Electronic voice phenomenon

Electonic Voice phenomenon is one of the most intriguing concept which supports the existenc e of supernatural beings. It is believed that the spirits or ghosts tries to contact us and the most viable way is Technology. That is they are trying to communicate to us through the Electronic media.

The idea has been popularised in the media by the movie white noise, but it has been under scanner for more than a century now. The idea came along with the technology to do it. Once thomas alva edison agreed that it is highly likely that the spirits would try to communicate through these electronic devices than table tipping and ouija board, if at all they try to communicate. However it is not clear that if he had ever supported or tried to do any work on these concepts. However lots of research has been going on in this particularly interesting topic, many small groups of people and many psychic organisations and teams have made recordings, which they believe is the voice from the other side.

The internet world itself is flooded with such websites, which say that they have EVP recordings. Most of the time the recording is of a single word or phrase and most of the recordings are done at haunted sites. The whole procedure requires only a recorder and a memory device, the most handy would be a IPOD or similar device withrecording service and this device is now more popular with the new generations of EVP enthusiasts. However the success rate is very less, to get a good EVP it may take many hours of continuous recording and listening to them to get the hidden messages(?)

The main explanationfor the phenomenonis the existence of spirits. The other explanations include the interference of geo magnetic field with the Electronic circuit. Statics from the radio and TV channels. However this does not demotivate the many psychics who work with EVPs.

The best way to do the experiment is to get a RF interference free room and start the recording. The EVPs are generally classed as Class A, Class B, Class C. Class A are the ones which humans can hear using speakers and most people will agree to what has been said by the voice, the Class B Voices ar those, which can be heard on Speakers but not all will agree to whathas been said by the voice. The third class of voices include the ones which can be heard only on Headphones and cannot be identified. And almost all the recordings has to be edited to get any meaningful sound from them. Most of the sites claim that they only do Noise reduction in these editing sessions.

There is no well defined mark which defines what comes under EVP and what not because, the scientific community has completed derided the idea of EVP. Most of the researchers are amateurs or novices and self claimed psychics. The argument by the scientific community is also very strong, the skeptics say that most of the recordings are nothing but noises because of the interference of Radio Frequency from electronic circuits. Humans being a pattern finding animals try to relate the noise with some word or phrase and come with an answer. Almost always the spirit speaks in the language that the listener is familiar with, this itself is a good point which questions the veracity of phenomenon.

How to create a Spirit

Is god the only one who can create spirits? Or is there any possibility tat we humans can create spirits as well.

Well there is a good documented experiment which proves that human mind can change or create reality. This is the popular experiment which created a spirit and proved that sometimes they are nothing more than the manifestation of huaman thoughts.

In the beginning  of the 1970’s the Toronto society of psychical research started an experiment in which a group of people have to create a fictional character and try to communicate with it like many do with the spirits, since there is no doubt about the truth in the psychokinetic effects of so called spirits and poltergeists.

Dr. A.R.G.Owen assembled a tea m of 8 people, who don’t have any psychic powers. The group had people from walks of life like an industrial designer, an accountant, a housewife, a bookkeeper and a sociology student and one of the most important people was the wife of Dr.A.R.G.Owen who was the ex-chairperson of MENSA (an Organization of people with very high I.Q). One psychologist also attended some of the sessions of these experiments.
The main task of the group was to create a fictional and historical character and try to communicate with it. The group then wrote a biography of the fictional character and named the character as Philips, here is a part of the biography,

"Philip was an aristocratic Englishman, living in the middle 1600s at the time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been a supporter of the King, and was a Catholic. He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, Dorothea, the daughter of a neighboring nobleman.

One day when out riding on the boundaries of his estates Philip came across a gypsy encampment and saw there a beautiful dark-eyed girl raven-haired gypsy girl, Margo, and fell instantly in love with her. He brought her back secretly to live in the gatehouse, near the stables of Diddington Manor - his family home.

For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but eventually Dorothea, realizing he was keeping someone else there, found Margo, and accused her of witchcraft and stealing her husband. Philip was too scared of losing his reputation and his possessions to protest at the trial of Margo, and she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

Philip was subsequently stricken with remorse that he had not tried to defend Margo and used to pace the battlements of Diddington in despair. Finally, one morning his body was found at the bottom of the battlements, whence he had cast himself in a fit of agony and remorse."

 

The group even came up with the portrait of the character. After having the biography, the group started having sittings and discussing about the life and lifestyle of the Philip. Later they started meditating on the character. All these sittings were done in a well lit room, nothing interesting seemed to occur. Then the group planned to have a séance like atmosphere with dim lights and having antiques which created a ambience of the period of Philips. And these seemed to work, they started getting there response from the Philip as table rapping. Then the team found great success with the experiment, they seemed to get lots of information from Philips (but most of them already known by or written in the biography).

Philips also seemed to have control on the elements, he can dim the light when asked and his coming is generally known by the cold air blow. He also moved table on the carpet. Finally the group conducted the final séance in front of 50 audiences and there did not seem any hesitation from Philips, he did all the poltergeist activities which he seemed to be capable of. The séance was video graphed.

The Ica stones

In the last post you would have agreed that if the Mythologies (or are they?) are true, then humans have lived on earth well before the days we think they came into existence (of course this view violates Evolution).

Ica is a coastal desert city in Peru, near the famous Nazca lines. During the 1960’s a farmer started collecting stones which had carvings over them, from a near by Cave and started selling it to the tourists. This made him very famous and he was confronted by the Government officials, because of some unknown reasons (may be compulsion by the government), he accepted that the stones were carved by him and were hoaxes.

No one exactly know what happened, was is it really a hoax or there was some truth about the Ica stones. There are more than 14,000 of these stones, and I wonder how he could have managed to carve so many stones…

These stones were etched of continuous line on Andesite, a very hard material, which is difficult to be etched using the primitive tools. Some labs have also authenticated that the incision were indeed ancient. Since they have small amount of varnish on them, it appears that they are really carved in some ancient time, for it if it were carved in the present day, it would have complete varnish, but these varnish seem to have formed because of bacterias and some chemical reaction ,which would take many years to develop. Most of the collection is owned by Dr . Cabrerra, the physician friend of the farmer, who bought most of the stones from him.

