Back to Life After Death ... "Many Lives .. Many Masters"

While researching more on life after death I came across a psychiatrist Dr Brian Weiss who had written the international bestseller "Many Lives Many Masters" and in his book he talks about how he used hypnotic regression therapy to help a patient get over her fears, anxiety, etc and in turn discovered that a person indeed has been born over and over gain, or in other words "Soul is immortal".

Well what Dr Weiss did was hypnotized his patient and over several sessions went into her past lives to look at what might be the cause of her fears or sufferings. In one particular case this patient of afraid of water and it was later found that in one of her lifetimes she had died as a result of drowning. Moreover after the patient comes to terms with this he or she gets over the fear and is cured.

But there are a lot of other interesting things that came up as a result of this hypnotic therapy. The most amazing one was the existence of planes which from an earlier book on Yogi Philosophy is the same thing. After death you soul exists on one of the many planes of existence and it is here that the "Soul Master", the soul that has achieved salvation or has achieved the highest level of spirituality helps the other souls to ponder over the past life and learn what it is that the life was teaching you. And then when the soul is ready it is reborn in the world in a different body. The best part about this is that now a psychiatrist has proved the same thing that the oriental philosophers believed in. Now given that this might be difficult to prove, skeptics do question as to how a person in hypnosis differentiates between a dream and past lives. While this may be a very valid point one cannot argue that the person expresses emotions and gives out exact details of what had happened during the past lives. Also with this particular case the patient was able to tell Dr Weiss things about his life which no one else would ever know. It was then revealed that the soul master told the patient abt this so that Dr Weiss would then believe and would not be a skeptic anymore.

Another very interesting aspect that was discovered what that the persons you are close to in this lifetime could very well be with you in your previous lifetimes we well. This particular patient’s mother was with her in almost all the 62 past lifetimes that she recollected either as a mother, a sister, a friend, a husband, a brother. This indeed is very helpful for counseling people in their grief. If they knew that the loved one they have lost in this life time will be reunited in the future lives, the grief would certainly be reduced. And Dr Weiss through the plethora of patients that he hypnotized proved this again and again. In one particular case two people were soul mates in all their past lives, always born to be together as a couple.

So there you go another piece of the "life after death" puzzle falls into place. After researching I have come to terms that indeed a soul never dies, you are born again and are reunited with your loved ones. You are given a chance to learn more, to achieve that level of spirituality to reach nirvana. Always remember you always keep learning and growing. Even after you die in one lifetime , as a soul on a plan of existence you improve your knowledge and learn from each and every life that you spend on earth until you are ready to let go of all materialistic things and achieve spirituality.

Now I don’t expect everyone to become a believer but just to have an open mind about this.
As for me the quest does not end here, it has merely begun. Next would be to read on other psychiatrist views on Hypnotic regression therapy and about NDE (Near Death Experiences)

Eating Binge Past 4 days.

So this weekend started from 24th April 09, Friday afternoon and its now 28th April 09, Tuesday morning. Well my weekends are based on what was for food, how tasty it was (quality) and equally important how much it was (quantity). I have been binging these past 4 days and so far it has been awesome. Not a single meal disappointed me and it just got better each time.

Friday is work from home for me and i had a collegue over at my place. We decided on goingto this chinese buffet for lunch. The place is called "Bamboo" and it is an upscale restuarent and its close to my home. Its been about 6-8 months since i wanted to go there for buffet but never got a chance. So went there with an empty stomach with a very simple plan .. eat as much as is humanly possible. I love the crab rangoons over there and have attached a picture of the same. I had over 18 of these .. yep thats right 18 ... and also had samples of the chicken teriyaki, chicken wings, shrimps, noodles, chicken with peanuts and beef. Ended the meal with 2 scoops of green tea ice cream which wasnt all that good, so had about 3 small pieces of the chocklate cake. Wanted to go for another helping of the crab rangoon but did not find any company :(

Came back home 1.5 hrs later and could hardly move. Send out a couple of emails to my manager and went off to sleep. I slept like a log until neha woke me up aroiund 8pm and asked me if i wanted diner... I was like "no way" i was still so full from the $13 buffet and it was so worth it.

