Biography

Wangari Maathai was the founder of the Green Belt Movement and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. She authored four books: The Green Belt Movement; Unbowed: A Memoir; The Challenge for Africa; and Replenishing the Earth. As well as having been featured in a number of books, she and the Green Belt Movement were the subject of a documentary film, Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Maathai (Marlboro Productions, 2008). 

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya (Africa), in 1940. She obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966), and pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi, where she also taught veterinary anatomy. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region. 

Professor Maathai was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya (1976–1987) and was its chairman (1981–1987). In 1976, while she was serving in the National Council of Women, Professor Maathai introduced the idea of community-based tree planting. She continued to develop this idea into a broad-based grassroots organisation, the Green Belt Movement (GBM), whose main focus is poverty reduction and environmental conservation through tree planting. 

Professor Maathai was internationally acknowledged for her struggle for democracy, human rights, and environmental conservation, and served on the board of many organisations. She addressed the UN on a number of occasions and spoke on behalf of women at special sessions of the General Assembly during the five-year review of the Earth Summit. She served on the Commission for Global Governance and the Commission on the Future. 

Professor Maathai represented the Tetu constituency in Kenya’s parliament (2002–2007), and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in Kenya’s ninth parliament (2003–2007). In 2005, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador to the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem by the eleven Heads of State in the Congo region. The following year, 2006, she founded the Nobel Women’s Initiative with her sister laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams, and Mairead Corrigan. In 2007, Professor Maathai was invited to be co-chair of the Congo Basin Fund, an initiative by the British and the Norwegian governments to help protect the Congo forests.

In recognition of her deep commitment to the environment, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General named Professor Maathai a UN Messenger of Peace in December 2009, with a focus on the environment and climate change. In 2010 she was appointed to the Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group: a panel of political leaders, business people and activists established with the aim to galvanise worldwide support for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Also in 2010, Professor Maathai became a trustee of the Karura Forest Environmental Education Trust, established to safeguard the public land for whose protection she had fought for almost twenty years. That same year, in partnership with the University of Nairobi, she founded the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies (WMI). The WMI will bring together academic research—e.g. in land use, forestry, agriculture, resource-based conflicts, and peace studies—with the Green Belt Movement approach and members of the organisation. 

Professor Maathai died on 25 September 2011 at the age of 71 after a battle with ovarian cancer. Memorial ceremonies were held in Kenya, New York, San Francisco, and London. 

• Click here for a list of awards, achievements, and professional affiliations.
• Click here to read some of Professor Maathai’s key speeches and articles.
• Click here for Professor Maathai’s statement on the AIDS crisis in Africa.

Awards, Achievements, and Professional Affiliations

PERSONAL

Date of Birth: April 1, 1940
Deceased: September 25, 2011
Place of Birth: Nyeri, Kenya
Nationality: Kenyan
Family: Three children (Waweru, Wanjira, and Muta) and two grandchildren (Ruth Wangari and Elsa Wanjiru)

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Anatomy, University of Nairobi (1971)
M.S., Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, USA (1966)
B.S., Biology, Mount St. Scholastica College, USA (1964)

PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Founder and Coordinator, the Green Belt Movement (1977–2002)
Chair of the Board, the Green Belt Movement (2002-2011)
UN Messenger of Peace (2009–2011)
Co-Chair, Congo Basin Forest Fund (2007–2011)
Goodwill Ambassador, Congo Basin Forest Initiative (2005–2011)
Presiding Officer, Economic Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC) (2005–2007)
Founding Chair, the Green Belt Movement International (2005)
Assistant Minister, Environment, Republic of Kenya (2003–2005)
Member of Parliament, Tetu Constituency, Republic of Kenya (2002–2007)
Founding member, GROOTS International (1985)
Director, Kenya Red Cross (1973–1980)

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Dorothy McCluskey Visiting Fellow for Conservation, Yale University, USA (2002)
Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College, USA (2001)
Endowed Chair in Gender & Women’s Studies named “Fuller-Maathai,” Connecticut College (2000)
Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Nairobi (1977)
Chair, Department of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Nairobi (1976)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Board Member, Prince Albert of Monaco Foundation, Monaco
Board Member, the Oslo Award, Norway
Board Member, the Chirac Foundation, France
Board Member, Discovery Channel’s Planet Green, USA
Board Member, the Congo Basin Forest Fund, Tunisia
Board Member, the Global Crop Diversity Trust, Norway
Jury Member, Goldman Environmental Prize, USA
Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International, USA
Advisory Board, Clinton Global Initiative, USA
Fellow 2004, Yale McCluskey Fellowship, USA
Member, Yale Leadership Council, USA
Member, UN Commission on Global Governance, USA
Member, Advisory Board, Democracy Coalition Project, USA
Member, Earth Charter Commission, USA
Selection Committee, Sasakawa Environmental Prize, United Nations Environment Programme, Kenya
Board Member, World Learning USA
Board Member, Green Cross International
Board Member, the WorldWIDE Network of Women in Environmental Work, USA

