Revival of New Era....

In modern-day society, besides optimists and pessimists, a third category has also emerged, which prefers calling itself ‘the realists’. They say that they neither give an outright acceptance nor rejection when it comes to establishing peace in the world. Instead, they say that they hold a realistic view which stands on practical grounds and is not hypothetical. They say that world-peace a can be achieved only partially and intermittently, and, in no way can it be realised in toto. Because, according to them, human nature is inherently violent and he can never remain in peace at all times. And, hence they say that complete absence of wars wand violence will always remain an impossible reality. Or, in other words, world peace in a true sense is never possible.

          However, in my perspective, the viewpoint presented by the realists doesn’t sound valid and acceptable. First, because man is part and parcel of God who is ever-peaceful and ever-blissful; so his fundamental nature cannot be violent. This can also be supported with the fact that wars, bloodshed, violence, attacks, etc. are universally unacceptable. No one inherently likes them. And, something which is universally disliked by man cannot correspond to his basic nature.

          Moreover, it often happens what when some idea is presented, which is beyond one’s comprehension, people tend to either mock at it or deny its possibility. However, which favorable results take shape, then all arguments, all opposition, all controversies automatically die out. History stands witness in this respect. For instance, in the early 1900’s nobody could even think that it was possible to fly in the air. When the Wright brothers proclaimed that they would be the first humans to fly, then the majority of people declared it to be a sheer impossibility because, they said that, it was not possible for a heavier-than-air machine to fly. But, when the two brothers became successful in making an airplane and took their first flight, then everyone had to believe. In the same way, until the 1950’s, it was beyond one’s imagination to walk on the moon. However, in 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to land on moon and thus proved the so-called impossible and impractical target as practically possible. For many years, it was thought impossible to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Even the doctors and scientists claimed it to be physically impossible. They said that neither our muscles can move that fast and nor can our hearts pump that hard; and so, it was simply an impossible feat for humans. But, all claims, all thoughts had to succumb when, in 1954, Roger Bannister crossed the finish line of 1-mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. He not only broke through the physiological barrier, but also the psychological barrier. Hundreds of such examples can be cited from history wherein what a man commonly thought or perceived as impossible or impractical or unrealistic was proved otherwise.

          Likewise, when it comes to bringing peace in the world, then this goal too many sound impossible or unrealistic to many. But, in reality it is not so. It’s true that one tends to develop this sort of perception because the conditions of the world show no signs of improvement despite several sincere attempts in this direction. Instead, the situation is deteriorating by the day. However, if the correct technique is applied, which can hit right at the root-cause, favourable results would definitely be seen. After all, if the formula (and its application) is correct, the solution is bound to be correct.

          Basically, there are four levels pertaining to achieving one’s goal:

a.      The level of impossibility, when we deny any ray of hope in accomplishing something.

b.     The level of doubt, when 51% of our being says that we don’t think it’s possible.

c.      The level of hope, when at least 51% of our being says that we think it’s possible.

d.     The level of certainty, when the mind says it’s absolutely possible.

          It may be that the vision of world peace for many lies in the category of ‘impossibility.’ And, many may be ‘doubtful’ or ‘hopeful’ about its accomplishment seeing the current state of affairs. But, today, there are also many who take pride and vouch for the fourth category, i.e. those who are ‘certain’ that soon this world will shine bright with the golden rays of peace scattered in every nook and corner. These are the awakened units of society, who are equipped with the eternal technique of Self Realisation. And, this belief of theirs is in no way the product of imagination. Neither does their pessimism lack the support of a strong foundation. Rather, they claim so because through inner awakening, they have learnt how to get rid of their ‘ignorance’. And, today, they are spreading this message of awakening to the entire mankind with full gusto and sincerity to make this world a ‘peaceful abode’.

Self Analysis for Happy & Successful Life

Despite the material comforts produced by scientific advancement, there is a lack of health, peace and harmony in the society. Man's utter selfishness has poisoned all relationships and now even people in the same family look at each other with suspicion and distrust. The intimate and generous human relationships as well as the feeling of mutual trust are gradually vanishing. Criminal offences have grown up with an alarming momentum. Instead of extending mutual help people are after each other's blood. The tendency of duplicity and deceit has rapidly grown. It is evident that something is basically wrong somewhere. If this is not identified and corrected, misfortunes and calamities will increase in the same proportion as will the material advancement. Progress of an individual and the society depends on its right thinking and right way of working. In modern times attention has been entirely focused on material growth and the means thus acquired have been utilized in increasing the material comforts. The result is an insatiable greed, gross self-indulgence, an inflated ego, deceit and gross self-centeredness. Abundance of material comforts alone doesn't bring happiness; it also needs refined emotions and clear vision. For the overall development of the society simultaneous expansion of material and spiritual aspects is indispensable for the integrated life of man. 