Saturday was a beautiful day in Boston and i went for a 4 mile run in the morning and followed that up with an hour and a half of cricket. Yeah baby cricket season has started ..FINALLY....

Then had a couple of errands to do, so wrapped that up and we were back home by around 4 in the afternoon. Neha had lunch at Chipotle and i was very tempted to have as well but managed to control myself.

Come evening and Neha asked if i wanted to have lamb. I dont

recall if it was Neha who brought it up and I forced her to :)But anyways we decided on making Hyderbadi Biryani. Looked up the recipe on the net and started helping Neha with it.Neha decided on making some Veg Biryani as well so she could enjoy it as well. It took about 2 hours to get the biryani done and i was starving by the time it was over. And the biryani was so Yummy. I loved it, the lamb was cooked perfectly, the spices in the biryani were almost perfect and Adwait does not eat Lamb meat. So it was almost all for me. And boy did i have a great time finishing it all up. Emties the entire cooker full of biryani and was having a hard time getting up. As always thanked Neha for the amazing amazing meal and for always trying something new for me :)

The picture however is of Mutton gravy "Aai Style" which Neha made a week back and it turned out perfect ... just like how Aai makes it back home and how i remeber eating it from my kid days.

Saturday came and gone, we moved to the lazy Sunday...

did nothing fruitful the entire day and was just lazing around all afternoon and evening.
Neha decided on maing cheesecake for us and for herself. Obviously chocklate for me and rasberry for her. We both love cheesecakes from "cheesecake factory", however they are ridiculously expensive .. about 8$ for a small piece of the heavenly godiva chocklate cheesecake. So Neha decided on making it at home. She had done it once in the past and it turned out great. Took her about 4 hours before it was finally done and ready to be served. So at around 8pm we sat down to eat this Great and godly chocklate cheesecake. It had a layer of cheesecake, then a layer of chocklate , then another layer of cheesecake and a small layer of chocklate. Topped it up with chocklate sauce and vola had the most amazing desert cooked all at home by the great Neha.

Monday was a usual day at work and for a change.. actually for

a big change Neha came home early, around 5pm. She wanted to go to the mall but as always i wasnt very agreeable. We did some house cleaning and Neha said she wanted to make cabbage, but somehow she ended up making chicken nawabi and panner butter masala.

and with Nan it tasted amazing .... the chicken was perfectly cooked and went very wel with the thick gravy and nan. The Paneer itself wasnt very good but Neha did something to it and voila like magic it tasted very yummy. I told Neha i would have 2 Nan and would leave some chicken for tomorrows lunch. 5 Nans and an empty Kadhai of Chicken later i was satisafied. My stomach was like "dude enough" .. all i ahve been doing for the past 4 days was eat, eat and eat some more.

But it was all worth it. I might be a couple of pounds heavier but boy do i feel good. Isnt this the whole point of following that strict 6 day fitness routine. Running atleast 20 miles a week and working on the upper body for 2 days. Just so that i dont feel guilty when i go on such a eating binge. The whole point of working out is so that down the road your doctor should never have to tell you "you cant have chicken, chocklates, fried food, grilled food or any other food that you like .. its only boring veggies for you and these tablets that you have to take twice a day for your high BP and for your weak heart... and Ooh by the way here is the 15 lakh bill for your operation , hospital visits and my fees...... Thank you please come again"

Operation "Sholay" well Done

So i have been having some issues with Basanti lately, thats my "close to heart" laptop. She has been running slow and hot lately, i realized the problem with her is all the dirt she has accumulated over the 2.5 yrs she has been with me. So i did some research and decided to open her up to clean her fans and the cooling system. Believe me it was one of the toughest decision i have ever made, i knew even the smallest mistake could mean i could never use Basanti again and I plan to stay with her as long as possible.