Some one got some carved stones from the Caves, so what is the big deal…?? This might be your question, the carved stone we are talking about is very interesting, it questions our understanding of the timeline of humans on earth.

The carving suggests that the stones were carved by people who had a good understanding of the topics like biology, anatomy, social science, etc. there are carvings which shows humans being preyed by the Dinosaurs and humans hunting the dinosaurs. There are also carvings which show cesarean cut section, also working of human heart seems to be carved. One of the stone shows the geographical mass on earth and scientists say that about 13 million years back the earth would have looked just like what have been carved on the stone.

Finally you may propose to do a carbon dating of the stones, the problem here is the carbon dating can be done only on things which have organic (carbon) traces and since this carving is on mineral stones it is not possible to know exactly the age of the stones and the carvings. This Ica stones along with the famous Nazca lines remains a great mystery to be explored and understood. There is a very high chance of the Ica stones being hoax.


Will come up with some more interesting things till then.

Blessed be.

Relativity in Vedic religion

For long I have wondered, if the Mythology that we read are true(atleast to some extent) or just pure fiction. The kind of theories that come out of this Mythologies are so fantastic to be true. One such fact (or fiction) is the age of human species on Earth, according to Indian mythology this world (or universe) has come into existence many times or even that humans have existed for 4,320,000 yrs and more.

A gist of the Timescale

A note on the time-scale of Brahma's Days and nights:(by Swami Sivananda)
Dvapara Yuga = 432,000 Years
Tretayuga (= twice Dvapara Yuga) 864,000 years
Kritayuga (=thrice Dvapara yuga) 1,296,000 years
Kaliyuga (=four times Dvapara Yuga) 1,728,000 years
The four yugas add up to a Mahayuga = (1+2+3+4=10 times Dvapara yuga)comprised of 4,320,000 years
71 such Mahayugas with an additional Sandhya, at the close of 1,728,000 years make one Manvantrara of 308,448,00014 such Manvantaras with another Sandhya, at the close of 1,728,000years constitute one Kalpa of 4,320,000,000 (1000 maha yugas)Two Kalpas make a day and night of Brahmaof 8,640,000,000 (2000 Maha Yugas)360 such days and nights make one year ofBrahma consisting of 3,110,400,000,000100 such years constitute His lifetime of 311,040,000,000,000

Another such fantastic inference comes about the Concept of relativity in Vedic religion, did they really had the knowledge of the General theory of relativity?
Let Us analyze some stories which seem to exhibit such intriguing knowledge of General Relativity.

Kakudmi in Brahmalok:

Brahma is the creator of the Universe according to Hindu religion and he lives in Brahma-Lok a different plane of existence and from the above explanation of Time scale you would have understood that time dilation is very much visible in these levels of existence.

Kakudmi was of pure character, and a benevolent ruler. He had one very beautiful daughter named Revati , endowed with all auspicious qualities. Although considered human, Kakudmi seemed to have been endowed with mystic powers, not found in ordinary humans today. Kakudmi was able to take his daughter Revati with him and travel to Brahma-lok (the plane of existence where Brahma, the Creator, resides) and to speak with Brahma at will.
Kakudmi’s Daughter was so beautiful that he thought there was no one eligible to marry her, so he took her to Brahma the creator himself to seek his help.When they arrived, Brahma was listening to a musical performance by the Gandharvas (Celestial Dancers), so they waited patiently until the performance was finished. Brahma explained that time runs differently on different planes of existence, and that during the short time they had waited in Brahma-loka to see him, 27 catur-yugas (a cycle of four yugas, totalling 108 yugas, or Ages of Man) had passed on earth . Brahma said to Kakudmi, "O King, all those whom you may have decided within the core of your heart to accept as your son-in-law have passed away in the course of time. Twenty-seven catur-yugas have already passed. You must therefore bestow this virgin gem (i.e. Revati) upon some other husband, for you are now alone, and your friends, your ministers, servants, wives, kinsmen, armies, and treasures, have long since been swept away by the hand of time."

Later on Brahma’s advice, Kakudmi arranged for the marriage of Balaram (Brother of lord Krishna) and Revati.
Let us assume that Kakudmi and Brahma waited in Brahmalok for an hour(for the musical performance) then Brahma’s one hour is Equal to 27 catur yuga
Which ,means 1 hr of Brahma = 27 X 4,320,000 human yrs.

Now another story Brahma vimohana Lila:
Once Lord Krishna was playing with the cows and shepherds in the Brindavan(a place near New Delhi), when Lord Brahma comes and steals all the cows and boys and put them in a secluded place in suspended animation for one year. Now lord Krishna creates out of him the cows and shepherds, when brahma returns to find the same boys playing with Krishna after a year, he was bewildered. After seeing the Vishwaroopam(universal image) in Krishna he leaves for Brahma lok. Even though Brahma spent one human year in Earth only a truti was passed on his time scale.

Now according to vedic definition a truti is equal to 1/33,750 of a second. Now based on our previous story, if we calculate how much time Kakudmi and Revati spent in Brahma lok
Time spent in Brahma lok = 27 X 4,320,000 = 116,640,000 Human yrs
1 human yr = 1 truti of Brahma.
116,640,000 human yr = 116,640,000 X 1/33,750 Seconds of Brahma
Time spent on brahma lok = 116,640,000 Human yrs = 3456 seconds in Brahma lok = 57 min 36 Seconds.
Which seems to be a logical assumption that a musical performance has taken place for about an hour.
Will come back with some more interesting food for thoughts…
Till then
Blessed Be.

Agni

This post is all about the most popular diety of vedic religion, Agni. Agni means fire in Sanskrit. It becomes important here to tell that in Russians also call fire as ‘Ogni’, and the latin ‘Ignis’ also has same origin.

om apa naH shoshucadaghamagne shushugdhyA rayim.

apa naH shoshucadagham. om shAntiH shAntiH shAntiH om

Om. O Agni! Burn our sins. Enlighten our true wealth.

Burn our sins. Om peace, peace, peace. Om.

Agni on his Ram

Agni represents that burns fire, sun, heat, passion, lust, stomach. He is worshipped in his three major forms as uttama (the highest, i.e. the Sun), madhyama (the intermediate one, i.e. thunderbolt) and Parthiva (the one situated on this earth). He also represents virility and has special place in tantric system and still forms a part of ‘Homams’ and ‘Havans’. During the Havans the crackling sound created is considered as the sound of Agni himself. He is also worshipped as the priest of gods and god of priests. His consorts are svaha and svadha.

