The real growth, the only goal...

I've often wondered what drives people to action. The driving force that makes people to perform a gamut of actions in the world ; from the grossest to the most profound. There are many explainations for this from psychology to sociology. The most famous one known to even a rookie in manangement studies is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Although Maslow's theory tried to explain, it fell short to explain comprehensively. Then i turned my gaze to our very own system of yoga, not to be disappointed by the explaination provided.

This article in Huffington post from Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev prompted me to write this post. Yoga considers everything as energy. It's only the manipulation that we can do about it. Even fundamental physics says the same thing. So, fundamentally it's all the same energy manifesting in a zillion different forms. If that is the case, a human being is no different from the law as after all he's a microcasm in the macrocasm called universe. 

Someone who is born and brought up in India would have at least heard of the words 'Kundalini' and 'chakra' if not known anything about them in detail. Kundalini is a very vast concept in itself. To put it succinctly, it is an enormous dormant energy waiting to get awakened. Once it gets awakened, it can do phenomenal things. But if it is mishandled, it can cause a lot of physical and psychological damage. That's why it's aptly compared to a sleeping serpent.

As the above mentioned article clearly describes, chakras are the energy centers in which the energy channels called 'nadis' meet. Though they are in the form of triangle, because they symbolize growth and movement they are called chakras (wheels). When the dormant energy Kundalini begins to arise in the human system,it rises through these chakras. As the energy gets concentrated on a particular chakra, the dominant quality of the person changes accordingly. Even though there are 114 chakras in the human system, the dominant ones are 7 in number.

The seven chakras are : Mooladhara, Swadhisthana, Manipuraka, Anahata, Vishuddhi, Agna, Sahasrar. Depending on their physical locations, we can call them as higher and lower chakras but it no way denotes anything as inferior or superior in their quality. Mooladhara is the very first chakra and is located at the base of the spine. If the enegies are dominant in this chakra, food and sleep will be predominant qualities of life. Swadhisthana is the second chakra & is located just above the genital organs. If the energies become dominant here, the person will be incessant pleasure seeker and pleasure can be seeked in many different ways.

The next chakra is Manipuraka which is located just below the navel. When the energies move here, it pushes the person towards action. And action can be of so many types. When the energy moves towards the next chakra, Anahata which is located in the heart area, it makes the person very creative. The next chakra is Vishuddhi which is located in the throat region. If energies move towards this chakra, the person becomes extremely powerful in many ways. Political power and the likes appear to be pygmies in front of this kind of power.

If the energies move towards Agna, which is located between the eyebrows the person becomes intellectually enlightened. A new kind of peace and semblance dawns upon him. The next chakra, Sahasrar which is at the crown of the head is often described as thousand petalled lotus. The word Sahasrar also implies that its magnitude and significance is very vast; in fact, unlimited. When the energies reach Sahasrar, the person becomes extremely ecstatic.

Any spiritual seeker has to embark this journey from Mooladhara to Sahasrar in his ultimate quest towards self-knowledge. There can be a million ways to reach it. The seeker can choose any way which is appropriate to his nature and temperament. Once the seeker completes his journey, he would have known everything in this universe that is worth knowing.

The usurping of Islam over any nation or society should be feared because...

Islamophobia – a term coined by the apologists of Islam when the non-Muslims express their valid fears about the usurping nature of Islam. Islam has reverse Midas touch - whatever it touches, turns into desert. As Islam is one of the most important monotheistic religions, there is a need to understand the core belief of monotheistic religions to understand Islam. Monotheistic religion doesn’t just imply devotion and belief in one god; it also implies intense hatred for the other gods and beliefs. This was true for the other monotheistic religions like Judaism and Christianity. But over a period of time, they have changed & have become less-hostile to the non-believers. But Islam, to this day remains very loyal to its source and thus hostile to all those who do not share its set of beliefs i.e Non-Muslims.

If Islam was just another religion, then the mindset that fears the rise of Islam could be easily bracketed as a phobia but it’s not as easy as it seems. It is radically different from any other religion. So, when there is a rise of Islam in any corner of the globe, it is definitely a red flag for the non-Muslims. Because the rise would always, without exception end up in a demographic seize.

Many people across the globe are beginning to realize it lately. Some are afraid to spell it out fearing it might flout their ‘political correctness’. Europe, in its mad rush towards pursuing and establishing the idea of multiculturalism gave in a lot to Islam. Now, it has started to pay the price for the blunder. It's telling a tale when Europe is slowly being transformed into 'Eurabia'. 

The problem with India with regard Islam is much more complex. Much non-sense in India has happened in the name of secularism, composite culture and multiculturalism. In India, the political class, the media, the ‘intellectuals’ and many others are in accord in protecting the interests of Muslims, most of the times - at the cost of others. The clamor for secularism will exist only as long as the Hindus remain the majority. Once the baton passes to Islam then the ideals of democracy, secularism will be laid to rest. 

The first domino to fall for the assault of Islam would be freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Freedom of speech to Islam is as alien as flying saucers to Earth. Then diversity gets the second blow. There will be no diversity at all as all will be emulating Arabs and Arabian culture. Aesthetics, Music will go for a toss because they are officially banned in Islam (Mohammad, the founder of Islam intensely disliked music). What to say of yoga and the rest of spiritual process! They will be banned as well. So, India as we know it would vanish like dust in the wind.

The Muslim majority state, even if has embraced democracy, over a period of time will be pressurized to drop democracy and to adopt shariah laws. Even if the initial rulers are moderates, somewhere down the line, the extremists or radicals would seize the power. We had seen it happening all over the world. Our neighboring nation, Pakistan is a classic example for this.

In his controversial book "Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat" Peter Hammond has explained how Muslims behave according to their percentage strength of the total population of the country.

Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their religious privileges.