HONORARY DEGREES

Honorary Doctorate Degree, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan (2010)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Meredith College, USA (2009)
Doctor of Science, Egerton University, Kenya (2007)
Doctor of Public Service Honoris Causa, University of Pittsburgh, USA (2006)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Connecticut College, USA (2006)
Doctor of Science, Morehouse College, USA (2006)
Doctor of Science, Ochanomizu University, Japan (2005)
Doctor of Science, Willamette University, USA (2005)
Doctor of Science, University of Nairobi, Kenya (2005)
Doctor of Science, Soka University, Japan (2004)
Doctor of Science, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan (2004)
Doctor of Law, Yale University, USA (2004)
Doctor of Agriculture, University of Norway (1997)
Doctor of Science, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA (1994)
Doctor of Law, Williams College, USA (1990)

AWARDS

2010: Earth Hall of Fame, Kyoto (Japan)
2009: Humanity 4 Water Award for Outstanding Commitment 2 Action
2009: The Order of the Rising Sun, Japan
2009: Judge, 2009 Geotourism Challenge, National Geographic, USA
2009: NAACP Chairman’s Award, USA
2008: Dignitas Humana Award, St John’s School of Theology, USA
2008: Cinema Verite, Honorary President, France
2008: Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Honorary Fellowship, UK
2007: The Nelson Mandela Award for Health & Human Rights, South Africa
2007: The Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, India
2007: Cross of the Order of St Benedict, Benedictine College, Kansas, USA
2007: World Citizenship Award, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
2006: The Indira Gandhi International Award for Peace, Disarmament & Development, India
2006: Premio Defensa Medio Ambiente, Club Internacional De Prensa, Spain
2006: 6th in 100 Greatest Eco-Heroes of All Time, The Environment Agency, UK
2006: Medal for Distinguished Achievement, University of Pennsylvania, USA
2006: Woman of Achievement Award from the American Biographical Institute Inc., USA
2006: The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Milele (Lifetime) Achievement Award
2006: Legion D’Honneur, Government of France
2006: The IAIA Global Environment Award, International Association for Impact Assessment, Norway
2006: Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund Award, USA
2006: World Citizenship Award
2005: New York Women’s Century Award, New York Women’s Foundation, USA
2005: One of the 100 Most Influential People in the World: Time magazine, USA
2005: One of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World: Forbes magazine, USA
2004: Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Norway
2004: Sophie Prize, the Sophie Foundation, Norway
2004: Elder of the Golden Heart, Republic of Kenya
2004: Petra Kelly Environment Prize, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany
2004: J. Sterling Morton Award, Arbor Day Foundation, USA
2004: Conservation Scientist Award, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, Columbia University, USA
2003: Elder of the Burning Spear, Republic of Kenya
2003: WANGO Environment Award, World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, USA
2002: Outstanding Vision and Commitment Award, Bridges to Community, USA
2001: Excellence Award, Kenyan Community Abroad, USA
2001: The Juliet Hollister Award, Temple of Understanding, USA
1997: One of 100 in the World Who’ve Made a Difference in the Environment: Earth Times, USA
1995: International Women’s Hall of Fame, International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation, USA
1994: The Order of the Golden Ark Award, the Netherlands
1993: The Jane Addams Leadership Award, Jane Addams Conference, USA
1993: The Edinburgh Medal, Medical Research Council, Scotland
1991: The Hunger Project’s Africa Prize for Leadership, United Nations, USA
1991: Global 500 Hall of Fame: United Nations Environment Programme, USA
1991: The Goldman Environmental Prize, the Goldman Foundation, USA
1990: The Offeramus Medal, Benedictine College, USA
1989: Women of the World Award, WomenAid, UK
1988: The Windstar Award for the Environment, Windstar Foundation, USA
1986: Better World Society Award, USA
1984: Right Livelihood Award, Sweden
1983: Woman of the Year Award

I found this excerpt from Dr Deepak Chopra’s blog quite useful, hope you do, too:

Included in the experience of human awareness is the perception of time. Although we cannot know for sure, it seems that most other living beings do not ruminate about the past or project weeks, months, and years into the future. Because our minds are wired to imagine and then attempt to manifest our current desires into future expressions, we routinely travel out of the present moment. This is the nature of the human mind, and although we like to remind each other to stay present, all of us are future leaning. This inclination of the mind leads to experiences of joy when things go the way we want, and sorrow when they do not. As long as we are alive, intentions and desires will arise. The better we are at fulfilling our intentions, the happier we will be.