Agni has highest number of hymns dedicated to him in rig veda, around 200 and about 80% of mandalas start with his praise.He is ever youthful god because he is born with every fire. Agni is considered as the messenger between men and gods, for he takes human sacrifices to god. Or to say we can visualize fire as the gateway to the world of gods, it is the doorway between the material world and etheric world. One depiction of this would be from this story,

Ramayana in India is followed in varied forms, in one of the version, Lord Ram already knows that Ravana will come after Sita, so he sents Sita to Agni’s custody and creates a Sita(illusory sita) with the help of Maya(illusion). And after the death of Ravana when Sita (illusory) comes back, they conduct this faked Agni pariksha (Fire Test ,in this test sita would survive only if she was not touched by Ravana) and get back the actual Sita during the test. Here agni acts as the doorway through which Sita comes back to this world.

Agni loves sacrifices so is he considered the god of sacrifice. He is also called as the ‘Saptajihva’ which literally translates to ‘the seven tongued one’. This seven tongues represents the way the flames part themselves. He uses his seven tongues to lick the sacrificial butter. He is also shown with two faces, generally representing his two faces-good and bad. He rides a Ram ,since Ram was the most sacrificed animal it is probable that they had used Ram as his vahana.

In Vedas at certain places agni is said as the supreme being and his attributes are also comparable to supreme being. The Upanishads describe Atman or soul as a flame of the size of a thumb. Other gods and elements such as the earth, the air are but his manifestations. He is the thunderbolt of Indra's weapon, the light of the Surya. In the later vedic period he became, one of the Ashtadikpalas as lord of the southeast quarter. In Mahabharatha he is praised as "All this universe, conscious and unconscious, is made of fire [Agni] and offering [Soma]”. Initially during the vedic period Agni enjoyed very high position in Indian Pantheon but as the society developed he lost his power to other gods like Brahma, Vishnu , Mahesh.

To honor Agni, Hindus are expected to face fires in the proper direction for different purposes. When facing East, the fire should be used for sacrifices to the gods; when facing South, the fire should be used for sacrifices to the spirits of the dead. Fires should face west when used for cooking.

Thugees

This post was supposed to be about Zeus but to sticking to a topic only leads to boredom. So today we will see about thugs. a killer cult in india during the british raaj. Thug is synonymous to theif or a cheat. The etymology of the word has its root in Sanskrit. The Sanskrit word sthag (scoundrel) is the root for the word thug.
Today the word has been imported to English dictionary through the British raaj in India.
It could mean,

Thug, (ठग), a member of the defunct Indian cult Thuggee
Thug, slang for a gangster, a petty thief, or a minor villain, deriving from the above cult
Thug, a gardening term meaning an over-vigorous plant that spreads excessively.

But the Thugees were(are) not minor villain. Nowadays however the number of Thugees are very few. They are the ones who cheat the travelers. They befriend the travelers and poison them and loot their property. However they may seem to be benign today, but this was not the case always. In the past they were a network of robbers who killed people and looted the possessions. Killings was even more important than robbery for them.
They had their own ritual and most important part of the killings is that there should not be any bloodshed, so they used to strangle the victim to death. They used a yellow rumaal (handkerchief) with a coin tied to it….

Modus operandi

Thuggee groups practiced large-scale robbery and murder of travellers. Their modus operandi was to befriend unsuspecting travellers and win their trust; when the travellers allowed the thugs to join and walk with them (sometimes for hundreds of miles), the group of thugs killed them at a suitable place and time before robbing them. Their method of killing was very often strangulation throwing a yellow scarf or Rumaal around the neck. Usually two or three thugs were used to strangle one traveller. Because they used strangulation as the method of murder they were also frequently called "Phansigars", or "noose-operators." The thugs hid the corpses, often by burying them or by throwing them into wells.

Thuggee groups consisted of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims though their patron was the Hindu Goddess Kali whom they often called Bhawani. Some historians classify the thugs as a cult or sect.

Thugs killed their victims usually in darkness while the thugs made music or noise to escape discovery. Each member of the group had its own function, like luring travellers with charming words or that of guardians to prevent escape of victims while the killing took place. The leader of a gang was called jamaadaar.

Origin and recruitment

The earliest authenticated mention of the Thugs is found in the following passage of Ziau-d din Barni's History of Firoz Shah (written about 1356):

In the reign of that sultan (about 1290), some Thugs were taken in Delhi, and a man belonging to that fraternity was the means of about a thousand being captured. But not one of these did the sultan have killed. He gave orders for them to be put into boats and to be conveyed into the lower country, to the neighbourhood of Lakhnauti, where they were to be set free. The Thugs would thus have to dwell about Lakhnauti and would not trouble the neighbourhood of Delhi any more." (Sir HM Elliot's History of India, iii. 141).

Though they themselves trace their origin to seven Muslim tribes, the Hindu followers only seem to be related during the early periods of Islamic development; at any rate, their religious creed and staunch worship of Kali, one of the Hindu Tantric Goddesses, showed no Islamic influence. The practice of Thuggee was categorically stamped out by the British by the early 19th century. It should be noted that even at the time, a very small minority of the followers of Kali were Thuggees, whereas the majority of followers did not share the Thuggee viewpoint.

Induction was sometimes passed from father to son; the leaders of the thug groups tended to come from these hereditary lines. Sometimes the thugs did not kill the young children of the travellers and groomed them to become thugs themselves. Some men became thugs to escape great poverty. A fourth way of becoming a thug was by learning it from a guru.


Beliefs and practices

The murdering was done according to certain ancient and rigidly prescribed forms, and after the performance of special religious rites, in which the consecration of the pickaxe and the sacrifice of jaggery or gur formed a prominent part. The pickaxe was a necessary tool to dig graves.

According to 19th century writings about Thuggee, the will of the goddess by whose command and in whose honour they followed their calling was revealed to them through a very complicated system of omens. When the deed was done, rites were performed in the deity's honour, and a significant portion of the spoils was set apart for Her.

