Jeevan Hai Baraf Ki Naiya

Jeevan Hai Baraf Ki Naiya

LIFE is a Boat of Ice…it’s bound to melt and merge with the Ocean

Life is uncertain, but death is certain.

In fact, only death is certain.

Life is the primary cause of death.

Death is just another step in the continuous process of Life and Death.

Death leaves behind a trail

Of loss, of grief, of helplessness

Death causes pain,

Death causes fear.

Death is so scary, that people avoid it…

Thinking about, talking about it.

Everybody dies though….

Sooner, or later.

Some die even before they are born…

Some die in the prime of their youth,

And some die at a ripe old age.

Some die knowing there’s life on the other side.

Some die peacefully in their sleep and

Some lives end in an unnatural, unfortunate, untimely manner.

Some fear death and die every moment of their lives,

While others are too busy living to even think about death.

Some die with honour and greatness,

And when some others die, nobody even cares.

Some would rather die than sacrifice their values,

And there are others who die because they don’t feel valued.

But one thing is clear….No matter when or how we die,

We all know for sure, that once we are born, death is inevitable.

Death is the only certainty.

Death is the only given.

Now that we are clear and aware that we are temporary guests here on earth,

Let’s make the most of our time in the IIM of Life and Death.

IIM Earth- Intergalactic Institute of Mankind!

Yes! We all need to congratulate ourselves on being eligible to attend Earth School!!

The toughest, most challenging of them all!

Lots to learn here….

Let us learn to live consciously,

Let us spend our days here loving everyone.

Let us spend our time doing what gives us joy,

And through that, spread joy.

Let us stop being slaves to greed,

Let us stop taking more than what we need.

Let us discover the joy of giving,

Let us discover the lightness through forgiving.

Let’s not try to add more moments to life,

But let’s try to add more life to every moment.

(I know we’ve all heard that many times before

But today I could feel it)

Because I realise, that we all have just a few moments…

We’re all just temporary guests…

We will all soon be alumni of this great school, called Earth!

Nirupama Rao

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PAIN IS GOOD

Pain is good. Pain has the power to transform us- if only we allow it and not fight it and resist it. I’m grateful to my pain. And to each and every one who is supporting me through it.

One night in April 2019 I was struck by this intense pain in my right neck, shoulder and arm. The intensity was way more than both the labour pains I had been through.

It was diagnosed as “prolapsed disc” but I know otherwise now.

When we are struck by an illness or crisis, we tend to ask, “why me!”

I think it’s a valid question that we need to ask ourselves and our illness…why me? Why now? Why this?

In theory I knew that pain gives us an opportunity to evolve. But this time I had a direct experience.

What I have learnt from this whole ‘so called’ cervical slipped disc saga is this….

Pain and suffering have a purpose. They come into our lives when we stray from our destiny paths. We take birth on earth to learn and evolve. Our destiny helps us with that. But sometimes the pains and pleasures of Samsara take us away from that.

Hence we ‘need’ crises, illness and hard times in our lives to remind us of our higher purpose which is, to evolve to the next stage in spiritual development.

We need to ‘not suppress’ the pain but we need to connect with it- get in touch with it. Breathe into it (Thanks Cameron). Talk to it, listen to it and ask why its here. What it wants from us…what is it that I need to learn…..

My attention was drawn to the possibility that I was carrying a lot of emotional pain from the past that I had not dealt with. It had probably manifested into the physical. I had a huge catharsis one day. I cried for one whole hour….loudly. I let everything go.

I learnt that I had no right over the outcome of my actions. That relieved me of a huge burden of guilt and shame that I was carrying.

Another message that was coming in – from many quarters- was that I need to “look within”. Stay in the present moment. Not be carried away by external impressions.

To not think about ‘what I have to do’….that will come in it’s own course- it will find me- when I’m ready.

Now I just need to focus on “being”- not doing.

My job until then, is to work on building myself physically, emotionally and spiritually so that I am ready for whatever it is that the universe wants of me.

I found a wonderful doctor and therapist who helped me through my pain and who are helping me to get stronger than ever!

Dr Kannan and Megha from Sparrc Institute

I surrender to the will of the universe. The only thing that I need to be concerned right now is about how I can try to be the best version of myself!!

I can say that even as I set that intention, wonderful new beginnings are already unfolding, peeping around the corner….I don’t let self doubts stop me anymore this time. It’s the universe manifesting its will through me. I am merely an instrument and the instrument needs some servicing 😄.

I don’t let myself feel guilty for focusing on myself and my well being. I can’t give until I receive.

Receiving with gratitude

This time I promise myself that I shall not overstretch myself, I shall strengthen myself and find my balance. I shall increase my Qi/Prana quotient. And guess what! I have found a Taichi Master!

