Message For the Day…” Once you evolve yourself to a higher state Everything will look smooth , small and even…’

If you stand at the same level as the ocean and look at it, it will appear as a vast sheet of water. On the other hand, if you look at the same ocean from a height, it will appear like a lake. Similarly, since the rishis(sages) were on a higher level in spiritual knowledge and away from the world, they could recognise this vast world as a very small and insignificant entity. When at a lower level, one thinks that the world is big, important and manifold. The diversity and the differences will be seen more clearly. But when one evolves to a higher state, everything will look smooth, small and even. When we have a narrow vision, our country, our people, our languages will all appear as full of problems and differences. If you can go to a high place and look at the world, it will appear in one unified aspect and all the people and all languages will appear as one.

Sathya Sai Baba

Message For the Day…” Never Break the Vow of Truth …”

The Gita advises everyone to adopt ‘inoffensive speech, which is truthful, pleasant and beneficial.’ During the practice of the Sadhana of truth, at times, it may become necessary to reveal an unpleasant truth. At those moments, you must soften and sweeten its impact by consciously charging it with love, sympathy, and understanding. Help ever hurt never – that is the maxim. Revere truth as your very breath. Your promises are sacred bonds. Never break the vow of truth. The only obstruction to practicing truth anyone will face, is selfishness. Give up selfishness, adhere to truth and selfless love, let your heart be attuned to truth and the mind saturated with love. The triple purity – speech free from the pollution of falsehood, mind free from the taint of passionate desire or hatred, and the body free from the poison of violence – must be taken up by everyone as ideals and lived in accordance with.

Sathya Sai Baba

” Coconut Fights Fat !!!…” Read More on Natural Sources of Medicines….

Natural Remedies From Around the World

Natural remedies are the healthiest way to treat your ailments, but where do they come from? Here are 15 common natural remedies from around the world that you may or may not have heard of. This is necessary information for any health buff!   

Coconuts Fight Fat – Sri Lanka 

natural remedies

You may have heard that coconut oil is a great way to slim your waist. Well the people of Sri Lanka figured this one out way before the rest of the world. It is reported that the average Sri Lankan eats about 116 coconuts per year, and they are half as likely as the average American to pack on the pounds. The reason is that coconut oil is packed with medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) that stimulate the liver to burn fat 50 percent faster than normal. Try having about two tablespoons of coconut oil daily (in your cooking) and you could shed up to three pounds a month!

Yoga Treats Insomnia – Austria 

natural remedies

Although yoga is practiced all over the world, in Austria it is used solely as a stress-buster and quick treatment for insomnia. Austrians like to go all out and go on yoga retreats and holidays for up to a week, but according to research from the University of Pennsylvania, practicing yoga for just 20 minutes a day could get rid of your insomnia. The research also found that practicing yoga is just as effective, if not more, than taking a sleeping pill and it also will rid you of anxiety, stress and depression.

Ginger Controls Triglycerides – Indonesia 

Indonesia is the world’s largest grower and consumer of ginger and ginger products, with locals using it in their cooking, teas, candies and breads. Their tradition has long pointed to ginger as an effective treatment for the heart, and there are studies to back them up. Triglycerides are fats that clog your arteries, and according to Stanford researchers, a daily dose of ginger could cut the production of these fats by 27 percent. Ginger is also twice as effective as aspirin at preventing blood clots and preventing inflammation.natural remedies

Turmeric Steadies Blood Sugar – India 

 

natural remedies

Turmeric is a flavorful yellow spice used in rice and meat dishes and even deserts, but it also has outstanding medicinal properties. Indians use turmeric to treat high blood sugar levels, a practice that has been scientifically confirmed by research at Gujarat University. They confirmed that the  active ingredient in turmeric, called curcumin, switches on the genes that keep blood glucose levels stable. The compound can also help the pancreas make insulin when it is low. In order to see the benefits of turmeric, start taking about half a teaspoon daily either directly or in your cooking.

 

Mushrooms Fight Cholesterol – Japan  

natural remedies

Mushrooms are a popular food and medicine in Japan, with the average Japanese woman consuming about 8 pounds of mushrooms a year. According to research from Penn State University, adding about a half a cup of mushrooms to your daily diet could cut cholesterol levels by nearly 30 percent. This is because mushrooms are packed with antioxidants that prevent the liver’s production of artery-clogging fats

 

Mustard Baths Calm Muscle Pain – England 

natural remedies Ever heard of a mustard bath? While it may sound like a hoax, mustard baths are used heavily in England to quell tight and achy muscles. Mustard has healing plant compounds that draw out toxins through the pores to improve circulation, relax tight muscles and speed the healing of damaged tissue.

