Ravi S. Iyer: Spiritual

Last updated on 31st Mar. 2019 I have been reading Love is My Form, Volume 1 by R. Padmanaban, in fits & bursts. This book has wonderful pics of the family of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I felt that this black & white pic of Mother Easwaramma in it which shows her at a younger age than most of her pics publicly available on the Internet, is a wonderful one. I had seen this pic elsewhere but I think it is not available at good resolution on the Internet. [To open pic in higher resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.] Google Search showed that Radio Sai website does have the same pic but at lower resolution (and so showing less details): http://media.radiosai.org/journals/Vol_06/01MAY08/images/07_swami_and_me/Easwaramma/Mother.jpg . So I took a few pics of this book photo of Mother Easwaramma using my mobile phone camera, and picked up a good pic to put up in t...

Last updated on 8th April 2019 I have written about Radhanath Swami earlier. For those readers who may not have read my earlier posts on him, here is some info. about Radhanath Swami based on his wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhanath_Swami . Radhanath Swami was born as Richard Slavin in December 1950 in Chicago, USA to a Jewish family with roots in Eastern Europe. He has been into Bhakti Yoga and acted as a spiritual teacher for over 40 years. He is viewed as a key figure in ISKCON's free midday meal scheme for over a million school children across India, and the Bhaktivedanta hospital in Mira Road, Mumbai. He is largely based in Mumbai, India, and travels extensively in Europe and USA in what seems to be a role of a spiritual mentor and a preacher of ISKCON and Hindu devotional path and the philosophy behind it. I never had the good fortune of seeing Radhanath Swami in person (as against seeing him in videos). But a software industry colleague of mi...

Minor update on 11th Aug. 2019 This post continues from the post: How 16 year old Lord Rama kills giant demoness Tataka (Tadaka) in his first major battle - Part 1 of 5 (Valmiki Ramayan), https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/03/how-16-year-old-lord-rama-kills-giant.html , 14th March 2019 [I had initially thought this would be a two-part article but now I see that it is going to be more than 2 parts and I am not sure how many parts it will be.] A small extract from the bottom of the above post: After they cross the confluence of rivers Sarayu and Ganga, they see a horrendous forest without any trodden paths. Rama mentions the swarms of crickets, wild boars, tigers, elephants and vultures which were making fierce screeching noises, in this forest. Rama then asks Viswamitra what this wretched forest is. --- end extract --- Viswamitra tells Rama that once this forest had two very good provinces, designed by gods, known as Malada and Karuusha, which were blessed by a special boo...

Superb rendition of the classic Hindi philosophical song from the 1972 film, Shor - "Ek pyaar ka nagma hain", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciNCQZ6eQjA , 4 min 19 secs. The lady singer is Sarrika Singh. The male singer is not named in the video description. The lines in this rendition of the song (smaller version as compared to the original Hindi film song) are: Ek pyaar ka nagma hain [English: (It/Life) is a song of love] Maujon ki ravaani hain [English: (It/Life) is the flow of waves] Zindagi aur kuch bhi nahin [English: Life is nothing but] Teri meri kahani hain [English: the story of you and me (the hero & heroine and their child implied).] Kuch paakar khona hain [English: Some thing has to be got and then lost.] Kuch khokar paana hain [English: Some thing has to be lost and then (some other thing perhaps) got.] Jeevan ka matlab to [English: The meaning of life is] Aana aur jaana hain [English: (the) coming and going.] Do pal ke jeevan se [The s...

Last updated on 24th March 2019 New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern has emerged as a global hero(ine) for upholding and promoting religious pluralism, multi-racial society and peace in New Zealand. May God bless her and keep giving her strength and courage for the great work she and her team are doing in this regard. Here's an interesting Al Jazeera interview of her, dated 21st March 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX3s5HszG_g , 5 min. 40 secs. ----- Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed's tweet: "New Zealand today fell silent in honour of the mosque attacks' martyrs. Thank you PM @jacindaardern and  New Zealand for your sincere empathy and support that has won the respect of 1.5 billion Muslims after the terrorist attack that shook the Muslim community around the world.", https://twitter.com/HHShkMohd/status/1109124817888915461 [Above tweet has a pic of famous Dubai building showing pic of PM Jacinda Ardern showing sympathy & love to Muslims.] ----- ...

