SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
5
The Teacher and the Disciple* SADHU VASWANI The Teacher is called Guru. And a disciple is one who loses himself in the Teacher. He who follows his own desires is not a true disciple. The man, who has doubts in his heart and is dominated by desires, maybe intellectually strong and an able debator, but a disciple he is not, for he is a worshipper of himself. A true Teacher, Guru, is not recognised by many. Recognition is response to vibrations. We have not grown to the stage where we respond to the Pure and True. We are sensitive to the sensational: we are influenced by propaganda and personal desires. We have the pride of the lower self: we are victims to pride. *September 5 is celebrated as Teachers’ Day.
Among the marks of a true disciple are the following: (1) Humility. When a true disciple was asked whether he was a disciple, he answered, “I am trying to be one, so help me God!” He, who has this humility, avoids one of the dangers on the Path, ostentation and pretention. (2) Obedience to the Teacher. In obeying his Teacher the disciple obeys God. The Teacher puts the disciple to severe tests. One of them is this: the Teacher asks the disciple to be physically afar! The Teacher knows that a raw fruit, to ripen, must have both sunshine and shadow: so a disciple must have the double experience of fellowship and separation. And in “separation”,
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
too, is “union”. Spiritual obedience to the Teacher’s will, not physical nearness to the Teacher, is a mark of true discipleship. (3) Seva or service. The disciple must serve the Teacher. Growing in humility, obedience and service, the disciple will develop intuition, and pass to meet his Guru on the buddhic plane. Intuition is the power to see on the inner plane. When this power develops, the disciple does not argue: he easily understands his Teacher. The disciple learns to feel the wishes of his Teacher, though the Teacher may speak not a single word. So the Master said, “My own hear my voice,” the Voice of the Heart.
6
Some scientists have begun to talk, today, of “etheric vision”, i.e. the power to see in subtler matter, the finer matter on the astral plane. When “etheric vision” becomes “normal”, in the days to come, men will know that the physical is not the only plane: then will materialism die. A true disciple becomes less and less argumentative, more and more intuitional. He loses himself in the Guru, he sacrifices his self, his desires and self-conceit. A man of God was asked, “What is the way to God?” And he said, “When thou hast vanished on the way, then hast thou come to God!” So is the disciple prepared to see the Light.
The Best Investment A rich businessman came to seek his Guru’s advice on a matter that had been bothering him. “I have amassed a fortune for my sons,” he said to the sage. “My problem is that I do not know what is the best and safe manner to invest it for my children. Gold is not reliable; stocks and shares fluctuate wildly; real estate does not always pay good returns. What shall I do? Where shall I put my money?” Give your children the kind of wealth that no one can take away from them,” the sage advised him. “Give them the wealth of good education.” It was a wise man who said, “If a man empties a purse into his head, no one can take it from him.”
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
7
Annie Besant: An Apostle of the New Age SADHU VASWANI I heard her first when I was a school-boy. The memory has clung to me these many years. My heart swiftly saw the truth of her teaching. She spoke of the hidden meaning of the Hindu Dharma. Never before did a nonHindu speak so illuminatingly of the Hindu scriptures. She spoke, she strengthened, she inspired. She dreamt of a day when the Hindus would “justify to the West” the “deeper nature of Oriental thought”. With an eloquence rarely equalled, never surpassed, she moved from place to place in her adopted motherland, India, holding out a new hope, kindling a new faith, breathing out a new inspiration. She spoke as an Apostle of the New Age, and as a servant of the Wise Ones, the mighty Rishis of the East. In her book, The Building of the Kosmos, she says, speaking of the Brahmin: “The Brahmin has no right of existence for himself: he lives for the people, and not for himself.
If he lives for himself, he is not a true Brahmin.” What a noble vision is enshrined in these words! I never saw her, never heard her without feeling that out of her went an influence, a benediction. In a dark day of Hindu society and the Hindusthan, she came, with a message and a light. Her right hand held a Torch and on her lips was the live coal of inspiration. She toiled for a New India. She worked for a New Civilisation. She built for a New Age. Homage to her!
When we recognise that unity of all living things, then at once arises the question - how can we support this life of ours with least injury to the lives around us; how can we prevent our own life adding to the suffering of the world in which we live?
