Is There Such a Thing as a Soul Mate? - Sadhguru

To some extent, the process of mating belongs to the body and the mind. The soul cannot mate with anything, nor does the soul need a mate because it is absolute and boundless. Only what is limited needs a mate in order feel a little better.
If you choose a mate because you want your body to feel a little better, we call that sexuality, and it can be quite beautiful. If we choose a mate because we want our minds to feel a little better, we call that companionship. If we want our emotions to feel better, we call that love. Experiencing good physical compatibility, companionship and a strong sense of love can make your life very wonderful in many ways, but if you are willing to look at all this very carefully and sincerely, you cannot deny the limitations with which they exist and the anxiety that naturally follows such arrangements. Though it is quite a fortune for a human being to find someone who is physically, mentally, and emotionally compatible, the limitedness of even that arrangement invariably becomes suffocating if you are unwilling to settle for the limited.
To have such a pleasant arrangement is like living in a beautiful garden. Every human being wants to have this, but this is not a matter of the soul. All the connections you make this way are either of the body, mind or emotions. You cannot connect anything else this way. It is extremely important that we understand the limitations with which we are living and try to make the best of them for now, and then see how we can go beyond our limitations tomorrow.
If you do not understand the limitations of your relationship, it gets greatly decorated, but when it crashes it becomes so ugly you cannot even walk out of it gracefully. It becomes ugly simply because you tell many lies to yourself and to the other person. It is better to be straight, at least with yourself. Even if your partner lacks the necessary maturity for you to be 100 percent straight with him or her, you must at least be straight with yourself.
It is very, very important to be straight with yourself; otherwise, life won't work right. And if you are very straight with yourself, you will see through things very easily. There are lots of things that people think are important that won't matter to you or even make much sense to you. The more sincere you are with yourself, the clearer you will see things and the less melodrama you will create in order to make your life more intense and interesting. Without all the melodrama, you will become freer and freer, and you will quickly become less entangled. You will cut away one encumbering rope at a time. Then you will rise to higher and higher elevated realities.
If you do not become absolutely straight with yourself, it may take a lifetime to deal with every little thing that disturbs you before you finally come to the point where you realize that all your worry is not getting you anywhere. That is a waste of your time -- and of life.
But if you are very straight with yourself, you will see that most of the things that are highly romanticized in the world actually mean nothing at all. They are all very empty. Life is full as it is, it does not need decorating. Only those who are missing the intensity of the life process -- those who are not in perception of the grandeur of life within -- have this juvenile idea that they have to enhance life. The life process does not need any assistance from you to become beautiful, if only you are willing to merge with it and know its beauty.
Does this mean you should not enjoy the simple aspects of life? No. Let's apply this to the moment. If you eat your dinner, will you get enlightened? No, but that does not mean we won't eat dinner; we eat. We can still enjoy the simple process of life even though dinner is not going to get us to the ultimate. Our bodies are hungry. Similarly, if you are hungry in your emotions, body and mind for certain things, you get married. But you know very well that this is not the ultimate.
This is a good and sensible way to handle your marriage. If you believe too many fancy things about your relationship, then it cannot help but disappoint you. Relationships are made to make our life journey pleasant for ourselves, and also for those around us.


This article has been excerpted from the book "Midnights with the Mystic" .
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

India Income Tax Act- Tax Deductions, Tax Exemptions 80C 80D 80DD 80E 80GG 24 80G

There are various Income tax deductions or tax exemptions as allowed by the Indian Income tax Act. These tax deductions allow you to subtract an amount from your taxable income and thus help you to save tax ! Understanding these income tax exemptions can help you save tens of thousands of rupees in income tax every year.

Income Tax Deductions Explaination	Maximum deduction allowed Remarks
Income Tax deduction - Section 80C Provident Funds, Life Insurance premia, ELSS, Bank deposits (>5 yr.), tution fees, principal part of EMI on housing loan, etc.	Maximum tax deduction or tax exemption limit:Rs. 1,00,000
Income Tax deduction - Section 80D Premium in health insurance of you, your spouse, children or dependent parents	Maximum tax deduction or tax exemption limit:Rs. 15000 (tax exemption limit for senior citizen isRs. 20000)
Income Tax deduction - Section 80DD Medical treatment (including insurance) of disabled dependent	Maximum tax deduction or tax exemption limit:Rs. 50000. (Rs. 75000 if disability is severe, e.g. >80%)
Income Tax deduction - Section 80E Interest paid on educational loan taken for higher education of you, your spouse or children.	Maximum tax deduction or tax exemption limit:no limit !
Income Tax deduction - Section 80GG House rent in excess of 10% of income, if no HRA is received.	Maximum tax deduction or tax exemption limit:Rs. 2000 per month or 25% of your gross salary, whichever less.
Income Tax deduction - Section 24 Interest paid on housing loan.	Maximum tax deduction or tax exemption limit:Rs. 1,50,000
Income Tax deduction - Section 80G Donations	Maximum tax deduction or tax exemption limit:100% of donation amount for special funds(see below), 50% of donation amount for all other donations.