This phenomenon is addressed in the second chapter of the great epic the Bhagavad-Gita. In a powerful passage, cosmic intelligence in the form of Krishna enlightens humanity in the form of Arjuna in the skill set of effective actions. Arjuna is told, “You have control over the action alone, never over its fruits. Live not for the fruits of action, nor attach yourself to inaction.”

Guys, here’s the ‘practical’ part -

This does not imply that we should act without concern for outcome, or stop acting, for this isn’t possible. In fact, it is the anticipation of the fruit that induces us to act in the first place. Rather, the intention of this advice is to put our attention and energy on the action itself as the way to best achieve the intended outcome.

Consider these four steps: 

1. Get clear on what you want to manifest
2. Envision the internal state you hope to experience if you accomplish what you want;
3. Set a clear trajectory to fulfill your intention – what are the initial and subsequent steps you will take to empower your desire with the greatest chance of being successfully fulfilled?
4. Come back to the present moment by quieting your mind in meditation and settling into an internally generated state of fulfillment, independent of the outcome of your action.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, this process is expressed in the phrase, “Yogastah kuru karmani” –established in being, perform action. With practice, our actions become more powerful and our happiness becomes increasingly independent of the fruits of our actions.

Daily Vows for Spiritual Growth

MONDAY:
The law of spiritual life is: Find fault with no one. Condemn no one. Criticise no one. Look down upon no one! But continue to pour the love of your pure, passionless heart on all! Remember the words of the Lord in the Gita: "I am seated in the hearts of all!"

TUESDAY:
Be content with whatever God has given to you. trust everyone, and

 never tire in your efforts to reach the Supreme!

WEDNESDAY:
Be careful in the choice of your words. If your words are sweet and gentle, wise and true, people will seek your company. If your words are irritating and hurtful, you may appear to be clever and smart, but people will shun your company. Practice Non Violent Communication..

THURSDAY:
This is what I wrote in the "Diary": There are so many wonderful things which money cannot buy -- character, friendship, goodwill, love, sympathy, empathy, compassion, gratitude, righteousness and above all, the grace of God! If I were asked to choose between these and all the things which money can buy -- I would surely prefer the former!

FRIDAY:
All emotions, in the end, must lead to frustration. All intellectual reasoning, in the end, must lead to confusion. If we want enlightenment, peace, happiness, Joy & bliss, we must rise to the spiritual.

SATURDAY:
If you are hard on others, life will be hard on you! If you are gentle and kind with others, life will be soft and kind to you! You get what you give. Therefore give the very best of which you are capable!

SUNDAY:
There is so much suffering in this world. It is a call to everyone of us to do what we can share to alleviate this suffering. The greatest privilege of life is to become an instrument to help and healing to everyone in this world in which human and non-human misery abound.

Dada J.P. Vaswani 

How To Listen

Some people think that because they have ears, they can sit and listen. But it is not the ear that listens or even hears. One must be a listener to make his ears hear. If the listener is absent, if he is occupied, or if his hearing is ob­scured, he will never hear, even if you play drums next to his ears.

Listening and hearing is a science and a great art. One must have the needed equipment, but he must also be able to use it artistically and creatively.

Let us take the equipment:

1.      clear hearing and healthy ears

2.      a healthy, sound brain

3.      a clear consciousness

4.      focus or concentration

5.      calmness and serenity in emotions

6.      power of memory and recollection

7.      hearing with the mind and intuition

It is known that people listen through the body where their focus of con­sciousness is. For example, if they are materialistic-physical, they hear things related to their body and that body gives them the final translation of a conver­sation. If they are emotional, the emotions translate and respond to the dis­course. If they are mental, their approach will be mental, depending upon their mental condition.

Even our needs, wishes, dreams, and aspirations have a powerful effect on what we hear.

There are three requisites for listening:

1.       You must understand the words.

2.   You must be able to duplicate them with your own words without in­troducing changes in meaning.

3.       You must be able to see the significance of the speech, which lies be­yond the words and the meaning of the words.