For your own mustard bath, mix 2 cups of Epsom salts, 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup dry mustard in a jar. Pour only 1/4 of this mixture into a warm bath, mix the water before getting in, soak for 20 minutes and rinse.

 

Chamomile Tea Beats Off Bloating – Germany 

natural remedies

What began as a simple German folk remedy has now been proven as a scientifically effective method for fighting off bloating. A study conducted at Stanford University found that sipping two cups of chamomile tea daily could help ease bloating and belly pain within just 24 hours. This is because chamomile calms the adrenals and the production of a stress hormone called cortisol that can interfere with digestion and produces painful gas and belly spasms. Not only does chamomile tea soothe the stomach, it also causes the brain to produce more enkephalins, or painkilling hormones that will help fight off depression and negative thoughts.

 

Garlic Fights Off Viruses – Russia 

natural remedies

While garlic is used the world over to add flavor to food, in Russia they use this herb to get rid of colds, the flu or any other viral infection. It has recently been proven that this pungent natural medicine is seriously effective. At the University of Florida in Gainesville, it was shown that adding one clove of garlic to your daily diet could cut your risk of viral infections by almost 43 percent! This is because garlic is full of allicin, an immunity boosting sulfur compound that fights off the growth and spread of germs.

 

Acupuncture to Treat Headaches – China 

natural remedies

Acupuncture has been used for centuries in Eastern and Chinese medicine, but now more than 80 million Chinese use this therapy to treat chronic headaches. At Taiwan’s Kaohsiung  Medical University it was found that daily acupuncture treatments work much better than prescription muscle relaxants. This is because acupuncture prompts the release of powerful painkilling hormones called endorphins and relaxes the scalp muscles to soothe the overactive pain nerves.

 

Coffee Gets Rid of Depression – Finland 

natural remedies

This cold Scandinavian country is actually the world’s largest consumer of coffee, drinking on average about 1,640 cups per year. Indeed, coffee was originally sold in pharmacies in Finland in the 18th century has a treatment for depression. Now research from Harvard backs up coffee’s use as an anti-depressant, finding that drinking 2 cups a day of caffeinated coffee could reduce your risk of depression by 34 percent, and if you drink 3 cups, by 42 percent. The mix of caffeine and antioxidants in coffee stimulates the brain to produce more powerful antidepressant hormones like serotonin and dopamine

 

Coriander Rids of Food Poisoning – Egypt   

natural remedies

One of the world’s oldest spices and a popular Egyptian remedy for stomach pain, new research proves the powerful effects of this ancient spice. The research suggests that coriander seeds can speed up recovery from full-blown intestinal infections by destroying dangerous bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella. This is because coriander punches holes in the bacteria’s’ protective outer membranes, effectively destroying them for good.

Next time you are having tummy troubles, try adding 1 teaspoon of ground coriander to one cup of boiling water. Drink up to three cups of this mixture daily until the bug is gone.

Honey Treats Sinus Infections – New Zealand 

natural remedies

Unpasteurized honey is one of the top treatments used in New Zealand to treat sinus and throat infections. According to research at the University of Illinois and the University of Amsterdam, the natural antibiotics and enzymes in unpasteurized honey can destroy nearly 100 percent of bacteria and viruses on contact! This includes the bugs that cause painful sinus and throat infections.

For an effective remedy, mix two tablespoons of unpasteurized honey into your coffee or tea to prevent painful infections. Use darker honeys like buckwheat or wildflower for the best results.

 

Aloe Vera to Treat Skin Rash – Mexico 

natural remedies

Where the sun is hot and always shining, aloe vera is used to treat rashes and other skin problems. Researchers at the University of Texas found that aloe vera reduce redness, speeds healing, increases the skin’s moisture levels and strengthens resistance to irritants. They also discovered that aloe vera not only treats the current outbreak, but prevents further outbreaks in the same area. Other research from Malmo University Hospital in Sweden found that aloe vera cream can treat psoriasis in 83 percent of cases.

