Another Way to Acknowledge God

Have you ever looked on the lines of your palm and capillaries or ridges on thumb and fingers of your hand? They are unique. Some of us are well educated today and are capable of putting our signatures in different ways but, at several places we are asked to give our fingerprints or thumb impressions. Police and other investigating agencies lift fingerprints for the purpose of evidence and courts take cognizance of such fingerprints. Similar is the case with lines and mounts found on our palms. There are a large number of ridges or capillaries on palms of our hands.
All persons, who were born on this earth and are no more, had their own palms; all persons, who are alive today, have their own palms; and by precedence, all those persons who will be born in future will have their unique palms. Is anybody capable of counting number of all such persons? Have you ever thought about human’s capability of designing such innumerable structures? Are we capable of keeping account of all palms? In my personal opinion, we can’t design such innumerable structures and we cannot keep account of all such palms. But certainly there is somebody who keeps account of all such palms and always designs a new palm for every child to come. This is what compels me to acknowledge the infinite capability of our Creator.
Like capillaries or ridges in our fingers and thumbs, there are other capillaries. Amazingly, there are some prominent lines on palm of our hand. Definitely, these lines have not been created because of folds of our palm and they also do not give support to our palm. Then what for these lines are on our hands? According to size and shape of palms and fingers, hands can be classified in four categories.
(i) broad, square palms and fingers: The length of the palm from wrist to the bottom of the fingers is usually equal to the length of the fingers;
(ii) square or rectangular palms with long fingers: The length of the palm from wrist to the bottom of the fingers is usually less than the length of the fingers;
(iii) long (sometimes oval-shaped) palm, with long, flexible, conical fingers: The length of the palm from wrist to the bottom of the fingers is usually less than the width across the widest part of the palm, and usually equal to the length of the fingers.-; and
(iv) square or rectangular palm and shorter fingers: The length of the palm from wrist to the bottom of the fingers is usually greater than the length of the fingers.
Had lines on hand been for the purpose of providing folds or support, it would have been possible to classify them in four broad categories. But it is not so. Many of us believe that our character and future are recorded in these lines. If it so, then it is secret for us. Everybody cannot read such lines. May be that we do not understand the language used by our Creator. Palmistry is an art in which a practitioner reads an individual’s fortune or tells something about his/her character by viewing his/her palms. The practitioner uses the lines marks, and patterns to determine the person’s fate or give them insight into their personality. Palmistry is also known by other names such as chiromancy, chiromancy, palm reading, chirology, and hand analysis. The practitioners are often referred to as palm readers, chiromancers, palmists, or chirologists. The history of palmistry dates back thousands of years. Archaeologists have discovered stone, wood, and ivory hands carved that date back to ancient civilizations, so we know man has always been fascinated with the hand.
A palm reader looks at the lines and marks on palm to dictate the various aspects of individual’s life. Hands of course vary from person to person, but most include these three important lines:
The Heart Line– details ones love life as well as emotions and events that predict his/her ability to love and be loved. It is found towards the top of the palm, under the fingers. In some traditions, the line is read as starting from the edge of the palm under the little finger and flowing across the palm towards the thumb; in others, it is seen as starting under the fingers and flowing toward the outside edge of the palm. Palmists interpret this line to represent matters of the heart, both physical and metaphorical, and believe it can indicate emotional stability, romantic perspectives, depression, and stoicism, in addition to various aspects of cardiac health
Line of Life- represents a person’s liveliness, drive, physical health, and well-being; however it is not an indicator of how long someone will live. This line starts at the edge of the palm under the index finger and flows across the palm towards the outside edge. Often, the head line is joined with the life line (see below) at inception. Palmists generally interpret this line to represent the person's mind and the way it works, including learning style, communication style, intellectualism, and thirst for knowledge. It is also believed to indicate a preference for creative or analytical approaches to information