This means you must have a threefold listening, listening to: the words the meanings the significances

In other words, you must have physical hearing, mental hearing, and sub­jective hearing.

The three above points that the speaker hints at are the subjective side of his speech. Influential speakers have a good way of using words with their proper meaning...

Listening is an art and it is a science. Good listening makes you a good speaker.""

The Science of Complaints

The Science of Complaints

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Some people, because of their inner insecurity, express lots of complaints about the environment, about people, about the weather. this discourages people and directs their consciousness to unpleasant events existing in their environment.

A real person must never complain but instead try to analyze, observe, and encourage people in spite of conditions.

The atmosphere created by complaints can be highly toxic and flammable. Its affects the auras of people and slows down the centers of his immediate co-workers. Dark forces search for complaining people to destroy organizations.

Complaints sap the energy of co-workers and orient them negatively. They need, cheer,joy, positivity, courageous manners and attitude, not complaints.

Complaining also creates friction with the laws of nature and with the law of karma because nothing happens by accident, nothing happens outside of the law of karma. in the atmosphere of complaints no “flower”  flourishes. it has been observed for centuries that complaining destroys health, happiness, success, and prosperity, and builds a wall between the higher world and the lower world. complaining leads to isolation.

Complaints impress on our mind that the effort of analysis, examination, or observation is hopeless, and you develop a rejecting attitude when life presents you with unpleasant events or conditions which are observed as such because of your psychological conditioning or education.

Complaints   prevents  your horizon from expanding and limits it to negative imagery.   Complaints  affects the imagination and thought form building process. every complaint turns into a thought form through imagination, and time comes that he complaint is surrounded with negative and ugly thought forms and the person cannot free himself from their influence. Because of this his creativity decreases and his clear thinking slowly vanishes. The complainer becomes the victim of his complaints.

 Instead of complaining you can study the events as if they were necessary part of life, teaching you lessons that you missed.

Complaints obscure the pathways of inspiration and the joy of touching higher worlds. Complaints create a psychic fog and even a cloud through which one cannot see the reality of superior values or register the flow of impressions so vital for the growth of the soul.

Every time you think of complaining, focus your heart on gratitude and observe. Complaints emanate waves of energy through ones voice, but the energy waves do not go into space. They turn inward and fills ones aura, thus creating psychic congestion.

Compiled by G.Srinivas Reddy,

Mentor,

Swadhyaya Yoga,

Hyderabad.

Mental States

There are 9 mental stages which characterize stages of our development. They are:

1. Dullness
2. Agitation
3. Mechanical reflection
4. Concern
5. Engagement in problems
6. Thinking
7. Deeper thinking
8. Higher thinking
9. Creativity

These nine stages of mind gradually develop in us through our striving. They are characterized by:

1. Dullness, inertia, involvement in maya, carelessness, apathy, depression, indifference
2. Agitation of the senses which demand pleasure, satisfaction, food, dress, shelter, transportation
3. Mechanical reflection, following instincts, following orders, commands, thoughts, or desires of others, following the ideas and opinions of the masses
4. Concern about business, life, wife, husband, children, future
5. Engagement in problems such as food, health, money, housing, war, pain, suffering
6. Starting to think on our own, trying to solve our own problems, trying to protect our body, family, future, and finding the ways and means to do it
7. Deeper thinking, seeing the causes of many events, trying to find the laws controlling life in general, trying to prevent destruction, transmuting energies to higher centers
8. Higher thinking, coming closer to the Hierarchical Plan, cooperating with the Law of Hierarchy, finding the laws controlling the astral and mental worlds, receiving impressions from higher sources and formulating them to meet the needs of life
9. Creative thinking, bringing into existence those forms which will allow people to surpass their difficulties and their present level, come in contact with beauty, energy, love, light, and joy, and find their way toward superhuman evolution

We can prepare for higher mental states by exercising: 

1. Discrimination
2. Dispassion
3. Self-control
4. Desire for liberation

Discrimination is thinking in relation to the Plan or the Purpose, or in the light of the Plan and Purpose. Discrimination is not only knowing but also choosing the factors that are in harmony with the Plan and Purpose.

Dispassion is the ability to insulate oneself from the influence of self-interest, the influence of objects and persons, and think in_the_ clear light of the consciousness.

Self control is the ability to control your personality and life with the purpose of your divine Self.

Desire for liberation is the urge to stand above your physical, emotional, and mental worlds and act by the intuitional light.

- Torkom Saraydarian [Thought and the Glory of thinking].