So with a heavy heart i decided to open her up and i shall show you guys some of the images i have taken of her.

Firstly here is my tool kit. I had a screw driver set, a can of compressed air, some cotton swabs and a liquid to clean the screen.

The first step was to remove the battery and then open the hinge as seen in the picture above. This was followed by removing the keyborad and then to take apart the LCD screen. Removing the screen was difficult and i had to extremely careful to remove the screws and the cables. So here is how Basanti looks without her keypad and her beautiful and high resolution screen.

I also had to remove her heart out which was her hard drive where all the data was stored. The most important piece of Basanti. I handled it extemely cautiously and took out the hard drive and the optical drive as well.

It was after this that the most difficult part began. I had to take out the palm rest which has abt 11 screws at the bottom and very tight connections at the top. Also I had to be extremely careful to not damage any of the processors. It took about an hour just to reach this far and Neha was already getting impatient, but alas the operation had already began and there was no turning back now.

So here is how she looks from the inside, very pretty aint she.

Next i located the fan and the cooling system and took the fan out. And what I saw was something no one should ever see in their lifetime. There was atleast 3-4 inches of dust between the fan and cooling system. The cause of my Basanti slowing down and aging well before her time. Here is what i am talking about

I removed all the dirt and the dust which by the way also took me a good 30 minutes. And Neha helped me to clean the fan as well. Here is how much dirt i collected.

After the operation was completed the next important thing to do was to put Basanti together again. If taking her apart was difficult this was going to be even more difficult. So i started putting her together piece by piece. First the fan, followed by the palm rest, then the screen which was most difficult, the keyboard followed and lastly the hinge which by the way put a good fight to slip in place.

Then i put the battery back in her and turned her on ;) and to my horror her display was all Green with blue lines all over her. I panicked and was scared for her life, but i kept my cool and opened her up again but just the screen and the keyboard. Put all the wires and connectors in place tightly and put in back. Only this time i did not put the hinge back on since i belived that this was the actual problem.

I prayed and i prayed hard as i turned her on again and Behold i see beautiful blue screen greeting me. I was so happy and elated at the successful operation. I put the hinge carefully back on and cleaned her screen to give a new younger look . Here take a look

3 hours after i stared working on her she was good as new. I make sure her hard drive was ok, took her for a spin and she worked beautifully and was so much quicker that she ever was. Now i am looking to get her a new accessory, an additional 1GB RAM module to upgrade her for even better performance. If you guys love your Basanti as much i suggest to make sure she is clean and not running too hot.

AFTERLIFE .... a big ?

So i was watching a supernatural horror flick about ghosts, how and why they communicate with the living .. the usual stuff and it got my thinking about AFTERLIFE. I have read and blogged previously about Afterlife or the life after death but that was more from a spiritual point of view. What the Yogi philosophy tells us or what we as Hindus believe in or what the other religions like Christianity have to say about afterlife and resurrection, etc .... but lets pretend for a second that we haven't read anything or have no reference .. in such a situation what would your views be about afterlife. Would you believe that we just disappear after death or that the souls just roam the earth in search of some medium to communicate with their loved ones or that we are just reborn, only the body perishes but the soul remains iternal ?

I personally have always believed in the supreme being. oF a higher power who guides us all. But then again if you believe in God then you have to believe in the Devil. The good cannot exist without the evil, the sun cannot rise without setting first, there cannot just be ups and no downs ...every coin my friend has two sides to it.

Just some fodder for the mind. I wish one day i would get a chance to devote a lot of time in researching the paranormal, the occult. After all don't we all want to know where we would be after this life. What the Afterlife would be like? Would it be black or white like heaven and hell, or would our Karma in this life decide what our afterlife would be like or would we be reborn each time until we achieve the highest spirituality or worst just hang around the living hoping to be able to communicate.

