Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Nada Yoga -The Ancient Science of Sound
1. Twilight Magic (17:38)
2. Evening Shadows Fall (23:29) 3. In The Stillness Of The Night (22:41)
Here is the link
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Discovery of Vallalar's Life History in DVD Video
Arutperunjothi Arutperunjothi Thaniperungkarunai Arutperunjothi
Discovery of Vallalar's Life History in DVD Video
DVD Cover :
Preview Screenshot :
Download Link : Megaupload 200MB [1.2GB]
Dear downloaders, please do keep in touch with us.
For more info, email directly to vallalartrust@gmail.com for more online materials for your convenience.
All the Credits goes to Sadhu Janagiraman @Thiruvanamalai, who give me the cd ask for upload on net.
Arutperunjothi Arutperunjothi Thaniperungkarunai Arutperunjothi
Hope by Director Mysskin
Hope is a heartbreaking human story in the light of the epidemic HIV/AIDS in India. The last of the trilogy is hard-hitting and moving. It is a tight rope walk between loss and hope. The story underlines the loss the epidemic ensures but assures audacity of hope that is inimitably distinct only in such a situation.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Why does sex play such an important part in each one's life in the world?
Question: Why does sex play such an important part in each one's life in the world?
J Krishnamurti :
There is a particular philosophy, especially in India, called Tantra, part of which encourages sex. They say through sex you reach Nirvana. It is encouraged, so that you go beyond it - and you never do.
Why has sex become so important in our life? It has been so, not only in the present period, but always. Why has sex been so deeply embedded in man? - apart from producing children, I am not talking of that. Why? Probably it is the greatest pleasure a human being has. Demanding that pleasure, all kinds of complications arise; volumes have been written with explanations of the psychological complications. But the authors have never asked the question as to why human beings have made this thing so extremely important in their lives.
Our life is in a turmoil, it is a constant struggle, with nothing original, nothing creative - I am using the word `creative' very carefully. The painter, the architect, the wood-carver, he may say he is creative. The woman who bakes bread in the kitchen is said to be creative. And sex, they say, is also creative. So what is it to be creative? The painters, the musicians and the Indian singers with their devotion, say that theirs is the act of creation. Is it? You have accepted Picasso as a great painter, a great creator, putting one nose on three faces, or whatever he does. I am not denying it or being derogatory, I am just pointing it out. That is what is called creation. But is all that creativeness? Or is creativeness something totally different? You are seeing the expression of creativeness in a painting, in a poem, in prose, a in a statue, in music. It is expressed according to a man's talent, his capacity great or small; it may be modern Rock or Bach - I am sorry to compare the two! - they are quite incomparable. We human beings have
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accepted all that as creative because it brings fame, money, position. But I am asking: is that creativity? Can there be creation, in the most profound sense of that word, so long as there is egotism, so long as there is the demand for success, money and recognition - supplying the market? Do not agree with me please. I am just pointing out. I am not saying I know creativity and you do not; I am not saying that. I am saying we never question these things. I say there is a state where there is creation in which there is no shadow of self. That is real creation; it does not need expression, it does not need self-fulfilment; it is creation. Perhaps sex is felt to be creative and has become important because everything around us is circumscribed, the job, the office, going to the church, following some philosopher, some guru. All that has deprived us of freedom and, further, we are not free from our own knowledge; it is always with us, the past.