Make Better Relationship Choices:

Certain obstacles are hindering you, and the list is fairly long:

Wanting to fulfill a fantasy.

Denying what is before your eyes.

Trying to reinforce a cherished self-image.

Buying into beliefs that don't fit reality.

Stubbornly insisting that your way is the right way.

Depending on others too much, or the opposite, trying to control others too much.

Acting immaturely.

Imitating your parents' relationship or the opposite, trying to have the opposite of their relationship.

Repeating the past because you distrust the future.

Projecting on to others what you cannot face inside yourself.

These are the big 10 ideas to keep in mind when it comes to relationships that repeatedly fail by falling into the same repetitive problems.

Spiritual Partnership

A spiritual partnership is a partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth, it requires:

Commitment

• Focus on what I can learn about myself all the time, especially from my reactions—such as anger, fear, jealousy, resentment and impatience instead of judging or blaming others or myself.
• Notice my emotions by feeling the physical sensations in my energy centers.
• Notice my thoughts such as planning my reply, judging, analyzing, comparing and day-dreaming.
• Notice my intention such as blaming, judging, needing to be right, wanting admiration, escaping into thoughts, intellectualizing and trying to convince.

Courage

• Take responsibility for my feelings, experiences and actions. No blaming.
• Practice integrity at all times. This often requires action such as speaking when frightened parts of my personality don’t want to speak and not speaking when they feel compelled to speak.
• Say or do what is most difficult. This includes sharing what I notice, if appropriate, when someone speaks or acts from a frightened part of her personality. Or sharing about myself what I am frightened to say and know that I need to say.

Compassion

• Change my perspective from fearful to loving. Choose to see myself and others in a loving or appreciative way.
• Release any distance I feel from anyone.
• Be present while others are speaking—not preparing replies or judging.

Conscious Communication and Action

• Consult my intuition.
• Choose my intention before I speak or act.
• Act from the healthiest part of my personality that I can find, rather than caretaking, fixing, teaching, judging, blaming or gossiping.
• Speak personally and specifically rather than generally and abstractly. Use "I" statements rather than "we" or "you" statements.
• Release attachment to the outcome. Trust the Universe.
• If I find myself attached, begin again with Commitment, Courage and Compassion.

- Gary Zukav.

Solemn Pledge (Yug Nirman Satsankalpa)

1.    Firmly believing in the Omnipresence of God and His Unfailing justice, we pledge to abide the essential disciplines of Divine principles (Dharma). 2.    Regarding the body as the Temple of God, we will be ever watchful to keep it healthy and full of vitality by adopting the principles of self-restraint, order and harmony in our daily-lives. 3.    With a view to keeping our minds free from the inrush of negative thoughts and emotions, we will adopt a regular program of study of ennobling and inspiring literature (swadhyaya) and of keeping the company of saints (satsang). 4.  We will vigilantly exercise strict control over our senses, thoughts, emotions and in the spending of our time and resources. 5.    We will consider ourselves inseparable parts of the society and will see our good in the good of all. 6.    We will abide by basic moral code, refrain from wrong doing and will discharge our duties as citizens committed to the well-being of the society. 7.    We will earnestly and firmly imbibe in our lives the virtues of Wisdom, Honesty, Responsibility and Courage. 8.    We will constantly and sincerely endeavour to create an environment of loving kindness, cleanliness, simplicity and goodwill. 9.    We will prefer failure while adhering to basic moral principles to so-called success obtained through unfair and foul means. 10.    We will never evaluate a person's greatness by his worldly success, talents and riches but by his righteous conduct and thoughts. 11.    We will never do unto others what we would not like to be done unto us. 12.    Men and women while interacting with each other will have feelings of mutual respect and understanding based on purity of thoughts and emotions. 13.    We will regularly and wholeheartedly contribute a portion of our time, talents and resources for spreading nobility and righteousness in the world. 14.    We will give precedence to discriminating wisdom over blind traditions. 15.    We will actively involve ourselves in bringing together people of goodwill, in resisting evil and injustice, and in promoting New Creation. 16.    We will remain committed to the principles of global unity and equality of all human beings. In our conduct, we will not make any discrimination between person and person on the basis of caste, creed, color, religion, region, language or gender. 17.    We firmly believe that each human being is the maker of his own destiny. With this conviction, we will uplift and transform ourselves and help others in doing so. We believe the world will then automatically change for the better.

10 Methods to Purify Your HEART

There are ten methods you can use to purify your heart:

1. Overcome selfishness. Do not live just for yourself. Do not use other people for your own interests. Do not manipulate people.

