So much power in words

Words, especially from those we consider leaders, can guide us or deceive us, make us knowledgeable or ignorant, violent or peaceful, sad or joyful, wise or foolish.

A poster on a school notice board declares: "What we habitually say in our heads, we usually end up saying with our lips, which ultimately direct our feet." Words are powerful. From others they often influence or direct our decisions and behaviour while our own words act to elicit responses from those who receive them.

In the Bible, the Book of Proverbs has much to say about the value of well- chosen words: "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." It goes on to prompt us to choose our friends carefully, partly on the basis of the kind of words and speech they habitually use.

"Speak that which is kindlier," the Quran instructs us, "a kind word with forgiveness is better than almsgiving followed by injury..." A commentary on the meaning of these verses says that the tongue affects the ear. The ear affects the soul. The soul affects the entire body. Every word makes an impression on the listener. But the deepest impression made on the listener is either a kind word or a harsh word.

Whichever way we look at it, there is no doubt that what we say or write could have impact and so the prudent would use the power of speech very carefully indeed.

In Buddhism, one aspect of the Eightfold Path, Sama Vaca, is most often translated into English as Right Speech, but a more accurate rendering is Wise Speech or even Skillful Speech, which helpfully suggests speech that is acquired through practice. The concept of Intentional Speech is being mindful of one's purpose in speaking.

The following story illustrates well the power of words: An old Buddhist master spoke to his students: "Tonight I would like to speak to you about wise speech. According to the Buddha, wise speech is that which is truthful, gentle, helpful, spoken from a kind heart and is timely."

Then he spoke at great length about the harm that results from rude, mean spirited, harsh or careless words. A young disciple said, "Venerable sir, I do not understand how this can be. A stone can bruise. Theft can deprive. But words are just sounds, having no substance. I must disagree with you when you suggest they are so powerful."

The master replied, "If you weren't such an ignorant idiot, you'd understand. So sit down, shut up and stop interrupting."

The startled young man fell silent, but about ten minutes later jumped to his feet, face red, eyes bulging, fists clenched, his whole body shaking.

The old man turned to him, "You seem perturbed. Your gentle disposition is shattered. What happened to you?"

"You hurtled harsh insults I did not deserve. You cannot possibly be the great teacher you pretend to be. You are a fraud!"

The old man responded, "Ah, I see. It was my words that had such a transforming effect upon you. It seems you and I agree that speech can be quite powerful."

Words, especially from those we consider leaders, can guide us or deceive us, make us knowledgeable or ignorant, violent or peaceful, sad or joyful, wise or foolish. Words give birth to ideas, which in turn create powerful emotions, which rule the hearts of men and women, who then can act constructively or destructively, for justice or injustice.

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True meaning of non-violence

The Jain belief is that all living things have an atma, a soul that provides them the characteristic of a living

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Know the difference between I and i

After death, in some cases, the body is taken to the cremation ground where it is burnt and reduced to ashes.

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Mind set: Welfare is wisdom

First, they whipped a girl in public because she was "seen" with a man who was not her husband. Then,

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The divine aspect of an ideal relationship

Everything in the universe is in its place because of balance. A harmonious balance between two complementary forces is an integral part of nature.

As the half-female, half-male Ardhanareshwar, Shiva represents the union of Parvati as Prakriti, the energy force, and Shiva as Purusha, the two manifest aspects of the Cosmic Consciousness, Brahmn.

Both Prakriti and Purusha are two different aspects of nature and they come together to form a perfect, harmonious balance between two complementary forces. This is the concept of marriage in Vedic philosophy.

The marriage of two individuals is intended to create a harmonious balance very similar to that of the Ardhanareshwar. They come together to form a union, becoming an inseparable part of each other's lives, subsuming their individual identities for a holistic relationship that was founded on mutual give and take. The partners take care of each other's needs for the rest of their lives with mutual devotion, dignity and respect. The relationship might extend further to include children – if the couple had children – and to the rest of the family like parents and other close relatives.

Woman is considered as the force or Shakti in a man's life. How long a marital relationship lasts would depend upon the evolution of that relationship – the higher the purpose, the longer the union would be. The bonds are established between two individuals at the level of chakras or energy centres. There are certain characteristics pertaining to each chakra, and the union happens at the level of these characteristics.

The lowest level is that of basic earthly desires, characteristics of the mooladhar chakra, pertaining to the satisfaction of grosser needs like sharing of wealth and belongings. There's no higher purpose of the two partners coming together. A little above this is the connection based on sexual desires at the level of the swadhishthan chakra, at the level of physical Creation. Above this is the connection established on the plane of power, be it social, political, or economic, at the manipoorak chakra.

Most marriages exist at the level of attachment, when the partners feel that one cannot exist without the other. When this is misunderstood to be love, there are chances of a weakening of the relationship. The basic concept behind the marriage is that of 'togetherness and oneness', and this is found to be lacking in these relationships. People tend to get tied up, blinded by their own selfishness that they come to value individual needs more than the equitable give and take harmonious balance represented by the Ardhanareshwar symbol.