An average person feels happy in response to happy events and miserable in the face of sad events. Such a person is tossed by the tides of the external world, and happiness becomes purely accidental. To attain tranquility, you must learn not to be influenced by external circumstances. That is the only way to find the state of stillness within. Once you know how to remain still, you can study both the external and the internal worlds. In man both lower and higher natures are present. Lower nature expresses itself through wrong thinking, lethargy, disease, jealousy, hatred, anger, selfishness, doubts, fear and anxiety. Higher nature expresses itself through love, kindness, contentment, compassion, appreciation for others, courage, forgiveness, benevolence, aspiration, truth and freedom. In a simple way we can say that negative thoughts leave a deep impact on the health of body and mind. On the other hand positive thoughts build a healthy environment around us. For perfect health and happiness transformation from lower to upper nature is required. Few points related to this transformation are given below (for details refer to the blog http://vishwamitra-spiritualtransformation.blogspot.in/):

1.         Follow the Righteous Path

Always follow the righteous path, and obey the rules so that you could be fearless and controller of your destiny. A guilty person always feels restless even with the greatest of comforts and wealth. Fear exhausts life energy; it is one of the greatest enemies of dynamic will power. Fear causes the life force that ordinarily flows steadily through the nerves to be squeezed out, and the nerves themselves to become as though paralyzed; the vitality of the whole body is lowered. Fear doesn't help you to get away from the object of fear; it only weakens your will power. Fear causes the brain to send an inhibiting message to all bodily organs. It constricts the heart, checks the digestive functions, and causes many other physical disturbances. When the consciousness is kept on God, you will have no fears; every obstacle will then be overcome by courage and faith.

When there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character;

When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home;

When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation;

When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.

2.         Surrender to God

            Surrender yourself to God and you will find that your life has become a beautiful melody. If you try to do everything in the consciousness of God, you will see with joy that every day. He is choosing certain duties for you to perform. It has been emphasized by spiritual teachers that without faith in God and without the spirit of sacrifice, it is not possible for a person to enjoy peace of mind and harmony in life. You should sit in silence before deciding about any important matter, asking the Father for his blessings. Then behind your power is God's power; behind your mind, His mind; behind your will, His will. When God is working with you, you cannot fail; every faculty you possess will increase in power. When you do your work with the thought of serving God, you receive His blessings. Pray with a sincere heart: God, let me remember You constantly throughout the day. Be with me in every moment. Let my every thought, word and deed bring me closer to You. Let me not hurt anyone in thought, word or deed. Lord, my hands and feet are working for you. You have given me a certain part to play in this world and everything I am doing in this world is for You.

3.         Overcome your difficulties

            The successful person may have had more serious difficulties to content with than one who has failed but the former trains himself to reject the thought of failure at all times. You should transfer your attention from failure to success, from worry to calmness, from mental wanderings to concentration, from restlessness to peace, and from peace to the divine bless within. A negative thinker sees a difficulty in every opportunity, while a positive thinker sees an opportunity in every difficulty. There is a good proverb that "Problems and difficulties are like big cotton bags they look huge for those who see it but they look lighter for those who handle it"!

Nadi Shodhan Pranayam

This Pranayam is different from other Pranayams in the sense that while it makes the respiratory process quite rhythmical, it also makes our breath extremely subtle. The term ‘subtle’ means that we should not heat the sound of the breath. We must inhale and exhale slowly and inaudibly.

          The benefits of this Pranayam are as follows:

·        It is helpful in the purification of all the nadis in our system.

·        It cures the ailments of the lungs, headache and mental tension.

·        It expels all the waste matter and poisonous elements from the body.

·        It gives longevity and enhances the beauty of the face.

·        For the rectification of the different systems and their vitalization, Nadi Shodhan Pranayam is highly instrumental.

·        It makes the sense-organs more inward and brings fall to the thought currents.