Selfishness is a world epidemic today, and with such a widespread epidemic we cannot really expect better world conditions than we have.

Relations between nations will never improve until we purify our heart of selfishness. No social, political or economic condition will improve until the leaders of these activities purify their hearts. The people who have pure hearnts can only be elected by those who have pure hearts. The conditions of the world can be changed only by those who have pure hearts.

2. Clean your vanities. Vanities distort the pure images you have in your heart. You must find exactly what you are , not more or less than what you are, so that you maintain balance, sanity and equilibrium.

The heart is the organ that brings equilibrium to your life.

3. Check your motives. You cannot clean your heart until you find the motives behind your actions, feelings and thoughts. Your motives will reveal to you what is really going on in your heart.

Once you purify your heart, you will hae cosmic energy within you.

M. M. says that we communicate with Cosmos through our heart. We are initiated with our heart, and we conquer with our heart. Without a pure heart, we become a polluting factor in the world.

4. Develop the spirit of worship, aspiration, devotion, admiration and a life dedicated to higher ideals. Aspiration means to find some beauty and try to be that beauty.

One day Rabindranath Tagore and his father were taking a boat ride on a lake. It was sunset and the lught was casting a beautiful reflection against a tree near the lake. Suddenly Tagore/s father stopped the boat, and looking at the tree and the setting sun, the colors and the serenity, he began to fuse with the beauty in great ecstasy. That moment was an unforgettable joy in the heart of young Tagore.

5. Renounce your ego.

6. Do not obsess and possess people.

7. Do not try to control the lives of others. You can speak about the Teaching to others, but then you should leave them free to do anything they want to do, to live their own lives and learn from their own experiences. When the heart is purified every kind of religion, ideology and philosophy is synthesized, and you do not need to force people to change.

8. Do not speak evil.

9. Try to see beauty in everyone

10. Obey your heart. This is the most important step of all. Alwats try to obey your heart...because God speaks through your heart.

There are other factors that damage the heart and if you want to have an unfolding heart, you must know about them aswell:

1. Sound, audible and inaudible, has a very strong influence upon the heart.
2. Mechanical sound, by wich we are bombarded day and night on earth and from the sky will eventually make human heart very weak.
3. Electrical currents, ELF waves (extremely low frequency) hurt the heart chakra.
4. Insecticides, various kind of paint and varnish devastate the nerves connected with the heart. All chemical products, wich fill our stores, printing shops and paint stores are detrimental to the heart.
5. Radioactive elements, fall-outs, gradually will harm the heart of humanity to an incurable degree.

The heart in our chest is linked and fused with the electromagnetic heart center in the etheric body. Both share each other/s condition.

They also affect the heart center in the head, wich controls the mental behavior of man and the whole immune system. This is why Sages throughout history advised us to protect our heart.

Noise pollution has a deeper effect on our heart than chemical pollution. Noise pollution affects our etheric and astral heart centers and creates disturbances in the circulatory system of psychic energy, disturbing our etheric and astral health conditions.

All kinds of pollution are detrimental to our health, but specially noise pollution.

If possible have as little noise in your home and office as possible. Stay at least five miles away from radio and television towers. Do not live on streets where the traffic is heavy day and night. Especially stay away from the vicinity of airfields.

These precautions will help you have a good and healthy heart.

- Torkom Saraydarian (Flame of the Heart).

Co-Operation

Our basic responsibility is to learn the science of cooperation. This is our future destiny. Nature is forcing us to approach this state. When we sit around a table and try to solve our problems, we are coming to the realization that there is no way out except through cooperation. It is a painfully slow process; the ship is approaching "niagara falls" of life. Let us work to pull it back now. The science of cooperation is essential.

There are six major problems which prevent cooperation. The following problems apply not only to human beings, but also to planets and galaxies.

1. Living at the expense of others - In our philisophies, religions, politics and economics, we are taught one thing: to live at the expense of others.

2. Vanity - You have vanity when you think that you are somebody, something special and apart from others. In reality, there is no higher and lower, no "I know but you don't." You may think you are a full barrel, but remember there is an empty barrel next to you into which half of your "water" should be placed so that the two barrels become equal.

3. Greed - Once an 81 year old man who had 17 million dollars came to office and said, "I have had several heart attacks, what can I do to avoid having more?" I advised him to rest, but he mentioned a job that he wanted to complete because he was going to make an additional 5 million in one week. "I must watch the tractors and supervise everything" he said. I told him that he did not need the money, but he replied, "You are really naive' that is why you are poor." He supervised the transaction, and died. What happened to the 17 million dollars?

