Vibhuti - The Holy ash

Vibhuti - Sacred Ash:

VI means valuable, bhoothi means asset (fame, wealth, treasure, etc).Sacred ash is prepared by burning dried cow dung flakes or sacred wood (Peepal, Bastard Teak, Neem, etc) during Homa. Any object when burnt, it turns into ash. When ash is burnt it remains as ash. So ash cannot be destroyed. It means we are worshiping indestructible god with indestructible ash.

Cultural Beliefs:

Ancient Texts states that Lord Shiva burnt Kamadev (God of Desire) into ash due to disturbing his meditation. In Hinduism people believe that sacred ash will remove all the sins and purifies ones soul. Vibhuti destroys evils and gives glory by protecting from several diseases. Below mantra should be recited while applying sacred ash on body.

  

Sri Satya Sai Baba vibhuti mantra is very popular mantra in modern age. Below is the vibhuti mantra of Sai Baba. Sai Baba always distributes vibhuti to devotees.

                                         

We can also apply sacred ash by chanting any Lord Shiva mantra. Applying Vibhuti on different parts will enhance positive energy. Applying on forehead enhance knowledge, on throat enhance voice power. Ancients treated this sacred ash as medicine and they believe this ash can cure 81 diseases caused by imbalances in air (vata), and 64 of diseases caused by imbalances in bile (pittam), and 215 diseases caused by imbalances phlegm (kapham).

Interesting Facts:

• Mother earth cannot weigh small amount vibhuti. Mistakenly also we shouldn't pour vibhuti on earth.
• Vibhuti should be kept at fore head with red dot at center resembling union of Shiva - Sakthi.
• Religious texts compared empty forehead with cemetery. So we should always cover our forehead with vibhuti.
• Lord Shiva covers his whole body with this sacred ash.
• Sacred ash can be applied on 32 or 16 or 8 different parts of body (Head, Forehead, ears, Neck, Shoulders, Elbows, Wrists, Chest, Navel, Ribs, Back, etc)

Scientific Reasons:

• Diseases caused by sweat on body can be prevented by applying sacred ash.
• Body temperature can be controlled. Imbalances (dosha) in blood can be removed. It also has ability to maintain normal blood flow in the body.
• Sacred ash is in white color; it resembles peace and makes the wearer calm and pleasant. Sacred ash will absorb moisture and kill bacteria in prescribed body parts when applied, this is the main reason people apply it on selected parts on body.
• Pure sacred ash which is prescribed in ancient texts can have ability to remove sinus problems and mental stress.
• Some people argue that sacred ash which is made from cow dung contains antibacterial properties this is the reason people will intake a pinch of ash when they are sick. It also improves physical and mental state of a person by giving energy and enthusiasm and removing laziness. It keeps a person in a spiritual state by remembering body is not eternal it will perish and converts in to ash. So, we need to keep life positive by doing positive things. By realizing this we need leave our ego and selfishness.
• The story of Lord Shiva and Kamadev gives inner meaning of victory over desire by applying Vibhuti.

L'usure du net

" À la longue, l’addiction au web se révélait plus désastreuse que la télévision dont l’indigence des contenus avait au moins eu raison de ma patience. Si la télévision camouflait sa vacuité avec une pyrotechnie assourdissante, LéRézoSocio renouvelait sans cesse la vitrine : ce qui revenait au même. J’avais assisté, connecté et immobile, à la chute de dictatures, à l’anéantissement d’une région par un raz-de-marée en vidéo basse définition, à l’expulsion de familles menottées en roman-photo volé. J’avais rejoué le .GIF de l’adolescent perdant un œil sous le coup d’un flash-ball policier. J’avais vu un Boeing s’écraser en multi caméras avec doublage karaoké, lu des rumeurs en temps réel d’un présidentiable français se faisant arrêter à l’étranger. J’assistais à des décapitations au petit-déjeuner en trempant mon croissant dans la chicorée. Je participais aux cortèges virtuels des indignés par la peine de mort aux USA et m’offusquais en pétition des injures sexistes proférées par des élus de la République. Sur LéRézoSocio, je cassais les programmes radios et les réputations surfaites, accablais les journalistes forcément incompétents, pondais du LOL en me moquant du FAIL tout en faisant grimper les TT. Le temps long devenait caduc. En bloguant, j’avais réduit de moitié ma production littéraire. Depuis que je vagabondais sur LéRézoSocio, je réduisais à son tour de moitié l’écriture sur le blog. LéRézoSocio prolongeait la promotion de Paul Léotard. Chaque instant se vivait comme la possibilité d’un bon mot. Un bon mot se lisait cent fois plus que mon billet de blog le plus lu qui se lisait mille fois plus que mon livre le plus vendu. Je ne rédigeais plus que du piaillement sur l’actualité, c'est-à-dire rien ou pire, sa moitié instantanément publiée sous forme de minimessage ou de statut pour récolter du like et du RT. Pire, les aphorismes se répandaient jusque dans les rédactions. On retrouvait bientôt les citations sur l’écran de télévision, sur ces plateaux télés propulsant la parole internet comme la quintessence à bon marché de l’expression du terrain. Abeille ouvrière dans le mouvement perpétuel de l’information, petit producteur d’oubli moi aussi, je n’avais plus l’impérieuse nécessité d’écrire un récit. Je communiquais court et informatif et, à la longue, me mis à penser ainsi. "

