In these times of modern communications and a fast changing world, it seems we see people popping up everywhere claiming to be “Guru” of this or that … This brings up the question, for the Seeker of enlightenment, of “How will I know my Spiritual Guru when I find him?”

First let me say this … if you have chosen to follow a mystic path seeking enlightenment, you will be very fortunate if you ever encounter your Guru during your life. Secondly, you will not ‘find’ your Guru. If you try to ‘find’ your Guru you will look for someone who you ‘like’ that makes you feel comfortable and gives you solace. This is not your Guru. They may be a good person and a Holy person. But, they are not your Guru.

One must first understand what a real Guru is, before one can know when they encounter their Guru. In Hindu text Guru means ‘dispeller (gu) of darkness (ru).’ The concept of Guru is essentially an ancient Indian concept. It has no parallel in the spiritual tradition of other societies. In common practice ‘Guru’ means ‘teacher.’ To learn anything in life, be it material or spiritual, one needs the help of a teacher. There are many types of teachers in everyone’s lives: parents, teachers, grandparents, and mentors. If these are what you call Guru you are seeking teachers of comfort and solace. They will not bring you to enlightenment.

You will not feel comfortable around your true or real Guru. Yet, you will feel compelled to be with him. Your real Guru does not comfort you and bring you solace. Your real Guru will ‘awaken’ you. You may not like him. But, you’ll still want to be with him. He will lead you beyond the limits of your material world into other realities that will challenge the very essence of your being and believes. He will not be your friend, for friends feed your ego. Hence, if you look for him or seek him, you will look for a friend to feed your ego … someone you feel comfortable around.

When you have known the pain of ignorance then your Guru will appear to you. He will be someone who you feel threatened by and uncomfortable around, yet you will constantly long to be with him. He will puncture your ego, for it is not his intention to be your friend. It is his intention to ‘awaken’ you and liberate you from the limitations of your current ‘conditioned’ consciousness and believes.

I think you’ll find Sadhguru’s thoughts on Guru most interesting as you watch this video of him answering the question:

With the emergence of a number of Spiritual Gurus in today’s world, how do I recognize my Guru?

As you can see, you will not find your Guru if you seek him. But, when you are ready to liberate yourself from the limits of your ignorance your real Guru will appear to ‘awaken’ you.

… the Divinity within me salutes the Divinity within you …

rjsilverfox

In our fast paced modern world we often hear people talking about Yoga. Saying such things as I’m taking Yoga. I enrolled in a Yoga class. I have to go to my Yoga class after work. On and on they talk about ‘taking Yoga’ … But, do they really know what Yoga is? Do they understand what Yoga is really all about? Do you?! I seriously doubt they do … for if they did they would not be saying they are “taking Yoga” … key word “taking” … as it is not possible to ‘take’ Yoga and it can’t be ‘taken’ … You see, Yoga is not about bending and twisting the body, and tying the body into knots and strange positions … as many seem to think.

I’d like to introduce you to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. We have both studied together under some of the same Masters over the years.

Sadhguru, founder of Isha Foundation is a yogi, mystic and spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serve as a reminder that inner sciences are not esoteric philosophies from an outdated past, but a contemporary science vitally relevant to our times.

Isha Foundation is an international nonprofit, public service organization, founded by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, which addresses all aspects of human well-being. Its Isha Yoga programs and social and environmental projects such as Project Green Hands and Isha Vidhya are designed to create global harmony through individual transformation. Isha holds special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.

I think you’ll find Sadhguru’s thoughts on Yoga most interesting as you watch this video of him answering the questions:

Can there be realization without Yoga? Is it necessary to have Yoga in ones life if they want to reach the ultimate? Can one do it without Yoga?

So as you can see, Yoga is not what most people think it is when they run around talking about those so called Yoga classes … they are “taking” …

As always your comments are welcome.

The Divinity within me salutes the Divinity within you …

rjsilverfox

I’ve mentioned before about dreaming big and visualizing big. However, ultimately the only thing, which works, is taking action. Visualization and dreaming are necessary first steps to taking action, but without the last step will not get you to your goals.

When you write your goals, it is best to come up with a plan of actions, which will lead to each goal. When coming up with your action plan think of alternate outcomes and what you can do in case of different contingencies. Next decide on that very important first step and take action as soon as possible.

With each action that you take notice if it is taking you nearer to or further away from your goal. Repeat the actions that move you toward your goal. Modify the other actions and learn from them. If you continue taking actions and using the feedback to guide you toward your goal, you’ll reach that goal, no matter what.

As you act and do things, you change yourself and the world around you. When you act under all circumstances and change your plans as needed you’ll succeed and achieve. This achievement will make you Feel Good and hence you’ll get into the type of positive cycle that I have previously mentioned.

To this end it is important to remember that those who take risks by acting even when they may not succeed will always succeed more than those who only act when success is absolutely inevitable. The best hitters in baseball have the most strikeouts also. Most self-made millionaires have many so-called business failures before they succeed. The thing that differentiates these highly successful people is that: they dream big; they make plans; they take actions and are flexible; they understand that there is in reality no failure but only results; they use the feed back from their results to increase the actions which produce the desired result and learn from other actions; they persist; they continue to take actions until they succeed.

This Almost Killed My Computer!

This is a different type of Wisdom today because, I want to make sure all members get it (yes I think this message is that important) …

Back in October my computer caught some nasty viruses. It was actually my fault, but it was a mistake anyone could make.

I downloaded some software from what *looked* like a clean site. A Registry scrubber. I used it to clean my registry. It did seem to help with speeding up my computer.

Then in October I removed an old Corel suite of products, I don’t really use anymore, as my computer kept slowing down and I was receiving error messages related to Corel files. Shortly after this my computer seemed to be getting slower and slower each day. Not to mention crashing way too much.

