The Known & the Unknown

Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda said:

We exhaust the known by knowledge and enjoyment of it, and then we turn to the exploration of the unknown because the known does not satisfy us permanently. If it did we would not have survived so long on this planet. Permanent satisfaction with the known, with no vision of the future, no effort to improve, no initiative to explore, no impulse to interpret would have meant stagnation of the human race and hence annihilation.

Talent is unknown quantity of personality born with the person. Training brings our talent that is already within. It cannot bring forth sprouts if seeds are not already there. Talent has various stages of expression, which can be observed in the development of personality to its consummate expression in that human being.

Every person who comes in the world carries within a general chart of his life, the details of which he fills in through out his lifetime. The highways and some byways are already in the chart when the person is born. These are the traits he brings with him from previous incarnations. He accepts them as his basic nature, and then connects them with alleys, and makes some additional byways. Sometimes he also extends the highways far beyond their original limits if he has real dynamic driving power. If he lacks this dynamism, he moves for the most part along with the limited maze of paths he had in his chart at birth and in the few pathways he has drawn in his present daily life. He does not push himself further. He is a common man.


But man cannot always remain uncommon. He will have to expand and move towards new vistas. The cosmic law of evolution will not let him rest. He may be idle for a while but the law of soul – progress is eternally active. God is always on the job. HE will through material working of his law, arrange circumstances that will at first coax the apathetic individual to turn in the right direction and move forward with positive action. If he does not heed, God will have to let him wander through the stinking open graveyard of his own follies until he wages his very life to get out of his abysmal condition and resolutely follows the proper road to progress and true happiness. Therefore, you have to recognize the tendencies that make you unique.

Be honest with yourself; do not do a thing that you inwardly feel to be wrong. Truly, to have a clean conscience, even if the whole world doubts you, is a joy and strength worth all the treasures of the universe.

Conscience is not the only companion of ourselves that we have to take care for. There are others too. A party of peeping desires, a group of half sleeping tendencies, a company of live-wire wishes, compose the crowd. In order to be true to ourselves, we cannot push aside these traveling companions with whom we started life. We have to be atleast attentive to them too, if we do not want to lose in life’s game. There may be some in the crowd that need shacking – the appetites, jealousies and others that are apt to choke our growth or hurt others. Some such as selfish desires, may need strong doses of advice and treatment. There are other that are safe enough to be relied on, or atleast tolerated such as the self preserving and social instincts. A special few need to be deliberately spurred on – sympathetic tendencies, spirit of reverence, service, love of truth. We have to attend to each propensity in a way that is most suitable. That is the proper education of the inner being. Every individual is a species unto himself.

There is no stereotyped way of promoting spiritual growth. Everyone has to work out his own salvation according to hints from his inner self after he has been started on the right road by stereotyped suggestions, standardized spiritual advice, be reverential, be patient , be contented, be self controlled, be meditative and so forth. The crowd of tendencies that one is born with, needs slightly different handling in different people. Some of the inclinations are to be curbed. Some tolerated, some developed, some sparingly fed, and some starved out. The tactics applied in the case of each individual will therefore necessarily vary according to the set of traits he possesses.

What is the origin of a tendency in a man? A conscious desire that he entertained in this life or a previous incarnation. A man with diplomatic ability ingrained in his nature will be a diplomat, no matter whether he is an ordinary laborer dealing with fellow workers or members of his family, or whether he is one of a board of a select men – a member of a legislature or a plenipotentiary in an international peace parley. Education or political training and opportunity will only sharpen his inborn diplomatic tool, and extend the scope of its use. The different in the capacity of talent in different people, even when increased by training is therefore due not only to the scope of the training but also to the inborn possession of that ability and its prior degree of development. Early training has much to do with stimulating or paralyzing the growth of this unknown part of our self. Our tendencies attract our companions and environments for the most part. The law of affinity is a matter of correspondence between what we are potentially and actually, on the one hand and the broad world on the other. The cue to our conduct is always supplied from the known and unknown with. What we are going to be is about seventy five percent foreordained by ourselves. That ‘horoscope’ of our tendencies from past incarnations attracts our present hereditary condition as well as the other circumstances we will draw to ourselves. The individual has free choice to change himself this way or that, free choice to decide between two courses of action. In most case, though the free will of man is nothing more than a slave – in the guise of freedom, but fettered to past tendencies.

Yet everyone knows there is such a thing as an unconditional decision that we make after rationally balancing the pros and cons of a certain matter. Having made such a decision, if we exercise our will, we can change many things in our lives that appeared unchangeable, or that may have been predicted to be inconvertible. This willing is freedom of will. Free will does exist. If it were not so, none could escape the vicious circle of his face once he was drawn to it. Growth would be circumscribed. Newer channels of activities would have little scope. The evolution of human beings would hardly emerge from the level of savagery. The conceptions of new social orders, progressive ideas in political government, advance methods of scientific explorations, new departments of research, literary activity – all prove the ability of man to exercise free choice in every line by the power of will.

You are born with about seventy-five percent of your life predetermined by your past. You will make up the remaining twenty-five percent. If you yourself, through your own free choice and effort of will, do not determine what that twenty-five percent will be, the seventy five percent will make the twenty five percent for you and you will become a puppet. That is, you will be ruled absolutely by your past tendencies. That is why spiritual training is vital. It takes into consideration not only the seventy five percent of our lives at we already are, but also designates the methods to mold the brand new twenty five percent that we ourselves are going to create by the exercise of our freedom.

All our impulsive and habitual acts, and motive-caused acts are the chariots that carry the will of the Lord, the Cosmic law, the Divine Final Cause, in other words, everything happens according to the will of God as expressed in his Cosmic Law. The first step towards understanding is to use your will to make those choice that are in harmony with the Eternal Good within the Cosmic law.

When you love life, not for God but for itself, every moment of it is incurring a debt to Him. Those debts pile up, day after day. Borrow from the commonly unknown bank of God, the Universal spirit and clear your debt to Him. You can get the loan only for the asking and you will not be hounded for payment of interest either. This is the only bank that makes loans and does not worry the recipients with the demand of interest because the Universal bank is always ready to invest in the betterment of its property, the world, and to look after the interest of its tenants. This is a form of banking that none but God allows. If you do not pay off the debts you have contracted by your life in matter, isolated from God, suffering will be your jail sentence.

What is the loan you should ask? the loan of spiritual wisdom, the eye to see every event of life as God sees it, to feel every details of life as He feels it, to live every moment of life as He lives it. When you ask God for his wisdom, the loan comes to you written off as gift.

Every event, fact, action or thought of a God-man such as Jesus or Krishna is the meeting point of the same wisdom coming from two sides – from God and from the God-man living in God. It is like a dot on the circle that you can approach from either side God fulfils His aim through the God-man and the God-man knowingly acts to fulfill God’s Will.

We do not know that He does the same thing through us, so we suffer and lament the bankruptcy of our so called freedom. This is not narrow determination. It is true idealism. We are absolutely free when we reach the Absolute. Until then we are relatively free, and it is a sin and source of suffering not to use wisely our relative free will. Working out way through relative freedom, we come to the Absolute freedom. Then the whole of the Unknown becomes Known, there is nothing more to know and knowing is all satisfying and ever-new.

Courtsey - 'The Divine Romance'

Why do we blame others?????

"I got up late this morning as my alarm did not go off on time and now I am destined to be delayed in everything for the whole day. Damn the clock!!! "

This is one type of excuse where we end up blaming even an inanimate object just to avoid taking responsibility of getting late on ourselves. Most of the time, we blame animate objects just to shrug off our responsibility. In our everyday life, whole time we keep finding faults with others. If so and so had not done this, I would not have done that. This is a very common phenomenon. But it is a fact, every time something goes wrong with us, we are always prepared to pass on the blame instantly.

This is the normal working pattern of human mind - trying to take credit for things going right and passing on the buck when results are totally unacceptable to us. Finding faults with other doesnot make us blemish free. We always find faults in others to hide our own deficiencies.

It gives us peace to know that we are pure, blameless and beyond error. Sometimes when we do take responsibility on ourselves for our wrong actions we don’t forget to feel elated and pat ourselves for this great deed of ours.

All above is nothing but our attachment to the result. In Bhagvad Gita Lord Krishna has clearly explained to perform all our major/ minor actions as an offering to the Supreme and leave the results in his hands with utmost faith that THY WILL will BE DONE. Lord Krishna means that we should not be attached with the outcome of our action. In simple terms, we should not be ecstatic when we gain something and similarly we should not be dejected if we lose something. Loss and gain should not affect our day to day life, our emotions and thus our body and soul.

