New year 2010

This year(2009) taught us a lesson as every year does.

Instead of enjoying the parties at hotels or having some time of enjoyment, its fruitful to take little of the time to think of this lesson. Don't enjoy the holiday of the new year in greeting, instead use the time to set the goals, see our future and the ways of making the dreams come true.

Think of the mistakes you did this year(2009), not to do in the new year.

and finally, A HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone

Know our Gods - Hanuman (part 2)

Mean while, during the exile of lord Ram, the abduction of Sita maa by the demon god Ravana made Ram a wandering monk searching everywhere for Sita maa. His search made him meet Sugreev. When Ram approached the mountain where Sugreev is living, Sugreev sent hanuman to find who he is. Hanuman disguised himself as a brahmin and after brief introduction, was amazed that he was talking to Lord Ram. Lord Ram helped Sugreev in killing his brother Vaali and made Sugreev king. Sugreev sent his army in all directions to search Sita. They finally ended up in the shore of a sea without any trace of Sita. There was an eagle at shore who saw Sita sitting in ashoka vana surrounded by rakshasas hundreds of miles away. There was no boat for them and were thinking how to go there when Jhambavan told Hanuman about his powers. Then, in one leap, Hanuman crossed the ocean and reached Lanka (kingdom of demons ruled by Ravana). He changed his form to the smallest and went near sita and praised lord Ram in form of a song. Hearing it, Sita maa gave her message to Hanuman. Hanuman while going, tought of teaching a lesson to these demons and appeared before them and created a havoc in lanka and was finally caught and presented before ravana. Ravana asked Hanuman's tail to be lit by fire. When his tail is lighted, Hanuman flew past the streets there by burning the whole Lanka and returned to Ram to inform him about the safety of mother Sita. Then began the arrangements for the war with ravan. The whole army reached the shore and the ocean god asked them to write the name of Ram on the rocks and they will float. In that way, a bridge is built within days to lanka. Ram gave final chance to Ravan to give back Sita but was ignored. This started the war against demons. Lakshman, the brother of Ram who came with him in the exile was hit with an arrow and was about to die. An ayurvedic told Ram that only 'sanjeevani', a herb in the Himalayas would save Lakshman from dying. Immediately Hanuman went to himalayas to bring the herb. When he reached there, he got confused among the different herbs present at himalayas. He then brought the whole mountain and placed it at the shore thus saving Lakshman. Ram won the battle and after his exile is over, returned to his kingdom Ayodhya. Ram gave gifts to everyone who helped him in his battle and mother Sita gave Hanuman a diamond necklace. Hanuman broke every diamond with his mouth and threw them away. Everyone was surprised at his behavior asked him the reason. Hanuman said that none of the pieces has Ram's name inscribed on them and thus are wasteless. They asked him about himself and Hanuman tore apart his heart and Ram was there!! Seeing it, Ram blessed Hanuman with immortality.

HANUMAN IN MAHABHARATA
An instance of Hanuman can also be seen in Mahabharata. Bheema and Draupadi were going in forest when Draupadi asks him to get a flower present in particular lake. Near the lake was Hanuman sitting with his tail on the way. Bheema asks him to take off his tail, but Hanuman wont let him go into the lake and asks Bheema to take the tail and put it aside by himself. Bheema tries in vain to lift the tail but couldn't even move it a little and then he reliases that the monkey in none other than his own spiritual brother and asks him to aid them in the battle. Hanuman then makes himself on the flag of the Arjuna's chariot protecting him.
Even today, the flag is a remainder of victory.



This is in brief the story of Hanuman. He is immortal and helps everyone in need. The total story of Hanuman himself is as big as the present Ramayana(translated) we get in the markets. The story tells us even of the color of the flower that fell from a tree Hanuman was catching to throw at the demons. Keep repeating Ram's name and you will forever be in the grace of Hanuman.

Know our Gods - Hanuman (part 1)

There is no person in India whom I think don't know Hanuman. He was a hero to children, inspiration to elders and a friend to everyone.