Aum Sri Sai Ram! I share in the grief that Shri C. Srinivas, his wife and other family and friends are going through now due to the very untimely and shocking passing away of Shri C. Srinivas' daughter, Dr. Sreemayee Srinivas, a few days ago. May Bhagavan shower His Grace on her! May Bhagavan give Shri C. Srinivas, his wife, and all of us the strength and courage to overcome our grief. I do admire the dedication to serve that Shri C. Srinivas' daughter, Dr. Sreemayi, https://www.facebook.com/sreemayee , a cardiac anaesthesiologist, showed. I saw her speak in a video of the Navi Mumbai hospital function and was very happy to see a grown-up son/daughter of a Sai university/educational institution alumnus play a significant role in the function. That she was taken away from all of us at this young age is a very great shock. I repeat that I share in this grief. May Bhagavan give all of us strength and courage to bear the loss. Jai Sai Ram! Regards Ravi S. Iyer, Puttapa...

Last updated on 19th March 2019 A few days ago, I wrote an email to the General Secretary of The Divine Life Society (DLS), Shivanandnagar, near Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India, offering to send a copy of my first self-published book on spirituality and God & Science to them as expression of my gratitude to their institution. Their website, http://www.dlshq.org/ , carries this message at the top: "SERVE, LOVE, GIVE, PURIFY, MEDITATE, REALISE  So Says Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati Maharaj". Extracts of my mail to them are given below: I have benefited significantly by reading the books and magazines that have been published by The Divine Life Society. I take this opportunity to thank The Divine Life Society for that service that they rendered to me then. ... As an expression of my gratitude to The Divine Life Society, I would like to send a free printed (paperback) copy of my book to your library ... -- end extracts -- My book is this one: "Who am I? I ...

The horrendous and barbaric attacks on the two New Zealand mosques which have reportedly killed 49 people and injured a number of people, have been very shocking. My prayers and sympathies for the victims and their families. The ruthlessness and the sheer brutality of these attacks, one of which was Live Streamed and whose video seems to be available on some social media channels, is mind-numbing. How can people in our early 21st century become such ruthless killers of innocent people! The NZ Prime Minister has been categorical in her rejection of the (extreme white nationalist type) ideology and motive behind these cowardly and dastardly attacks on Muslims in these two mosques. That provided slight relief from the utter dismay that these events have created. 49 killed in mass shootings at 2 mosques in 'one of New Zealand's darkest days', https://abcnews.go.com/ABCNews/multiple-dead-reported-shooting-attack-zealand-mosque/story?id=61699679 , 15th March 2019

Last updated on 28th Mar. 2019 Minor update on 11th Aug. 2019 Recently I have started reading in detail or rather studying, in fits and bursts, Kamala Subramaniam's abridged Ramayana in English, which seems to be based on Valmiki Ramayana. A few days back I read about Lord Rama engaging in his first real battle at a young age of 16 years, which was the one where he killed the demoness (rakshasi) Tataka also known as Tadaka. Please note that in the past I have read about these events in other abridged Ramayana versions I have read but I don't think I then had the luxury of time to delve into the details and savour the blissful parts. Now, by the grace of God, I am in a position to allot some time to leisurely and detailed reading of such Hindu scripture. I offer my deeply felt gratitude to God and to my beloved and revered Gurudev, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, for this blessing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Kamala Subramaniam's account of Lord Rama battling and kil...

Cardinal George Pell sentenced to 6 years in prison for child sex abuse, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cardinal-george-pell-sentenced-6-years-prison-child-sex-abuse-n982331 , 13th March 2019 The article has a 2 minute video where the Australian judge says that he convicts and sentences Cardinal Pell (of the Catholic church) to prison on the various charges related to child sexual abuse against him. The article mentions that he was convicted in December (2018) "for the molestation of two choir boys while he was the archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s". Cardinal Pell says he is innocent and he and his lawyers are going to appeal the conviction. This article, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-financial-adviser-cardinal-george-pell-convicted-child-sex-n975896 , dated 26th Feb. 2019 gives some details about the conviction. A 12 member jury delivered unanimous verdicts of guilty. The article reports that a victim who had testified at the trial sai...