Number of victims


A group of thugs, ca. 1863

Estimates of the total number of victims depend heavily on the estimated length of existence of the thugs for which there are no reliable sources. According to the Guinness Book of Records the Thuggee cult was responsible for approximately 2,000,000 deaths. The British historian Dr. Mike Dash estimated that they killed 50,000 persons in total, based on his assumption that they only started to exist 150 years before their eradication in the 1830s.

Yearly figures for the early 19th century are better documented, but even they are inaccurate estimates. For example, gang leader Behram has often been considered to be the world's most prolific serial killer with 931 killings between 1790 and 1830 attributed to him. Reference to contemporary manuscript sources, however, shows that Behram actually gave inconsistent statements regarding the number of murders he had committed, and that while he did state that he had "been present at" 931 killings committed by his gang of 25 to 50 men, elsewhere he admitted that he had personally strangled around 125 people. Having turned King's Evidence and agreed to inform on his former companions, furthermore, Behram never stood trial for any of the killings attributed to him, the total of which must thus remain a matter of dispute.

British destruction of the secret society


Maps showing the possessions of the British East India Company in 1765 and 1805

The Thuggee cult was suppressed by the British rulers of India in the 1830s, due largely to the efforts of the civil servant William Sleeman, who started an extensive campaign involving profiling and intelligence. A police organisation known as the 'Thuggee and Dacoity Department' was established within the Government of India, with William Sleeman appointed Superintendent of the department in 1835. Thousands of men were either put in prison, executed, or expelled from British India.The campaign was heavily based on informants recruited from captured thugs who were offered protection on the condition that they told everything that they knew. By the 1870s, the Thug cult was extinct, but the concept of 'criminal tribes' and 'criminal castes' is still in use in India. The Department remained in existence until 1904, when it was replaced by the Central Criminal Intelligence Department. The defeat of the Thuggees played a part in securing Indian loyalty to the British Raj.

Previous attempts at prosecuting and eliminating the thugs had been largely unsuccessful due to the lack of evidence for their crimes. The thugs' modus operandi yielded very little evidence: no witnesses, no weapons, and no corpses. Besides, the thugs usually made no confessions when captured. Another main reason was the fact that thug groups did not act locally, but all over the Indian subcontinent, including territories that did not belong to British India in combination with the fact that there was then no centralised criminal intelligence agency, but only local, often corrupt police.

Possible misinterpretation of Thuggee by the British

In her book The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India (2002), Martine van Woerkens suggests that evidence for the existence of a Thuggee cult in the 19th century was in part the product of "colonial imaginings" — British fear of the little-known interior of India and limited understanding of the religious and social practices of its inhabitants.


Thugs today

Many people believe that thugs still operate on the train routes near Mugal sarai and Varanasi but no evidence and they are not murderous now.

Indra

Indra, the god of firmament and the king of the abode of gods, is probably the most colorful character in Hindu mythology. The ebb and tide of his career, the rise and fall of his power provides a very fascinating story to all, who are interested in the lives of Hindu gods and goddesses. His parents were the sky god DYAUS PITA and the earth goddess PRTHIVI; he was born fully-grown and fully armed from his mother's side.

In the Vedas - rather early Vedic age - Indra stands as the top-ranking figure among gods. Still he is not equivalent to OMKAR or Brahma because he has a parentage.

Indra- Riding his Airavat

He was the leader of the Devas, the god of war, the god of thunder and storms, and the greatest of all warriors, the strongest of all beings. He was the defender of gods and mankind against the forces of evil. He had early aspects of a sun god, riding in a golden chariot across the heavens, but he is more often known as the god of thunder, wielding the celestial weapon VAJRA, the lightening bolt.

He once killed a demon named VALA, who had stolen cows so that men would not use the milk for themselves or for religious ceremonies. He killed this demon and saved the cows. During his warfare against enemies of gods he was assisted by other lesser gods-especially MARUTS. He has got more hymns of praise than other gods in Vedas and he was widely worshipped for his kindness and as the granter of rains and the giver of fertility. He was known as a great drinker of Soma; sometimes he did this to draw strength, and when he did he grew to gigantic proportions to battle his enemies, but more often he merely wanted to get drunk. When not in his chariot, Indra rode on the great white elephant AIRAVATA, who was always victorious, and who had four tusks, which resembled a sacred mountain. He was given numerous titles including Sakra("Powerful"), Vajri ("the Thunderer"), Purandar("Destroyer of Cities"), Meghavahan ("Rider of the Clouds"), and Swargapati ("the Lord of Heaven").

Vritra Vadha

Indra's most notable exploit was his battle with the asura VRITRA. Vritra took the form of a mighty snake, and had stolen all the water in the world for himself. No one could do anything about this until Indra was born. Upon hearing what had happened, Indra vowed to take back the life giving liquid. He rode forth to meet him the terrible Vritra. He consumed great amounts of Soma to give him the strength needed to fight such a foe. Indra smashed through Vritra's ninety-nine fortresses, and then came upon the snake. The two clashed, and after a long battle Indra was able to destroy his powerful enemy. Vritra had been keeping the earth in a drought, but when Indra split open the demon, the waters again fell from the skies. So Indra became a hero to all people, and the gods elected him their king for his victory.

In a later version of the story, Vritra was created by Tvashtri to get revenge for Indra's murder of his son, Trisiras, a pious Brahmin whose increase of power worried Indra. Vritra won the battle and swallowed Indra, but the other gods forced him to vomit Indra out. The battle continued and Indra fled. Vishnu and the Rishis brokered a truce, and Indra swore he would not attack Vritra with anything made of metal, wood or stone, nor anything that was dry or wet, or during the day or the night. Indra used the foam from the waves of the ocean to kill him at twilight.

In yet another version, recounted in the Mahabharata, Vritra was a Brahmin who got hold of supernatural powers, went rogue and became a danger to the gods. Indra had to intervene, and slew him after a hard fight. A horrible goddess named Brahmanahatya(the personified sin of Brahmin murder) came from the dead corpse of Vritra and pursued Indra, who hid inside a lotus flower. Indra went to Brahma and begged forgiveness for having killed a Brahmin. "Vajrayudha" which Indra possessed is believed to be prepared from backbone of a sage Dadhichi to kill Asuras.

