Turkey earthquake survivors rescued alive from rubble – miracle or destiny?

Turkey earthquakey survivor baby (Image by: Reuters)

Just a few days ago, a massive earthquake of 7.2 magnitude shook Turkey, in which hundreds of people lost their lives or suffered injuries. Like in many rescue efforts after an earthquake, in the Turkey earthquake too, the rescue workers found survivors – a baby and adults, alive in the rubble after being buried for as many as 4 or 5 days.

It is very heartening that they survived, and while reading such news one cannot but ponder – what makes or breaks the odds of people’s survival beyond the life expectancy of humans when left without food or water? Generally, when something is beyond the limits of being easily explainable by modern science, it has its root cause in the spiritual realm.

Death is one of the pre-destined events in our life. This means that when one’s death is to come, it will come, and if the person’s death has not arrived, that person will remain alive. This is the case of survivors of any accident, natural disaster, plane crash, etc. For the survivors of the earthquake in Turkey too, their destiny played a major role in keeping them alive.

When one undergoes pain such as that inflicted by a major disaster like the Turkey earthquake, it also means one has that much severe destiny to undergo. However, it is possible to face our destiny by doing spiritual practice based on the basic principles of Spirituality. SSRF recommends chanting the Name of God according to one’s religion at birth. One should also chant for overcoming ancestral problems.

Read more:

• What is destiny?
• Why do natural disasters happen?
• Near Death Experiences

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Having gratitude for what has been given to us by God is an important aspect in the development of spiritual emotion. A few days ago, I witnessed one such example of gratitude.

Living in an āshram (hermitage) where SSRF has its research centre in Goa is not like living at home. It is a very spartan lifestyle and the frills and luxuries that are available to us at home are not available in the āshram. However seekers of God transcend their need for these luxuries as for them, the benefits of living in an āshram, far outweigh worldly luxuries with respect to the āshram providing a conducive environment for spiritual development. At a more advanced stage, seekers experience a deeper sense of gratitude for what they are getting from God and the Guru principle and for having the privilege of living in the āshram.

Yoya and Cyriaque, two former international models have been living at the SSRF research centre along with their daughter Anastasia for many months to serve the spread of the spiritual research. Both these seekers have experienced the high life of an international model with fancy hotels, airlines and travel and being pampered while on shoots. Yet when they were in the āshram they blended in completely with its way of life and strived to achieve what is expected out of a seeker.

When leaving they posted the following note on the āshram notice board.

When His Holiness Dr. Athavale heard about the note, He asked to share it with our readers as there is much to be learnt from Cyriaque and Yoya’s yearning for spiritual growth and developing of spiritual closeness with other seekers.

Atul Dighe

Editor

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Read more:

• What is actually important after all?
• SSRF seeker Satyawan Kadam attains Sainthood
• Start your spiritual journey

[Photo via ONTD. Protective border to minimise the effect of distressing frequencies that emanate from the photo.]

During the Halloween preparations, Heidi Klum reported her husband asking her: “Why don’t you do an Indian goddess? Like a scary Indian goddess?” Klum goes on to say: “I loved it because she [Goddess Kali] is so mean and killed all these different people and [had] fingers hanging off [her] and little shrunken heads everywhere.”

According to spiritual science, female deities like deity Kali are generally associated with one or more of the three basic aspects of God – creation, sustenance and dissolution. Deity Kali is one of the deities that is associated with the principle of dissolution, and each of her features such as the weapons in her hands, the garland of severed arms, etc. carry a spiritual meaning. For example the severed head she holds in one of her hands is that of a demon, and it signifies destruction of ignorance or attachment.

It is therefore best to refrain from commenting on the gross aspects of a deity’s form without familiarizing oneself with their spiritual significance.

Similarly, designing, producing, buying or using dress up gadgets like the ones designed by Normal Bob Smith amounts to denigration of the Jesus Christ principle. Several years ago, this person launched a website, allowing users to play with a dress-up doll by placing movable layers of clothing on top of a crucified Jesus. Outfits available on site for dressing up the model include red devil pyjamas, a skeleton, a wizard and a pink female corset. The author had also produced a companion refrigerator-magnet set, which was picked up by retailer Urban Outfitters, until citizen’s protests drew the sale to a halt.

One should be alert towards such forms of irreverence, and where possible, prevent or oppose them. This is for the benefit of both those, who are – consciously or not – agents of the denigration, as well as for the benefit of society at large. God’s presence will be experienced on a larger scale only when respect towards His forms is expressed and protected.

Do you know of any other denigrating Halloween practices? Have you protested against such types of Halloween denigrations? Tell us your story.

Atul Dighe

Editor

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Read more:

• Spiritual Perspective: Halloween
• Halloween Increases the Probability of Attacks by Ghosts
• Definition of a deity