Today (12th March 2019), I updated the main blog page dealing with free reuse permission of my blogs & books: All my blog data and books publicly accessible on Google Drive; Permission for free reuse, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/p/all-my-blogbooks-publicly-accessible-on.html I have given below the key modification I made on the above blog page: 1. I hereby grant permission to anybody, anywhere to freely reuse (including adaptation) MY CONTENT of any of my above mentioned blogs/books provided that content does not criticize any person by name, and provided they give a reference to the original source (blogs/books) to enable interested persons to easily cross-check with the original source. An explanation of the exception - provided that content does not criticize any person by name: It has been my unfortunate duty to criticize some persons by name in some of my above mentioned blogs, to counter Asathya & Adharma. I hated writing such posts but I felt that I would be fa...

Readers may want to read my recent post on another blog: NYT Editorial Board article on nuclear exchange being most likely between India and Pakistan, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2019/03/nyt-editorial-board-article-on-nuclear.html .

Somewhere in a town in India where all of its people respect and revere all peaceful religions that respect other peaceful religions. As a Hindu, I respect and love such Islam which respects other religions. Ishwar Maalik! Allah Maalik! Yesu Maalik! Sabka Maalik Ek! [English translation: Ishwar (Hindu name for God) is the Lord! Allah is the Lord! Christ is the Lord! The Lord of all is one!]

Warning: Those who don't want to read disturbing things should skip reading this post and the New York Times article linked below. Chris Watts Describes Killing His Wife and Daughters in Chilling Confession, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/us/chris-watts-confession-tapes.html , 7th March 2019 Absolutely monstrous! Did the man have no fear of the wrath of God, of the inevitable and very harsh karmic consequences that he will surely have to bear? I am getting more and more convinced about what I have heard Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba say as the mantra, the formula for a better world: Daiva Preethi Paap Bheethi Sangha Neethi. I would translate that to: Love of God, Fear of Sin, Following ethics/norms of the community (one is in). Among these, I have to say, based on what I have read/viewed about events in India and the world from around mid 2012, the big one is fear of sin, or rather fear of the bad consequences of sin. Had this man had fear of sin, there is no way he...

Around the middle of last month (Feb. 2019), I was pleasantly surprised to receive a mail from a person of the Jayakar family who were associated in the past with my first school (closed down some years ago), English High School, Dadar (E), Mumbai. This seems to have been triggered by a Facebook message I sent to a different school that he now administers. I studied in English High School, Dadar from 1st standard (or less probably from K.G.) to 6th standard, corresponding roughly to period from mid-1968 to mid-1974. The School Leaving Certificate from the 2nd school I joined - Cardinal Gracias High School, Bandra (E), Mumbai - mentions my previous school as English High School, Dadar. You can see a pic of the certificate on this post of mine: Very happy that my school - Cardinal Gracias High School, Bandra (E), Mumbai - has received paperback copy of my book, "Who am I? I am I ...", http://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/10/very-happy-that-my-school-cardinal.html . English H...

When author of post or comment is not mentioned, it should be assumed that it is me (Ravi S. Iyer). https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2451446385071924 Some Shiva songs ... BTW by my family background, I am a Shaivite, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaivism . 'Bho Sambho' by Sudha raghunathan, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOuVpPcH4bM , around 8 mins. Interesting and somewhat modern rendition: Bho Shambo Shiva Shambo by Lakshmy Ratheesh & Radhika Venugopal, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmEhqGLbmGs , around 6 mins. A Sadhguru Vasudev video. I loved the singing. Bho Shambho Shiva Shambho Swayambho - Shiva, the Adhi Yogi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36AT5eY9HtQ , 5 min. 25 secs. A Mooji video. Interesting and joyful Shiva song. Loved to see foreign folks (white and black) sing and enjoy this Shiva song. I have a special affection for African origin music and singing. So I was very happy to see an African origin singer in this singing group. Mooj...