A deep science of diagnosis and treatment of trees was developed and practiced, this has been detailed in a number of Sanskrit texts.

We share some books on this subject

Many mountains are there, of all beauty and form but the Himalayas are not great for just their altitude or their majesty but for the living legacy of Saintly persons who have been drawn to them and continue to reside there.

Other mountains are there but few are known since beginning of time for the Sages who have walked their snow peaked paths.

Having spent a year living in the lap of the Himalayas I can attest for all who are seeking to find somewhere beyond here and something beyond what you see and here now which means to find that inner road within to the eternal Truth of all existence, then I suggest you pack up your things if not now then some day and take some time to be in the lap of these Himalayas.

A door will open inside the heart for sure for all the Sages who lived there have come to find the final parth within to the eternal silence that is beyond description, form or word.

To reach this point of surrender there are many ways. Some reach there through anguish and suffering at their last ends they reach this point.

Some reach it through association with fellow men who have reached this same point and have totally surrendered and thus the mere association with them is enough to reach this point within themselves. As those who have truly and totally surrendered are quite rare today, this type of meeting is also quite rare.

Through logic and deduction one may reach this point too but it requires that the mind and the heart (soul) are connected as without this one will miss the very source that has brought this creation into place which is pure consciousness or Chaitanya. The thought process might go something like. Who am I actually? Where have I come from and where do I go after my body has finished its mortal existence. All around me are mortals too and where does that go? What is it that is present within the body that continues beyond what we call “death”?

Surrender is so simple and so natural but so forgotten in this day and age. It is not something you can just think to achieve; it has to exist as a total expression from the heart and not just the head.

Many religions have taught an imposed or forced type of conditional surrender, but any time this has been put to the test, it has rarely passed.

For the one who has not (yet) surrendered (I add yet as it is bound to happen some lifetime in the future no matter how far away), life is an endless play of games filled with pleasure and pain. Like a child that does not know who or where its parents are, one acts and thinks and does but it is without any connection to ones source.

For one who has truly surrendered wholeheartedly without any doubt, there is a fullness of life that can not quiet be explained with any mortal words.

Coffee is quite recent; it’s the new child on the block just hitting India in the last few years with great force. Its growth of popularity as a drink of choice is remarkable.

Tea (black tea) as we know it or the Indianised masala tea (black tea with spices) is not too old itself, just a generation or two it has been here but it is without any doubt the national drink of India.

Both were introduced from outside-in. Which means ancient India in all it’s great heritage and tradition had no sight of them.

As both are commodities there is a massive lobby promoting them in India and worldwide.

Anyone can tell you the ‘West’ runs on coffee. Similarly today India runs on its sweetened milky tea.

Both are addictive and both are not ideal for health having some medicinal effects (like the white dot in the black half of the yin-yang circle) and then a lot of detrimental effects for health. The lobbies will fervently argue the contrary but any objective research done on this subject will show the truth.

Not surprisingly, India had a great heritage of it’s own drinks called kashayam which were various local herbal brews sweetened with raw unrefined sugar. Not surprisingly too these drinks are very good for health and have no harmful or side-effects as do our younger brothers of tea and coffee.

Even now as I write this on a flight within India I am offered just tea and coffee. One would think that kashayam never existed. Sadly the local folk of India do not ask what was there before tea and coffee. As if the entire nation has amnesia of its past, erased by the sweet syrupy chai that is now everywhere.

At Vedic Society one of our visions is to help revive India’s lost Ayurvedic drinks. Watch this space as we do this.

Today I almost missed my flight due to a queue of motorcycles at the petrol pump near the airport as there has been a shortage recently due to strikes.

Nepal does not need petrol.

It could be a model country on earth for renewable energy and renewable energy sourced transport.

Its hydropower potential could not just supply Nepal but all of its neighbors with sufficient for all needs.

So let’s look at the positives of Nepal’s present dependency on petrol, who wins and who loses:

1. Petrol is adulterated making the pollution more than ever. Result: Whole country loses through impact on EVERYONES health and immunity.
2. Petrol is much more expensive than using locally sourced renewable energy. Result: Whole country loses as inflation goes through the sky.
3. Petrol is imported means funds flow out of Nepal. Result: Nepal’s economy loses jobs and income
4. Petrol fumes damage Nepal’s architectural marvels over time. Result: Loss for whole world of one of the most beautiful living heritages on earth.

In Kali Yuga the transport of the world has become WIN-LOSE-LOSE-LOSE. Win because you get from A to B quickly but loose as the earth’s air and environment loses, wars are fought for petrol, economies run by it and people destroyed by it.