Seb Musset, L'abondance. 
+ d'infos
Disponible ici en papier ou ebook.





P.S : Deux ou trois choses à régler et je reviens.

Tradition of eating food with hands

Tradition of eating food with hands:

In majority, people from Asian countries eat with hands. Some say it unhygienic; Some say it’s a bad manner. But, tradition explains it in opposite way "Eating with hands not only feeds body and also feeds soul". According to Ancient Ayurveda, all the nerves connected to main parts of body are interlinked and ends at the hands and feet. Certain postures with figures apply pressure on the connected parts and make them function superior. We also relate it to Acupuncture method of healing and postures(mudras) in classical dances like Bharatanatyam.

Cultural belief:

Fingers are considered as the most vital and precious for any type of action. According to Ancient texts of Ayurveda, each finger is related to one of the five elements. Thumb is fire, Fore finger is Air, Middle finger is ether, Ring finger is earth and little finger is water. You might see small children sucking thumbs which internally aid digestion.

In Hinduism fingers are vital and important parts of body. Below Sanskrit verses explains the importance.

Each finger aids better digestion process by releasing digestive juices and makes the person conscious about taste and smell.

Interesting facts:

• If we eat meals in a plate which is made of pure gold, it will cure all types of disorders in the body and keeps in good health.
• If we eat meals in a plate which is made of Silver, it decreases body heat and always protect eye-sight.
• If we eat meals in a plate which is made of bronze, it enhances the taste and improves brain functionality and removes disorders related to blood.
• If we eat meals in a plate which is made of brass, it removes mucus in lungs and removes worms in stomach.
• If we eat meals in a plate which is made of iron or glass, it cleans the blood and improves the blood and eliminates anemia and blindness
• If we eat meals in a plate which is made with tree bark, it will give additional taste to meal but, it increases mucus in lungs.
• If we eat meals in a plate which is made of tree leaves like banana leaf, it will boost the digestive system and eliminates all disorders in the body and increases immunity power. 
• Water which is stored in copper vessel or mud vessel will heal all the body disorders. 
• Water which is stored in glass vessel will cool the body.

According to Ayurveda, we should take Ginger + Rock salt (1-2grams) before 30min of taking meal. Ginger will eliminate bile secretion disorders. Rock salt will control all disorders, cleans tongue and throat, improves taste in mouth and makes the body ready to take a meal.

We should always pray Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Anjaneya to remove evil eye of others on us while eating.

Scientific Reasons:

Many healthy bacteria live in the body which protects us from outer environment. Normal flora bacteria is one such type which colonizes in different parts of body. When we eat food with our hands these helpful bacteria mix with food and reaches to gut and keeps body healthy. People eating without using hand will always suffer from acute gastroenteritis when sudden change in environment. Whenever figures touches food, signals will reach to brain and brain prepares digestive process to receive and absorb the food by releasing digestive acids. By touching the food with fingers senses can feel the temperature of food what we intake. Taking food with fingers to the mouth and using thumb to push food into mouth without keeping all fingers in mouth is considered as highly beneficial.

If we eat food by sitting on the floor in the posture of Padmasana, it makes you eat according to digestive capacity of stomach and restricts without taking excess food. It improves digestion by producing enough enzymes to digest food in stomach. It relaxes mind by reducing muscular tension and controlling blood pressure.

Avoiding Onions & Garlic In Food

Why Do Some Families Avoid Onions & Garlic In Food?

Garlic and Onion are called as Queen of herbs and they have ability to cure 61 types of diseases. They used as medicine for cold,cough and viral infections. Onions are good in Vitamin-C and sulphur compounds which improve immunity power.Garlic has allisin substance which builds robust defense mechanism in the body.