Lot of people feel that if do not perform any ‘action’ we will be free from creation of any karma. This is totally wrong. Not doing something also means we have voluntarily stopped our persona to act. This act of volunteering in itself is karma and the person concerned is accountable for it. Thus no human can ever remain action less. If we do not act, when we are required to act, it forms a bigger karma. Therefore non-action is no solution.

A human being is accountable for all his/ her physical as well as mental actions and inactions. The flawless working of this Universe is automatically taking note of every thought, every emotion, every action of human mind, body and soul. That’s why God says that I do not need your eight – fold bhakti accompanied by rituals and paraphernalia. Even if a human offers a simple flower or leaf with true felt love, God accepts the same with love. The major governing force behind this is intention of the person and above all his heart felt LOVE

Now that we know that universal law is impartial and fixes responsibility on merits and every soul has to under HIS ‘watch’, why can’t we take responsibility of all our actions – irrespective of its outcome being in our favour or against. Each individual is responsible for his/ her actions as well its outcome. Whether that result is good or bad it should not matter to us if we make a practice to offer all our daily tiny to major karma to the Divine with the firm faith that HE knows what is suitable for us. He is our Judge. He is the DOER.

If we forgo this tendency of ‘I am doing this’ ‘I did this’ or ‘I did not do that’, we will be able to keep our EGO in check. If whatever is happening in our life is WILL of God, this implies whatever is happening around us is also WILL of God. If that be so, lets stop this blame game. Do not blame others and do not take blame on yourself. We all are kids of God. Lets Forgive others and above all let us Forgive ourselves too.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

Life is not about being educated!!!!
Life is Education in Itself.

It is nice to be important!!!!!
But it is more Important to be Nice.

Are you feeling struck up?????

Sometimes we feel struck up. Nothing seems to be moving. We feel let down on all fronts of our life. We start to wonder what is happening to us and Why? We feel as if our progress has been blocked for some unseen and unknown reasons. We start imagining the worst without any faith in the Universe and our patience shakes uncontrollably. We feel like ‘victim’ of circumstances. We want someone external to us to come forward and help us out of our rut. We start to doubt if there is any God at all. And it is a known fact that when ‘mind’ is in doubt, absorption of ‘knowledge’ becomes difficult. Here I am talking about the knowledge of the Divine which is not taught in modern schools and colleges.

As per sacred Hindu text, The Bhagvad Gita, our lives have been perfectly planned by the God/ Universe. Everything happens as per the Will of the Divine. Our lives would be chaotic if things were to happen in bits and pieces. Everything, every incident in our life is preordained. There are no accidents or coincidences. We are nothing but instruments in the hands of God. We have been created in the image of God. God is enjoying his creation through us. The unfolding of our lives’ drama is what we term as ‘Destiny’. Things would become easy to be explained and understood sensibly if we were to FEEL LIKE GOD to understand why things are happening the way they are happening in our lives.

Though we think that we are doing our actions consciously, it is not so. Bhagvad Gita describes two aspects of individual personality – ‘Purusha’ and ‘Prakriti’ i.e., Immutable Self (the soul) and Mutable Self (blind energy movement). The immutable self is pure bliss, existence and consciousness which is always in state of happiness, peace and joy and indestructible. The mutable self or Prakriti comprises of several elements ( > 20 ). The major being Manas – the physical mind, Buddhi (Intellect)– capacity for reasoning & logic and Ahankar (Ego). Our Ego is central axis around which rest of mutable elements of Prakriti revolve.

In Mahabharata epic, King Dhritrashtra can be compared to ‘Manas’ which was blind and its aim was to satisfy its ego (seeing his own unworthy and immoral son as King). He was duly supported by his wife Gandhari, who had deliberately closed her eyes to look at the reality of situation objectively and sensibly. This led to a major war preordained by the Divine to establish righteousness and morality in the society. Before the beginning of the war, Lord Krishna comforts and consoles Arjuna by explaining that these events have already been planned by the Universe and imminent end of the life of his enemies is as per divine plan. Therefore, Arjuna should stop feeling like a ‘Doer’ of action. Lord is using him as his instrument to carry out HIS Will.

We being instruments in the hands of God can easily be understood if we understand the role of Gunas in our day to day existence. At any given time, the individual’s Prakriti functions by using three modes of operation/principles. These Principles or ‘Gunas’ are called Tamo Guna (promotes physical inactivity, lethargy etc), Rajo Guna (promotes action, physical movement etc) and Sattva Guna (promotes peace, balance and harmony). These three modes of nature are constantly in a state of imbalance in any individual. At any given time, atleast One Mode is predominantly operational. This churning of modes determines the behaviour pattern of the individual at any particular time. Our actions are outcome of play of Gunas. For example, if someone misbehaves and we do not react it doesnot mean that we did no action. We did act. It was our Sattva Guna which was predominant at that time.

Thus, Gita establishes that an individual is always in a state of Action. There is ‘Inaction’ in ‘Action’ and ‘Action’ in ‘Inaction’. Therefore, as human beings we cannot remain inactive. We cannot achieve inactivity by not doing any activity (refraining/absent etc). Even for a moment we cannot be free from action. Inactivity is impossible as long as we are in the grip of Prakriti. Inactivity is an illusion. Everyone is being made to act under the influence of Gunas of Prakriti. Prakriti has made us forget our other aspect - the Purusha (soul).

Having understood the role of Prakriti’s principles of Gunas, we have to find a way to rise above the play of these 3 Gunas. This is the time to introspect. If we watch our behaviour carefully we will be able to understand which Guna is in operation at that given time. This is the first step. Prakriti always needs sanction of Purusha (our immutable self) for its activity. In our ignorance, Purusha automatically gives sanction to Prakriti to control all our activities and movement. Once we become an observer, we realize that it is our Manas (Mind) that stops Purusha to acquire control over Prakriti. All the elements of Prakriti have tendency to bog down unto Prakriti but it is our buddhi (intellect) which can help us out of clutches of Prakriti despite being its part. Buddhi is the way and mean to control movement of Prakriti. Under the help and direction of our Intellect, mind comes into control. Now Purusha doesnot give sanctions to Prakriti automatically. It uses its control. It uses Intellect to distinguish between Action, Inaction and Wrong Action. So even if our senses and gunas are working constantly, we can change direction of our mind in a positive direction which can be used for the maximum benefit of all around us.

Bhagvad Gita doesnot preaches desirelessness. It guides us to be aware of our desires and have enough control over our mind so that the unwanted and unhealthy desires can be checked. Our mutable self should be functioning under the control and check of our Immutable self. Our Immutable self will never let us down because it is the Divine. It will never let us feel struck and helpless. We will be in a better position to absorb the ups and downs of our lives without blaming any one. If we feel struck up, we have to accept that as the Will of God with firm faith and patience and let it pass on its own. External interference can take us out of our stagnation but this too shall happen only when the God so wills it. God wants us to overcome our deficiencies differently and without anyone’s help so that we emerge stronger. Sometimes such a situation is necessary for our own individual growth and improvement.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

Thoughts can create disease

Studies conducted by various Metaphysicians in the last century have revealed so many aspects and hidden secrets of human life and afterlife. One thing that never crossed modern science dependent society is the contribution of every ‘thought’ that a human being generates. Our every minor or major thought is heard, noted and registered in the Universe.

Normally, we all think that our action and speech is all that we contribute to the society. What we think in our mind is just a mere thought and if we have not acted as per that thought we have not done anything wrong. Metaphysics has revealed that this is absolutely wrong notion.


The human physical mind cannot remain quiet and inactive. Every minute hundreds of thoughts crowd our mind. Thoughts keep coming and going but some thoughts persist. These persisting thoughts create emotions and feelings in us. When these generated emotions become intense, its effect can be felt in our body in some form of local dis + ease i.e, not feeling at ease.

If we do not understand the emotional reason and cannot pin point that particular thought resulting in not feeling at ease, it becomes more chronic and body starts manifesting it in a stronger way causing chronic diseases like diabetes, heart ailments, asthma, cancer, TB etc. We rush to doctor and with help of medicines / surgery the disease is controlled. However, if even now we do not try to work on removing that wrong thought out of our system, the ailments persists or keeps coming back after relapsing. For complete removal of dis+ease from out of system, the very thought causing the disease has to be worked upon and flushed out of our emotional system.

Louise Hay suffered from terminal cancer and was required to undergo immediate surgery. But she took six months from doctor to try other means. She searched and found emotional reasons causing her ailment. She was holding a ‘deep resentment against one of her relatives for a very long time’ which had manifested into cancer. She worked on freeing her body from such toxic emotional thoughts and six months later she did not require any surgery and was ultimately free from cancer permanently. She went on to share her experience and came out with her best seller book ‘You Can Heal Your Life’. The book has changed lives of many worldwide.