 

Kefir Treats Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Russia 

natural remedies

Irritable bowel syndrome is an uncomfortable and serious condition in which the bowels do not perform as they should. However in Russia they use a tart and tangy yogurt called kefir to treat the condition with healthy probiotic bacteria and yeast. Kefir is an effective treatment for IBS because it contains five time more healthy, intestine-soothing probiotics than most regular yogurts. In a study conducted by the University of Madrid, it was found that having just a half-cup serving of kefir daily could trigger a ten-fold increase of healing probiotic bacteria in the digestive tract.

 

Arnica to Prevent Bruises – Greece  

natural remedies

A herb that grows in the mountainous regions of Greece, arnica has been a go-to remedy since ancient times for nasty bruising and closed wounds. It has become the most popular homeopathic remedy worldwide due to its power of healing and treating the most serious of bruises. This is because arnica is a plant rich in compounds that reduce swelling by as much as 30 percent, improves circulation in damaged tissues, boosts the flow of nutrients and flushes out the blood from the wound. You and find arnica gel at your local health store or in some pharmacies. This is definitely a tube to have in your medicine cabinet!

 

SOURCE::::www.ba-bamail.com

Natarajan

Jan 30 2015

 

 

” How One Man Turned A Village into an Alchohol and Tobacco Free Zone … ” ?

Meet the man who has literally transformed the fate of a village by making it alcohol and tobacco free, by providing better employment and education and even increasing the marriage age of girls. What’s more, you’ll be truly surprised to know how Nagabhushana managed to do it all.

Tucked in the folds of Krishnagiri forests in Tamil Nadu and forgotten at the state’s borders with Karnataka, lies this tribal village – Noorundumalai. Even in its relative anonymity, Noorundumalai has some claim to distinction.

This village is alcohol and tobacco free since 2002. There are literally no shops here that sell cigarettes or liquor. In fact, the local cigarette shop owner, Sivanna, quit smoking and shut shop fourteen years ago!

Nagabhushna's intervention has enabled villagers to opt for better livelihood options.

He says there were no takers for cigarettes in his village and he couldn’t quite resist good from happening.

Two decades ago, 23 year old Nagabushana, born into a tribal family in Noorundumalai, came back to the village after completing his masters in social work. He came back with a mind that was churned hard by his traveling experiences across the length and breadth of India.

He got to witness the human struggles in some of the most backward of villages of India. Once when he was travelling through Odisha, he saw how the men of a village went out to collect dungs of animals that their women could wash and strain, and look for rice particles in them that the families could eat. He didn’t need a bigger thrust than this distressing scene to commit himself to a life of service. And he came back, to begin it all at his own village.

There were a million things that Nagabushana wanted to change in Noorundumalai. One big problem that grappled the village was alcoholism. Men of all ages were under its spell. It was not just spoiling their health but also ridding the families of a chance to rise above poverty.

Nagabushana wanted to bell this big unruly cat as the first step towards bringing change in his village. When he told his friends about his idea, they dismissed him and told him he was insane to have even thought of this. It was sensitive and even dangerous to attempt a fight against alcoholism in Tamil Nadu.

And Nagabushana was all of 23, barely employed with a salary of just Rs. 1600. It would be perilous for Nagabushana, thought his friends. But when he told his mother about his intent, she stood by his decision; the only person who encouraged him and showed courage to begin this work for change.

Nagabushana started addressing the problem with subtlety. He took up the topic of quitting alcohol in informal talks with the villagers and advised them on alcohol restraint as a solution to their health problems.

He started teaching children for free in the local school, for whom be soon became a hero. His involvement in various social and development issues of the villages brought him admiration and acceptance in the village.

He started by teaching in schools and later on expanded his activities to a larger group.

Slowly and steadily, he strengthened his campaign towards ending the menace of inebriation. In a few years, he had the youth of the village stand alongside him by starting an association of Tobacco and Alcohol Free Rural Youth. This group took along teetotallers and encouraged others to look beyond alcohol and tobacco. Fascinatingly, these youngsters worked like a peer pressure group among the villagers who made it ‘cool’ to be free of alcohol.

While Nagabushana was preparing Noorundumalai for total alcohol prohibition, there were factions who were losing out on their business of locally brewed liquor. They spewed death threats on Nagabushana and tried to hinder his efforts in many ways. But he stood unbridled by these deterrents and steered the village to being declared alcohol and tobacco free in 2002.

For this extraordinary feat, Nagabushana gained support not just from the villages, but from the local authorities and the government as well. The district collector of Krishnagiri, Santhosh Babu, generously supported the anti-liquor campaign and the development of the village by offering funds towards its school, roads and other infrastructure.

