What religion has taught me in life.

I have told you about my trip to India, today I want to share what I learned on that trip. Earlier today I was talking to an old friend about why I had gone to India for two months. My response to her was "because India was the capital of my religion Hinduism." We had a pleasant conversation about spirituality, life and moving forward, the way we always had over the years. In the end when I thanked her for not forgetting about me, she said something very comforting to me "the important thing was not let a relationship ever die." I'm a thinker. This got me thinking. Why was India even better than just being Hinduism's biggest capital? India taught me something not just about Hinduism, but something much more important. It reminded me why religion was important to me in the first place.

This journey taught me lots of things. It made me believe in good again. Not through any acts of my own. Through the acts and generosity of others. Say what you will about India, but the truth is you will meet atleast one person on that trip that you would trust everything with. Because whatever you did, whatever you saw, there was always at least one place you saw positivity, in all the great and not so great situations - The Human Spirit was alive and well. People move forward in India regardless of their situation. They keep their religion, their families/friends, their spirit. While there regardless of where I went, I got to experiences festivals like Durga Puja in Bengal, or spend Eid in Jammu Kashmir or visit the some pretty holy places, within India such as Murudeshwara, The Golden Temple, The Basilica Of BomJesus, Spituk Gompa, Anjana Parvath, or Maitreya Statue built in 1 B.C. It wasn't that my trip was designed to visit those places. I was just in India backing packing and going to places that I or the group wanted. And on my journey I would just came about these places as waypoints of religion. Main reason is that the people of India are very, very religious. It actually  reminds me of my childhood, where religion was a part of everyday life . In all situations I saw I people moving forward with family and friends and making the most of what they had. I was a tourist and there was no getting around that. But I talked to the locals and enjoyed some very interesting things along the way, some a little flat our weird. But by interacting with all of those people I learned why they were so religious. All these people were from many different religions. But the fact of the matter is they all prayed to God and the words of God. The word of God - regardless of how it gets to you always has something profounding and uplifting to say to you. That's the power in the words of God.

What was the reason that I followed religion? The answer is simple: when life got tough, something that would inspire me to just move forward one step more were God's words. Didn't matter who said them or how they got there the important thing was they were words of God, and that was the positivity I needed. When all faith was lost, the positivity that I needed came from religion. Here's the funny thing, I grew in the United States of America, and I didn't just get my words from God through Hinduism alone, I got them from my friends, neighbors and business collegues for different faiths. What religion has taught me in life, what religion has always meant to me in life is positivity.

In my mind we spend so much time bickering about the details of religion, or whether other religious are right/wrong,  that we forget the simple message that each one trys to teach, Be Good and Think Positive. Good things and good people will gravitate towards you on their own. I had another wonderful conversation on Monday night where someone told me that by connecting with people that have positive thoughts you are able to send out more positivity in the world. So the next time you start thinking negatively about something ask yourself one question, "Has [insert name of your personal religion here] always taught me be a good human being, do good and think about things from a positive point of view?

DoGOOD in this world. Smile more often. And just respect every person you meet. Oh India you and I will meet again some day soon. . . .

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

Om Namah Shivaya

Every morning I meditate to and chant "Om Namah Shivaya" 540 times using rudra beads. Up until yesterday I really dont know why I was doing this. It was just this strong emotion inside of me that is driving me to do this. But there is something very interesting that has been happening with me the last few months. You see I always have considered myself a religious guy but not someone who was a fanatic. God has had a very important place in my life, I almost see God as a friend. I argue with him, and at the same time I thank him for giving me the opportunity to wake up every morning and experience life in all of its greatness.

I have spent the last few months bitter because of various reasons and times have been absolutely lost. But the weird thing that has been happening to me is, it seems like God has been trying to find me( I know I should have been the one trying to find God). See the good and bad thing about religion is interpretation. I know there is probably a more profound and richer history/meaning of Om Namah Shivaya. But to me through all of what has happened to me it seems like that all of those moments were leading me to the road that I am on today. Like I said I didn't know why I was focusing so much on Om Namah Shivaya until literally yesterday. See the more I read about Lord Shiva and Parvati Ma, I'm starting to learn that they are the embodiment of everything that surrounds us. I read somewhere last night that Om Namah Shivaya is "I bow to Shiva" and Shiva is our inner self. Shiva is our Conscience and Parvati is our experience in this world. Everything that I am starting to learn about us and the world that surrounds us is that it is driven by us and our thoughts.

Shiva is supposed to be the destroyer of this universe, and I guess in my younger days I didn't know what that meant. But you can only destroy that which you control. Vishnu might be the preserver or life but most enlightened will tell you that you are an essence of Shiva and it is that Conscience that all of us has that keeps this world going. Om Namah Shivaya, to me, is not the prayer offered to Lord Shiva only but also to our inner selves. No wonder every time I get done with my chanting I feel this sense of extraordinary peace and strength. I feel that I am the master of my domain and Shiva is with me, in every step, in every moment guiding me. Parvati Ma is there to make sure my experiences are strong and fulfilling - whether I consider them good or bad but that usually changes with time. In the end, I will never tell you should DO something, other than doing good. When the time is right, like it happened with me, he will come looking for you and will find you. Just live with love and peace you in your heart.