The story of hanuman begins with a curse on his mother Anjana devi. She is cursed to be born a monkey and will be relieved only after she gives birth to an incarnation of lord Shiva. So, she started chanting the lords name until he assured her that he will be born as his son. The wind god 'Vaayu' was attracted to her and soon a boy was born to Anjana devi and was relieved of her curse. But since the boy was born to a monkey, he got the monkey form.
The wind god ' Vaayu' was very happy seeing his son and arranged a function where he was named ' Maruthi'. He grew just like other boys doing naughty things. His strength is tremendous. One day, while Maruthi was sleeping, his mother went to do some work. Then hunger woke Maruthi and he was searching for his mother when he saw a very ripe fruit on a mango tree. It was actually evening sun shining between the leaves which Maruthi mistook as fruit. He immediatelyy jumped high in the sky to reach the 'sun'. Indra, the lord of heavens got panicked and struck Maruthi with his vajrayudh. The blow broke the jaw of Maruthi which gave him the name 'Hanuman' and he fell to the ground. Vaayu was upset seeing the critical position of his son and he stood still on earth. The living beings are dying due to lack of air. All the Gods then met Vaayu and granted him with boons. Indra gave him protection from all weapons, Brahma gave him the power to die at will, Kuber gave him the mace and other Gods too gave him the power to transform at will. Due to the mischevious things of Hanuman, he was cursed to forget all his powers, however, foreseeing his role in killing demon god Ravana, he was said to get the curse lifted up when someone reminds him of his powers.
Hanuman was student of Sun. The Sun god taught him the scriptures which Hanuman learnt in 60 hours. The Sun god, when asked some thing in return, told hanuman that the concentration with which he learnt his enough. But hanuman didnt accept, so Sun asked him to serve as a minister for his son Sugreev.
cont...

Send your greetings to leaders at Copenhagen

Hi friends
If you want to send your greetings to the leaders who met at Copenhagen to review the climate change and for the safety of our Mother Earth, then get on to this website

www.greetings.cop15.dk

Journey of soul

In this topic, lemme introduce you to the journey of our soul.

It is said that every soul attains the form of 84 lakh forms of life on this earth before the human form is attained which will go on. There are three storage boxes for deeds of every soul, they are:
1) Sachitam 2) Prarartham 3) Agami.

Of these three,
sachitam stores the deeds
prartham is what going to happen
agami is what happened

So, how are the deeds stored ? lets see

Our deeds are stored in the five elements of life - air, water, fire, land, sky.

That is the reason one cant live without the five elements. You release some kind of vibrations for every deed which are stored in these elements. These vibrations will again return to you whatever form you attain.

See, some times the pujari says that you have problem with water and warns not to go near it. Reason is same, the vibrations stored in water

These five elements love God. So, by repeating the name of God, the vibrations will be neutralised.

Also, whats happening now, praratham, has relation with sachitam. the deeds stored in sachitam will start coming back to you in praratham depending on the situation. This can be controlled by the repetition of name of God. For example, say you are travelling on bike, some stupids came rashly and dashed you and both fell, but you are chanting the name of God, then you will get less injuries ( It really happened to my sir who told us of these things).
So, if anyone beats you, dont beat him, he will have one deed in his sachitam than yours which will be neutralised if you beat him.

But, one thing no one can change is agami. Agami is what happened. so, you cant repeat history. If you do some bad, you cant recover it. It returns to you whatever form you are born with. You will keep on attaining the form of human unless all the deeds are neutralised. Might be some unlucky souls may have to see animal forms again from human forms due to the worst of the deeds

My friends, I thus want you all to remember all these things before commiting bad deeds

You can comment if you got any doubts...

More Ultraviolet radiation to hit earth

Rapid changes in climate are said to redistribut the already sinking ozone layer, exposing the earth's southern parts upto 20% more ultraviolet radiation, warns a canadian study. Ultra violet radiation causes genetic changes and trigger various cancers. Writing in nature geosciences, University of Toronto researchers warned that increase in temperatures will change the circulation of the earths upper atmosphere. The researchers claim that the increase in temperature will cause increase in movement of ozone layer from earth's upper atmosphere to lower atmosphere. As a result, there will be less ozone in stratosphere to protect us and all the living beings on the earth.we know, uv causes...... The researchers warned that more ultraviolet radiation will also deeply impact the air quality, and human and ecosystem health on the earth.

South Indian floods - consequence of climate change!

