Obtaining that which you don't have...

Those that have unswerving faith in God and have Him forever in their mind, for such devotees He makes sure that they get what they need and protects that which they have and need.

A beautiful analogy is given with respect to a mother and her infant. An infant knows only his mother, he doesn't know what he would need or what he needs to take care of; everything is done by his mother. She make sure that he gets what he needs and take cares of those things which are essential for him, as well as ensures that he gets them when he needs them.

Similarly, God provides for the worldly and spiritual needs of his such undying devotees and also shelters those objects which he deems would be required by them.

A mother doesn't depend on the wisdom of her infant, she does what would be good for the development of the infant। Likewise and more, for such devotees God does what is good for them and depending on that gets them what they need and protects them. This reminds of Kabir's doha:

बिन मांगे मोटी मिले, मांगे मिले न भीक।

Literal English translation: One who doesn't ask, gets the pearls; but one who asks, gets nothing.

Hence, one who has submitted himself to God, prays to him with all his love and devotion, thinks of no one and nothing but Him, for such devotees God takes over the burden of their life. Thus the devotee is freed from all troubles of this world and beyond.

The essence of this post is: if you have faith in God and worship him, nothing can go wrong in your life.

Chinese Schezuan Paneer - Knorr Style!

Another post in the tune of recommendations for a product. This is one of those dishes that fall into the segment of Indo-chinese (indian-style chinese). I tried one of the "Make-a-meal" chinese mixes by Knorr, it's called "Chinese schezuan"; and all I've is praises, praises and more praises for it. Often I've this really strong urge for indo-chinese food and preparing it at home requires substantial energy and time. Knorr has made that easy as a breeze without compromising on the taste. In fact the taste is at par with what you would get in a restaurant - at least for this particular recipe. All you've to do is stir-fry chopped onions and capsicum, then add water as well as the mix. After stirring for a few minutes, add paneer. They do recommend coating the paneer with cornflour and then frying it: among all the steps in the recipe, this can be labeled as the most difficult. I, being a conscious cook, try to avoid frying paneer in all paneer dishes. So instead, I coated the paneer in cornflour and simply shallow-fried it in a few tsps of oil. And voila! We'd a tasty schezuan paneer at our table! It is quite chilly, so beware.

Cheese and pepper Focaccia bread

We recently tried this focaccia bread recipe on allrecipes.com. If you're beginner at baking then I'm sure you're about to run away; but let me tell you this is one of the first bread recipes I've ever tried and one of the main reasons for this being the first was its success rate among the reviewers and the short list of ingredients. The recipe is very simple and the result delicious! The most important thing to note in this recipe is that your yeast should be fresh/new. The first time I made this bread, my yeast was very old so then I got new yeast and tried again. Sure enough this time the bread came out perfect. Due to my last debacle, I was quite cautious on my second attempt and reduced the quantity of the ingredients so that in case of a deja vu, I don't waste too much! So here's the recipe with reduced quantity of ingredients, which any beginner would appreciate.

Serves 2-3

1.5 cups all purpose flour
0.5 tsp sugar
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tbsp yeast
1.5 tsp Italian seasoning (the original recipe called for oregano, thyme and basil but since I'd this seasoning I used it instead)
a pinch of black pepper
0.5 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp olive oil
0.5-0.75 cups water (you'll know as you knead)
0.5 cups Cheese (the original recipe asked for mozarella but since I'd cheddar I used that)
0.5 tsp chopped chillies (optional, any kind is fine we used serrano pepper. I think pickled jalapenos would also be nice)

1. Mix all the above ingredients except olive oil, water, cheese and chillies.
2. Knead the flour with water till smooth and elastic. Once the dough has pulled together, add water little by little till the dough becomes soft and smooth.
3. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat it.
4. Cover it with a damp cloth and keep in a warm place for 20-30 mins. I'd expected the dough to rise after this step, but it didn't or at least not perceptibly. So I kept it for another 15 mins or so in a warmer place (earlier it was in a switched-off oven), close to my burners where I was cooking. Even after that the dough didn't rise so I'm not sure if one should expect it to rise. However, since my bread came out nice and soft I don't think you need to worry whether it rose after this step or not.
5. Preheat oven to 450 F.
6. Punch down the dough and place on a greased baking tray. Pat it into a 0.5 inch rectangle.
7. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle cheese and chillies over it.
8. Bake for 15 mins. or until golden brown.

