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The 7 Spiritual Laws Of Success by Deepak Chopra

Written By: ruchi - Jul• 23•17
7 Spiritual Laws Of Success by Deepak Chopra

I recently got an opportunity to listen to the audio book – The 7 Spiritual Laws Of Success by the famous author, speaker, doctor, spiritual leader Deepak Chopra. To be honest, it was really hard to understand but whatever I understood, I really liked. So I listened to it again and again and again till the time I understood most of it. I must say that the exercise was worthwhile so I thought may be I can summarize it for those, who don’t have that much time and hence this summary.

1. The Law of Pure Potentiality

Our essential nature is one of pure potentiality. Once you know who you really are, you can fulfill any of your dreams. Ego is your own self-image. Ego is not who we really are. Ego is a social mask that needs approval, that wants power and that wants to control. Since approval, power and control need external objects like title, money and status, we have a constant fear of losing it.

Your true self is free from the external objects of the world. It is completely free of any fear. It recognizes that everyone is same in different disguises. It feels respect for everyone and feels below none. Self-power is permanent. It draws people to you, it draws things that you want, it develops in such a way that people, things and circumstances are drawn to you to support whatever you want.

How to apply the law of pure potentiality:

  • Take the time to be silent. Sit alone in meditation for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. Don’t speak, read, watch TV or listen to the music. Do not engage with the external world at all during this time. Simply be.
  • Regularly spend time in communing with the nature – stream, forest, lake, mountain, sea shore etc. The more tuned in you are with nature, the more you have access to nature’s abundance. By communing with nature you will receive unbounded creative thoughts.
  • Practice non judgement. When you constantly analyze people and things, you create inner turbulence. Inner silence connects you to your pure potentiality. Start your day by praying that you will be non-judgmental today.
2. The Law of Giving and Receiving

Universe operates through a dynamic exchange of energy. Nothing is static. Your body and mind are constantly interacting and exchanging with the universe. If you stop the exchange of energy it will stagnate and strangulate.

Affluence means the flow of abundance. In reality giving and receiving are the same thing. What goes out must come back. The best thing is to keep it circulating. Any time you come in contact with any one, give them something – love, flower, affection, respect, blessing, and even materialistic things. The more you give, the more you will experience receiving.

How to apply the law of giving and receiving:

  • Wherever you go, whomsoever you meet, bear a gift for them, be it a flower, a compliment, a prayer or something materialistic. This will start the process of circulating the wealth and affluence in your life and in the life of others.
  • Gratefully receive the gifts of life like the sunshine, the singing of birds, the spring showers etc. Also be open to receiving gifts from others.
  • Keep wealth circulating in life by receiving and circulating the most precious gifts like caring, joy laughter, appreciation and love.
3. The Law of Karma

We have access to infinite choices. We make a conscious choice every moment. Whatever is happening right now is because of what we did in the past. Getting offended or flattered on someone’s remark is our own choice. We have become a bundle of reflexes for every situation because of our past experiences.

If we step back and witness the choices, look at their consequences, check if it will bring happiness to us and people around us, we will know which is the correct choice. When you are making a choice if the body is sending a message of comfort, it’s the right choice otherwise not.

Life is a continuum of choices. The future is generated by the choices you make today. Make every single choice a conscious one. Every action is karma. Karma becomes memory. Memory creates desire. Your soul is nothing but a bundle of consciousness that is full of memory and desires from past karmas.

What can you do for past karmas:

  • Pay karmic debts – No debt in the universe gets unpaid. There is a perfect accounting in cosmos. You have to pay the debt mostly unconsciously.
  • Transform your karma – As you are paying your debt, think what you can learn from it. Think that how you can make this experience useful to others. Think about the message that the universe is giving to you and spread that message.
  • Transcend Karma – Wash your karma. Become completely independent of it. By meditating you can become a conscious choice maker and learn to take actions that are evolutionary for you and for the people around you and that will generate happiness and success.