Cultural belief :

The food when it is pure in turn it makes people mind pure.The feelings,emotions and self entirely reflections of what we intake. All the food which we arrange for the day should be offered to god as naivedhya after that we need to eat considering it as Prasad(gift of god) . Lord Shiva - who considered as feeder for all creatures. Goddess Annapurna, Goddess Gomatha are all considered as Gods for food. Food is primary source for life. Food gives strength,food gives health and food gives self satisfaction. 

According to hinduism food was divided into three categories 

• Sattvic -The food which is fresh,which increase life span and brings inner purity. Sattvic food is considered as positive. 
• Rajasic -The food which can't be categorized neither positive or negative. But it makes mind revolve restless. 
• Tamasic -The food which raises inner feelings, emotions.The food which harms health,feelings,mind. 

Garlic and onions are considered as tamasic food because they directly increase negative thoughts in mind. 

While churning milky ocean with Mandhara Mountain and Snake Vasuki by Devas and Asuras, Divine Nector(Amrit) which gives immortality came from it.By disguising lord Vishnu(who distributes Amrit) two asuras taken Amrit. By knowing this Lord Vishnu killed them and Amrit drank by asuras fell down from their necks without going into body. the drops of amrit fell down on earth directly from asuras necks and became onions and garlic's. That's why onion and garlic emits bad odors with pungent smell and powerful in taste.. 

Once upon a time a sage was doing a fire sacrifice known as gomedha yaga for welfare of people. In this yaga rishi need to offer a cow to fire god. But his wife was pregnant and have huge hunger. She decided to hide a piece of flesh without knowing this rishi continued yaga after completion of yaga he continued to give rebirth to cow which was offered in homa. but rishi noticed a piece is missing and he suspected his wife. His wife threw the piece far away from the surrounding due to fear of his husband. But mantras which given birth to flesh. The blood on the piece of flesh which was thrown away by his wife taken form of red lentils and the bones taken birth in the form of Onion and garlic. Due to this so many Hindu families considered them as non-veg.

Interesting Facts :

• Katra place where famous Goddess vishno Devi temple situated we cannot find onion or garlic in the entire town.
• Some Hindus believe Onion and Garlic taken birth from bones of a cow. 
• They believe eating onions and garlic is a big sin and directly equal to eating a cow.

Scientific Reasons :

Garlic or onions increases sexual desire and given sexual strength and drive the feeling towards opposite gender. Garlic and onions make blood to flow freely. It is danger when someone hurts badly with wounds. Garlic or onions will stop the growth of a person who is inclined spiritually. Garlic or Onions are considered as Tamasic food which increases sexual desires and anger.

Chickenpox

Chickenpox:
Chicken pox is a contagious disease which spreads through air. A person who is infected with chickenpox disease gets skin rashes,red bubbles or fluid-filled blisters with itching and fever. This infection will leave the body in 6-10 days span of time without any medication. The name chicken pox is derived from chicken peas because the bubble rashes will resemble chicken peas.Chicken pox is severe in adult male when compared to women and children. Varicella Zoster Virus(VZV) is the primary cause for chickenpox infection. VZV will stay in the affected body for one month but infectional symptoms will trouble for 6- 10 days only. These type of infections would spread in the months of March & April. In some places it is called Spring fever.

Cultural belief :
In Hinduism, it is believed that Goddess will enter the body and stay for 7 days and leave the body, due to the fury of the Hindu goddess, these infections occur. Medication is treated as severe offense against god. Only treatment is, not to offend god and keep her happy to leave the body.Goddess is considered furious and kind hearted and ability to make infection severe or suppress the severity. Goddess carry a silver broom stick in right hand symbolizes spreading disease, water pot in left hand symbolizes recovering victims with cool water from river ganges, wears a red saree which resembles fear and protection, decorated with garland of neem leaves considered as remedy for infection and rides a donkey is the symbol of determination or stubbornness.

According to ancient texts(Devi Mahatyam) - A demon called Jwarasura spreads bacteria and makes people sick leading to death. To kill the demon, Goddess Parvathi had taken the form of Katyayani and killed the demon and accepted the sickness in affected people into her. Hence, she is called Raktavathi(Goddess of blood infections) because she purified the blood in affected people. She is also called Goddess Kalaratri who rides on donkey at nights and considered as angry form of Goddess Shakti. 

Interesting Facts:

• Worship and litting lamps should be avoided.
• Neem leaves or margosa leaves should spread throughout houses especially at entrance and around the patient bed.
• A mug of water should be kept near to the head of patient. 
• Body bath and eating fried food should be avoided for 7 days.
• Vasanta Navaratri festivals were celebrated in the months of March- April in India on the name of Goddess to appease her anger.

