Moksha – Nirvana

The concept of Moksha and Nirvana is the same, Hindu religious text prompt to achieve Moksha that is liberation from repeated births, freedom from birth and death, with the knowledge of self and knowledge of Universal spirit, knowing the eternal truth that the illusion is all-pervading, you are shackled by worldly bondage, practice of attachment with a sense of detachment would lead the soul to attain unison with the supreme being.  Our scriptures describes the methods to attain  the  four methodical approach to achieve the ultimate object that is salvation from repeated births, that are Dharma/follow righteous deeds, Arththa/ earn wealth to perform your duties and responsibilities, Kama/fulfill your physical and material needs, and the final stage is Moksha/liberation from repeated births.   Buddhists believe that Nirvana is the superior state which put an end to all the sufferings.  Both the notions are teaching us the causes of sufferings and how to get rid of the same.  The root causes of all the afflictions are anger, fear, hatred, jealousy, lust, desire, violence, etc... Nirvana teaches to attain the state of enlightened one ’Buddha’.

Contentment –

Everyone’s life is a search for happiness, every one of us has dreams to fulfill, desires to achieve and expectations to meet while chasing the above things, we often feel disappointed or dejected or get momentarily happy.  Have you ever thought of contentment?  contentment is supreme bliss.  A contented person is considered as the richest, a person who finds happiness in the basic necessities of life, such as food for thought, a shelter for sleep and remain protected, and clothing for covering nudity is richest in all sense.  A contented person is well aware of the fact that health is wealth; good health always follows with happiness and peace.  Happiness is a state of mind; bliss is the permanent state of mind.  Therefore contentment can be achieved through methodical practice; it is an attitude to be happy with whatever in hand, stop complaining things you are lacking, and always be grateful to God for all those things present in your life.  Physical exercise and meditation will definitely change your perception, learn to give away, cut down your expectations and practice to achieve a state where there is no expectation at all.

Emotional health –

Emotional health influences thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.  People who are emotionally healthy also feel frustrated stressed out and depressed, but they know how to cope up with the emotional disturbances.  During this period of emotional turbulence, keep yourself out of the nest, be with nature, get more sunlight, you will come to know that all are having their own baggage of break-downs to carry, none are free from afflictions.  Take a break from your daily routine; try something different to appease you.  Don’t focus on your troubles, be positive, time is the best healer; you will be back in your safe zone.  Meditation and breathing techniques will do wonders in your overall perception; you will regain your lost energy in no time.    Always remember your past achievements, your skills, your capabilities; definitely it will boost your energy level.  Be nice to yourself, never compare your current situation with others, anyway it is going to alter by passing of time, so it is a waste of energy, stay away from things and people which bring no productivity, always keep the sense of gratitude.

Law of attraction –

I am not going to write about external appearance or skin tone, it is none of my job I feel.  Honestly, I do not give much importance to it, it does not mean that I am lacking interest in self-care; I do care about outward appearance as well.  All that matters what’s inside you, what’s that you’re feeding your brain on a regular basis, selflessness, the reflection of your thoughts, kindness, love, simplicity, humility, intelligence, sense of responsibility, etc… You need not appear in a million dollar worth costume to get attracted, or you need not drive Porsche vehicle to gain attraction, or you need not be a regular diner in a star hotel, or you need not own latest models of gadget to get an attraction.   Be genuine and unique, feed yourself with a great sense of confidence, self-esteem, self –respect, which helps to stand out of the crowd.  Prioritize your task, learn to put your needs first, take care of your mental and physical health, so that you can invest your energy on your loved ones.  Keep physical and mental exercises/meditation as your top priority in your list of daily routine.  Take a promise to learn something on daily basis which helps to grow mentally.  Take responsibilities of your mistakes, learn from the mistakes and do not repeat the same, it is our common tendency to make mistakes, it is not a good sign blaming somebody for your mistakes, learn to appreciate yourself and others as well.  Intelligence is all about to deliver meaningful conversation; keep informed about current events, be a great conversation starter and friendly, sense of humor is essential and make people comfortable around you, besides all those qualities, you need to be a listener as well.

Knowledge is bliss -

Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and it is caused by delusion /Maya, we can perform mundane matters without putting much effort.  Spiritual knowledge is knowledge of self and knowledge about the supreme spirit which is the highest of knowledge that can be obtained by constant reading of scriptures that reveal eternal truth.   Nothing is permanent in this world.  The spiritual knowledge destroys miseries and sorrows forever; it destroys desires, selfishness and worldly bondage in the fire of knowledge.  Ignorance can bring only sorrows, and afflictions, an ignorant person cannot be happy in his life. There are four ways to rise above the darkness of ignorance, Jnana Yoga/knowledge, the practice of seeking knowledge, and we are often mistaken about the concept of ‘I’ as the physical body,  Jnana Yoga teaches ‘I’ as supreme soul, it builds up virtues like forbearance, non-violence,  and sense of ‘oneness in all’.  Karma Yoga/action, the practice of selfless act, it helps to get rid of expectation and desires which causes grief.  Bhakti Yoga/divine love, the practice of religious rites and recitation of sacred texts, develop the sense of love, peace, and happiness.  Raja Yoga/meditation, it develops concentration and bliss, physical and mental well-being as well.

Coffee -

I am not a regular in-taker of coffee, I can stay without coffee for several days, and once in a while, I feel drinking hot coffee to celebrate my morning.  I will not encourage two shots of coffee in a day, my Mom needs this drink repeatedly in a day, later on, she finds that it drained her energy and increases the sense of lack of fluids.  I cannot drink a coffee without a glass of water, I get dried out immediately after consuming a cup.  Previously I used to spend long night hours for reading while doing so I sip a large mug of black coffee to keep focused.  Later, I had to face sleeplessness, my internal specialist advised cut short of coffees, there goes coffee mug out of the house.  I started with single coffee a day that was fine with me, but alright without it.  My Mom keeps all that good coffee powders for daily consumption, she carries with her while traveling; she just can’t live without it.   Coffee stir anxiety, hot flashes, and sleeplessness, hence people who are having anxiety disorders stay away from coffee, or if not possible cut short into a minimum, anything which costs your health should be avoided.  Finland and Norway are the two countries consume the maximum quantity of coffee, they do have the custom to serve their guests with a cup of coffee as we do it in India.

Self – control

Self – control is perfect control over senses.  First of all, we all have a lot of flaws; none is perfect in this world.  Never be too unbending, accept your faults and weaknesses, take an initiative to alter it.  It does not need to be controlled; it just needs to be personalized.  Therefore acceptance is the initial part to gain self-control.  Listen to your inner voice, be kind and understanding and motivating.  Self-control is an action prompts by the conscious mind, which constantly connects with the outer world through self-speech, images, actions and thought. Therefore, the ability of a person to control surging emotions and desires can be achieved with concentration.   The practice of meditation, mindful performance of a task by avoiding multitasking and breathing techniques, helps a lot to achieve concentration.   The conscious mind works like a monitor and keyboard of your computer, while information feeding on the keyboard, results are shown in the monitor.  The sub-conscious mind is like RAM /memory and programs that are currently in use are stored, here is the place where recent memories are stored for quick recall.  The unconscious mind is like hard drive all those memories are stored since birth.