Line of Head– defines how one approaches life, including philosophies, beliefs, learning styles, and desire for knowledge. This line extends from the edge of the palm above the thumb and travels in an arc towards the wrist. This line is believed to represent the person's vitality and vigor, physical health, physical injuries and general well being.
Amazingly, in my own case, in palms of my both hands, in place of three lines viz. the line of heart, the line of life and the line of head, there are only two lines. One of them starts from one side of the palm in between my thumb and index finger and ends on opposite side of the palm. Thus, the line divides my palm in two halves and is deep rooted. Second line, after traveling some distance with first line, curves downwards towards my wrist in the shape of an arc. Till date I have not met a person having such lines in both palms of his/her hand.
There may also be other lines on our palm e.g. Line of fate, line of marriage, line of Marsh, line of mercury, line of intuition, line of fame, etc. Apart from lines, there are mounts (bumps) on every palm. These mounts are associated with specific features of our character. Each finger and various segments of a finger are also meaningful and they are associated with our inner powers, interests and our inclinations towards various arts.
Palmistry is a complete science in it and needs close and long study. Only theoretical knowledge is not sufficient. These lines vary from hand to hand. A practitioner, before starting practice, has to read various palms of known persons and events in their lives.
It is important to note that sometimes reading of a particular line is not complete without reading effect of other lines and mounts. So, before, correct prediction can be made, it becomes necessary to read other lines and mounts and their effect on such line. For example, if life line indicates some danger or physical injury in life at any stage, then it becomes necessary to read existence and nature of line of Marsh at that stage and/or line of mercury. Line of Marsh is thought to be secondary or auxiliary line of life.
A best way to read a palm is to take printout of palm. We should wash the hand to be read with soap and thereafter should apply paint on it with printing ink. On a white sheet of paper we should take printout of palm by putting our hand downwards and our palm facing downwards. We should press the hand with our other hand and if needed we should put eight folded handkerchief over our hand and then we should apply pressure with our other hand. This will give us clear picture of palm lines and location of mounts on our palm. Reading should be done with the help of magnifying glass. Reader should devote full time and should arrive at some result after composite reading of all lines and mounts as well as other aspects.
AVOID ROADSIDE READING OF PALM: What we mean by roadside reading of palm? It may mean incomplete reading, reading with insufficient knowledge of the subject or a casual reading. From the description I have given, you may infer that I have read some books on palmistry. Well it is correct. Knowing this, anybody may stretch his hand before me and may request me to tell him about his future. This may happen even when I visit my friend at his house. If I start telling him something immediately on looking his palm, then it is roadside reading of palm. Firstly, though I admit that I have read some books on palmistry yet I cannot predict incidents correctly because I have not practiced the art of palm reading. For correct predictions, somebody needs practical knowledge. Secondly, I cannot predict correctly unless I read effect of other lines and mounts on a particular line.
When I was doing my B.Sc., out of my curiosity, I decided to know about my future on the basis of lines in my hand. There was a palm reader sitting on one side of the road and people were asking there questions. I also stopped there and when my turn came, I stretched my hand before him. You know what he had told me was that there was no higher education (on being asked what he meant by higher education, he told me post graduation) in my hand and I was suffering from tuberculosis. He also predicted my death at the age of 25 years. Hearing all this I withdrew my hand and walked away without taking any note of predictions made by him. Contrary to his predictions, I am post graduate and I have never suffered from tuberculosis. I have left 25 years stage well behind me. So please don’t go for roadside reading of palm and before consulting any palmist, know about his practical knowledge. Before you consult some palmist, it is better to have some theoretical knowledge. Art is wide spread and is practiced world over. Several books are available on the subject and there are several institutes which provide education on the subject.