Her advise to all is that one should manage one’s thoughts in such a way that it does not require doctor’s intervention apart from causing pain and discomfort to body. As soon as body feels uncomfortable, know that some ‘thought’ has generated unwanted emotions and chemicals which have started to manifest in body making one ill at ease i.e, dis+ ease. Change the thought fast and throw it out of your system quickly and recover immediately before the disease becomes chronic. E.g. if you have developed fever know that you have been suppressing anger towards something. Work internally, change the ‘thought causing anger’ suitably and get rid of fever. Similarly, feeling of guilt produces pain in body. Medicines work on physical aspects and not emotional aspect of any problem.

Normally thoughts can be divided into three categories. First kind of thoughts are those thoughts which are required for managing day to day affairs e.g., getting ready in morning, going to job, payment of bills etc. These thoughts are essential and hence cannot be avoided. Managing our daily activities in a disciplined manner will enable us to function on day to day basis in a smooth manner. Thus such thoughts will not generally affect our emotional system unless and until we are totally undisciplined all the time.

Next thoughts are those which come into our mind with respect to our SELF i.e, our origin, God, Soul, spiritualism, universe etc. These are good thoughts and do not cause any harm to body because these thoughts are being caused by the Supreme himself and through these thoughts the Supreme is trying to clarify itself and make us understand the universal principle of ONENESS.

Balance major thoughts are generated from our EGO. Thinking that we are separate, we think of ourselves only personally as separate individual and rest as different from us. These thoughts generate undesirable emotions like fear (false evidence appearing real), anger, doubts, insecurity, hatred, jealousy, insult, grief etc. If these thoughts and their resultant emotions persist for long, they manifest themselves in body as a form disease. Thus these thoughts should be avoided. Easiest way of removing them is to become observant. An undesirable emotion will generate feeling of uneasiness in body making you all uncomfortable. As soon as you start feeling uneasy in body, notice your emotion or feeling. Try to figure out which happening/ thought has made you feel uneasy. This one step in itself is so very effective in your healing. Once the root thought has been recognized, take necessary steps to drop it immediately. Thought is nothing but your perspective, way of looking at something. If you change your perspective in some other direction, the result will be different. We have to ultimately reach that perspective that will be desirable for our own system and will not bring us to the point of dis+ease.

Even day dreaming is considered as an harmless but undesirable thought even though our personal ego is at rest at that time. Negative day dreaming could take our thoughts in undesirable direction and create havoc in our emotional makeup. The third kinds of thoughts, explained above, come in the way of our spiritual progress and are obstacles in the path to self realization. These thoughts do not let us lead our life in peace and hence should be avoided as soon as the resultant undesirable emotions are noticed.

The above findings have already been available in India for ages. Our ancient saints have maintained good health and long life. The secret for this is available in their preaching where they have advised human beings to maintain inner peace & calm and curb desires & negative tendencies. The deeper aspect of this habit is that it helps not only in this birth but life after life.

Your thoughts are more important than your actions because behind every action a seed of thought has been sown. Hence Thought Management is a very important tool in managing our day to day life and making it happy, healthy and disease free.

Vandana Ritik

New Delhi

The Plus Points of Human Birth

The Supreme God Almighty – the holy divine spirit - has endowed every human being with HIS complete divine power and knowledge - all Plus points. However, forgetting our divine origin, inherent Power, Knowledge and Reality, we convert our Plus points into Minus points by considering each other separate from us.

We think that we are an individual human being, with separate body, soul, and the God, the World is separate from us. We feel that we have taken birth on the earth to learn our individual lessons and to live happily. Whatever is agreeable to us and makes us happy is perceived as Right, rest is all Wrong.

Have you ever noticed that when we do not agree with someone, we are actually looking at their minus points and ourselves with plus points. We feel we are more knowledgeable and correct while the other person is ignorant. Similarly, when we interact with people who make us happy and comfortable, we are looking at their Plus while their minus are completely overlooked.

The fact is that there is no Minus. Only the Plus. Within You, Me and Each and every thing around us that we Sense ( including that which we cannot Sense ) is filled with divine knowledge, existence and bliss. The entire creation of God is Pure and Perfect.

Look at the nature. Tree, rivers, oceans, sun, moon, stars etc all are Perfect. A seed may be dry but God has hidden a life inside it. When we soak it overnight, we start seeing birth of a new plant from that very dry seed. Isn’t that a miracle of God. In our day to day life we overlook so many other miracles taking place around us. We ourselves are a perfect miracle of God. However, in our ignorance we develop a feeling of duality (separated-ness) in us. This starts when we are a baby. As we grow, we start calling selected couple as ‘my’ parents. Then I have ‘my’ siblings. Then something belongs to ‘me’ and something else belongs to ‘others’. As we grow our mind gets conditioned between ‘me, mine’ and ‘their, others’. I start thinking of myself as a separate entity.

As time passes, knowingly or unknowingly, some of us want to save that God given Plus only for us. We do not want to share it simply because we have conditioned our physical mind (call it Ego) to believe that we are lacking in our Plus so we need to hoard it for ourselves and for people whom we believe to be our loved ones. We unintentionally cover our divine bright spark with darkness of ignorance. This happens because we start judging everyone around us and then decide whether to let that divine love flow through us to the other person (depending on our judgment)? Whereas this divine love is meant to flow and pass through each and everyone of us but we arrest & lock it within ourselves because of our feeling of lack ness. We forget we are perfect, complete and full of divine love. We wrongly categorize people as – relatives, loved ones, friends, acquaintances, unknown, enemies, neutral etc.

As per sacred Hindu Scripture, The Bhagvad Gita, the Supreme Purushottam (the God) created Prakriti (i.e, us, his creation) from himself. In other words, the Supreme Divine Power fractured itself to generate a creation which was perfect just like the creator and had all the inherent power of its creator. At the same time, the Creator retained its own original form. This is just like an actor who enacts different roles, dresses up like different characters, behaves differently but does not lose his own originality. Though roles, the get up, the surroundings etc are different each time but the original actor is one i.e, Plurality in Singularity.

However, despite knowing this truth since centuries, we have forgotten our origin. In fact, we just cannot believe that something like this is possible. How can we be God? We are poor, meek and suffering creatures in human garb! We are convinced that God is sitting somewhere else, up above, and is sitting their in judgment over us. We need proof of all that has been said by Sages, Holy Messengers & scriptures related to God about our origin, our aim of life. What cannot be proved analytically and logically has to be wrong. But we forget one thing. It is a fact that just because something cannot be seen or proved, it does not mean that it does not exists or its untrue. This is creation of God and everything has definite logic behind it which we cannot perceive with our limited mental faculties. Our earthly acquired intelligence and reasoning skills have prompted us to ingrain this sense of duality in our mental makeup, thereby completely smothering our spiritual understanding. This has created chaos in the society.

Think about this. Normally, it is very difficult to perceive and believe that ALL IS ONE. Even when I write this, I know it is very difficult to imbibe the crux of this TRUTH. This is something which seems to make sense only in theory and just cannot be put into practice. The question is, if we know that WE ARE ONE and I AM THAT, how can we get rid of this sense of duality completely?

Firstly, we have to start believing that ALL IS ONE. This setting of Intention is very important. Secondly, we have to think consciously and continuously on these lines. Thirdly, we have to contemplate on its hidden meaning. Finally, we have to be prepared to sense, feel and experience that ALL IS ONE. I have firm belief that once we are able to experience it, we will be one with the Supreme Power and will be able to create our own realities which resonate completely with the Universal Divine Power.

All we have to do is to take an initiative to alter our thought pattern and work towards our inner and spiritual growth in firm belief with loads of patience. This does not mean that we will have to stop doing our day to day duties and living and enjoying our life. We do not have to go and sit atop a mountain, in a cave or in a jungle or a beach. While carrying on with our worldly life, we have to meditate for few minutes on regularly and reap the benefits..

It is said that one feels all united and one with the creation and the creator when one is all alone. It does not mean being lonely. It means being in solitude and peace, time when the mind is not occupied with day to day worldly and family work. As our first step is to start believing in non-duality, we have to focus our thoughts on our own inner being and ignite that spark which has been lying all extinct & hidden in our core/self. We have to be just with ourselves and our thoughts and nothing else. In still silence, our inner voice, which we do not hear otherwise, speaks with us. It gives us creative and positive ideas. It gently guides us on the lines of divine principles without harming anyone around. Truth is all inside us. We just have to tap it. Silence brings clarity in our thoughts and solves so many unseen mysteries around us. It is so very amazing. Just few weeks of sitting in silence, for few minutes regularly (at any time) without thinking anything and doing nothing, gives so much nourishment to our hungry soul and produces such outstanding results in our persona. But still we do not want to do it. Why?

