Muhurtha - An Auspicious Moment Of Time

Muhurtha - An Auspicious Moment Of Time by Mohan Potukuchi

Muhurtha (Electional Astrology) is a branch of Indian Astrology dealing with fixing of 'auspicious moments of time' for conducting important and sacred ceremonies. One can find Indians referring a 'Panchang' or consulting an astrologer for a 'muhurat' when they either want to conduct an important ceremony like marriage, 'upanayan' (thread ceremony for 'Brahmins'),'gruha pravesh' (house warming) etc. or when they would like to embark upon an important work. Even politicians and government departments would consult their pet astrologer and fix a muhurtha for oath-taking or inauguration ceremonies!

Astrology has a necessary relation with time. It deals with the effects of planetary motions including the sun and the moon. Its basic tenet is the confirmed scientific fact of the effects of radiation on all terrestrial phenomena. That the Hindus discovered it ages before is a testimony to the intelligence and accomplishments of that generation. The effect of sun's rays on biological activity and those of the moon on psychological processes is well-established. Agricultural activities like planting, cultivation, growth, maturity and harvest are all dependent upon seasonal changes and solar radiation.

What is muhurtha? Why is it important? This can be better understood with regard to its role in astrology. General horoscopy deals with predictions about a native with regard to the time he or she was born. It is static, fixed and beyond one's control or determination. On the other hand, muhurtha is dynamic. One can choose the most suitable or auspicious times at different stages of life where there are chances of changes in one's destiny. Thus a marriage performed on a particular day may change the course of one's life. This is not superstition. A marriage taking place at an inauspicious time can lead to disastrous consequences or divorce or life-long agony. According to the late Dr.B.V.Raman, the greatest Indian astrologer of the modern age, "While horoscopy prescribes, muhurtha remedies". Muhurtha is prescriptive as well as preventive. The deficiencies noticed in a natal chart can be overcome with the proper application of muhurtha. Thus a child diagnosed (astrologically) as weak in education can be initiated into alphabet learning or first sent to school at an auspicious moment.

Muhurtha, essentially means two 'ghatis' or forty-eight minutes. The essential elements comprise 'tithi'(lunar day),'vara'(weekday),'nakshatra' (constellation),'yoga'(joint motion of sun and moon amounting to multiples of 800 angular minutes) and 'karana'(half a lunar day). These five elements collectively are called 'panchang', that is, 'five limbs'. In considering 'tithi', generally the 4th,6th,8th,12th,14th,full moon('pournami') and new moon ('amavasya') are avoided. In some parts of South India, New Moon day is believed to be auspicious. In regard to 'vara', in general Tuesday and Saturday are considered inauspicious though they are valid for surgical operations. One should note that in Indian Astrology, the weekday is said to commence from sunrise. Of the twenty-seven 'nakshtras', Bharani and Krittika are avoided for all works as they are said to be presided over by Yama, the lord of death. In 'yoga', the 6th,9th,10th,17th and 27th are inauspicious. Of the 'karanas', 'bhadra' is the most unwanted while 'bava' and 'thaithula' are very auspicious.

After taking into account twenty-one 'mahadoshas'(great evils), the astrologer suggests good muhurthas attaching great importance to 'lagna' (ascendent or the rising cusp) and position of the moon. The moon is to be avoided in the 6th,8th and the 12th houses at any cost. Thus fixing a muhurtha is a time-consuming arduous task for an Indian astrologer. For normal purposes, people take into account one or more of 'tithi' or 'nakshatra' or 'chandra bala' or 'tara bala' or 'rahu kalam' or'durmuhurt' or 'thyaja kala'. While in Tamil Nadu, South India, reliance on 'Rahu Kalam' is very common, in North India, people follow a similar one called 'choughadia' for routine works. However, when a muhurta is fixed, the 'panchaka' (five-source energy) should be strong.



The author is a professional chemical engineer having expertise in neutral spirits distillation. He is a free-lance web developer and has a flair for writing articles on a diverse range of subjects including the occult viz., Astrology. He spends a day in the week on studying his clients' Horoscopes. His site based on Electional
Astrology i.e., Muhurta is quite popular.


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Tips for Starting a Scrapbook

Tips for Starting a Scrapbook by Adrian Kennelly

Theme

The theme of your scrapbook can be simple or complex. Your theme could be a special event such as a birthday, a baby shower, a wedding, Christmas, or Halloween. Themes can also be personalized to the scrapbook recipient's special interests. Special interests themes include favorite colors, sports, favorite television programs, music, the outdoors, or cultural influences.