Let the hydro power of Nepal flourish and shine this decade and lead the world. Norway did it and Iceland did it with Geo-thermal energy, Nepal is next.

Petrol’s end is near.

Chun Chun Baba was an Aghori who had done his ‘sadhana’ in the burning Ghats of Calcutta and Pashupathi. Many people would seek him for his sound advice and mystical powers. He was a child of God who had left all worldly needs no doubt. When I met him he had fallen ill, those close to him reported that he had take a serious disease from someone who came to seek his help. Often he would do this and recover in a few days but this karmic load so to speak was too much and it was just a few months later that he left this world.

In his wake a trust was formed by those who loved him dearly and now some land has been given where the dogs (and their pups) live merrily. Chun Chun is no more but each day his dogs and their kids get a feast lovingly prepared by those who loved him and his dogs.

And this is one of his dear grandchildren that lives the life of a royal dog, in Pashupathi.

Today we fixed the date for the Somayagya to take place in Nepal this year. This is 2nd in a series of 108 planned Mahasomayagyas. We are doing it in collaboration with the Institute for Studies in Vedic Sciences in Akkalkot.

This is the 1st time in living memory that a Somayagya has been performed in Nepal without any harming of animals, when I say living memory this is at least a few thousand years of well documented Nepali history. Some 13 years fore a great and devote Pundit called Tirtha Raj Acharya had organized a Somayagya in Pashupathi, it was done in the Katyayana tradition but sadly some animal lives were taken at the last day. This is not correct as per the tradition we are following and as per common sense there is no logic in this, this is, as my dear friend Prash calls it, Kaliyuganomics.

So we wish to share this marvelous news that in Panauti, a small ancient village not far from Kathmandu, a Somayagya will be performed this November.

We wish to invite all to come attend and be part of this celebration of eternal truth.

Vedic Books

A river runs through Pashupathi and on these very banks there are daily those whose mortal breath has left their body, burnt and their ashes thrown into the river. As one confronts the very temporary attachment to the human body we trick our self to think it is permanent, we can then begin the journey to go deeper and ask what is it that remains when ‘I’ am no more? Not just humans but countless animals have made Pashupathi their home, monkeys, pigeons, bulls, dogs and deer. Pashupathi is considered the aspect of Shiva (a word in Sanskrit for consciousness) that is protecting and caring for animals. So on this day, a Saturday, in Pashupathi, people have descended from Kathmandu in droves to ‘feed everything’. By sacrificing some of their food for the satisfaction of some other creature and bringing some joy or contentment to that creature, the universes great logic of cause and effect will lift them up a little higher, a little more freely, a little less to suffer on their way. This is one of the most ancient truths of Vedic culture; feed everything as if it was your own child. So I leave this with many words unwritten about Pashupathi on Saturday, I think its right time you made your way here too!

Silent…

Non-polluting…

100% renewable sourced energy (Nepal’s grid is hydro powered)

Affordable (a fraction of the cost of petrol et al)

Very much less parts.

The benefits are endless.

This photo was taken at the annual EV rally to raise funds for Nepal’s Spinal Rehabilitation Center.

About 60 of these electric cars exist to date in Nepal. Vedic Society is jointly working on a massive project called Clean-Man-Do to get a lot more of these on the roads of Kathmandu.

We need all the support we can conjure up.

Ayurvedic View

Each colour has an effect on tridosha and subsequently will affect body and mind. Red is the shortest wavelength of all colours and hence is a hot colour that is absorved vibrationally by ranjaka pitta in the skin and has a waming effect on the physiology. Women are energetically cooler than men; they have more kapha and are more lunar. In ancient Ayurvedic terminology we would say women contain more natural Soma. Now red is an Agni or fire colour and thus the opposite of the natural nature of a woman. In moderation it would be fine, but as a daily dish (the skin vibrationally ‘eats’ whatever we expose it to), it’s not on. It will reduce the cooling lunar qualities of the woman and increase Agni or Pitta.

Jyotish View

Red is related to Mars, not ironically it is the ‘red planet’ in our solar system. It’s reflected rays of sunlight are indeed in the red spectrum mostly. In any marriage too much Mars, especially in a woman, will make her have more difficulty relating to men. She could try to dominate or control them or be a little less than lady like in her behavior. So having mars (which is strengthened by the wearing of red colour) too strong in a woman is not ideal.

So this tradition as deeply rooted as it has become should be question and though through. White would be a much safer and more logical colour for the women of Nepal.