Do not follow you religion blindly.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Jee, whose original name was Mahesh Prasad Verma was born on Friday, January 12, 1917 into a comfortably well-off family. Although it is thought by many that Maharishi’s family hail from Jabalpur, it has been suggested that he was in fact born some little distance away in the village of Chichli near Gadawara in Madhya Pradesh some 150 Kms east of Bhopal.

Maharishi Jee received an above average education. Evidently he showed a certain promise in the scientific disciplines. Offered the rare opportunity to engage in higher education, he undertook degree courses in both physics and mathematics at Allahabad University. There, the acquisition of so much information only accentuated his hunger for deeper fulfillment. He would always feel disturbed on seeing the miseries of the people around and ponder on the question as to : ‘‘If God is Omnipresent and God is Almighty and God is merciful and in the heart of everyone, why should a man suffer having God within himself ? And what is the value of oneself if he keeps suffering ?’’ He was completely dissatisfied with what He studied in college as He knew ‘‘This can’t be the whole knowledge’’. He was searching for something complete and this search finally brought him to his Guru Dev His Divinity Jagat Guru Shankaracharya Bhagwan Swami Brahma Nand Saraswati Jee Maharaj around 1939, who was Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math from 1941 to 1953. Maharishi Jee then described his first vision of Guru Dev, in the deep darkness of the night, illumined only by a brief flash of light from a car some distance away. But that glimpse was all that was needed. In his own words :

‘‘In that one moment, the whole life was surrendered’’.

On the 20th May 1953 Guru Dev is believed to have summoned Maharishi Jee and explained to Him that, as a dying father’s unfinished business is dealt with by his sons, the same is true for the Guru and his disciple. He directed Him to pass the knowledge of the Vedas to the suffering mankind and relieve them of their sufferings. It was this concern of Guru Dev to enlighten all men everywhere that resulted in the foundation of the world-wide Spiritual Regeneration Movement in 1957 by Maharishi Jee. The movement was started from Madras. The sole aim of the movement is to provide a simple and easy method of meditation called Transcedental Meditation (TM) and infuse this system in the daily life of everybody everywhere on earth to make Heaven on Earth. To meet this end, this Movement had been started to work for the construction of meditation centers everywhere in every part of human habitation. And Maharishi Jee worked for it till last.

Maharishi Jee started a world tour to benefit the mankind across the globe in 1958. His tour of Southeast Asia in spring of 1958 included Malaysia. Singapore and Hong Kong. Everywhere he went, he was greeted enthusiastically by people from all walks of life. Finally the momentum of the tour took him to the island of Hawaii and from there on to America. Since his global tour in 1958, Maharishi’s teachings for human development have been, and continues to be, taught worldwide. He continued to focus on making all aspects of the Vedic Literature widely available. Starting in 1990, Maharishi Jee conducted his global activities from his residence in Voldrop, Holland.

To pass on the benefits of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement to the people in the state of J&K, Maharishi Jee paid his first visit to Kashmir valley in the year 1958. He contnued his visits in the subsequent years also till 1969. His visits to the valley were marked by his visits to the holy places of Amarnath Jee, Hari Parbat, Khir Bhawani and many such places. He also used the Valley to go in for deep meditation at many places. During his visits to Kashmir Valley, Maharishi Jee met many a great saint of that period and discussed various spiritual matters with him.

On January 11, 2008, Maharishi Jee announced his retirement from his normal activities. He said : ‘‘Invincibility is irreversibly established in the world. My work is done. My designated duty to Guru Dev is fulfilled.’’ Less than a month later He attained Nirvana on the Feb 5, 1008 at Voldrop Holland and the Panch Boot Villay took place at Priyag Raj, Allahabad on Feb 11, 2008-exactly a month later after His declaration. His teachings are eternal. These shall continue to uplift the mankind from their sufferings to reach higher levels of consciousness. In the words of Swami Lakshmanju who was the last Acharya of the Kashmir Shaiva Siddhanta tradition: ‘Maharishi Jee’s teaching starts where mine ends and it goes from there to Infinity. Maharishi Jee is the greatest saint to walk the Earth in ten thousand years.

Human beings have evolved from Monkeys and Apes and Vegetarian food is our natural food. It is only because of the invention of fire that we became capable of eating and digesting meat.

But does it mean that we should stop eating meat and revert back to eating vegetarian food?

Well it is a matter of personal choice and your digestive capacity. I just want to emphasize here that none is a bad option and eating meat is definitely not an un-ethical act. I’ll tell you why but first let me ask a few questions :-

1. Is it ethical to drink cow’s milk? Does Cow really want to feed human kind with its milk? Isn’t it actually meant for its calf?

2. When you eat a carrot, Aren’t you bringing un-natural death to carrot? And just for the information of all, Science has proved that plants also feel the pain!

Now, if we can kill a carrot for eating and if we can use genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies on cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day then how can we call eating meat an un-ethical act?