What is the overall purpose for your scrapbook?
Who is the scrapbook for?
Who is the scrapbook about?

The answers to these three questions are all factors in selecting an appropriate theme. For instance, the scrapbook you are giving your nephew as he graduates from medical school is probably completely different than the grandparent book you send your mother. Your nephew will probably appreciate a scrapbook with photographs, poems, journals, and more masculine embellishments. Perhaps, the theme of the scrapbook could be medicine. You could create embellishments that looked like scalpels and tweezers around various pictures of your nephew during his college years.

Your mother, on the other hand, will love a multitude of baby pictures fancifully embellished with flowers, ribbon, and baby fingerprints. The theme of this book will probably be your baby. Photographs could include baby and grandma with the baby. A nice journal about your baby's day could also add a nice touch

Title

Don't forget to create a title for your scrapbook page. Though adding a title might seem to be obvious or unimportant, a title defines the whole basis of your scrapbook. The title instantly tells the viewer what your page is all about. In one word or one short phrase, the title tells the reader the theme and purpose of your scrapbook.

Titles can be as basic as the date of an event, the name of an individual, or a specific event.

Titles can also be more interesting and exciting. These can include quotes, sayings, fillers, or simple phrases. The best places to look for title inspiration are in greeting cards, advertisements, and commercials.

Color

Color coordination and contrast will highlight and accent your scrapbook. A well thought out color scheme can help define the theme of a page, attract attention to specific items, or detract away from mistakes. Poorly chosen color schemes, on the other hand, can cause your scrapbook page to look gaudy or mismatched.

Background colors can either be matched, coordinated, or contrasted with the colors in your photographs, mementos, or embellishments. Matching colors add to the continuity of the color scheme. Coordinated colors add depth to scrapbook pages. Contrasted colors focus the eye. In this way, color can be used to create the effect you desire.

A great way to see how colors look together is to collect and compare color wheels from your local paint or hardware store. Paint wheels are usually available free for the taking in nearly any paint department.

Photographs

Most scrapbooks will contain photographs. Even the most disinterested reader of your scrapbook will glance at the photographs. Pictures really are worth a thousand words. Therefore, it is important to choose photographs that are of good quality and clearly illustrate your scrapbook theme.

Any photograph can be used in a scrapbook. Even instant photographs can be used in scrapbooking. Just be careful that the chemicals within the photograph do not spill out on the rest of your scrapbook. Digital pictures can easily be printed right onto lignin-free and acid -free paper.

Always keep in mind that scrapbooking is permanent. Therefore, it is probably preferable to use copies of your only picture of Great Grandma rather than risk ruining the photograph forever. Simply scan the picture on your computer scanner and print the image on lignin free and acid free paper.



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Books may be Undiscovered Treasure

Books may be Undiscovered Treasure by Adrian Kennelly

Books can be a fascinating type of treasure. Most books bought in America today cost between one and five dollars apiece, but there are books in the world that have been sold for over one hundred fifty thousand dollars.

These books are called "rare" books, and many men spend their lives collecting, buying and selling them. The bookdealers and auctioneers classify them as scarce, rare, very rare, exceedingly rare, or "excessively rare." If a large number of people want to buy a particular book and there are not many available, it becomes classified as one of the rare books. Dr. Abraham S. W. Rosenbach, a famous rare-book collector, paid one hundred fifty-one thousand dollars for a copy of the Bay Psalm Book printed in 1640.

Age alone does not make a book valuable. The reason the Bay Psalm Book is interesting to collectors is not its age, but because it was the first book printed in the American colonies. There are many older books in the world, but a "first" in any connection is a point of interest in book collecting.

The Gutenberg Bible was published in 1455. It was the first edition of the first book ever printed from movable type. The fifteenth century was called the "cradle of printing." Any book printed during this period is cherished.

There are books we know were printed, but of which no copies are known to exist. If you found one of these books it would be "most exceptionally rare"!

Autographs add to the interest and value of books. The more famous the name written in the front of a book, the more highly it is valued. But make certain that it is in the man's own handwriting. Some men wrote their names all the time and so their autographs are less sought after than those that are seldom found.

One rare-book treasure was found in a New York shop by the actor John Drinkwater. It was a copy of Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, presented by the author to Nathaniel Hawthorne and inscribed with Hawthorne's name!

The first appearance of a well-loved book has importance to collectors. These "first editions" are greatly sought after.