It sounds very easy but is the most difficult thing to do. People are scared to be left alone. We are so very attached to this world around us. When we are alone we feel useless and cut off from the world. Our inner doubt prompts our ego ( mental logical mind ) to convince us that sitting idle is madness, laziness, selfishness etc. Lot of overly worked and socially active people call this as wastage of precious time. I call it proper usage of our spare time, a time when we are working just for ourselves and for our own betterment and growth. What’s wrong with that?. Have we taken birth to add to the worldly chaos or to discover our true self?

When we are discovering ourselves we are discovering society also and thereby making such an enormous contribution to our immediate world. A person who meditates is always enveloped with a magical, peaceful and divine aura. Have you noticed, last time you had a meeting with such a person and felt so very peaceful without him or you ever speaking a word. I use word ‘feel’ because ALL IS ONE is something that has to be felt and sensed, it cannot be seen with our physical eyes. We need that divine vision and for that we need grace and this grace will not come from outside.

This grace is all inside you. When we are working towards realizing our true potential we are not wasting our time. We are contributing to this universe through our positive thoughts, emotions, aura and by becoming a perfect creation once again. Just imagine the impact it will have on our actions henceforth. To escape from our own ego, we have to seek help of the universal power by admitting that our ego is coming in way. The universe will immediately respond and try to increase our focus because we are doing something which we should have done long time ago and it is the correct path and the reason for taking human birth.

When universal love surrounds, protects and helps us in our Self Discovery, I am sure that with enough faith and patience, a new layer of knowledge will sprout up within ourselves (just as it is hidden in dry seed) and make us realize the ultimate truth of ALL IS ONE which will bring to us what is known as sheer BLISS because in that state we will realize the ultimate knowledge that WE ARE GOD and ALL IS GOD.

Vandana Ritik

New Delhi

Love All Love God

When we say that we love God, it automatically follows that our love now extends to entire humanity. Humanity is creation of THAT creator. Not loving HIS creation would mean disregarding and disrespecting HIS existence thereby implying that our love for HIM is superficial.

Often we hear learned people saying that they love God and love everyone. However, it is easier said than done. The very same people will be seen judging others, telling others what is wrong in their behavior and how to behave rightly etc without realizing that each and everyone behaves in a particular manner due to various reasons (karmic, Prarabdh etc) which one cannot comprehend with his limited knowledge. We do not know why a person behaves in a particular manner because we know only about his present lifetime and not his past births.

Loving God means accepting each and everyone just the way they are and not passing any judgments. Everything that God has created is in perfection. All that we see around us and also what we cannot see or feel through our five senses is result of that Divine Will. Therefore, it has to be PERFECT. What is perfect need not be judged.

Our Shastras are full of stories where one person’s bad behaviour (like Kekayi in Ramayana) has resulted in destruction of demons. With our limited capabilities we cannot judge what the cause of someone’s action is and what will be the ultimate result of that action. Keeping this in mind, if we stop judging others, and love everyone equally we will be reflecting back what we have got - God’s Love back to HIS creation.

True divine love is impartial. It knows no difference. The Sun, the Moon, the Trees - The Nature offers its love, services, comfort & grace to all equally without any discrimination. We are also part of this creation and most intelligent of all then why do we distinguish when it comes to giving out love. It could be because we consider ourselves and others separate from each other. This is mine, that is theirs etc.

While interpreting a verse of The Bhagvad Gita, Shirdi SaiBaba has very kindly explained that “the disciple also is in fact of the same swarupa(form). But, it is overlaid by the effect of the samaskaras(impressions) of innumerable births in the shape of ignorance, which hides from his view that he is Shuddha Chaitanya (pure divinity)(see B.G. Ch. V-15). As stated therein, he gets the impressions - "I am Jiva(a creature) humble and poor." The Guru(spiritual guide) has to root out these offshoots of ignorance and has to give upadesh or instruction. To the disciple, held spell-bound for endless generations by the ideas of his being a creature, humble and poor, the Guru imparts in hundreds of births the teaching - "You are God, you are mighty and opulent." Then, he realizes a bit that he is God really”. In a state of ignorance, the human believes that I am a Jiva (creature), Body is the soul (I am the body), God, world and Jiva are different, I am not God, Not knowing that body is not the soul and Not knowing that God/ world /Jiva are one. Unless these errors are exposed to his view, the disciple cannot learn what is God, jiva, world, body; how they are inter-related and whether they are different from each other, or are one and the same.

Our body is vehicle of our soul and our soul is part of Divine Spirit. We have what God has but in our ignorance we fail to understand this and feel that we are different, separate and better than others. When in ignorance we compare ourselves with others we are admitting that we are separate from each other which is not true.

Now that we realize we are God really, it means the whole humanity is God indeed. If that be so we are all One with the creation and creator. If there is no separation, there can be no comparison and difference. All deserve love without any discrimination.

It is a fact that divinity is embedded in our inner being (we being his creation). Thus, we have vast ocean of divine love flowing gently within us. We all are full of Love and we are not even aware of this. All we have to do is to accept this fact, realize it, tap it and shower our inner divine Love outwards - towards whole humanity. What we give out we get back. Therefore, this greatest gift of God that we have- LOVE, is meant to be shared impartially with everyone so that it easily comes back to us too. SOW love REAP love.

Vandana Ritik

Heritage of Shirdi Sai
New Delhi

Importance of Pain

A soul takes birth to learn different lessons in each lifetime till it grasps the complete knowledge of its own origin, its being, the whole universe. Once the soul gets enlightened in this manner, it need not take birth again. If it so desires, it can stay in that other dimension (which we know as 4th Dimension) and from there try and help other souls on earth (3rd Dimension) to get out of this cycle after learning their lessons fast.

Undergoing pain is an important part of this whole learning process. Pain is said to be a real ‘eye opener’. It awakens us to inner/ hidden realities of human existence. Whether it is a physical, emotional or mental pain, all types of pain teach us very big lessons in any lifetime. Pain reminds us of our true purpose of taking human form i.e, to realize that we are soul and that we have strayed away from that Supreme Divine form thinking that HE is separate from us. A soul has to ultimately learn that ALL PLURALITY IS PART OF THAT SUPREME SINGULARITY. God is experiencing his creation through us. What our five senses perceive as separate entities is sheer illusion.

We do not realize this till we are enjoying life and are happy in our day to day life. We simply feel that being happy and sad is part and parcel of life. But there is a hidden learning behind every happening in our life which we do not realize or maybe we do not want to realize because we consider ourselves so learned that we feel that we know everything that is there to know about this world. Had that been the case, than all academically brilliant minds would have got enlightened and found our creator. It is said that to learn about Supreme we first have to de-learn our earthly knowledge because it is so very limited. But we are so very content with our existence and life that we do not care till something drastic happens in our life which is beyond our logical understanding.

When pain enters our life and we are unable to get over it despite our best efforts. We become helpless. Ultimately, we give up our EGO. This is the Starting Point. We pray for intervention of God. During that painful time, we start our search for that Supreme force firmly believing that someone, somewhere will take mercy on us and help us get over our pain. When the pain reaches its pinnacle and we start to pray seeking relief from our pain with utmost intensity, it reaches Universal power and and we start to feel the response in some way. Thus, we gain an understanding that there exists some ‘divine’ power which can be felt but cannot be seen or touched. We start our journey in search of that power which can cure us of our terrible pain. This quest for God is our first step towards achieving our life purpose - Self realization and God realization.

Unless we desire something, we will not strive to achieve it and God (Universal Divine Force) will not be able to help us if we do not seek HIM with firm belief in its existence. We realize that our persistent prayers of help have resulted in getting response from the GOD. Our life becomes livable. The pain either disappears or we stop feeling the effect of that pain anymore. We come to terms with our pain.

As we progress in our journey, we want to know more about God and crave to peep into HEAVEN to get HIS glimpse, to see HIS world. But where is God? Did God help you in easing your pain. Think. Wasn’t it your own feeling of helplessness, giving up of ego, belief in existence of universal power which cured your pain? Then where is God. God is not separate from you. God does not have a limited human form. The God – that UNIVERSAL DIVINE POWER – is within us.

It existed in form of energy in our soul before we took birth on this earth. IT will stay with us till we are alive. When all our lessons for this lifetime are learnt, it will be our time to leave. At that time our soul will discard the body and go back to that 4th Dimension till it decides to come back on earth to enjoy life again and to learn new lessons if we are yet to achieve the purpose of human birth. The PAIN makes us learn many of our lessons faster and hastens in achieving purpose of our human birth. That is why we say that when we lose, we gain.