Indra and the Ants

In this story from the Brahmavaivarta Purana, Indra defeats Vritra and releases the waters. Elevated to the rank of King of the Gods, Indra orders the heavenly craftsman, Vishvakarma, to build him a grand palace. Full of pride, Indra continues to demand more and more improvements for the palace. At last, exhausted, Vishvakarma asks Brahma the Creator for help. Brahman in turn appeals to Vishnu, the Supreme Being.

Vishnu visits Indra's palace in the form of a brahmin boy; Indra welcomes him in. Vishnu praises Indra's palace, casually adding that no former Indra had succeeded in building such a palace. At first, Indra is amused by the brahmin boy's claim to know of former Indras. But the amusement turns to horror as the boy tells about Indra's ancestors, about the great cycles of creation and destruction, and even about the infinite number of worlds scattered through the void, each with its own Indra. The boy claims to have seen them all. During the boy's speech, a procession of ants had entered the hall. The boy saw the ants and laughed. Finally humbled, Indra asks the boy why he laughed. The boy reveals that the ants are all former Indras.

Another visitor enters the hall. He is Shiva, in the form of a hermit. On his chest lies a circular cluster of hairs, intact at the circumference but with a gap in the middle. Shiva reveals that each of these chest hairs corresponds to the life of one Indra. Each time a hair falls, one Indra dies and another replaces him.

No longer interested in wealth and honor, Indra rewards Vishvakarma and releases him from any further work on the palace. Indra himself decides to leave his life of luxury to become a hermit and seek wisdom. Horrified, Indra's wife Shachi asks the priest Brihaspati to change her husband's mind. He teaches Indra to see the virtues of both the spiritual life and the worldly life. Thus, at the end of the story, Indra learns how to pursue wisdom while still fulfilling his kingly duties.

Each Manu rules during an eon called a Manvantara. 14 Manvantaras make up a Kalpa, a period corresponding to a day in the life of Brahma. Every Manvantara has a different Indra. The list is according to Vishnu Purana(Chapters 3.1 and 3.2):for more on time yugas and kalpas click here

Manvatara/Manu ------- Indra

Svayambuva --------------- Yajna

Swarochish -----------------vipaschit

Uttam ----------------------Sushaanti

Taamas -------------------- Shibi

Raivat ----------------------Vibhu

Chaakshush ----------------Manojav

Shraaddhdev ---------------Purandar(he is the present Indra)

Savarni --------------------Bali

Daksha saavarni -----------Adbhut

Brahma saavarni ----------Shanti

Dharma saavarni ----------Vish

Rudra putra saavarni ------Ritudhaama

Ruchi (Deva saavarni) -----Devaspati

Bhaum (Indra saavarni) ---Suchi

As believed by many Indra has origin in Graeco-indo religion. He is also connected with the mittani. Eventhough Indra was the major diety of ancient vedic religion, but later with the advent of the trimurthi, his importance faded.

The following stories contribute to his humanly nature and so the downfall of the lord of all devas.

Sahasra Chaksu

Indra had an affair with Ahalya , wife of Gautama Maharishi . He was punished by Gautama with a curse that one thousand Vaginas cover his body in a grotesque and vulgar display, and that his reign as king of the gods would meet with disaster and catastrophe. Gautama later commuted the curse, upon the pleading of Brahma, to one thousand eyes instead, this is the reason he was give the name Sahasra chaksu(thousand eyed).

Due to this sin Indra's throne remains insecure forever. He is repeatedly humiliated by demonic kings like Ravana of Lanka, whose son Indrajit (whose name means victor over Indra) bound Indra in serpent nooses and dragged him across Lanka in a humiliating display. Indrajit released Indra when Brahma him to do so in exchange for celestial weapons, but Indra, as the defeated, had to pay tribute and accept Ravana's supremacy. Indra realized the consequences of his sin, and was later avenged by the Avatar of Vishnu, Rama, who slew Ravana to deliver the three worlds from evil, as described in the epic Ramayana.

Downfall of Indra in Vaishnavism

According to Vaishnava legend, Indra was losing his hold over the human beings, and became jealous of the boy Krishna.

Indra thus invoked many clouds to appear in the sky and schemed to flood the region with rains lasting for seven days and seven nights. Krishna in reply then lifted Govardhan hill, under which all the animals and people of the region took shelter, safe from the rains of Indra's fury. Ultimately, Indra accepted defeat, and after praying to Krishna, left for his heavenly abode, the Svarga.

This is a symbolic representation of how Indra lost his powers to krishna the supreme diety in Vaishnava movement.

Indra the most referred god in vedas also finds place in other religion like buddhism, jainism, and chinese religion. He has been mentioned in zoroastrianism as well, but as a demon who is against the rta (Dharma).

From the basic reference to Indra it seems that he was an ancient king and due to his popularity and good deeds rose to divinity. And the Indra is not a person but a position, which is handed over to different persons from time to time, however mostly deities aspire for this post but humans can also reach this position, the best example would be king Nahush.

Lucifer-the fallen angel

Many of my previous posts talk about the Lucifer. Now who is this Lucifer and why is he related to devil? These are some of the obvious questions which would arise in the mind of the reader.

We would start with the name and its origin and meaning.

The word Lucifer is derived from Latin words lucem ferre, which means bringer of light or bearer of light. The Lucifer is mentioned only once in the bible,

"How art thou fallen from heaven

O day-star, son of the morning! (lucifer)

How art thou cast down to the ground,

That didst cast lots over the nations!

And thou saidst in thy heart:

'I will ascend into heaven,

Above the stars of God (El)

Will I exalt my throne;

And I will sit upon the mount of meeting,

In the uttermost parts of the north;

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will be like the Most High (Elyon).'

Yet thou shalt be brought down to the nether-world,

To the uttermost parts of the pit."

- Isaiah 14:12-15

Here the usage of Lucifer or the day star might refer to an ancient Babylonian king Helal, son of Shahar, the name literally translates to Eos-phorus(Greek) or Lucifer(Latin). The Latin bible is a transliteration of the Hebrew version of the king James.

And the reference in the Isaiah is surely only about a fallen king which got distorted during transliteration or may be in later interpretation.

Lucifer is the reference given to the Venus, for it appears in the sky before the sun and so called as the bringer of light.

The statue of Lucifer in Madrid.