GRATITUDE

Nirupama Rao

Time with Myself

I have been constipating sorry contemplating on this post for a long time…it’s about spending time with ourselves…
Long ago when we were doing the Steiner Education course, the teacher asked us where it is that we spend real, quality time with ourselves….we all came up with different answers…in the morning with a cuppa, while walking, on the bus and so on. But the answer that our teacher was leading to was the toilet seat…This is the most private and sanctimonious place where we spend quality time with ourselves.
I have often called this IP- Inspiration point. This is where I pick up all my brilliant ideas from the thought ether.
Sadly, this Sanctum Sanctorum of our inner world has now been taken over by the virtual world….we now take the mobiles with us into this only place in the world where we would commune with our inner selves…we take other people into the toilet with us. We WhatsApp, we browse, watch tv shows, read, talk, and what not….we are losing connect with ourselves….that is the saddest side effect of technological progress I guess….

(Pic courtesy: googlespeak.deviantart.com/art/Cell-phone-On-Toilet-Thinker-394535695)

ARISE, AWAKE AND QUESTION

(Especially written keeping in mind the young adults, people who are contemplating marriage and parenthood and parents of young children. This is not what we want to hear, but what we need to hear)

The world has changed a lot more in the last 5 years than it has in the last century.

Ola, Uber, flipkart, Amazon, Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Google maps and numerous other apps have significantly changed our lives. Life is going to become increasingly impossible to live without our ubiquitous cell phones that can, incidentally also be used to make calls.

Technology has definitely improved the quality of our lives. It has helped save a lot of money, energy and time. It’s like any other invention like the knife or the atom bomb. It all depends on how we use it.

Netflix has a series called Black Mirror (the ipad, laptop or tablet screen that’s turned off) which projects into the future where technology takes stranger turns and transforms humanity in unimaginable ways. Many works of science fiction have been prophetic and that thought is quite scary!

In fact, even infants have their eyes glued to their gadgets that are stuck to their prams, as mom is busy shopping. Six month old babies don’t eat anymore without watching their favourite cartoon/nursery rhymes on YouTube or listening to their favourite Bollywood number.

My now adult nephew’s friend is earning in Crores by making nursery rhyme animations of questionable quality.

Ten year olds want have their own Youtube channels. Children are not going down to play as much as they used to earlier.

Parents in restaurants are feeding their babies but not before handing them their smart phones to keep them distracted.

You go to any social get together and you find children and adults alike busy with their screens, even relatives who get together after a long, long time. Couples in restaurants are busy looking into their own smart phones instead of looking into each other’s eyes.

Parents are not able to set limits as they are themselves hooked on to it as the IDEA 4G AD says “Look look, India hua hook”

Social networking apps have several people employed only to make sure people are always hooked.

I wonder if there’s an app to measure the number of hours people spend with their phones….(update: yes there are many)

HOW ARE OUR LIFESTYLES AFFECTING US

Given this situation, young children who are affected the most, are speaking less, moving less, playing less. This is giving rise to many issues like speech delay, poor muscle tone, coordination and many sensori-motor disturbances. It’s hard to imagine the repercussions this is going to have in the future.

Just as cardiac problems, hypertension, BP, infertility, cancer and diabetes are called lifestyle diseases among the adult population, children are also exhibiting various lifestyle related symptoms like hyperactivity, low muscle tone, sensory processing disorders, autism like features, speech delay, aggression and so on.

There are 4-5 children with issues in a class of 20 children at a playschool I visit. Since it was too time consuming to talk about the same causes and effects to each parent individually, we decided to address the parents of the whole school regarding these modern challenges faced by today’s children, and in turn, parents and teachers. The talk was surprisingly very well received by the parents who were being swept by the wave of technology and lifestyle. But when this was brought to their awareness, it was like an awakening.

Most of us adults are sleep walking through life, flowing with the current and doing what everybody is doing. As humans, we have individual egos that help us to think independently for ourselves unlike animals that are governed by a group ego and herd mentality. ‘Normal’ is no longer most healthy.

We need to think for ourselves and consciously question our choices, especially when it comes to our children. Is this the best that I can give my child? At every step, we need to question ourselves about the choices we are making. Is this what is good? Will this calm my child or excite him? Do I satiate him immediately or do I deal with the tantrum? Do I spend time with him or do I hand him the I pad?

HOW LIFESTYLES ARE CHANGING

Technology is only one part if the lifestyle changes we are witnessing. The world we live in and how we are living is changing in many different ways. Now let us look at what are the lifestyle aspects that are impacting the true potential of the future generation.

What are we doing differently from the previous generation that is giving rise to issues that they did not face?