But then why do we need to wait for Pain to make an appearance in our life for attaining the purpose of our life. Can’t we start this important journey when we are in a state of JOY.

The choice is entirely ours. We have to take that the first step. The rest will follow automatically because the entire source of divine knowledge is confined within us. When will we start to TAP on it?

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi.

WHO is God?

When I was young, I thought that God was some kind of a judge who was sitting somewhere beyond the moon and the stars, who was looking at me and whatever I was doing. Sometimes I would think, may be God is too busy to observe my tiny day to day actions. Why will God bother himself with my daily routine? When I am doing something for myself and not harming others, God will not bother about me. God always observes us when we do something significant and different from our daily routine etc. etc. I had heard that when we die, we stand before someone on the gates of that God’s land who measures our good and bad deeds on some sort of balancing machine and we are allowed to enter Gates of heaven when our good deeds out weigh our bad deeds and Gates of Hell when bad deeds out number our good deeds. Heaven is a beautiful and good place and Hell is very dreadful. As I did not wish to end up in Hell and being punished there, I would read holy scriptures to find what are Good deeds and what are bad deeds and it was so very difficult to understand them. Sometimes being good to others hurts ourselves and our near dear ones and sometimes being bad to others was good for someone else. It was so very confusing. I always ended up thinking that when I died, I will be punished because I was finding it so very difficult to keep everyone happy and above all keep myself happy.

Later, I thought, there were number of Gods depending upon which religion one follows and supposing one converts oneself into another religion, the new God will take over. Being Hindu, I had heard there are 84 lakhs Gods and Goddesses and I would wonder whom I should pray to because each God represented one dominant trait. It was all so confusing again. I would bow down before all Gods of different religions and pray to them for giving me true knowledge on the subject.

My elder son was 4-5 year old when he asked me innocently, ‘Mom, why are we born?’ and I was answer less so I directed him to his grandfather to find the answer who replied, ‘Good question, when you grow up you will come to know the answer’. Honestly, that day I really felt so very foolish that I could not satisfy this query of my son. What was the use of my academic qualification? We do not get answer to such question in Science, Commerce or Art books.

I started reading religious and spiritual books to find answer to above question. I understand that our first aim in this life is Self realization - realize that we are ‘pure soul’ and not body and our ultimate aim is God realization - strive to merge our soul with the Divine Spirit. But still I was not sure of the answer to our reason for existence or who and where is that divine spirit, we all call God?

Many years later a tragedy struck my life and I was full of questions myself on Where is God? What is the use of God in my life? What can God do for me? Does God help me when I am suffering? Do prayers work? Where do we go after we die? Where is this heaven and hell? And this time I was not scared of any punishment. I realized I had to refresh my thinking on the subject and that my knowledge about God till date was all wrong. God is not what I had been thinking for all these years or what I see in pictures. These are all symbols or symbolic of God but God was something else, much larger and beyond my so called earthly perceptions. Now my younger son asked, ‘Why do we die?’ This time also I wanted answers.

To overcome my grief, I started to meditate and as I was in so much emotional pain, I guess, some cord of me struck the God and changed my understanding of God. God was no longer a person with imaginable human form. Thinking of God in human figure is initial stage of our journey towards self realization. When we lose a loved one, only the body is left behind and the energy giving life to that body goes back into Universe. Nothing is lost. Heaven and Hell is just in our thoughts. God is not sitting in judgement over anyone simply because God is not separate from us. It is not God, it is us judging ourselves and decide how we are going to live our life

I feel that God is infinite and limitless. God pervades everything in this universe and beyond. God is sum total of all living and non living things around us. God is everything we see, feel, experience or touch. God is active and alive each and every second. God is in my existence and I am in existence of God. God is energy that pulsates and glows in all animate and inanimate creations around us. Everything we sense around us is God. In fact, God is much more because our understanding of God is limited by what we perceive through our five senses. What about that part of God which our five senses cannot recognize or register? It does not mean that IT does not exist. Thus, I feel God is EVERYTHING and God is NOTHING. What we can sense is God and what we cannot sense is also God. God is pure existence, knowledge and bliss. All the Gods and Goddesses are different pure qualities of nature which are blemish free. Nothing is separate. God is in us and we are in God. ALL IS ONE. ALL IS GOD AND GOD IS ALL. This is why it is said that though different religions believe in different concept of God but in actual GOD IS ONE. Once a human understands and internalises this concept, he experiences, what we call as BLISS.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

Karma with Dharma

Any idea, intention, thought or deed is Karma i.e., the Act. If you look at it closely you will realize that majority of our karma is creation of our thoughts and ideas that keep invading our mind again and again. Every such karma(cause) embraces within, its hidden fruit(effect). This means karma and its fruit cannot be separated for any individual. Breathing, eating, sleeping, walking, talking etc all are karma. Thinking is the biggest karma. When we get a thought in our mind the universe starts to receive and starts working towards it. If that thought persists in our mind it becomes reality but if we start having doubts about result of that thought, it fails.

Karma can be classified into Sanchit (past accumulated Karma), Prarabdh(karma being experienced in present lifetime) and Kriyaman(karma which will bear fruit later). Thus karma consists of all our actions or thoughts not only in this birth but also all previous births put together. Karma cannot be erased. Karma cannot be avoided or changed. It can be exhausted only by experiencing it. You pay your past debts and be free.

No karma can produce absolutely good result and no karma can produce absolutely bad results. An action can be good for one person and at the same time it may be having a bad impact somewhere else in this universe. We should try and perform that type of karma which produces maximum good result and minimum bad result. It is here Dharma comes into picture. Karma performed with Dharma will do the trick.

Dharma is said to be the righteousness which results in maximum benefit for the person concerned as well as the society. Human beings have to live collectively and perform day to day karma. Therefore, Dharma-Karma would be that action, thought, idea which gives benefit to the subject as well as to the society in general. This means that we will have to keep a watch over all our thoughts.

Controlling of mind - If the thought is not positive, we have to discard it immediately otherwise it will start to manifest itself. Mind cannot remain idle. It has to think and think which is its very natural function. Wise men have said that we should focus our thoughts on God. Chanting God's name is well known in our scriptures but we always feel that in modern society having beads in our hands and chanting god's name does not go with our social image. Also we feel that this kind of activity should be done in old age, after retirement. But NO! NO! NO! What will be left of our life at that age.

Why not we start and do it today with little modification. Everytime we find we are bit free (that's the time mind starts to play), we should mentally start chanting God's name (any God we believe in). This way our mind will get a direction and its energy will be channelised positively and keeping with your modern image the outside world will not even know what your mind is doing. The biggest benefit is that no negative thought will cross your mind because mind is already busy in something of greater value. After some time, when you start feeling the benefits of channelising your mind like this, you will not even bother what the world thinks and your life will reap the benefits of positive thoughts.

It is true that the quality of our external life depends upon how healthy we are internally. And our internal health depends upon our basic thoughts. Thoughts are the starting point for any event, incidence and happenings in our life. We thus create our own reality.

If we follow Dharma before performing a Karma, life would be on right track. For following Dharma we have to make our thoughts as well as ideas very pure. We have to understand that every thing pervading this universe has emanted from one source and We all are children of that one same divine source or energy which we call God. In fact, that tiny spark of God is within each of us. It is very difficult to understand this if we do not have proper guidance. But if we are keen, our inner divine consiousness itself takes us in right direction, right place and at right time. Our thoughts create our reality.

Therefore, if in our thoughts we have sought guidance and help from God and repeatedly we are seeking it with full faith and are waiting patiently to receive it, the universe will set out in motion to bring the same to us when we are ready and fit enough to receive it. Why do we have to wait to get old to receive it. Why not now? Once we imbibe this in our day to day life all our Karma will be in accordance with Dharma and everything will happen just the way we( the God) willed it.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

Living Angels

When we are on earth, time to time, God sends unseen as well as living Angels to help us fulfil our purpose of coming to the earth. These angels surround us during times of distress. They offer us their shoulder to take respite in times of trouble and make us mentally strong to be able to cope with our stress. Our parents are our first living angels. They stand by us unconditionally. A true and loving angelic parent will always put the needs of its child before own needs. They understand the mood and nature of their child and accept them as they are and do not complain. They thank God for sending such a beautiful child in their life and continue to lend their unconditional support to their child through out their lives without asking anything in return. God bless our parents who always understand our woes even before we could utter a word to them. They standby and support their child like a grand shield through thick and thin. I am truly lucky to have such parents in my life for whom I am the centre around which their whole life and existense revolves. Their main aim in life is see that their child - their God given responsibility - is happy and content and God bless them they do not ask me to do anything for them in return. I cannot ever imagine if this debt can ever be repayed.

