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Zene Relaxing Music
Zene Relaxing Music Radio Zen Music 2010 Equilibrium Released on: 2011-02-16 Composer: Giuliano Sacchetto-Giordano Trivellato Auto-generated by YouTube.

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Saavdhan! Barwala Ashram Ke Raaste Par Noormahal
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Yogis, siddhas, and rishis are similar in that they dedicate their lives to the realization of Truth and God. However, they behave slightly differently and belong to one of the following categories:

Arulananda belongs to the second category of saints. After many years of solitary tapas, He has come back to live among people at shrI lalitAnanda Ashram in a coastal village called vAdarEvu near chiIrAla, prakAsham district, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Swamiji was attracted to God from his childhood. He often visited a Vishnu temple with his parents and remained absorbed in prayer for long periods of time. As a child swamiji was suffering from asthma. When he was 7 years old an old saint visited his house. Swamiji was sitting on the veranda at his house. The saint kept him on his lap and applied holy ash (Vibhooti) on his body and asked him to eat the holy ash. The saint preached Ganapati mantra to Swamiji and asked him to chant. The saint left Swamijis house and said he would meet him again. This experience miraculously relieved Swamiji of his childhood asthma. Swamiji developed devotion towards this saint and repeatedly heard the Ganapati mantra without his volition. Swamijis student life continued and he regularly visited the Vishnu temple near his home town.

As days passed, Swamiji secluded himself from the rest of the family. Observing this trend in Swamiji his parents tried to distract him from solitude and sent him overseas for his education. After completing the studies abroad in 1972 at the age of twenty five, Swamiji returned to his native place. According to astrological predictions there was to be a change in his 25th year which soon followed.

After returning home, Swamiji spent more time in the Vishnu temple near his home and developed a detachment to worldly affairs. On a full moon day, in 1973 when Swamiji was sleeping on the veranda at his home, a big black Cobra appeared near Swamiji. An old relative was also sleeping beside Swamiji at that time. The Cobra appeared between them and made a noise at which Swamiji and the old man were woken up. The cobra banged its head against the floor three times in front of Swamiji and disappeared. The family tried to catch the cobra by various means and had no success. The Cobra had disappeared from their house. After this experience Swamijis parents understood that he had some divine pursuits and agreed for him to undertake Sannyasa.

In 1973 January, Swamiji left his home and started going around holy mountains, temples and places of spiritual interest in South India. On a chitra pournami day (full moon day in April), when Swamiji was meditating in front of Papanasam Agastya Kalyana Teertham Sivalingam in the midnight, an old tall saint appeared to Swamiji and held his right palm and wrote some letters which was comprehended as "Chellappa" by Swamiji. The saint preached a mantra to Swamiji and said he would meet him again and advised him to obtain Sannyasa and disappeared. Accordingly, Swamiji went to Kanchi Kamakoti peetam and obtained Sannyasa Deeksha from Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Chandrasekhara Sarasvati (August 1973) and stayed for sometime at the Kanchi Matham.

After the sannyasa deeksha, Chandrasekhara Sarasvati Swami said to Swamiji, "Naangal eruvarum paarpathu oru kannadiyai, nee vekamaha pookirai, mounamaha eru, unakku eraivannin arul kidaikum" (meaning; we are both looking at the same mirror but, you are traveling fast, you need to slow down and be silent. You need to serve the public and you will obtain the full grace of god). Swamiji was told "Arulum paripurana aananthamum kiddaikum" and given the name Arulananda by Chandrasekhara Sarasvati Swamigal. When Swamiji enquired if he could use the suffix of the Shankaracharya guru parampara (Sarasvati) because he obtained sannyasa deeksha from Chandrasekhara Sarasvati Swami, he said there was "no need for such suffix and you will obtain a prefix to your name when the right time comes."

Sannyasa Life

Pothigai hills near Papanasam: Swamiji returned to Papanasam and started meditating in a cave near Agastya maharishis foot print at Kalyana Theertham (Pothigai hills). During this time, Swamiji would visit the natural mountains and temples around. While staying at Pothigai hills, Swamiji attended the daily pooja at the Papanasam Shiva temple about 3 km from his cave. He observed silence most of the time. During the 7 years of tapas (meditation) at Pothigai hills, Swamiji had the experience of Ganapati and Ambal's divine vision at many occasions.

Pothigai hills is a highly divine and spiritual center. The story is that when Shiva and Parvati entered into divine matrimony, mount Kailasha in the north was not balanced because of the number of holy beings witnessing the wedding. Lord Shiva asked Agastya Maharishi to proceed to the South of India to balance the world. Agastya Maharishi proceeded to Pothigai hills and balanced the world. Agastya Maharishi was able to visualise the wedding of Lord Shiva and Parvati on a Shivalingam that was at Tiru Kalyana Teertham at Pothigai hills. These hills are visited by several saints and sages from Himalayas particularly on a full moon day.

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Swami Arulananda's Ashram - Shivayoga Suruli Arulananda ...

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APHG.Religion.Buddhism/SE Asian Religions

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Revival of Buddhism In India Part 1 of 2 - From Untouchables to Buddhists
Synopsis From Untouchable to Buddhist - The Revival of Buddhism I India and its Implications for the development of Buddhism in the World. Buddhism died out in India over 700 years ago. On...

By: Poh Ming Tse Temple

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Which are the principles of the eightfold path of Buddhism?

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Published December 12, 2014

Dec. 11, 2014: New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood, center, is escorted by Myanmar police officers following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar(AP)

YANGON, Myanmar A New Zealand bar manager in Myanmar has been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones, police said Friday.

The offense carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.

