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Sample That!

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Sample That!
Get a taste of everything… your sub-conscience does not recognize good and bad/right or wrong. But as humans we see a killing as bad and in a way we need that just like we need to feel pain/fear to warn us of danger. We just need a bit of it, we don’t have to be full of fear or pain right. Ok it’s not coming out how I imagined. Another angle… take animals for instance… do they know good and bad? They just know if they hear a certain noise or see a certain figure… RUN. Certain smells make them eat that smelly thing. Ok this bit’s not making sense to me ethier… I have a point so I’ll come to this good and bad thing later. Back to sampling things… see we’ve been given this gift… speaking of animals… animals are not going to say I’m bored of critters and want to eat something sweet instead, cold and frozen and on a stick. Wildebeest can’t say screw migration, we’re gonna form teams, get some tumbleweed and kick it around for 90 minutes.

We get to! So I suggest you ask yourself, what are those few things I’ve always wanted to know about and what do I need to do to check it off my list. Be it cheap thrills or big time objectives. Don’t let age, race, gender, location and especially work come in the way. Folks tie themselves down to too much and end up boxed in. I’ve seen folks who love mixing and being active turned into someone bitter stuck in a room mostly. It’s mostly in the head and that where you start. If you can’t do the stuff you want to do… picture it… more and more. But that’s sampling stuff you want to sample… there’s also sampling stuff that come by you all the time. It’s not your interest but you check it out… in my case it’s sports and cars… couldn’t care less but my boys are into it so I’ll join em for rallies or watch/play footie… at least on the play station lol. Some of my peeps don’t believe in AOL and my kinda stuff but they’re open enough to sample it.

One thing I’d like to see more of is folks hanging out with a diversity of ages. Genders and races is already happening but ages… you go in with an open mind, don’t judge remember at one point we were there or you will be there so knowing what’s coming up and remembering what it was like is such an important awareness. I was chilling with some kids at a festival and at one point they were like lets go mug and beat people… but they didn’t they were just cracking jokes about it… the folks that heard it looked at me like they’re no good and I’m guilty by association. The kids were just ‘shooting the shit’, as we grow up we forget how fun and liberating it is to be stupid… it gets you out of that robot thinking. The same kids teen sister asked why I’m chilling with kids and I told her I chill with everyone… so she’s like come to the teen tent.

Next night I chilled at the teen tent where they’re even more stupid… I loved how thick I was at that age but I didn’t join them coz I’ve been there and…? Thats right, done it! You get to see these guys finding themselves… what their beliefs are… how much they’re going to conform to what their peers approve of and what not. The leader who was so deep… we ended up talking all this philosophy and shlack… till at one point he engaged a group of adults and he’s doing most of the talking. My recent experience was a 17 year old helped me over a hurdle I’d been struggling with for over 5 years! The same for adults but because the ‘been there done that’ approach to elders is to respect them and listen to them and all that… I’ve gone the opposite way and I’ll get to that in another topic.

Again my spiritual guru says we don’t think twice when we’re sampling music and food from the world but we tighten up when it comes to religions and beliefs. It’s all pretty much the same anyway so what’s this tightness about? Sample it. And for your sake, as you get older try not to place/generalize/label yourself. Even if you do… know that you’re versatile. For some reason age seems to tighten folks. Even these ‘classy’ folks… I’m too classy to do, say and think that way. Your loss. Think about it… if Thomas Edison didn’t sample so many filaments we’d not have a the light bulb. So many people of history and achievement who risked being called freaks because they did not follow convention… SCRATCH CONVENTION! It has it’s place but when it limits you… squash it. Some procedures don’t even make sense. These labels are the reason why we have all this friction everywhere… folks are so stuck to their labels they not only box themselves but also look down upon those out of the box.

