Merry Christmas!!!

I dream of a star,
I dream of a moon,
And the next morning when I wake up,
I watch my dreams come true…
(My song)

Dear friends, I dreamt of something so beautiful and I made a painting of it and now I am gonna to share it with you. Let me explain the meaning of my painting…

The above lines inscribed are:

The babies are asleep in thier warm blankets,
The night is so quiet and the moon and stars shine out,
Tomorrow morning the sun will rise again,
The birds will chirp again,
The flowers will bloom again,
The life will go on,
We will live again....
(My poem)

The buildings show that people have shelter (I have also explained in my poem that all the babies are safe and fine). There are windows decorated with colourful lights showing that the people are happy, healthy and wealthy. There is a small factory and an office building conveying employment. The factory is actually a small bakery with a chimney emitting smoke, showing that there are some people working for us even at night so that we get fresh bread to eat for breakfast. I mean to show gratitude for people whom I don’t know, even though they have contributed to mu life, no matter if it’s even in a small way. With this office building I mean to convey that there is economic welfare in the world and people are well employed.

There are lampposts and a well maintained road showing modernisation and infrastructure for the welfare of the people. However, at the same time there is harmony in nature (I have expressed it by mentioning that “the birds will chirp” and “the flowers will bloom”). The night and the dark sky with shining stars and moon convey peace – GLOBAL PEACE in the world. Everyone feels secured. There is also a church with a holy cross that looks so beautiful! With this I mean that religion is understood in its true sense and it is preserved in a truthful way. People understand the true value of it, and it teaches us to love and respect and bring equality between all humans coming from different backgrounds. It is no longer abused to spread hatred.

I further write that “the sun will rise again, life will go on and we will live again” conveying the message of HOPE. Life is so divine, its our teacher. Value it. Sometimes in midst of chaos, crowd and pollution I still see that there are always so many good things happening. I feel a sense of togetherness at times.

This is my dream. Of hope and love. Merry Christmas!!!

Shawshank Redemption

A movie worth wacthing!!

It’s one of the best movies that I have seen till now!. Shawshank Redemption is a story about a young vice president of the Maine Bank who gets wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. It’s a carefully constructed story that shows the life of Andy (the person convicted) in the prison. He learns about life in a better way in the jail while teaching to others as well.

It shows about how the lives can be so cracked and worn in the jail. Insipite of 19 long years in the jail, Andy does not stop dreaming. His determination, conviction and willpower put me into thinking. There many interesting parts in the movie that convey a message of hope and faith in a beautiful and dramatic way. Finally, Andy gets redeemed and free from the prison life with his own efforts that took him 19 long years. It’s a very striking scene when Andy escapes, and as the scene unfolds the mystery of his escape, the movie becomes more interesting. I am sure you are going to feel more alive after watching this movie. It teaches us in the most amazing way that there is no word like impossible.

The movie is a great example of Yoga. It’s all about retaining faith in oneself and having a never-die attitude. It’s all about human capacity and the extent that a human being can rise up to. Andy uses all the opportunities to its best and gives a complete justice to the time. It shows that how important is time and sometimes we taking it for granted. If a human wants then he has the power to change misfortune into happiness. The inner strength and desire of Andy allows him to right the injustice that has occurred to him and he finally escapes form this adversity and gets his freedom and his life back. There are many interesting things that give a deeper meaning to the movie. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and I can say that I am not the same.

In short this movie is filled with a lot of energy and I completely adore the strength of this character called Andy. It’s a must see and a lesson for life. Well, it has shaken me up, so if you wish then try to get yourself shaken too :-)

Go ahead and watch it!!Yeah!

Cooking Rajma Chawal

Healthy Vegetarian Cooking !!!

– Easy to cook, great in taste –

It’s so easy and quick to cook some nutritious vegetarian recipe. And, they taste so great and its light on the stomach too. So friends, today I will share with you a delicious recipe of Rajma Chawal (Indian dish of kidney beans with rice) that I had cooked the previous day for my family.

Kidney beans are rich in soluble fibre, so these are good in controlling cholesterol. They are a good source of protein, foliate, manganese and zinc. Kidney beana are also a good source of iron and potassium, thiamine, riboflavin, phosphorus and copper. The high soluble fibre in kidney beans helps to eliminate cholesterol from the body and helps to cleanse the digestive tract.

So I soaked around 350gm of kidney beans in water for overnight for around 10 hour. In the morning the beans were double the size and had turned soft but not chewable. Next step is to put the beans in a pressure pan with some salt and 6 cups (750 ml) of water for around 12 to 15 minutes on medium to low flame.

COOKING TIME (30 minutes)
INGREDIENTS (serves 4 portions)
· Rajma cooked in the pressure pan after overnight soaking
· 2 Medium sized onions (finely chopped)
· 8 Medium sized tomatoes (finely chopped)
· 5-6 big cloves of garlic (crushed or grinded)
· ½ teaspoon of red chilli powder (optional, only if you want it slightly hot)
· 2 tablespoon of Milk cream/ whole yoghurt
· Salt to taste
· 2 pinches of turmeric powder (if available)
· 2 tablespoon of peanut oil (or any other oil that you regularly use)
· Coriander leaves for garnishing

METHOD
1. Put oil in a deep pan and heat it, add onions and sauté them on a medium flame until they become golden brown in colour.
2. Add garlic and mix it well for a minute, lower the flame while mixing.
3. Add tomatoes and mix it well for 2 minutes on high flame and then let it cook for next 10 minutes on low flame until they are completely soft and mashed.
4. Add the boiled rajma along with the remaining water and stir well on high flame for 2 minutes. Add salt and turmeric powder and mix well.
5. Lower the flame and let it simmer for next 10 to 15 minutes to allow the flavours to mingle well.
6. Put a little milk cream to make the texture smooth and creamy and garnish it with coriander leaves.



