Ravi S. Iyer: Spiritual

Last updated on 5th Jun 2019 In the past few decades, many Hindus from India and in the Indian diaspora in other countries of the world have enjoyed financial prosperity which is significantly more than what their immediate previous generations had. Some of these Hindus are also quite religious with some being very religious. Once people are financially stable, they are in a position to pursue other aspirations of theirs including spiritual and religious aspirations. To be acknowledged as spiritually elevated if not as spiritually enlightened/self-realized perhaps is of great attraction to some of these Hindus who come from prosperous backgrounds. I think it is a human thing. They may be enjoying them being viewed as not only moneyed but also spiritually elevated. Champions of both material and spiritual worlds! What greatness! I think that must be the attraction. And then there is the adulation of followers. Social media is a platform where followers can freely express their...

Post title updated in March 2022 Last updated on 29thMar. 2022 28th & 29th March 2022 update: I felt it appropriate to provide this update. Over the past month or so, I have been able to regularly do 'I am divine awareness' meditation. I use 'I am divine awareness' as my key helper statement now.  At times, I use 'What is my reality?' as an initial helper statement whose answer is 'I am divine awareness' and so helps me more easily slide into 'I am divine awareness' helper statement and meditation state. At times, I use 'I am not the body' and 'I want to rise above body consciousness' as additional helper statements (after using 'I am divine awareness' helper statement). [Note that it is implied that I want to temporarily rise above body consciousness and get back to body consciousness later.] The other helper statements mentioned in post below helped me in the past but I don't use them much now. Now I would lik...

Last updated on 30th May 2019 I got the part autobio paperback (with some scanned pics replacing camera pics) delivery today evening. I will upload pics tomorrow after taking pics of book in sunlight. Meanwhile I thought I will give a text description update. The good: The scanned letters (appreciation, experience etc.) pics have come out very well solving the dark patches problem that the prints of camera pics of them had. Very happy with this quality of printing at first look. The slightly problematic: Some pics, both camera and scanned pics, have printed with some white streaks in it. It is not too bad. I wonder whether this is a 'print run' issue and whether a subsequent print will not have this problem. I need to check with Pothi.com on this. But this is not a big problem. I am willing to live with some printed copies having these white streaks in some pics. The somewhat unsatisfactory: The front cover page looks better than previous paperback copy. But, like i...

Last updated on 31st May 2019 There is only one law - the law of Karma. This is a quote of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. [Sources: http://www.saibaba.ws/quotes/religion.htm , https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/05/sathya-sai-aug-1998-interview-with.html ] Ravi: I think if just this sentence is internalized by people, there will be less injustice and horrors in the world. Now this law is a ***divine*** law and not a 'court of law' law. One may escape from a court of law by using smart and fancy lawyers (if one is wealthy enough to afford them), or by fleeing the country where one is being pursued by law enforcement. But how can one escape from the divine law of Karma? One has to suffer in this life or a next life for bad deeds done, unless one becomes exceptionally devoted to God and God cancels the Karma - rare cases. It is by reading Sathya Sai literature and listening to his discourses live in Sai Kulwant Hall (the latter in 2000s mainly) that I developed strong ...

Last updated on 30th May 2019 I have updated the free ebook version of my book titled: Autobiography of an Indian Software Techie and Spiritual Aspirant – Part 1, with better quality scanned pics replacing some camera pics. I have also used scanned pics instead of some camera pics in the front cover page. I have released it as: "First edition, revised" and it does not have an ISBN number. The date of release is 26th May 2019. The new cover page pic is given below: [To open pic in larger 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.] The updated ebook is now available for free download from the following: 1) My blog: https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/p/autobiography-of-indian-software-techie.html  . PDF, Word, EPUB, AZW3 (Kindle Format 8) and MOBI formats of the book are available here for free download from Google Drive public share links. 2) archive.org: https://...

I have updated the paperback version of my book titled: Autobiography of an Indian Software Techie and Spiritual Aspirant – Part 1, with scanned pics instead of some camera pics to improve quality of printing of these pics. I have also used scanned pics instead of camera pics in the front cover page. I uploaded the book on Pothi.com on 22nd May and it got approved the next day, 23rd May. I placed an order for it on the same day. I expect to receive the delivery in around 10 days from order date. Now that I have some better quality scanned pics for some documents, I felt it is appropriate to update the ebook too with these scanned pics instead of camera pics. This includes updating the front cover page of the ebook to use scanned pics. I plan to start working on that shortly. As some of the book's pics, including cover page pic, will change with underlying matter being the same but pics being better quality, and without any text change in inner content (except minimal change in...

First, I (Ravi S. Iyer) would like to thank Shri Sudhir Joshi, the transcript author who was present in this meeting, for his valuable contribution to documenting Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's 1998 interview with Mumbai mediapersons and preserving and sharing that documentation with others in Sathya Sai fraternity. Source of transcript and pics given below: https://www.facebook.com/notes/visvesh-baabu/bhagavans-interview-with-the-press-in-1998-transcript-of-the-interview/1117918538239219/ . Note that Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is also referred to as Bhagavan and Swami in the transcript below. SWAMI Met Mumbai Media - 11 August 1998... Photos & Transcription Courtesy - Sudhir Joshi Brother, who was present during interview... It was the dawn of the morning of Tuesday, August 11, 1998, when Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, out of His Infinite Divine Grace, met Shri Ramesh and Smt. Devi Narayan from Canco Advertising Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Shri Sudhir Joshi from Sri Sathya Sai...