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
8
Sri Rama and the New Age * SADHU VASWANI
Our students must be taught to love Sri Rama not as a figure of a dead past but as a Symbol of the future. Sri Rama represents the very soul of the Aryan race, its spiritual quality and sense of honour. Teach the Ramayana to the youths of India! It will build up their character: it will give them a new knowledge of the Aryan race and its ideals of shakti and
*September 30 is the sacred Dussehra Day.
honour. Sri Rama was a true king of men. His character was made in the heroic mould. Sri Rama rejected all imperialism. Rama was victorious over Ravana. The whole of Lanka (Ceylon) lay at Rama’s feet: but he coveted not an inch of that great island. He set up Vibhishana, a son of the Soil, on the throne of Ceylon
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
and departed to Ayodhya. How superior was he to Napoleon! Teach the Ramayana to the youths of India! It will build up their character: it will give them a new knowledge of the Aryan race and its ideals of shakti and honour.
A colossal figure was Napoleon, a man of destiny. A man of shakti. Kings trembled and thrones tottered at his approach. Napoleon, I regard, as next to Lenin, the world’s great man of action in the modern era. But I regard Napoleon as inferior to Rama. Napoleon had Shakti so had Sri Rama. What a force lowed out of him! But Napoleon was an egoist. Rama was the very picture of humility. And Sri Rama had the other great quality of true greatness, tapasya. To study the life of Napoleon and his love affairs is to know that he cannot stand comparison with Sri Rama in the supreme quality of tapasya. View him as a man amongst men, and you feel the fascination of his humility, so vital yet so simple, so rich in tapasya, so radiant in love. Napoleon was a conqueror: Sri Rama was a liberator. In Sri Rama the sage was blended with the sovereign. One of the meanings of the word “Rama” is “beautiful”. What was the secret of Sri Rama’s beauty? His tapasya.
9
His great sacrifice of his people was the secret of his simple, beautiful life. Sri Rama goes into exile for fourteen years. He wanders from forest to forest. The story of his life is poetically told us in the Ramayana. The whole story of Sri Rama’s “wanderings” is very moving: it has touched mine eyes with tears. Rama’s “wanderings” enriched his life. He returned to Ayodhya and occupied the throne, enriched with new experiences. To study history is to know that great epochs and movements have been started by men of tapasya. God’s great ones have suffered for truth and A new spirit of simplicity and selfcontrol is needed to rescue the world from Ravana and to build a new civilisation.
righteousness. In suffering is the seed of shakti! The Cross is the way to victory. Sri Rama won: he rescued Sita from Ravana by the power of sacrifice. Sita is represented as having “sprung up from the earth” and the “earth” was in the clutches of Ravana. Ravana symbolised pleasure and pride - the two sins of modern civilisation. Civilisation is in the clutches of pleasure and pride. A new spirit of simplicity and self-control is needed to rescue the world from Ravana and to build a new civilisation.
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
18
How to Meditate J. P. VASWANI
If you would enter into the Secret of Life, the Secret that is God, go and seek someone who is pure and holy and free. Through his grace you will find out easy to tread the Path, which the Upanishads have called the “razor’s edge”.
In this journey to the uttermost, it is helpful to have the grace and guidance of a Godman or a Friend of God, someone who lives and moves and has his being in God, Him we call a Teacher, a Guru. An enlightened one, a Man of Light. Beloved Sadhu Vaswani often said to us — is better than a thousand men who may have read thousands of books. If you would enter into the Secret of Life, the Secret that is God, go and seek someone who is pure and holy and free. Through His grace you will find out easy to tread the Path, which the Upanishads have called the “razor’s edge”. To grow in the inner life, the Life of the Spirit, I need to withdraw from the outer world of noise and excitement. Each day, I must spend some time, at
least an hour, in silence. It will be difficult, perhaps, to sit in silence, at the very start, for an hour at a stretch: it will be well if I practise silence for about a quarter of an hour, four times a day. Sitting in silence, what do I find? I may have selected a silence corner in a garden or on a river-bank, far from the madding crowds of men and motor-cars. But, as I go and sit there, I find that I am overwhelmed by a new type of noise. For noise is of two types: (1) exterior and (2) interior. It is easy to keep away from outer noise: there are silence spots in every place, where the din and roar of cities do not reach. But it is a difficult task to still the noise that is within, the clamour of conflicting thoughts and desires.