This is greed. Something interesting happened to him before he died. One day, a thief watched his house, waited for him to leave and took all of his jewelry and valuables. His greed caused him to live at the expense of others as well as his own health. All was eventually lost to him.

4. Self-centeredness, Separativeness - These are responsible for the downfall of humanity.

5. Distorted Consciousness - A person with a distorted consciousness is one who cannot perceive through logic and reasoning, and thereby find the most essential things in life. This is due to an accumulation of all sorts of crimes committed in the past.

6. Lack of faith - Faith is the beginning and the end of cooperation, cooperation with everything in Nature. All we ever hear about is algebra, science, chemistry and physics. Who wants to talk about faith? People think that just because faith is never discusses it does not exist.

We do not have faith because we have lost touch with the Law of Unity. Our sense of unity is lost. How can we have faith when everyone exists only for himself? Go to a nightclub and see how crazy humanity is.

- "Cosmic Shocks" by .Torkom Saraydarian.

Responsibilities of Women

Women not only have a unique role to play with their family, but also a unique responsibility:

1. to protect life
2. to protect the right development of life
3. to evoke the highest latent in man
4. to protect beauty
5. to protect peace and harmony
6. to protect the age-long fruits of the labor of humanity
7. to protect the Teaching from degeneration
8. to encourage the best in all fields
9. to strive towards the future
10. to learn and teach the laws of sacrifice and service
11. to produce the highest survival techniques
12. to inspire creativity in all fields
13. to reveal the future possibilities of life after death
14. to explain the law of love and compassion


It is very beautiful to see women fighting for women's rights, but it would be even greater if women would form a new group, a new organization, which would reveal to humanity the responsibilities of women and fight to restore those conditions in which women would be able to perform their responsibilities.


People have begun to work seriously against pollution, attempting to safeguard the life in the sea, the life in the air, the life in the forest, the life in the vegetable kingdom - trees, flowers, bushes - safeguarding the life of humanity.


What a great thing women have to do, preserving life, protecting life. If they engage in such a task they will make tremendous strides in the world protecting life, instead of organizing dances until morning, going to bingo clubs and sitting for many hours in front of the television set. Women can organize groups and organizations that make their voices heard all over the world declaring that life must be protected. They will affirm: "Man does not know the damage he is doing to life, and therefore we will not let him continue polluting the world. Woman is the protector of life." But if we have women who are not educated and open to such principles, to such responsibilities, then it is useless for them to bring children into our world because their children will work against life.


Woman has a certain magical, mysterious way in which she evokes the best in a man. Woman is more advanced physiologically and spiritually than man, but the best the woman can bring out of the man is the best the woman has in her. She is just like a magnet, for when she touches a man, when she talks to a man, when she smiles at a man, that man feels he is getting more sublimated, more transformed because of her contact. When we speak of contact, we are not speaking of "technique." For example, one day I met a teacher who was teaching the girls how to be "magnetic", and she was saying, "Walk like this, look like this, and fix your hair this way." She was really technically teaching them. Then I asked her, "Have you had any results?" "Curiously enough," she said, "there were results but they did not last." This is what I wanted to know. Why isn't it lasting? Because it is artificial, a technique.


A woman must have greatness in her to bring greatness out of others. Woman must build that greatness, build that beauty, build that creative mechanism within herself so that her creative magnetism pulls the beauty out of man. If a man has the magic hand of a woman, the magic love of a woman, he will be transformed. Many, many medical expenses can be spared, many legal expenses can be stopped if the man has an understanding, compassionate, loving woman who is highly educated and highly transformed in her inner being.




-
(Woman, Torch of the Future)

UGADI - Telugu New Year's Day

Celebrated by : Telugu People Marks : The Beginning of the new year In the month of : March/April

Ugadi is the New Year's Day for the people of Andhra Pradesh and also for the Telugu people all over the world. Those who live north of the Vindhya hills observe it as "Barhaspatyamana". People living to the south of the Vindhya hills observe it as "Sauramana" or "Chandramana".

A Unique Ritual There is a peculiarity about the practices of the various sects of Brahmins; one who is not conversant with them finds it difficult to understand their meaning. Even though they are all Brahmins certain differences in their lineage may be traced among them. These become manifest in their distinctive calendars where the dates and months vary. Some have calculations according to the solar system, and others according to the lunar system; with the result that despite all being Brahmins the New Year differs among different sects. Thus there is a Telugu New Year's Day, a Tamil New Year's Day, and a New Year's distinct from these in the almanac of North India.