How to apply the law of karma:

  • Witness the choice you make every moment.
  • Whenever making a choice, think of its consequences and whether it will bring happiness.
  • Ask your heart for the guidance.
4. The Law of Least Effort

Do less and accomplish more. Nature makes least effort. Flowers just bloom, birds just fly, earth just spins, babies are in bliss, sun always shines, and humans manifest their dreams.

There are 3 components to this law:

  • Acceptance: Accept situations as they occur. This moment is as it should be. The whole universe is as it should be. When you are struggling against the moment, you are struggling against the universe. Accept things as they are, not as you wish them to be.
  • Responsibility: Take responsibility. Don’t blame anyone including yourself for your situation.
  • Defenselessness: Relinquish the need to persuade others to accept your point of view. People spend 99% of their time in defending their point of view. Anytime you meet the resistance, be flexible. Remain open to all point of views.
  • If you do all 3, the life will flow effortlessly. Your desires will flow with nature’s desires and they will manifest when the time is right.

    Applying the law of Least Effort:

    • Practice acceptance. Accept people, circumstances and things as they are.
    • Take responsibility for the moment. Not blaming anyone for your situation including yourself. Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.
    • Do not persuade others to accept your point of view. Remain open to all points of views and not be rigidly attached to anyone of them.
5. The Law of Intention and Desire

Energy and information exist everywhere in the nature. Whole universe is the movement of energy and information. You and the tree are made of the same carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen etc. You are constantly changing carbon and oxygen with each other. The real difference is the energy and the information content.

Your body is not separate from the body of the universe. You are a wiggle, a tide, a localized disturbance in the larger quantum field. Universe is your extended body. By changing the information content of your own body, you can change the universe. Human consciousness is infinitely flexible because of the wonderful nervous system which can consciously change the energy and informational content of your own body and by that you can influence the energy and information of your extended body and cause things to manifest.

This conscious change is brought about by two qualities inherent in consciousness – Attention and Intention.

Attention energizes. Whatever you place your attention on, will grow stronger. Whatever you remove attention from, will wither.

Intention triggers transformation. Intention is the real power behind desire without the attachment to the outcome. Intention on the fertile ground of attention can organize anything in nature. As long as you do not violate the other laws of nature, through your intent, you can literally command the laws of nature to fulfill your dreams and desires. You can literally put the cosmic computer with infinite organizing power to work for you. The only caution is that you use your intent for the benefit of mankind and that happens automatically if you follow the seven laws.

Obstacles disappear when you learn to harness your intention using the following five steps:

  • Go into silence. Level of being.
  • Release your intentions and desires.
  • Don’t look at yourself from the eyes of the world. Don’t be influenced by external criticism.
  • Relinquish your attachment to the outcome.
  • Let the universe handle the details.

How to apply the law of Intention and Desire:

  • Make a list of all your desires and carry the list everywhere. Look at this list before meditation, before sleeping and after waking up.
  • Release the list of desires to the womb of creation, trusting that if things don’t go your way, there is a reason and cosmos has grander plan for you.
  • Remain established and not deter by the opinions of the world.
6. The Law of Detachment

Relinquish your attachment to the result. Attachment comes from poverty consciousness. Chasing materialistic things create anxiety. People are constantly looking for security and never find it. Attachment with money gives insecurity. Search for security is an illusion. It is attachment to the known. Known is past experience. It is stagnant.

Uncertainty gives freedom. It is the fertile ground for pure creativity. It is the field of all possibilities. Step into the unknown and every moment of your life will have adventure and excitement. When you experience uncertainty, you are on the right path. You don’t need to know what is going to happen next. Certainty makes you rigid and a lot of possibilities/opportunities are lost.

Every single problem in your life is the seed for a new opportunity, a greater benefit. Stay alert to the opportunities by staying grounded to the wisdom of uncertainty.

How to apply the Law of Detachment:

  • Commit yourself to detachment.
  • Factor in uncertainties. The more uncertain things seem to be, the more secure you are.
  • Remain open to infinite choices and enjoy the outcome. Experience all the fun and mystery of life.
7. The Law of Dharma

Dharma means the purpose of life. We have taken this human form to serve a purpose. There is something that each one of us can do and express better than the whole world. Expressing your talent to fulfill the needs will create abundance. Ask yourself how you can serve the humanity. What is the unique talent you have?