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
A beautiful story is told us of Guru Nanak, the Great Master of the Silent Way. A mullah (Muslim priest) meets him and says to him, “You speak of the oneness of all faiths. You urge that the Hindu and the Muslim are both dear to God whose children are we all. Then come with me and offer worship to Allah in the orthodox Muslim way: come and do nimaz with me! The Guru readily consents. And the two go to a mosque: and the priest (the mullah) shows to the prophet (the Guru) the way to pray! The mullah inserts his fingers into his ears and kneels down to pray: the mullah goes through the ritual. The Guru keeps standing. Then says the mullah, “Why are you standing there like a log of wood? Why don’t you pray with me?” The Guru smiles, then gently says, “My brother, if only you prayed, I too, would pray with you! But, as your lips uttered the sacred words, your mind, alas! wandered to the stable where your mare is about to give birth to a foal. And you wondered about the colour of its skin! How you wished it were white as wool!” So it is with many of us. We sit in silence: with our lips we pray to God, but our minds, alas! stray to the stables of the world. Things and thoughts, to which we pay the least attention during waking hours, rise out of nowhere and like swarms of mosquitoes, disturb our peace. The more we try to brush them aside, the more formidable they become.
19
What am I to do? Do nothing! Let me but sit still, - as a silent spectator viewing the shifting scenes of a fickle mind. Let me but sit as, years ago, I sat in a theatre watching a play. The actors appeared on the stage, played their respective roles, then disappeared: I kept looking on! So, too, let me keep looking on the thoughts which rush out of the unknown deep in a seemingly endless procession. They are not my thoughts. I have naught to do with them. They come: let them come. They will soon pass out, leaving the chamber of my mind cleaner and brighter than before. They are the dirt and filth which have accumulated within the cells of my mind during a life-time, or, may be, during many long ages. If the dirt and filth are washed off, I have every reason to rejoice. The bad odour which is let out in the process should neither frighten me nor disquiet my mind. In due course, the mind will become calm and clear as the surface of a lake on a wildness day. Such a mind will become a source of indescribable joy and peace. Significant are the words of the Upanishad - “The mind alone is the cause of man’s bondage: the mind is, also, an instrument of man’s liberation.” To sit in silence I must learn to be still, to do nothing. The more a man does, says an English mystic, “the more he is and exists. And the more he is and exists, the less of God is and exists within him.” To be still, I must learn the art of separating myself from the changing moods of the mind, from its flights which are faster by far than the fastest jet-planes.
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
20
Take Charge of Your Life J. P. VASWANI
Discover the potential in yourself to rewrite the story of your life. Take charge of your own life. Discover the joy that is your own birthright. Live life like a Prince or Princess, for you are a child of God, who is the King of kings!
