All Vedic knowledge related blog posts that were on this blog have been moved to the new Vedic Knowledge Blog on drmichaelmamas.com.
These blog posts have been placed into the following categories:
The power of attention can not be denied. All over the planet people celebrate today as the first day of the new year. I enjoy the positive feelings all the attention to this day enlivens. It is beautiful, bringing a wave of positivity, renewal, and fresh beginning to everyone. I find it to be so marvelous that the attention of all the people can have such a lovely influence upon particular days of the year. Understanding the power of attention speaks to how we can influence our world through the power of attention. The power of group consciousness is not to be underestimated!
At the same time, it is interesting to note that designating January 1 as New Years Day is rather arbitrary; or at least has little to do with the actual celestial dynamics of our planet. For a date to be a natural holiday, it would have to have something to do with nature. Right? It is interesting to ponder what effect it would have if we in fact did celebrate New Years on the date prescribed by nature. According to Vedic tradition that day is call Ugadi.
The new Vedic lunar calendar with the change of the moon’s orbit is marked by Ugadi. It is a festival which occurs on the first day (prathipad) of the bright half (Shukla) of the Vedic month of Chaitra, which generally falls between mid-March and mid-April. Lunar calendars have a sixty year cycle and start every New Year on Yugadi (era).
Ugadi is also the day on which Lord Krishna gave up his mortal body in a sacred place of pilgrimage called Dwaraka.
Having said that, we can all be confident that January 1 will remain the official New Years Day well into the future. With the power of attention being what it is, I for one certainly enjoy riding the wave it brings. This is a wonderful time of year!
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!
The Vedic Knowledge website is filling out nicely, and two recent publications are doing quite well at attracting public attention. Below are some recent articles, etc. in case you missed them:
The Vedic Science and Vedic Arts sections on drmichaelmamas.com have been expanded. The new pages are:
Vedic Science:
Vedic Arts:
ElephantJournal.com: “Our 2nd Nervous System: 3 Points of Caution Regarding Yoga”
Note: This article is getting a great response, with over 23,000 views to date! Elephant Journal is featuring it in their “Popular Now” section on the home page.
Entrepreneur.com: “5 Steps to Master the Art of Negotiation”
Note: This article also had great success! We don’t have a count on the number of views it has gotten, but it has over 3,800 Shares on social media.
LinkedIn: “7 Ways to Inspire Your Workforce”
Medium.com:
I’m happy to report that Elephant Journal just published my article, "Our 2nd Nervous System: 3 Points of Caution Regarding Yoga".
Elephant Journal is an online magazine that started out in Whole Foods and such. They emphasize a mindful life with subjects such as yoga, organics, sustainability, conscious consumerism, enlightened education, the contemplative arts, etc.
My article is currently featured on the home page of the Elephant Journal website, so a lot of people are reading it. Your comments will greatly help engagement. Thank you!
It is all so simple, yet so illusive.
Everything revolves around the Center.
Yet the Center is at every point.
All gravitate toward it.
Everyone longs for it.
Everyone searches for it.
Each in their own way.
Some call it God.
Some call it love.
Some call it truth.
It dwells deep within everyone, yet is obscured from view.
Scholars dedicate themselves to it, but do not understand it.
Philosophers ponder it, but cannot fathom it.
The religious pine for it, but can not grasp it.
Scientists pursue it, but cannot prove it.
We see it in our children’s eyes, but cannot fathom it.
And once it is known:
It can not be explained.
It can not be conveyed.
It can not be described.
Yet once it is known:
The path to it can be offered to others.
The meaning of the descriptions are understood.
The fulfillment of the longing is attained.
The proof of it is that it is known.
It is He, not an ‘it’.
It is She, not an ‘it’.
Yet it is beyond gender.
It’s unfathomable nature stands as:
the eternal witness
the eternal backdrop
the all knowing, yet beyond notions or facts
free from any judgement, opinion or bias
the omnipresent.
the One with many names.
the One with no name.
Just don’t get caught up in petty little things.
Take the high road.
It is natural to feel negative things from time to time, but just don’t give in to them.
Do not let them take you over.
Act from a wiser place.
Then people will respect you.
Then you will inspire them to behave well toward you.
Then you will gain much.
You will be supported not opposed.
That makes life easy.
Acting poorly evokes opposition.
Then life becomes a battle.
Then life is hard.
Take the high road.
At first glance, it may seem hard to not act from your petty impulses.
But it is in fact the easy road.
Nature supports when you live in harmony with the high road.
That is the simple formula to greatness.
It is easy to be great.
Click to view slideshow.
When it comes right down to it, thoughts and even emotions matter little. How you feel deep inside about things is what really matters. Unfortunately, we can easily tie ourselves up in knots with our thoughts and agitated emotions. Deeper inside things are more clear, fine, and simple. Thoughts and emotions are like choppy waves on the surface of the ocean. The finer feelings are in the depth, unaffected by the waves.
Getting caught up in whether or not there was a virgin birth or contradictory beliefs of different denominations can be like choppy waves on the ocean surface. Feeling the deeper meaning of Christmas is what matters. I believe we can all agree that what Christ represents is wonderful, beautiful, exquisite, and the essence of Christmas. And that is something we can all celebrate. At least during this time of year, let’s all keep our attention on that. The nature of our feelings feed our soul. We just posted a SlideShare slideshow called “Christmas is a Feeling” that I think everyone will enjoy. My wife, Tanja, did the pictures and they are really wonderful.
Enjoy and have a very merry Christmas!
The laws of karma create a predetermined universe.
The laws of karma are God’s will.
The depth of your Being is free from, transcends, the laws of karma.
As you evolve you attain more and more free will.
As you evolve, your free will becomes one with God’s will, i.e. natural law, dharma.
Free will and predetermination are the same thing.
You’ve seen rubber bands that get bunched up and twisted into tight little balls. You can stretch it out flat but when you let it go, it springs right back into its bunched up and twisted little ball. A person’s awareness is like a rubber band. It is programmed to view everything in a particular manner. It is a real stretch to see things another way. Even when you do stretch your awareness to view things in a new way, your awareness springs right back to how it was. And how much better it feels to get things back to ‘normal’!
When presented with Knowledge of how everything really works, it can be a stretch. At the same time, it touches that deeper place within you where you are eternally one with Truth. It makes sense. Yet like the rubber band, the tensions remain in the awareness and it soon springs right back to the familiar old comfortable way of seeing things.
By repeatedly revisiting Knowledge, the tensions in your awareness are eventually released. The release of stresses and strains in your awareness is what evolution is all about. Unfortunately, people often trade one set of tensions (one way of bunching up the rubber band) for another. They just replace one world view with another.
Truth dwells within you as you. To discover Truth, you only need to release the tensions in the rubber band of your awareness. It is really so simple.
Yet the old familiar way of bunching up the twisted, tight, little ball of awareness that is the sum total of all your life experiences is very stubborn. It is the notion of truth you cling to, rely upon, and identify with. The path of freedom from those habitual patterns is true spiritual growth. It is indeed illusive.
I am really excited to offer pages from Look Deeper Live Better on Google+ free of charge. In the future, I would like to also add quotes from The Dharma Sutras. When I first heard someone described those books as poetry, I was taken aback, having never considered myself a poet. Enjoy!
Learn more about the book, Look Deeper Live Better.
The Truth about Religion and Flatlining