I get it… there’s security in knowing who you are and what your role is. There is risk of being given the wrong label if you do something different in front of the wrong person. Beware that way… in my case I don’t really give a damn… e.g. just bleaching my hair and experimenting with clothes earned me labels like junkie and gay… but help me get into modeling and filming too where the world is sooooo diverse… you can’t help but sample that. It’s shoved in your face! And all it did is stretch my understanding and tolerance towards folks from all walks of life. I also get that you’d rather feel that closeness with your main circle but it’s baffling… I know folks that leave the boxed thinking of small communities to study in Universities overseas where they’re forced into a world full of sampling things. But after mixing with all these cultures and all that friendliness with people… they go back and box themselves back in. Really? I mean you and your crew have both tasted different fruits but you’d rather watch each other in your lil box eating sour grapes? Come on now! Bring something different to the table and you wont end up spending your time finding ways to diss each other for entertainment.

I’ve passed all this sampling and for me it’s more of the gender thing. Because I’m a guy I can’t do this and that coz it’s girly? Scratch that… I wanna knit I knit! Not very well but hey lol. If I prefer a girls perfume to the one I have on I’ll wear it… first of all who the hell decides it’s going to be only for women? Second of all are you such a robot you’re gonna follow orders blindly instead of going for what makes you happy? It’s all made up according to peoples whims. And it just limits you man!

Sorry part of this was meant to be in another thought but hey when these fingers start walking… you get the point right?

Recommended songs
No Limit – 2 Unlimited
Do What I Like – 2 Unlimited
‘Cuz I Can – P!nk

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The Boon and Bane of Boredom

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The Boon and Bane of Boredom
One of my favorite contradictions. Since as far back as I can remember I’ve had this programmed into me… ‘been there, done that’. And if thats the case I don’t even have to consciously decide on my options… anything but what I’ve already experienced. Whatever it is… if it’s the norm I’ll go for something else. I think mom was the same in many ways. Lets takes music for example… I used to wonder how some of the folks I knew could only be so immersed in one genre. But now I appreciate them because without them who else is going to recommend the cream of the crop to me. My uncle calls me an extremist in that sense. I’ll be for one thing so intensely and then for the opposite once I’ve figured out the patterns. It’s weird, how can I be so frustrated at predictability. I know the suns going to shine tomorrow again but I’m not frustrated about that. Its like I get mad at patterns because once I’ve figured it out I want to explore more, experience everything.

It’s also a safety mechanism. There was a time I loved getting drunk… hated the taste of alcohol but loved getting high… did it so much usually 4 days a week for more than 3 years… but like my spiritual guru compares things to the bow and arrow… I guess its the same… I was in that habit so long I knew each and every phase of the procedure and as much as I loved dancing my trouble away inebriated my best bit was the hangover. At that age there were no headaches or pains. I’d just lay on the couch the whole day ruminating and that’s where all these thoughts, revelations, realizations dawned. Now I hardly drink. That’s just an example of how the arrow of experience would be pulled so far back to boredom that it shoots in any direction… as long as its not where it is. Thanx to that I’ve pushed boundaries, not only exploring music but eating the weird and nastiest of foods, or even little things like climbing stairs in different ways, sitting in random positions (and I’ve found a favorite which does not look very conventional but hits the spot ;))

I love boredom when it pushes me but I absolutely abhor it when I’m still stuck in the rut. The same guru says let that happen… let it pinch you so hard you can’t help but move on. I purposely get obsessed with things I’m into just because I know that bow/arrow reflex is close. Sometimes not that close but eventually it comes. Only I’ve reached a point where it all feels the same… like its a pizza base… whatever it is, is just different topping. Give it a different name… calzone, quesadillas… c’est la même chose! The base is the same… say like travelling right… all these great cities… but the patterns the same… they all have their distinct foods, buildings, monuments, lifestyles… but they all have it in the end. Same Starbucks, McD’s, etc… different subtitles. You know what I mean? What more is there. Sometimes I think I better slow down coz I’m literally going to be bored to death before my time and according to my lifeline I have a long way to go lol. But then what if I squeeze every experience/boundary… whats after that?