And serve hot with some rice (you can drain the starchy water from the rice for a healthier option) and salad and some green vegetables!!



Nutrition values of Kidney Beans
Serving Size 1 cup (185 g)
Calories: 241
Protein: 15.1 g
Total fat: 0.8 g
Saturated Fat 0.2g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1g
Carbohydrate: 45 g
Fibre: 9.8 g
Calcium: 98 mg
Iron: 2.2 mg
Sodium: 442 mg
Potassium: 801 mg
Cholesterol: 0

Can you believe that such tiny beans from nature are power packs of nutrition!? So do try cooking it yourself!!

I will be back with some more interesting recipes for you guys!! Take care till then!

What is Yoga?

After so much travelling :-) .. let’s discuss a bit of Yoga Philosophy? So, what do you think about starting by the definition of Yoga?

Nowadays Yoga has become well-known by the practice of Asanas (Phisical Education), and, in this sense people go on subdividing Yoga, classifying it in ways such: Iyengar Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga and so forth. Therefore Yoga became reduced to a system of Physical Training or Exercise and the Yoga subdivisions are nothing but the different styles in which these exercises are practiced and are named over their promulgators and advocates. So.. is it all about Yoga?

Not really!!! Yoga is a Ancient Science and taking it as sole physical exercise is a misuse of knowledge as it is stated in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and as we will have a chance to discuss in a future post.

The purpose here is to clarify what Yoga really is and by this, offer some basic guide-lines (in posterior articles) to allow Yoga enthusiats to become more aware about how their practices should be done if they really want to practice Yoga.

So let’s see how Yoga is defined by it’s foremost and authentic exponent, the Sage Patañjali. In the Yoga Sutras, a classical work, Patañjali has compiled and systematized the knowledge regarding to the Philosophy of Yoga. This means that he has not created anything new. He has only organized and presented the knowledge in a systematic form, so that less evolved souls could follow the disciplines and attain the benefits of their application.

The Yoga Sutras comprehend 195 aphorisms (tersely sentences, but vigorously expressive observations containing a general truth) through which the Yoga Philosophy are exponded. In the first sutra Patañjali declares that from that moment Yoga is going to be explained for the benefit of all.

And in the very 2nd sutra Patañjali gives us the definition of Yoga as follows:

Obviously the knowledge of Sanskrit is necessary for grasping the meaning of the aphorisms. For that, we the help of different commentators and scholars, we can understand the above as follows:

yoga – union or joining (implying “means or use” and also “result”)
citta – the ordinary consciousness (personality-complex, including the different aspects of the mind, intellect, ego, emotions)
vrtti – the different states, fluctuations, modifications, behaviour
nirodhah – restraint, control, cessation

Yoga is, thus, Union achieved by restraining, leading to the cessation of the fluctuations of the ordinary consciouness.

But which Union is that talked about in here. I have heard Yoga students and practitioners repeating: Union of Body, Mind and Spirit. This is not wrong, but the sentence has already become a cliché. Deeper insight into the subject is lacking. The 3rd sutra explains clearly which Union Patañjali is talking about.

The translation of this sutra is:

tada – then, at that time (of Union)
drastuh – the seer, the self, the soul
svarupe – in its own, in its state
avasthanam – abide, dwell, get stablished, settle

Then, at that time (of Realization), the seer gets stablished in its own state.

Yoga is, therefore, a result: the state of union of the soul with it’s true essence; an outcome of the continuous practice of a system of disciplines. But Yoga is also the means through which this Union is achieved. In other words, Yoga is also the application or the course of discipline itself.

The next sutra explains what happen when the seer or the soul is not established in his own.

vrtti – the different states of the ordinary consciousness or the complex-personality (its fluctuations and modifications, moods and behaviour)
sarupyam – identification of, appearance of
itaratra – not at the state of realization, at other time, elsewhere

At all other times, the seer is identified with the different states of ordinary consciousness

In this state, it can not realise its own fundamental nature which is, by the way, divine in essence. That is the estate in which we normally live. We get identified with our body and mind and do not realise that we are a divine soul.

This makes me remind my childhood when I heard someone telling me that I had a soul and I was wondering what would be that thing. Later on I heard that the animals had no souls and I also learnt that when the Jesuits arrived in Brazil they believed that the indigenous peoples who lived there did not have a soul and that they could only attain one through the ritual of baptism. Today I think of what is more absurd: to think that the animals or the Brazilian Indians would not have souls or to think that we have one? The whole concept is wrong. It is not this “I” who has a soul. Not this body or mind that has a soul. But I am the Soul who uses the body and mind to operate in this material word and who gets completely identified to them (body and mind) in the states of ordinary consciousness.

Now the question is: are your Yoga practices helping you to realise your own divine nature, to achieve union, or are they making you more identified and attached to your body? If the latter is so, what you are doing is not Yoga.

Let's us practice real Yoga and get stablished in our own divine nature!!

Namaskar !!!