Author: Desika Nadadur

Inspirational Prof. Randy Pausch's Childhood Dreams Lecture

Today, I thought that I would share the following video. This is a greatly inspiring talk by Prof. Randy Pausch on Achieving One’s Childhood Dreams. He is dying of cancer and probably has a few months or so to live. He has a wife and three young children. But, when you see him you don’t know that he has cancer, since he is so enthusiastic about life. He is more enthusiastic about life than any of the healthy people I know. I hadn’t heard of him or of this talk until yesterday, when I watched Oprah Show with my wife...

A 10 Minute Ujjayi Pranayama, Victorious or Ocean Sound Breathing Technique

In yOga (see sanskrit transliteration scheme), prANAyAma (control of life-force through breath) is an important and ancient conglomeration of techniques to promote physical, mental and spiritual well-being, and enlightenment. In a previous article in this series, I have discussed a 3-part deep abdominal breathing technique. In this article, I will discuss ujjAyI prANAyAma or Victorious Breathing technique. This breathing technique can also be done in either “sitting up” or “lying down on back” positions. As you gain experience, you should do this in the sitting upright position. Ocean Sound, Victorious Breathing or ujjAyI prANAyAma Technique This technique builds upon the...

10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking from Copyblogger

Here is an interesting article from Copyblogger.com titled, “Do You Recognize These 10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking?. Though this article’s main focus is on creative thinking, it’s content has relevance to many areas of our lives. This article directly relates to aspects of mastering ourselves and our view of the universe which is the ultimate creation. For example, putting ourselves in boxes like “I am not spiritual,” “I am spiritual,” “I am an atheist,” or “I am a Hindu/Christian/Muslim” is very limiting. Breaking these boxes and realizing that we are that one unified life and the creators of this...

A Powerful 3-Part Deep Abdominal Breathing Technique

In yOga (see sanskrit transliteration scheme), prANAyAma (control of life-force through breath) is an important and ancient conglomeration of techniques to promote physical, mental and spiritual well-being, and enlightenment. In this article, I will discuss a powerful deep breathing technique that is very healing by itself. This can be used whenever you feel stressed, or just want to get into that calmer state of mind. This breathing technique can be done in either “sitting up” or “lying down on back” positions. 3-Part Deep Abdominal Breathing If you observe babies and very young children, you will notice that their abdomen expands...

"I am Light. I am Bliss."

In this article, I will share my experiences of light and bliss. Below I quote verbatim, my experience as I extracted from my journal, save for some editorial spelling and grammar corrections. These experiences gave me a glimpse into my true expansive self. Mind you that these experiences (including the previously discussed experience “Is This Kundalini?”) occured about three (3) years ago. My consciousness is more expansive now than it was then. At the end of the article, I also give an interpretation to these experiences under my present realizations of who I am. October 2004 — Friday — 10/22/2004...

Is This Kundalini?

I will share here what I consider to be my first (clear) indication of Kundalini Experience. Though I may have had indirect indications like astral travel (which I will sharer later), I think this was the first clear indication. Below I quote verbatim, my experience as I extracted from my journal, save for some editorial spelling and grammar corrections. I am using the same title for this blog article as I did for my journal entry, though I now know the answer to my own question. June 2004—Friday—06/11/2004—Issaquah—Is this Kundalini? I understand that anyone who reading this is probably going...

Breathe Like Your Baby Depends On It!

Recently, my friend Anmol Mehta posted the article, How to Make a Baby the Right Way- With Illustrations! on his blog. He talked about his own experiences in having children using the Vedic mantrAs (See sanskrit transliteration scheme). Check it out! It is a very informative article written in a humorous tone. That made me think, if there are any additional techniques that could help ensure the results the way a couple want. We are different people with different attitudes towards life. Therefore, different techniques are given in the SAstrAs (means “scientific documents” in sanskrit). I have been studying and...

9 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Way to Enlightenment

In the article, On gurUs and Disciples, I described the true characteristics of a guru and a disciple. In this article, I will discuss some of the most important mistakes made by spiritual aspirants. Instead of being disciples they become devotees. There are gurus who are genuine and probably are enlightened. There are also con-men (and con-women) posing to have been enlightened and building their financial empires. I hope that by reading this some devotees become real disciples. Why did I choose the number 9? I didn’t. It just happened to come out that way, when I finished writing this...

Simple Techniques for Busy People to Help Access Inner Peace and Joy

Most of us are incessantly bombarded with random thoughts. We end up connecting these random thoughts to create a story. We create an identity for ourselves based on these stories. We don’t even realize that we derive our identity from these stories. The stories could be coming from feelings of dejection, rejection, defeat, fear or those of elation, happiness, victory and courage. Still they are thoughts. Some we label as good and others as bad. We do not realize that our true identity is not, “I am happy, I am sad, I am courageous, I am lonely.” We identify ourselves...

Fasting for Health and Healing (Series): Breaking the Fast

As you know I started the Lemonade Fast on June 18, 2007. As you read in Day-3, I have decided, after listening to my body carefully, to break my fast after these three days. I broke my fast by drinking a glass of orange juice. After an hour, I felt quite hungry and had rice with some daal (Indian lentil dish). I am happy to report that I feel lighter than before I started the fast. This experiment helped me conquer some of my fears about my physical body. Especially fears like, “If I eat this, my health will go...

Fasting for Health and Healing (Series): Day 3

As you know I started the Lemonade Fast on June 18, 2007. This is my report for Day-3, June 20. I slept very well the night before. The day started off quite well. I had no headaches or any body pains as I did on Day-2. I had a total of 8 glasses of the lemonade. My energy level was good throughout the day and was able to handle work stress quite well, though by evening about 5 pm, I felt that I needed some rest. As I observed my body the whole day, I realized that my body was...