It appears that the later day saints considered the Lucifer to be the powerful archangel and the one fallen from heaven….(in bible, heaven, most of the time means sky, and sometimes a very high position). They preached that the Lucifer is the Satan who is also a fallen from the sky

In addition, a parallel description of Lucifer's fall is thought to be found in Ezekiel chapter 28 ("A Prophecy against the King of Tyre"), which contains a lament over an "anointed cherub" who was in the "holy mountain of God". He is described as

"You were in Eden, the garden of God;

Every precious stone was your adornment:

Carnelian, chrysolite, and amethyst;

Beryl, lapis lazuli, and jasper;

Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald;

And gold beautifully wrought for you,

Mined for you, prepared the day you were created.

I created you as a cherub

With outstretched shielding wings;

And you resided on God's holy mountain;

You walked among stones of fire.

You were blameless in your ways,

From the day you were created

Until wrongdoing was found in you

By your far-flung commerce

You were filled with lawlessness

And you sinned.

So I have struck you down

From the mountain of God,

And I have destroyed you, O shielding cherub,

From among the stones of fire."

This is the reference to Nebuchadnezzar, however many consider that this is addressed to Lucifer.

Lucifer’s sigil

Lucifer's Sigil or Seal of Lucifer.

Lucifer’s sigil or the seal is shown, has its origin in the "Grimoire of Truth" and is used in magick for invoking Lucifer.

Lucifer finds his place in demonology as well, according to the occultists who invoke the Lucifer; he is the king of all demons and appears as a sullen child. He is the one who provides justice for those who seek him. He is also the one who gives you pride, and this is the deadly sin associated to him. Lucifer is also the ruler of air element in satanic magick rituals and rules the east, this things becomes important when you involve in magick and are helpful in invoking the respective lord of particular elements. So if you want to invoke Lucifer, then this mantra will be of use to you,

“Renich Tasa Uberaca Biasa Icar Lucifer” for the rite to invoke him mail me.

and many secret societies allegedly worship lucifer.

This is really pathetic, how people due to some misunderstanding mistake a god(goddess venus) for devil. We need to stop believing whatever we hear and start questioning(some morons think that questioning is against god, I cant help them) and find the truth.

I will post about certain gods and demons in next few posts, hope you enjoy them…

Till then,

Take care

Near death experience explained

The previous post about aghori sadhus was posted in a social network and one person (I am really thankful to him) proposed a theory that they might be consuming human brain because it contains DMT. I really never had this point, DMT is a psychedelic drug and is found in human body and in plants as well.

DMT stands for Di methyl triptamine is a psychedelic drug much like the LSD already discussed in previous posts. A psychedelic drug is capable of producing distorted sensory perceptions and feelings or altered states of awareness. So when someone takes a toke of the psychedelic drug or go on a “trip” as is usually said they might have very strong spiritual, sexual, frightening experience based on their belief and state of mind(some times also depends on the mood of the set).

The DMT like many other psychedelic drugs finds its place in rituals mostly shamanic. When inhaled the drug can give a trip of about 15 minutes and other modes of intake can have varying time effect and intensity.

DMT comes in the picture because human body is said to produce DMT during what we call spiritual events like death, birth, possessions etc. so during the death of a person, the pineal gland produces excess of DMT and the aghoris might be consuming the brain and mistake it to some spiritual experience. This is one of the best rational explanation for why the aghoris should eat human brain.

This excessive production of DMT can also explain for why we humans have visions after death, yes humans have visions after death. Talk to a person who had Near Death Experience, they will tell you of their traveling through a cave and hearing voices of god and also bliss. All this explanation matches the effects caused by DMT. Lately alien abduction is also attributed to this drug.

The brain is a highly sensitive organ that does not like receiving toxins. The blood-brain barrier helps keep toxins and drugs out of the brain. The barrier is basically impenetrable. However, the brain seems to hunger for DMT as if it were brain food. It actively transports it across the blood-brain barrier right into its tissues. It is almost as if our brain needs DMT, like glucose, in order to function properly. There is no known drug that the brain takes into itself as with DMT. This is a great difference between DMT and any other psychedelic chemical.

There has long been an established agreement about a person having a subconscious 3rd eyefor centuries. This 3rd eye is known as the pineal gland. It lies right in the center of the brain. It, however, was not always in the middle of the brain, or part of it. Forty-nine days after conception, the pineal gland becomes visible in the roof of the fetus mouth. This is also when a person's gender becomes established. From there, it moves out of the mouth roof and into the direct center of the brain. Its positioning is strategic, to say the least, because of its close proximity to crucial emotional and sensory brain centers.

There are a few times in a person's life when they hallucinate without the use of psychedelic drugs. These include: when a person is born, when a person is in REM sleep, astral projection, during near-death experiences, during psychosis, and when a person dies. Of course, there is something that triggers these hallucinations. It is believed now that DMT causes a person to hallucinate during these times in a person's life.

DMT does an enormous amount to our consciousness. There are three types of experiences a person can have after taking DMT. The three categories are: personal, invisible and transpersonal. Personal experiences stay within a person's body and mind. These experiences include body-based feelings and mind-based thoughts. In this category, a person can resolve difficult personal problems. It can be thought of as a state in dealing with personal growth and understanding, just as dreams are. The invisible category is an encounter with seemingly solid and freestanding realities coexisting with this one. The happenings in this category are both unusual and difficult to understand. Basically, in this category, a person makes contact with beings from a different dimension or parallel world-anywhere but earth. However, test subjects, as a whole, report the same scenarios. The interesting thing to note is that only with DMT do people have contact with beings from a nonmaterial world. Finally, there are interpersonal experiences. These are perhaps the most bizarre experiences. These involved near-death and spiritual-mystical experiences. Near death experience includes the sensation of rapid travel through a tunnel, sometimes called Hyperspace. Sometimes, a person is accompanied by music, voices songs. There is also the presence of other being, such as relatives, friends and spirits, such as angels. Feelings of great peace and clam are usually associated with this experience. These experiences take place in the Fifth dimension which is the lowest of the spiritual dimensions since Time, the fourth dimension, is in Space, the third dimension. The realization that a person is not ready to die comes upon them and they feel commanded to return to life. During the spiritual-mystical experiences, a person feels a greater appreciation for life and less fear of death. A person usually goes on more spiritual pursuits after such an experience. In this third category, people feel as if they have a contact with an unchanging, unborn, undying, and uncreated reality.

