Do You Bother With New Year Resolutions?

Do you ever go back to your list from last year and check on whether you followed through on your resolutions, or whether you forgot about them the moment you put your pen down?

Why do people make New Year resolutions, knowing they will only stick to them for a month or two into the New Year if that?   The only people they are fooling are themselves.

Instead of making a pledge to stop smoking, lose 10 Kilos,spend more time with your kids, to live a healthier life style, save money, or any of the other things people say they plan to do next year; they should just start doing those things now. Everyone is just using New Year resolutions as a way to procrastinate, also knowing the pledge they made will probably be short lived. If we want to change something in our lives, it is up to us, and there is no time to waste. Make the commitment to do it now and not later.   That later may not ever come about. Life is too short to put off the important things that we know we need to start accomplishing today, because life happens, and we all know what that means. For those that do not know what the previous comment means, it means that not everyone may have a tomorrow to count on. We all know what is most important to us and what we want to achieve in the course of our lives .With that being said, there is no time like the present to start taking steps toward achieving those goals; whether that means improving our health, saving for something we have always dreamed about owning or doing, spending quality time with friends and loved ones, or getting a better education. If we are not careful about the time that we carelessly waste, we just might run out of New Year resolutions to pledge. All of the things that we wanted to accomplish in life will be left unfinished.

Top 10 New Year's Resolutions

1.Spend More Quality Time With Family

More than 50% of Indians vow to appreciate loved ones and spend more time with this year.  Work shouldn't always come first! 

2. Fit In Fitness

The evidence is in for fitness. Regular exercise has been associated with more health benefits than anything else known to man. Studies show that it reduces the risk of some cancers, increases longevity, helps achieve and maintain weight loss, enhances mood, lowers blood pressure, and even improves arthritis. In short, exercise keeps you healthy and makes you look and feel better. Why not make this the time to start getting in.

3.Tame The Bulge

Over 66 percent of adult Indians are considered overweight or, so it is not surprising to find that weight loss is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions. Setting reasonable goals and staying focused are the two most important factors in sticking with a weight loss program, and the key to success for those millions of people who made a New Year's commitment to shed extra kilos. 

4. Quit Smoking

If you have resolved to make this the year that you stamp out your smoking habit, over-the-counter availability of nicotine replacement therapy now provides easier access to proven quit-smoking aids. Even if you've tried to quit before and failed, don't let it get you down. On average, smokers try about four times before they quit for good. Start enjoying the rest of your smoke-free life!

5. Enjoy Life More

Given the hectic, stressful lifestyles, it is no wonder that "enjoying life more" has become a popular resolution in recent years. It's an important step to a happier and healthier you!. Or just get out and try something new! Take up a new hobby ,go to a theatre or head to the gym.

6.Quit Drinking

While many people use the New Year as an incentive to finally stop drinking, most are not equipped to make such a drastic lifestyle change all at once. Many heavy drinkers fail to quit cold turkey but do much better when they taper gradually, or even learn to moderate their drinking. If you have decided that you want to stop drinking, there is a world of help and support available.

7.Get Out Of Debt

Was money a big source of stress in your life last year? Join the millions of us who have resolved to spend this year getting a handle on their finances. It's a promise that will repay itself many times over in the year ahead. 

8.Learn Something New

Have you vowed to make this year the year to learn something new? Perhaps you are considering a career change, want to learn a new language, or just how to fix your computer? Whether you take a course or read a book, you'll find education to be one of the easiest, most motivating New Year's resolutions to keep.

9.Help Others

A popular, non-selfish New Year's resolution, volunteerism can take many forms. Whether you choose to spend time helping out at ‘Home for the aged’, mentoring a child, or building a house, there are many non profit volunteer organizations that could really use your help. Or if your time is really in short supply, maybe you can at least find it in you to donate the furniture, clothing and other household items that you no longer need, rather than leaving them out by the curb to fill up our landfills. 

10. Get Organized

On just about every New Year resolution top ten list, organization can be a very reasonable goal. Whether you want your home organized enough that you can invite someone over on a whim, or your office organized enough that you can find the stapler when you need it, these tips and resources should get you started on the way to a more organized life.