Its already too late, the consequences began
The floods in south India that have killed at least 350 people and made millions homeless are a result of climate change, said an expert in the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.
The sudden shift from "extreme drought" to "extreme floods" in the region was in consonance with the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), head of the climate centre Madeleen Helmer said here today.
In its 2007 fourth assessment report, the IPCC had said that one of the consequences of global warming would be more extreme weather events - droughts, floods and storms would become more frequent and more severe.
Experts shadowing the Sep 28-Oct 9 talks here between 177 countries in preparation for the Copenhagen climate summit this December have pointed out that these predictions have been borne out by a series of disasters in Asia in recent weeks - floods in India and typhoons in the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
"The problem with humanitarian aid agencies like ours is, what do you prepare for," Helmer told media, "when after extreme drought, you have extreme floods? Climate change is telling us we have to prepare for both, that we are in an age of more uncertainty. It's not easy and we're not geared to do it, but we'll have to be."
Richard Rumsey, director of disaster risk reduction and community resilience in the international NGO World Vision, said: "The problem is that the system is now being so stretched to provide short-term relief, to respond to all these climate disasters, that there is little planning to build long-term resilience of people to face climate change."
The NGO has seen its own budget to disaster response climbing in recent years.
"In 1998, 15 percent ($90 million) of World Vision's overall expenditure was spent on relief activities," Rumsey said. "Ten years later, it accounted for 35 percent ($644 million)."
As the number of climate disasters has climbed from an average of 200 per year in the 1990s to an average of 350 per year this decade, governments in industrialised countries have been forced to increase their response.
Brett Parris of World Vision pointed out that the percentage of overseas development aid (ODA) going for this "humanitarian response" had increased from 4 percent in the 1990s to 9 percent now.
Parris told media that the NGO had calculated that industrialised countries would have to pay developing countries $150 billion per year to help them adapt to climate change and to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases that are leading to global warming.
The World Bank recently estimated yj sy developing countries will need $100 billion a year for adaptation alone.
"The current level of financing and the current pace of negotiations here is not good enough," Parris said. "They will take the world well beyond a two-degrees Celsius rise in temperature. That will be catastrophic and we'll need a lot more money to deal with those disasters."
According to Parris, developing countries were perfectly right to demand that industrialised countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions far more than they were willing to do now. "Strong (emission reduction) targets are what science demands, they are not bargaining positions."
India and many developing countries have demanded that industrialised nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels.
source:www.headlinesindia.com

12 steps to a safe planet

12 steps to a safe planet
YOU MAY think that it takes a lot of effort or a lot of money to go green. This just isn’t the case. Here are 12 very easy ways that can help you, save the planet.

1.Replace lightbulbs in your home with low-energy lightbulbs. They are no longer expensive and save lots of electricity, which in turn saves you money. Buy them at your local supermarket or hard-ware store.

2.Turn off appliances when you aren’t using them. Televisions, DVD players, video recorders - don’t leave them on stand-by, turn them off properly. Switch off your computer when you’re not using it. Unplug your mobile phone charger, or switch it off at the wall when you’re not actually using it.

3.Recycle. This is so easy to do these day. For most of us, the council turns up every week (or fortnight) and collects our recycling from our doorsteps. All we have to do is sort our rubbish into what can be recycled and what can’t. It’s not hard to do.

4.If you’ve got old clothes or old household bits and pieces that you usually just put in the bin. Don’t. Give them to charity or Free cycle them. Giving away usable clothes and other items that you don’t want anymore saves someone else money and saves energy because they won’t be needing new stuff.

5.Feeling nippy? Don’t switch the heating back on, not at this time of year. Go and get yourself a jumper and put it on.

6.Switch to recycled toilet paper. It costs the same as standard bogroll and you’re saving lots of trees. Trees suck up CO2. Recycled toilet paper is good.

7.Clean green. Buy Ecover or your supermarket’s own brand green products. It’s much better for your health and our environment.

8.Try green toiletries and beauty products. They’re good.

9.Reduce food miles by buying locally produced food. Visit your local Farmer’s Market, it’s a fun morning out! In the supermarket, have a look at where your food has travelled from. Try to buy British.

10.Put a hippo in your toilet cistern and save water. Get a hippo for free from your local water company.

11.Reuse plastic bags over and over again to carry your groceries home. Or take it one step further and get yourself some non-plastic reusable bags that you can take shopping with you from here on out.

12.Switch to green electricity. It only takes a few mouse clicks on U-Switch.

Seven reasons for 2012 !

Is this the end ?

SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS from around the world are predicting that five years from now, all life on Earth could well come to an end. Some are saying it’ll be humans that would set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it’ll be God himself who would press the stop button. The following are some likely arguments as to why the world would end by the year 2012.


