Need a dentist

Mrs. 'P' who has just moved from Mumbai to Gurgaon said, "I posted on a networking site that 'I am having sever pain in my teeth. Please tell me about a good dentist in Gurgaon.' That site was about to seek information about maid, driver, doctor, helper, carpenter, gardner, good eating places in Gurgaon. I got overwhelming response. And surprisingly, Gurgaonites told me about 32 different dentists."
"You should give each one a chance by getting checked your each tooth with a different dentist." I chuckled. 

True colors

As soon as one gets the chance to sit on a chair, one starts showing its true colours. ;)

Teesu Flowers

I clicked this pic of beautiful red flowers while my regular evening walk. These are teesu flowers which are used to prepare natural Holi colours. The tree grab one's attention as there are only flowers and no or very few leaves during these days. Eye catching flowers and birds feeding on them are very common site during the month of March. 

Jnana Yoga

Jnana Yoga means liberation through knowledge. Knowledge is truth. And Truth is that God is everywhere and in everything. He is in all beings and all beings are in him. There is no difference between the Self and God. One can practice this with the technique of self inquiry and by asking question ‘Who am I?’ The thoughts arise as soon as ‘I’ thought arise in mind. All the thoughts are based on ‘I’ which is the root of all thoughts. If the root is pulled out then the tree dies similarly if the root thought ‘I’ is uprooted all the thoughts vanishes. Hence, seek the root ‘I’ by questioning ‘Who am I?’. Find it and remove it. The question ‘Who am I?’ is like a stick to gather the scattered wood in the bon fire and in the last the stick will itself burn. It destroys all the other thoughts and finally kills itself also.

(Excerpt from 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind' by Chandrika Shubham. This book is available online at amazon.in)

Obstacles in meditation

Obstacles appear in meditation somewhat like the obstacles appear while performing any other work. Whatever obstacle comes one must try one’s best to overcome it. One should never stop practice. One should not lose heart. Irregularity in practice, diet, laziness and drowsiness, useless conversation, negative emotions, ego, not finding Guru, lack of faith are some of the problems which a beginner experiences. One should keep moving further without getting distracted because of the obstacles. One should not be discouraged as the journey is very long and can’t be completed overnight.

(Excerpt from 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind' by Chandrika Shubham. This book is available online at amazon.in)

Karam Yoga

Every action is spiritual, if it is done without any selfishness. If there is selfishness in doing a task then it is only ‘action’ and not ‘karam yoga’. Karam yoga can be practiced by detaching oneself with the fruits of actions. If the result is not upto one’s expectation then one should not get angry, irritated or unhappy. One has to forget oneself in doing the task assigned. One has to erase the factor ‘I’ from it and has to wipe out ‘I did that work’. This is what meditation means to be completely absorbed in work without thinking about the factor ‘I’. 

(Excerpt from 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind' by Chandrika Shubham. This book is available online at amazon.in)

Shinni with a twist!

My friend told me the traditional recipe of shinni as mix raw flour, unboil milk, ripe bananas, grind sugar and chop fruits. I decided to give it a twist. I poured desi ghee in hot pan and roasted wheat flour in till aroma came and changed its colour to light brown. I mixed the ripe bananas and bura (grind sugar) in a separate bowl. Then added the cool wheat flour in it. Mixed them thoroughly. Added chopped apple, orange and grapes for taste and colour. The result was very delicious.
You must try it if you have a sweet tooth. 

Trick photography

These days it is very common that people click the photos with trick photography. Some try to touch the top tip of a tall building, some try to grab the sun like a ball and some try to push a tall building and some try to hold another person on the palm. The list is endless as our imagination! Here is one pic clicked by me with trick photography. Hope you all like it.

Red-whiskered bulbul

Bulbul is a very common bird in India. They are so friendly that a bird lover can feed them on his palms. Many years back, in our courtyard a bulbul used to come and sing. My mother named her 'Nayantara' and fed Marigold biscuits, its favorite on her palm to it. She sometimes gave it some bits of fruits while peeling them for the family. In fruits, it like pomegranate the most, may be that is the reason of her sweet voice.
The most common variety of bulbul seen in Northern India is red-vented bulbul. One can see them anywhere and everywhere. Many a times I have seen pic of red-whiskered bulbul in books and on net. For the first time I spotted it on top branch of a tree while walking on the path in Mughal Gardens, New Delhi. 