So we are deprived of freedom outwardly and inwardly; for generation upon generation we have been told what to do. And the reaction to that is: I'll do what I want, which is also limited, based on pleasure, on desire, on capacity. So where there is no freedom, either outwardly or inwardly, specially inwardly, we have only one thing left and that is called sex. Why do we give it importance? Do you give equal importance to being free from fear? No. Do you give equal energy, vitality and thought to end sorrow? No. Why? Why only to sex? Because that is the easiest thing to hand; the other demands all your energy, which can only come when you are free. So naturally human beings throughout the world have given this thing tremendous importance in life. And when you give something, which is only one part of life, tremendous importance, you are destroying yourself. Life is whole, not just one part. If you give importance to the whole then sex becomes more or less unimportant. The monks and all those who have denied sex have turned their energy to god but the thing is boiling in them, nature cannot be suppressed. But when you give that thing all-importance, then you are corrupt
Sex And Marriage -J Krishnamurti
LIKE other human problems, the problem of our passions and sexual urges is
a complex and difficult one, and if the educator himself has not deeply probed
into it and seen its many implications, how can he help those he is educating? If
the parent or the teacher is himself caught up in the turmoils of sex, how can he
guide the child? Can we help the children if we ourselves do not understand the
significance of this whole problem? The manner in which the educator imparts an
understanding of sex depends on the state of his own mind; it depends on
whether he is gently dispassionate, or consumed by his own desires.
Now, why is sex to most of us a problem, full of confusion and conflict? Why
has it become a dominant factor in our lives? One of the main reasons is that we
are not creative; and we are not creative because our whole social and moral
culture, as well as our educational methods, are based on development of the
intellect. The solution to this problem of sex lies in understanding that creation
does not occur through the functioning of the intellect. On the contrary, there is
creation only when the intellect is still.
The intellect, the mind as such, can only repeat, recollect, it is constantly
spinning new words and rearranging old ones; and as most of us feel and
experience only through the brain, we live exclusively on words and mechanical
repetitions. This is obviously not creation; and since we are uncreative, the only
means of creativeness left to us is sex. Sex is of the mind, and that which is of
the mind must fulfil itself or there is frustration.
Our thoughts, our lives are bright, arid, hollow, empty; emotionally we are
starved, religiously and intellectually we are repetitive, dull; socially, politically and
economically we are regimented, controlled. We are not happy people, we are
not vital, joyous; at home, in business, at church, at school, we never experience
a creative state of being, there is no deep release in our daily thought and action.
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Caught and held from all sides, naturally sex becomes our only outlet, an
experience to be sought again and again because it momentarily offers that state
of happiness which comes when there is absence of self. It is not sex that
constitutes a problem, but the desire to recapture the state of happiness, to gain
and maintain pleasure, whether sexual or any other.
What we are really searching for is this intense passion of self-forgetfulness,
this identification with something in which we can lose ourselves completely.
Because the self is small, petty and a source of pain, consciously or
unconsciously we want to lose ourselves in individual or collective excitement, in
lofty thoughts, or in some gross form of sensation.
When we seek to escape from the self, the means of escape are very
important, and then they also become painful problems to us. Unless we
investigate and understand the hindrances that prevent creative living, which is
freedom from self, we shall not understand the problem of sex.
One of the hindrances to creative living is fear, and respectability is a
manifestation of that fear. The respectable, the morally bound, are not aware of
the full and deep significance of life. They are enclosed between the walls of their
own righteousness and cannot see beyond them. Their stained-glass morality,
based on ideals and religious beliefs, has nothing to do with reality; and when
they take shelter behind it, they are living in the world of their own illusions. In
spite of their self-imposed and gratifying morality, the respectable also are in
confusion, misery and conflict.
Fear, which is the result of our desire to be secure, makes us conform, imitate
and submit to domination, and therefore it prevents creative living. To live
creatively is to live in freedom, which is to be without fear; and there can be a
state of creativeness only when the mind is not caught up in desire and the
gratification of desire. It is only by watching our own hearts and minds with
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delicate attention that we can unravel the hidden ways of our desire. The more
thoughtful and affectionate we are, the less desire dominates the mind. It is only
when there is no love that sensation becomes a consuming problem.
To understand this problem of sensation, we shall have to approach it, not
from any one direction, but from every side, the educational, the religious, the
social and the moral. Sensations have become almost exclusively important to us
because we lay such overwhelming emphasis on sensate values.