Oh and another thing… as much as I talk about boredom… I’m hardly ever bored. Does that even make sense? Like I’ll get bored OF something… but being bored itself? Say like I’ll get bored of listening to the same song… but I’m bored OF that song… like … YEAH, it’s like I get bored of external stuff but inside… there’s just too much magic… maybe thats what’s next. Deep inside I know (not because enlightened folks have said it) that all these experiences I crave to experience, the real experiences are really inside. Say like you take a drug or drink… it’s just firing of synapses/releasing chemicals/etc that are already inside you. Again my spiritual guru says when you enjoy a smell/sound/etc… you close your eyes, he says we do that because it’s really inside which enjoys it. The whole beauty is in the ‘eye of the beholder’ thing. Hmmm… hope I don’t get bored of typing my random thoughts because they help me see things from different angles. ;o)

Like Aries Spears says … ‘Sample that’! I go by it… there’s just too much out there. But thats another topic.

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Great Quotes To Help U Get By … by Sadz

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Great Quotes To Help U Get By … by Sadz
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde

“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” – Oprah Winfrey

“You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.” – Professor Harold Hill (The Music Man)

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – GB Shaw

“Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?” – C.Myss

“If you can imagine it, you can create it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” -William Arthur Ward

“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” – Lao Tzu

“When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself” – Eckkhart Tolle

“Don’t Change Your personality to please people or be someone you’re not. Be an individualist.” – Anonymous

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes” – Jung

“Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t.” – Richard Bach

“If you see it in your mind you are going to hold it in your hand” – Abraham-Hicks

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carroll

“There are no failures – just experiences and your reactions to them.” – Tom Krause

“If you only do what you know you can do- you never do very much.” – Tom Krause

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” – William Shedd

“You can’t turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.” – Bonnie Prudden

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” – Anonymous

“Untapped potential is the difference between where a person is now and where he or she can be.” – Bo Bennett

“I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to..” – Brittany Renée

“Only as high as I reach can I grow, as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, as much as I dream can I be.” – K.Ravn

“The remarkable thing is, we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.” – Charles R. Swindoll

“I can’t go back to yesterday – because I was a different person then” – Lewis Carroll

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

“I believe the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare” – Maya Angelou

“Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal.” – E. Joseph Cossman

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.” – William Inge

“Most people are in a state of abundance without knowing it” – Deborah Price

“What you are is what you have been, and what you will be is what you do now.” – Buddha

“We are like magnets – like attract like. You become AND attract what you think” – The Law of attraction

“The more we demand from the universe/the more that is demanded from us. The more we give away/the more that is given to us.” – Dr Wayne W Dyer

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Science and Spirituality by Guruji (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)

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Science and Spirituality by Guruji
Memorial Lecture given at S. M. Medical college, Jodhpur (23 February 2005)

I know you all are waiting to hear me, while there are others who are simply waiting to see me, doesn’t matter what I talk. Should I speak in Hindi or English? Some want in Hindi and others in English. I will speak in both and whenever I am speaking in the language other than that of your choice, just listen as if you are listening to some music, otherwise you will start feeling restless!

Listening is also an art- there is an art of listening. Are you all listening? It can be any speaker who may speak for ten minutes but we actually hear for about three minutes; this is a statistical figure! The remaining seven minutes, the body remains there but the mind goes out gallivanting and comes back after roaming for sometime. So if one speaks for thirty minutes say, then, in actual effect, you hear for about 9-10 minutes. That’s why I said, whatever language I speak, if you do not understand, just hear it like a music otherwise restlessness starts building in the mind, right?

You always complain if someone speaks in the language you don’t know. When you sit and gossip for 2-3 hours, you don’t know how the time flies but when you are sitting and someone is speaking for a couple of minutes in a foreign language you don’t know, even those couple of minutes seem to be very long, hasn’t it been our experience? Whenever your mind is engaged, you do not feel the time but when the mind is not engaged, you feel the time is too long, correct? Study of time is both Spirituality and Science. Time is the junction.

