Manish Kumar's Blog
December 8, 2023
My Spiritual Diary
Since the time I remember I have been interested in seeking the ultimate truth—Divinity. At home during vacations from my boarding school I would lock my self in the pooja room. I would try to meditate, do tratak or recite Hanuman Chalisa for 100 times with the hope that I would have a darshan of my dear Hanumanji.
The quest continued in my teens. When my friends were reading funny books and staring at nude pictures of Bo Derek, I was reading Vivekanda and doing my Dhyana. My friends and my seniors called me Babaji which means a saint but what they meant was a fool. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the epithet.
It all took a break when I went to NDA and AFA. Then I got busy with my flying as a helicopter pilot in the Air Force. I got married, raised my son and dived deep into the thores of grihastha ashram—indulging in the pleasures of the senses. I became a bhogi, an aetheist and lost touch with my true self. It was only after I was thrown out of flying that I got back to spirituality. It all started with the reading of the column The Speaking Tree in the Times of India. I mentioned it to one of my seniors Wg Cdr Vinodan. He gave me his compilation of The Speaking Tree. Then he gave me the book Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain and it awakened my sleeping soul. The rest of the story is in my book My Comeback Trail.
Wg Cdr Vinodan was a follower of the Sahaj Marg. Once, his Guru was coming over and he wanted me to be initiated into the meditation practice of Sahaj Marg. Very arrogantly I had told him, “Sir, I don’t need any Guru. I get my gyan everyday at 7:30 pm at the bar.” How I wish I had listened to his wise counsel that day.
Back home after losing everything—my job, my family, my finances and almost my sanity, I was almost on the verge of calling quits when a noble soul appeared in my life and handed me the book Sadhana by Swami Shivanand. I read the book a few times and started practicing the meditation prescribed in the book. I also reread Autobiography of a Yogi by Swami Yogananda. I wanted to learn Kriya Yog. I went to his ashram in Ranchi and was told to do the postal course for one year before being qualified to learn Kriya Yog. I followed the postal course for a while.
Meanwhile, I had one Kamlesh Kumar following me on Facebook, liking and commenting on almost all my posts. One day I checked his profile and found that he was from my school, Sainik School Tilaiya. He looked so young that I thought he must be few years junior. One day we got talking only to realise that he was a Captain in the Indian Navy and one year senior to me. We were friends in school. I apologised for my ignorance and asked him the secret of his youth. He attributed it to the meditation techniques of Sahaj Marg. He introduced me to Manoj Tiwari, an instructor from my town.
I had met Manoj at a book club meeting earlier. He also looked quite young for his age. He also played Saxophone—something on my to do list. I rang up Manoj and was promptly invited. Sitting on the carpet he asked me to close my eyes and meditate. After twenty minutes he asked me what I did. I told him that I meditated on the image of a fire and tried to keep the flames steady. He said what I was doing was concentration and not meditation. Then he drew this beautiful diagram. Please enjoy the diagram and wait for the next post.
October 13, 2023
March 26, 2023
Success Simplified
The simplest and the best definition of Success that I have found is: “Success is measurable progress in reasonable time.” There has to be a noticeable progress within a given time frame. Success is not only reaching the destination but how have you undertaken the journey, how have you progressed with time.
What does Success depends upon? It depends on our beliefs, thoughts, actions, habits and our character. Our beliefs are the foundation of Success. What are our core beliefs about ourselves, others and the world in general? If we believe that we are intelligent, we will become intelligent. If we believe we are smart, we will become smart. If we believe that we are lucky, we will become lucky. What are our beliefs about others? Are others good and helping or they are mean and selfish? Is the world a lovely and beautiful place or it is harsh and unforgiving?
We may not like it but most of our beliefs are not even our beliefs. Science is now agreeing that even before we are born, when the baby is in the womb, the programming of beliefs takes place. Whatever the mother reads or watches, its impression is carried on to the baby. When we are growing-up our beliefs are being shaped by our parents, relatives, teachers and friends. Later on they are influenced by the books we read and by media, television and films.
