Ajay0

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) in collaboration with the Brahmakumaris have devised an interesting way to process recycled construction and demolition debris involving solar thermal energy ensuring sustainability. The Brahmakumaris have an excellent track record in green energy projects, and scientific researchers used their giant solar concentrators of the thermal power plant in the Brahmakumari headquarters for their research purposes, which yielded excellent data on recycling waste concrete and the valuable properties the processed concrete possessed with various structural applications. This is a good case study of collaboration between spiritual institutions and scientific researchers for furthering green energy research, initiatives and environmental conservation. https://thebetterindia.com/309007/prof-ravindra-gettu-iit-madras-scientists-recycle-waste-concrete-using-solar-thermal-energy/

American economist, academic and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs on Nato... https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/ap6xhb4f2h8taxn3f9486kallhnsxw

Ashoka was the third Mauryan Emperor ( 304 – 232 BCE) in the Indian subcontinent, who is considered a major patron of Buddhism responsible for spreading it across Asia and the known world then. He started his imperial career as an aggressive young conqueror seeking to expand his empire and invaded the state of Kalinga , an independent feudal kingdom. While Ashoka emerged victorious in the hard fought war, the heavy casualties he witnessed depressed him and he experienced a bout of unhappiness and mental anguish instead. This was instrumental in his conversion to Buddhism and pacifism later on. Aśokāvadāna is a book that is about Ashoka and is part of the Divyavadana which are some of the oldest Buddhist writings. His remorse after the bloodshed of the Kalinga war is poignantly expressed thus :                  "What have I done?                   If this is a victory,                 what's a defeat then?             Is this a victory or a defeat?              Is this justice or injustice?                Is it gallantry or a rout?   Is it valor to kill innocent children and women? Did I do it to widen the empire and for prosperity or to destroy the other's kingdom and splendor?                One has lost her husband,                       someone a child,               someone an unborn infant....            What's this debris of the corpses?          Are these marks of victory or defeat?                       Are these vultures,                                crows,         eagles the messengers of death or evil?"

Attention deficit, I suppose. I had mentioned in the op that Ashoka embraced Buddhism and pacifism later on after the brutal Kalinga war.

Odisha (An Eastern State In India) has decided to Expand Mangrove Forests In Coastal Areas For Cyclone Protection https://orissadiary.com/odisha-to-expand-mangrove-forests-in-coastal-areas-for-cyclone-protection/

Mangrove forests significantly mitigated the impact of Cyclone Dana along Odisha's coast in eastern India. The dense mangroves near near Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port helped reduce wind speeds and prevent severe damage to structures, proving essential in the region's defense against natural disasters. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/trending/how-mangroves-in-odisha-likely-reduce-cyclone-danas-impact/articleshow/114861057.cms In 2023, the world's economic loss from natural disasters was estimated at $380 billion. Using natural resources like mangrove forests to reduce the impact of super-storms and cyclones is one example or case study of using nature itself as a means to fight natural disasters effectively and reducing substantially the damage caused in the process.

The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life's challenges when they come. Through those challenges, an already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious, and a conscious person more intensely conscious. You can use a challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even deeper sleep. The dream of ordinary unconsciousness then turns into a nightmare. ~ Eckhart Tolle Every challenge takes you a little deeper and awakens you again and again. Without the challenges, you probably would go to back to sleep. The challenges keep you awake. ~ Eckhart Tolle I do not put much emphasis on periods of meditation - if you do meditation, it's fine - but the important thing is to bring the awareness into everyday life, into every little action that you do, into the varied challenges of everyday life. ~ Eckhart Tolle https://www.azquotes.com/author/14703-Eckhart_Tolle/tag/challenges

A message by Dadi Janki of the Brahmakumaris on interfaith harmony , delivered for World Interfaith and Harmony Week 2015. https://aboutbrahmakumaris.org/un-page-on-interfaith-and-harmony-week/

This is actually an ancient concept known as the Rajarshi. The Rajarshi means one who has attained both spiritual prosperity as in enlightenment and material prosperity as in wealth and riches. The Rajarshi is considered superior to the mere monk because the monk is dependent on the Rajarshi for his food, shelter and other necessities. By aiding the monk in his material needs, the Rajarshi gets the spiritual merit for it. The slogan of the enlightened sage Prem Nirmal is to become 'an enlightened billionaire.' Janaka is mentioned in the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita as an ancient enlightened king who attained enlightenment , and is often considered as a symbolic example of the Rajarshi. Solomon is similarly an example of a wise and wealthy philosopher-king in the Abrahamic tradition. Janaka and Solomon are good examples to follow in terms of people who have attained both spiritual and material prosperity.