When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other components tend to creep in as well.

Here's how it works.

As long as the Muslim population remains around or under 2% in any given country, they will be for the most part be regarded as a peace-loving minority, and not as a threat to other citizens. This is the case in:

United States -- Muslim 0.6%
Australia -- Muslim 1.5%
Canada -- Muslim 1.9%
China -- Muslim 1.8%
Italy -- Muslim 1.5%
Norway -- Muslim 1.8%

At 2% to 5%, they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups, often with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs. This is happening in:

Denmark -- Muslim 2%
Germany -- Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom -- Muslim 2.7%
Spain -- Muslim 4%
Thailand -- Muslim 4.6%

From 5% on, they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. For example, they will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature halal on their shelves -- along with threats for failure to comply. This is occurring in:

France -- Muslim 8%
Philippines -- Muslim 5%
Sweden -- Muslim 5%
Switzerland -- Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands -- Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad & Tobago -- Muslim 5.8%

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves (within their ghettos) under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islamists is to establish Sharia law over the entire world.

When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. In Paris , we are already seeing car-burnings. Any non-Muslim action offends Islam, and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam , with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam. Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections, in:

Guyana -- Muslim 10%
India -- Muslim 13.4%
Israel -- Muslim 16%
Kenya -- Muslim 10%
Russia -- Muslim 15%

After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, such as in:

Ethiopia -- Muslim 32.8%

At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks, and ongoing militia warfare, such as in:

Bosnia -- Muslim 40%
Chad -- Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon -- Muslim 59.7%

From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers of all other religions (including non-conforming Muslims), sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon, and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels, such as in:

Albania -- Muslim 70%
Malaysia -- Muslim 60.4%
Qatar -- Muslim 77.5%
Sudan -- Muslim 70%

After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some State-run ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these nations drive out the infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as has been experienced and in some ways is on-going in:

Bangladesh -- Muslim 83%
Egypt -- Muslim 90%
Gaza -- Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia -- Muslim 86.1%
Iran -- Muslim 98%
Iraq -- Muslim 97%
Jordan -- Muslim 92%
Morocco -- Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan -- Muslim 97%
Palestine -- Muslim 99%
Syria -- Muslim 90%
Tajikistan -- Muslim 90%
Turkey -- Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates -- Muslim 96%

100% will usher in the peace of 'Dar-es-Salaam' -- the Islamic House of Peace. Here there's supposed to be peace, because everybody is a Muslim, the Madrasses are the only schools, and the Koran is the only word, such as in:

Afghanistan -- Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia -- Muslim 100%
Somalia -- Muslim 100%
Yemen -- Muslim 100%

Unfortunately, peace is never achieved, as in these 100% states the most radical Muslims intimidate and spew hatred, and satisfy their blood lust by killing less radical Muslims, for a variety of reasons.

With India, the problem is staring at face with many incidents reported from Kashmir, Assam, Mumbai. The case of Kashmir, Assam are solid examples of demographic seize. The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in the late 80s and now the constant violence unleashed from illegal Bangladeshi Muslims on the native Assamese can be case studies for the demographic seize and the usurping nature of Islam. Rather than turning blind-eye towards these issues, the issue needs to be addressed head on. Else, mark these words - there are many would-be Kashmirs waiting to erupt like Kerala, Assam, West Bengal where radical Islam is gaining a strong foothold. The time is to act now rather than regretting after reaching the point of no return!

Life in 140 characters

No, i never imagined it before i entered this zone. It was not 'just-another' social networking site. It beat my imagination.Yes, i am talking about Twitter and my experience in it for just over half an year. Social networking is something that i always admired for host of reasons apart from entertainment and networking.

 Twitter is the perhaps the first and the most popular site to introduce the concept of micro-blogging. The restriction of 140 characters is obviously inspired by SMS. Just over 6 years of its creation, the effect the twitter has brought about is really amazing. Every celebrity worth his salt would have an account in twitter and facebook.

 Though facebook and twitter are essentially social networking sites, there are many differences when it comes to the actual usage. Facebook is more towards entertainment but whereas twitter is more towards information. Your identity hardly matters in twitter but not so in facebook. Someone differentiated them pretty well stating "In facebook who you are is more important than what you say, but in twitter it's just the opposite". So, you can see many people with concealed identitities garnering a lot of followers because they are saying the right things despite their unknown identities.

 When any news erupts, no social media reacts as swiftly as twitter. If one has his area of interest, and knows whom to follow, he can get a hell lot of information in that field. This has been my experience so far. Even the news that main stream media blacks out for various reasons can be found in twitter. So, if you are an infomaniac, this is the place for you. You'll have a lot of like minded people and there can be great many discussions.

 One more positive i have found out of twitter is that i have found many good bloggers who are way better read and way better informed than the mainstream writers that we daily encounter in the newspapers. Through twitter, they are able to convey some important things to wider audience. Twitter has given them some considerable fan following as well. Till date, i have read many good blogs of many people. I wouldn't have known about those blogs if not for twitter. (In the near future,I intend to write about some of the good bloggers that i have encountered. So, I am not going into the details here).

 There are many other reasons to admire twitter. In my opinion it's impeding the fanatic pace of mainstream media which was/is peddling lies all the way. This is no mean task. That's why you see them cry foul in twitter that rightists (or 'Internet Hindus' as they are fondly named!) have taken control over twitter. This,all the way comfortably forgetting that the communists and pseudo-secularists have hijacked the whole nation and taking it systematically to the dogs. All these years, the main stream media had no challenges. With the advent of twitter and many other social networking sites, they no more can lie through their teeth.

I only wish social media in general & twitter in particular grows from strength to strength because mainstream media has more or less failed in carrying the responsibility of being the fourth pillar of democracy. I fervently hope twitter is here to stay and for good!