When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen,” a wise man tells us. Some of you may retort, “But I’m not writing my autobiography!” Believe me friends, every day, every hour, every moment, even right now, when you are reading this page here, the story of your life is being lived. It is being written in the records of eternity. The story of your life that is being written now will alter the course of your future! Every thought you think, every word you speak, every act you perform, are adding up to the story of your life. It is up to you to take charge of your life and do everything you can to make your life meaningful, purposeful, worthwhile, useful to yourself and others! Only you can make your life joyous and peaceful, so that you will wake up every morning, fresh as the morning rose newly washed in dew, eager to spread your fragrance all around. You are the architect of your own destiny. You are the builder of your own fate. Every thought,
emotion, wish, action, creates karma: we have been creating karma for millions, perhaps billions of years. If our thoughts, emotions and actions are benevolent, so called good karma results. If they are malevolent, evil or difficult, bad karma is created. When we become aware that our destiny is created by our own thoughts, words, actions and desires, then there is always the possibility that is open to us, to correct and improve ourselves by changing our thoughts and actions for the better! Change, transform, take a decision: this is a matter of choice. Our choice. Do you remember the beautiful lines from the poem by Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”? Do you recall the momentary pause the writer takes, when confronted by two paths that diverged before him in the yellow wood? Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth… The reason why this poem is so universally admired and quoted is because it so beautifully captures the decisions that each one of us takes at one time or another: to follow our heart, to choose the road less travelled… The greatest minds and the thinkers who made a difference to human civilisation chose the road less travelled. Did you know that the acclaimed scientist and twice winner of the Nobel Prize, Marie Curie, could not go to University in her native Poland because Warsaw University was for ‘men only’? She chose to struggle it out, she attended what was known as the ‘floating university’ in Warsaw, informal, underground classes held in secret for aspiring, thirsting seekers of knowledge. Marie worked as a governess and private teacher for five years, all the time attending underground classes in physics, chemistry and maths in her spare time before she earned enough money to take a train to Paris and enroll for higher studies at Sorbonne University! She threw herself heart and soul into her studies, living literally on tea and a few slices of bread and butter day after day. International recognition and fame came along later, after the Nobel Prize; but she and her husband Pierre never ever flinched from their commitment and dedication to their research. Marie Curie was not a wealthy socialite who could
21
do whatever she liked. She chose the road less travelled; she made a tough choice, but she made it work for her, and the whole world benefitted from her work! “Do you know, Dada, things have happened to me all my life, but I never ever made them happen,” said a sister who was celebrating her sixtieth birthday. “People took decisions for me. My father told me to study History in College. My parents found a suitable groom for me to marry. My mother-in-law ran our home the way she wanted. No women went to work in my husband’s family, and I too, stayed at home as a housewife, which was what was expected of me. My husband and children decide when and where we go on vacation. I don’t even decide the daily menu, because everyone tells me what they want and what they don’t want on any particular day. I have lived sixty long years and not really taken any major decision related to my own life. Isn’t it sad?” You don’t want to grow old with such a sense of regret…bitterly reminiscing on opportunities not seized, not having listened to your heart! Several years ago, a cartoon appeared in an American newspaper. It showed martians, (the inhabitants of Mars) looking at people on earth. One martian asks another, “What are those people doing on earth?” The other replies, “They are moving.” “Where are they moving?” persists the first one. “They do not know where they are moving. They are just moving”, is the reply.
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
We are just moving; we are just drifting. But if we wish to succeed, we must move with a purpose! The pressure to conform, to do what everyone else is doing is what starts the rat race in the first place. In the case of young people, peer pressure becomes a formidable force, not always working for the best! I suppose it is normal for young people to dress according to the trend, or carry smart phones or listen to music when they walk. But the cult of blind imitation is selfdestructive; it kills originality. If you are constrained not only to dress and talk and move like your peers but also eat and pray and behave like them, well, how are you different from clones or robotic machines? Where is your uniqueness, the original you? No doubt you will fit in to the contemporary culture (if it can be called that) but how will you make a difference? We cannot do what everyone else around us is doing! I am pained when little children tell us that they want to give 5-Star chocolates to their classmates on their birthday, as their friend distributed KitKat! It is equally distressing to hear grown ups, adults insist on one-up-manship with their neighbours. Other people cannot validate your choices and your decisions! The best and deepest portions of life cannot be dictated by groupthink. Not only are you here to pursue your dreams, to utilise your God given gifts to realise your dreams, you are also here to make a difference to the lives of others! It is neither the willto-power nor the will-to-live, but
22
the will to-become an instrument of God’s help and healing, in this world of suffering and pain, that will lead to the fulfilment of your divine destiny. Over and above making money, over and above career goals, we have a larger purpose to fulfill here on earth. The purpose of this life is to grow in purity and perfection. The purpose of this life is that it may be poured out as a sacrifice on the altar of suffering creation. So, when you face two diverging roads ahead of you and you hear the question, “What next? Where do I go from here?” don’t decide to follow everyone else ahead of you. Listen to your heart, so that you could say with Frost: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Contemplate: It is You who Creates the Meaning of your Life Life can be changed; life must be changed, and changed for the better! And so we must set our own goals and achieve them with determination, courage and faith. In order to succeed, we must: 1. Realise what we are in essence. 2. Count our blessings constantly. 3. Become ‘thank you’ people, not complainers. 4. Keep the gate firmly closed on the past. 5. Make every moment of life count in our efforts. 6. Trust in the goodness and caring power of the Lord. 7. Let go, let go, let God!