Indian Income Tax deduction - Section 80C
Section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act is the most popular because it is directly related to tax deductions for your monthly savings or life insurance. In financial years 2008/2009 and also in 2009/2010 the maximum income tax deduction allowed under section 80C is 1,00,000. The following is a list of important ways in which a taxpayer can get benefit of section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.
Provident Fund (PF): Any contributions to Provident Fund, Voluntary provident Fund (VPF) or savings made in Public Provident Fund (PPF Account) are eligible for income tax deduction under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

Life Insurance Premiums: Any Life Insurance premiums (for one or more insurance policies) paid by you for yourself, your spouse or your children is eligible under income tax deduction under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

ELSS Equity Linked Saving Schemes: Any investment made in certain Mutual Funds called equity linked saving schemes qualifies for section 80C deduction. Please note that not all mutual fund investments are eligible for this deduction. Some examples of ELSS funds are: SBI Magnum Tax Gain, HDFC Tax Saver, HDFC Long term advantage, etc.

ULIP (Unit Linked Insurance Plan): Investments made in certain ULIPs of Unit Trust of India and LIC of India are eligible for 80C deduction.

Bank Fixed deposits or Term deposits of >5 years: According to a relatively new provision amount saved in fixed deposits of term at least five years is eligible for income tax deduction under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

Principal part of EMI on Housing Loan: If you are paying EMI on a housing loan, note that the EMI (equated monthly installments) consists of two parts - principal part and interest part. The principal part of the EMI on your housing loan is eligible for income tax deduction under section 80C. Note that the interest part is also eligible for tax deduction, however not under section 80C but section 24. (read below). If you do not own a house but pay rent for it, see section 80GG of Indian Income Tax Act below.

Tution Fees: Amount paid as tution fee for the education of two children of the assessee is eligible for deduction under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

Other 80C deductions: Amount saved in National Saving Certificate (NSC), Infrastructure Bonds or Infra Bonds, amount paid as stamp duty and registration charges while buying a new home are eligible for income tax deductions under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

Comparison of 80C Investment Avenues

Type of 80C Instrument	Lock In Period	Returns	Risk	Taxation of Returns
Equity Linked Savings Scheme (Mutual Fund)	3 years	Market Linked (58% Category Average for yr ending Dec 28,2007)	High	No tax
Life Insurance Premium	2 years	6%	Low	No tax
ULIP Premium 1	3 years	Market Linked	High	No tax
PPF (fixed returns)	15 years	8%	Low 2	No tax
Home Loan Repayment	5 years	NA	NA	NA
Infrastructure Bonds (fixed returns)	3 years (min)	6%	Risk Free	Interest is taxed
NSC (fixed returns)	6 years	8.16%	Risk Free	Interest is taxed
Tax Saving Fixed Deposits (fixed returns)	5 years	8%-8.75%	Risk Free	Interest is taxed

Indian Income Tax deduction - Section 80D: Section 80D of Indian Income Tax Act is especially useful if your employer does not cover your health or medical expenses. It is a good idea to get medical insurance or health insurance for you, your spouse, dependent children or dependent parents, as you can claim a deduction of upto Rs. 15000/- per anum for the premia paid on this insurance. For senior citizen this limit is Rs. 20000. With effect from 1-4-2009, you can claim the total of the following items for deduction under section 80D.Total amount of premium paid for health insurance of family (meaning spouse + children), or Rs. 15,000 , whichever less.Total amount of premium paid for health insurance of your parents or Rs. 15,000, whichever less.Thus if you are paying premiums of mediclaim policies for your spouse children and parents you can get a total tax deduction of upto Rs. 30,000.

Indian Income Tax deduction - Section 80DD:
Section 80DD of Indian Income Tax Act provides provision for tax deduction if you incurred medical expenditure for a dependents who are disabled. Here dependent means spouse, children, brothers, sisters or any one of them. The maximum tax deduction provided by section 80DD is Rs. 50000 in case of ordinary disability and Rs. 75000 if the disability is severe. The definition of severe disability is as defined in the official page of Indian Income tax Act.

Indian Income Tax deduction - Section 24:
Whenever you take a housing loan build or buy a new home, the interest payable on this home loan is eligible for income tax deduction under section 24. Maximum deductible amount, i.e. maximum interest you can claim for income tax deduction under section 24 is Rs. 1,50,000. In case you are paying interest on money borrowed for renovation of your home, even this may qualify for tax deduction under section 24 of Indian Income Tax Act.

Indian Income Tax deduction - Section 80GG:
If you pay rent for the house that you are staying in and do not get HRA, any rent you pay in excess of 10 percent of your salary is eligible for income tax deduction under section 80GG of Indian Income Tax Act. The income tax deduction you can claim is the minimum of the following amounts.
Rent you pay minus 10% of your salary.
25% of your gross total income.
Rs. 2000/- per month.

Indian Income Tax deduction - Section 80E:
 Under section 80E of Indian Income Tax Act, any amount of interest paid on educational loan taken for your higher education or higher education of your husband / wife or children is deductible from your taxable income. Here higher eduction means - studies for any graduate or post-graduate course in engineering, medicine, management or for post-graduate course in applied sciences or pure sciences including mathematics and statistics.

Indian Income Tax deduction - Section 80G:
Donations made to funds like Prime Minister's Relief Fund, National Children Foundation, any University or educational institution of 'national eminence', etc. (see official page for complete list) are deductible from your taxable income according to section 80G of Indian Income Tax Act. For any other donations you are eligible to take income tax deduction for 50% of the donation amount. See the offical page of Indian Income Tax Act.
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