According to Chandramana, Ugadi is celebrated on the bright fortnight ('Shukla Paksha') of the first month ('Chaitra Masa') in the first season of the year i.e. Spring ('Vasanta-Ritu'). As all these important elements are present, this day has special significance marking the commencement of a New Year.

Significance The name "Ugadi" came from Yuga + Aadi which means "Beginning of a New age. It is believed that the creator of the Hindu pantheon Lord Brahma started creation on this day - "Chaitra Suddha Padhyami" or the Ugadi day. Also the calculations of the great Indian Mathematician Bhaskaracharya proclaim the Ugadi day as the beginning of the New Year, New month and New day. The onset of spring also marks a beginning of new life with plants acquiring new life, shoots and leaves. The vibrancy of life and verdant fields, meadows full of colourful blossoms signify growth, prosperity and well-being.

With the coming of Ugadi, the naturally perfumed Jasmine's spread a sweet fragrance, which is perhaps unmatched by any other in nature's own creation. While large garlands of Jasmine are offered to Gods in homes and temples, Jasmine flowers woven in clusters adorn the braids of women.

Predictions Of The Year Ugadi marks the beginning of a new Hindu lunar calendar with a change in the moon's orbit. On this day, people chant mantras and the pundits make predictions for the coming year. Traditionally, the "Panchangasravanam" or listening to the yearly calendar was done at the temples or at the Town square but with the onset of modern technology, one can get to hear the priest-scholar on television sets right in one's living room.

Preparing For The Occasion Preparations for the festival begin a week ahead. Houses are given a thorough wash. Shopping for new clothes and buying other items that go with the requirements of the festival are done with a lot of excitement.

Ugadi is celebrated with festive fervour in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. While it is called Ugadi in Andhara and Karnataka, in Maharashtra it is known as "Gudipadava".

On Ugadi day, people wake up before the break of dawn and take a head bath after, which they decorate, the entrance of their houses with fresh mango leaves. The green mango leaves tied to the doorway signify a good crop and general well being. It is noteworthy that one uses mango leaves and coconuts (as in a 'Kalasam', to initiate any puja) only on auspicious occasions to propitiate gods.

People also splash fresh cow dung water on the ground in front of their house and draw colourful floral designs. This is a common sight in every household. People perform the ritualistic worship to God invoking his blessings before they start off with the New Year. They pray for their health, wealth and prosperity and success in business too. Ugadi is also the most auspicious time to start new ventures.

Special Delicacies It is a season for raw mangoes spreading its aroma in the air and the fully blossomed Neem tree that makes the air healthy. Also, jaggery made with fresh crop of sugarcane adds a renewed flavour to the typical dishes associated with Ugadi.

"Ugadi Pachchadi" is one such dish that has become synonymous with Ugadi. It is made of new jaggery, raw mango pieces, Neem flowers and new tamarind. The inner significance of this preparation is to indicate that life is a mixture of good and bad, joy and sorrow and all of them have to be treated alike.

All experiences have to be treated with equanimity. Every one should make a resolve that he will face calmly whatever happens in this year, accepting it with good grace and welcoming everything. Consider everything as for one's own good. Men should rise above sorrow and happiness, success and failure. This is the primary message of the Ugadi festival.

In Andhra Pradesh, eatables such as "Pulihora", "Bobbatlu" and preparations made with raw mango go well with the occasion. In Karnataka too, similar preparations are made but called "Puliogure" and "Holige". The Maharashtrians make "Puran Poli" or sweet 'Rotis'.

Kavi Sammelanam Kavi Sammelanam or poetry recitation is a typical Telugu Ugadi feature. Ugadi is also a time when people look forward to a literary feast in the form of Kavi Sammelanam. Many poets come up with new poems written on subjects ranging from Ugadi to politics to modern trends and lifestyles.

Ugadi Kavi Sammelanam is also a launch pad for new and budding poets. It is generally carried live on All India Radio, Hyderabad and the Doordarshan - Hyderabad, following "Panchangasravanam" (New year calendar) narrating the way the New Year would shape up in the lives of people and the state in general. 'Kavis' or poets of many hues - political, comic, satirical reformist, literary and melancholic make an appearance on the Ugadi stage.

Ugadi is thus a festival of many shades. It ushers in the New Year, brings a rich bounce of flora and fills the hearts of people with joy and contentment.