Scientific Reasons :
Worshiping and litting oil lamp in the house should be avoided in the active state of infection because smoke might cause severe itching and leads bacterial infection. Neem leaves have anti-bacterial properties which act as a cure and prevents mosquitoes and flies. Neem leaves which are tied at entrance act as a warning for guests who enters the house. Oil foods and fried foods should be avoided because the chickenpox virus will affect liver and functionality of liver will decrease and the capacity of digesting fats will also decrease in the body and while preparing oily food, smoke emits which causes itching to patient. Keeping a bowl of water near to patient bed will make patient not to go around house which leads spreading virus. Bathing makes severe itching and leads to vigorous infection. So, bathing was prohibited at the course of disease.

Universal Studio Singapore

We started our journey to Universal Studio Singapore (USS) from Johor Bahru (JB). The bus ticket was available at the ground floor of Merlin Tower. A few bus companies were operational, but we only managed to find one with the bus departed at 8:30 am (707 Travel Group). We bought two-way tickets with RM10 per person. The ticket from USS back to Johor Bahru was sold at SD5 at the ticket counter at USS, instead of RM5. So, it was more worthy to buy the return ticket at JB. We parked our car at the basement of City Square with the rate of RM25 per day- expensive but safer choice.

Merlin Tower, 8:15 am, most of the counters were still closed (upper left), with only Nusantara 707 Travel Group provided bus to USS at 8:30 am (upper right). We boarded the bus in front of the old Johor Bahru train station opposite of Merlin Tower (lower left). The bus was new and very comfortable.

As we traveled on weekday at non peak hour, we just experienced minor congestion at Singapore. The whole journey to USS from Merlin Tower took us around 1 hour 40 minutes. 10:10 am, we reached the front door of USS. Our cousin at Singapore helped us to buy the tickets a day earlier, so we didn't face much problem at the ticket counter.

Photo with our cousin Mia Ming and our sister Kelly (first and second from the left) in front of Universal Studio.

With Kelly's extensive planning, we went straight to Transformer The Ride (delayed one to two minutes by the Sesame Street Stage Shows), followed by Revenge of the Mummy. After the thrilling rides, we buffered ourselves by slow-paced Treasure Hunter ride. Our queuing time for all three rides were remarkably short- 15 minutes for Transformer and Treasure Hunter each, and we were actually the first few to enter the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster ride, with zero waiting time.

Autobot model standing on the street opposite of Sci-Fi City (left). The queue was quite long for the ride, but we managed to get to our turn in 15 minutes (middle). While waiting for our turn to hoop onto the ride, we enjoyed the transformer themed surrounding and the videos showing the background of the world of robots.

The Ancient Egypt is well themed with giant statues. It is next to Sci-Fi City.

The entrance to Revenge of the Mummy ride. It is a roller coaster with most of the time, moving with high speed and twisting in the dark. As people can't see anything around, it is advised to keep the our head to the headrest. The dark surrounding diminished the thrill and increased the possibility of walking out with a strained neck due to its unpredictable and out-of-expectation motion.

Time was running fast. We went straight to the WaterWorld live show at around 12 pm. The show ended 20 minutes later with lots of gun fires and explosions. Then, we went to The Lost World where we took the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure and Canopy Flyer, with less than 15 minutes of waiting time respectively.

This live show brought us back to the movie Water World by Kevin Costner. The whole area was covered by metal plates resembled the settlement in the movie.

The stage was not very big, but well decorated. The seats were divided into three zones- wet zone, splash zone, and dry zone. During our visit, the dry zone was only safe place to stay dry. By the way, you will not get wet during the show. The water is basically splashed purposely by the supporting actors in funny ways before the show begins.

Gun shoots, explosion, and smoke are the main attractions. The storyline however was weak.

You will get soaked in Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, especially in the last 60 seconds of the ride. You really need a raincoat. Well, you can buy a raincoat at the entrance to the ride with SD4, or you can buy a cheaper one outside. For those who travel from Malaysia, you can get a cheap disposable raincoat with RM2.50 from Seven-Eleven. Along the ride,  we can see some dinosaurs moving their heads, waving their front legs, and making some noises. The movement of dinosaurs looked unrealistic.

Canopy Flyer is a suspended roller coaster. It is nearby Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. With about two minutes of riding time, it was a bit too short for us. The photo shows a view during the ride.

Our advices- wear shoes and store all the loose items at the rack provided before riding Canopy Flyer, or your cap and flip-flops might ended up landing on the roof top of the building. 

Next station, Far Far Away. We found Shrek 4-D Adventure was interesting, and Puss-in-Boots mascot was cute. The rest like Donkey LIVE and Enchanted Airways couldn't really raise our interest to walk through the entrance. We visited Shrek's tree house before joined the street party hosted by King Julien and other characters from Madagascar at 3:15 pm. Of course, the cutest characters were the Boogie penguins! Then, we moved on with King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round and Madagascar: A Crate Adventure.