The two world wars which originated in europe and killed over 100 million people came as a result of military alliances and competition over colonies. The wars weakened the european colonial powers to the point that the asian, african and south american nations were able to gain their independence and freedom. Sadhguru is a Guru and has disciples in China as well and does not have any nationalistic bias. He is only wishing for world peace and hoping that the ukraine war does not result in further casualties . India , in a display of its diplomatic prowess and capabilities, patched up its relations with China recently and Modi and Xi were seen together in the Brics summit recently. ( Brics now covers more people and gdp than the g7.) US-nato however still keeps a confrontational posture with Russia( the only power on earth with the nuclear weapon capabilities to wipe out US-NATO) instead of seeking diplomatic solutions through talks and dialogue.

The present ongoing wars with a potential for escalation to nuclear holocaust is not a conspiracy theory but a hard fact. Check out the thousands of dead solddiers and civilians, if you care to look. I am not a fan of Trump but I am okay with his statements on de-escalation of the european war.

Well, I appreciate your innocence and naivete.

What if that is what the capitalist own media narratives say so that they can keep creating wars around the world to bag expensive orders for their weaponry , without anyone getting smarter or wiser ! They have even dismantled democratic governments and replaced them with authoritarian ones if it fitted their economic agenda. I would ask you to exercise your own judgement rather than be superficially manipulated by external conditioning .

Fasting increases the prana/chi which helps in healing and helps meditate better. However, fasting for a week or month is not advisable unless you have done the necessary preparation and research, is used to such long fasts, and have a conducive ecosystem around you with experienced guides and medical facilities. I would recommend intermittent or partial fasting or fasts for upto three days at the most. I usually do not eat much at night and avoid dinner and supper as it helps me to rise up early with a clear head. Food taken at night also goes mainly undigested so it is a waste of money and food as well. Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography has creditted low food intake or fasts with better mental clarity.

Sadghguru has a right to his opinion. Even American intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Christopher Hedges have been critical of US-Nato's expansion to the very borders of Russia, wilfully ignoring their promise to Gorbachev, and which provoked the invasion. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_218172.htm?selectedLocale=en Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg admitted and boasted about nato provoking Putin to invade, ignoring the heavy casualties of the war that followed, and focussed only on the expansion of NATO inspite of the threat of nuclear war and holocaust. Defense companies share values have increased manifold after the war, and I am suspecting that this has been a money making scheme from the start. “War is rich old men protecting their property by sending middle class and lower class young men off to die. It always has been.” ~ George Carlin

Food is not the only source of energy. In yoga and martial arts, there are techniques to gain prana or chi so as to overcome fatigue fast. I know of many yogis who do prodigious work with less or no food intake. And there are many who eat prodigal amounts of food while exerting most painfully to reach the tv remote control. In the 'Autoiograhy of a yogi'. Yogananda had cited the examples of Theresa Neumann and Giri Bala as examples of saints who have never eaten for years. That's a cultural difference. In India , I know of stories of advanced Kalaripayattu martial artists who prepare for duels with fasts and meditation, solitude and silence to increase their chi. They can kill a much heftier opponent by hitting their vital spots in unarmed combat, or in armed combat behead him with a urumi or whip like blade before he can process what is happening, at a split second or twinkling of an eye. Lots of muscle mass does not figure much in such combat, and they usually result in lack of necessary speed, agility and manueverability which a trained expert can easily exploit.

Even Siddhartha took around six years to attain enlightenment or Buddhahood. He studied from the best teachers around, applied whatever he learnt passionately, endured privations which would weaken the resolve of lesser beings, and eventually reached enlightenment. There were many who died and still die trying to reach Mt.Everest, the highest peak in the world or Mt.K2,considered the most dangerous mountain in the world, but this does not meant that they were beyond human capabilities. Enlightenent is considered to be the greatest of human achievements due to the perpetual peace and bliss attained, compared to other achievements which will only result in temporary happiness and peace till the next desire arises. Nothing in life comes free and you have to pay the proper price for it in terms of study, effort and time.