Through books, through advertisements, through the cinema, and in many
other ways, various aspects of sensation are constantly being stressed. The
political and religious pageants, the theatre and other forms of amusement, all
encourage us to seek stimulation at different levels of our being; and we delight in
this encouragement. Sensuality is being developed in every possible way, and at
the same time, the ideal of chastity is upheld. A contradiction is thus built up
within us; and strangely enough, this very contradiction is stimulating.
It is only when we understand the pursuit of sensation, which is one of the
major activities of the mind, that pleasure, excitement and violence cease to be a
dominant feature in our lives. It is because we do not love, that sex, the pursuit of
sensation, has become a consuming problem. When there is love, there is
chastity; but he who tries to be chaste, is not. Virtue comes with freedom, it
comes when there is an understanding of what is.
When we are young, we have strong sexual urges, and most of us try to deal
with these desires by controlling and disciplining them, because we think that
without some kind of restraint we shall become consumingly lustful. Organized
religions are much concerned about our sexual morality; but they allow us to
perpetrate violence and murder in the name of patriotism, to indulge in envy and
crafty ruthlessness, and to pursue power and success. Why should they be so
concerned with this particular type of morality, and not attack exploitation, greed
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and war? Is it not because organized religions, being part of the environment
which we have created, depend for their very existence on our fears and hopes,
on our envy and separatism? So, in the religious field as in every other, the mind
is held in the projections of its own desires.
As long as there is no deep understanding of the whole process of desire, the
institution of marriage as it now exists, whether in the East or in the West, cannot
provide the answer to the sexual problem. Love is not induced by the signing of a
contract, nor is it based on an exchange of gratification, nor on mutual security
and comfort. All these things are of the mind, and that is why love occupies so
small a place in our lives. Love is not of the mind, it is wholly independent of
thought with its cunning calculations, its self-protective demands and reactions.
When there is love, sex is never a problem - it is the lack of love that creates the
problem.
The hindrances and escapes of the mind constitute the problem, and not sex
or any other specific issue; and that is why it is important to understand the
mind's process, its attractions and repulsions, its responses to beauty, to
ugliness. We should observe ourselves, become aware of how we regard people,
how we look at men and women. We should see that the family becomes a
centre of separatism and of antisocial activities when it is used as a means of
self-perpetuation, for the sake of one's self-importance. Family and property,
when centred on the self with its ever-narrowing desires and pursuits, become
the instruments of power and domination, a source of conflict between the
individual and society.
The difficulty in all these human questions is that we ourselves, the parents
and teachers, have become so utterly weary and hopeless, altogether confused
and without peace; life weighs heavily upon us, and we want to be comforted, we
want to be loved. Being poor and insufficient within ourselves, how can we hope
to give the right kind of education to the child?
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That is why the major problem is not the pupil, but the educator; our own
hearts and minds must be cleansed if we are to be capable of educating others. If
the educator himself is confused, crooked, lost in a maze of his own desires, how
can he impart wisdom or help to make straight the way of another? But we are
not machines to be understood and repaired by experts; we are the result of a
long series of influences and accidents, and each one has to unravel and
understand for himself the confusion of his own nature.
Vegetarian versus non-vegetarian
Table of Contents
Note to readers: Please study Sattva, Raja and Tama, the three subtle components of the universe to fully understand this article.
1. An introduction to a spiritual perspective on vegetarian versus non-vegetarian diet
There is a wide debate as to whether it is better to be a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian. People in either camp have pretty much dug their heels in swearing by the benefits of being a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian respectively. There is, however, a worldwide trend of more and more people crossing over and becoming vegetarians. In this article we explore the issue from a spiritual perspective.
2. Spiritual purity of food
In our article on Sattva, Raja and Tama, the three subtle components of the universe, we explained how everything in the universe at a subtle level is made up of these three subtle components.