• Increase in the number of vaccinations and antibiotic As we are developing resistance, we need to look for stronger doses! The body is no longer allowed to fight infections on its own. We are reducing natural immunity by resorting to unnatural prevention.
• The missing family physician that used to listen more, diagnose simply by checking the pulse, and not immediately order a battery of tests. Counseling was part of his job profile. Today there is no time for that. There is no time to lose. We need to get better immediately even if we have to suppress the symptoms- child or grown up.
• A surge of packaged, instant, refined, fast and processed food in the market. As far from real food as it is possible.
• Increased use of GMO in agriculture.
• A sudden flooding of technology into our lives which is becoming increasingly indispensible. Children and adults are equally glued to gadgets, no matter where they are. Some schools have started using gadgets too. Movement and physical activity is reducing.
• Early start in school and academics: Children are packed off to schools even before they are two (a mistake I admit to making with my elder one and am not proud of it). Children take about 6 years to get ready for school in terms of developing the necessary skills like sitting, focussing, pencil grip and so on. I realised the hard way that feeding young children information too early is detrimental to their physical health and well being. Early start leads to fatigue and burn out. Learning is a lifelong process. Even the elderly people learn. What children under six need to do is play, run, get messy and explore.
• Lack of regularity in eating and sleeping times and in the rhythms of the day. Even children under 5 are not getting their sleep needs met. It is now normal for children to go to bed anywhere between 10.30 to 12. I have seen children who can’t sleep before 1 am!! Children need to eat early and sleep early.
• Pollution: all kinds of pollution. Air, water, food, noise, wifi radiation, electro-magnetic waves, you name it.
• Excesses: there is excess of stimulation- noise, visuals, entertainment, material abundance, food, flavors, sugar, excess of everything. We don’t know where to draw a line and say this is enough. Over-stimulation makes children Hyperactive. Once the stimulants are removed, children calm down. They will not need shadow teachers or go for therapies if healthy practices are adopted right from the word go. we do not need to be entertained all the time. Sometimes it is important to do nothing!
• Consumerism: businesses go to any extent to make people want to buy their product. It doesn’t matter how the product may affect the gullible people- their body image, their self esteem, their self worth. As long as the product sells, everything is OK.
• Media boom: Media is everywhere…it constantly keeps telling us who we are, how to think, what to eat, what to wear and gives us information that they want us to have. We are at their mercy completely and we have created these ourselves.
• Role reversal: Children being only children and the recipients of the abundant resources, they are no doubt the centre of our existence. However unfortunately, the children have been given the control and parents listen to children instead of it being the other way around. Experts say “be their friend” and this has been completely misunderstood. Children need parents who will set the limits for them and handle them with firmness instead of becoming putty at their hands. There is a simple reason for this. We are adults, hopefully with the experience and they are children with apparently no experience to take decisions and make judgments. We have taken up the role and responsibility of being parents and we are not here to relinquish control to the little ones who don’t have the experience to weigh what is good for them and what is not. It is difficult for us to see them cry. We need to learn that sometimes a ‘no’ expresses much more love and concern than a ‘yes’. This is especially true in parenting. Having said that it needs to be balanced with a good measure of love and presence to make it work!!

THE AWAKENING

We need not wait until things go to such a head that we cannot reverse it anymore. I’m not sure how much of it can be reversed even today, but as free thinking independent individuals, we still have our capacity to think for ourselves and make conscious choices wherever it is possible.

People are doing that…and they may be judged for it, but that does not stop anyone from breaking the mould, seeking an alternate way of life. They are awakening in their own unique ways.

People are seeking out alternative medical practices, alternative schools, home births, water births, saying no to vaccinations, going in for veganism and organic food, taking to farming, minimalism, slow food movements, supporting sustainable and humane businesses, breaking gender stereotypes, going for yoga, meditation and other spiritual practices and so on and so forth. People are finding their own individual path and have started believing in natural and holistic lifestyles.

People are truly awakening and are refusing to follow so called ‘normal’ currents.

WHAT CHILDREN NEED

Children need to grow up in calm, simple, uncluttered homes with less toys, with good healthy routines, minimum entertainment, lots of physical activity and maximum time out in nature. They need parents who are warm, loving, playful, in the here and now, who believe that less is more and slow is good and are conscious, ecologically aware and most importantly, trusting. Children who grow up in such homes have better stamina, better resistance to diseases, recover faster from illnesses, are much more calm, grounded, balanced and happy, there is more resilience and are able to bounce back sooner from situations.

Even a child with autism who is brought up in the above-mentioned manner may experience reduced aggression, hyperactivity, sensory issues and will be able to realize his true potential using the gifts that autism brings with it.

Our lifestyle has changed, but the archetypal human nature remains the same across time and space. We are still a product of nature. We are still made of the same elements that makes the rest of the natural world. The more we are in harmony with nature and its rhythms, the more we are in good health- physical, emotional and spiritual health.

Human evolution is not over yet. We are still evolving. The human being is now peaking in terms of intelligence. There’s much more to be achieved intellectually. But what lies beyond human intellect? What direction is our next step in evolution going to take?