Reason one: Mayan calendar

The first to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things -- building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone and sacrificing virgins.

Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it’s likely they’ve got the end of the world right as well.

Reason two: Sun storms

Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery. Our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic and it’s supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the earth with lot of radiation energy. It’s been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse and calculations suggest it’ll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012.

Reason three: The atom smasher

Scientists in Europe have been building the world’s largest particle accelerator. Basically, its a 27 km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it’s properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They’re predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

Reason four: The Bible says it

If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn’t bad enough, religious folks are getting in on the act as well. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between good an evil, has been set for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese Book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.

Reason five: Super volcano

Yellowstone National Park in United States is famous for its thermal springs and old faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple -- it’s sitting on top of the world’s biggest volcano and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we’re many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.

Reason six: The physicists

This one’s case of bog -- simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berkely University have been crunching the numbers. They’ve determined that the earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they’re claiming that their calculations prove that we’re all going to die, very soon. They are also saying that their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 per cent; and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

Reason seven: Earth’s magnetic field

We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that shields us from most of the sun’s radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call North and South have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so -- and right now we’re about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30 kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is under way, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.

INTRESTING CONVERSATION

Conversation between student and a professor.

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty.
He asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?
Student: (Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?
Student: (Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?
Student: (Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No , sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold.
We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat.
We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.
You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it?
In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God.
You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can
measure.
Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor.
Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
Prof: (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize
where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir?
Are you not a scientist but a
preacher?
Prof: (The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
Prof: (The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?.....No one appears to have done so.
So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable
protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

Prof: (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it sir.. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

America and Hinduism

America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu—or Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan—nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity.
The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: "Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names." A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal. The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."

Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life"—including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing. Thirty percent of Americans call themselves "spiritual, not religious," according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK Poll, up from 24 percent in 2005. Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, has long framed the American propensity for "the divine-deli-cafeteria religion" as "very much in the spirit of Hinduism. You're not picking and choosing from different religions, because they're all the same," he says. "It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great—and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that's great, too."

Then there's the question of what happens when you die. Christians traditionally believe that bodies and souls are sacred, that together they comprise the "self," and that at the end of time they will be reunited in the Resurrection. You need both, in other words, and you need them forever. Hindus believe no such thing. At death, the body burns on a pyre, while the spirit—where identity resides—escapes. In reincarnation, central to Hinduism, selves come back to earth again and again in different bodies. So here is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24 percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008 Harris poll. So agnostic are we about the ultimate fates of our bodies that we're burning them—like Hindus—after death. More than a third of Americans now choose cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North America, up from 6 percent in 1975. "I do think the more spiritual role of religion tends to deemphasize some of the more starkly literal interpretations of the Resurrection," agrees Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard. So let us all say "om."

source: Internet

Power of lust

We all know lust as something that occupies us without knowing to us and takes us down. The roots of lust are indeed very deep. Sri Krishna has hinted at it in an answer to a pertinent question asked by Arjuna

Arjuna asks : Prompted by what does a man commit sin, even though unwilling, being goaded, as it were, by force?

The lord says : This is lust, this is anger, born of the constituents of rajas, of inordinate appetite and is most sinful. Know it to be an enemy here. O son of Kunti, knowledge is covered by this enemy of wise in form of lust which is like insatiable fire. The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be its seats. Covering knowledge by these, it deludes the embodied being. Thus knowing that which is beyond the intellect (self) and controlling the mind by the intellect (self), kill, O mighty armed one(Arjuna), the enemy in the form of lust, which is difficult to conquer.


Never be a slave to lust.

Facts of India

-Though the exact number of people who read, speak and write in english is unknown, it is estimated that there are more english speaking persons in India than there are in Britain.

-If the Taj Mahal surpassed in structural conception, the Jain dilwara temples at Mount Abu are incomparable in detail and ornamentation. Its said that the carvers were paid in silver equal to that of the weight of the marble filings.

-In the largest natural caves in the Hilmalayas, at a height of 12729 ft, a Shiva lingam is formed of pure ice between july and august. How it happens- whether due to dripping of water or due to the frozen spring underneath is not known. But the lingam is said to wax and wanewith the seasons or the phases of the moon.

-A carved stone bracelet on a sculptured ladys wrist can actually be moved back and forth in Chennakeshava temple in Belur.