When you combine your talent with the intention to serve human being, you achieve abundance. If you had all the time and money you need, what will you do? That answer is your Dharma.

How to apply the law of dharma:

  • Spend time in silence. 30 minutes in morning and 30 minutes in the evening. Just listen and the world will freely offer itself to you.
  • Make a list of three unique talents of yours. Express your talent and it will bring abundance.
  • Ask, how can I serve and help.
By following all the 7 laws you can manifest everything you want. There is a natural sequence to use these laws.

Law of pure potentiality is experienced by experiencing silence and communing with the nature.
It is activated by the law of giving, give what you seek.
This activates good karma.
This makes everything easy and leads to the law of least effort.
When everything is easy you understand law of intention and desire.
And detachment leads to the law of dharma.

My Class 12 Result

Written By: ruchi - May• 31•17
The camera story

I was always the brightest student of my class growing up in Rishikesh. Since my father and brother, both graduated from IIT Roorkee, I too appeared in the entrance exam for IIT Roorkee along with my UP Board class 12 exams.

The results of the entrance exam came before IIT and I was selected. We all celebrated and eagerly started waiting for the class 12 results. At that time the results used to get declared in a separate newspaper and a very few copies of it used to get printed. The newspaper hawker used to go around showing the same newspaper to everyone in his territory and collected 5 rupees from everyone who passed and 10 rupees for a first class.
On the day of the results, the newspaper guy came to our house and showed us the newspaper. My mother and I started scanning the paper for my roll number but it was nowhere to be found. We scanned again and nothing. The newspaper guy was getting impatient because he knew he is not getting any money from this house. We were in shock. We started scanning again and suddenly my mother noticed a separate column where the top 10 students were listed and my name was third from the top. We were ecstatic. That was probably the first time when I experienced the tears of joy. The newspaper guy collected a much bigger amount and we were way too happy to oblige in any case.
I am still getting goosebumps as I am writing this years later. In 10 minutes period we had gone from expecting a first-class to failed to topped. It was scary for sure but made a great story for grandchildren, I must say.

Retirement, The Golden Time

Written By: ruchi - Apr• 01•17
Retirement, The Golden Time

Almost every working person near the retirement age today, says that they want to extend their retirement because they can’t think of themselves sitting at home and doing nothing. While it’s a noble thought, it is slightly misdirected IMHO.

We all agree that today our working life drains us completely because we have no time for ourselves, specially in a big city. We forcefully pull ourselves out of the bed in the morning, skip breakfast, spend the whole day firefighting business issues, eat lunch at odd hours, curse the system for our miseries, wade through the traffic howling at others, reach home in a bad mood, hurriedly eat dinner, finish that one last email and crash. We are not happy but we continue working because we need that money at the end of the month and there is nothing wrong with it.
However, if we are cautious and disciplined, most of us save enough money to live our life comfortably after retirement. So why would we still want to continue working even though it makes us miserable and tired? Because, we were taught to study hard the first 25 years of our life, we were taught to earn a living for the next 35 years but nobody has told us what to do for the next 30 odd years after retirement. We are completely clueless and the thought of our empty schedule scares us immensely.
But, if you really think about it, retirement is the best time of our lives. We are done with most of our responsibilities, we have saved up enough money, we now have time for ourselves and the best part is that we are still energetic.
So, embrace this change. Hug your family members without any reason, listen to them – they are actually wonderful people, call the neighbors over for tea, teach the needy children, enjoy the fragrance of the first rain with fresh pakoras, play with the kids, revive that long forgotten hobby, travel as much as you can with an open schedule, take care of your physical and mental health, do some gardening, dance to the Bollywood tunes, take your time and enjoy the daily chores, the list goes on and on.
The purpose of our lives is to be happy and spread happiness and after retirement we actually have time to do it; make the best use of it.