Are you all here? What is happening now? Waiting?! Waiting for a phone call… waiting for someone to come… waiting for something… but you know, what is interesting is that we don’t know what waiting itself is! If you can experience the pure waiting, that becomes meditation. Suppose I am not going to speak for next 20-25 minutes, are you willing to be here? Yes?!

Waiting for infinity is meditation and if we don’t understand what waiting is, we tend towards frustration.

See, waiting is the junction that either leads you to frustration on one side or, on another side, takes you to a meditative state. If you are a meditator then you know what .dhyaan.(meditation) is, then nothing can frustrate you because every moment that you are free and have to wait for something, you drop into meditation !

We become carefree when we realize that waiting can lead to either meditation or frustration. You can be free from frustration if you meditate and be happy and joyful. Many moments come in our lives, when we have to wait and with this waiting we are filled with frustration, anger, restlessness – all kinds of disorders of mind. So to become free from all such disorders it is very essential to know about meditation.

‘What is this?’ is Science; ‘Who am I?’ is Spirituality. It is only in India, in this country, that no conflict ever happened between Science and Spirituality.

It is only in India that from ages the science and spirituality said the Earth and other planets are moving round the Sun. We also teach our students but unfortunately in a wrong way. We teach today in our schools that Galileo discovered that the earth is round. We don.t remember that it is India which has given the concept of earth being spherical .khagoal.
(kha means Earth and goal means round), .bhoogoal. (geography- the study of earth ) etc. The earth was always considered spherical. In the 7- 8th century sculptures you see the .Varah Murti. carrying a globe on their tusks. That means our ancestors, the people in India in ancient days knew that the earth was spherical.

From the times of Vedic age itself, our ancient people knew the placing of the sun and the planets. In today.s time too we worship the same way by placing the sun in the center and all planets around it. Long ago, from ancient times, we knew that the sun was the center of our solar system yet we teach wrong and give credit to Galileo for discovering it! We need to change such history now.

Similarly the value of .Pi.(p) and its formula were known long ago. They were well advanced in mathematics. All geometry, trigonometry etc was given in verses with not just formulas but also with detail and diagrams. So we were never ignorant but very advanced in Science from ancient time but unfortunately what is being taught is that our ancestors were ignorant and foolish. It is heard that a professor of History, in Delhi University, is teaching the children that the ancient man burnt incense to scare the God saying- . See the incense in my hand, fulfill my wish or I will burn you down.. And if that was not sufficient to scare then he went with the lamp etc. According to his teaching the ancient man knew nothing else but to scare for fulfilling his wishes and because of such foolish ideas only he began doing worship!

If we teach such things to the children then these children will become naxalites in future. It is the lack of spirituality in education in our country, that the youth are becoming naxalites. On one hand they commit suicide or on other hand they become violent and aggressive.

What is spiritualism? To understand this, ponder over this . Who am I? What am I made up of? This body is made of food we eat etc but then consciousness, the spirit within it is made up of what? What are its
ingredients?- to know this all is spiritualism.

Our ancestors have given the beautiful explanations of it.
Asti, Bhati, Preeti , Naam and Roop – these are the five ingredients/elements or aspects of self.
Asti, Bhati, Priti- are the three forms of our consciousness, our mind .
Asti meaning “I am”, bhati is realizing that it is and preeti , the love with which it is made of .these are the three forms with which our consciousness is made of.

If all the lights were put off in this room, even then you feel your presence, don.t you still feel , .I am . here?-this feeling of .I am. is- asti.

Are you all listening? Still here? The mind has not gone out for a tea break na? Yes!
So ,when you say you are listening to me you , you realize your presence that is bhati.

And your nature is love- that is preeti.
So these are the three aspects of our consciousness.

And the body or matter has two aspects- naam or name and roop or the form. Every thing has a name and a form. With a form or property and a name different things exist in the world.