-Kachchh is the only district in Gujarat and in India where the cattle outnumber humans

Facts of India

I am giving you some of the real amazing facts of India.

- All sun temples were constructed in such a way that the first rays of the rising sun fall directly on the idols. Temples to the sun God were built between 4th and 13th century.

- The 1600 year old Iron temple in Delhi is so firmly placed in the ground that a canon ball fired by invader Nadir Shah could only cause a small dent on its smooth surface.

- Tuticorn in the south coast of Tamil Nadu is nicknamed as the pearl harbour of India because of the pearl-fishing practiced here for centuries

- Have you noticed that only one rupee notes carry the words 'Government of India' while all others carry 'Reserve bank of India' ??

- On his visit to England in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII, the Maharaja of Jaipur took with him in the ship, for drinking purposes, a six month supply of Ganga water, as it is said to retain its purity for months on end.

- The 400 year old Jewish Touwn in Cochin has only 24 elderly Jews living still there while all others(30000) have migrated to Israle (figures as in 1994)

- The Hindu, a major Indian news paper, did not carry the news of Mahatma Gandhi's assasination on the front page, instead the page was full of advertisements, as per their policy

- Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay drserved the praise when they climbed the mount Everest. But do you know that they had with them 12 climbers, 40 sherpa and 700 porters ?

Vedas

The spirituality obtained during the olden times is by reading of vedas. Anyone who read the vedas become strong spiritually.

When Hanuman met Lord Ram for the first time, Lord Ram seeing the skill with which Hanuman communicated, said to his younger brother Lakshman "look at him Lakshmana, look at how he speaks, only the person who masters the vedas throughly and perfectly only can speak in such a way".

Such is effect of vedas on anyone. We dont have the vedas completely. We have only part of the vedas which are now published.

We all know there are four vedas

- Rig veda

- Yajur veda

- Sama veda

- Atharva veda

The rig yajur and sama vedas are considered as "the triple sacred science" of recieting hymns, performing sacrifices and chanting.

Rig veda deals with hymns, Yajur veda deals with performing sacrifices and sama veda deals with chanting.

The atharva veda deals with the knowledge. It is the latest of all the four vedas mostly composed magical texts and charms. It has 760 hymns of which 160 are in common with rig veda.

The Atharvaveda also contains Mantras used in marriage and death rituals, as well as those for kingship, female rivals and the Vratya (in Brahmana style prose).

Gavin Flood discusses the relatively late acceptance of the Atharva-Veda as follows:

"There were originally only three priests associated with the first three Saṃhitās, for the Brahman as overseer of the rites does not appear in the Ṛg Veda and is only incorporated later, thereby showing the acceptance of the Atharva Veda, which had been somewhat distinct from the other Saṃhitās and identified with the lower social strata, as being of equal standing with the other texts."

"The goal, which all Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which humans desire when they live a life of continence, I will tell you briefly it is Om(Aum)"

There are six technical subjects related vedas called the limbs of vedas

they are

- Phonetics.

- Meter.

- Grammar.

- Etymology.

- Astronomy.

- Ritual.

The famous epic Mahabharata which is written by Lord Ganesh as when narrated by Ved Vyas is called as the Fifth veda because Ved Vyas was well versed in vedas and wanted others to learn it too so he kept many verses from all the vedas in Mahabharata

The ice age !!

It is said that the last ice age was a result of sudden growth of oxygen in the earths amosphere!!

The lack of greenhouse gasses due to trees and plants, the earths atmosphere chilled at high rate producing huge ice sheets from the poles of the planet.

"The sulfur isotope change we recorded coincided with the first known anomaly in the carbon cycle. This may have resulted from the diversification of photosynthetic life that produced the oxygen that changed the atmosphere," Kaufman said.

Two and a half billion years ago, before the Earth's atmosphere contained appreciable oxygen, photosynthetic bacteria gave off oxygen that first likely oxygenated the surface of the ocean, and only later the atmosphere.

The first formed oxygen reacted with iron in the oceans, creating iron oxides that settled to the ocean floor in sediments called banded iron-formations - layered deposits of red-brown rock that accumulated in ocean basins worldwide.

Later, once the iron was used up, oxygen escaped from the oceans and started filling up the atmosphere.

The evolution of organic photosynthesis ca.2.5 billion years ago would have had a profound effect on Earth's surface environments, and potentially on aerobic respiration by eukaryotes.

