Some Moral Conducts

Note: Please try to read these blogs chronologically, they will make more sense.)

Bhagwan Swaminarayan has set some moral conducts for householders and sadhus which include:

For Householders:

• Live an addiction-free life; Do not partake in drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
• Consume a strict vegetarian diet free from tamasic foods, such as onion and garlic.
• Refrain from stealing, violence, slander, and fraud.
• Live a morally pure life free from adultery.

For Sadhus:

• Nishkam - Live a life free from lust; Follow the discipline of eight-fold celibacy.
• Nisneh - Live a life free from attachment; Offer complete servitude and love for God.
• Niswad - Live a life free from gluttony or vicarious taste; Relish only in the flavor of God’s splendor.
• Nirman - Live a life free from ego; Practice humility and selfless service.
• Nirlobh - Live a life free from greed; Satisfaction is only derived from attaining God.

Why Hindu's Are Vegetarian

The root of vegetarianism is vested in the principle of ahimsa: not causing any pain to any living being at any time through one’s mind, speech, or actions. Bhagwan Swaminarayan has also set strict rules against ahimsa in his Shikshapatri. A vegetarian diet is not only good for the body but also for the environment. 

Environmental Benefits:

• The meat industry produces 37% of all methane, which is 23 times more harmful than carbon dioxide, and 65% of all nitrous oxide, which is 296 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. – UN Food and Agricultural Association 2006
• 1 kg of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on at home. – New Scientist – July 18, 2007; National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science, Japan
• A typical 6oz beef steak requires 16 times more energy to produce and emits 25 times more carbon dioxide than a similar vegetarian meal. – Bard Center or Environmental Policy, NY (University of Chicago)
• It takes almost 7kg of vegetable protein to produce 1kg of animal protein . 
• A third of the world’s land suitable for growing crops is used to produce feed for farm animals. – Vegetarian Society
• An acre of land can produce: 250 lbs of beef, 10,000 lbs of runner beans, 30,000 lbs of carrots, 50,000 lbs of tomatoes. – Vegetarian Society

Health Benefits:

According to the ADA, vegetarians are at lower risk for developing:

• Heart disease
• Colorectal, Ovarian, and Breast cancers
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)

A vegetarian diet is low in fat and high in fiber. Hence, it is effective in lowering the risk for various diseases.

I hope you got to learn something from this post. Feel free to comment, and have a great day! :)

Hindu Festivals Continued...

For this blog you will need to know the spiritual successors of BAPS (my faith)

Swaminarayan Bhagwan (Lord)

Gunatitanand Swami (Ideal Devotee)

Bhagatji Maharaj

Shastriji Maharaj

Yogiji Maharaj

Pramukh Swami Maharaj

• Pramukh Varni Din: On this day my Guru's Guru's Guru appointed Pramukh Swami Maharaj (my guru) as the president of BAPS. People in India visit to Ambli Vali Pol, the place where he was appointed.
• Yogi Jayanti: The birthday of my Guru's Guru. We celebrate it by remembering Yogiji Maharaj's life and work.
• Rath Yatra: The Rath Yatra festival, popularly known as the procession of chariots, originated in the pilgrimage city of Jagannath Puri. Shri Krishna, Balaramji, and Subhadra Devi, are placed in a colorful chariot. Devotees lovingly pull the chariots in a procession through the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people gather to perform puja of the murtis by sprinkling rice and gulal powder.
• Guru Purnima: This is to thank our guru for all the knowledge he has given us. We pray to him to give us strenght to progress on the spiritual paths, and to gain prosperity in life.
• Hindolo Utsav: People make creative swings and place Bhagwan on it and swing him.
• Raksha Bandhan: The sister ties a colorful string on the brother's hand to symbolize that she is protecting him from negetive influence. In return the brother gives her gifts, and vows to her that he will always protect her. 
• Janmashtami: Krishna Bhagwan was born on this day. We celebrate his birthday. When Lord Krishna was young he used to like yogurt; back then people would put it in pots and hang it high to the celing. Krishna would climb up to break these pots to eat the yogurt out of it. To celebrate this some cities in India hang Pots up high on buildings and there are big groups that will try to break it. Here's a picture:
• Ganesh Chaturthi: Lord Shiva's and Parvati's son is Ganesh. Lord Shiva was off to meditate in the mountains for a couple of months and told his wife Parvati that if she ever get lonely, she can make a baby out of clay and chant a mantra and the baby will become alive. When he was gone, she felt lonely and tried the mantra, and the baby came to life. One day she was going to bathe and told her son to guard the door. Lord Shiva came back from his meditation and saw this little boy, not knowing that this was his son, he said move out of my way, I need to meet my wife. The boy did not listen and told him that he was guarding the door for his mother. This made Lord Shiva mad and he cut the boy's head. When Parvati came out, she saw her son dead. She cried in despair over the loss of her son. To console her shiva told his people to go to the forest and get the head of the first animal they see. They saw a baby elephant and cut its head. Shiva then placed the elephant head on the child's head and brought him to life. To celebrate this, people bring an idol at home and keep it for certain days and then his idol is submurged into the ocean. In Mumbai they have a contest of which community has the biggest and the best idol.
• Jal Jhilani Ekadashi: People observe a waterless fast. This is the same day that the murtis of Ganesh is submurged into the water. People sing spiritual songs while taking the murti (idol) to the ocean.
• Navratri: Shakti/Strenght, the female goddes fought evil for 9 days. People fast for these days and dance at nights for the victory of good. 
• Vijaya Dashmi/Dashera: The day Lord Ram killed Ravan (evil). People make Ravan's body out of hay, other objects, and burn it to celebrate the death of evil.
• Sharad Purnima: Gunatitanad Swami was born. Also, that night Laxmi (goddess of prosperity) flies by the sky and blesses people that are awake with prosperity. People eat pauva (sweet delicacy) 