Its getting harder to RESIST the Temptation.

so it has been around 4.5 months, 137 days to be precise since i have given up eating meat and drinking alcohol. The first 3 months were alright, i wasn't craving for chicken and was content eating vegetarian food. All though i avoided going to my favourite places which had the best buffet or the sumptuous lamb shwarma or the amazing Hyderabadi biryani or avoiding Thai, Chinese, Italian, Mediterranean cuisines. i tried to eat only at Mexican places cause they have a decent vegetarian option. but when my friends ordered chicken or when i saw the menu with the steak specials i did not crave for it. i was alright with no eating it for a while. even when we went to a buffet i did not want to eat the chicken kebab or the lamb do pyaza or the shrimp masala. i was content with drinking mushroom soup and eating samosas, dosas and the paneer the sabzi. though it wasn't wort 14$ that I paid it was still alright.

But now when 9th April is so near i am getting crazy cravings. If not for chicken, i crave for something sweet every day after lunch and dinner. Yesterday i wanted to eat at this Mexican fast food place called Taco Bell really bad. i have never had such whims before but now its getting stronger each day. When my friend went to an Indian buffet place which had a delicious variety of tandoori chicken, biryani, lamb masala all i could think of is when would i be able to get there and eat em all. Even though i know that if i crave for something that i have given up eating then it does not count, but i cant help it.

All i could conclude from my little experiment is that its gets harder and harder as the day to end your experiment approaches. it might be due to anxiety or just the fact that you are so weak that you cannot go without thinking about it. As for me I am not sure if i am meant to give up eating things that i love and only time will show if i once again take up giving up meat, but for the time being i await the day i start eating meat once again.

Ooh by the way i forgot, to help me along the way (get the sarcasm please), Neha decide to make some yummy chicken for my room mate, not once but twice. I was lucky the second time since she left the chicken pieces for too long outside and they went bad. And frankly i was always hoping and secretly praying that something like this would happen. ya ya I know , i am sadistic and very selfish when it comes to sharing my yummy food. but then again that's me, take me the way I am rather than try and change me.

Still get my pay cheques BUT .......

So today is 13th March 09, Friday the 13th, and my company had decided a couple of months back that this would be the day when the employees would know whether they have a job or not and also this would be the day when they hand out the bonuses from last year. So basically everyone spend the last couple of months worrying about their status, it was business as usual but there were times when you couldn’t help but wonder whether you would have a job or not.

So anyways as I was in my cube earlier today my manager came up to me and told me he wanted to have a word with me. We then went to his cube and he told me “your job is secure”. I felt relived, I told him so, and that I had certain things lined up back home and that keeping this job means a lot to me. And thanked him for the confidence that he had shown in me. It was over in a matter of minutes, something you were thinking about for the past 2 months got over before you could even blink twice. I then made all the customary phones calls to ma, jiza, Neha, bhaisaaheb, uncle-aunty. Everyone told me they were very happy for me and glad that things worked out for me. I told Neha that we would go out for dinner tonight and celebrate the occasion.

An hour flew by and I heard news about some of my colleagues not making the cut. 3 cubicles around me would now be empty. Friends that I worked with for quite sometime now wouldn’t be around. I prayed to give them and their family the strength to survive these difficult times. I called Neha and she immediately realized that I was feeling very sad, depressed. It was as if everything around was gloomy and dark. You always hear these numbers, around 668,000 jobs lost in the month of February, 650,000 jobs lost in January and for us these are just numbers. But its when you look around do you realize that behind each of these numbers there are dreams, there is a family to support, there are emotional set backs, there are uncertainties. I know "whoever you believe in" has plans for everybody and things will work out eventually for everyone. I pray that he gives them the courage to face it all and not forget that in spite of the hardships he is still with them and looking after them.