·        Finally, in the development of our vital energy and the spiritual power, this Kriya is very helpful.

Technique

          With the neck and spine erect, sit down in padmasan or any other asan suitable for meditation. Keep the eyes gently closed. Reset the left hand on the left knee in Gyanmudra pose. Placing the two fore-fingers of the right hand at the root of the thumb, close the right nostril gently with the right thumb. Start inhaling slowly but deeply through the left nostril. Close the left nostril with the ring finger (Anamica), retain the breath in Antrik Kumbhak, apply three Bandhs. Thereafter, start inhaling slowly through the right nostril and draw a deep breath. Do Antrik Kumbhak according to the capacity, apply three Bandhs. Removing the ring finger from the left nostril expel the breath slowly from the left nostril, withhold the breath as per capacity and apply three Bandhs. This is one round. Increase the rounds gradually along with matras.

Fixing of Matras and Ratio

          No feeling of suffocation in the practice of inspiration, retention and expiration of breath should be experienced by sadhak at any stage. It is determined by the fact that if a sadhak cannot retain the breath according to Matra fixed fit Kumbhak after inhalation or cannot exhale according to period fixed for inhalation, then apparently the ratio and matras are not according to the capacity. For example, if inhalation period is of Matras. Kumbhak for a period of 10 Matras, then again inhalation from the right nostril should be cut down to a period of 5 Matras. And if any difficulty is experienced to maintain this ratio at any stage, it should be lowered down in Matras i.e. make it 4:8:8.  If this ratio is difficult to maintain, bring it further down to 3:6:6 and continue the practice in this very ratio. Thus, fix the number of matras and the ratio according to the capacity so that no difficulty in inhaling, retaining and exhaling is felt. Follow the ratio thus fixed fir 15 days in the beginning. Add one Matra thereafter and continue the practice accordingly. Index of matras and ratio for the practice of this Pranayam is given below:

Purak	Antrik	Kumbhak	Rechak	Rounds
I Week	5 Matras	10	10	5
II Week	6 Matras	12	12	5
III Week	7 Matras	14	14	5

          Go on increasing the matras and rounds according to the capacity.

          In advanced practice follow an ideal index in matras given below for sadhaks:

	Purak	Kumbhak	Rechak	Rounds
Adham Pranayam	12	48	24	Repeat them according to the capacity
Madhayam Pranayam	16	64	32
Uttam Pranayam	20	80	40

Special Note

          The best period of the year for increasing the matras and rounds is from September to March. Status quo may be maintained in other months. Reduce the ratio when it is too hot in summer.

(From YOG MAnjari Magazine)

Fasting may be the best way to combat cancer

It Boosts Treatment, Tests on Mice Show

London: Fasting for short periods could help combat cancer and boost effectiveness of its treatments new study had claimed.

          Researchers at University of Southern California found that fasting slowed the growth and spread of tumors and cured some cancers when it was confined with chemotherapy. It hoped that findings will lead to the development of more effective treatment plans and further research is now under way, they said.

          In experiments in mice, they found tumor cells responded differently to the stress of fasting compared to normal cells. Instead of entering a dormant state similar to the hibernation, the cells kept growing and dividing, in the end destroying themselves, they said.

EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES

“The cells, in fact, committing cellular suicide,” lead study author Valter Longo was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.”What we are seeing is that the cancer cell tries to compensate for the lack of all these things missing in the blood after fasting. It may be trying to replace them, but it cannot.”

For the study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, Longo and his team looked at the impact fasting had on breast, urinary tract and ovarian cancers in mice. Fasting without chemotherapy was shown to slow the growth of breast cancer and neuroblastma – a cancer that forms in the nerve tissue.

          In every case, combining fasting with chemotherapy made the cancer treatment more effective. But none of the mice survived if they were treated with chemotherapy alone. According to the researchers, they are already examining the effects of fasting on human patients, but only a clinical trial lasting several years will confirm if human cancer patients really can benefit from calorie restriction.

          

PRIDE OF INDIA

Albert Einstein: “We owe a lot to the Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery count have been made.”

Mark Twain: “India is the cradle of the human race, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition. Most valuable and the most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only”.

Lancelot Hogben: In his book Mathematics for millions: “There has been no more revolutionary contribution than the one which the Hindus (Indians) made when they Invented Zero”.