Hindu Festivals

There are a lot of Hindu festivals, they all go according to the lunar Hindu calender, I will be naming them all, and describing some.

• Diwali: This is the festival of Lights. The story of Lord Ram is written in the Ramayan. Lord Ram returns home after 14 years of living in the forest, this festival was celebrated by the people of his kingdom when he returned by lighting up the entire kingdom. We celebrate the death of evil and the victory of God by lighting up the house, we clean the house, we make delicacies, we dress niceley, we play with fire crackers, we get gifts, and its just the happiest time.
• Nutan Varas (New Year)/Annakut: The Hindu New Year, we dress nicely and give and get gifts, we visit peoples house and greet them. At our mandir we have an annakut festival, everyone brings delicious delicasies and offers it to God. 
• Prabhodini Ekadashi: Bhagwan Vishnu wakes up from his four month sleep and goes to his adobe. This is also the month where all the plants are harvested in India. The vegetables and fruits from these plants are placed in front of God to thank him for giving us Food.
• Uttarayan: The festival of flying kites. You also donate anything you can because it is considered an auspicious day.
• Vasant Panchami: The beginning of Spring. The birthday of Shikshapatri (a moral code of conduct book written by lord Swaminarayan).
• Maha Shivratri: We pray to Lord Shiva. We bathe him, we fast on this day, and stay up all night singing praises of god. There are also special gatherings held called melas.
• Holi: Festival of colors. We celebrate the victroy of good. We play with colors, and water.
• Fuldol: This is just like Holi but for a different purpose. You ask God to spray you with color, the color of knowledge, and devotion.
• Ram Navami: Birthday of Lord Ram.
• Hari Jayanti: Birthday of Lord Swaminarayan.
• Hanuman Jayanti: Birthday of Lord Hanuman, or the monkey God who is the ideal devotee of lord Ram.
• Nrusinh Jayanti: We celebrate the Incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu as Nrusinh, half human, half lion. He killed an evil king who was very mean to his son. He wanted everyone to praise him and pray to him not to God. His son knew that his father was wrong and he would always pray to God. Because the his Father did not like that, he tried to kill him in many ways. Finally, when Nrusinh killed the King, was peace returned in the kingdom.

For today, this much is enough, I will post the rest of the festivals in my next blog. I hope you learned something from this blog, and I hope that this was helpful. If you have any questions or concerns please comment. Have a great day! :)

My Guru: Pramukh Swami Maharaj

My Guru Pramukh Swami Maharaj

The word Guru is defined as one who dispels the darkness of ignorance. This term was originally used for spiritual teachers, but in modern times people use it as any type of a teacher. 

My guru performs diksha ceremonies of youth into renunciation. One these youths become sadhus (saints) they cannot go back to their home town, they cannot see their parents.

My guru performs murti pratishta rituals. When we get a new mandir (temple) we install murti's (idols) of Bhagwan (God) and my Guru calls Bhagwan to reside in the stone bodies.

My guru offers discourses to devotees to help them widen their spiritual knowledge.

The guru pacifies the inner turmoils of countless followers by meeting, counseling, and blessing them, whether in person, through letters, or telephone calls.