Let’s End This Culture Of Violence

A Baha’i Perspective

We are trapped in a culture where violence against women and girls – as in the recent Delhi gang rape case illustrates in the extreme – is an everyday occurrence. Such violence is ultimately an act of aggression against whole of society, brutalising the very fabric of life. Law and policy are indeed important instruments to enable curtailing of violence, but more fundamental changes in culture, attitude and belief is required at every level of society. These need to be grounded in the conviction that gender equity is not a mere goal to be achieved, but is a basic necessity to enable us to realise our true nature as human beings.

The soul has no gender. Gender has nothing to do with the essence of what make us human. Equality is much more than a tally of resources or a set of social norms.  It reflects the nobility inherent in every one of us.

Gender violence and discrimination is one of the symptoms of a social order riven by conflict, injustice and insecurity. Its structures and processes are proving to be incapable of serving the common good. While we demand justice and demonstrate our anguish, we must not lose sight of the broader, long-term goal: to create conditions where women and men can work together towards a just and equitable social order.

We need to revisit our conceptions of power and empowerment. The perception of power as ‘power over’ must be replaced with the concept of ‘power to’—power as capacity of the individual or the collective. Such power that comes from the bonds of solidarity and mutual concern, that emanates from unity of thought and action, promoting justice, honesty, and integrity.

Preventive measures against violence are as important as punitive ones, for the former would be long lasting. Both at home and workplaces, men need to respect women as fellow human beings instead of exercising power over them. When there is power imbalance in the family that tilts in favour of the male, it promotes the same in children who carry forward to the future, the inequality and injustice.

Prevention of violence must begin by identifying and addressing the underlying causes of violence rather than its symptoms. Prevention programmes and societal transformation must go hand in hand.  Such transformation involves change in attitude, culture, community life, and in structures that sustain and ‘normalise’ violence and exploitation.

One way for social transformation is through education and training of children and youth in a manner that cultivates in them a sense of dignity as well as responsibility for the wellbeing of their family members and wider community. Drawing on the worldwide Baha'i community’s experience in promoting social transformation, we note a number of elements in educational endeavours that support such transformation: a conviction that happiness and honour lie in integrity; the ability to act with moral courage, to participate in non-adversarial decision-making, excellence in a productive skill to meet one’s needs with dignity, to analyse social conditions and understand forces that shape them, to express ideas eloquently and wisely, and to foster collaboration and focus on community service. While we need to promote girls’ access to quality education, boys need to be sensitised to gender equity issues. 

Any custom, tradition, or religious interpretation that sanctions any form of gender violence should be shunned. Government should be accountable where gender equity is not upheld in official policy and procedures. The individual, her family and community are under the protection of the State; so providing a safe and secure public environment is a State duty.

Listen To Silence

It awakens the dimensions of stillness in you, says ECKHART TOLLE

When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. Your innermost sense of Self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the ‘I am’ that is deeper than name and form.

Noise Is Good
Stillness is your essential nature. What is stillness? The inner space or awareness in which the words on this page are being perceived and become thoughts. Without that awareness, there would be no perception, no thoughts, no world. You are that awareness, disguised as a person. The equivalent of external noise is the inner noise of thinking. The equivalent of external silence is inner stillness.

Whenever there is some silence around you — listen to it. That means, just notice it. Pay attention to it. Listening to silence awakens the dimension of stillness within yourself, because it is only through stillness that you can be aware of silence. See that in the moment of noticing the silence around you, you are not thinking. You are aware, but not thinking. When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness. When you look at a tree and perceive its stillness, you become still yourself. You connect with it at a very deep level. You feel a oneness with whatever you perceive in and through stillness. Feeling the oneness of yourself with all things is true love.

Silence is helpful, but you don’t need it in order to find stillness. Even when there is noise, you can be aware of the stillness underneath the noise, of the space in which the noise arises. That is the inner space of pure awareness, consciousness itself.

You can become aware of awareness as the background to all your sense perceptions, all your thinking. Becoming aware of awareness is the arising of inner stillness. Any disturbing noise can be as helpful as silence. How? By dropping your inner resistance to the noise, by allowing it to be as it is, this acceptance also takes you into that realm of inner peace that is stillness. Whenever you deeply accept this moment as it is — no matter what form it takes — you are still, you are at peace. Pay attention to the gap — the gap between two thoughts, the brief, silent space between words in a conversation, between the notes of a piano or flute, or the gap between the in-breath and out-breath.