Sometimes the books have appeared first in magazines and then been issued in book form. Only the books are treasures. Old newspapers and magazines are often interesting but only occasionally are they valuable.

Look up in your attic. If your great-great-great-grandfather kept the Analectic Magazine dated November, 1814, you do have a treasure. In it first appeared a poem by Francis Scott Key called "Defense of Fort McHenry." Sounds unfamiliar? It begins, "Oh say, can you see by the dawn's early light . . ." It was set to music as "The Star Spangled Banner."

Occasionally a book that is marked "second edition" is really a "first." The printers probably marked it this way to give the impression that the author's work was widely read. One of these books is Edgar Allan Poe's Poems.

Sometimes when a book is printed the type is kept standing. Then, if the book sells well, it is re-issued from the same type.

This second issue of a book is not as valuable as the first. How can you tell? There may be a fading out in the letters. Occasionally, the author has changed a line.

If you have a copy of the Songs of Hiawatha, look at page 32, line 11.

Does it say, "In the moon when nights are brightest," or does it read, "To the melancholy Northland"? If the line tells you about the bright nights, show your book to a collector.

Anyone can start to collect first editions. Take any subject you like, or any author who interests you, and start in. The subject doesn't matter. Even old schoolbooks have been collectors' items. The author who is unknown today may be world-famous twenty years from now. Why not start collecting the books you love? Tomorrow they may be considered treasures.



This an an extract from The Real Book About Treasure Hunting

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Application and Perseverance

Application and Perseverance by Adrian Kennelly

Without application and perseverance, if we rise at all, we shall-to use a common expression-" go up like a rocket and come down like a stick."

Sydney Smith says: " The prevailing idea with young people, has been the incompatibility of labor and genius ; and therefore, from the fear of being thought dull, they have thought it necessary to remain ignorant. It would go very far to destroy the absurd and pernicious association of genius and idleness, to show that the greatest poets, orators, statesmen, and historians-men of the most imposing and brilliant talents-have actually labored as hard as the makers of dictionaries and arrangers of indexes ; and the most obvious reason why they have been superior to other men, is, that they have taken more pains than other men.

" Gibbon was in his study every morning, winter and summer, at six o'clock ; Burke was the most laborious and indefatigable of human beings; Leibnitz was never out of his library; Pascal killed himself by study; Cicero narrowly escaped death from the same cause; Milton was at his books with as much regularity as a merchant or an attorney; he had mastered all the knowledge of his time; so had Homer ; Raphael lived but thirty-seven years, and in that short space carried the art of painting so far beyond what it had before reached, that he appears to stand alone as a model to his successors."

Dalton, the chemist, always repudiated the notion of his being " a genius," attributing everything which he had accomplished to simple industry and accumulation.

Disraeli the elder, held that the secret of all success consisted in being master of your subject, such a result being only attainable through continuous application and study.

Newton, when asked by what means he had worked out his wonderful discoveries, modestly replied, " By always thinking unto them."

A great point is to get the working quality well trained. Facility comes with labor. Nothing can be accomplished without it. Continuous application will effect marvellous results in the commonest of things. It may seem a simple thing to play upon a violin; yet what a long and laborious practice it requires! Giardini, when asked by a youth how long it would take to learn it, replied, " Twelve hours a day for twenty years together."

When Taglioni, the great danseuse, was preparing herself for her evening performance, she would, after a severe two hours' lesson from her father, fall down exhausted, and had to be undressed, spunged, and resuscitated, totally unconscious. Success was attained only at a price like this.

Less than half of such application devoted to self culture, could scarcely fail in insuring success. Progress, however, as a rule, is slow. Wonders cannot be achieved at once ; and we must be satisfied to advance in improvement as we walk step by step. It has been said, that " to know how to wait is the great secret of success." Sow first, then reap; and oftentimes we must be content to look forward patiently in hope ; the fruit best worth waiting for often ripens the slowest. " Time and patience," says the Eastern proverb, " change the mulberry leaf to satin."

The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, with its cares, necessities, and duties, affords ample opportunity for acquiring experience of the best kind; and its most beaten paths provide the true worker with abundant scope for effort and room for self-improvement. The great high-road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast well-doing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will invariably be the most successful.

Fortune has often been blamed for her blindnest; but fortune is not so blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators. Success treads on the heels of every right effort ; and though it is possible to overestimate success to the extent of almost deifying it, as is sometimes done, still, in any worthy pursuit, it is meritorious. Nor are the qualities necessary to insure success at all extraordinary. They may, for the most part, be summed up in these two-common sense and perseverance.