So take out some time. Sit in a quiet place and try to fathom out what your core beliefs are. Are they helpful and positive or they are negative and detrimental to your progress? You can erase your negative beliefs by doing daily affirmations. Suppose, you believe that you are not smart. To change this, stand in front of the mirror every day, look yourself in the eye and say this loud, “I am smart, intelligent and attractive.” Feel every word to be
true. Do it for 03 minutes minimum or longer if you wish. Within a week you will find a change and you would have replaced the negative belief with a positive one, changing yourself into a smart and an attractive person.
Our beliefs create our thoughts. It is estimated that we think over 80,000 thoughts in a day but the irony is 80% of that, approximately 60,000 of them are repetitive. We continue to think the same thing over and over again. Einstein said, “It is madness to think the same thing and expect a different result.” If you want to succeed you should get in the habit of fresh thinking. Think of new ideas of doing the things you have been doing. Think of new ways of increasing the quantity and improving the quality of products or services that you provide. In my article Taming the Monkey Inside Us (http://khabartak.com/taming-the-monkey-inside-us/2160) I have shown ways how to control the thoughts. We become what we think so choose wisely.
Our thoughts result into action. We can take action only in the present moment. We can’t take them either in the past or in the future. We have to be fully present when we take an action and we have to give it 100%. We can’t take half-hearted actions and expect favourable results. If we want wonderful results, we have to give our complete heart and soul. The Pareto Principle or the 80-20 rule says that the 80% of results come from 20% of your actions. Find out what these 20% of actions are for you and perfect them. If we continue to take such powerful actions our day will be a successful day. And if we have a series of such successful day our life will be a success.
What we continuously do becomes our habit. It is said that man is a creature of habit. Find a man’s habit and you will know how far or how close he is from success. Habits like getting up early in the morning, doing physical exercise, yoga or meditation, having a regulated and balanced diet, planning the day, maintaining calm amidst chaos, go a long way in making a man successful. Take an account of yourself. See, which all habits are helping you and which all are detrimental to your progress in the path of success? Take a pledge to shun the destructive habits right NOW. Start a new habit, do it religiously for 21 days and it will be a life-long habit.
Our habits make our character or our character is the sum total of our habits. If we have good habits, our character will be strong and with bad habits our character becomes weak. It is said that personality can open doors but only Character can keep them open. So lay a strong foundation of character beginning with strong beliefs, positive thoughts, powerful actions and good habits.
And finally our Character determines our destiny, whether we will be successful or not. By going through your beliefs, thought-pattern, actions and habit you can construe whether you have a strong or weak character. Take positive actions in all the domains if you have a doubt that your character may be weak. I am sure by now you would have realised how simple it is to be successful. Take these small but powerful steps and success will come knocking at your doors.
IVR : Programming the Mind for Success
All of us have infinite potential. Most of us do not reach it because we do not know the exact way to achieve it. It is now known that it is possible to program the mind to achieve whatever we desire. The technique to achieve it is called IVR. Idealize, Visualize and Realize.
Before we learn this technique, let’s see how the brain works. The brain works at different frequency levels. When we are doing our day to day work, solving problems, it works at 12-16 Hz or at Beta Level. When we take some deep breaths and relax, it slows down to 8- 12 Hz and is at Alpha level. Getting into meditation slows it further to 4-8 Hz at Theta level. In deep meditation or when Yogis get into Samadhi the brain is clinically dead at 0- 4 Hz having reached Delta Level.
Although it is not possible for most of us to attain Delta or Theta levels but we can definitely reach Alpha level. At this level the brain is most conducive to programming. The brain becomes like a quiet lake and whatever image we project on the quiet mind it becomes a reality.