I can’t help but quote a few lines that I truly believe in

“Jo hota hia aache ke liye hota hai and ek wajah ke liye hota hai”

“Agar mann ki ho to aacha, agar nahi to aur bhi aacha”

“Yadi aap koi cheez sache mann se karte ho to aapko kabhi nirash nahi hona chahiye”

HOLI hai Bhai HOLI hai

HOLI ... the festival of colours and brings back so many memories. Of all the things I miss here in "Hell Hole", the biggest one is my inability to enjoy Holi with my nephews, sis and Atul back home. Though jiza is a spoil sport and Yash doesn’t like playing Holi I still miss being there with them during this wonderful wonderful festival. This festival is of great significance for me, I enjoyed Holi with my dad, "pappa" as I affectionately called him. We enjoyed this festival second only to Diwali. For me there were three distinct phases of Holi.

First there was when I was in school, standard 5th to the 9th. Holi fever for me would start days in advance with my constant cribbing for a new "pichkari". I had a good working one from previous year but every year something new and cool would come in the market and I would want those. Then going out with pappa to get the different packets of balloons and colours. There used to the red, blue, green packet of balloons and then the white ones. And usually pappa got me gulal and a couple of packets of purple and green colours. On the day of Holi, I still remember not being able to sleep all night in anticipation of the festival and the things I had planned to do. Pappa would get up very early, around 4am, and start filling up the balloons with water. I was so useless, I would just sit there and hand him the balloons and then take every single one of them and place them in a bucket of water. After this he would start filling the white balloons with coloured water. These were my favourites. We used to done only by around 7-8am. Pappa would be exhausted after this but every single year he would do this for me and I enjoyed the ritual. I enjoyed spending the time with him which I realize only now was priceless.

Holi started with putting gulal on pappa and mummy, and then heading out to play Holi with my friends from the neighbouring building. We started out with throwing balloons on one another. Then we would go to the terrace and have balloon fights with the kids from the other buildings. After all the balloons were done then we played with the colours and the gulal. Occasionally we would throw each other in the pool of muddy water that was formed. After coming down from the terrace we would ask people in the building to throw buckets of water from their houses. Ooh that was so much fun. Soaked in colours, water, mud I would come back home around noon time for some food. Then after lunch head back out to play some cricket with my friends. Yep cricket is an integral part of Holi. Once we made the mistake of throwing a packet of gulal in the water tank of the building. Everyone got red water that day and that’s when we were prohibited from ever playing Holi on the terrace ;)

Then there was the college time, in Bhavans and DJ. Holi changed for me while in Junior college. I used to play with colours only with my friends from the building and head out to Atul's place in Andheri. Yep in spite of having colours all over me I would take the train and then the bus to reach Atul's place in Vijaynagar, Marol. The ride was so amusing, I used to see people in all different colours, some in red, some in green and blue, the worst ones in Silver. But that was all in the spirit of the festival. Anyways after reaching Atul's place we used to play Holi for sometime before heading out to play Cricket. Though I didn’t play too often, cricket in Vijaynagar was always rocking; there was an incident when Neha and Swapna were invited to Atul's place a couple of days after Holi. Knowing how much Neha disliked Holi colours me and Atul decided to now throw colours on her, but instead throw it on Swapna. Alas fate had something else in store and instead of Swapna, Neha got gulal all over her. Me and Atul were terrified and were afraid of the consequences, but thankfully Neha took it very sportingly. Till date she doesn’t believe me that it was an accident and that we never intended to throw colours on her.

And finally the last stage was Holi here in "Hell Hole". Nothing to write about except the last year when I, Neha and a couple of other friends went to a small gathering of people enjoying Holi. We played with colours and the best part was there was a DJ who was playing some of my favourite Holi songs and every third song was Rang Barse. I never thought I would enjoy Holi with Neha and with colours. But it rocked. The best Holi in like 5 years. And now in 2009 there are no parties, no place we can go to celebrate this wonderful festival.

My only regret is I never got a chance to play Holi was my sis; she might be a spoil sport when it comes to Holi but I know she would never say No to me. So Jiza here's hoping that I get a chance to throw gulal and enjoy Holi with you soon.