Food is no exception and at a subtle level, it too is made up of the Sattva, Raja and Tama subtle components. The proportions of these subtle components vary depending on the type of food. Sattva stands for purity and knowledge while tama denotes ignorance and inertia. Anything that has a higher Sattva component assists our spiritual journey and anything that is Tama predominant has a tendency to diminish or obstruct our spiritual practice.
Through spiritual research we obtained the subtle component readings for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.
Please note: These readings are an average across each food category. Fish is included in non-vegetarian food and has marginally less Tamacomponent than white and red meat. The food within a category differs marginally from each other. For example mutton and chicken in the non-vegetarian category differ marginally from each other in terms of their Sattva, Raja and Tama components.
The reason for the increased Tama in meat after the animal dies is because of the extent of suffering when it is being killed. Also the thoughts of anger and revenge in the animal are far more pronounced as compared to a plant which has a rudimentary mind and intellect. This is the main reason for the increased Tama component.
As you can see from the above table a vegetarian diet would have a higher proportion of the subtle Sattva component. As a result of the Tamapredominance in meat, the act of eating non-vegetarian food is a taamasik activity.
2.1 Subtle picture of meat
The picture below shows what a seemingly healthy piece of meat looks like when seen through sixth sense vision. The picture has been drawn by
Mrs.Yoya Vallee (Paris, France).
2.2 Subtle picture of a banana
The picture below shows what a saattvik fruit like a banana looks like when seen through sixth sense vision. The picture has been drawn by
Mrs. Yoya Vallee (Paris, France).
Due to the higher sattvikta in fruit, it is offered to God in ritualistic worship.
2.3 Effect on meat from the treatment of animals in farm factories
2.3.1 Treatment of animals prior to slaughter
In factory farms around the world, animals are very often treated as commodities just to be exploited for profit. In animal agriculture, this attitude has led to institutionalised animal cruelty, massive environmental destruction and resource depletion, and animal and human health risks. The following is a video from Farm Sanctuary which shows abuse of animals.
From a spiritual perspective it is a sin to ill-treat and slaughter animals. Refer to section 3.3.
2.3.2 Does the method of slaughter have any spiritual impact on the meat?
Some customs and religions in the world require that an animal be slaughtered in a particular way else it is not permitted to be eaten by that community. In slaughter houses it is common practice to stun animals with an electric shock or by use of a captive bolt pistol. This renders the animal unconscious prior to the body being hauled down a processing line where the carotid artery and jugular vein are severed with a knife. This action causes the blood to drain out and the animal dies through exsanguination.In some communities however one of the requirements while slaughtering animals is that the arterial vein be cut without stunning the animal so that the animal bleeds to death. Only then is the meat permitted to be eaten. This bleeding to death can last for upto two minutes. Animal rights groups protest against this method as they say it is cruel and the animal feels a lot of pain. Spokespeople for these communities argue otherwise saying that there is no difference in the level of pain. They maintain that cutting the main arterial vein results in a sudden and quick hemorrhage. Due to a quick loss of blood pressure the brain is instantaneously starved of blood and there is no time to start feeling any pain. (Ref: BBC.com 2003)
When we did spiritual research into this issue we found that:
- When an animal dies it feels as much pain as humans do when killed. There may however be a difference in the comprehension of that pain depending on the evolvement of the mind and intellect of the animal. An animal’s life is mostly limited to food and sex, however a human being has many more aspects in life to which they have attachment, and hence human pain is much more.
- When slaughtered in the way that is required for the above-mentioned communities, the suffering of the animal has a significant increase. On a scale of 1 to 100, if 100 units is the pain experienced by an animal when it is killed slowly by cutting off parts of its' body, then,
- 30 units is the pain experienced by the animal when slaughtered by the normal method in slaughter houses.
- 50 units of pain is felt by animals slaughtered in accordance with the customs of the above-mentioned communities.
- As a result of the increase in pain, the subtle Tama component goes up in the meat. This is also partly caused by the animal having increased thoughts of anger towards the people killing it in a manner that is required by these communities.