Only way this debt can be repayed is that I also reciprocate their love and affection unconditionally and pass on this divine quality of unconditional love to my own children. For parents, their children are Angels - their source of joy - their purpose of enjoying life while at the same time fulfilling the mission of life i.e., self realisation and God realisation. It is said that once you have good solid support on your home ground half the battle is won. Then you can take on the whole world because your foundation being sound and secure.

However, when I look around I find many such children and parents between whom this unconditional love doesnot flow freely. How hard and tough life!!! How insecure both the parties are. It would be great if these people developed the angelic qualities in themselves and spread love and security around atleast for family members. Afterall, we get those very souls as our relatives in this lifetime with whom we have some balance karma to settle from the previous births.

Apart from parents, siblings and relatives we find more living angels in friends we make during our lifetime. Here also a true angel would be that friend who loves you unconditionally and doesnot even question you if you have let him down because he doesnot expect anything from you in return of his support and help. Purpose of unconditional love is to multiply its magnitude and spread this love as wide as possible. I am really thankful to God for giving me some real good friends as Angels. One of them has stood by me for the last 20 years and during my recent crisis while most of my friends turned out to be'mere acquaintances' and started avoiding me lest their lives doesnot get 'infected' by my tragedy, this friend kept in touch and not even once complained that I was not calling her. She understood my state and tolerated my indifference and is patiently waiting for me to come to terms with my loss in my own time. This is an unconditional support from a living angel when even so many relatives backed off. Apart from this I have three other known Angels at my work place who help me in understanding the spiritual lesson arising out of my tragedy. I do hope and wish that I am also an Angelic friend to someone.

So many times, in our day to day lives, we come across strangers who act as living angels. These are people who help us in so may different and wide ranging ways because they love humanity as whole and do not want anything untoward happening to anybody around them. For example, these angels could help us in finding way if we are lost, render their valuable advice without any fees, alert us of any danger lurking in dark, take an accident victim to nearby hospital, let go off their taxi for you so that you can reach airport in time, warn us of consequences of our action because they have experienced it themselves and now do not want others to suffer, return you your lost mobile, wallet, books, credit cards etc. etc. The aim of these angels is to feel good and spread goodness around.

We come across such angels not just by accident. It is God, who brings them around us. These are actually God sent angels to help and support us. Let us try and become such living angels ourselves. Lets make it a habit to help atleast one person a day with an act of kindness. When we respond to someone with kind words, when we listen to someone patiently, when we offer our services without any selfish reasons - these all actions amount to angelic acts of God through us. I pray to God to make me his instrument and through me help as many people as possible while living out my life on this earth. May God make me worthwhile for the whole mankind.

Vandana Ritik

New Delhi

What is Goodness

Badness is like filthy smelly gas that spreads easily, quickly and covers a vast area space. In today's world, people are more attracted towards this smell which fills every nook and corner of their lives. All media reports cover negativity in the most elaborate possible manner. Be it gruesome murder, tragic natural disaster whatever. The focus is mostly on how things are not working or wrongly working because it is considered as a effective marketing technique and also brings 2 minute fame for the persons involved. Next day people forget the wickedness because a brand new negative incident/ accident is ready to be reported for further postmortem by viewers/ readers. One gets a feeling that world is most unsafe and horrible place to live in and if we are surviving, it is nothing short of miracle. But hang on.

Goodness is like a refreshing fragrance that spreads slowly and is able to cover only short distance. Not all can see, read, think or notice it. One has to be sensitive enough to catch this fragrance, to feel its essence because negativity is so widespread it completely blocks this delightful perfume from reaching us. The world is surviving today because of this widespread goodness. And this is a Good News.

Thankyou God and Thanks my angels. I pray that you make us sensitive enough so that we can feel and inhale this beautiful refreshing natural essence of Goodness and become a part and creator of more Goodness. Let us come together and spread more goodness through positive intentions, actions and above all POSITIVE THOUGHTS. Amen.

Vandana Ritik

New Delhi

Thanks my Angels

Sometime ago, I read a book by Dr Doreen Virtue on Angel Numbers and was hooked to it. Suddenly, it was making sense. So very often I had seen a car pass by with licence plate no. as 4444, 7777 etc. I would look at clock suddenly and would see time 11:11. I now began to understand that this way my angels were speaking with me. By showing me these nos. they were trying to get my attention to them. Every no. had a different meaning and message from my angels. I just had to fine tune in to understand the message and the significance it had in my present life. As time passed, the puzzle became easy to solve.

As a human being, we see and believe only those things which are visible to us, about which we have learnt and read in books, scientifically proven otherwise we do not believe in them. But after losing my elder child, I understood something different. My sixth sense was communicating with me. In one of my dreams I heard a message from a voice that said 'Just because you cannot see, it doesnot mean that it doesnot exist'. Yes these Angels exist. My own conscience lets me know that I am getting communication from that unseen side. And I am sure I am not going nuts.

Everyone comes into this world and creates own reality. Each and every experience opens another level of understanding in us. Tougher the experience, higher the understanding. Loss of my son, awakened me to understanding why I was suddenly felt some sort of energy around me in the room even when it was not visible. Everything would be perfectly fine and working and suddenly the ceiling fan in the room would stop for a second (without anyone touching the switch) and would start revolving again on its own. In earlier days, I used to take it as voltage fluctuation but no more. How come my computer, TV and everything was working fine. Why did other electronic system did not react to voltage fluctuation, if it did happen. I felt that this energy around us can easily manipulate the energy of electronic items. The more I understood this and started thanking my Angels (my departed son, SaiBaba, God - the spirit), the more it started happening.

My husband would get a call from me on his mobile and when he would call back, I would be surprised that I did not even touch my mobile at that time and when he would again check up his mobile he would not find any missed call from me. But it did happen. So who did it?????

I realised that more I muttered a 'thanks' to my Angels for doing this to us, the more it happened. Noticing so many triple and master nos. and time everyday was one of them. It is just a matter of learning to first believe, then understand and later to communicate with our unseen angels. I believe they respond only when asked or requested for otherwise they leave us alone and come up to communicate with us only when we are in a state of shock or grief because at that time a human being is totally in awe and in surrender to this Universe. Afterall, I noticed my angels only when I was in grief. But why wait for grief if one can learn to communicate with them during times of happiness. Have you ever noticed that you were thinking of some song lyrics and when suddenly you turn on the stereo or switch on the TV, that very same song is being played or telecast and you attribute it to your intuition.

One has to experience it to believe it and for that one has to be sensitive enough to notice these paranormal things happening in our daily lives everyday - things which do not have any logical explaination. In another dream, I got another message 'Universe is full of knowledge, you just have to access it' . This gave me a validation that I was on right track. Universe was offering me so much information. I had just to tune in my conscience frequency to try, decipher and understand the hidden message.

I would stand in front of this Plumera flower tree in my backyard and request my unseen Angels to drop a flower right in front of my eyes. I waited but it did not happen. Next day I gave it five minutes of time to let the flower drop on its own. It did not happen I went inside home and had to come back later due to some work in that area. I was looking at the tree and it happened. The plumera flower fell on its own and there was no breeze at all. I thanked my angels and learnt to give them time to fulfil my wish. One year later, now everytime I stand under this tree, Plumera drops on its own. Universe has heard my silent wish and is fulfilling the same just the way I wanted it. I understood that between making a wish and manifestation of that wish there is a time gap sometimes it is very short and sometime its longer but every wish a human makes does manifest itself in totality. And I never forget to thank my Angels for taking note of my every wish.

Till date, Angels have heard so many of my prayers and fulfilled so many of my tiny, silly wishes regarding my personal, materialistic and spiritual needs that I am absolutely sure that there is an unseen power in this universe which takes note of all my actions, intentions and thoughts (yes angels communicate easily through thoughts). I am important in this Universe and I am being taken care of and being loved by those beautiful angels out there. I thank my angels for making their presence known to me.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

PS: Angels are all those loving souls which may or may not be visible to human eyes. They are God's we worship. As Hindu, my angels or ascended masters are SaiBaba, Hanuman, Ram, Durga, Krishna, Shiva, Parvati, Ganpathi. Our departed loved ones also become our Angels and look after us from that side. As we are not spiritually grown enough, angels communicate mostly through symbols, signs, numbers, manipulating or co-inhabiting with nature, animals(pets), electronic items and above all through 'thoughts'. All Angels understand us what we are actually. They know our past, present and future and work in unison with Universe for our own Good.