A connection formed on the basis of love is much higher and has no ties. It is established at the anahat chakra, the seat of selfless love. Love can never hold you back. It will not tie you down with emotions and conditions. It is selfless. Love sets you free because you are happy in the happiness of the person you love, unconditionally.

Even rarer are the connections established at the level of vishudhi chakra that are based on higher forms of creativity, where people come together when they have risen above their own selfish needs and can now think beyond themselves.

Then comes the highest energy centre in a being, the ajna chakra that is the seat of Shiva in the human body. The connection formed here is so subtle that in the current flow of circumstances, it might be very difficult indeed to find it. Such a union would be similar to that of Shiva and Shakti, complete in every respect.

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Liberation is freedom from the finite

Form is a wave perceived by the ocean of consciousness in an attempt to understand its own formlessness. This duality is imagined and the sense of am-ness crystallises as a discrete entity that thrives on other forms or cognising entities to assert its own form.

It seeks cognisance from other forms to recognise its own transient form. What is eternal is the formlessness that is the precursor of form.

Form is obsessed with tangibility. The sense organs are mere instruments to reinforce this belief in form as the true self. The form continues to believe it is a discrete independent entity. It has total conviction in these deceptive sensory modalities of perception.

Relativity is based on the fact that perception changes as the observer's state changes. One form cannot understand the precise nature of another form. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle also underlines the shortcomings of our sensory perceptive modalities, where the senses cannot determine the precise position and velocity of a particle simultaneously.

Sensory modalities can never fathom formlessness. Formlessness transcends the senses. When form has to decipher the formless it must first abandon the conviction of its own form. The brain has various centres which serve as destinations for perceptive inputs. It therefore has a strong discriminatory ability to separate the subject from the object. This discrimination is mediated via the sense organs and is the most powerful tool for effecting duality. Comprehension is totally a derivative of the sense organs.

There are many 'silent areas' in the brain whose exact function is not known. These areas could be mediating supra-sensory cognition, cognition that is not based on a subject-object dichotomy, cognition that uses itself to recognise itself. Awareness of the true self is beyond the mediation of conventional sensory modalities and the dichotomy of knower and knowledge. There is nothing like ignorance because ignorance also is a manifestation of awareness. Awareness itself manifests as knowledge or ignorance. Both are just states.

Consciousness exists as both personalised and impersonalised states. Impersonalised consciousness is supra-sensory. It just exists and does not need a cognitive entity as a medium to be aware of itself. It does not have any time space definitions because these are for the finite. The Infinite Unmanifest has the privilege of manifesting as the finite. But the finite has severe limitations in perceiving the Infinite. Its identity as a finite entity is based on amnesia of its infiniteness.

Creation is the dream of consciousness. There is no logic to this dream. Realisation is when consciousness awakes from its own dream. Till consciousness is in a dream state, illusion persists. The brain is a programme for effecting the dream of consciousness. Myriad forms of creation exist merely as functions of this cognitive programme.

Matter or form owes its existence to this programme of deception. This programme also has software that ensures total belief in the illusion that it creates. Any attempt to understand the self – as just a manifestation of the formless – is futile in the dream state. The entity that endeavours to do so is also part of that dream. Therefore liberation is not of a person but from the person. Liberation is deliverance from the finite and its futile attempts to comprehend the infinite. It is when the infinite wakes up from the dream of being finite – cognition that can recognise itself as absolute and not resort to duality to assert itself.

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Can you see the future?

It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards," says the White Queen to Alice in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass. But, it's not always so, and as many individuals report, missives from the future can make their way into the present, through dreams or intuitions, spanning space and time. However, the burden of foreknowledge can be a heavy one.

Amarjit Bhinder, wife of Air-India co-pilot SS Bhinder of the Kanishka aircraft that crashed in 1985, had a premonition about his death on the day it happened. She revealed in an interview, "I had a dream that I had put his uniform shirts in the machine and it blew off. I felt depressed and ill and took three Disprins to ward off my body ache. At 3 pm, a friend came over and gave me the news...It was uncanny."

Days before the Japan tsunami took place, Canadian psychic medium Blair Robertson sealed his predictions to be opened during a fundraiser. Blair had accurately predicted that a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami would affect Japan "on Friday or Saturday". Before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, Hollywood actor Sir Michael Caine dreamed up a similar plot for a book. He told BBC Radio, "I had this plot where terrorists fly a plane into a London skyscraper. Then they did it in real life. I was stunned by that, so I stopped writing."

