u/Ancient-Aioli-1997

Let’s this be your sign to head to the mountains next year!
I recommend Italy,I have been there in July,incredible. What’s your recommendation?

"At 40, the courage to do all this has come only from Acharya Prasant. I want to make my body strong because the body is a medium to reach the heights of consciousness. The body is not meant for looking attractive."

Acharya Prasant's teachings have opened up a whole new perspective for me concerning my body. I have realised that my body is not my identity. I don't need to constantly strive to make it look beautiful just to earn the approval of others. My body is simply an instrument through which I live, act and experience life.

I want to keep this instrument healthy and capable, but I don't want to make it the purpose of my life. The moment I start judging myself by the image I see in the mirror, even achievements in fitness can become another expression of the ego. For me, the purpose of fitness is to keep the body capable enough to serve the deeper journey from unconscious identification towards greater awareness and freedom.

But this makes me wonder: Are we really taking care of our bodies, or have we unknowingly made our bodies another source of identity and validation?

~ Posted by Gita Student

This is a famous Sufi teaching story I read today, known as The Tale of the Sands. It was compiled by Idries Shah in his book Tales of the Dervishes. The tale is believed to have come from the tradition linked to Abd al-Afifi of Tunisia.

Far away, a river rose from the mountains. Flowing against rocks, passing through valleys, crossing plains, it moved onward. Many obstacles came in its way, but each time the river found its path. For it knew where it had to reach. It had to reach the sea. One day, a vast desert appeared before it. The river thought, “I will cross this too.” It began to flow over the sand with all its strength. But the sand absorbed its water. The river drew back. Then it surged forward again, faster. But the result was the same. The more it advanced in its old way, the more quickly the desert swallowed it. Just then, a soft voice came from within the sand: “Where do you wish to go?” “To the sea.” “Then why are you going this way?” The river said, “I am a river. I can only go by flowing.” The voice said, “Is your goal the sea, or to remain a river?” The river fell silent. Then the voice spoke again, “Look at the wind. It crosses this desert.” “But I cannot become the wind.” “You do not have to become the wind. You must let go of that form which you have taken to be your identity.”

The river grew afraid. It wondered, if it ceased to be a river, what would remain? Yet on the other side lay the sea. And for the first time, the river saw its stubbornness more clearly than its path. It surrendered itself to the warmth of the sun. It became vapour. The vapour became a cloud. The wind lifted it and carried it across that same desert which the river could not cross by its own strength. Then the cloud rained. And the water descended again upon the earth. Flowing some distance, it became a river once more. And at last, the river reached the sea.

The story does not end here. Reading this, I realized: our greatest trouble is not the path, but that “I” which says, “I will do it only this way.” We desire the destination, but we do not wish to release our habits. We fear change, because it seems that without our old form, we will not survive. But the river had seen one truth: Love for the destination and attachment to old patterns cannot walk together.

Are we actually seeking the truth, or are we merely trying to reach it without giving up the ‘I’ that we have identified ourselves with?

Source:-
The Tale of the Sands, Tales of the Dervishes - Idries Shah.

Recently, I have been learning about human sex development and sex characteristics, and I discovered that biology can be messy.

There are naturally occurring variations such as XXY chromosomes (Klinefelter syndrome), XO (Turner syndrome), and mosaic chromosome patterns.

There are also variations in hormones and genitalia. I have also learned that intersex people, transgender people, and gender expression are distinct concepts. Terms such as kinnar, hijra, transgender, and intersex should not be used interchangeably.

But what has stayed with me is this question: why is it hard to accept people who do not fit our neat categories?

In some Indian contexts, kinnar and hijra people may be invited to bless weddings or births, yet outside such occasions they may be treated as curiosities, while others position themselves as somehow superior. Many intersex and transgender people face discrimination, rejection, and violence, and are told to accept circumstances that society has created around them.

Their sex characteristics, gender identity, or gender expression may differ from what someone expects, but their needs are not different. Food, shelter, education, jobs, love, respect, and freedom from violence are needs they share with everyone else.
We do not need to understand someone’s biology or gender in order to treat them as a human being.

And that leads me to a bigger question: we keep saying that they are human, but are we treating one another as fully human?
A line I encountered through Acharya Prashant’s reflections on the Gita stayed with me: being born in a human body does not by itself make us fully human.

If we continue to live through hatred, exploitation, violence, greed, or indifference, perhaps the bigger question is not why they are not like us, but what in me makes me look down on another human being.
Maybe being born human is only the beginning.
So, what actually makes us human?

Sources:-
UN Free & Equal: Intersex factsheet
Intersex Society of North America: What is intersex?
UN: Living free and equal

Rate the location guys

I came across a video showing India’s population at around 1.47 billion on a Digital Population Clock. Social media says it represents “one baby being born every second,” but these clocks are actually demographic estimates, not literal real-time birth counters. Still, the number itself made me pause.

Every additional human life means a lifetime requirement for food, clean water, energy, land, housing, healthcare and other resources. India already has around 17% of the world’s population but only about 4% of its renewable freshwater resources. But population alone isn’t the whole problem. How we consume matters just as much.

This made me ask myself: Why do we want children? Is it always a conscious decision, or are we simply following society’s idea that marriage must lead to children? Do we sometimes expect children to give our lives meaning, remove loneliness, continue the family name, or fulfil something within us?

And when we say, “I want my child to have a good life,” what do we actually mean? A good education, good job, more money, bigger house, car, gadgets and more consumption? If our idea of happiness itself is based on continuously having more, then isn’t that same mindset also contributing to the destruction of nature?

This is where I find Acharya Prashant’s philosophy worth reflecting upon. His discussions on population, consumption and climate change point toward a deeper issue: perhaps the environmental crisis isn’t only an external problem requiring technological solutions. It is also a reflection of the human mind that constantly wants more.

So maybe the question isn’t simply “How many people can the Earth support?”

Maybe we should first ask:
“Why do I want what I want? Am I choosing consciously, or simply following society?”

Perhaps real environmental responsibility begins not only with changing what we do outside, but with observing ourselves within.

There’s something about the sea that makes you slow down, breathe, and simply be.
Just a moment I wanted to capture and share. 🌊

Ancient stone temples meet the endless sea. A beautiful blend of history, architecture, and nature. 🍀

Real Spirituality brings play in our life!
Participants attending the HIDP event in GOA on 29 August:)