World’s largest military medical center offers Hindu meals on request

World’s largest military medical center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda (Maryland, USA), reportedly offers specialty Hindu meals to meet their dietary and religious requirements.

According to reports, special room service menus are available for religious diets, including vegetarian and vegan meals, for inpatients and staff. Hindu Service and Yoga is also held at WRNMMC on Thursdays, per its website. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, commended WRNMMC for offering choice of Hindu meals.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out: Consumption, preparation, transformation, offering, etc., of food had been pivotal in Hinduism since the Vedic times. Hindus believed that food developed the body in this and other worlds. Dharmasastras extensively talked about issues related to food consumption. It was believed that taking of pure food lead to mental purity, while consumption of improper foods was both spiritually and physically harmful. Foods had been classified into sattvic, rajasic and tamasic categories; depending on their effects on the human body.

Ancient Taittiriya Upanishad says—Food is Brahman (the supreme Godhead). From food are born all creatures, by food they grow, and to food they return; Rajan Zed noted.

WRNMMC, the flagship of military medicine, also known as the President’s hospital, on 243 acres with over 2.4 million square feet of clinical space, provides care and services to over one million beneficiaries annually. It states to represent “hope to those who enter its doorway”. It also provides care for the President and Vice-President of the United States, Members of Congress, and Justices of the Supreme Court. Its history goes back to 1909 and Rear Admiral David A. Lane is the Director.

Source: The Hans India

Do you realize now the sacred significance and the supreme importance of the guru's role in the evolution of man? It was not without reason that the India of the past carefully tended and kept alive the lamp of guru-tattva. It is therefore not without reason that India, year after year, age after age, commemorates anew this ancient concept of the guru, adores it and pays homage to it again and again, and thereby reaffirms its belief and allegiance to it. For the true Indian knows that the guru is the only guarantee for the individual to transcend the bondage of sorrow and death, and experience the Consciousness of the Reality.

-- Swami Sivananda (1887-1963), founder of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh

Why Lord Shiva is the ultimate grandmaster of yoga

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The following article by Dr David Frawley

Lord Shiva, among the great deities of Hinduism, most personifies the practice of yoga. As Yogeshwar, the great lord of yoga, he rules over all aspects of yoga relative to body, mind and consciousness.

Shiva is the lord of asana practice with 84 lakhs of asanas said to have derived from his movements. As Nataraj, the lord of the dance, his dance and gestures also reflect yoga postures.

Shiva symbolises the immortal Prana, the undying force of eternal existence. He is honoured as Mrityunjaya, the one who conquers death. Tantric yoga teachings about Prana relate to Shiva, who holds the inner power of pranayama.

Shiva is the source of all mantras. He is Omkara, the primordial cosmic sound, and from his drum all the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet reverberate.

Shiva is the lord of meditation, depicted seated in deep meditation. In his Dakshinamurti or youthful form, he is the teacher of Jnana Yoga, the yoga of knowledge, through the power of the silent mind, enlightening all the great Rishis.


Shiva’s symbolism

Shiva is most famous as having three eyes or Tryambakam. The third eye of Shiva is the inner eye of unitary awareness and higher perception. Shiva as the lord of the mountain, the Himalayas and Kailas, represents the mountain of meditation.

The Ganga that flows down from Shiva’s head represents the immortal stream of higher yogic awareness. The Shiva Linga, his upward focused energy, represents the ascending power of yoga, the silent mind of Samadhi and the yogic state of transcendence.

Shiva’s consort as Devi or Shakti, the Divine Mother, is the Yoga Shakti, the power of yoga always honoured along with him. From the Kundalini Shakti in the human being to the power of consciousness (Chit-shakti) at a cosmic level, she mirrors his magnificence and allows us to experience it.

Shaivite yoga traditions

Many great yoga traditions arise from Shiva and honour him as their original guru. Most Himalayan sadhus are Shaivites. Shaivite Yoga includes the Nath traditions that form the main teachings of Hatha Yoga and Siddha Yoga. In Vedic times, Shiva was lauded as Rudra along with the Maruts, his wandering sages, and with great Rishis like Vasishta. Shiva Yogis maintain a special sacred fire in honour of this Vedic heritage.

Shaivite yoga in the Mahabharata is called Pashupata Yoga. The image of Shiva as Pashupati or the lord of the animals, with a three-headed form, is the most enduring image in Indian art, found as early as the Harappan era. Shiva represents the eternal presence of yoga behind the dharmic culture of India.

Shiva’s numerous shrines throughout India hold many yogic powers, from Kailas and Manasarovar in the north to Rameshwaram in the south, including the famous 12 Jyotir Lingas from Somnath to Kashi Vishwanath. A steady stream of pilgrims attends these sanctuaries regularly today as they have for thousands of years. The Kumbha Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, provides a centre stage to his worship extending to tens of millions of devotees.

Shivaratri

Those who practice yoga should always remember Shiva, the great lord of yoga. If one can surrender to Lord Shiva inwardly, all the powers and insights of yoga will naturally be revealed at the appropriate time and manner. Shiva is the inner guru of yoga and all true gurus function with his grace and insight.

Shivaratri, the night of Shiva, is the most important day of the year to worship Lord Shiva. It occurs at the dark of the moon showing Shiva’s mastery over all the mysteries of the mind. One stays up all night performing special rituals and mantras to Shiva as the supreme reality to awaken his power within us.

Shiva dwells in the ever wakeful pure awareness that is our true self beyond waking, dream and deep sleep, such as the Upanishads proclaim. Where that Shiva state of peace and detachment prevails, the universe returns to its original state of overflowing bliss.

Moving into our own deeper Shiva nature we go beyond body and mind, time and space, into the immortal pure light of boundless awareness.

Om Namah Shivaya!