hours. Close your eyes
and concentrate on the point between the eyebrows. Withdraw the mind
and the senses from the external objects. Be still.

Silence the surging thoughts and the bubbling emotions. Forget the
body. Forget the world. Enter into the great calm. Dive deep down
into the recesses of your heart. Plunge into the ocean of peace. Now
you can realise your oneness with the supreme self.

Be regular in your practice. This is of paramount importance. It is
useless to talk of the cessation of war, whilst you are still full of
petty hatred and jealousy. So first remove your own inharmonious
vibrations. Then there will be no more war between nations. It is
only the individuals that constitute a nation.

Lead a life of peace. Kill suspicion. Kill envy. Kill prejudice. Kill
selfishness. Kill the greed for power and possession. Do this
ruthlessly.

Lead a simple life. Practise daily meditation and establish peace in
your own heart. Then you will radiate it to all who come in contact
with you.

Mysterious is this peace. If you enjoy this peace, you will be
contributing peace to the whole world. Realise the peace that passeth
all understanding and be free.
By Swami Sivananda
(Accept my New Year greetings for a Peaceful, harmonious, prosperous and happy future for all the living beings of this world.)

Catholic Church Uses India To Replenish Fading Priesthood
Source: www.nytimes.com

ALUVA, KERALA, INDIA, December 30, 2008: Catholics represent a tiny proportion of the population in India. But among them, young men willing to join the Catholic priesthood are plentiful, unlike in the United States and Europe. As a result, bishops trek here from the United States, Europe, Latin America and Australia looking for spare priests to fill their empty pulpits.

At least 800 Indian priests are working in the United States alone. India, Vietnam and the Philippines are among the leading exporters of priests, according to data compiled by researchers at Catholic University of America in Washington.

In Birmingham, Alabama, where four Indian priests serve, the former local bishop arranged about seven years ago to pay their original Indian Diocese of Irinjalakuda $5,000 a year for each borrowed priest, an official in the Indian diocese said. Many Indian bishops have such arrangements, giving them a motive other than generosity to loan out their priests.

The rectors of both large seminaries in Aluva, with over 400 students each, each said in separate interviews that the Catholic church in the United States and Europe would eventually need to stop relying on India to supply priests
(HPI)

Helping the Needy, Cambodia Rediscovers Yoga
Source: www.phnompenhpost.com

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, December 17, 2008: Cambodia was home to one of the greatest Hindu empires, until the fall of the Khmer empire in 1431. Ancient carvings in local temples show yogis in deep meditation. The art is long forgotten, but today, yoga studios in the capital are increasingly reaching out to disadvantaged communities to share the health benefits of this healing practice.

"Yoga Cambodia" started a training initiative in January 2007 to help remedy the lack of yoga studios here. Their objective is to train Cambodians in the meditation techniques and exercises of yoga, enabling them in turn to teach others, particularly through outreach activities to poor communities who might not otherwise have access to yoga and meditation-based support. Their students are feeling the benefits of this ancient practice which is so popular abroad.
(HPI)

(Reuters Editorial Blog) December 29, 2008: Political scientist Samuel Huntington, whose controversial book "The Clash of Civilizations" predicted conflict between the West and the Islamic world, has died at age 81, Harvard University said on Saturday.

In his 1996 "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order," which expanded on his 1993 article in Foreign Affairs magazine, Huntington divided the world into rival civilizations based mainly on religious traditions such as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism and said competition and conflict among them was inevitable. His thesis was one of the most influential, controversial and widely debated in foreign affairs circles in the past decade or so.

His focus on religion rather than ideology as a source of conflict in the post-Cold War world triggered broad debate about relations between the Western and Islamic worlds.

"In Eurasia the great historic fault lines between civilizations are once more aflame," he wrote. This is particularly true along the boundaries of the crescent-shaped Islamic bloc of nations from the bulge of Africa to central Asia. Violence also affects Orthodox Serbs in the Balkans, Jews in Israel, Hindus in India, Buddhists in Burma and Catholics in the Philippines.

But next month America will swear in its first black president, a Christian whose Kenyan father had an Islamic background. And these last years saw unprecedented inter-faith dialogue and initiatives. Source: blogs.reuters.com

{HPI}

Source:

KAUAI, HAWAII, USA, December 8, 2008: After technical problems were solved by the Hinduism Today staff, the Hindu History Lesson video presented at the Hindu Mandirs' Executive Conference was restored. In this informative video you will see how schoolbooks are created in America and why it is important that the Hindu community engages in the process. You can see the video in two parts by clicking on the link above

In Passing

How swiftly the strained honey of afternoon light
flows into darkness
and the closed bud shrugs off its special mystery
in order to break into blossom:
as if what exists, exists
so that it can be lost
and become precious

~ Lisel Mueller ~
courtesy,London spirituality network

INDONESIA, Debember 18, 2008: The Indonesian Council of Ulema, or MUI, the highest Islamic authority in Indonesia, is unlikely to issue an edict banning the practice of yoga among Muslims here, according to council chairman Amidhan.  "I think Indonesians practice yoga purely as a form of exercise," he said.