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
27
Simple Rules Of Health Mindful Food
The food that we eat gives us energy to grow and live our lives. The Japanese researcher Masuro Emoto, has shown through a series of experiments how human consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water. He believed that emotional “energies” and “vibrations” could change the physical structure of water. Emoto’s experiments
water crystal consisted of
exposing water in glasses to different words, pictures or music, and then freezing and examining the aesthetic properties of the resulting crystals with microscopic photography. He claimed that water exposed to positive speech and thoughts would result in visually “pleasing” crystals being formed when that water was frozen, and that negative
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
intention would yield “ugly” frozen crystal formations. The results as you can see are astounding, water exposed to music and positive words have formed these beautifully symmetrical crystals as compared to the water exposed to negative connotations. The truth of the matter is the adult human body is about 60% water. Therefore, apart from the nutritional value of food the energy associated with the food also affects our holistic wellbeing. This further emphasizes the point that we need to be very careful about how we are feeling and thinking while preparing our food. While some of us enjoy this mundane activity others flee from it. The fact is we all need to eat and if it affects our entire well-being we have to make sure we do it right. Some aspects of Mindful Cooking: 1. Let us do one thing at a time. If I need to stir the curry I will only stir the curry. I will not talk on the phone while stirring the pot. 2. I will cook the meal with love and positive thoughts. I will not fret over the future or resent the past. I will be present in this moment. 3. We can put on some soft instrumental music to relax us while cooking or if we enjoy chanting the name of the Lord we can take to it. I guess we just divinized our cooking and now we can offer it to the Lord. Apart from the fact that Mindful Cooking results in food
28
that is extremely satisfactory to the palette, our senses become more aware. The sight and the smell of the food will lead you to decide if it needs a little extra salt or spice, etc. As important it is to cook our food well we need to eat it right as well. Some aspects of Mindful Eating: 1. Let us try to eat slowly. We need to chew every morsel of food that we eat. You will be surprised to note that it doesn’t take that long. The ten minutes that we spend focusing on eating alone can help us gain more energy from it for our bodies. 2. We need to savor the silence when we are eating. Avoid watching or talking or at least try to restrict it to minimum. Barring the increase in physical energy we actually sense the taste of practically every ingredient in our meal. The tanginess of the lemon, the combination of the vegetables and spices together all feels like a beautiful dance in our pallet. Moreover research proves that mindful eating leads to lower body weights, fewer symptoms of eating disorders and a greater sense of well being.
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
33
Laugh Your Way To Health A business executive visits his dear Chinese friend in the hospital. ‘‘Li kai yang qi guan,’’ says the sick man feebly. The executive desperately wants to help him, but he doesn’t speak Mandarin. ‘‘Li kai yang qi guan!’’ says the patient, as he draws his last breath. Later that year, the executive is in Shanghai on business when he finally learns the meaning of the phrase Li kai yang qi guan: Get off my oxygen tube. *** My cousin always borrows money from her older brother’s piggy bank, which drives him crazy. One day, she found the piggy in, of all places, the refrigerator. Inside was this note: ‘’Dear sister, I hope you’ll understand, but my capital has been frozen.’’ *** Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were camping. They’d gone to sleep beneath the night sky, when Holmes awoke and shook his companion. “Watson, look at the sky and tell me what you see.” “I see millions of brilliant stars,” Watson answered. “And what does that tell you?” “Astronomically, it tells me that there are countless galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically speaking, Saturn is in Leo. Theologically, I see that God is all-powerful
and that we are small and insignificant. And you, Holmes?” Holmes paused. “What I see, Watson, is that someone has stolen our tent!” *** How can you ever be late for anything in London? They have a huge clock right in the middle of the town. *** The teenager lost a contact lens while playing basketball in his driveway. After a brief, fruitless search, he gave up. His mother took up the cause and within minutes found the lens. “How did you do that?” he asked. “We weren’t looking for the same thing,” she explained. “You were looking for a small piece of plastic. I was looking for $150.” *** A girl asks a boy: “Peter, how much do you love me?” The boy looks her in the eyes, “Look up at the stars, that’s how much I love you.” The girl is confused, “But it’s morning, there are no stars?” Boy nods, “Exactly!” *** It’s been raining for days now and my husband seems very depressed by it. He keeps standing by the window, staring. If it continues, I’m going to have to let him in. *** Husband takes his wife to a disco. There’s a guy on the dance