Police arrested Philip Blackwood on Wednesday along with two Myanmar nationals, including the bar's owner, Tun Thurein, and an employee. Authorities then shut the V Gastro Bar, a tapas bar and lounge, which had opened just two weeks earlier in an upscale Yangon neighborhood.

The image, which shows a neon pink Buddha wearing DJ-style headphones, was posted on the bar's Facebook page, and quickly spread online. An official from the Religious Department filed a complaint that led to the arrests, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the media.

The image has been removed from the Facebook page and replaced by an apology.

"Our intention was never to cause offense to anyone," the apology says. "Our ignorance is embarrassing."

The arrests come amid a surge of religious nationalism in Myanmar following violence between Buddhists and Muslims in recent years.

The three men are due to appear in court next week.

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Myanmar bar manager accused of insulting Buddhism - Indonesian cops name editor suspect in anti-Islam blasphemy case

The ascetic and moralizing movements that spawned the world's major religious traditions--Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity--all arose around the same time in three different regions, and researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 11 have now devised a statistical model based on history and human psychology that helps to explain why. The emergence of world religions, they say, was triggered by the rising standards of living in the great civilizations of Eurasia.

"One implication is that world religions and secular spiritualities probably share more than we think," says Nicolas Baumard of the Ecole Normale Suprieure in Paris. "Beyond very different doctrines, they probably all tap into the same reward systems [in the human brain]."

It seems almost self-evident today that religion is on the side of spiritual and moral concerns, but that was not always so, Baumard explains. In hunter-gatherer societies and early chiefdoms, for instance, religious tradition focused on rituals, sacrificial offerings, and taboos designed to ward off misfortune and evil.

That changed between 500 BCE and 300 BCE--a time known as the "Axial Age"--when new doctrines appeared in three places in Eurasia. "These doctrines all emphasized the value of 'personal transcendence,'" the researchers write, "the notion that human existence has a purpose, distinct from material success, that lies in a moral existence and the control of one's own material desires, through moderation (in food, sex, ambition, etc.), asceticism (fasting, abstinence, detachment), and compassion (helping, suffering with others)."

While many scholars have argued that large-scale societies are possible and function better because of moralizing religion, Baumard and his colleagues weren't so sure. After all, he says, some of "the most successful ancient empires all had strikingly non-moral high gods." Think of Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Mayans.

In the new study, the researchers tested various theories to explain the history in a new way by combining statistical modeling on very long-term quantitative series with psychological theories based on experimental approaches. They found that affluence--which they refer to as "energy capture"--best explains what is known of the religious history, not political complexity or population size. Their Energy Capture model shows a sharp transition toward moralizing religions when individuals were provided with 20,000 kcal/day, a level of affluence suggesting that people were generally safe, with roofs over their heads and plenty of food to eat, both in the present time and into the foreseeable future.

"This seems very basic to us today, but this peace of mind was totally new at the time," Baumard says. "Humans living in tribal societies or even archaic empires often experience famine and diseases, and they live in very rudimentary houses. By contrast, the high increase in population and urbanization rate in the Axial Age suggests that, for certain people, things started to get much better."

The researchers say that this transition is consistent with a shift from "fast" life strategies, focused on the immediate problems of the day, to those focused on long-term investments. They say that it will now be interesting to test whether other familiar characteristics of modern human society, such as high parental investment and long-term monogamy, might stem from the same historical change.

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The above story is based on materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Affluence, not political complexity, explains rise of moralizing world religions

Published December 11, 2014

In this Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014 photo, New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood, center, is escorted by Myanmar police officers following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar. Blackwood, the manager of V Gastro Bar in Yangon has been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones, police said Friday. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)(The Associated Press)

In this Dec.11, 2014 photo, Htut Ko Ko Lwin, center, an employer of V Gastro Bar, is escorted by Myanmar police officers following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar. The employee, a New Zealand bar manager and the bar's owner have been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)(The Associated Press)

In this Dec.11, 2014 photo, People, including Buddhist monks gather around a police vehicle to see a New Zealand bar manager and two-employers following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar. A New Zealand national, the manager of V Gastro bar in Yangon and two-employers of the bar have been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)(The Associated Press)

In this Thursday, Dec.11, 2014 photo, a Buddhist monk prepares to take a picture of New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood, as he gets in to a police vehicle following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar. Blackwood, the manager of V Gastro bar in Yangon and two-employers of the bar have been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)(The Associated Press)

YANGON, Myanmar A New Zealand bar manager in Myanmar has been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones.

Police say the V Gastro Bar in Myanmar's capital was shut on Wednesday after a complaint was filed against the advertisement, which was posted on the bar's Facebook page.

Bar manager Philip Blackwood and two Myanmar employees were arrested and are scheduled to appear in court next week to face charges of insulting religion, which carry a penalty of up to two years in prison.

The image has been removed from the Facebook page and replaced by an apology.

The arrests come during a surge of religious nationalism in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country.

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New Zealand bar manager arrested in Myanmar for advertisement showing Buddha in headphones

YANGON, Burma (AP) A New Zealand bar manager in Burma has been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones.

Police say the V Gastro Bar in Burmas capital was shut on Wednesday after a complaint was filed against the advertisement, which was posted on the bars Facebook page.

Bar manager Philip Blackwood and two Burma employees were arrested and are scheduled to appear in court next week to face charges of insulting religion, which carry a penalty of up to two years in prison.

The image has been removed from the Facebook page and replaced by an apology.

The arrests come during a surge of religious nationalism in Burma, a predominantly Buddhist country.

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Burma: NZ bar manager accused of insulting Buddhism