10 Reasons To Revive Your Cooking Skills

Written By: ruchi - Dec• 30•16
The camera story

Have you noticed these days that most well-to-do people in urban areas don’t cook for themselves? They either have a part time cook or they go out to eat or they order in. The number of people, who call themselves foodies, is increasing but these foodies only like to eat, not cook. It’s sad that cooking is fast becoming a profession, just a means to earn money.

I strongly believe in the power of cooking at home and here are my reasons:
1. It’s healthy. The reason outside food is more tasty is because it’s laced with fat and spices, which may not always be healthy. When you are cooking yourself, you can always moderate the fat and spices as per the health conditions of the family members.
2. It’s economical. There is no doubt about it that the same plate of kadhi/chawal that you get outside for Rs. 100, can be made at home for less than Rs. 25.
3. It’s more hygienic. You know that the person, who is making the food in not coughing over it, you know the ingredients are fresh, you know that the kitchen is not cockroach infested because you are doing it yourself.
4. It has better vibrations. Spirituality tells us that cooking food with good thoughts has better food value. Anyone cooking for money may not always have good thoughts while cooking and they may not even care about it.
5. Cooking skill is a boon when you are at a place, where the food of your choice is not available. For example in some remote areas or in a foreign country.
6. It unleashes your creativity. There are no set rules in cooking. You can make little changes and serve a totally different meal from the same ingredients. For example you could convert the leftover paranthas into kathi rolls and your family will love the variety.
7. Cooking can get you a lot of compliments. As they say, a man’s heart goes through his stomach.
8. To some people, it’s a therapy. They love to serve good food to others. It gives them satisfaction. It also takes their minds off from some of the issues that they may be facing in their life.
9. Cooking can be a great activity for bonding with friends and family. People remember personally made food for ages.
10. It’s a great way to show your family that you care.
I am not saying that you must cook all the time no matter what. Don’t kill yourself just to find time for cooking but yes, if you want a healthy and happy family, serving them home cooked meal is a great idea.

This can only happen in small towns

Written By: ruchi - May• 09•16
The camera story

We were on a site seeing trip of Sikkim and drove around 150 km every day. It took us anywhere from 5 to 6 hours because the roads were really bad. We took a 10 minute break every 1 hour to stretch our legs and also to rotate the seating.

In one such break while going from Gangtok to Lachung, we were just chatting and taking pictures, when suddenly the traffic started to pile up on the highway because of our parked cab. The driver called us to cut short the break because of the jam. We agreed and hurriedly came back and drove away.
Driver stopped the cab some 30 minutes away at Mangan, a small town. He showed us a restaurant where we could eat and relax so we had a leisurely one hour lunch and walked back to the cab. As we were getting in, one of our friends realized that he didn’t have his camera. We all searched the cab and the restaurant and there was no sign of it. And then we realized that perhaps we left it at the last break point because we hurriedly got into the car.
We were depressed. Not only the camera was lost but a lot of pictures in it were lost too. We started thinking if we should go back or call someone coming in that direction to check etc. The taxi driver said that someone must have definitely picked up the camera by now because it had already been one and a half hours. Interestingly he also said that everyone on that highway was going to Lachung and Lachung is a small place so we will get it back there. We didn’t believe him for a second, we thought that he was saying it just because he did not want to go back.
As we were discussing our options, some more cabs started to come from the same direction and our driver started to ask them if they had the camera and lone behold the third taxi he asked actually had it. We were ecstatic.
The Koreans travelling in that cab were getting out when we were hurriedly getting into the cab on the last break point. They saw us leaving the camera behind and picked it up. Their taxiwala told them that all cabs on this highway were going to Lachung so they will find the right owner there. They checked the pictures in the camera to ensure that they deliver it to the right owner and the moment they saw us some 2 hours later, they knew that it was our camera.
Coming from Delhi, this was a refreshing experience. I could not have imagined this scenario even in my dreams. The people in small town still live simple and clean lives. May God bless them and bestow some of that in big cities also.