God - An Autobiography Review

During my over 25 year spiritual journey I have read a large number of channelled books on life and spirituality.

God - an autobiography is the latest among them and it has given me the widest and deepest knowledge about God and what God is up to with humans on planet earth.

Among many things, it importantly tells us about the role of humans vis-a-vis God and also how God is evolving as humans evolve.

Though the book is an autobiography of God earnestly channelled by Jerry Martin a former professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder in USA, through whom God chooses to narrate the amazing experience during the Big Bang and also the revelation of the relationship with God beyond God - the soul of God, to me, this illuminating book has also served as a self-help guide!

From the book I learnt what God would have us do to take forward the goal of the universe referred to as "telos". I also learnt and applied to my life a cardinal rule that we must be OBEDIENT to God. I inferred that you can be obedient to God in various ways -

1. Doing what God prefers for you: Thinking before every action what God would prefer and the book has made clear that what God prefers is whatever would make you your best self.
2. Non-attachment: Not getting attached to material pleasures because this may turn you away from being obedient to God.
3. Yielding the mind: Allowing yourself to be guided by God by letting go of your mind as often as you can and following the divine light of God like sunflowers following the path of the sun.
4. Being like a duet singer: Taking guidance and acting upon it like two singers in harmony. That is how God would like us to relate.
5. Remaining in balance: Not going over the deep-end of spirituality thereby serving the purpose of life and action on earth.

My understandings of the book certainly led to greater harmony within and outside of me.

Another great part of the book is that you get a synopsis of many different philosophies of the world at one place from none other than the author of these philosophies - God! The Chinese philosophies of Confucius, Tao and I-Ching, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity to name a few are all condensed here brilliantly. This has been done for us to realise that all these philosophies are chapters in one big continuing story of mankind.

If you have even the slightest interest in spirituality, this is a book that you may end up reading more than once and there will be newness to it every time you read it.


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Being Light and in the Light of is Enlightenment

I discovered a place in the year 2000 which is 5 hours away from my hometown in India called Kushinagar that is spiritually charged.

Kushinagar has the distinction of being the place where Gautama Buddha attained Nirvana upon his death. The followers of Buddhism, especially from Asian countries, wish to visit this place at least once in their lifetime. Why is that so?

From my experience I can tell you that as soon as you enter this city your body starts to de-stress like one feels when slipping into meditation.

After an overnight sleep, as I woke up at my hotel which was in the line of sight of the main temple, I was as refreshed as I would have been had I meditated the whole night.

I took a round of the main temple in the morning and was drawn towards a brick platform from where Buddha used to give sermons. To my surprise I found a greenish aura on the surface of this platform visible to the naked eye. This was indeed miraculous and the feeling while you sat in its vicinity was blissful.

I returned to this place 6 years later and surrendered to this spiritual energy from my heart. To my amazement, I immediately felt a tickle in my heart and a warmth enveloped my whole being - the kind one feels when your mother hugs you with love.

This feeling remained with me for 3 months and I would feel so complete with this blissful state that I didn’t want to meet anyone nor do any work.

I realised I was losing balance and going over the deep end of spirituality! So I pulled myself together and resumed my work.

Recently I read a quote of Buddha in Kushinagar that implied that we must find salvation in this life before the inevitable perishing of your body. I wondered what does anyone mean by “salvation”?

The answer came to me immediately. Salvation in this life is when one can remain “light” in every situation. If you are divinely charged, you are lightened. 

There are many ways in which you can divinely charge yourself to lighten your body and lighten your mind. Yoga, meditation, selfless service, friendships, reading inspirational stuff, music and dance are a few of them which have been tried and tested by me. Ready to go for some of them on a regular basis?

And here's the next step after you are lightened to become enlightened! You need to be in the "light" of all that there is!! You need to be at one with - the fire of the rising sun from dawn to dusk; the sparkling dew drops sitting upon a leaf; the gush of a gentle breeze; birds chirping with joy in hope of the morning worm; twinkling stars in the midnight sky; and the waxing and waning moon through the whole month. Go out into the wilderness and get lost in it.

When you are divinely charged and lost in nature, you are found, and you have found enlightenment!!!

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What is spiritual growth?

Everything that exists is composed of some form of spirit. So spiritual growth would imply encompassing step by step all that exists.

On the material plane, for an individual this means that one should expand one’s sense of self to encompass more than just yourself, which essentially causes your outer growth. This can start with considering your family to be your self and then moving further to include your residential community, and then, your city, your state, your country, your continent, your planet and so on...

When you include others in your self, you do for others what you would do for yourself. So, if you are concerned about your own cleanliness as an individual and you have expanded your self to include your whole country, then you will be concerned about the cleanliness of your whole country and will participate in it as if it were your own body!