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga is the easiest form of God realisation. It is a beautiful way to show love towards God. Bhakti means ‘to worship’ or ‘to be attached to God’. One cannot attain God through logic and reason but from pure faith and devotion. One yearns for God and God alone. In this form of love where there is no expectation. It purifies one’s heart. In sakam bhakti, one desires for materialistic gains and in nishkam bhakti, one desires of God and nothing in return from Him.

(Excerpt from Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind by Chandrika Shubham. This book is available online on at amazon.in) 

Acknowledgements of 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind'

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my utmost surprise, I completed this book from idea to print in only seven months. This book was my dream. There are many who helped me generously in converting this dream into reality. A big thank you to all those who supported me!

I wish to thank my Ma, Sarita Saini who taught me how to hold the pencil and to write the first alphabet ‘A’. She was always with me and guided me to overcome the obstacles whenever I stop in my path. My father, Madan Lal Saini gave me a break from business so that I can devote full time to it.

Kaushal Saini, my nanaji for telling me about the power of chanting mantra. Sumitra Saini, my naniji for telling me spiritual stories in my childhood days. That interest later developed into reading spiritual books.

Specially, Neelam Prabha who motivated me from the very first day to write, gave her genuine suggestions and constant feedback. Geeta Davar, who read and critically reviewed the manuscript making it more readable and insightful. I would thank Kiran Bhatia, for adding a tinge of bhakti by improving script in Devanagari. I extend my wishful thanks to my good friends Shrimi and Paulami. Their suggestions about incorporating anecdotes here and there colored my dream with rainbow hues. 

I extend my sincere appreciations to Sanjeev Saini for drawing illustrations and Rajeev Jain for publishing this manuscript.

Foreword to 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind'

FOREWORD

There are several ways one can attain God. Japa is one of the simplest of them. Japa is the repetition of the mantra, mystic formula. Japa is an important anga (limb) of yoga. Lord Sri Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad Gita “Yajnanam japa yajnosmi - among yajnas (religious practices) I am japa yajna.”

According to Swami Sivananda, “In kali yuga (dark age) the practice of japa alone can give eternal peace, bliss and immortality. Repetition of the mantra removes the dirt of the mind things such as lust, anger and greed. The mind, from which the impurities have been removed, acquires the capacity to reflect the highest spiritual truth. There is no yoga greater than japa yoga.” Japa yoga can give all siddhis (powers), bhakti (devotion) and mukti (freedom from the cycle of birth and death). Japa ultimately results in Samadhi, communion with the Lord. Japa must become a habit and must be performed with satvik (divine) bhava (feeling), purity, love and faith.

I understand Ms. Chandrika Shubham has practiced japa meditation for more than fifteen years. Consistent practice by the author herself makes this book important to read. I am sure readers will find this useful and interesting.

My best wishes on the occasion of release of the book ‘Japa Meditation – The Easiest Way to Calm Mind’. I wish all the success in this effort.

Mahendra Joshi

(Practicing Siddha Yoga from 30 years)

U.S.A.

Website - http://www.thekundaliniyoga.org

About the Author of 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind'

Chandrika Shubham is practicing Japa meditation from more than 15 years. She has learnt the art of meditation herself by Grace of God. She has felt the presence of God in the form of books, website, strangers, relatives and nature who has shown her the right path in the time of confusion and crisis. She considers Japa meditation to be the easiest and safest way to God realisation which any one can practice very easily and at any time. She is teaching Japa meditation from the past seven years. She explains the age old deep philosophical teachings in simple, crisp and humorous way. She tries to find out the simple solutions to complicated modern day life problems. She is the author of two books ‘Simple Vastu’ and ‘Saral Vastu’. She is an accomplished Vastushastra consultant and astrologer. Despite being a full time businesswoman, she makes time to teach Yoga in morning and evening. She loves to read, write and blog.