Here I am not publicizing various aspects of palmistry. My object behind all this is to draw attention of people towards the Supreme Power. Who has written our future in our hands? It can be done by only that power which knows all about us. Is there somebody who knows about future of all of us? Certainly, there is no such person from amongst us, because none of us has got such capability. All this is beyond human powers. Ultimately, we have to admit some Supreme power.

Is Religion by Birth?

Forgive me for my sins


In the article to follow, I have neither intended to hurt feelings nor intended to weaken the faith or belief in Almighty of any person belonging to any particular religion, sect, caste or creed. If I have said any thing which appears to be wrong or incorrect, it is because of my ignorance towards the reality and has come out because of the devil sitting in me who overpowers me to think like this and makes me restless till we express the ideas to other friends of mine.

After all we are human beings born with divine and devilish features in us। That is why a person who behaves like a noble person at some particular moment, the same person behaves like an animal at some other moment. That is why we feel anger, express hate towards others and administer cruelty. So please forgive me for my sins.



Is Religion By Birth?



What constitutes a religion? In my personal opinion, most probably, our faith and belief in God, our customs and traditions are constituents of our religion. There is nothing which prevents a person from switching over from one set of these constituents to new set of such constituents.

Initially, a newly born child finds its religion from its parents and if parents change their religion, religion of the child also gets changed. Well, we can say that there is no religion of its own for a newly born innocent child. Faith and belief in God, customs and traditions are inherited by it. In case of adoption of a child, where a child is adopted by a person, belonging to a religion different from the religion of its parents, person adopting the child gives its own faith and belief in God, customs and traditions to the child. Such religion continues to be religion of the child till it becomes able to understand the religion and till it does not change its religion.

What happens when a person having faith in some particular religion adopts a new religion? He gets rid of earlier concept of God, customs and traditions; and expresses his faith and belief in new concept of God, customs and traditions. Religion gurus help him in getting social recognition in the new society. All this happens in the manner: “Vasanshi jeernani yatha vihay nevani gruhiyati naroparani” in the manner a man, discarding his old clothes, wears new clothes. Today, inter-religion marriages are also getting recognition. In that case also, religion of either male or female is changed. A person can change its religion even if there is no social recognition.

What is expected from a person in his particular capacity is also referred to as its religion. For example: religion of a warrior, religion of a student, etc. This is temporary phase of life but it reminds us that religion is by cultivation.

Suppose that a person, claiming to belong to a particular religion, acts in contravention of principles laid down in such religion, then can it be said that he is follower of that particular religion? In my opinion, it will be wrong to address him follower of that religion. Suppose, a person, born in a family which had been follower of religion “X”, acts in contravention of religion “X” but in accordance with principles laid down in another religion “Y”. On his death, followers of religion “X” dispose off his dead body in the manner laid down in religion “X”, can it be said that dead person had followed religion “X”? Most probably not, because those were the followers, of religion “X”, who acted in the manner laid down in religion “X”. Had the dead body been able to take decision about manner of its disposal, it is just possible that it would have preferred religion “Y”. My inference is that religion of a person must be recognized by acts and deeds of such person. I mean to say, the religion, which supports his acts and deeds, should be treated as religion of such person. That is why at one place, I have expressed my views about my religion as follows:

There is a limited religion for me and preaching of my religion are those which are defined or described by my acts and deeds.

One should pay full respect to religious books, but it does not mean that religious books are to be worshiped like statue of God. In my opinion, even if I read a particular religious book daily, I cannot claim that I follow the principles laid down in that religious book. Religion is to be cultivated and not to be read only. A foreigner comes in India and during his stay in India, he studies religious books relating to sanatan dharma, can he claim that he is follower of sanatan dharma? No, he cannot say himself to be follower of sanatan dharma unless he adopts and follows principles laid down in those books. Barring those few people whose duty is to study and memorize the religious books, (with my apology to all) I hate those persons who read religious books daily but do not incorporate the principles laid down in those religious books in their daily lives. They are like a foreigner quoted above. This was the feeling which compelled me to write:

Yadi dharma granthon ke pennon par likhe sidhhanton per prayog ka faruaa na chalaya gayaa, to dharma dharma na rahker ek kalaa aaveran hai jiske peechhe Bhagvan ka naam baar baar lene waaley vyakti manav nahin, aapes mein takaraate nirajeev shilakhand hain jinhen mai apanen visheshadhikar athava anadhikar chestaa se dharma ki nindaa kernaa athava makhaul uraanaa adi sangyaayen hi detaa hoon.



If we do not cultivate religion by doing spade work on what is written on pages of our religious books then religion has got no meaning for us, it is just like a black curtain before us behind which there are inanimate rattling stones creating noise and not human beings pronouncing repeatedly name of God. I, with my special right or in an unauthorized manner, call their act as their disrespect for religion or as making of mockery of religion by them.

As it relates to my faith and belief in God, I can neither describe my God nor know my God. Truly speaking, I cannot even tell every thing about any person because I can in no manner know what is going on in the mind of such other person. I am not his closest friend. I have expressed my this feeling as under:

Yadi tum apane ko saadhu kahate ho toa mai tumhein eisaaa maanene se inkaar nahin kartaa, kintu mai apani ore se tumhen saadhu bhee nahin kahataa kyonki meri apeksha tum apane bare mein adhik jaankaar ho.