Try it and let me know how it came out!

Forces of nature

He is the sun who provides warmth and light to all; who pulls the water from the water bodies and holds them in the clouds; who then bursts these clouds in the form of rain for the benefit and prosperity of the world.
He is the heavenly nectar, amrita. Just like by consuming amrita, man escapes death and becomes immortal; one who gets God, in other words attains moksha, escapes from the cycle of life and death. Hence forever elluding death.
For the smooth functioning of the nature, creation and destruction are two important tasks and both of these are performed by God. He is the one who timely annihilates different worlds. This also proves that one should consider death as destined by God; it happens only when he thinks it's time for somebody to leave this earth and he knows best.

God is everything...II

He is the father-mother of the world. From him this world has taken birth.
He is the giver of this world. He is responsible for the appropriate disposition of the fruits of labor of this world.
He is the object of knowledge. All the vedas contain knowledge on the essence of Him.
He is sacred. One who is pure and by who's influence others can become pure, is sacred. By worshipping Him, even a man can become sacred. All the devises in this world, be it prayer, meditation or anything else - they're all forms of Him and the power in all these devises to make one sacred is also God's power.
He is "Om".
He is the vedas. The vedas came into being because of God and they contain knowledge about God.
He is the supporter of this world. He is the one who takes care of everybody and nurtures them.
He is the master. He is the lord of all deities, master of all the worlds and the supreme power. All forces like sun, fire, wind, death, etc. are in control because of his fear.
He is the eye-witness. There's nothing which escapes his eyes. He sees the past, the present and the future. He sets the limit for omniscience.
He is the residence. Every being, at all moments, resides in God.
He is the shelter. There is none other who can mitigate the pain of the refugee like him.
He is the friend. He is everybody's well-wisher and loves all without expecting or wanting anything in return.
He is the origin and the annihilation of this world.
He is the repository. When the world annihilates, all beings live in some part of him.
He is the eternal seed. He is the genesis of all beings and their foundation.

God is everything and everywhere

(Teachings from Gita) The whole world emerged from God and He pervades the whole world. Sun, moon, wind, fire, all the other deities and all the living beings are just different forms of Him.
The yagya performed for deities and ancestors is a form of Him. He is in the yagya as: plants, grains and herbs required to create the fire; vedic hymns chanted during the yagya; the ghee used to fuel the fire; the fire and the final invocation which ends the yagya. Hence, the materials, hymns, vessel and the human efforts that go into the performing of the yagya are all forms of God.
Everything is God. To those who don't understand the essence of God they appear to be in different forms, shapes and sizes; but in reality there is nothing but God in everything living or non-living.

Devotee of God

(Teachings from Gita) A true devotee of God is very strong-willed. His decisions, faith, thinking and rules are all firm. Even in the face of hurdles and disasters, they can't be deterred from their means and thoughts. By one way or the other they're eternally worshipping their God.
They worship God by: telling His story, narration of His influence, virtues, greatness, character, etc. in the presence of other devotees, chanting of his names - Ram, Krishna, Govind, Hari, Narayana, Vasudev, Keshav, Madhav, Shiva, etc. - and singing devotional songs, singing his praises in a loud or mellow voice, sitting or standing, with music and dance or without, reciting divine hymns and beautiful odes dedicated to Him or in any other way praising him.

Devotees pay their obeisance to God by bowing to Him with whole-hearted faith and devotion: at the temple, in front of the picture/idol of him at home, through his names, by touching his feet/sandals, in the form of religious scriptures which highlight the essence of God and relate stories that describe his love and influence, by thinking that God resides in every being.

On the other hand, thereis another kind of devotee who believe in the "brahma". They worship their form-less (niraakaar) God by: not neither taking pride in being the doer of any work nor expecting any fruit of the labor, condiering the world is ephimeral, believing that none is greater than the supreme "brahma" and continually practicing to stay in that state through meditation, etc.