Love all and let the light within shine bright.

The connection between Love and Religion

Regardless of what religion you might follow there is always this one common denominator between all religions. That denominator is love. Every religion tells you that love is a virtue of God himself. That genuine love can give others a sense of God like nothing else can. I believe there is a reason for this, please read on.

If you have been visiting this site to read its contents you know that I'm not a writer by any account. I actually don't even proof these blogs more than once, that should explain the spelling and grammatical mistakes. I'm just a simple guy that spends his life trying to do good in the world. My life wasn't always about doing good 100% of the time. I wasn't doing anything bad, I just wasn't doing as much good as I could or spreading the message of love, it was about taking my talents and using them to fulfill my personal desires and dreams. While I had a great run at it and obtained a lot of material wealth, I also did not find a sense of peace during that run, regardless of how much money I donated to the needy or had in my bank account. Today as I sit here and write this blog I'm starting to realize why. When I personally move forward in life with love in my heart for all and try to spread the message of good, I find peace that material wealth could never fulfill. The reason is simple, when you fill your life with love in your heart you give off an energy that attracts things and people to you. You clearly can't help everyone, but you can have people feel genuine love and warmth all the time. If your default mode is love, then what do you have to worry about? Whatever you put out into this world will eventually come back to you, good or bad. 

Love comes in all shapes,sizes and forms. Love is not maya for anyone that wants to start a debate on that. Maya is love that becomes an obsession that prevents you from fulfilling your Karmic duties. Love so in every interaction you have in life you don't try to hurt someone. Don't pull a fast one over their eyes or think that it is okay to be sneaky with anyone. Do it with honor, valor and class with love in your heart at all times. Focus on what you should be doing and watch how life brings to you what you want it to. 

Be it today rather than trying to become it tomorrow. It has been said that being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.


Love all and let the light within shine bright.

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Meditation

Lets look at this from a scientific point of view first.  We have 5 senses, they are receptors that carry a signal to our brain where that signal is then translated and understood by us. That's why two people can experience the same event - but we can remember them completely differently. Our brain is what helps us understand the reality in front of us.

Now there is a spirtual context that we NEED to remember. According to many eastern religions this is an age, Kalyug in Hinduism, when the soul of mankind will be lost. We are born into this age to find the divinity, the true power of our soul. All of us are special, we all have the capacity to be great because at the end of the day we are all the same. We all have souls and each soul is interlinked to that master soul - call him God, call her Nature, call it whatever you want. The main reason in this age our souls are lost is because of the Maya or distractions that are put in front of us - money, material desires, sexual fantasies and each one of these takes away from fulfilling the Karm(a) that each of us is supposed to fulfill. The Bhagvad Gita - the greatest conversation known to mankind was God talking to one of his disciples about how mankind will survive and thrive in Kalyug. In one of its chapters Lord Krishna talks about how to meditate and the importance of it. To make everyone's life easier I have linked you to a video found on YouTube just in case you dont have access to the Gita.

Each person's expirence is different with meditation but here's what I know: 
1) You get better at it with time - there are lot of thoughts that cross your mind every second, a majority of them are sub-conscience. Try to meditate for 5 minutes in the real beginning. Over the course of practicing and doing this on a consistent basis you will notice that you will start losing track of time.
2) As you meditate thoughts will come into your mind, dont focus on them just let them go crazy without giving it any attention, this is the Maya of Kalyug - this is what makes your soul lost.
3)You will know you are at peace, trust me - during my earlier days of meditation I would freak out because i would realize that I stopped breathing and come out of my meditation earlier than I should have. Dont worry! As you meditate you will slow your heart rate and the feeling of not breathing is your body is relaxed and at peace therefore not needing as much oxygen as it does when its moving. Look at it this way Meditation is the opposite of running, literally.
4) Focus on the tip of your nose. Meditation lets you sense/see with your 3rd eye, know to many of you as your Sixth Sense. Its there trust me. By focusing on the tip of your nose you are aligned to that third eye and eventually once you find your 3rd eye will not need to focus on the tip of your nose.
5) When all of the noise(thoughts) are gone and only one thought remains just listen. You will get the answers you are looking for because honestly from where I stand - that's god talking to me. Telling me how to move forward. I started writing this blog because of that one thought.


I hope you all find this useful and if you do please join us on Facebook as well as tell your friends. My goal is simple with this blog and everything that I do,  I look to DoGOOD and help pass along information to make this world a better place. There is so much good in this world but evil has overshadowed it with its greed and deceit. So if you are with me then stand - and show for once and for all that power of Good will always be stronger than the power of evil.

LOVE. PEACE. HAPPINESS. FOR ALL.

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