Pay Attention
When you pay attention to those gaps, awareness of “something” becomes — just awareness. The formless dimension of pure consciousness arises from within you and replaces identification with form. True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found. Is stillness just the absence of noise and content? No, it is intelligence itself — the underlying consciousness out of which every form is born. And how could that be separate from who you are? The form that you think you are came out of that and is being sustained by it. It is the essence of all galaxies and blades of grass; of all flowers, trees, birds, and all other forms. Stillness is the only thing in this world that has no form. But then, it is not really a thing, and it is not of this world.

Be Still

When you look at a tree or a human being in stillness, who is looking? Something deeper than the person. Consciousness is looking at its creation. In The Bible, it says that God created the world and saw that it was good. That is what you see when you look from stillness without thought. Do you need more knowledge? Is more information going to save the world, or faster computers, more scientific or intellectual analysis?

Is it not wisdom that humanity needs most at this time? But what is wisdom and where is it to be found? Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. Being still, looking, and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within you.

By: Eckhart Tolle

You Can Transform Failure Into Success

The most successful people are those with the most interesting pictures in their minds.  If you 

consciously paint a picture of yourself as a successful person, success will come to you. But if you are convinced that you are a failure, you will fail. If you think of scarcity, scarcity will befall you. If you imagine abundance, abundance will flow into you.

Consciousness is built of three layers – the conscious, the subconscious and the super conscious. Tap the powers of the super conscious and the subconscious and turn failure into success.

The conscious self that thinks feels and takes decisions is a very tiny part of our consciousness, like the tip of an iceberg floating above water. The subconscious is much vaster, like the larger portion of an iceberg immersed in the water. The  subconscious cannot think for itself; it cannot decide what is right and what is wrong. If you believe that you cannot achieve something, the subconscious will take up your belief. Its job is to see that it proves your beliefs. Whatever you will believe in, your subconscious will create conditions, so that your beliefs are proved. Whatever you picture for yourself, the subconscious will prove that picture as true.

If a fat man believes that he cannot grow slim, he will never grow slim. He may go on a crash diet, but when he is off guard, something will happen; the subconscious will create circumstances so that he is caught in the trap unawares and gains weight.

Subconscious Is Good Servant, Bad Master

To achieve success you must believe in success, and paint a picture of yourself succeeding. The conscious and the subconscious must cooperate with each other to create success. Success is not produced only by the conscious self. It is done with the help of the subconscious. The subconscious is there to obey you; it is an obedient servant who takes orders from his master. You have to decide. Its beliefs are to be programmed by you.

The subconscious cannot think for itself; it cannot decide what is right and what is wrong. It can only obey. It is like the autopilot in an aircraft. If you set the autopilot to take the plane eastwards, the plane will keep on flying eastward. Only when you resume manual control you can change the direction of the plane. Therefore you have to be very careful of the thoughts you think, the affirmations you make, especially when you fall asleep. There are tremendous potentialities open to every one of us. If only we make use of the right affirmations at the right time, we can work wonders.

Speaking to your subconscious with magnetic determination is known as affirmation. Whatever you wish to affirm, affirm it over and over again. First, affirm to draw the attention of your own thoughts. Then, softly re-affirm to draw the interest of your thoughts. Finally, whisper the affirmation as though you are coaxing your subconscious to cooperate. First affirm loudly, then a little softly and lastly, in a whisper.

For greater effectiveness, your affirmations must be rhythmic. Repeat the affirmation as if you were singing. Secondly, it must be positive. For instance, if you wish to give up smoking, don't say, "I shall never smoke again". Rather, tell yourself, "I have given up smoking". Affirm this, as if you have done it already, as if you are free from this habit. Positive thoughts induce magnetism; negative thoughts weaken your magnetism.

By: Dada J P Vaswani 

Begin your day with a glass of green juice

Macrobiotic expert Shonali Sabherwal tells you why green juices should be preferred over their fruity counterparts 

There are facts about juices that are commonly known such as drink vegetable juices as opposed to fruit juices, ensure that you use a mixer and not a juicer so that you get the fiber from the veggies. Other known facts are — don't strain the juice, but have it with the pulp and almost always, include doodhi in your juicy diet. 

However, few know that one must opt for green juices as opposed to just vegetable juice. So what makes the green juices better option? This is because without the fiber, fruit juice is basically sugar, which will add to your weight. So juice fruits as a treat but try and eat them whole as far as possible. While the fiber content takes a beating, juices do deliver a powerful array of vitamins, minerals and enzymes that are absorbed immediately into the blood stream. However, avoid combining vegetables with fruits, as they require different enzymes for digestion. The only exception is an apple, which has a more neutral effect. 