If you claim to be a saint, I accept it but I do not address you a saint from my side because you know better about you than I.

God is our Creator and we all are among His creations. We even do not know all about ourselves, then how we can know all about other creations of God. Secondly, His capability is not limited only to creativity of all. Thirdly, creator is always greater than its creation. Our capabilities are limited and also we do not know even about our capabilities. In these circumstances, how one can expect from us to say some thing about God. What all can we say is that He is omnipresent and omnipotent and we can only express our faith and belief in God.

As it relates to His omnipresence, His omnipresence is not limited to any worship place. His omnipresence is such that follower of religion “X”, who believes in His omnipresence, also finds His God in worship places built by followers of Religion “Y” because worship places built by followers of religion “Y” are not the places outside the purview of omnipresence. Therefore, it is essential that followers of religion “X” should also see their God in the worship places built by followers of religion “Y”. If we assume that God of the followers of religion “X” also resides in worship place built by followers of religion “Y”, then worship place built by followers of religion “Y” is abode of God of followers of religion “X”. Then how followers of religion “X” can demolish abode of their God and if they do so, then they do not believe in omnipresence of God and their act is against their religion. Therefore, they cannot be said to be followers of religion “X”.

karmanyevadhikaraste ...

KARMANYEVADHIKARASTE ......

       GEETA IS NOT TO BE WORSHIPPED, IT IS TO BE CULTIVATED. It explains life, soul, duty, karma, gyan and so many other things and aspects which are closely related to our life. It can be read at any time, but to understand it, it needs concentration and attention. Even a person, who has not taken a bath, can read Geeta, Geeta can be read even if you are traveling. Followers of any religion may read Geeta. For these and so many other reasons, it has been called Universal Mother. It is the Geeta which says do the task because it is better to do a task than not to do any task. Geeta speaks about performing of task (duty) appointed by ones nature. It is the Geeta which propounds the theory of karma without expectation of result because expectation is the sole cause of sorrows and unhappiness.
       Srimad Bhagwat Geeta is part of great epic Mahabharat. The battle of Mahabharat was fought in between forces of Pandawas and Kaurawas. Arjun was one of the Pandwas. Arjun very well knew that Mahabharat was being fought for justice. But there were certain illusions in his mind.? In the battle field when Arjun found that army of Kaurawas was consisting of his own brothers, teachers and elders, he felt desperate due to his attachment and associations with his own brothers, teachers and elders to whom he had always paid respect. He thought that by killing them he would commit a sin. After killing them he did not want to enjoy kingdom. Then Lord Krishna explained to Arjuna about temporary phase of happiness and sorrows and about immortal feature of soul. He explains that soul is independent of birth and death and it is the body which perishes on death. Soul can not be destroyed. Lord Krishna enlightened him with karm yoga, Gyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, saankhya yoga and so many other yogas. Shri Krishna explained to Arjun the cause of sorrows and unhappiness. He told him that these were due to involvement of human being ?in expectations (expectation of result). ?He explained him how one could be free from sorrows. He preached about karm and result in the following Shlok 47 of Chapter- 2 of the Geeta.
   Karmanyevaadhikarastey maa phaleshu kadachan.
Maa karmaphalheturbhuurma tey sangoastwakarmani.
Explanation: Tumhen apanaa karm (duty) karane ka adhikaar hai, kintu karm ke phalon ke adhikari nahin ho. Tun na toh kabhi apane aapako apane karmon ke phalon ka kaaran mano, na hi karam na karane mein kabhi aashakta hoao.
        You are authorized to perform your duty but you are not entitled for result of your doings. Neither you consider yourself the cause of your doings nor have faith in not doing your duty.
         Most of the people easily assimilate the meaning of karmanyevaadhikarastey, but most of them get confused about the words maa phaleshu kadachana. One should understand that if we correlate ‘result of karm’ with ‘karm’, then we are bound to have expectations and when result will not come as per expectations, sorrow is inevitable.? So in order to avoid sorrow, karm phal (result of karm) and karm are to be treated independent. They require dissociation.