Soon the village was abuzz with a different spirit – of employment and development.

Namanam provides rehabilitation to alcohol addicts.

Now there was a bigger challenge – how do you sustain the change? You could get carried away by achieving a milestone, but it wouldn’t take long for the vices to make a comeback. The energy had to be kept alive. Nagabushana then decided to start a de-addiction and rehabilitation center, at Urigam, 6 kms away from Noorundumalai. The center was named Namanam, and it supported villagers in and around Noorundumalai. Namanam gradually became the epicentre of transformation for these villages.

To sustain itself, Namanam made a foray into business and produced commercial products using locally available resources like tamarind, aloe-vera and many other herbal products. The individuals who sought rehab were given jobs at the factory. They soon had an engaging time that would make their rehab route fast and fulfilling.

In the last ten years, over 1,000 youngsters have found a new direction for their lives through Namanam.

Self-development, employment, healthcare – all these found a place in this beautiful campus that stands alongside the gurgling Kaveri. Several college students from Bangalore visit and camp at Namanam for a transformational experience. Nagabushan makes sure that the children who visit Namanam take an oath that they will never fall prey to alcohol or smoking.

From fighting alcoholism to employment to health to women empowerment, one by one, Nagabushan is moving the mountains of Noorundumalai. Noorundumalai now has a respectable school, a changed face from its dilapidated condition. The girls of the village, who used to be married off at the age of 12, are now standing up for themselves and their education. Over the years the marriage age has come up to 17 but there is still a long way to go. Nagabushana is working hard for a change in this scene. He has now set up a factory at Noorundumalai to produce sanitary napkins for the women of the village, who are the ones employed at the factory, making the 100% cotton napkins and leading a feminine hygiene revolution among themselves.

Now, for a little surprise element – Nagabushan managed to bring about all these changes in the villages through twenty years of hard work while he held a full time job in Bangalore!

Now Noorundumalai village has seen a lot of positive changes.

He always held a job so that he could invest in Namanam’s initiatives. Many times he found himself unable to pay the school fees of his children, but neither Nagabushana nor his family ever wanted to give up the cause they stood for. He currently works as the Deputy General Manager of HR at Robert Bosch, Bangalore – definitely not an easy corporate job.

After a fully engrossing work week, he cranks his car on Saturday mornings to travel the 100 kilometer distance to Namanam. The village awaits his arrival with his family. Updates, new initiatives, new plans – all get discussed and worked upon during the weekend. While he drives back to Bangalore, the show goes on at Namanam with his mother, brother and several youngsters managing it all.

– See more at: http://www.thebetterindia.com/18554/one-man-turned-village-alcohol-tobacco-free-zone/#sthash.P19Dvrig.dpuf

SOURCE:::: http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

Jan 28 2015

Image For the Day… Picture Taken From ISS…

Marking the 100th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain National Park on Jan. 26, 2015, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry Virts posted this photograph, taken from the International Space Station, to Twitter. Virts wrote, “Majestic peaks and trails! Happy 100th anniversary @RockyNPS So much beauty to behold in our @NatlParkService.”

Image Credit: NASA/Terry Virts 

SOURCE:::: http://www.nasa.gov

Natarajan

Jan 28 2015

Image of the Day…Asteroid 2004 BL 86 !!!

Asteroid 2004 BL86, as it swept near Earth

Images of  Asteroid 2004 BL86, which swept about 3 times the moon’s distance from Earth on Monday, January 26.

A video still of asteroid 2004 BL86 and its newly discovered moon from Goldstone Solar System Radar.  The image is from last night (January 25).  Image via Slooh.com.

A large asteroid, called 2004 BL86 by astronomers, swept just outside 3 lunar distances of Earth on January 26, 2014. It’s the closest asteroid of its size known to pass Earth between now and 2027. It was close enough that observers on Earth could see it fleeing in front of the fixed star background. It was close enough that observers noticed a moon orbiting the asteroid!

Bottom line: Images and video of asteroid 2004 BL86, which swept about 3 times the moon’s distance from Earth on Monday, January 26……

 

SOURCE::::www.earthskynews.org  and YOU TUBE

Natarajan

Jan 28 2015

 

 

” Not Just For Laughs … “

  • A statue of 'The Common Man' at Worli Sea Face, Mumbai
    The Hindu

    A statue of ‘The Common Man’ at Worli Sea Face, Mumbai

  • R. K. Laxman

    R. K. Laxman

Remembering R. K. Laxman, the compulsive doodler, who built a rapport with the common man through his works

R. K. Laxman, whose uncannily pertinent picture-statements brought a bit of cheer to our troubled lives, has left behind volumes of compressed complaints that will continue to speak for the common man.