Most of the Athletes, Professionals, Pilots and Golfers use this technique. One has to think of his or her most ideal situation and run it like a movie in the mind. When Abhinav Bindra won the Gold Medal in 2008 Beijing Olympics we was asked how did he achieve it. He said, “ I had visualized the entire scene thousands of times that I am shooting perfectly at the target, standing on the podium receiving the gold medal, the tri-colour flying and the national anthem playing. I visualized it so many times that it became a reality.”
The way to do IVR is to lie down on your back on a flat bed. Start from your toes. First stretch them outwards. Hold for about five seconds and then stretch them inwards. Hold again. Relax for five seconds. Tightly squeeze your calf muscles and then relax them for the same time. Do the same with your thigh muscles. Exhale and pull your stomach inward. Hold. Relax and inhale. Tighten your chest muscles for the same five seconds and relax them. Move your attention to your palms. Extend them outwards, hold and then move them inward. Tighten your forearm, hold and relax. Do the same with your upper arms. Shrug your shoulders for five seconds and relax. Bend your neck forward for the same time, relax and bend it backwards the same way. Open your mouth as wide as possible. Close it and pout your lips as if kissing somebody at a distance. Open your eyes as wide as possible and squeeze them shut tightly.
Now, move your attention on your toes and scan the body upwards. Check that all the muscles and body-parts are relaxed and there is no tension. Once you feel totally relaxed focus your attention on your breath. After some time the breath will become smooth. When this happens imagine your most ideal situation. Suppose you want to be a Doctor, imagine that you are treating patients and they are being healed. If you want to be a Singer, imagine that you are in a studio recording your song. Similarly whatever is your ideal situation, imagine that. Visualize the whole scene in detail and run it like a movie in your mind. Use all your senses. See the scenes, hear the sounds, smell the aroma, feel the texture and savour the taste. Be thankful in advance as if it has already happened.
The best time to practice IVR is before going to bed and just after waking up. These are the times when the subconscious mind is most conducive to suggestions and gets into Alpha state easily.
Make IVR your habit and you everyday will get closer to your Life-goals. You will get the answers to the questions you have been looking for. Opportunities will crop-up beyond your imagination. And very soon you will be leading a very successful and satisfying life.
March 24, 2023
The Power of Written Goals
Every one of us has a Goal or Aim in Life. Life without an aim or a goal is like a ship without a rudder which is tossed mercilessly on the high-seas. So the first thing is to choose an aim. If you are in a quandary, undecided as to what to do in life, you can do this exercise.
Get a pen and paper and answer the following questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What do I want from life? and What do I want from life today ? Do it every day for a minimum of 21 days. If you do it religiously, you will see a pattern, very soon you will be able to connect the dots and the picture of your future will be clear to you.
Once you have the picture clear write it down in a single sentence. Magic begins to happen when you write your aim or goal. It has been seen that 80% of the people who write their aims tend to achieve them. When you write your aim your psycho-neuro-muscular mechanism gets activated. Your psyche, your intellect, your nerves and neurons and your muscles get together to help you achieve your aim. And the Universe conspires too. A lot of unrelated circumstances and coincidences appear which help you get closer to your aim.
The way to write your aim or goal is this. Suppose you want to become a Doctor. Fine- tune it. What type of Doctor you want to become? A Cardiologist, Physician, Surgeon or a Paediatrician ? So write : My aim in life is to be a Surgeon or better by 2020 or earlier. When you write “better or earlier” you leave the leeway for the Universe to act for what is the best for you and everybody else. You might start with wanting to become a Surgeon but may end-up being a Neuro-Surgeon which might be the best for all concerned, including you.
Write it at the back of a visiting card. Read it whenever you have time or you want to be focussed. Imagine as if it has already happened. Be thankful in advance for it and very soon you will find that it has actually come true. It is not magic but it can be magical.
The writer is a veteran Air Force Pilot, a motivational speaker and the Author of “Be Your Own Pilot.”
Being Rich is Noble
Today, I want to talk about a topic which is as taboo as sex. Yes, I want to talk about Money. Everybody wants it but no one wants to talk about it. In spite of the fact that 80% of family arguments are on this topic and the irony is rarely anyone teaches us to make money.