I ran several virus / malware scans which detected a virus had infected my computer. I removed it. My Norton Anti-Virus program had not caught it !

Then my computer started doing strange things, like my ‘D’ and ‘E’ drives disappearing from my computer, and anytime I went to My Doc files when closing out My Doc files my desk top short cut Icons would change. Along with frequent error messages and lock ups, etc.

By December my computer was taking up to 4 or 5 minutes to load pages.

Then SpyBot S & D scanner identified the Registry scrubber as being corrupted with 19 items of spyware, malware and adware. Needless to say I immediately removed the Registry scrubber from my computer!

By this time my PC was almost totally non-functional, and doing all kinds of strange and crazy things. It actually seemed as though something had taken over my computer. Have you ever had that feeling you wanted to just put your foot through your computer and go buy a new one … well, if you have then you know how I felt

So I decided to fight it head on. I had to keep rebooting just to do anything, and when I accessed the Internet I had to wait from 45 seconds up to 4 or 5 minutes for pages to load and close out. So I did what most people probably do in this situation … In a frenzy I got the first thing that promised it could help me. Then when it didn’t help me, I got something else …

This is why I’m writing to you today. I want you to avoid the mistakes I made, and go directly to what’s going to help you.

Now before you read another word, I want to make something clear. I am not selling or advertising ANYTHING. I know for a fact that if I told my readers to buy something that would protect and/or fix their computers, hundreds would buy it.

That’s not what this is about. It’s about pointing you in the right direction so you know where to go if this kind of thing ever happens to you.

First, let’s talk about what NOT to do.

Don’t go buying all sorts of stuff. It probably won’t help, so you don’t need to buy it. I got a program, which deleted a bunch of spyware, but it wasn’t able to fix the bad stuff, and I learned later I could have used something better for f.r.e.e.

Next I went in search of some real help. I came across a bunch more sites trying to exploit my vulnerable emotions with software scams. If you want to see a ridiculously long list of spyware removal scams, check out this page:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

And then … FINALLY …

I found a heaven-sent site amidst the chaos.

Please take a moment to write down or print out this next section, so you’ve got it when you need it …

It’s called Geeks to Go, and they provide 100% f.r.e.e computer help! I have absolutely no affiliation with them, and they have no idea I’m giving them a pitch, but I’ve got to tell you they’re the real deal because they helped me. In fact, they are still helping me, as I write this, with some other computer problems I’ve been experiencing for a long time on my PC, but didn’t know where to get help.

It’s volunteer-driven, so I’m sure some helpers are better than others, but I’ll tell you the guys who have been helping me are geniuses.

You can reach the site at:

Geeks To Go

If you need help with an infection, then the first place you need to go on their forum is here:

http://tinyurl.com/6r5gd

It’s a list of steps you need to take BEFORE getting help from them. What you’ll find is a goldmine of 100% f.r.e.e tools and step-by-step directions to fixing your PC.

I would give links to all of those tools here in the newsletter, but there’s a method to their madness and it’s important that you do the steps IN ORDER. As their site says,

“Please remember, people are helping you for F.R.E.E. Be patient, somebody will help you as soon as they become available. We all have REAL jobs, families, have other interests, and may live half way around the world. Plus, there may be people in front of you waiting for help. Following these steps will lighten our work load, and allow us to help more members.”

Make sure you are very polite, and thank them each time they respond. Most of the volunteers have a PayPal donation button available. If you want to get quicker service, you could try what I did … send a PM (personal message via the forum) to the volunteer who is helping you and let him/her know you’ll give him a tip if you get your problem fixed.

I’ll be giving a $25 tip once they’ve finished helping me fix my PC, because it sure beats calling in a clueless $100/hour local repair guy, but I’m sure most of those volunteers would be thrilled with $5 or anything for that matter.

To make a long story short, they helped me clean up my PC systematically, using totally f.r.e.e tools. There’s absolutely no way I would have figured it out on my own.

What to do once you’re clean.

First of all, it’s good to have a backup. You can find external backup drives online or in your local store. Also, there are online backup services.

Then of course you need a good anti-virus program. I used to use Norton, but, now I’m trying something called Avast!. I’ve found it’s a bit less resource intensive than Norton anyway. They actually have a f.r.e.e version for home users, but you can upgrade to Pro if you want to or if you use your computer for business purposes. It is very affordable, and much less then Norton or McAfee. Plus, it does a much better job then Norton or McAfee.

You can also find a ton of other tips on Geeks to Go’s forum for securing your PC. Stuff like securing your browser, using a firewall, and free adware/spyware blockers. As well as, information on just about anything about your PC.

I’d list it all here, but I’m really not the expert … they are. The important thing for you to take away from this is that you should be prepared, and have a plan of action if disaster strikes your PC so you don’t go wasting a bunch of money on useless programs.

If you’ve got any good resource links, stories, comments, or warnings feel f.r.e.e to post them below. As always you can leave comments about this post below.

Have a fantastic day!

rjsilverfox

PS … If you are still using Internet Explorer (IE) as your browser. You might be pleasantly surprised if you switch over to Foxfire. It functions much faster then IE. Also, it does not have all the security issues associated with IE. You can download it here:

Foxfire

The mortal mind can immediately think of a thousand and one things–catastrophic physical events, appalling accidents, horrific disasters, painful illnesses, and world-wide scourges–and ask whether such visitations are correlated in the unknown maneuvering of this probable functioning of the Creator. Frankly, I do not know; I’m not really sure. But I do observe that, as time passes, all these difficult and more or less mysterious situations always work out for the welfare and progress of the universes.