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
floor dancing like a king–moon walking, break dancing, head spins, the works. The wife turns to her husband and sighs: “You see that man? 25 years ago he asked me to marry him and I said no.” Husband says: “Yep, it looks like he’s still celebrating!!” *** Wife: “How would you describe me?” Husband: “ABCDEFGHIJK.” Wife: “What does that mean?” Husband: “Adorable, beautiful, cute, delightful, elegant, fashionable, gorgeous, and hot.” Wife: “Aw, thank you, but what about IJK?” Husband: “I’m just kidding!” *** A man goes to see a wizard and says, “Can you lift a curse that a priest put on me years ago?” “Maybe,” says the wizard, “Can you remember the exact words of the curse?” The man replies, “I pronounce you man and wife.” *** A man, upon his engagement, went to his father and said,” Dad! I’ve found a woman just like mother” His father replied, “So what do you want? Sympathy?” *** Q: Can February march? A: No, but April may. *** Q: If you have 13 apples in one hand and 10 oranges in the other, what do you have? A: Big hands. ***
34
Teacher: “Which book has helped you the most in your life?” Student: “My father’s check book!” *** Teacher: “Where was the Constitution of India signed?” Student: “At the bottom of the page!” *** A child asked his father, “How were people born?” So his father said, “Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.” The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, “We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.” The child ran back to his father and said, “You lied to me!” His father replied, “No, your mom was talking about her side of the family. *** A little boy says, ‘Dad, I’ve heard that in some parts of Africa a man doesn’t know his wife until he marries her.’ ‘Son,’ says the dad. ‘That happens everywhere.’ *** Suraj met with an Accident and went to Hospital. Doctor: You need stitches. Suraj: What will be the cost? Doctor: Rs. 800 /Suraj: Oh hello... I need stitches, Not embroidery work!!! *** Bunty: Go and water the plants. Servant: It’s already raining. Bunty: So what? Take an umbrella and go.
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
35
Recipes For The Month QUINOA SALAD
Ingredients Finely chopped capsicum..............................1cup Finely chopped coriander.............................1cup Large red pepper diced..................................... 1 Rinsed & boiled black beans (Rajma)..........1cup Diced Apple (put a little lemon juice over it to stop it turning brown)....................................... 1 Quinoa..........................................................1cup Salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon to taste Directions • Mix all the ingredients together except the quinoa • Rinse and drain the quinoa • For every cup of quinoa, you need to add 2 ½ cups water • Put 2 ½ cups of water in a pan • Add the quinoa • Add 2 tsp of oil • Add a pinch of salt and stir • Put the lid on and put the fire on high (usually takes about 20 minutes to cook) • When the water is boiling turn to a low heat (all the water will be absorbed by the quinoa) • When the quinoa is cooled fluff it up with a fork • Add the quinoa to the rest of the salad • Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper according to taste and mix well. Nutritional FactQuinoa is one of the few grains that contains all nine of the essential amino acids. Most grains are low in lysine, therefore they
are considered incomplete proteins. But, quinoa actually contains lysine, as well as all eight of the other amino acids, making it a complete protein, similar to animal proteins. It is considered one of the super foods! It is a tremendous source of vitamins and minerals such as riboflavin, magnesium, and iron. PANCH PHORON ALOO | POTATOES TEMPERED WITH 5 SPICES
Panch Phoron has the following spices: • Fenugreek (methi) • Nigella seeds (kalonji/kalo jeera) • Cumin seeds (jeera) • Mustard seeds (rai or shorshe) • Fennel seeds (saunf or mouri) Ingredients: Potatoes.............................................. 4 medium Panch Phoron...............................................1 tsp Red chillies......................................................... 2 Turmeric...................................................... ¼ tsp Red chilli powder........................................½ tsp Salt ...................................................As per taste Oil...............................................................1 tbsp Directions: • Wash and peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. • Heat oil in a kadai and add the panch phoron. When it starts to splutter and change color, it gives out a good aroma. Add the red chillies, potatoes, turmeric and mix well and fry till the potatoes start turning brown around the edges.