Arnold Toynbee: The world famous historian said: “It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a western beginning will have and Indian ending. At this supremely dangerous moment in human history (Nuclear age) the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian Way.”

Invention of Calendar Making: Discovery of measurement of time and discovery nomenclature of days , months and years and invention of calendar making was made in India. In his book Surya Sidhnta Latadeva (505AD) divided the year into 12 months. Seven planets of the solar system effects the earth’s atmosphere and their names were added to the seven days of the week, which was accepted all over the world.

Discovery of Theory of Gravitation: In his book Sidhanta shiromani Bhaskaracharya mentions about force of attraction resembling gravity, discovered centuries later by Newton. (Jewish Encyclopedia).

Invention of Iron Products in 3000BC: The word AYAS occurs in the four Vedas which denotes iron. Ashoka pillar at Mehraulli, New Delhi and another iron pillar in Karnataka stand proof of India’s metallurgical heritage ( a study published in the magazine, The current Science)

Invention of Copper, Bronze and Zinc: The copper and bronze artifacts dates back to Indus valley civilization (2500BC). According to treatise Rasaratnakar, zinc was made in around 50 BC at Zawar in Rajasthan (India).

Invention of Decimal System: According to Dr. Thomas Arya, a German writer “The weights used by the Indus Valley (2500BC) followed a Binary system and measurement based on the decimal system.” Pierre Laplace said “How Grateful we should be to Hindus who discovered the great decimal system.”

Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. ( a report in forbes magazine, July 1987).

Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software ( a report in forbes magazine, July 1987).

Bhaskaracharya (5^th century AD) calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the western astronomers. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun was mentioned: 365.258756484 days.

The value of ‘pi’ was first calculated by Budhayana and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this long before the European mathematicians.

The Suruta Samhita, a medical text, details 650 types of drugs, 300 operations, 42 surgical procedures and 121 types of instruments, according to records. The earliest documentation of Indian medicine is found in Hindu scripts of the Vedas compiled between 3,000 and 1000 BC. (report in Pakistani Paper).

PAST BUILDS FUTURE

Swami Vivekananda

                   "Children of India, i am here to speak to you today about some practical things, and my object is reminding you about the glories of the past is simply this. Many times have i been told that looking into the past only degenerates and leads to nothing, and that we should took to the future. Look back, therefore, as far as you can, drink deep of the eternal fountains that are behind, and after that, look forward, march forward and make india brighter, greater, much higher than she ever was. Our ancestors were great. We must first recall that, We must learn the elements of our beings, the blood that courses in our veins; we must have faith in that blood and what it did in the past; and out of that faith and consciousness of past greatness, we must build an India yet greater than what she has been."

PAST THAT MAKES US PROUD

By Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

            "The past is ever with us, and all that we are and that we have, comes form the past. We are its products and we live immersed in it. Not to understand and feel it as something living with us is not to understand the present. To combine it with the present and extend it to the future, to break from it where it cannot be united, to make all this the pulsating and vibrating material for thought and action-that is life.....It is true that the past is unaffected by the storms and upheavals of the present, but it maintains its dignity and repose and tempts the troubled spirit and tortured mind to seek shelter in its vaulted catacombs. There is peace and security and one may even sense a spiritual quality. With the past, the present and the future are inextricably inter-twined. It is to the benefit of those to recall past history who have got a past which makes us proud and hopeful for the future."

TEACHERS OF CHINA

Hu Shih, Ex Ambassador of China to U.S.A.

         "India conquered and dominated China culturally for twenty centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border. This cultural conquest was never imposed by India on her neighbors. It was all the result of voluntary searching, voluntary learning, voluntary pilgrimage and voluntary acceptance on the part of China."

India 'synthesised invaders and made them Indian'

Hon Robertson Young, the envoy of Great Britain

       "enjoyed everything about India."......the "extraordinary heritage' and 'sense of history' that permeates life here and the 'rich cultural tapestry' with the 'ability to synthesise invaders and their cultures and make them Indian." At a time, he asid when "my ancesttors were going around in skins" India was immensely culturally developed entity, and the "sense of historical coninuity" has been both remarkable and unique......"The city upon city upon city" and the sense of history in Delhi itself were equally remarkable......"the remarkable sense of history that most indians have, and the abi,llity to absorb and take the best out of all cultures."

