My Journey into Sanatana Dharma

I started writing this letter to my father, but thought this blog is a better place, in the hope that some young kid somewhere on earth will heed to my regret and research further to avoid the same for her/his life. These are thoughts at my core today at the age of 31. I wish I could turn back time. When i see westerners who have travelled to India live there for decades and learnt yoga, meditation, Pranayama and many other ancient sciences from our guru's living in India and then these ppl come back and teach it to the world here in the west, I am so sad and depressed and lost that living in India I never knew much about these possibilities, the greatness, the finality and the importance to life it self that can be realized by mastering the above. And now i am having to start here all alone sitting in a room, reading a book, watching some video introduced to me by a westerner as part of some workout routine as the most important part of the routine, and here i am, too o...

Some time back I had blogged about this neurosurgeon that wrote about his near death experience. Now remember he is a Christian with a frame of context of Christianity through out his life. What this picture below shows is mind blowing. When you learn enough of esoteric "hinduism" in the advaita school of thought (and i am sure many others), the "Pranavam" or the syllable "OM" is described as GOD. The bottom line of the description of God in human vernacular stops at OM in the Vedas. Now read on. Here are a few other excerpts: These are actual excerpts of the book "Proof of Heaven" written by Eben Alexander. And as you read these excerpts, without quoting the Vedas, I can tell you, this is the literal translation of many quotes from the Vedas themselves, from the Purusha Sukta especially that attempts to describe the qualities of "God". The claim of the Vedic apologists is also that the Vedas were so...

Here are a few studies I came across regarding intermittent fasting: http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/06/28/intermittent-fasting-health-benefits.aspx Fasting for two days could regenerate the immune system, according to research http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fasting-for-two-days-could-regenerate-the-immune-system-according-to-research-9506168.html John Hopkins magazine article on Intermittent fasting. Considering some amazing claims by modern science that based on still ongoing research let us read through my notes of what ekadasi (11th day from full moon or no moon day) vrata upvasam entails from the speech of my guru. I stress on ongoing research, because eventually the other items listed below will be found as well. I am confident. How long from now? Who knows? It took western science 500 yrs to get here. This vrata per the sastra (orthodox rules) are expected to be followed by everyone without miss by EVERYONE who has any inclination ...

For time immemorial the rishi's of India have spoken about how "tendencies/likes/dislikes" or "vasanas" are not recorded in the brain but in the "manassu", a word for which I doubt there is an exact english translation. And these tendencies go with the "sukshma sharira" or the subtle body from birth to birth to birth. Here is a small recent finding that perhaps is scratching the surface of that very fact. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237998/Heart-transplant-patient-gets-craving-food-eaten-organ-donor.html And of course there is no clear understanding in modern science yet about where memories are exactly stored... surely we'll get there someday. But may be the heart is one of the places you should look? I dont know, but the point is, we still are discovering so much in modern science, a long way to go before we write off the wisdom / knowledge of the ancient rishis of India.

Take a clue you western educated foolish Indians from the latest study. http://news.discovery.com/human/videos/worried-about-germs-adopt-the-fist-bump-greeting-video-140729.htm Hand shaking is GROSSS.... literally. And if you were to believe evolutionary biologists as to how this ritual evolved from apes to humans, you'd be dumb founded. Seriously, read the above excerpt from "the shadows of the forgotten ancestors" by Dr. Carl Sagan. Do you really want to continue that tradition, albiet in a modified form because we wear pants? Or do you think the Namasthe, taught to us by the ancient Indian Rishi's while being extremely hygienic also has a deeper philosophical and spiritual meaning attached to it. A namasthe to me has a reverence attached to it that no nasty handshake in the world can substitute. Please do not be offended if I don't shake your hand the next time. Our GREAT RISHIS, how many other proofs do you need to have faith in their wisdo...

I have no words to describe the genius of this man and the philosophy of Vedanta. This statement is not coming out of vain pride, but comes out of deep thought. Using your brain. Not out of "faith", but out of intelligent thought and analysis. You have to listen to find out further. Swami Dayananda Saraswati 1976 Speech.

Here is an interesting story: http://andreaskluth.org/2010/03/12/alexander-meets-a-yogi-whos-the-hero/ Alexander the Great  was busy conquering the known world once, when he saw, on the banks of the Indus river in today’s Pakistan, a naked guy sitting in the  Lotus position  and contemplating the dirt. “Gymnosophists” ( gumnos  = naked,  sophistes  = philosopher) the Greeks called these men. We would call them  yogis  — as in:  Patanjali , say. “What are you doing?”, asked Alexander. “Experiencing nothingness,” answered the yogi. “What are  you  doing?” “Conquering the world,” said Alexander. Then both men laughed, each thinking that the other must be a fool. “Why is he conquering the world?”, thought the yogi. “It’s pointless.” “Why is he sitting around doing nothing?”, thought Alexander. “What a waste of a life.” ____________________________________________________________________________ The quest...