Coping with Grief

Its been more than a year since I lost my elder son in a road accident and my life has been changed forever. I know it will never be same again as it used to be when we were all together. My loss has 'awakened' me to so many realities of life and afterlife. Death was a taboo topic for discussion. Everyone is scared to talk and discuss about death. This is a topic we all avoid lest it might touch our life. But once it touched my life in this manner, death does not bother me at all. I have come to understand in last one year that only thing that is real in life is death. Death is a time when we finish our education in this world and go back HOME - our real Home. That is why I never say my son died. No. No. he is still alive somewhere on the other side. He has just changed his form from physical to energy. He has passed from earth dimension to heaven dimension just like we go from one room to another. He is just few feet away only I cannot see him but my solace is that he can still see me and listen to me - not only my words but also my thoughts. How wonderful is that.

My loving son is in such a beautiful place while we are still here waiting for our chance to turn the leaf and fly over to meet him right under God's light - where there is no pain, fear, competition, terror, jealousy, lack, hate, punishment - A place which has nothing but pure love, abundance, bliss and joy. After death, we pass over to a place which lies hidden behind a veil in different dimension and at different level of vibration. Once a human discards his body, only energy part is left which is always alive and which never dies. We all know it by name of 'soul' or 'atman'. The soul goes to the level that matches with its vibration. By appearing alongside Shirdi SaiBaba (my chosen Guru) in my vision during meditation, my son has conveyed to me the High Level he has reached. What more can a mother ask for. I always wanted the best for him in this world and he has got the best in that world too. I am proud to be his Mom whom he fondly called Maa.

Over the year, he has made his presence felt to me and his father at so many occasions. I have come to understand that he is in a position to look at us and our day to day lives. He guides us like an Angel and helps us to arrive at various decisions we need to take all the time. Our son has become our father now. Though he lived with us physically for 18 years only yet he has left his indelible mark in our lives forever. He continues to communicate with us from the other side. These signs of communications were so subtle. It has taken me sometime to understand this method of communication. But today it is great to know that my son continues to be by our side and only grouse is that we cannot see him. I ask him and he replies. I ask for a sign of his presence and he gives it.

Prior to this I had no idea about this close link between these two sides of the Universe. This earthly life was beginning and end of everything for me. But no more. There is so much outside and away from this earth which is far more beautiful, powerful and unthinkable. It gives me great comfort to know that my son now lives in that fabulous place which is our permanent Home. With his guidance and help, I too, shall learn my lesson I came to learn on this earth, and depart to be greeted by him at the doors of heaven. God bless you my dear son. Maa loves you forever.

Vandana Ritik

What is Prarabdh (our Destiny)

Soul - A soul has to take on a body made up of five elements to come to this earth. It is said that soul has to take birth to learn and to experience each and every aspect of human emotion without forgetting its original state i.e, purity, love and bliss. It is through this human life that a soul can finally merge with the holy divine Supreme from which it was separated millions of years ago. In every birth, the soul strives to reach the perfection so that it can get enlightened and become aware of the truth about oneness of the universe i.e., ALL IS ONE. All souls are the tiny part of that Supreme Divine Power thereby implying that all souls have that tiny spark of Supreme Spirit within. However, after taking human birth, in ignorance, the soul cannot recall its original state, gets entangled in the earthly enjoyments and forgets its mission of self realization and subsequently the God realization.

Karma - In its human form the soul cannot sit idle. It performs various karmas to get on with the life, becomes attached to materialism over and above spiritualism. Whether the karma is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it is immaterial. The universal law takes note of all the actions a soul performs to carry out its earthly existence. It is said that all such karmas accumulate and become Sanchit Karma(Accumulated Karma). It is said that all our karmas are recorded and stored in our Akashic records. A soul cannot merge with the spirit unless it has worked out the cause and effect of its Karma because universal law functions flawlessly and impartially. When the soul is reborn again, it brings with it some portion out of this Sanchit karma to work out in the present birth. This portion of karma is called Prarabdh. It is said that seventy five percent life of a soul is preordained and a soul has no say in it. Soul has to bear it whether it brings wordly happiness or worldly sadness. For the balance twenty five percent life the soul can use its God given freewill which creates Kriyaman Karma(Active Karma). These kriyaman karma also result in accumulating more Sanchit karma.


Prarabdh - Outcome of Prarabdh are those happenings in the souls earthly life which happen without any or little effort. Soul feels happy when it gains materialistic comforts, pleasures and position in life but it gets totally baffled when it loses the very same possessions unexpectatedly, without any explainable reason. Soul does not realize that this is the fruit or effect of cause of its Prarabdh in this lifetime. For example, we find a good human being doing all the best for the world but yet suffering from a deadly disease, a selfish person getting success in almost any activity it undertakes. All this is happening due to Prarabdh of these souls


Imagine how it could be when different souls come together in a lifetime and form a family. Each soul has its own Prarabdh and its own individual journey. But universal law is perfect. It arranges the soul groups so affectively that one soul’s Prarabdh matches with the Prarabdh of other souls. Thus souls living in a family life not only perform their respective earthly duties but also work out their Prarabdh together. This way they keep coming back on earth again and again, learn their lessons and help each other to work out their balance karmas till their last earthly desires has been fulfilled. The soul discards its human body once its Prarabdh of current lifetime is worked out completely. However, Maya plays such a strong role that it takes ages for an ignorant soul to work out all its karma and realize that the Supreme Divine Power is nowhere else but within.

How to work out Karma - The biggest question is how can the effect of Karmas be effaced? Man's actions or karmas are the manifestations of his thoughts. Karma is any action, thought, feeling, emotion generated by mind of a Man. The mind, by projecting thoughts to sense-organs, enjoys pleasures. It, more or less, identifies itself with these thoughts and pleasures. At that time, it does not think of any thing else. In actual, the earthly thoughts and impulses should be converted into the zeal for securing internal bliss and happiness after attaining a perfect balance between materialism and spiritualism. In simple terms, soul must perform duties required to be performed in its earthly lifetime with a sense of detachment i.e, without feeling sad about losses and without feeling elated about gains. But then it is easier said than done.

Meditation - Meditation is one way for the soul to connect to the higher self. Shirdi SaiBaba advised mankind to look inwards. The soul should find a quiet place, close eyes and meditate. The purpose is to withdraw all the five sense inwards, make them inactive because these senses have been given to the soul to see, hear, taste, touch and enjoy the external world only. The practice of meditation in solitude consists in reverting and raising internal spark of the soul to try to reach the high self. It is said that the seat of that spark is at midpoint behind the eyes called Third Eye or Krishna / Christ Consciousness. When such a condition begins to supervene to some extent, as a result of performing the meditation practices, the working of Karmas, both internally and externally, is automatically enfeebled. On getting some bliss and joy internally, and on witnessing the love, grace and mercy of the Supreme Being, the meditators’ mind is, of itself, detached from the world and its pleasures. The pleasures of the world become insipid. The situation is the same, however, its effect on the meditators mind changes. The soul finds peace in all the situations it finds itself in whether good or bad, it doesnot matter anymore.

After this, the longing for progress in meditation, and higher and higher bliss, goes on increasing. Worldly desires are curtailed. The soul always gives priority to the will, grace and mercy of the Supreme Being in whatever he does. It subordinates its desires to the will of the Supreme Being. Thus the soul is entangled in Kriyaman(active) Karmas very little or not at all. This cuts short the chain of its Karmas.

Prarabdh Karmas, which are unfolding in this very life will be very much mitigated by the grace and mercy of the Divine Spirit. This way the soul is able to withdraw from the eyes, it goes on getting detached from the body and the world. In the wakeful state, the seat of the spirit is behind the eyes. It is here that pains and pleasures are felt and Karmas are performed. Therefore, as the spark of soul is withdrawn from here with the help of spiritual exercises, pains and pleasures cease to be felt. In this way, the effect of Prarabdh Karmas is lightened.

As to the Sanchit Karmas, that are stored in Akashic records (mind-sky/ collective universal consciousness) in the form of seed-impressions. They will fructify in a future life. As the soul penetrates these records in its ascent to higher regions, the Sanchit Karmas appear in the form of thoughts and impulses. They come into play for a short while only and are obliterated and finally the Sanchit karma are also cleared off.

If one has the grace of Sadguru (special messengers of God like Jesus or Saibaba), it will not take long for a soul to achieve the desired results. With Guru/ God’s grace, the soul realizes that meditator, object of meditation all are ONE.