The paradox is that while these communities slaughter animals in this method so that it is permissible as per their faiths, the spiritual impurity of the meat infact goes up and they ingest higher Tama predominant meat. The following subtle readings obtained through spiritual research indicate the same.
From the above readings we can see the increase in the tama component with a concomitant decrease in the Sattva component.
2.4 Don’t plants also experience pain when killed?
Yes, plants too experience pain when killed or when parts of it are severed. The comprehension of pain however is less than for animals. This is because the mind and intellect of a plant is rudimentary as compared to that of an animal. However, if a fruit or vegetable is plucked when it is fully ripe or has fallen from a tree, there is relatively no pain to the plant.
2.5 Method of cooking meat
When grilling meat there are 3 generic ways of cooking it, i.e. rare, medium or well done. Rare is close to raw meat. It has a reddish centre and is cooked on the outside. On the other end is meat that is ‘well done’ that is charred on the outside, thoroughly brown and chewy on the inside.
People who like their steaks rare are more likely to be taken advantage of or possessed by ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.). This is because meat that is raw is the meat of preference by the demon type of negative energies. Steaks that are well done have less of theTama subtle component in it as compared to steaks that are cooked ‘rare’ to ‘medium’.
2.6 How long does the effect of the increased tama component last?
When Tama predominant food is ingested on a regular basis the body is burdened with an excess of the Tama component. A rise in Tamacomponent in a person has many negative side effects. This Tama component can only disintegrate if one is doing spiritual practice that is aligned to the six basic principles of spiritual practice. However, since most people do not do spiritual practice, this Tama component accumulates in a person’s body, mind and intellect.
If a person of an average spiritual level were to give up meat eating and become a vegetarian, it would take him approximately 30 years to overcome the effects of the higher subtle Tama component due to ingesting a Tama predominant non-vegetarian diet.
Even if a person is doing spiritual practice that is aligned with the six basic principles of spiritual practice, it would on average take him 5 years to overcome the ill-effects created by ingesting a Tama-predominant diet. This is if he gave up a non-vegetarian diet immediately and did spiritual practice (as per the six basic principles) of 4-5 hours a day. If he were to gradually give up a non-vegetarian diet it would take him 10 years to overcome the ill-effects of ingesting the higher Tama-predominant meat diet.
2.7 Are canine teeth in humans not meant for consumption of meat?
The function of canine teeth for human beings is to tear food. Proponents of a non-vegetarian diet maintain that God has given us canine teeth for a meat-based diet. This is no argument. It is like saying just that because we have nails we should scratch others as animals do. Just because humans have canines it doesn’t mean that they should eat meat.
From a spiritual perspective the purpose of a human birth is to attain God Realisation. The key difference between human beings and animals is that only human beings have developed minds and intellects that can be channeled towards saattvik activities to propel themselves towards God-realisation. Accordingly, it is spiritually recommended that people do not copy what carnivorous animals do and eat.
2.8 A spiritual perspective on eating garlic and onions
Some communities refrain from having onions and garlic. What is the spiritual perspective on this? Onions and garlic have a higher proportion of the subtle Rajacomponent. It is for this reason, as per the science of Ayurveda, that a diet with garlic and onions is recommended to improve a person’s appetite. The increased Rajacomponent from eating onion and garlic in moderation is very quickly overcome by the increase in Sattva component of a person doing medium (4-5 hours) to intense spiritual practice (10-12 hours).2.9 A spiritual perspective on milk, curd and cheese
- Cow’s milk, when consumed, helps to increase a person's Sattva component. Out of all types of milk, the milk from a cow is the mostsaattvik.
- Curd and butter milk are less saattvik than milk
- When other items are prepared from milk (especially through the process of spoiling milk such as in the making of cottage cheese) it starts reducing the Sattva component and increasing the subtle Tama component.