Extract from a report in 'The Statesman', New Delhi, October 13, 2003

A wonderful boss ans his workers: an ideal example

There were about 70 scientists working on a very hectic project. All of them were really frustrated due to  the pressure of work and the demands of their boss but everyone was loyal to him and did not think of quitting their job. One day,  one scientist came to his boss and told him, Sir, I have promised my children that I will take them to the exhibition  going on in our township so I want to leave the office at 5:30 PM.  His boss replied, OK, You're permitted  to leave the office early today. The Scientist started working. He continued his work after lunch. As usual, he got involved to such an  extent that he looked at his watch only when he felt he was close to completion. The time was 8.30 PM. Suddenly he remembered the promise he had made to his children. He looked for his boss but he was not there.  Having told him in the morning himself, he closed everything and left for home. Deep within himself, he was feeling  guilty for having disappointed his children. He reached home. The children were not there.  His wife alone was sitting in the hall and reading magazines. The situation was explosive; any talk  would boomerang on him. His wife asked him, Would you like to have coffee or shall I straight away serve dinner if you  are hungry? The man replied, If you would like to have  coffee, I too will have but what about the children? His wife replied, You don't know? Your boss came here at 5.15 PM and has taken the children to the exhibition.

What had really happened was  The boss  who granted him permission was observing him working seriously at 5.00 PM. He thought to himself, this person  will not leave the work,but if he has promised his children they should enjoy the visit to exhibition. So he took the  lead in taking them to exhibition. The boss does not have to do it every time. But once it is done, loyalty is established. That is why all  the scientists at Thumba continued to work under their boss> even though the stress was tremendous. By the way, can you hazard a guess as to who the boss was?  He was none other than the  mastermind behind India's successful nuclear weapons and missiles man, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President of India.

Being a Responsible Citizen

I do take Oath to

1.         Promote Greenery

2.         Save Water

3.         Save Energy

4.         Minimize Wastage

5.         Encourage Recycling

1  (a)     While cleansing, use a trickle instead of a torrent

    (b)    Never leave the tap running while washing clothes. Brushing or shaving.

    (c)    Try bucket batch instead of shower. It saves almost Eighty  percent water.

    (d)   Switch rain water harvesting. It is sensible and economical.

           

2  (a)    Dump garbage in dustbin.

                (b)    Use clothe/paper/jute bags instead of plastic.

                (c)    Pass on old papers to magazines to vendor.

                (d)   Keep the surroundings clean. Cleanliness and estheticism count.

3  (a)   Replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs. ESLs. & LEDs and save almost seventy percent   energy along with ten times longevity.

    (b)    Turn off appliances when not in use.

    (c)    Avoid switching lights on in broad daylight.

    (d)   Prefer BEE-certified appliances. More the stars, more the savings.

4  (a)    Switches to vegetarianism. It is next ‘in’ thing in developed nations.

    (b)    Vegetarians normally live longer (approx six years) than non-vegetarians.

    (c)    Half of the meat which is consumed is harmful for health.

    (d)   Non-vegetarian diet lacks fiber, an essential dietary component.     

            

Aim Of Life

Our Holy Scriptures are studded with precious messages, which are in fact the research findings of our great, enlightening spiritual scientist, whose laboratory was not confined to certain set of tools or apparatuses but the entire cosmos residing in their inner being. On diving inside, what all truths they discovered, they compiled it in the form of sacred tests for the welfare of mankind.

Bhagwat says that unlike animals and other species whose lives are driven solely by their instincts, it is only a human being who has the faculty of decision-making and is independent to make a choice of his actions.

Inspired by the great revelations of the sages of India, philosophers like Leo Tolstoy also said that one must live to attain the union with the infinite God’ and not just to lose his life in the hands of death.

However, it is out sheer misfortune that we fail to realize this golden opportunity and prove to be big losers in the deal of life! Our state can be well compared to a man who used to serve a holy man with great devotion. Pleased with his service, the holy man gave him a philosopher’s stone, which could turn iron into gold. Greatly delighted on receiving the philosopher’s stone, the man said that he would make his fortune shine bright with the boon that was rewarded to him. However, the holy man said that the stone will lose its power after six months, when he will come and collect it from him. The man thanked the sage and took the stone with him happily.