Benefits of green juices 

Green juices are power-packed with nutrition. Green vegetables have the ability to transform sunshine into the food that all creatures consume. True to their nature, greens produce chlorophyll, which oxygenate your body. This enables us to release stored toxins in the body. Your hemoglobin (that has a similar molecular structure as that of your red blood cells) will get elevated, improving the blood circulation as a result and giving your body a boost of energy. A green juice will cleanse your digestive system, lungs, liver (which will rev up, if sluggish — causing you to retain weight) and uterus. So if you are a smoker, this is an excellent supplement to your diet. 

Fact file 

Magnesium is essential for efficient calcium utilisation. The chlorophyll molecule has magnesium at its centre and its impact on the body's magnesium levels is highly significant. When you include green juices in your daily diet, it helps them absorb calcium better. All green plants have Vitamins A and C, which are important co-factors for calcium absorption. Chlorophyll foods also act as a form of 'stored sunshine', to regulate calcium and Vitamin D deficiency. So if you get no sunshine, then increase the greens in your diet. 

Methods to follow 

-Always rotate your greens, don't use one green all the time. Plants carry a trace of alkaloids (which in small doses is okay) and you don't want the same alkaloids to build up in your system. 

-If you have a strong digestive system, blend greens in a mixer and if not, juice them. 

-Even though you eat a gree vegetable everyday, your body will assimilate many more nutrients from blended greens rather than the ones chewed. It's always beneficial to add spirulina and wheat grass powder, as it increases the chlorophyll quotient in the juice. 

-If taste is important to you, mix dates in your juice. However, watch out if you have yeast, candida, diabetes or hypoglycemia. 

-They are best consumed fresh, but you can keep them only for a day at the most in the fridge. Add some lime to preserve them. 

-Green juices should be ingested on an empty stomach, so have it first thing in the morning or inbetween meals. 

A recipe to start with 

-3-4 leaves of spinach and rotate it with pak choy on other days 

-A fistful of parsley 

-A fistful of celery 

-3 inches of carrots 

-3 inches of doodhi or zucchini (optional) 

-4 broccoli florets 

-½ a tomato 

-1 green apple (optional) 

Blend all the above in a blender with ¼ cup water, do not strain, squeeze a lime into it and add some cumin (jeera) powder. You could thin it down with some warm water. While drinking it, roll it in the mouth before taking it down (this aids in digesting the juice).
By Shonali Sabherwal, Mumbai Mirror | Dec 31, 2012, 11.50 AM IST

December 31,2012.Day 126. BHAGAVAD GITA - As It Is Original by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Chapter 3. (Continued) TEXT 11

Chapter 3. Karma-yoga

TEXT 11

devan bhavayatanena
te deva bhavayantu vah
parasparam bhavayantah
sreyah param avapsyatha

SYNONYMS

devan--demigods; bhavayata--having pleased; anena--by this sacrifice; te--those; devah--the demigods; bhavayantu--will please; vah--you; parasparam--mutual; bhavayantah--pleasing one another; sreyah--benediction; param--the supreme; avapsyatha--do you achieve.

TRANSLATION

The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you; thus nourishing one another, there will reign general prosperity for all.

PURPORT

The demigods are empowered administrators of material affairs. The supply of air, light, water and all other benedictions for maintaining the body and soul of every living entity are entrusted to the demigods, who are innumerable assistants in different parts of the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Their pleasures and displeasures are dependent on the performance of yajnas by the human being. Some of the yajnas are meant to satisfy particular demigods; but even in so doing, Lord Visnu is worshiped in all yajnas as the chief beneficiary. It is stated also in theBhagavad-gita that Krsna Himself is the beneficiary of all kinds ofyajnas: bhoktaram yajna-tapasam. Therefore, ultimate satisfaction of the yajna-pati is the chief purpose of all yajnas. When these yajnas are perfectly performed, naturally the demigods in charge of the different departments of supply are pleased, and there is no scarcity in the supply of natural products. 
Performance of yajnas has many side benefits, ultimately leading to liberation from the material bondage. By performance of yajnas, all activities become purified, as it is stated in the Vedas:

ahara-suddhau sattva-suddhih sattva-suddhau 

dhruva smrtih smrti-lambhe sarvagranthinam vipramoksah

As it will be explained in the following verse, by performance of yajnaone's eatables become sanctified, and by eating sanctified foodstuffs, one's very existence becomes purified; by the purification of existence, finer tissues in the memory become sanctified, and when memory is sanctified, one can think of the path of liberation, and all these combined together lead to Krsna consciousness, the great necessity of present-day society.