For your inner growth one has to become conscious of deeper and finer realms of spirit within you. This happens through regular meditation wherein the mind is shut off so that your consciousness can dive into planes deeper and finer than your mind. With this deepening will come deeper and deeper bliss and an unwavering countenance!

Like a tree growing roots and branches to be healthier and stronger, you have to grow within and outside for spiritual growth. Not only will this give you immense fulfilment but it will also contribute to the fulfilment of the universe and make it more whole.

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Will AI take away your job?

An AI assistant

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most prized investment that the biggest tech companies of the world are pumping millions of dollars into. Take a look at the top 10 investors – Google, Amazon, Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Uber, Twitter, AOL, Facebook and Salesforce.

Why is AI so attractive to those with deep pockets? Because these intelligent machines that mimic the neural networks of the human brain can be taught to think and act like humans using what is known as deep learning. By showing the machine real life situations say of symptoms of a disease and then a group of expert doctors telling it what the disease is and what the best possible cure is the machine becomes as intelligent as a panel of doctors, if not more. Instead of going to an expensive doctor you can choose to access the machine owned by a corporate giant, pay a lesser fee and get cured with the machines advice.

AI has started to take away jobs, of chauffeurs with autonomous cars on the road, of private secretaries with machine assistants making your phone calls for appointments and many more jobs will go as machines already in the process of deep learning come into the market.

To those who say that alternate jobs will be created by AI such as programmers of AI machines, just consider the number of jobs lost against the number of jobs created because of AI. A recent report by McKinsey predicts that by 2030, as many as 800 million jobs could be lost worldwide to automation.

So who makes money while those who lose jobs lose money? The ones who own AI machines and the one you used to work for before you lost your job to a machine, in spite of the fact that products and services would become cheaper for the consumer with greater efficiency of AI machines over humans.

Ethics of AI will become all important as AI progresses both in terms of its intelligence and its extension into the workplace.

At present, ethics of AI revolves around ‘’The Three Laws of Robotics’’ devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Asimov also added a fourth, or zeroth law, to precede the others:
0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

The Three Laws, and the zeroth, have impacted thought on ethics of artificial intelligence.

But, what if a murderer attacks another human being and that human being whips out a knife in self-defence. By the time the robot sees this circumstance, the two are trying to kill each other. Unaware who is the murderer, the robot injures both humans because its inaction will allow two human beings to come to harm!

A big question – Should we use AI as weapons of destruction?

And, another big question – Does doing away with jobs on a large scale, worldwide, harm humanity?

Ethics of artificial intelligence must be addressed by the UN along with all stakeholders because if only industry organisations formulate the ethics there will certainly be conflict of interest.

Some of the important decisions that will have to be taken by governments will be appropriate amount of insurance premiums to be paid by automation machine manufacturers and service providers in order to provide a limited period income support for those who lose jobs to automation. Among other things, this income support will be needed for re-training, re-skilling and up-skilling of jobless people so that they may be gainfully re-employed. This would be a better alternative to taxing automation in order to keep jobless people on the dole. A large number of jobless people can cause a huge socio-economic problem for countries and the earlier the future potential of this is addressed the better. Lawmakers should be sensitive to the fact that a life without meaning is no life at all.

One good side of income support for re-training if you lose your job to automation is that you can build your creative talents and critical thinking skills which cannot be replaced by a machine. And, if you are able to earn money from these talents and skills by setting up a small business, you can perhaps spend more quality time with family and friends than you did when you were in a job!

Now here is a futuristic view of life on earth as a spinoff of AI, which you may never have imagined.

1. The wide prevalence of AI will cause people to be jobless in large numbers.
2. To remain happy, jobless people will turn to meditation.
3. Meditation by such a large number of people will cause a rise in higher consciousness.
4. The human genes and mind are the quantum computers of consciousness largely untapped at present.
5. Higher consciousness will start to use this human computer.
6. Jobless people will suddenly start to manifest well-being of their bodies and minds, also leading to longevity.
7. Seeing this miracle, other people will turn to meditation.
8. Higher consciousness is naturally benevolent and will lead to benevolent actions.
9. So, people will “grow up” and will stop throwing “stones” at each other. They will get along.
10. Governments and corporations will all be headless and will be run on benevolent principles, rules and terms agreed by all.
11. When higher consciousness is explored further by humans it will lead to using it to manifest material things, inter-galactic travel, and doing away with redundant technology because the human being will be the most superior technology to be explored and higher consciousness will be the ultimate quantum physics to be used!!! An example of one ubiquitous technology becoming redundant is mobile phones because communication will be telepathic!

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The Dreaming Emperor

Beyond the mind is the Seer from which all things arise - All thoughts and all objects.

The Seer is like an ocean and all things that arise and disappear are waves of this ocean.

You are a wave in this ocean but the veil that creates your identity makes you feel separate from this ocean. You can become conscious that you are connected to this ocean only if you drop all thoughts for a second.