Cover page of 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind'

The cover page of 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind' looks like this. I want to thank Cdr Abhilash Tomy, Vivek S Patwardhan, Ajay Agarwal, Nitin Kumar, Devashish Saini and B K Chowla for praising my book so beautifully.
(This book is available at amazon.in)

The Mistress of Spices

After reading the novel 'The Mistress of Spices' by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni I decided to watch movie as well. In most of the cases where movies are based on novels the novels are far better than the movie. Same is in this case. The main attraction of movie is Aishwarya Rai who looks very pretty in sarees. The rest is just fine in the movie.
The author has explained Indian spices and their power amazingly. The description, use and power of spices are well researched. The creative and poetic style of writer keeps me absorbed in novel throughout its length. I must read for those who are interested to know about Indian spices.

No change yet different!

When I visited the society where I used to live earlier near about four years back, my neighbors comments surprised me.
"You have changed so much." Mrs. 'S' said.
"Your face has changed but your laugh is same loud and pleasing to ears." Mrs. 'F' said.
"I will not be able to recognize you if I haven't seen your photo on Facebook." Mrs. 'X' said.
"You are looking very pretty." Mrs. 'K' said.
I thought, "My face haven't changed much though they are experiencing the difference just because of my hairstyle; earlier I used to make plait and now I left my hair loose."

A bunch of flowers

Dear readers these beautiful flowers of Amaltas are for you. I thankyou for reading my posts, liking them and commenting on them. While I was busy with the publishing of my book I missed and forget to tell you that I had written more than 600 posts on my blog. This is my 616th post. I write because dear readers, you are my inspiration, you are my motivation and you are my strength. You made me successful and popular. Thanks for being a part of my blog.

Review of 'Shattered Dreams'

 I have never read a book based on Lord Ram’s life so interesting! Ramayana – The Game of Life is written by Shubha Vilas. ‘Shattered Dreams’ is the second part of this series. The first part is ‘Rise of the Sun Prince’.

‘Shattered Dreams’ is based on Ayodhya Kand and Aranya Kand. It tells that the age old saga has immediate relevance to today’s modern day life. It has uncountable wisdom gems in it which the author discovers making it’s writings more interesting, simple and lucid. Some of the points which I like are as follows:-

1. Unity without loyalty to a common goal is like cement without water to seal bricks.
2. The simplest joys of nature cannot be replaced by the complex creations of man.
3. Clouds receive salty water from ocean and return sweet water as rain. A cow eats grass and returns sweet milk. A coconut tree drinks water and returns nectar. What one receives is a debt that can be absolved by paying through selfless service.
4. Desires are like waves in an ocean. If one hits the shores, rest assured, another is on its way. Spiritual practice transforms one from ceaseless ocean of desires to the still lake of self-satisfaction.
5. When your actions boomerang as reactions, rather than wondering who threw it at you, you should wonder when you threw it.
6. Just like a river does not differentiate between two banks, a pure mind does not differentiate between what is the self’s and what is not; like the river, it is so absorbed in others’ welfare that it finds no time for self-absorption.
7. When the aim of life changes from pleasing the ego to pleasing God, it changes from egocentric to god-centric.
8. A good leader prudently stops an overdose of anger from entering his system like a healthy man consciously avoids overeating.
9. Forgiveness is the fragrance that the sandalwood tree leaves on an axe that cuts it, the stone that grinds it and in the smoke that burns it.
10. One should focus on devotion to duty rather than hankering for appreciation of result.
11. Prayer is not about approaching God for temporary solutions but approaching Him with a permanent commitment.
12. Many have the fortune of knowing what is right, but few have the guts of doing what is right.
13. Lifestyle is not so much about habits as much as it is about mindsets. Imitating habits is easy, but emulating mindsets is difficult.
14. A hero is not one who tries to surpass others, but one who strives to solve the knots in others’ lives at the cost of personal sacrifices.

This book unravels practical facts that go with every age. It tells people to adopt Ramayana in their lives. The author himself is a spiritual seeker and a motivational speaker. He teaches to apply teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and other dharmic traditions in dealing with modern day life situations.