There are very few living things that only feed on dead things. Rest all kill some living thing to feed themselves. This is the law of nature and there is nothing wrong in it.

The Birth of Jesus

Bhavishya Mahapurana - Places Jesus in Kashmir around 100AD

“The king asked the holy man who he was. The other replied: ‘I am called a son of God, born of a virgin, minister of the non-believers, relentless in search of the truth.”

“..and I was called Isa-Masih.’”

The possibility that Jesus Christ is entombed in a central Srinagar vicinity has aroused a lot of interest among historiographers, researchers, scholars, archeologists and spiritual groups both in India and worldwide once again.

Muslims in Kashmir and elsewhere revere both Jesus and Moses as “noble prophets” of “Bani Israel” (Children of Israel), as the Quran makes a number of references to them. Dr Swamy also pointed to the belief of many Kashmiris that they were one of the “Lost Tribes” of Israel. “It is a matter of great interest that Prophet Moses is buried in Kashmir and that Jesus too had visited the Vale, went to Ladakh to visit the Hemis monastery where he took Buddhism as his faith, returned home but left it again for Kashmir to escape persecution, and died here in Srinagar,” he said. The Janata Party leader said that the team he has set up would do methodical research on the subject and come out with its findings “which everybody in the country would be interested in.”

In the past teams of researchers from Israel, Germany and other parts of the world conducted studies on the subject but could not find any scientific verification of the hypothesis. The premise that Jesus is buried at Rozabal in the Khanyar area of Srinagar and that Moses is buried outside Bandipore town in north Kashmir thus requires a proper scientific study to ascertain the truth. Kashmiri scholar and historian Fida Muhammad Hussein, a former director of the department of archeology of the state, asserted that in history there is no such thing as the last word on any subject, “because research… and more research” could lead to fresh discoveries. He believes that the hypothesis that the people of Kashmir are one of the Lost Tribes cannot be baseless as there are many similarities between Israel and Kashmir in terms of language and traditions, and he would like to see a thorough study initiated into the subject. “I think these similarities only strengthen the belief that we are one of the Lost Tribes. Yet the research into the subject must go on,” he told this newspaper.

Suzanna Olsson, the author of a recently published book, Jesus, Last King of Kashmir: Life after the Crucifixion, reveals the findings of her seven-year journey through the Himalayan state. She was in the Valley and also visited other parts of India, went to Afghanistan and other places to spearhead an investigative study into the post-crucifixion life of Jesus Christ. She says that she drew her inspiration from sources that range from the traditional sacred writings of many of the world’s main religions, to the legendary tales of Europe and Asia and the annals of contemporary research. The author leads readers to what she believes are the tombs of Jesus and his mother Mary, located within India, and expounds on the evidence she has uncovered.

Ms Olsson is personally convinced of the tombs’ authenticity but frustrated in her efforts to obtain scientific verification, which is vital for acceptance by the rest of the world. According to her, the basis of the beliefs is through tracing the lineage of Jesus Christ, correlating traditional Biblical figures and places with those historically recognised throughout the Kashmir region, and interpreting religious texts in an unconventional light, concentrating on their commonalties.

Many others who support the interesting tradition passed down among Kashmiris regarding their ancestry from the Lost Tribes of Israel point out that various places in the region have Israeli names, such as Har Nevo, Beit Peor, Pisga, Heshubon. These are all the names in the land of the Ten Tribes of Israel. The same thing is true in the names of people — both male and female names, as well as the names of villages. People in Kashmir perform a feast called Pasca in spring, when they adjust the difference of days between the lunar calendar and solar calendar, and the method of this adjustment is the same as the Jewish one.

Several books have been published on this. Urdu, the official language of the state for over two centuries, includes many words of Hebrew. There are about a hundred names of places in Kashmir which are in fact Hebrew names that ancient Israelites were extremely familiar with. Hoon in Kashmiri means a dog, and wife is called Aashen — the same as in Hebrew. The word “Joo” added as a honorific by local Muslims to the names of elderly persons to show respect — for instance Muhammad Joo or Ahmed Joo — is believed to be derived from the word Jew. One of the tribes of Kashmir is called Asheriya, which is Asher; the tribe of Dand is Dan; Gadha is Gad; Lavi is Levi.

Aziz Kashmiri, in his book Jesus in Kashmir, also refers to common eating habits. “Half roasted fish called phar in Kashmir is the favourite dish of both the Israelis and the people of Kashmir,” he said. He insisted that many inhabitants of Kashmir are descendants of the Lost Tribes who were exiled in 722 B.C. They wandered along the Silk Road into the countries of the East, to Persia and Afghanistan, until they reached the Vale of Kashmir and settled there. He refers to the travelling 12th century Arab historian El Bironi, who had written: “In the past, permission to enter Kashmir was given only to the Jews.”