Isro is set to launch its first electric propulsion-led spacecraft , significantly reducing satellite mass. https://www.indiatvnews.com/science/isro-to-launch-electric-propelled-satellite-in-december-2024-chairman-somanath-2024-10-28-959231 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indias-first-home-grown-electric-propulsion-satellite-to-be-launched-in-dec-isro-chief/articleshow/114665755.cms

Mohanji is a modern spiritual master, and the following is a description of his awakening process... https://mohanji.org/mohanji-life-journey/

Full-fledged individuality will result in anarchy and chaos, with people doing as they fit without consideration for the other. External morality, brought about by well-thought and defined laws helps to ensure order and prevent the impinging of individual rights and liberty. As Martin Luther King stated, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also”. Obviously love, and compassion as a state of consciousness manifesting as non-violence would amount to inner morality. If inner morality is lacking, external morality would have to obviously come in place through fear of law and punishment. Morality, external and internal, also enables better self-discipline, focus and impulse control, necessary for curbing the natural inertia and restlesness of the mind, creating external and internal environments conducive to peace and coherent thought. The mind thus becomes an ideal instrument for philosophical enquiry and attaining self-knowledge. Ethical discipline or morality , as per eastern philosophy,thus plays the role of exercises in disciplining the mind and calming it. It is a calm and equanimous mind that has the best possibility of thinking coherently and correctly, and for gaining Self-knowlege and enlightenment. When someone has good virtue, or sīla, they have better behavioral discipline. The Buddha taught that sīla is the foundation of all wholesome qualities. That means that if we develop good sīla, then it will be easy to develop other good qualities like samādhi (concentration) and paññā (wisdom). Thus moral conduct has value in reducing psychological suffering and increasing happiness and peace through wisdom.

Yeah, I suppose nihilism may have been a byproduct of the intellectual wave of scientific materialism and utilitarianism in the west in the past two centuries, which subjected everything including morals and ethics to the narrow analytic frameworks of scientific scrutiny and utility value.

'Wholesome virtuous behavior progressively leads to the foremost.' - Buddha AN 10.1 Western philosophy and psychology, which is of recent origin, has not yet touched upon the phenomenon of enlightenment or Buddhahood , and this is why nihilism and other lopsided philosophies like existentialism were prominent in the west leading to an erroneous thought process and corresponding actions, considering all moral values to be abstractly contrived. Nihilism is considered to be a philosophical cause for the world wars. Viktor Frankl, holocaust survivor and famous psychiatrist had this to say regarding the influence of nihilism... In eastern philosophy on the other hand, moral values and virtues are considered to be valuable in expansion of consciousness (and destruction of karma) alongside meditation, awareness or total love and instrumental in attainment of enlightenment or Buddhahood.

True indeed. The nihilist however, ignorant of the phenomenon of enlightenment, would consider truth to be a mental abstraction as well, considering chaos and randomness to be the essential feature of the multiverse or existence in general. Rajini Menon is a modern enlightened sage who attained enlightenment by adhering to virtuous conduct and following her conscience. I had created a thread on her in this regard over here... https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/54125-female-enlightened-master-rajini-menon-on-attaining-enlightenment-by-virtuous-conduct/#comment-711667 The enlightened sage Anandamayi Ma had stated that atheists are capable of spiritual development and enlightenment provided there is adherence to ethical conduct.

The International Day of Diplomats is celebrated every year on October 24 since 2017, honouring the invaluable role that diplomats play in maintaining international relations, fostering peace, and promoting dialogue between countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomat https://www.etvbharat.com/en/!international/international-day-of-diplomats-2024-enn24102400601 War is a failure of diplomacy and it is said that the world wars could have been avoided if there were quality diplomats and diplomatic processes in place which would have prevented the botched negotiations then. The nations of the world make substantial investments in their military and only a fraction of that goes to creating a top-notch diplomatic corps. I am hoping that this day can help people remember the value of diplomacy and dialogue in fostering peace and preventing conflicts, and place renewed emphasis on it again.

Sister Shivani, a Brahmakumari spiritual teacher, advises taking a 5-second pause before drinking water or eating food to say positive affirmations. She believes this simple practice can lead to inner peace and prosperity by allowing the water to absorb and reflect positive intentions, fostering a healthier mindset and overall well-being. The affirmations can help orient the thought process to a positive one, and gratitude expressed can attract more positives to life. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/soul-search/sister-shivanis-5-second-rule-before-drinking-water-can-help-achieve-your-goals/articleshow/113211086.cms