For a second let there be NO word in your mind...

NO Word is NOW. You are now a part of the Ocean and not apart.

You are now the dream of the Dreamer - the relationships, the house, the vehicle, the food, all have become dreams of the Dreamer.

The dreamer and the dream are one and not separate. The ocean and the waves are one and not separate.

And, there is only one ocean, which is the Emperor of all that exists! So, you are a dream of this Emperor. And your personal desires and goals are dreams within these dreams. Realise that the Emperor's desires and goals for you become the Emperor's dreams when you silence your mind for a while and remove the veil that separates you! An Emperor dreams big compared to you, so it's wise to allow yourself to be the Emperor's dream!!!

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The Pursuit Of Balance

In a world of duality, opposites exist so that you can experience each attribute that exists. In the absence of darkness you cannot experience light. In the absence of smallness you cannot experience bigness.

Experiencing the opposites is like learning to ride a bicycle. You tilt to the left and you tilt to the right before you can come to the center and ride with balance. At times you can even fall down and hurt yourself which is similar to becoming an alcoholic who goes out of balance with over drinking. Sometimes to regain balance, an alcoholic quits drinking completely for a few years only to fall back into the habit of drinking again. This is a pendulum movement of your consciousness for attaining balance at the center of consciousness. When you finally attain balance, and the “pendulum” hovers close to the center, then you automatically feel light. That is enlightenment!

The pursuit of enlightenment does not lead to enlightenment but the pursuit of balance does.

When in balance, apart from the feeling of lightness which results in a spring in your step at every moment, you will also feel gladness and satisfaction. This feeling is very similar to the one you may have felt when you actually first learned to ride a bicycle without any props.

Some tips for attaining balance:

1. Engaging wholeheartedly with life but also withdrawing from activities at least once a day by doing some form of meditation. Getting adequate sleep as well.
2. Engaging in selfless service thereby giving you balance because there is no expectation of material gain or fear of material loss.
3. Engaging in daily exercise to help the body and mind remain in balance.
4. Pursuing passions accompanied with compassion like a mother tending to her child.
5. A balanced diet designed by a nutritionist to help in getting your organs into balance.
6. Knowing that sadness is okay and embracing it when it comes because it must balance happiness.
7. Knowing that pain is okay and embracing it when it comes because it must balance pleasure.
8. Not judging, people, places and circumstances, to help you remain at the center because you are not swaying your consciousness towards “good” or “bad”. Viewing everything just as it is. Black is black and not good or bad! Knowing that it is beneficial to observe what is working for you and what is not, and acting accordingly.
9. Acceptance of things, outside of yourself, as they are, as a powerful tool towards being in balance. If you cannot accept things, then accept the responsibility to change them as a selfless service, to begin with.
10. Not feeling inferior or superior to anyone or anything. You are unique and awesome just as you are!
11. Being natural. Refraining from putting on dramas with people you engage with.

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If You Can’t Acknowledge God, What Should You Acknowledge?

Your life is a collection of experiences, which really means that it is less than ''The Whole'' because ''The Whole'' includes all experiences possible in the past, present and future. If you were ''The Whole'' there would be nothing to experience because the past, present and future would all be there at once, so if you are experiencing something, you are not ''The Whole''. 

You can experience things because ''The Whole'' has been divided into parts for you to sense them bit by bit, moment to moment and thus have an experience of a question and an answer, of moving from one place to another, of having parts not yet known labeled as "mysteries" so that the experience of discovery is continuous.

So if mysteries will always exist, (shouldn't they to make life exciting?) then you cannot ever prove everything fully. And, you need not acknowledge something you are not aware of!

The drop cannot prove the infinite Ocean but the infinite Ocean can certainly move towards proving Itself if It adds up the drops. Each of your experiences could be a drop in the Ocean being automatically aggregated by the Ocean. Now that's also a mystery!!!

If we call ''The Whole'', God, then God cannot be proved by any known science of today because God is beyond the realm of what scientific instruments can detect and beyond any mathematical equation. If someone fails to acknowledge something unproven we should not judge him or her by any measure. They can still live a life as kinder and more loving humans than some who fanatically claim to be the chosen ones of God.

However, an unseen presence beyond our five senses has been felt by many which even responds to our thoughts and the more we acknowledge this presence the more it responds for some. Perhaps in the wheel of life this is a point that humans reach at some moment in their life.

To those who are at a point in the wheel where only objective things make sense and who therefore believe in the existence of molecules that constitute the air which have been proven by science - they must not fail to acknowledge the oxygen in the air and be grateful to it for their sustenance.

A good start for acknowledgment is to start being grateful for all that we know sustains us, and more so because these elements of life sustain us unconditionally. And don't forget to acknowledge every experience you have, for every experience has a purpose.

Acknowledgements are unbelievably rewarding!!!

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