It will be interesting to see….until then, let us arise, awake, ask questions and think as the conscious beings that we are! We may still not be perfect and yet to do things the way they need to be done but what is more important is that we are aware and conscious of our actions.

This can be our practical, everyday, living and individualized spirituality.

NIRUPAMA RAO

(Psychologist, Parent Counsellor),

Co Author: Parenting-The Art and Science of Nurturing ( with Dr Shekhar Seshadri, NIMHANS)

Contact: 9987653780, raonino@gmail.com

THE AUTISM STORY

Autism has always existed but we are feeling its presence more today than we ever did before. Autism has impacted not just its immediate family but it is changing the way the world does and looks at things…

It is making the humanity think about its choices. About the role each and everyone of us plays in bringing about the new wave of differently-abled children who are here to give us important messages. The obvious ones being about the impact of vaccines, GMO, electronic radiation, processed foods and so on; and on the other hand subtler, deeper and profound messages about the importance of going back home to Mother Nature, embracing the principle of unconditional love, about Neurodiversity, about becoming an inclusive society, about raising our own vibration to come up to theirs, about going beyond what is known and towards the immeasurable expansion of our very souls and actually feel the ONENESS- a state in which these children always exist!!

The rise in the incidence of Autism and the rise in spiritual and eco-consciousness is going hand in hand….. THE AUTISM STORY is a fairy tale-like account- my perspective of the probable connection between the two. AUTISM has a message for all of us….once that message reaches the critical mass, nature will change its course… Hope you read this little illustrated booklet….this book will either sow or nourish the seed of human collective consciousness.

You can find it in the link below. Friends overseas can inbox me and I will arrange to have copies shipped across!!

http://www.amazon.in/Autism-Story-First-2016/dp/9380733003/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1487861471&sr=8-2&keywords=nirupama+rao+books

Below are a few glimpses into the book!! Please do read it and and do leave a comment on the amazon page!! Friends who have already read it, kindly do drop a comment!!

“Man was becoming invincible. He was intelligent. He was becoming a powerful creator himself. He created electricity that turned the days and nights upside down. He created advances in medicine that turned life and death upside down. He created machines that shrunk space and time.
With technology advancing, they did not even need a God!! Man had never experienced such abundance ever before. What man didn’t know was that he was being watched.”

“Up in that spiritual realm that these souls inhabited, they did not have physical
bodies. They were neither male nor female but were both. They were entities of energy that floated around sans gravity that belonged only to the earthly realm.
They communicated with each other in the thought plane. Spoken language
did not exist there. They were all made up of high vibrational energy and
were connected to each other with a grid, a network so that when something
affected one, they would all feel the impact. It was a beautiful world of eternal sunshine, colours unseen on earth, peace, joy and happy coexistence.”

THE AUTISM CREATION STORY

Thank you for visiting this page.

The words that you will read below are not my words. They are words that are just coming through me. I have not special telepathic powers. I have no direct cognition of their thoughts passing through me. However I do have a strong sense of the truth behind autism with whom I have spent half my life and I feel it is my duty and responsibility to convey my truth to the world without holding back. I feel my only job is to be a channel and a voice for these wonderful magical souls with autism.

Only then can I do justice to this incarnation of mine on earth at this time. I am happy that more and more people are recognizing this truth today.

Imagination is the starting point for manifesting our destiny. Hence I’m using a format of imagination to narrate the story of Autism as I experience it. Fact or fiction, I leave that to you!!

(Please note the word Man has been used in the place of humanity. It does not denote gender)

AUTISM CREATION STORY

Once upon a time, long long ago, God was…..