For decades, R. K. Laxman kicked off a daily morning conversation with and among his readers through his delectable cartoons on the news of the day. Each was no more than a simple drawing telling a familiar story, but came infused with RKL’s wonderfully sad irony.

He gave the ever-suffering poor and the middle-classes — whose angst he understood very well — a representative, a witness, in the form of a caricatured “common-man”, whose presence made the accusations genuine and incontestable. “We know what is happening,” he said on our collective behalf. An exhibition, last year, of his 97 unpublished doodles at the Forum Art Gallery, Adyar, gave a glimpse of RKL’s genius at work.

Finding a compulsive doodler in him, his brother R. K. Srinivasan had handed him a large scrapbook when RKL visited him in Delhi in 1975. RKL doodled — on whatever they happened to be talking about. This went on till 1991. Restored with great care by techie G. S. Krishnan, they showed how these “spontaneous outpourings” — pictures and accompanying words — sparkled with Laxman’s calming wit. I saw in them his spot-on punch, his play on words (one had a large foot on an egg for ‘stand on one’s own egg’, another the phrase ‘female dear’), his sharp reading of news, his tongue-in-cheek scuttlebutt on politicos.

These were critiques without malice, carrying a child-like quality. “Not to be taken seriously” he said in one of them. A wacky set of inventions (a cyanide-infested banana and a knife) offered us help to get rid of “unwanted-but-important” people, a mechanical umbrella lifted a hapless office-goer above traffic jams. And there was the “nice, good, non-violent, pleasant-to-look-at crow” he loved to draw.

RKL was prolific and fortunately for us, had a long innings.

Among his gems, however, the ones on political figures carried the most telling lines and remain ageless in their relevance and topicality. You could fit them easily in the day’s context. Cartoons or doodles, RKL’s quizzical look invited you to laugh with him and share the funny angle he discovered in the human situation. His works form an enchanting potpourri, one that makes you look up and wonder: “OMG, how did he know what I was thinking?”

Keywords: R. K. Laxmancartoonist deathCommon ManR. K. Laxman tribute

SOURCE::::: Geeta Padmanabhan in http://www.thehindu.com

Natarajan

Jan 28 2015

Image of the Day… ” International Year of Light … 2015…”

The year of 2015 has been declared the International Year of Light (IYL) by the United Nations. Organizations, institutions, and individuals involved in the science and applications of light will be joining together for this yearlong celebration to help spread the word about the wonders of light.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory explores the universe in X-rays, a high-energy form of light.  By studying X-ray data and comparing them with observations in other types of light, scientists can develop a better understanding of objects likes stars and galaxies that generate temperatures of millions of degrees and produce X-rays.

To recognize the start of IYL, the Chandra X-ray Center is releasing a set of images that combine data from telescopes tuned to different wavelengths of light. From a distant galaxy to the relatively nearby debris field of an exploded star, these images demonstrate the myriad ways that information about the universe is communicated to us through light.

In this image, an expanding shell of debris called SNR 0519-69.0 is left behind after a massive star exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. Multimillion degree gas is seen in X-rays from Chandra, in blue. The outer edge of the explosion (red) and stars in the field of view are seen in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope.

> More: Chandra Celebrates the International Year of Light

SOURCE::::  www.nasa.gov

Natarajan

Message For the Day….” Self Confidence is the Root of the Tree of Life and Character, its Fruit …”

The greatness of an individual depends on the cultural perfection attained. ‘Culture’ does not connote mere diligence. It means the removal of evil thoughts and propensities, and the promotion of good thoughts and qualities. It is important that young students live a life characterised by peace and self-control so that they will have a peaceful and contented life later as a citizen. Human life is comparable to a tree and the kinsmen of the individual to its branches. On these branches the flowers of thoughts and feelings blossom. These flowers gradually develop into fruits of good qualities and virtues. The nectarine juice present in these fruits is character. Without roots and fruits, a tree is mere firewood. Self-confidence is the root of the tree of life and character, its fruit. With the hope that you will all become exemplary citizens, purify your hearts and reform society, I bless you all.

Sathya Sai Baba