December 31,2012.Day 47. Srimad Valmiki Ramayan - The First Epic Poem Of India. (Continued)

Book I : Bala Kanda - Book Of Youthful Majesties : Chapter 1(Continued)

तम् निहत्य महाबाहुः ददाह स्वर्गतः च सः |
स च अस्य कथयामास शबरीम् धर्म चारिणीम् || १-१-५६
श्रमणाम् धर्म निपुणाम् अभिगच्छ इति राघव |

56, 57a. mahaa baahuH = great, armed - he whose arms are highly powerful, Rama; tam nihatya = him, [Kabandha,] having eliminated; dadaaH = cremated; svargataH ca = heavenwards, also; saH ca = he [that Kabandha], also [when going to heaven]; raaghava = oh, Raghava; dharma caariNiim = a lady with righteous conduct; dharma nipuNaam = she who in rightness, an expert; shramanaam = ascetic lady; shabariim = to Shabari; abhigachchha = you proceed; iti = in this way; asya = to him [to Rama]; kthayaamaasa = started to tell.

"That Rama whose arms are highly powerful has eliminated and cremated that demon Kabandha, and Kabandha while going heavenward told Rama, 'oh, Raghava, proceed to the ascetic lady of right-conduct and an expert in rightness, namely Shabari...' and vanished... [1-1-56, 57a]

December 30,2012.Day 125. BHAGAVAD GITA - As It Is Original by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Chapter 3. (Continued) TEXT 10

Chapter 3. Karma-yoga

TEXT 10

saha-yajnah prajah srstva
purovaca prajapatih
anena prasavisyadhvam
esa vo 'stv ista-kama-dhuk

SYNONYMS

saha--along with; yajnah--sacrifices; prajah--generations; srstva--creating; pura--anciently; uvaca--said; praja-patih--the Lord of creatures; anena--by this; prasavisyadhvam--be more and more prosperous; esah--certainly; vah--your; astu--let it be; ista--all desirable;kama-dhuk--bestower.

TRANSLATION

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Visnu, and blessed them by saying, "Be thou happy by this yajna [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things."

PURPORT

The material creation by the Lord of creatures (Visnu) is a chance offered to the conditioned souls to come back home--back to Godhead. All living entities within the material creation are conditioned by material nature because of their forgetfulness of their relationship to Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic principles are to help us understand this eternal relation, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita:vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah. The Lord says that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Him. In the Vedic hymns it is said: patim visvasyatmesvaram. Therefore, the Lord of the living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam also Srila Sukadeva Gosvami describes the Lord as pati in so many ways:

sriyah patir yajna-patih praja-patir
dhiyam patir loka-patir dhara-patih
patir gatis candhaka-vrsni-satvatam
prasidatam me bhagavan satam patih
(Bhag. 2.4.20)

The praja-pati is Lord Visnu, and He is the Lord of all living creatures, all worlds, and all beauties, and the protector of everyone. The Lord created this material world for the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajnas (sacrifice) for the satisfaction of Visnu, so that while in the material world they can live very comfortably without anxiety. Then after finishing the present material body, they can enter into the kingdom of God. That is the whole program for the conditioned soul. By performance ofyajna, the conditioned souls gradually become Krsna conscious and become godly in all respects. In the Age of Kali, the sankirtana-yajna(the chanting of the names of God) is recommended by the Vedic scriptures, and this transcendental system was introduced by Lord Caitanya for the deliverance of all men in this age. Sankirtana-yajna and Krsna consciousness go well together. Lord Krsna in His devotional form (as Lord Caitanya) is mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam as follows, with special reference to the sankirtana-yajna:

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra-parsadam 

yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah

"In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of sankirtana-yajna." (Bhag. 11.5.32) Other yajnasprescribed in the Vedic literatures are not easy to perform in this Age of Kali, but the sankirtana-yajna is easy and sublime for all purposes.