Amidhan said the council may come to a final conclusion on the issue at a national meeting in January, and would ban yoga for Indonesian Muslims only if it included rituals or acts that went against Islamic teachings.
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/article/3729.html
[HPI]

The ignorant work for their own profit, Arjuna; the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves. By abstaining from work you will confuse the ignorant, who are engrossed in their actions. Perform all work carefully, guided by compassion.

-Bhagavad Gita 3:25-26

Lord Siva, the bestower of happiness, gave the art of yoga. As Nataraja, King of dancers, He gave dance.
BKS Iyengar

Jewelry Turned Spiritual Atracts Youth
Source: http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lifestyle/Bling_turns_spiritual_/articleshow/3845478.cms

INDIA, December 18, 2008: Spiritual jewelry has become the latest craze in India, and youngsters are rediscovering their spiritual side by flaunting it.

Says college student Ridhima Singh who always wears a chic Ganesha pendant around her neck, "Spiritual jewelry is being touted as trendy and thanks to designers, now there is no dearth of super chic designs when it comes to spiritual jewelry. Wearing spiritual jewelry makes me peaceful and I feel closer to God."

According to jewelry designer Ravi Ajmera of Ravi Jewels, "The spirituality wave has caught on strongly and spiritual jewelry is an extension of the same. A lot of young people are buying spiritual jewelry as they are entranced by their distinguished look and the mystic element associated with them." Youngsters are taking their pick from Shiva, Ganesha, Om, Hanuman and Sarasvati pendants, bangles and ear-rings. Rudraksha beads, believed to be the tears of Lord Shiva and worn by yogis for enlightenment, are being used-sometimes encrusted with gold-to create some exclusive pieces of jewelry. Ajmera says that the most popular among youngsters are his necklaces that have huge rudraksha beads and pendants with carved figures of Gods and Goddesses
(HPI)

He is the only adorable one to me: I have none other.

My tongue has left off impure words, it sings His glory day and night: Whether I rise or sit down, I can never forget Him; for the rhythm of His music beats in my ears.

Kabir says: "My heart is frenzied, and I disclose in my soul what is hidden. I am immersed in that one great bliss which transcends all pleasure and pain."

-Kabir

A still mind is not seeking experience of any kind. And if it is not seeking and therefore is completely still, without any movement from the past and therefore free from the known, then you will find, if you have gone that far, that there is a movement of the unknown that is not recognized, that is not translatable, that cannot be put into words - then you will find that there is a movement which is of the immense. That movement is of the timeless because in that there is no time, nor is there space, nor something in which to experience, nor something to gain, to achieve. Such a mind knows what is creation - not the creation of the painter, the poet, the verbalizer; but that creation which has no motive, which has no expression. That creation is love and death.
This whole thing from the beginning to the end is the way of meditation. A man who would meditate must understand himself. Without knowing yourself, you cannot go far. However much you may attempt to go far, you can go only so far as your own projection; and your own projection is very near, is very close, and does not lead you anywhere. Meditation is that process of laying the foundation instantly, immediately, and bringing about - naturally, without any effort - that state of stillness. And only then is there a mind which is beyond time, beyond experience, and beyond knowing. by J.Krishnamurti

Don't think about ideas such as bondage and liberation, simply abandon all craving and through wisdom and dispassion bring about the cessation of the mind. Even if the wish "may I be liberated" arises, the mind will come back to life.

-Maharamayana

It is my own firm belief that the strength of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh.

-Mahatma Gandhi, 1924

Meditation

I am going step-by-step into what is meditation. Please don't wait till the end, hoping to have a complete description of how to meditate. What we are doing now is part of meditation.

Now, what one has to do is to be aware of the thinker, and not try to resolve the contradiction and bring about an integration between thought and the thinker. The thinker is the psychological entity who has accumulated experience as knowledge; he is the time-bound center that is the result of ever-changing environmental influence, and from this center he looks, he listens, he experiences. As long as one does not understand the structure and the anatomy of this center, there must always be conflict, and a mind in conflict cannot possibly understand the depth and the beauty of meditation.

In meditation there can be no thinker, which means that thought must come to an end - the thought that is urged forward by the desire to achieve a result. Meditation has nothing to do with achieving a result. It is not a matter of breathing in a particular way, or looking at your nose, or awakening the power to perform certain tricks, or any of the rest of that immature nonsense. ...Meditation is not something apart from life. When you are driving a car or sitting in a bus, when you are chatting aimlessly, when you are walking by yourself in a wood or watching a butterfly being carried along by the wind - to be choicelessly aware of all that is part of meditation. - J.Krishnamurti

The mind is an object of perception
like the eternal world.
The Atman, the real seer,
remains unknown.

-Pantanjali

"When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors; and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else." ~ Joseph Campbell