As some one rightly said that spiritual consciousness is equivalent to a million orgasm. This explains why humans trying to reach nirvana, this state should also induce the excessive release of DMT in humans and thus provide us with a special experience personal to us. Since the DMT is released by pineal gland which is the third eye this provides us with logical reason for why we should meditate on the third eye and what effect it will provide.

Blessed be and meditate

Aghori Sadhus

What kind of feelings does the word cannibalism arouses? Well most of us would get disgusted, but there are people who follow cannibalism in India even now.

India land of oldest society, oldest civilization, but all this time in the Indian history there was a sect dedicated to Shiva was involved in cannibalism and other very crude animal behavior. The aghori or aghouri sect has its origin in ancient Vedic system, even though these people don’t follow the main stream Vedic system but the root is the same. The word aghori in Sanskrit means non terrifying, ‘a’-‘ghori’ most of the Hindi speaking people would have heard the phrase ghor kaliyug, ghor paap, etc.. it is the same ghor, theoretically these people don’t attach themselves to anything mortal. They do things which a common man finds to be terrifying, so they overcome this terror by going through it, since they do it regularly it is a common thing for them.

In Hinduism, “there is no evil, everything is emanated from ‘Brahman’, so how could anything in this universe be impure”? this is the kind of philosophy the aghori babas follow. According to them anything in this universe is the manifestation of god itself, so everything is as pure as god and is god like, so abandoning anything is like abandoning god itself.

The aghori mainly worship lord Shiva, according to the sect every human is a ‘shava’(dead body) with emotions and they should try to become ‘Shiva’ by denying the human pleasures and involving in the aghori rituals.

Ghauri Shankar Mishra an aghori drinking liquor in a kapala(skull cup).

The root of aghoris are as old as Hinduism itself, but the sect in its present form has its origin in Kinaram, he was an aghori ascetic and lived for about 150yrs. He was believed to be the incarnation of lord Shiva. He attained many siddhis through tapas and rituals and then helped the people with his siddhis. There is a temple in Varanasi for this baba and is the most sacred for the aghoris. Some also trace the root to Dattatreya.

Bhola Giri Naga Baba blowing the Nagaphani.

The aghori is a human symbol of lord Shiva himself. The aghori lives in cemetery (shmashana), the living place for lord Shiva, this is the representation that the final abode for everyone is the cemetery. And many of the aghoris roam around naked, representing the true humans and their detachment from this world of mortals who live in the world of illusion. By this they transcend beyond human feelings of love, hatred, jealousy, pride etc..

There are many aghoris walking the streets of northern India with kapala(skull cup). These aghoris eat anything, when I said anything, it really meant anything like rotten food, food from the dumps, the animal faeces, animal urine.. etc they regularly perform rites(some are so crude that it cant be explained here) to attain the highest level in aghoratva, the enlightenment. The final part of the ritual requires a minimum of one eating of putrid human flesh, and also meditating on(sitting) the dead corpse. This is the symbolic of their rise from shava to Shiva. They follow the simple rule that the universe resides in them and they try to attain enlightenment by self realization.

As the ascetic advance in his search, he attains many siddhis. Slowly they gain control over the environment. They seem to posses powers to cause a rain or to stop one. This is disturbing but this is true, even though they possess this kind of powers they will not use it, for the basic rule of aghori itself is to deny human pleasure so the change in climate is an event which should happen on its own. Whatever the ascetic says happens, I have met people who have had direct relation with the ascetic, and I cannot question the veracity of the datas. It is also said that when he curses someone, every wish of the person comes true.

There have been many aghoris in the past. Some of them being Dattatreya, Kinaram, Tailanga swamy, Aghoreshwar Mahaprabhu Baba Bhagwan Ram.

Some stories

Tailanga swami

Tailanga Swami of Benaras was a very powerful Aghori, and perhaps the
only one who performed worship of Shiva at the Kashi Vishwanath
temple using his own filth. And Tailanga Swami could do so because he
had full realization that filth is as much a part of the Universal
Soul as roses, holy water etc. The priest who saw Tailanga Swami
doing such "dirty things" slapped him and ordered him out. But at the
same night, Shiva appeared in a dream to the king of Benaras and told
the king about his anger since someone insulted Tailanga Swami, who's
Shiva's very essence. The King then set out to find the priest and
punish him, but the priest was mysteriously found dead.

Dhuni wale baba

This refers to an incident which a man narrated to Ambar joshi about an Aghori Baba who lived in Burhanpur (near Khandwa,MP).This is what he narrated---There used to be an old Baba .People used to call him Dhuni wale baba. Now there is a samadhi of Dhune wale bab in Khandwa whre people still throng in large numbers to worship him.He used to stay ther and roamed the adjoining areas ,use to eat whatever came his way- rotten food or thrown away food .He used to utter obscenities if anyone talked to him or disturbed him even while he seemed to be doing nothing. He used to stare into the sky for hours and talk to himself. One day i saw a person come up to him and touch his feet and ask him to bless his daughter who had not been married in spite of their best efforts. The Baba uttered obscenities on him. Cursed his mother and family members and said that his daughter would go to hell. Then the man went away contented and after three days he came with some sweets and gave to the Baba who again uttered obscenities on him. I intercepted him on the way back and asked him why he respected a useless mad old man. The man remarked he is a great Baba and has cured many peoples problems. If he curses you then your problem is bound to get solved. Aghori Babas are like that he said and offered me a piece of burfi(An Indian sweet)which I gladly ate. Then I saw many other instances when the Baba uttered obscenities, people used to still go behind him even while he used to answer the call of nature. He used to throw his faeces all over people who came behind him and they used to collect it and take home as prasad.(holy).

Maldevata incident taken from ‘The Week’

Maldevta is a popular picnic spot near Dehra Dun. Thirst overtook us while trekking to Maldevta and we decided to ask for some water at a small thatched hut about a eight hundred scrubby hundred yards from the canal we were following. A dusky, well built man wearing a skimpy loin cloth emerged from the dark interior of the hut. Why, of course, we could have water, he answered. He didn't have that much left, just a couple of glasses, as he'd just finished cooking, but we were most welcome to it. Was this his permanent residence, we asked him conversationally? Oh no, he had no fixed place of stay. There was a cremation ground just a stone's thrown away, and he'd built this hut as he had been waiting for a lawaris body (homeless person's body which is generally cremated by a philanthropic organization or trust). As luck would have it, after waiting for some three months, such a body had arrived just yesterday, and he'd been able, in exchange for a good luck charm, to obtain the head of the dead man. In fact, he'd almost run out of water as he had used most of it for cooking the dead man's brain with some rice.