I happen to read one of the books which most of the millionaire consider bible for money mindset. The book is Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. The author studied 25,000 richest people of the world for almost 25 years and found out their secrets of wealth. The book has 13 chapters with titles ranging from Desire, Faith, Imagination, Auto-suggestion, Organized Planning, Decision, Persistence etc. There is even a chapter on Transmutation of Sexual Energy which I will cover in my next newsletter. In the chapter on Organized Planning he gives six steps that you can incorporate immediately :
Decide the exact amount of money you want to have.
Decide the goods or service you will provide in lieu of that.
Decide the exact date when you want to have the money.
Formulate the steps or the plan you intend to pursue for this aim. Don’t let your logical mind interfere. Start immediately with your plan.
Write down the steps 1-4.
Every morning and night read the whole thing to yourself with the belief that you are already in possession of the money.
Personally, I have been benefited immensely with the book and have become financially independent following the principals pf the book. Frankly, the book is not a treatise on making money. It teaches you how to use your mental faculties, imagination, faith and autosuggestion. Once you can conquer your mind money will be the last thing you will like to have.
I sincerely wish that you have a life of your dreams, always with enough money to do whatever you want, when ever you want and with whomsoever you want.
1/2
Jaap Yoga : The Anti-virus of the Mind
Since time immemorial our religious scriptures have emphasized the importance of Jaap. It is considered so important that the Sikhs have given it much respect calling it Jaapji Maharaj.
Like a computer is connected to the Internet, our brain is connected to the Universal Consciousness. Connected to this the brain generates around 80,000 thoughts everyday which are both positive and negative. Each thought leaves its impression or sanskar on the brain. When the computer gets clogged-up with cookies and temporary files we delete them and run the anti-virus to clear it and prevent it from virus. Similarly the brain needs to be cleared-off all the accumulated impressions and negativity.
The process is easy. Take any Mantra, Om Namah Shivay or Gayatri Mantra or any affirmation like: “I am truthful, positive and helping others.” Sit in a comfortable position and chant the mantra for whatever time that suits you. There are three ways of chanting. One is to recite verbally, second is to recite with just your lips moving and no sound coming out and the third is to recite it only in your mind. It has been found that the third method is the most effective. Whichever method you choose, concentrate on the mantra when you are reciting it and keep your eyes closed. The mind would tend to wander. Gently get it back to focus on the mantra. If you are reciting the mantra loudly try and hear it with your left year.
How it works? Everything vibrates at a given frequency. These mantras or affirmations vibrate at much higher frequencies, uplifting the brain from the impressions and negativity. Like you soak the clothes in a detergent and when you lift it after rinsing it, the dirt is left in the bucket. Similarly the negativity and bad impressions are cleared off from the brain once the brain is lifted to higher frequency.
Once you make Jaap-Yoga your daily habit, you will find that during the day whenever you face any problem or a tough situation, the mind will start chanting the mantra in the back-ground and very soon you will have answers to your problems. Also, you will find that whenever you mind is free, instead of brooding about the past or worrying about your future, the mind will be occupied with reciting the mantra. This will help you in being focussed and in touch with yourself.
So make Jaap-Yoga a daily habit and very soon you will have control over your thoughts. The mind will be so attuned with positivity that it will not entertain negative thoughts. Thoughts riddled with fear, doubt, worry and anxiety will not have any place in your mind. You will always be thankful for what you have and will continue to have more blessings from the Universe.
The writer is a veteran Air Force Pilot, a motivational speaker and the Author of “Be Your Own Pilot.”
January 24, 2023
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September 19, 2022
Admin earns scholarship
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There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable.
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Back to School in the New Year
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English.
Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable.
If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.
It uses a dictionary of over 200 Latin words, combined with a handful of model sentence structures, to generate Lorem Ipsum which looks reasonable. The generated Lorem Ipsum is therefore always free from repetition, injected humour, or non-characteristic words etc.
The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.