He just was… pure undivided consciousness. It was God un-manifest. He then wanted to be manifest. He set the process rolling with the sound OM. He created the stars, the planets and the galaxies.
Then he created life…the plant life, the animal life. He created the soul!!
He then wanted to complete the circle of creation. He created man…man, who through various struggles through various lives, would realise that the entire creation including the mineral, plants, animals and man himself were but a manifestation of the God himself and would finally merge back into God un-manifest. The circle would now be complete.
But god did not want to be the only creator. He gave man the power to co-create. He gave him the power of free will! He also gave him individuality….the power that would at once help man to be unique and that would also help him to feel one with the universe!! The power to separate and the power to unite!
At first, man was one with God, having been born of God Himself. He was one with all of creation and one with Nature. He would learn all he needed to know from the sky and from the earth.
Then one day man was borne out of man himself, and not of God any more…as epochs passed, the distance between God and man widened.
The advanced souls that were watching the goings on were beginning to get worried. “Father, they’re moving away from you!” they said. “Don’t worry” said God “when they connect with Mother Earth, they will remember their father, and Mother Earth will ensure that they do!” said God with a snicker.
God was quite happy that many souls were still finding their way back to Him. Then man created religion and mankind moved further away from God.
Then as the years passed, came kingdoms, and then industries and then technology.
By now, man completely forgot where he came from. He relied only and completely on science for all answers. He forgot to listen to that little voice in his heart…the direct hot line to God. He forgot to listen to Mother Nature’s cues.
He was stuck in the time warp of birth and death, having got caught in the sense pleasures that life on earth offered. Pleasure at any cost became the Mantra.
The co-existence, the inter-dependence, the symbiosis and the give and take between man and nature began to take a back seat. It was now all take, take, take, on the part of man. He forgot to nurture and nourish the Mother Gaia, the earth whose resources he was plundering.
Man was becoming invincible. He was intelligent. He was becoming a powerful creator himself. He created electricity that turned the days and nights upside down. He created advances in medicine that turned life and death upside down. He created machines that shrunk space and time.
With technology advancing, they did not even need a God!! Man had never experienced such abundance ever before. What man didn’t know was that he was being watched. He was being watched by the hierarchies- the old advanced souls that had moved beyond the cycle of life and death.
They could see man’s arrogance growing. Yet again. This was not new to the human civilizations. There were advanced civilizations before that swelled with so much pride and arrogance that they inevitably had to implode into decadence.
But the present bunch were different. They were at that epoch that had started moving humanity, inching them closer to their divine reality. There were groups of human beings that were ready to awaken. This was a strange time where spirituality and materialism were both peaking simultaneously. The old souls saw that with a little help, the balance could tip in the favour of divinity in the human being. The human race needed to raise its vibration to that critical mass where the entire race could then be moved to a higher epoch, a higher dimension. A major catastrophe of mass self-destruction and annihilation as had happened in the past could actually be prevented!!!
A group- a large group of souls in various levels of advancement, got together. They had a plan. They knew what the other was thinking.
Up in that spiritual realm that these souls inhabited, they did not have physical bodies. They were neither male nor female but were both. They were entities of energy that floated around sans gravity that belonged only to the earthly realm. They communicated with each other in the thought plane. Spoken language did not exist there. They were all made up of high vibrational energy and were connected to each other with a grid, a network so that when something affected one, they would all feel the impact. It was a beautiful world of eternal sunshine, colours unseen on earth, peace, joy and happy coexistence.
These groups of souls were preparing themselves to sacrifice all this to save mankind from tipping towards destruction and to move closer to an existence of a higher vibrational level, unlike the dark, heavy density of physical existence on earth.
They sought an audience with God, the creator and told Him of their plan to save mankind. They told Him of their plan to remind mankind of their true divinity. They will help humanity reconnect with Mother Nature so that they will remember Him again. They will fill their hearts with the pure vibration of unconditional love.
God reminded them that it was quite risky to go back to earth as even highly advanced souls have gotten sucked back in to the rigmarole of earthly pleasures.
This set the old souls thinking. There was a solution to this. There was a constitution which was chosen by some souls to resolve their past karmas, while at the same time it helped them to prevent accruing new karma. This was a constitution that ensured that they were immune to materialism and Ego. This would be the perfect vehicle for their mission as it would help them to stay strongly in touch with their divine selves by not incarnating too deeply into their earthly bodies. This constitution manifested in what was known as AUTISM. They could also be seen as Hyperactivity or sensory processing issues.
“We will leave a part of us with you oh Lord, so you can safe guard it. So that we don’t get lost!” they said.
God was quite intrigued with this plan. This could actually work!! But God was deeply worried about the pain that these souls would face as a result of not being fully in their bodies, for the earth was not what it used to be a few decades back! It was unclean, impure, and full of pollution, carbon foot prints, radiation and dangerous chemicals. It was a difficult and challenging time for souls who chose this constitution. It would cause immense pain and discomfort!
“Even better!” cried the old souls!! Mankind is wreaking havoc as they are not directly impacted by the destruction they are causing. But when they see that we, the New Children that are being born to them at this time are deeply impacted and hurt by their unconscious lifestyles, inhuman attitudes and materialism, they will sit up at take notice!! No one is affected by anything unless it happens to them or their loved ones!
We will choose human groups- parents, teachers, therapists, healers, light workers, earth crusaders that we feel are more ready vibrationally- those who have the capacity to see the truth of who we really are!!! Through them, we will go about our campaign of connecting the lost souls back to you Father God through Mother Earth- Gaia.
They will learn to grow pure food,
they will learn about the life rhythms,
they will relearn to peacefully coexist,
they will learn to purify their environment,
they will learn to love unconditionally,
they will learn to be their authentic selves,
they will learn to overcome their slavery to gadgets and technology, to be fully present for us,
they will learn to live in joy and peace, notwithstanding the challenges life throws at them as they have learnt acceptance, acceptance that everyone travels a different path,
they will learn to raise their vibration so that they can reach out to us, their dear little children who they will learn, are high vibrational, energetic beings,
they will learn that we all make one whole together- we are one, we are not really separate although we are unique!!
These will be the gifts that we will give them.
These gifts will bring them closer to you, their source.
No mother can see her child suffer oh Lord! She will seek, search, advocate and educate the community to understand, accept and adapt! She will call out to others who are ready to listen! WE, together with our mothers and the light workers will call out, in one voice to humanity.
Trust us Lord! Give us a chance, help us! Support us!”
Then God spoke “My dear children, it is time. It is time to awaken humanity to the next level of consciousness. They are this close! You will be the New Humans who will help make this shift happen! We will all work together to make this happen, I am with you. Your guardians and angels will always be there to help you and protect you. Mother earth will play her part in cleansing and purging. This may seem a little hard to digest, but it is necessary. I shower you all with my blessings for the great sacrifice you are all making to help humanity. I wish you all success!
So be it!!”
And so it was that large groups of children were being born…so sensitive that many factors could trigger their autism. But that was just a way to come into this existence. It was so alarming that it awakened large groups of people to think in their own way about what was happening and why it was happening.
These new children retained some of the privileges that they enjoyed back in their heavenly home….high vibrational energy bodies, telepathic communication, knowledge and wisdom, and energetic connections between each other to name a few. Their gifts and abilities stunned the humans who had never seen anything like that before!! Many of them had unimaginable memory, IQ and savant skills which were beyond normal human capacities. They started communicating- non-verbally about profound truths about love and God. Books were written and published.
Workshops and healing sessions were being conducted. People started talking about neurodiversity. Systems had to be changed to make it friendlier to different types of learners. Organic farming started becoming more popular. Alternative healing and educational methods were now in demand. People started losing their faith in conventional medical practices. Healthy practices and choices were now adopted for all, just the same. Lifestyles changed. Use of gadgets were limited, people started connecting more with Mother Nature.
Thus started the mammoth process and project of raising the vibration of the entire humanity.

