Gods and Goddesses of Nainital

Until a century ago, cannabis and its products were a legally and freely available in India. Presently it is an Illegal substance. This plant is indigenous to Himalayan region and its consumption has been common amongst hermits and mystics of the region since ancient times. Although it has been made illegal in many countries over the past century, it appears that it is less addictive than tobacco or alcohol and less likely to produce harm through improper use than alcohol. On the other hand when appropriate varieties of it are used properly this plant also has great medical benefits as well as meditative ones. Mystics have found it to be an aid in their meditative and spiritual pursuits. With the declaring of this plant as illegal, it lost its respectability around the world and was looked down at as a harmful drug. However, a recent documentary on CNN and the findings of Dr. Sanjay Gupta has gone a long way in restoring the respectability of Cannabis. It has either been leg...

There is much more on the Mother goddess in other posts of this blog for example here http://nainitalgoddess.blogspot.in/2012/11/sunanda-goddess.html The post contains a comprehensive view of the Mother Goddess as known in Asia, influenced by the spirituality of the Himalayas, the highest mountains in the world.

Badge of the House of Windsor Listen Hear ye Angels Sing A new Prince born today Blessed by the Himalayan peaks Nanda and Sunanda The Baby shall have a bonny weight Changa hoga Munda Of our dearest William and Kate Special births between July 20 and July 25 have a special significance to Himalayan districts blessed by the Himalayan peaks of Nanda and Sunanda as well as regions far away spiiritully connected to these districts.. UPDATE JULY 23: 2013  Just caught on the news that the prince with a bonny weight (eight and a half pounds) arrived to the world yesterday at 4.24  p. m.. Some may wonder why this blog announced the arrival of a Prince before the fact was known. It could have been a princess too but then an element of prophecy and revelation has always followed spirituality  like a shadow follows a man, and although some of this blog's content is not spiritual some is. May the New Prince be blessed.   Image courtsey: Wiki...

A view of Nainital A great Himalayan tragedy took place in the Uttarakhand Himalayas of India this summer when record rains and landslides caused widespread damage and deaths. Some environmentalists predict that due to man made climate change and exploitation of nature more such tragedies; more frequently are likely to take place in future. This is definitely time for all thinkers, scientists, environmentalists, administrators and politicians to sit back and reflect on the future of the Himalayas and come up with new plans and strategies to meet the challenges ahead. Towards this end this note is a humble contribution of the author a scientist and technologist himself with deep links to the Uttarakhand Himalayas to throw up some ideas for further debate and discussion, as included in this note: The Stream of Tourists : A major source of pressure to the Uttarakhand Himalayas is the ever increasing stream of tourists and pilgrims to the region. In the coming years,...

Kedarnath Temple E very year some damage takes place to the road and communication network in the Himalayas due to monsoon rains because of the nature of roads and infrastructure created on steep hillsides. The population of the area is used to it and geared for repairing the damage speedily. However, this year  rains have brought havoc and that too in June, around a month earlier than usual. The intense rains are something of a hundred year record. Numerous roads have been destroyed by landslides in the Himalayan province of Uttarakhand. The numerous streams and rivers that feed rivers that flow into plains of north India have overflowed, destroying bridges and washing riverside buildings into water. It appears that hundred of tourists, perhaps even thousands, locals and pilgrims, may have died (the count is not yet in).  Thousands are trapped at various locations without food or adequate shelter. This time the damage will not be repaired in days or weeks but t...

Currently it seems that a debate is on in USA if yoga is something religious or not. May I contribute my two cents to the debate seeing that there are articles by me on the net on yoga and for yoga teachers e.g. what is yoga, Entropy yoga and in this blog on Kriya Yoga? The simple and clear answer is that there are many different types of yoga. Some are religious and some are not. The one being advocated in the USA presently and by the Lady Obama and President Obama is not religious. It is a yoga that involves primarily physical exercises and/or breathing exercises and such yogas that may go by the name of hatha yoga, pranayama as well as numerous modern names are not religious. However a yoga that involves physical exercises that includes a posture called Surya Namaskar involves worshipping the sun and it is a religious yoga. The kriya yoga described in another post in this blog is a religious yoga but it is ecumenical and universal and does not belong to any specifi...

Ashok  Malhotra on a Boat in Nainital I changed my blogger profile image today to this one. It is me on a boat on Nainital Lake. What a wonderful place ( except in the midst of winter). The central cover image of this blog shows a much larger view of the lake snapped from top of a mountain that I reached by a rope way from near this lake.The boats show as tiny dots in that photo. I used to climb up this hill by foot even at the age of four as my mother used to say, our home was half way up, but now past sixty I run out of breath in doing that. I came down the hill on foot so as to enjoy the beautiful hill side full of pine and oak but even that was not fully comfortable because although one does not run out of breath down a hill the legs, lower calf muscles,  got jittery. On the way down a much- much older person was merrily walking down with the help of a stick . I guess he was in practice whereas I am not - spent far too long on the plains I am afraid, far more than nece...