    Let us assume that a student works hard before he appears in an examination. After examination is over, he expects that he should secure 75% marks. When result comes he finds that he has secured only 60% marks. Even if achievement of 60% is to be considered good achievement, the student will not be satisfied. It is but natural that the student will be unsatisfied and this dissatisfaction will be cause of his sadness. On the other hand another student works hard before he appears in the examination. Whenever somebody asks him about his expectation, he says I have done my job.? Whatever the result comes is not my concern. This student also secures 60% marks. He feels happy about his result because 60% is a good achievement. So in order to be satisfied, one has to reduce its expectations to zero. Then whatever will be the result, it always will be either to our expectation or more than our expectation. We can reduce our expectations to zero only if we do our duty and forget about outcome of the duty. Another way of reducing our expectation may be that we should sacrifice work done by us. In that case we know that we have done no work (because work done by us has been sacrificed), then in the normal course our expectation will be zero.
       Here it is to be noticed that first line of the shlok is not to be read in exclusion. Otherwise, in absence of karm (where we do not perform our duty) our expectation will also be zero. In the second line of the shlok it has been specifically said that one should not ignore karm. On the other hand even if we, without expectation, correlate the achievement with any karm, we will not succeed in dissociating of karm with result of karm.
    To follow the theory laid down in above referred shlok, it is essential to understand the meanings of the word karm. Usually karm refers to any kind of act. It is an admitted fact that none can stand actionless at any moment till his last breath. Even when a person sleeps he does a karm. Breathing in itself is a karm. This is evident from shlok-5 of Chapter-3 of the Geeta. This shlok runs as under:
             Na hi kashchitkshanamapi jatu aatisthatyakarmakrut.
             Karytey hyavashah karm saravah prakrutijairgunaih.
Explanation: pratyek vyakti ko prakruti se arjit gunon ke anusaar wivasha hokar karm karanaa padataa hai, atah koi bhi ek kshana ke liye bhi binaa karm kiye nahin raha sakataa.
       Every person has to perform its duty in accordance with its nature. No person can stand actionless even for a single moment.
       Then it becomes matter of concern what does the word karm refers to. Here one can think of three things, karm (swadharm), vikarm and akarm. Karm refers to an act which is expected from any person in the specific situation in which he is. For example if one is student then his swadharm is the religion of a student consisting of all those acts which are expected from a student, if somebody is a doctor then his swadharm is the religion of a doctor consisting of all those acts which are expected from a doctor. Karm is an act for which person has right to perform. Vikarm is the act for which a person is not authorized by its nature to do it. Akarm refers to the state in which a person does not perform its karm. So definitely karm refers to ones duty according to ones nature.
       Without karm, we cannot even earn our livelihood. Therefore, karm is essential for life. Shlok -8 of Chapter-3 of the Geeta runs as follows:
           Niyatam kuru karm twam karmjyaayo hyakarmanah.
           shariryatrapi ch tey na prasidhyedakarmanah.
        Apana niyat karm karo, kyonki karm na karane ki apeksha karm karana shrestha hai. Karm ke bina toh sharir nirwah bhi nahin ho sakata.

        Do your task appointed by your nature, it is better to go for karm than remaining without karm. Without karm, life cannot even go on.

Yagyarthatkarmanoanyatra lokoayam karmbandhanah.

Tadartha karm kaunteya muktasangah samaachar.

       Yagya ke ruup mein karm karana chahiye, anyatha karm ke dwaara is bhautik jagat mein bandhan utpanna hota hai. Atah hey kuntiputra phalakanksha se mukta hokar niyat karm karo. Is tarah tum bandhan se sada mukta rahoge.
       One should perform karm in the form of yagya, otherwise karm becomes cause of bondage in this materialistic world. Krishna directs Arjuna for doing his duty without expectation of result and tells him that in this manner he will always remain free from bonds.
      In a yagya we offer things to deities and thereby disown such things by burning them in the pious fire of yagya. In the same manner we are expected to offer our duties in the name of God and thus acts done by us will be sacrificed or disowned. Thereafter, question of expectations will not arise. When somebody disowns anything by way of gift then he loses right of any gain in return of it.
   Thus we see the theory of karma is based purely on logic and it can be exercised by any person whatsoever religion he follows.