We went back to Far Far Away to take photo with Puss-In-Boots at 4 pm. The time for photo session with the big cat was not available in the leaflet. We were lucky to receive the information from a cleaner in the theme park. Exhausted, we took a rest at Mel's Drive-in fast food restaurant at Hollywood street. There, we enjoyed french fries, cooling air, sipping Coke, and watching the show from the Street Party entertainers- Mel's Dinettes and the Cruisers!

Entrance to the Far Far Away.

House of Shrek (upper left) and castle of Princess Fiona (upper right), along with few shops and food stalls along the street.

Photo session with Puss-in-Boots.

"We like to move it move it!" energized the hot afternoon.

Excellent performance by the Cruisers at Hollywood's street stage. Watch their performance at Youtube by secretayu21.

Recharged, we went back to New York street to pick up the leftovers- Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase and Light, Camera, Action. To our surprise, Light, Camera, Action! hosted by Steven Spielberg was a stunning show that really gave us the "Hollywood" feel. We watched the Monster Rock at Pantages Hollywood Theater before we started shopping around.

Light, Camera, Action! is a must visit in USS. It is located at New York Street (upper left). Although the 5 minutes show was stunning, the visitors were not many during our visit (upper right). By the way, the first row of spectators might get wet due to the splash caused by the falling building at the right side of the stage. Spaghetti Space Chase is a Sesame Street themed ride. It is a gentle and cozy ride.

Hollywood street houses many souvenir shops.

New York street is around 50 meters long, with a few eateries and rides.

We were lucky to visit USS at none peak season. There were not many visitors in the park. The longest queuing time was encountered at the Canopy Flyer, and the shortest was the Revenge of the Mummy. Well, none of them exceeded 15 minutes. We went straight into a few shows and ride as well with almost zero waiting time (Shrek 4-D, The Revenge of the Mummy, Party-Go-Round, A Crate Adventure, and Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase).

Plan ahead and be early. Go straight to the most interesting rides as early as possible before the queue forms. Do not go around the park theme by theme (although that is more systematic). For us, we have four main targets- the Transformer 4-D Adventure, Revenge of the Mummy, Jurassic Park Rapid Adventure, and the WaterWorld Live Show, which we completed all of them before 1 pm. Then, we went around with slower pace, picking up the "leftover" rides and shows later.

The food and beverages are expensive, at least for us. Converting SD1 to RM2.50, a simple meal with burger plus fries and Coke can be RM42++. So, bringing some snacks, bread and sandwiches might be helpful to save some money. A milk shake at Far Far Away costs RM17.50 but it costs around 1/3 at Mel's Drive-in. So, if you really wish to take something in the park, do go around and survey the price of the food, of course only if you mind about the price. How about the drink? Worry not, the drinking water fountains are available at all the entrance of the restrooms to keep us well hydrated.

We went out of the theme park around 8 pm. Although the park was closed at 7 pm, the shops continued their operation till the visitors left the premises. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Mia Ming afterward, and headed back to JB at around 9:30 pm.

[Singapore page 1] [Singapore page 2] [All Our Destinations]

HTC Desire 500 Review

HTC Desire 500 this mid range phone from for HTC in its desire segment is now available in the market. But its demand is too high than its production. It also the most awaited phones for the HTC fans. Like the others phone if we talk about it’s design and look its feels slim and comfort to work with one hand. Features are perfect I first time I think that HTC made this phone by keeping the user factor in mind because in previous bit low range phones the important stuff was missing it was its secondary camera which affects its sells upto certain extent.

Let’s look at its key features

This phones support dual SIM GSM + CDMA which is an awesome features, rear camera is 8MP with lot of customization features like HDR, best shot, slow recoding option with LED flash light, front camera is 1.6 MP which is good for video calling, processor is Quad core with 1.2 GHZ of power packed which makes the phones to perform super fast. Display is 4.3” with 480X800 pixels which is just ok. The good thing is that which I was missing in old Xperia L devices is transfering of apps to SD cards (there we can’t moves apps to SD cards, there 4 GB of space available in the phones which is not sufficient for Game lovers, pretty disappointing), but HTC desires 500 have option to move apps to SD cards.

Other amazing features is its self HTC 5 sense, which can be customize accordingly by you and will see updates on your home screen frequently.

Gaming experience is good on device as I play Iron man 3 performs perfectly, I don’t have any problem to play on it.

Overall the phone is great in the price range of 20500 INR.