3. Effects of diet on man
3.1 At a physical level
By eating a non-vegetarian diet, since there is an increase in Tama component, it is more likely to cause various diseases.
3.2 At a psychological level
The increase in the Tama component from a non-vegetarian diet leads to an increase in thoughts relating to various desires and other taamasikthoughts such as sexual thoughts, greed, anger, etc.
3.3 At a spiritual level
- The higher proportion of Sattva component in a vegetarian diet is conducive for spiritual practice.Example: Matthew is at the 30% spiritual level. He begins to do 4-5 hours of spiritual practice on a daily basis as per the 6 basic principles. All factors being equal, if he were to choose to be vegetarian, he would reach the spiritual level of 40% 20 years faster than if he consumed a non-vegetarian diet.For God Realisation, we need to transcend the 3 subtle components. Therefore through spiritual practice we have to go beyond our likes and dislikes, as they are made up of the 3 subtle components. This happens for all practical purposes beyond the 90% spiritual level. After this level what one ingests makes no difference to the proportion of the 3 subtle components in us.
- By having a higher Tama predominant non-vegetarian diet, a person is more prone to attacks by ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.). All things being equal, a person who eats meat is 20% more likely to be possessed by ghosts than a vegetarian. The reason is that meat is a food group that is liked by demonic forces. Seekers who, as their spiritual practice, serve to spread Spirituality in society, are even more prone to being affected when ingesting non-vegetarian food. This is because higher-level ghosts take advantage of the increase in the Tama subtle component to trouble them.
- Do we incur a sin by eating non-vegetarian food?The answer is yes, we incur a sin when we kill anything be it animals or plants. Also, we inadvertently become party to the sin of any ill-treatment of animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses by eating their meat. People who eat the meat become party to that sin, albeit not as much as the person doing the ill-treating and the killing. People who work in factory farms incur 70% of the sin while the people who eat the meat incur 30% of the sin. In many cases people who work in slaughterhouses are possessed by ghosts and this is one of the reasons for their callous attitude towards animals. The workers get possessed by ghosts because their jobs are in alignment with the preferences of ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.).The sin in killing plants is much less than in killing animals, as the plants' comprehension of pain is far less due to their rudimentary mind and intellect.However, if we are doing medium to intense spiritual practice (as per the six basic principles of spiritual practice) we nullify this sin by our daily spiritual practice. Since almost all people do not do spiritual practice in the true sense of the word, these sins do not get nullified. The sin incurred in killing plants and animals is however much less than killing human beings. The reason is that humans have the potential to realise God, and by killing them we take away that opportunity. Among all animals the cow is the most sattvik and the sin incurred when killing animals is maximum when killing a cow.
- When a person grows to the spiritual level of 60%, whether his diet is non-vegetarian or vegetarian makes much less of a difference. This is because, from a spiritual growth perspective, the value of his ability to chant with spiritual emotion far outweighs what his diet is. As per spiritual science, when we compare the two factors on a relative scale, for a person at the 60% spiritual level:
- The subtle Sattva component of a person eating vegetarian food increases by 0.0001 %.
- However, if one chants with spiritual emotion then the subtle Sattva component increases by 5%.
However what happens is that as a person’s spiritual level grows they become more Sattva predominant. Concurrently they are more sensitive and averse to the tama component in non-vegetarian food. As a result, people at higher spiritual levels are generally vegetarian as they feel distress when eating non-vegetarian food.
4. Some do’s and don’ts with regard to non-vegetarian food
- If one is unable to give up meat it is recommended that at least during the following times one must abstain from it. The various times are sunrise, sunset, during an eclipse, at night, two days before and after and during full moon and new moon days. At all these times ghosts are more active and can take advantage of the heightened Raja-Tama in the environment. (We have included sunrise even though it is considered a saattvik time as there is still some influence of the darkness which is Tama predominant.)
- If one is serious about one’s spiritual practice, it is recommended that one only have a vegetarian diet.
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