People started to realize that these children were not disabled as they had mistakenly assumed, but were souls who were here to purify planet earth!

HEALING AUTISM THROUGH SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING

This article is a work in progress. It has been so since the past 4-5 years that I have written it and will continue to be so as long as I keep learning and evolving. Expansion of awareness and consciousness is happening at breakneck speed today. So if I think I’ll have to edit it before I publish it, this article will never see the light of day.

So here it is! Healing autism as I experience it….

HEALING AUTISM THROUGH SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING
“We are not human beings in search of spirituality, we are spiritual beings in search of humanity”- Unknown
INTRODUCTION
My journey with Autism has been amazing and it gets more and more amazing as the days pass by…I wonder how much more I am going to learn through this amazing phenomenon of our times called ‘Autism’. When I started in ’94, the incidence of autism was one in 5000 births. Today it is one in 80 births. Staggering!

Autism cannot be treated or cured. For it is not an illness. It is a way of being. But yes, there are many issues and difficulties that are faced by children and adults with autism due to their special physical Constitution which can be healed. Once they are healed of these discomforts, they will still be autistic but more happily and magnificently so!! They can then shine in all their brilliance and can shine their light upon the world.

Until a few years ago, autism was for me, as it still is for many, a neuro-developmental condition with a genetic etiology. It is a biological condition. Yes- it probably is, but only at a physical level. Some may ask,”only physical? Is there more? I would say, “Yes, the physical aspect is just the tip of the iceberg. What is beyond the physical is all the rest of it.” This is not my quotation. This is what is said in the Vedas, The Gita, and the teachings of all the seers that have blessed this earth with their grace and presence.
The minute we are ready to acknowledge that there is more to reality than what can be perceived by our five senses, our spiritual growth begins. How would one explain the sixth sense, the intuition, telepathy, near death experiences, gut feelings, past life remembrances and all the rest of it? These are not scientific facts that can be proven in a laboratory. These are truths that need to be experienced. There’s no other way one can learn about the true reality. No matter how many lectures we attend or books we read, this knowledge becomes truly ours when we experience it. It may not come as sudden enlightenment, but it can come as little bursts of realization. For me, it has come through autism. For, I believe, that is the real purpose of this phenomenon of our modern era- to elevate humanity to a higher level.