This is an extract from Room at the Top

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Children and Cholesterol

Children and Cholesterol by Adrian Kennelly

Many people assume that high cholesterol is a problem that affects middle-aged adults only. In fact, many people don't even worry about their cholesterol when they are younger, eating all the fatty convenience foods they want, assuming that their early diet makes no difference.

Nothing could be further from the truth. More children today suffer from high cholesterol. In fact, the numbers of children who are taking cholesterol drugs is on the rise! Some studies have suggested that a childhood of poor eating choices can contribute to higher cholesterol later in life.

Besides this, many of the eating habits learned in childhood affects eating in adulthood. Children who are used to eating high-fat foods and convenience foods are more likely to make the same choices as adults. Switching to healthy foods in adulthood may be harder for children who have made less-than-heart-healthy food choices all their lives. For all these reasons, controlling food intake and lifestyle choices even in early life can contribute to life-long heart health and good cholesterol levels.

If you have children, you can help ensure that they make the right food choices that can help them with their cholesterol levels now and later in life. In fact, if you and other members of your family have high cholesterol, you need to introduce your children to cholesterol-healthy eating, as your children may be at an increased risk of developing high cholesterol themselves.

Luckily, it is not that hard to teach your children how to make smart food and lifestyle choices that are heart-healthy:

* Teach your children about healthy eating and cholesterol. If you have high cholesterol yourself, you may want to speak to your children about this. Informed children are better able to make smart food choices that can help keep their cholesterol levels healthy later in life.

* Let children make healthy food choices for themselves. Give your children some say about the fruits, vegetables and other foods that they like. Go through heart-healthy cookbooks with your children and let them help you decide what recipes to try.

* Be careful of the food and cholesterol attitudes you convey to your children. Children pick up emotional cues from their parents. If you treat a cholesterol-friendly diet as a type of punishment, your children will likely see it the same way. If your children see you turn to fatty junk food when you are depressed or feeling stressed, they will likely do the same thing. Many parents are fussy eaters and pass this on to their children, which is a terrible disservice. Fussy eaters will simply not try the different healthy foods out there simply because the foods are different.

* Do not reward children with food. If your child does well at a sport or gets great grades in school, do not take them to a restaurant or for take-out to celebrate. Give them horseback riding lessons or let them choose a toy or favorite activity instead. Many parents are tempted to keep sweet foods such as cupcakes and cakes for "special occasions" and "special treats" but this inadvertently makes children associate sugary foods with good times and vegetables with punishment or everyday life.

* Take your children food shopping - especially when you are shopping for fresh produce. Let your children choose which vegetables, fruits, and other healthy foods they would like. Encourage your children to decide which fruits and vegetables look as though they might be tasty. Treat your produce shopping trip as an adventure and your children may be more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables without a fuss.

* Monitor what your children eat. As a parent, it is your responsibility to make sure that your children eat three meals a day that include foods that are low in fats and high in nutrients. Reduce the amount of sugars and fats your children eat and limit how much junk food is allowed.

* Become involved in your child's school lunch program or cafeteria. Many schools offer less than healthy school lunches as well as vending machines full of sugary foods. At a number of schools, though, parents have banded together to force school boards to provide better foods choices for students. Use this as your inspiration to make sure that your child can make healthy foods choices in school.

* If you are worried about what your children eat, consider taking them to a nutritionist who can help teach them what they should be eating.

* Even if your child has elevated cholesterol levels, realize that growing children still need more fats and nutrients than adults. Never simply place your child on a very low-fat diet - consult with a pediatrician to find a diet plan that can help your child grow while keeping cholesterol under control. A too-low-fat diet may affect childhood development.

* Teach your children about the dangers of smoking. Smoking is a risk factor for cancers, heart disease, and high cholesterol.

* Get your children to exercise. Virtually all health experts agree that North American children do not exercise enough. This has disastrous effects on cholesterol levels and overall health. One of the best things you can do to keep your children away from the dangers of high cholesterol is to get them to exercise at least a little each day. Find an activity they enjoy and encourage them in their activity.

* If your child smokes, is overweight, or has at least one parent who has a cholesterol level of more than 240mg/dl, your child is at an increased risk of high cholesterol - even at an early age. Take you child to the doctor - especially if your child has more than one of the risk factors - for a complete check-up and cholesterol check.

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