SEPTEMBER 2017
EAST AND WEST SERIES
• Add red chilli powder and salt, mix well and let it cook for 2 minutes. • Then add about 1-2 cups of water, keep the flame low and let the potatoes cook for about 7-8 minutes or till the potatoes are cooked. • Tastes yummy with parathas or puris. Nutritional FactIn Bengali, paanch means five and phoron means spice. Panch Phoron - also known as panch puran, panchphoran is a spice blend that consists of 5 spices in equal quantity. It is generally used in Bengali, Assamese and Oriya cuisine. It is mainly used for tempering and used as a whole and never ground or used as powder. GREEN VEGETABLE DUM BIRYANI Ingredients Whole Spices Cloves................................................................. 8 Cinnamon stick...........................................1 inch Star anise (chakriphool).................................2-3 Green cardamoms............................................. 4 Bay leaves.......................................................... 2 Green Paste: Spinach (rinsed and cut)............................1 bowl Fresh cilantro........................................... 1/3 cup Green chilies (spicy one).................................... 2 Small piece of ginger......................................... 1 Other Ingredients: Basmati rice soaked for 1 hour...................... 1½ Cauliflower floaters................................... ½ cup Carrot cut into large Julianne............................ 1 Pieces french beans cut into half................10-12 Medium onion sliced.......................................... 2 Large tomato chopped...................................... 1 Curd.............................................................1 cup Turmeric powder.........................................1 tbsp Red chili powder.........................................1 tbsp Coriander powder..................................... ½ tbsp Fennel seeds powder(saunf powder or variyali powder).................................................... ½ tbsp Salt to taste. Oil...............................................................2 tbsp Ghee...........................................................2 tbsp
36
Birista (sliced onions fried till very dark brown).........................................................1 cup Raisins....................................................... ½ cup Some cashew nuts Directions: • Take basmati rice soaked for 1 hour. In large sauce pan boil the water, add rice into it, add half tbsp ghee, salt, 2 cloves and small piece of cinnamon. Let the rice cook for 15 minutes. It should be half cooked not perfectly cooked. • Once the rice is boiling, cut all the vegetables. Prepare the green paste. • To make green paste, in a mixture jar, take all ingredients (spinach, cilantro, chili, ginger) and grind till smooth paste. • In a large deep pan, start to make biryani. Add 2 tbsp oil and immediately add all whole spices (cinnamon, clove, bay leaves, star anise) stir for a while and add sliced onions. And cook till it gets light pink color. Cook till 5 minutes. • Now add chopped tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. • Then add all the vegetables and green paste. Adjust the salt and add turmeric, chili powder, fennel seeds powder, coriander powder. • Cover with lid, and cook for 10 minutes. • Now add half cup of curd again cover with lid and cook for another 10 minutes. • Then flatten the veggies at bottom, then add remaining curd and half of the birista (fried onions), and cover upper layer with cooked rice. At top, add some cashews, raisins and birista. At last add 2 tbsp ghee at top. • Now cover with lid. You can seal all the edges of lid and pot with some dough. This will help it to preserve the aroma of spices into rice. Cook it for 20 minutes. Nutritional FactLow in fat and even lower in cholesterol, spinach is high in niacin and zinc, as well as protein, fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K, thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and manganese.
East And West Series
Since 1954 A Monthly Journal for Self-improvement, Self-knowledge, Self-realisation
Annual Subscription In India: Rs.100/Outside India: Snail Mail: $ 10 or ÂŁ 7.50 Air Mail: $ 20.00 or ÂŁ 15 Contact: East And West Series 10, Sadhu Vaswani Path, Pune - 411 001, (India). Tel: 020-40064450 Email: eastandwestseries@sadhuvaswani.org
You may subscribe by sending a demand draft (DD), money order, cheque at par or through our online website www.dadavaswanisbooks.org