The next day he decided to go to the market to buy large quantities of iron so as to turn them into gold. But, on enquiring about the prices, he came to know that the prices had just gone up from the previous day. “Ah! I am not a fool to buy iron at such high rates. I have ample amount of time. So, it’s better to wait for some days till the prices roll down. “Thinking thus, he went back. After around a month, he again visited the market. But, to his utter surprise, the rates of iron had further gone up. “It is not worth to buy iron at this price. Let me wait for some more time.” And, he again went back. Month after month passed and the prices kept rising. But, he was also stubborn not to buy the iron till the prices fell down. Finally, the period of six months got over and the sage came to collect the philosopher’s stone back. He asked the man, “By now you must have made yourself truly rich with lots of gold in your stores!” The man replied, “No! The prices of iron kept rising and I didn’t waste my money in buying iron at such high prices.” The sage said, “You are a fool! To save a little money, you made a bog loss to yourself. You could have turned all of it into gold and become rich by now. But, now you have missed the chance.”

In our real lives, we do the same foolishness. God showered His immense grace on us and blessed us with this human garb (which represents the philosopher’s stone). Our soul, being covered with countless karmas and sanskaras, is like an iron, which can be liberated (i.e. turned into gold) only through the medium of the precious boon of the human garb. But, we keep postponing this task of supreme priority despite knowing well that death is certain for each one of us. According to the statistics, an average of 200,000 people die every day. And, nearly 70 million people die every year. However, we while away our precious time and breaths so leisurely as if we are going to live forever.

Thins become even more surprising because, unlike the story where the man knew the tenure for which he could keep the philosopher’s stone with himself, in our case, no one knows when death will lay its icy hands on us. If one is healthy, then that doesn’t mean that he will not die. Similarly, if one is young, then also he can’t ensure himself to be relieved of death. There are lots of healthy and young people who have died. Meaning by, death is certain and comes without prior intimation.

Where death is certain, there life is equally uncertain. Life is uncertain to the extent that one cannot guarantee his life even till the next breath. However, despite these facts, it is only a last minute realization, if at all, when a man thinks that he has wasted his entire life. But, by then, it is too late. At that time, he is left with no option but to repent on making such a big loss to himself. The great scientist Newton, despite making several achievements in his lifetime, was forced to say during the last moments of his life, “I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

After spending all our life in undergoing struggles to accomplish our materialistic deals, we, in the end, leave the world barehanded to enter into the hole of death. Just like an ant, which struggles all through its way carrying a feather on its back, crosses all hurdles; but, when it finally reaches its hole, it is forced to leave feather outside. the tragic state of affairs is that without accomplishing the main purpose on acquiring the human garb, when a person enters into the hole of death, he is forced to travel through a long and extremely painful journey of births and deaths while taking different forms. Which form, i.e. which specie he is sent to, is decided according to the karmas he did all through his life. After all, the formula applies here too- ‘As you sow, so shall you reap! This again has been testified by all our sacred scriptures.

And, in this manner, the rarest of the rare opportunities of human birth is lost from our hands. Can you guess how rare it is to attain this garb? How bleak are the chances of getting the precious human birth? A Buddhist philosophy expresses it in the following manner:

Assume that a blind turtle lives on the ocean bed and is able to come to the surface just once every hundred years. On the surface of that vast ocean which spreads in all four directions, a golden yoke floats. The yoke, in turn, is also subjected to the blows of the wind, which keeps drifting it here and there. In such circumstances, what are the chances of the turtle surfacing at exactly the right time and that too in just the right place so as to put its head through the yoke? Similar is the probability for a Soul to get the human garb-extremely bleak. And, after losing it once, then for thousands and thousands of years, we remain trapped in the vicious circle of births and deaths. This fact is well depicted through the emblem of a snake eating its own tail, commonly used in the iconography of Georgian and Victorian cemeteries. In fact, the term ‘vicious spiral’ was coined the USA to denote a process in which, after proceeding around the loop, one ends in a worse position than before.

To relieve us of this vicious and painful circle of birth and death while taking different forms, Perfect Spiritual Masters descend for our rescue. They come with the sole purpose of awakening a man from the deep slumbers of ignorance due to which he becomes oblivious of his main purpose of life. They bestow upon mankind the eternal knowledge of Self-Realisation (Brahm Gyan) and make him the way to attain liberation.

Hence, the verse of the Kathopanishad says that- One should realise God (by attaining the Supreme Knowledge from a Perfect Spiritual Master) before his human body perishes. Otherwise, the soul is forced to enter into a torturous journey of taking different forms in different realms for many years together.