He brought out a blackened pot and showed us the contents. He'd already had one portion of it, and would have to space out eating the cooked brain and rice over the next three days. Repelled, chilled, yet curious, we asked him who he was. He was an aghori, he said, and Calcutta was his birthplace. After early initiation when he was just nine years old into Tantric Kali worship, he'd moved into other deeper sadhnas (disciplines), but always, it was with the forces of the dark. The rules and demands of the search for power in which he was now engaged ordained that he had to eat at least one human brain annually. Already, he had acquired the ability of divining the future. He could actually show us our future, in case we were interested. Why didn't we come in?

Fascinated yet afraid that at this isolated spot we might end up becoming his annual meal, we left somewhat hastily, forgetting all our lessons in politeness. Over the next few days, I couldn't get the aghori out of my mind. When a brigadier and his wife came to seek a reading from the cards as they were in deep trouble with a court martial looming on the horizon, it gave me the opportunity to go back to the aghori, with the anxious brigadier and his wife in tow. After all, he had said he could show one the future. What better way of testing the claim ? He was still there, at the peak of his powers, he informed us, as he'd recently consumed the human brain. This time, we entered his hut and our eyes soon became accustomed to the dimness. The aghori requested us to sit, and as we sat cross-legged on the earthern floor, placed a lota (container) of water before us. "Look into the water" he commanded. And in the water, we saw the brigadier, older, dressed in civilian clothes. After several sequences, we saw the brigadier with the Supreme Court clearly visible in the background, and he was wearing a dark blue suit and distributing sweets to a group of people who were with him.

Some months after this amazing incident, the brigadier wanted to take a friend to meet the aghori, but when we reached there we found the hut in a sad state : it was just a bundle of grass and straw and twigs strewn on the ground. Enquiries at the cremation ground revealed that the aghori had been driven away by irate residents of Raipur, a nearby suburb. Seven years passed with only occasional meetings with the brigadier, who was no longer in active service and was fighting his case in the civil courts. One day I received a message from him. The Supreme Court was to give the verdict on his case. And when I went on the appointed day, apart from other settings, there, outside the imposing Supreme Court building, was the Brigadier, dressed in a dark blue suit, distributing sweets just as he had been seven years ago in the lota of water the cannibal aghori had placed before us.

Philosophy behind this: Aghoris are indifferent to everything. For them there is nothing good ,ideal or bad. Everything that exists in this world is essentially made up of same thing. Hence they utter obscenities, may take liqour, eat Dead human flesh and do other things which might appear to be 'uncivilised' to us.

We should respect the way chosen by these people for enlightenment. After all lord shiva is also an aghori, yes it was his another name. Many people think that aghori babas kill humans for their rituals, but there is no strong evidence for this. Since this sect has most of its rites and rituals a secret, we don’t have exact number of aghoris present in India, but you can always find few aghoris in the Kinaram aghori temple in Varanasi.

why should we be proud of india?

Facts About Ancient India:

• It is the only society in the world which has never known slavery.

• India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

• The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda(later destroyed by mogul emperors and we lost most of the scientific knowledge we had) built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

• Sanskrit is considered the mother of all higher languages. Sanskrit is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.

• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization. It is the only system which takes the holistic view of the person being treated.

• Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by her wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered American continent by mistake.

• The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.

• Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.

• The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.

• Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were propounded by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BC during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).

• According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.

• The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 BC a beautiful lake aptly called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.

• Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was reportedly invented in India.

• Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery.

• Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.

• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in the Sindhu Valley Civilization.

• The name `India’ is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.

• The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan’ combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.

• The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola

• India is.......the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).

• The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.

• India has the most post offices in the world !

• The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people !.

• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.

• There is no religion as Hinduism, there was this vedic system of life and people had freedom to choose their own god. This vedic system or sanatana dharma was just a way of life and the name hindu came from the sindhu river, which means people who live beyond river sindhu, so anyone living in India is literally hindu, but now this does not hold any value. We have divided our system to a great extent to be repaired.

• The real name of India(as in satyuga) is Bharat or Bharatvarsha.

And there is the story(was forwarded through emails some 2 yrs back) of Mr.Vaidyaraj an alleged descendant of krishnadevaraya found a couple of diamonds, each one 4600 carats, and is supposedly kept in swiss bank and was taken under cover for security reasons. The worst thing is the cost of this single diamond is way higher than the GDP of America and UK.

A single diamond of it equals 10 times the wealth of bill gates at the time of its discovery (somewhere in 2005 and at that time the property of bill gates valued approximately 95 billion dollars)

This diamond can buy 7 developing nations or a single diamond can clear the debts of Indian debts in world bank three times. Even the world bank has not enough money to buy these diamonds.

The problem with this mail I got is that there is no verifiable data, except that it mentioned that Star tv aired a 115 min documentary about this diamond and hindu had a half page article about this, and since after the news it was classified, surely there is no way to check the authenticity of the news.

Infact India is richer than what meets the eye, there is enough money in the swiss banks under the accounts of indian nationals to provide job for all Indians and raise them above poverty line.

This is a really long list of why should we be proud of being Indians, and many things not added for that would only add to the length of the post and nothing more.

India has a rich past, but what is the use? This past does not help us to curb the poverty or stop the trend of farmer suicides. The Indians feel proud of their heritage and language.. but how many scholars do we have in Sanskrit?

Why are we trying to prove that we were rich and knowledged?

Do we feel inferior to the western culture and their advancement in science and economics?

Yes we do, we feel that we were a great nation and now we were robbed of the greatness, when the Kohinoor was taken away, people were furious, but why? What difference does that makes. Even if we had Kohinoor, we will never sell it and it will have no monetary value.

Now since we are not developed enough in the period of 60yrs of independence, we blame the foreigners, the politicians.

I think its time for us to stop being proud of India and make India proud.

take care

blessed be