December 30,2012.Day 46. Srimad Valmiki Ramayan - The First Epic Poem Of India. (Continued)

Book I : Bala Kanda - Book Of Youthful Majesties : Chapter 1(Continued)

ततः तेन एव शोकेन गृध्रम् दग्ध्वा जटायुषम् || १-१-५४
मार्गमाणो वने सीताम् राक्षसम् संददर्श ह |
कबंधम् नाम रूपेण विकृतम् घोर दर्शनम् || १-१-५५

54b, 55. tena shokena eva = by that, anguish, only; tataH = then; gR^idhram jaTaayushham dagdhvaa = eagle, Jataayu, on cremating; vane siitaam maargamaaNaH = in forests, for Seetha, while searching; ruupeNa vikR^itam = in looks, misshapen; ghora darshanam = monstrous, to look at;kabandham naama raakshasam = Kabandha, named, demon; samdadarsha ha = has seen, indeed.

"Rama then cremated that eagle Jataayu in that anguish, and while searching for Seetha in forest, he indeed saw a demon named Kabandha, who is misshapen in his look and monstrous to look to... [1-1-54b, 55]

Jataayu is a friend of Rama's farther Dasharatha and thus it is fatherly eagle to Rama and its death is as worse as his father's death. Secondly, an eagle is a highly sophisticated search engine. But it is dying. So an additional misery is bechanced.

December 29,2012.Day 124. BHAGAVAD GITA - As It Is Original by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Chapter 3. (Continued) TEXT 9

Chapter 3. Karma-yoga

TEXT 9

yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra
loko 'yam karma-bandhanah
tad-artham karma kaunteya
mukta-sangah samacara

SYNONYMS

yajna-arthat--only for the sake of Yajna, or Visnu; karmanah--work done; anyatra--otherwise; lokah--this world; ayam--this; karma-bandhanah--bondage by work; tat--Him; artham--for the sake; karma--work; kaunteya--O son of Kunti; mukta-sangah--liberated from association; samacara--do perfectly.

TRANSLATION

Work done as a sacrifice for Visnu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.

PURPORT

Since one has to work even for the simple maintenance of the body, the prescribed duties for a particular social position and quality are so made that that purpose can be fulfilled. Yajna means Lord Visnu, or sacrificial performances. All sacrificial performances also are meant for the satisfaction of Lord Visnu. The Vedas enjoin: yajno vai visnuh. In other words, the same purpose is served whether one performs prescribedyajnas or directly serves Lord Visnu. Krsna consciousness is therefore performance of yajna as it is prescribed in this verse. The varnasramainstitution also aims at this for satisfying Lord Visnu."Varnasramacaravata purusena parah puman/visnur aradhyate....."(Visnu Purana 3.8.8). Therefore one has to work for the satisfaction of Visnu. Any other work done in this material world will be a cause of bondage, for both good and evil work have their reactions, and any reaction binds the performer. Therefore, one has to work in Krsna consciousness to satisfy Krsna (or Visnu); and while performing such activities one is in a liberated stage. This is the great art of doing work, and in the beginning this process requires very expert guidance. One should therefore act very diligently, under the expert guidance of a devotee of Lord Krsna, or under the direct instruction of Lord Krsna Himself (under whom Arjuna had the opportunity to work). Nothing should be performed for sense gratification, but everything should be done for the satisfaction of Krsna. This practice will not only save one from the reaction of work, but will also gradually elevate one to transcendental loving service of the Lord, which alone can raise one to the kingdom of God.

December 29,2012.Day 45. Srimad Valmiki Ramayan - The First Epic Poem Of India. (Continued)

Book I : Bala Kanda - Book Of Youthful Majesties : Chapter 1(Continued)

गृध्रम् च निहतम् दृष्ट्वा हृताम् श्रुत्वा च मैथिलीम् || १-१-५३
राघवः शोक संतप्तो विललाप आकुल इन्द्रियः |

53b, 54a. raaghavaH = Raghava; nihatam gR^idhram dR^iSThvaa = killed [utterly gashed, almost dead] eagle, on seeing; maithiliim hR^itaam shR^itvaa ca = of Maithili, as stolen, on hearing about [from the same eagle,] also; shoka santaptaH = anguish, seethed with; akula indriyaH = with frenzied, senses; vilalaapa = wept over.

"On seeing the eagle Jatayu almost dead and on hearing from the same eagle that Maithili is stolen, seethed with anguish and senses frenzied Raghava bewailed... [1-1-53b, 54a]