When Naina (name changed) gained consciousness after an accident, the last thing she remembered was a phone call from her friend and spiritual guru Venugopalan aka Maitreya, "I remember him sounding agitated, telling me to get out of the auto as I was heading for a major accident. But, I didn't pay attention." Says Maitreya, "There is no logical explanation to 'how I know'. It's a connection of the inner and outer spirit. We are all sticklers for plans, but such incidents throw plans out of gear, and teach us to let go, allowing space for transformation and freedom from fear. The idea is to either save the person from the mishap or make them strong enough to bear the aftermath. When it's close family and friends, at times, I start avoiding questions. It can get painful." Even as a child, Maitreya would absorb negative vibes from people, without realising it. He says, "You learn to deal with it, but it's not possible to always keep an emotional distance."

Says tarot reader Scharada Dubey, "It's important for us to ensure the client goes away feeling strengthened, not oppressed. We can't make dire predictions. A clinical approach doesn't help. We have to be compassionate and not project negative feelings as the readings get affected."

Tarot reader Madhu Kotiya has learnt that half-truths can help minimise the trauma of 'bad' news. She was eightyears-old when she told an uncle that his wife was having an affair. It turned out to be true, but her mother forbade her from 'talking like that'. She says, "I, too, tried to resist, as I wanted to live a normal life and didn't want to hear comments about my 'black tongue'. I have learnt to be diplomatic." Madhu admits, "It can be traumatic at times. My most difficult session was a couple of years ago. When this young girl walked in for a session, I could see death around her. She was full of plans for the future, and wanted to know about her impending marriage. It was very difficult for me to keep my calm. She walked out
and two-and-a-half hours later, died in an accident."

Spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, whose book Soulmates touched upon messages from the beyond, prefers to look at the phenomenon from a scientific viewpoint. He says, "It's called non-local communication. It's a real phenomenon but I live my life in the present and don't get distracted by it."

Texas physician Dr Larry Dossey, in his 1989 book Recovering the Soul, introduced the concept of "nonlocal mind" — mind unconfined to the brain and body, mind spread infinitely throughout space and time. He says, "I have come to the opinion that premonitions are our birthright. Our capacity for them is part of our original equipment, something that comes factory installed."

In the book An Experiment with Time, aeronautical engineer John William Dunne tries to make sense of his experiences with vivid dreams which come true with shocking regularity. In the preface to the book, American physicist, author and ESP researcher Russell Targ writes, "In the laboratory, we know that if we show a frightening picture to a person, there will be a significant change in his or her physiology. Their blood pressure, heart rate, and skin resistance will all change. This fight-or-flight reaction is called an 'orienting response'. At the University of Nevada, researcher Dean Radin has shown recently that this orienting response is also observed in a person's physiology a few seconds before they see the scary picture!"

However, predictions can often make for entertaining tidbits. A Toronto-based psychic Nikki, for instance, who predicted the Tiger Woods scandal last year, has several predictions for 2011 — Hollywood actor George Clooney will marry, The Playboy Mansion will burn down after a fire that could start at a party and the US First Lady Michelle Obama could have another baby, maybe twins.

Nawal Gani, who does coffee cup readings, remembers dreaming of a new moon overturned and a broken chair be fore late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi passed away. When her mother died, she was at the airport with her sister. Nawal remembers, "In the washroom, I looked at my face in the mirror and wondered why I looked so sad, like I had a terrible loss. I came out to the news that my mother had passed away." She says, "At times, it's tough to separate yourself from clients' problems. I often get rashes or feel extremely agitated in the presence of some people. At times, when I have done aura readings, I have had to be rushed to hospital."

Gopalan Kennedy, astrologer, operates as a 'reporter' and believes in calling a spade a spade. He says, "I knew when my father was dying. Personally, knowing things beforehand helps me a lot. Nothing comes as a shock or a surprise. And it helps me to be well-prepared before the event actually takes place."

Nan Umrigar, author of Sounds of Silence, learnt to communicate with spirits through automatic writing when she lost her young son Karl to an accident. She says, "The spirits don't tell us about future events. However, when people seek help with court cases, divorce or a sick child, help comes in different ways. One has to learn to recognise it. I don't get involved... the decision is not mine to make. It all depends on individual karma. But yes, it has made me more perceptive to signs all around me."

There is also the concept of free will, the fact that one can change future events, and not everything is predestined. Says Joy Dev, who conducts past-life regression sessions, "Awareness of patterns in one's life helps people break out of them. I don't believe in 'good' and 'bad' incidents. If you remove emotions from an incident, there is always a lesson hidden within."

Choreographer Shiamak Davar has often been warned about future events. "All of us have gut instincts but some have them highly developed as they've opened their sub-conscious minds. They have a greater power of knowing what is going to happen. But I still believe in karma and still believe if things have to happen, they will happen. My spiritual mother, Khorshed Bhavnagiri, had often warned me about people and calamities. The most powerful thing one can do is to pray and learn the power of acceptance."

Next time you have a gut instinct, it may be your inner self preparing you for something ahead!

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