Bhakti (devotion) - As per Sai Satcharita (book containing life and teachings of Shirdi SaiBaba) taking the road of devotion ( towards any one particular God of your choice) is the easiest way to get free from the Karmas. A mind cannot sit idle but if we give it some wise thought, say, chanting ‘Sai Sai’ (you can substitute this with name of God you believe in) always, get rid of feeling of doership and surrender all our actions, thoughts and ourselves to our God, we have taken our first step towards working out our karma fast. Saibaba(God) will work internally and remind the soul of its purpose of taking human birth. This doesnot mean that the soul will not have to work out the Prarabdh. Saibaba(God) will not come in the functioning of the universal law but will make the soul strong enough that it will not feel the effect of Prarabdh i.e, soul will not be ecstatic when it gains and will not feel depressed when it suffers. God or spirit guides and angels will grace us with strength necessary to work out our Prarabdh easily. This is what we mean when we say that God works out the karma of devotees. But then are we willing to work for ourselves, absolve ourselves of our Prarabdh the way Baba(substitute with the name of God you believe in) has advised us.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

Meaning of Devotion

I am a simple person and at first instant I feel ‘Devotion’ is nothing but ‘Bhakti’. However, thinking seriously I feel that though ‘devotion’ sounds such a simple word but it is so profound and has such deep meaning that after looking up all dictionaries on Web, I am still not sure whether I got the true meaning of this one single & simple word namely ‘Devotion’. One could say that devotion is ‘pure unconditional love without expecting any return’ like a mother is devoted to her child, a wife is devoted to her husband and a son/ daughter is devoted to his/ her parents. And then there is devotion of a Bhakta to his/her deity. This devotion is so very different from the aforementioned devotion because a Bhakta worships his God with the belief that he exists and is taking care of him without even a single meeting with the God. I consider myself as a Shirdi Sai Baba devotee and am still trying to learn right method of devotion. To me, Devotion means - my relationship with SaiBaba which has developed over the years.

When I was a child, I had this fascination for this particular filmstar. I would leave all my work and rush to TV every time his movie or song was being telecast. I thought I was so crazily devoted to this actor. Then suddenly one day I felt disgust at my behaviour and a thought came into my mind. Why am I wasting my time, energy and thoughts on a person I don’t know and haven’t even met. Simultaneously, I thought that if I could be even half as crazy for God Almighty, as I am for this actor, then I would be so lucky.

I remember as a kid, I had to accompany my parents to Shiva temple everyday which I did not like. But today I am very thankful to them for showing me the right path at such an early age. When I got married my husband would take me to Saibaba Lodhi Road temple. I would bow my head down before Baba and silently talk to him ‘Baba I don’t know anything about you. I am coming here to you because my husband is coming here. If I could know something more about you and your Leela’s then things would be different’. Luckily, after few days, we had guests in our home who spoke about Baba so lovingly and also discussed their experiences of reading ‘Sai Satcharita’. Internally, I wanted to have this book. Lol! I found one brand new Sai Satcharita in our home library itself. I read it in seven days and my life changed altogether thereafter. This was Baba’s first response to my sprouting ‘devotion’.

I felt myself drawn towards Shirdi Sai Baba. I felt Shiva, Krishna, Durga, Ganapathi, Hanuman – all are in Sai and Sai is in all. I understood meaning of ‘Oneness of Gods’. I became ‘devoted’ to Sai and started visiting Baba temples, read material available on him. I just started loving Baba. Once I saw a beautiful Saibaba murti left by a devotee under a Peepal tree outside the temple because it was slightly damaged ( one portion of middle finger was broken and base of stone on which Baba was sitting was slightly chipped off). I just could not stop myself. I picked up the Murti, hugged it and brought home and kept it in my temple. If I were to suffer a fracture my family won’t discard me. So what one devotee discarded as inauspicious became a very auspicious blessing for another devotee. Does devotion has different meaning for different devotees. I am blessed that Murti is still in my home and I can feel the change. Earlier Baba’s face looked grim but over the years, the murti has got luster and smile on face. I am very attached to that Murti. I feel immense peace when I hug this Murti in my good as well as bad times. I talk to Murti as if Baba were alive in this Murti. Today it is placed at a prime place in my living room because I consider Saibaba as a family member- the head of the family. Sometimes I wonder if this is devotion or a crazy act.

One day I wanted to visit Saibaba temple very earnestly and requested my elder son to take care of his younger brother for atleast one hour so than I can go to temple. He agreed but also added ‘SaiBaba is in your Home Maa. Why do you need to go to temple’. Something hit me that day in those innocent words. I thought my ‘devotion’ towards Baba was actually ritualistic. Baba is inside me I just have to look inward and I’ll find Shirdi & Baba all inside me. I am also part and parcel of that ‘Oneness of Universe’. Thus Baba was working on me internally.

And Why not, even Baba has said that there is no distinction between God, Guru and Devotee. Now ‘devotion’ had another meaning for me – True love for Baba and considering whole creation as Baba. I soon realized it was easier said than done. Though I could now compose and sing Baba’s Bhajans, participate in his Satsang but internally I was still expecting response from Baba in some form or the other. Not that Baba was not responding. Baba always responded but sometime when I did not understand this response I would feel Baba is not looking at me. All in all I was expecting Baba’s response in return of my devotion. I was praying to God, thanking him but was also seeking favours in return because I always felt that I was a good devotee - going to God in good times and not bothering him during my bad times. I was exercising choice, discrimination in my ‘devotion’ to Baba. But still my internal communication with Baba continued. I conversed with Baba almost most of the day. I always felt him beside me and I was so satisfied in this feeling that I thought with Baba around me nothing can go wrong. Baba is the protector. Afterall, I was not seeking ‘big’ favours from him anymore. I thought I may not be the best devotee of Saibaba but still I was a good devotee.

Then came the biggest jolt in my life, a real test of my devotion, an eye (internal) openor. I lost my older son (18 years) in a sudden road accident. Few days before his passing Baba had appeared in my dream lying on the ground with a white cloth covering his body. I found my son’s lifeless body in similar position in AIIMS mortuary. What was Baba trying to tell me? Suddenly, I felt my whole devotion had gone for a toss. It was so very painful for me. I could think of nothing but my lost son and my feeling of utter despair at my big loss. Where was my ‘devotion’? I was complaining. Why did Baba not save him?.

And did Baba respond? Yes. All the way. I feel him much more closer to me now. I started reading material available on afterlife, NDEs, ADCs etc. As I got more and more insight into my tragedy I felt foolish for blaming Baba for this mishap in my life. Sai Satcharita is full of stories about Prarabdha and now I was actually understanding their meaning. Practical was absolutely different from theory. This ‘pain’ and ‘separation’ from my son awakened me to entirely new understanding of soul (me), spirit (Baba) and spirituality which I had understood only at intellectual level till now. Baba gave me answers to all my queries through so many methods including visions and dream visits. I was seeing my life in bits and pieces while Baba knew all past and future. Baba, very kindly, made me realize and understand that my son was with him – all safe, sound, happy and blissful. What more can a mother ask for? Baba gave to my son after his 18 years of earthly life what I have not been able to gain even after 40 years.

Nine months down my tragedy, I seem to have understood a new meaning of word devotion. Now, devotion to me is loving SaiBaba, no matter what happens in my life, with complete faith and trust and without any expectation and return at all. Devotion springs from Love and complete confidence in God. Devotion is my relationship with SaiBaba. I pray that Baba keeps holding my hand all the time for the fear that if I hold his hand, I might lose my grip when faced with sudden upheaval in life. But SaiBaba will never let go of this grip.

Idol worship, visiting temples, reading religious books, performing religious ceremonies are some acts of Devotion. Complete devotion could be something like - continuous offering of the whole of you – mind, thoughts, actions – with supreme love to the God who is creator of all animate and inanimate things. I cannot offer parts of my life to God. I have to offer all my past, present and future - my entire being & existence to God. I cannot measure Devotion. All the time I feel something is lacking in my devotion. That others are more devoted than me. That I still have to refine my devotion towards my Baba. I have to live for Saibaba while simultaneously fulfilling all my worldly duties and responsibilities efficiently. I have to believe and follow all the words that SaiBaba ever spoke. Only SaiBaba knows what is my qualification in his Darbar.

Devotion could mean anything to anybody. To me, Devotion means my relationship with SaiBaba. As this relationship evolves, so does my devotion to Baba and it continues to evolve. I have no idea where this relationship is going to end for I have surrendered all my intellectual and spiritual learning at the holy feet of SaiBaba. I feel that I don’t know anything. My Sadguru SaiBaba knows everything. He has taken care of my son, sorry his own son, in heaven. He will take care of me and my family too on earth as well as when we cross over. But I have to continue to strive, to strengthen my devotion to SaiBaba. How? SaiBaba will grace me with his holy guidance from time to time as and when HE wills it for he alone knows what is suitable for an ignorant person like me.


Vandana Ritik

Heritage of Shirdi Sai
New Delhi