THE ORIGIN AND HUMAN INCARNATION
This entire universe is made up of vibrations. What we think of as the source, the ultimate truth or what some of us like to call ’God’ is of the highest, lightest vibration. It is the vibration of love. It is all pervading. After that is the high vibrating pure souls with autism and also the intellectually challenged who are full of love and bliss. Followed by this are human beings who are in the realm of total unconditional love, compassion and oneness. After this comes the realm of nature, encompassing the amimal and plant world. The animals are again high vibrational beings that can bring great healing to the world as do so many plants and trees who are the perfect creations of God. Physical matter is of the lowest vibration in the natural world the densest, yet still posessing many high frequencies like the healing crystals. Right at the bottom are again us human beings who are vulnerable to negative energies in the form of negative thought patterns and feelings like fear, anger, doubt, anxiety, worry, stress, jealousy, envy, insecurity, etc. The human beings possess the entire range of vibrations. From the very dense and low vibration, to the very high. Because we are made up of everything that makes up nature! The essence of the mineral world, the life forces of the plant world and the soul forces of the animal world and we are the only creations of nature to experience the essence of the spirit. The same person can experience high and low vibrations based on his/her thought patterns. When we become aware and conscious, we have the capacity to raise our vibration to come as close to that of the autism vibration as we possibly can and experience the oneness which they are a part of.
Before we step into human existence, we are part of this high vibrational world that makes up everything. But the minute we are conceived, we are turned into matter. For a while into our new life as a human child, we are still a part of this high vibrational world where there is no concept of time and space. The ‘here and now’ is the only reality for our children. Until slowly, the process of separation begins- separation from the spirit, the source. This is where the ‘ego’ comes in. The concept of ‘I’ which is lacking in the animal world. This is what it is, that sets us apart from the animals.
This process of separation begins at about the age of three (which is decreasing these days) and continues till it separates completely at about the age of nine when children often experience an existential crisis of who they are and why they are here. Different children experience this in different ways, and if parents pay close enough attention, they can be sensitive to the emotional state of their children at this time. My daughter started voraciously reading about the life and teachings of ‘The Buddha’ at nine and became a complete vegetarian for the next three years! This was entirely her journey without any parental influence.

AUTISM- A VEDIC PERSPECTIVE
Coming back to autism, I have been working with children with autism since the year 1994, and have seen, as have many others that these children are gifted. They can perceive what most of us can’t. They are highly sensitive to the extent that is hard to imagine, and can hear what is a small sound for us, magnified a hundred times over. The same applies to all the physical senses, different for different children. But the part that is most distressing for these highly sensitive and vulnerable children is that, they are also able to perceive the thoughts and the emotions of the others around them! This is the worst suffering that anybody can go through, more so if what they sense is not positive.
This is because; these children are vibrating at a very high level- Much higher than the average human being. Yes, children with hyperactivity, learning disabilities, etc are also highly sensitive high vibrational beings, but are comparatively a little more grounded than the children on the autism spectrum.
To speak in the Vedic language, for a human being to take an incarnation on the earth, it is not sufficient if his physical body alone is here. We are made up of many aspects other than the physical; we also possess a mind, a soul and a spirit (ego/I). All of these need to incarnate along with the physical body. How that takes place, the order and the sequence is a subject on its own, but the point is that we are not just a physical body.
According to our Indian Vedic wisdom this process of separation after physical birth and the merging back again with the spirit after physical death is a cyclic process that continues many times over. Ancient scriptures talked about Advaita and Dvaita philosophy . Advaita is a state of connectedness or unity with the spirit and Dvaita is a state of ‘dualism’ or separation from the spirit. In our children with autism, physical incarnation happens but the spirit or the ego incarnation does not take place when and how it should. They are in a permanent state of Advaita. They are never separeated from ‘All That Is’. This makes them very highly connected high energy spiritual beings who are hyper sensitive and almost clairvoyant. They are aware and know everything that is going on around them. We may be saying something but thinking something else. They can see the discrepancy and this bothers them. It would bother us if we could hear what others are thinking about us wouldn’t it?
Just like there are various levels of evolution of the human beings, there are souls with autism at various levels of evolution. Some of them are advanced souls who are aware of who they are and about their own divinity. They have learnt to communicate divine messages to the world. They have recognized their true purpose on earth while, there are others who have severe challenging behavioral, sensory and metabolic issues.
Some autistic children and adults are gifted. They already possess the knowledge and wisdom that it would take us lifetimes to acquire. Initially before the parents and these children themselves are aware of their truth and purpose, they display or demonstrate their knowledge and wisdom only in occasional bursts depending on the vibration in the environment !! Owing to their non-verbal nature, they are sadly misunderstood to be intellectually challenged. But when parents get a glimpse of their gifts, like precocious reading, memory and arithmetic skills it speaks of visible, tangible gifts on one side and their incapability to do simple and basic tasks like reading and writing, playing, socializing, etc., on the other they are often confused and perturbed about who this child really is and what they are really capable of!! They are not sure that little peek into their true being was real or was it our imagination as doting parents! But it is true.

Caution: It is not the intention of this article to create unrealistic expectations for parents from their children. Not all of them are able to, or choose to express their gifts. At the same time, some of these gifts are not visible to our ordinary consciousness. No matter how the child is presenting to us, we need to trust and know the person beyond the label of autism.

