Why bad things happen to good people. . . .

You ever why wonder why bad things happen to you? The old saying goes that when it rains it pours. I dont know about anyone else but in my world when it rains it Monsoons. A LOT. Like many of you I have sat around on multiple nights thinking to myself why these bad things happen to us. Why is it that we can put so much good out into the world and bad things happen to us.  Well us to understand this I want to remind you of the Ramayan.

Its really a simple story for those of you that don't know it - God is reincarnated as a throne prince, gets married to the fairest maiden in the land, has to go into exile for 14 years because of a jealous stepmother who wanted the throne for her biological son, his wife gets kidnapped by by the most evil king in the land who can only be killed by being hit on a very specific part of his body, he has to set out into the world with just his little brother, wodden shoes and a bow/arrow to fight an entire army and Evil kingdom.

Now I feel obligated to remind you. . . THIS WAS GOD!

As you sit through and think about all of the good things that you have done and compare them to the bad things that seem to be happening, here are few things I want you to remember.

Lord Ram, our hero of the Ramayan, was God himself but he had to follow the laws of the land. Our world is filled with good and bad, like night and day, like fire and water, its the balance of a nature an essential truth that you need to understand. Sure being God, he may have cheated knowing he was God and knew what was coming next. But he still had to endure the same pains, the same suffering and the same blows that you and I have to deal with on a daily basis. But for those of that know the Ramayan you also know how the story ended.

Evil was vanquished, the evil kingdom was utterly defeated, Queen Sita was saved and the Lord Ram took his rightful place as king. The Ramayan teaches a lot things but one of its greatest teachings doesn't get focused on a lot. The way all of this was possible by a guy with Bow and Arrow, a little brother and wodden shoes was because of the people he met along the way. People that helped him, supported him and when the time came they laid there lives down for him. Yes many of them knew he was god and thats why they did it. And who could forget this fellow:

Hanuman-ji knew who Lord Ram was but he also represented something very interesting. He had God in his heart like all of us do. My point for all of this is simple. Sometimes we meet people that need our help, whether its some money, food, clothing, words of advice or a simple and hug reminding that everything will be okay. So the next you think about not helping someone just remember one thing - GOD RESIDES IN ALL OF US. This long and difficult journey of life can only be completed through love and peace. We are all connected, all of us, by the bond of god within.

Bad things happen to good people as a reminder, to always be there for another, if Lord Ram needed it you do too. The Ramayan would not be a story for the ages if people didn't rise to help one another. The world today needs people to rise once more, the God you are waiting for is inside of you and needs you. So tomorrow morning give someone a smile or a words of encouragement - remind them god is here, there everywhere!

JAI SHRI RAM!


Love all and let the light within shine bright. . .

2012 - And Lord Krishna's Connection

What a better way to start this off than talk about a topic that is probably on everyone's mind. 2012. December 21st, 2012 to be exact. A day that a hollywood movie portrayed as the end of mankind, to a large extent. Not going to lie it takes stupid things like movies to freak me out. Like most people when we freak out we look for answers. For my fellow Generation Y'ers we usually start with Google. But sometimes there is too much there to really get what you want. But the reality is when we think of mortality, death and catastrophe, like most people in my generation we turn to the religion that we know. For me its Hinduism - and when thinking of 2012 I really wanted to know what the oldest religion in the world had to say about it. The more I searched the more positive things looked like. Seems like the oldest religion in the world has a much more positive look on 2012 than most of the western world.

One thing that I did realize while searching was that my generation for most part is not well intuned with Sanskrit or even reading Hindi. We are a generation that knows who we are and where we come from, but in times when we need answers we are tied down to whatever search links lead us to. For me that's a problem. Hinduism is based on the concept of love, peace, and prosperity for all. There is a lot we can learn from it and as the saying goes knowledge is power. So from here on out I will sit and write. Anything I can find, any thing that I can comment on, anyway that myself and any of the contributers of this blog can spread the word, we will. In the coming weeks I plan on creating content for this blog, it will be a work in progress but we are going to give it a shot. I would love for this to be a resource for anyone in my generation that needs more answers.

So to start this blog as all things start in hinduism with three words Om Namah Shivaya. I say it, you probably say it but do we really know what it means? We'll here you go:

An explanation that sounded good to me from: http://healthywealthyandreallysmart.blogspot.com

The six syllables of the full chant refer to the first six chakras that run from the root of the spine to the ajna chakra (3rd eye.)

While there is no direct translation it can mean "I bow to God" and repetition should be done with full awareness of its meaning, rather than simply repeating it for repetition's sake.
Om refers to the universal Energy, or sound of God
Nama, as two syllables, na ma, can mean "I bow before you."

The trinity of syllables of Shi va ya refers to Shiva, or God and asks that all God's energies be directed to you to bless you and lead you to the highest state of peace and meditation, which we refer to as Bliss.

Shiva is also the image of God which is said to bring to a close the trinity cycle of Creation, Destruction, and Rebirth.
Some people think of the mantra and God as the destroyer of our illusion (maya) and ignorance that stands in the way of perfect union and enlightenment.

Oh by the way - there is a significat connection between 2012, the Mayan calendar, Hinduism and Lord Krishna.