My Guru has shown me the path of meeting me Guru. My guru is not only my spiritual teacher but also my inspiration. When I think that at such an old age he can do all these things, then I am young and can do a lot of things.

Conecept of Karma

Karma can be described as simply as cause and effect, an individual will be responsible for his/her actions and their effects. Bhagwan (God) rewards, or punishes according to the deeds committed. We are always performing Karma's either it be physically, mentally, or emotionally. Everything that happens on this planet has a reason, nothing is coincidental. Any deed that you perform good or bad has a consequence to it, you will either experience the pay back as soon as your deed, in the same life, or any of your next lives. An individuals past actions have an effect on the present, and the present has an effect on the future. Every person to a certain degree is the creator of their own destiny because of the deeds that they perform.

All of our karmas are performed in one of two ways. The first way is called nishkãm karma, when actions are performed without any expectation of material gain, ego, or material desires. Nishkãm karmas are only performed to fulfill one’s duties and please God. The second way is called sakãm karma, when actions are performed with an expectation of material desire or purpose. Bhagwan Swaminarayan taught the ideal of performing one’s karmas without the expectation of material gain. He stressed the need for an aspirant to have one desire – to please God even while performing nishkãm karma.
In Hindu Dharma there are 3 types of karmas:

1. Kriyamãn karma are karmas being acquired every moment. The fruits of these karmas can be attained in this life, the next, or after many births.
2. Sanchit karma is an accumulation of karmas containing the sum total of all a person’s karmas from one or many past lives. The fruits of these karmas are being experienced or have yet to be experienced.
3. Prãrabdha karma is a part of one’s sanchit karma that is being experienced in this birth. For example, the attributes and conditions of one’s physical body and mental capacities are due to one’s prãrabdha karmas.

Bhagwan Swãminãrãyan has explained in His discourses that God has given every person the freedom of action, and therefore, he or she is responsible for performing karmas that either result in punya (merits) or pãp (sins). Furthermore, Bhagwan is the giver of the fruits of one’s good and bad karmas when He determines the consequences of one’s karmas. No karma by itself can produce or give results, but when Bhagwan so decides, only then can one experience its good or bad effects. The karma principle is not a self-operating system in which karmas automatically bring or give one results. This is because karmas by themselves are inanimate. 

Scriptures of Hinduism

Before I start telling you more on Hinduism let's recap:

• A Hindu's Place of worship is a Mandir, there we have a caretaker of God who is called a Pujari.
• I believe in Lord Swaminarayan. He has an Ideal devotee whose name is Gunatitanad Swami.
• Hindu's don't reincarnate, they transmigrate. 

Now, that we have introspected on what we learned last time, we can move on to a new topic. Today I will be talking about different Hindu Scriptures. You may have heard the names of some of the common scriptures namely the Vedas, The Bhagwad Geeta, The Ramayan. The scripture name and its importance are stated below:

• The Vedas: These scriptures were narrated by God, and the priests recited them. These were then passed down the generations verbally. The words eventually landed from the mouths onto the paper. There are four types of Vedas: Rig Ved: This ved has praises of Gods. Sama Ved: This ved has songs of God. Yajur Ved: Guide to Priests on how to do any ceremony.  Atharva Ved: Contains knowledge of daily living, sociology, and history. (Diverse form on Rig Ved)
•  Upanishads: A book about main core Hinduism concepts such as the Atma, Moksha, and many others. (Some say these are the simplified form of the Vedas)
• Panchtatra: Legendary collection of animal fables. 
• Jataka: When Buddha took birth on earth he recited stories from his past lives to teach about how to live.
• Ramayan: This is story of Lord Ram and his moral conducts on earth. It teaches us right from wrong. The ideal way of living.
• Mahabharat: This is a book that has a central story but it has many ethical and natural law, fairly tales, and jokes. The Central story is about a battle that takes between Cousins.
• Bhagwad Geeta: The Bhagwad Geeta is a part of Mahabharat, this book has the teachings of Lord Krishna to Arjun. Arjun was one of the brothers that was fighting in the battle, he had asked the lord to be his Charioteer. While the battle was taking place the Lord taught Arjun many things, and these talks are listed in this book.

These scriptures are not just meant to be specific for Hindus. Reading these will not make you a Hindu but a better person. I am a person with faith in Lord Swaminarayan, but that does not mean that I do not respect Hinduism as a whole. In fact lord Swamianrayan in his Shikshapatri, a book containing morals for everyday living, that applies to our lives even today, says that we should follow these codes of conduct written in our scriptures. Lord Swamianrayan himself has done discourses during his time that are written in the Vachanamrut and this has included all of these scriptures.