Some of them can write with support even when never learnt to write the alphabet. We think they do not know letter-sound connections, but they write about profound philosophical matters. They look at a sum and write the answer directly without going through any steps! They also sometimes surprise the parents by reading their minds!! I have seen this happen in my own practice with these awesome children.
The intellect is intact. The spiritual wisdom is intact. But it is their physical body that does not help them to express who they really are. Their fingers can’t write, their lips can’t move….how do they express themselves and what they feel? It is the mind-body connect that is compromised.

HEALING AUTISM- HOW CAN WE HELP?
This is where we come in. We need to understand very, very deeply the true picture. Autism demands of us to evolve, to elevate ourselves towards where they are if we want to truly help them. They are here to change how we live and how we think. We are foolish to think that we can make them like us and expect them to fit into our systems. We now need to change our thinking and our systems so that we can accommodate the ever increasing number of these children. For this we need to understand who they are and what they need. We need to expand our awareness and consciousness.
There is a lot happening all around the world where people are beginning to see the true spiritual purpose of autism. We can see that the spirit of this child is not fully in the body. We need to help them come into their bodies. We need to help them to ground themselves. This grounding will help them to be less sensitive, to be more present in their bodies, in their surroundings, to make eye-contact, to probably hold mommy’s face and say, “mommy be happy” (this really happened). Once we help the body to be in equilibrium, then it is more ready to take on what the head or the heart tells it to do. The will increases. Some of them may even start writing, speaking, reading.
Almost all the symptoms of autism can be beautifully explained with this holistic spiritually based understanding. This perspective also gives us the true direction of the therapy that they really need. Some of the children who could communicate have asked for this kind of therapy, where they can be who they are; where there is music, art, movement and where nature is part of the learning process and where there is no hurry and desperation.
Let us look at a few examples of the symptoms and related therapy:
Toe walking and self-stimulatory behavior: The earth gives our physical body gravity. But the spirit gives us levity. It is this levity or buoyancy which makes us stand upright distinguishing us from the four legged animals. One can see that when ones ‘spirits’ (I or self) are low, one tends to slouch…we often hear people say that one is in ‘high spirits’ or ‘low spirits’ without really knowing why they say that!! As the spirit body of these children is not fully incarnated and the larger part of it is above them, it literally carries the child up with it and the child tends to toe walk.

On Perfection

May 7th, 2015

 The other day I was travelling by car and was trying to brush off this recurrent and nagging thought which didn’t give me a good feeling about myself. Then suddenly I saw this beautiful bougainvillea tree. The first thought that came to me when I saw it was that it’s so perfect- and it doesn’t even know it. The minute it becomes aware of its perfection, it would cease to be so.

I then remembered what Dr Michaela Glöckler said in one of the IPMT s.

Of all the kingdoms that is, mineral, plant, animal and human, the human being is the most highly evolved and yet at the same time, the most imperfect.

The minerals, plants and animals are so perfect!! One can’t find anything wrong with them. But perfection ends there…human beings cannot be perfect. That’s because it is the essence of the human being to be unique.

But unfortunately…the higher aspect of the human being- his free will- interferes with this perfection and renders this too imperfect.

Dr Michaela said that a human being has to strive all his life to attain the perfection of the lower kingdoms….a human being can only be perfect when he is one with the great expanded consciousness of the natural world….as a baby, as a person with autism or other intellectual or developmental challenges or as a Perfect Master who has found his way back to the perfection of the universe…..

THE HORSE BOY

fEBRUARY 6, 2011

 I just read ‘The Horse Boy’ given to me by Sangeetha and realised something. The father Rupert Isaacson decides to take his son to Mongolia to seek the help of the shamans to help his son with Autism and it works for him. However, it doesn’t mean that other parents also should try going to Mongolia. But what it means according to me is that every parent looks for his or her own path in trying to help the child. This search is a spiritual quest for every parent which is highly individual guided by the karma of the parent and the child. The very quest itself is the end as it depends on the attitude and intention with which the parent makes this journey…is it with love, joy, being in the present moment or enjoying being with the child, with faith, with conviction?. The outcome or the end result becomes less important than the journey itself…for the real outcome of positive intentions may or may not be limited to this lifetime, but lasts for eternity

OUR TRUE PURPOSE

 February 6, 2012

According to our Vedas and scriptures, we all take birth in the school of life called ‘Earth’. We choose our various experiences in order to learn and evolve. The tougher the challenges, the greater the learning. But the minute we are born, we forget our true purpose and when we meet the very same challenges that we have ourselves chosen, we say ‘why me?’, and become bitter.

But when we remember that we are the creators of our destinies,  instead of becoming bitter about it and risking a downward slide, we take on life’s challenges with a positive and ‘grateful acceptance’. We face them with graceful and calm courage that helps us in our true spiritual endeavor- to grow and evolve…