Science examines or studies on name and shape, while Spirituality on asti, bhati and preeti.
What is this? – is Science ; Who am I?- is Spirituality.
Can there be any conflict between the two? Never! Both are the two ends of the same thread of knowledge.
People may say that spiritualism begins where science ends but I do not agree with that. Science and Spiritualism are not separate, they go together, they are always in oneness. And there can be no dispute after the theory of relativity which proved about matter and energy.

And what is happening now? As I am speaking you are also thinking in your mind- . Yes, yes, he is speaking right., or, .No, no, how can that be right… like that .Yes, yes…, .No, no..going on in the mind, isn.t it?

That faculty by which you perceive is Mind and that by which you agree/accept or disagree is Intellect. And the study of this inner, internal layers of consciousness is Spirituality.

Sri Krishna also said in Geeta- . Gyaan vigyaan pratyaatma..
One gains the Complete knowledge only if gets the knowledge of both science and spirituality.
From our four .Darshan shastars.- the first three are of science only!
Vaisheshik Darshan says – padartha gyaanatva mokshah.
Sage Vaisheshik said that knowledge of one element contains the full knowledge of all other elements, knowing which you can attain pure bliss.
If you understand and have full knowledge of one atom, you are liberated. Even if you don.t believe in God but understand even one atom thoroughly, it gives you
liberation- this is what the ancient scriptures have said.

How to achieve it? Put your attention to know one thing fully. Understand an atom .
What is your body?-a heap of atoms. When all atoms embraced and combine with each other- a body is formed and when they become at daggers with each other and separate with each other- the body disintegrates and death takes place. This body is made up of so many atoms.
What is an atom? What is the function of an atom? . So who am I? Am I the body? What is this body?
Do you know this body is not solid but fluid like a river? 98% of our body is empty- space element. If you observe a small piece of your skin under the microscope, it looks like a mosquito net- so porous and full of holes! Likewise take any metal, it has lot of empty space also. And out of remaining 2% – 60% is water element and 15% air element in the body.
You are like a water or a juice sachet! After you drink juice, how does the packet looks- pressed and bad similarly if all the water is removed from your body , you will become depressed! And if air is removed then, as the fish perishes if removed from water, you will perish too!

We don’t know fully about our body itself. So it is good to have full knowledge like this first. If you know about your own body, the mind becomes still and liberation happens.
So where is the conflict? Science is a logical, sequential understanding of the reality and spirituality goes one step ahead from the aspects you know. You will see there are many types of logic- whether the means of understanding itself is correct or not? The correct aspect is there or not? The subjective analysis- the aspect from which you learn, by which you know, whether your apparatus or analysis itself is correct or not- and this is spirituality. So unless you take both approaches, your knowledge will not be complete.

Belongingness is the sign of spiritualism.
In today’s life, man has become rigid like a stone living in a small world of his own.
We convey more through our presence than through our words.
We live whole of our life in a formal atmosphere and lose the naturalness and belongingness.
One can have a simple, lovable nature or personality through spirituality only.

Truth is multidimensional. This is a gift given to the world by India. Knowledge or Truth is not linear but spherical.

Isliye virodhaatmak batein sath sath hoti hein.
That’s why controversial things co-exist- and that’s what we teach in the Art of Living course-that opposite values are complementary .
Unless you take both approaches, knowledge will be incomplete.
Any life devoid of Spiritualism is dry and lack of knowledge makes one sad, and sorrowful.

Some question/ answers .

Q- What is God?
A- Patience like the Earth, Glow of the Fire, light like the Air, humble like the water(which flows downward) and present every where like space- the one having all these elements is God!

Q- How to realise faithfulness?
A- The same way you feel the pain. When there is a pain, you just know it!

Q- Guru se bada kaun? Who is above Guru?
A – Guru ka matlub hee hei – bahut bada toe jaan jao khud hee!
Guru means Great so you know the answer yourself!

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