I hope you learned something about scriptures. Feel free to comment on the bottom. This is enough learning for the day, I will tell you more about Hinduism in my next blog. Have a great day! :)

Myths of Hinduism

Myths of Hinduism 

Almost everyone in this world has a religion, and almost every person has a place of worship. Christians go to the Church, Muslims go to the Mosque's and there are many other places of worships. Most of the minor religions tend to say the word temple, which is a word originated by the Greeks. When someone ask's me what I do on Sunday's I say I go to temple, the only reason why I say that is because most people don't know what a Mandir is! But now I want to tell you that a place of worship for Hindus is called a Mandir.Here the idols of God are placed, we have a pujari (poo-ja- ree), a person that takes care of God, he is the one that feed's god, he changes God's clothes, he does the prayers, (basically everything that needs to be done). At my Mandir we have classes for different age groups and we teach them about our belief. Hinduism is split up according to beliefs and I belong to the Bochasanvasi Akshar Purshotam Upasana (BAPS). Our belief is that Swaminarayan Bhagwan is supreme God, he is above Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva (the only God's that are taught in History classes). The word Bhagwan means God! My Bhagwan has an ideal devotee whose name is Gunatitanand Swami. We believe that we have to be an ideal devotee like him and please Bhagwan.
The word Reincarnation is usually associated with Hindus but that is WRONG! Reincarnation is when a person comes back on earth after dying with the same body... what Hindus really believe in is that when you die, your body is burned and your soul comes back in a different body, this process is called Transmigration.

For today this much info is enough, if you are interested come again next Sunday to check what I have to inform you about BAPS Hindus!

Leave me alone

Leave Me Alone!

I have so much on my plate, I have to grade papers, I have to grade at lease 500 pages worth of homework, I have to prepare presentations to teach, I have to teach, I have temple exams next month and I have to read two books, don't even bring up school work, I have to write this blog, I have to improve a paper, I have to do all these readings for English, I have to read the next Biology chapter take notes on it and then take a quiz, I have to write a Liberal Studies (Motherhood) Paper, I have to read my Research Methods chapter and take a quiz on that, I have to read chapter 4 and 5 for Criminal Justice, I have to read the Biology Lab Manual and take a quiz on that! Lets talk about social life (which I don't have), I have guests coming over and because of the shortage of space they will be staying in my room which means that I need to clean my room! I need to finish a project for work (I work for a medical retail store, where they sell scrubs, I make advertising emails to let the customers know about the daily deals, these emails go out to thousands of people so I need to be very professional).

I cleaned my closet, only to end up with a dirty room! :/

All this work just makes me so exhausted I just want to scream LEAVE ME ALONE! I actually want to run away from this place and go somewhere far where I don't have to do anything, no one knows me, where I am just free from all these "duties". I pray to God every night before I go to sleep and tell him to take me to his divine abode so I don't have to do these things, and in the morning I thank him for the day he gave me but I pray that he take me to his abode before the I go to sleep. Because of this, I feel like I am depressed, I mean what normal person asks for this? 

I hope one day someone just takes me from this place and free me from these chains of duty!

Relationships

This to That

Today I was just wondering about the meaning of the word "relationship", to me it means having a connection with something or someone. But, I hate the fact that when the word relationship is used by society, its people always take it to be a relationship between a boy and a girl, without even realizing that there are so many other kinds of relationships in this world. 

Me and my mother!

For example, the relationship between a mother and a daughter, the relationship between a mother and a son, relationship between a brother and sister, husband and wife, teacher and student, individual with other workers. The word relationship means connection, and it can mean any kind of a connection, you can have a connection between you and your teddy bear, you can even have an emotional relationship where you can express your ideas freely to a teddy bear rather than an actual person.
God may not have sent us with wealth when we were born, but he definitely sent us relationships, which is priceless. Relationships should have a deeper meaning, because if, the word relationship only means "girl and a guy" then we reduce the meaning of other precious relationships. We need to redefine the word, in our heads.
But then again this is how I see it, you may have a different meaning, a different perspective of the word relationship, which I totally respect. I don't mean to offend you, I just sensed a change of interpretation the society was making with the word relationship.
For example the word mad used to mean crazy but now it means being angry. The word relationship is not being changed from its meaning, but the connotation that it is receiving is definitely changing. Current connotation of relationship: connection between a girl and a guy. What the connotation should be: connection between anything or anyone. (This may only be my view, feel free to disagree). 
I hope this blog made a little difference in your understanding of the word relationship. Thanks for reading. Have a great day! :)
-Dhruvi Barot.