Once oxygen made it into the atmosphere, the scientists suggest that it reacted with methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, to form carbon dioxide, which is 62 times less effective at warming the surface of the planet.

"With less warming potential, surface temperatures may have plummeted, resulting in globe-encompassing glaciers and sea ice," said Kaufman.

If you think you dont believe in ice age, well , evidences for ice ages are there too.

There are three main types of evidence for ice ages: geological, chemical, and paleontological.

Geological evidence for ice ages comes in various forms, including rock scouring and scratching,glacial moraines,drumlins, valley cutting, and the deposition of till or tillites and glacial erratics. Successive glaciations tend to distort and erase the geological evidence, making it difficult to interpret. Furthermore, this evidence was difficult to date exactly; early theories assumed that the glacials were short compared to the long interglacials. The advent of sediment and ice cores revealed the true situation: glacials are long, interglacials short. It took some time for the current theory to be worked out.

The chemical evidence mainly consists of variations in the ratios of isotopes in fossils present in sediments and sedimentary rocks and ocean sediment cores. For the most recent glacial periods ice cores provide climate proxies from their ice, and atmospheric samples from included bubbles of air. Because water containing heavier isotopes has a higher heat of evaporation, its proportion decreases with colder conditions. This allows a temperature record to be constructed. However, this evidence can be confounded by other factors recorded by isotope ratios.

The paleontological evidence consists of changes in the geographical distribution of fossils. During a glacial period cold-adapted organisms spread into lower latitudes, and organisms that prefer warmer conditions become extinct or are squeezed into lower latitudes. This evidence is also difficult to interpret because it requires

(1) sequences of sediments covering a long period of time, over a wide range of latitudes and which are easily correlated;

(2) ancient organisms which survive for several million years without change and whose temperature preferences are easily diagnosed; and

(3) the finding of the relevant fossils, which requires a lot of luck.

Maybe if all the resources of earth get dimnished and the green house gasses will occupy very less percent of atmosphere leaving the remaining to oxygen, will ice age as predicted by geologists begin ?

Einsteins quotes on spirituality

"Thus I came...to a deep religiosity, which, however, reached an abrupt end at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached a conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true....Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience...an attitude which has never left me."

"I don't try to imagine a God; it suffices to stand in awe of the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it."

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own - a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we can dimly perceive and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in Nature."

"The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that , compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."

". . . In spite of all this, I don't let a single opportunity pass unheeded, nor have I lost my sense of humor. When God created the ass he gave him a thick skin." Einstein: The Life and Times by Ronald W. Clark, Avon Books.

"Where dull-witted clansmen of our tribe were praying aloud, their faces turned to the wall, their bodies swaying to and fro. A pathetic sight of men with a past but without a future." (Regarding his visit to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, February 3, 1923)

"Should we be unable to find a way to honest cooperation and honest pacts with the Arabs, then we have learned absolutely nothing during our 2,000 years of suffering and deserve all that will come to us."

"I appeal to all men and women, whether they be eminent or humble, to declare that they will refuse to give any further assistance to war or the preparation of war."

"It is my belief that the problem of bringing peace to the world on a supranational basis will be solved only by employing Gandhi's method on a larger scale."

The following is from Elsa Einstein, Albert Einstein's wife, regarding Einstein's development of the theory of general relativity. It's taken from the outstanding book Einstein and Religion by Max Jammer. It's originally taken from Charles Chaplin's autobiography.

The Doctor came down in his dressing gown as usual for breakfast but he hardly touched a thing. I thought something was wrong, so I asked what was troubling him. "Darling," he said, "I have a wonderful idea." And after drinking his coffee, he went to the piano and started playing. Now and again he would stop, making a few notes then repeat: "I've got a wonderful idea, a marvelous idea!" I said: "Then for goodness' sake tell me what it is, don't keep me in suspense." He said: "It's difficult, I still have to work it out."

She told me he continued playing the piano and making notes for about half an hour, then went upstairs to his study, telling her that he did not wish to be disturbed, and remained there for two weeks. "Each day I sent him up his meals," she said, "and in the evening he would walk a little for exercise, then return to his work again. Eventually," she said, "he came down from his study looking very pale. "That's it," he told me, wearily putting two sheets of paper on the table. And that was his theory of relativity."

Einstein's quotes

EINSTEIN QUOTES

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."

"I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

"The only real valuable thing is intuition."

"A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."

"I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."

"God is subtle but he is not malicious."

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."