The signs of good health

 

What is health? Health is having all these – a disease-free body; a quiver-free breath; a stress-free mind; an inhibition-free intellect; an obsession-free memory; an ego that includes all, and a soul that is free from sorrow.

Only a healthy bud can blossom into a beautiful flower. In the same way, only a healthy being can achieve the goal they want to achieve. The Sankrit word for health is ‘swastha’, which means to be established in one's self. The ancient scriptures mention that our body has five levels of existence – the environment or the atmosphere: our physical body; life force or prana; mind, which includes our thoughts, ideas, memories and emotions; and the intuitive body, which subtler.

Illnesses manifest in the body either when you violate a natural law, or as a release of past impressions or karma. Karma is nothing but the impressions in the consciousness that can get released through some illness. Another cause of illnesses is violation of the laws of nature. For example, you know you should not eat something at certain time and yet you do. Or, you know you should not let stress collect in your system and yet you overwork.

The capacity of our senses to enjoy or experience objects is limited. When we overdo it, then sickness manifests. When there is an imbalance between the food intake, exercise, and rest, then also chances are we might get sick.

An often overlooked aspect of health is the connection between breath, life force, and wellbeing. Breath is synonymous with life. The primary aim of practices like meditation and pranayama is to enhance prana, the subtle life force energy. Our life force is subtler than emotions. By focusing on the subtlest aspects, you also take care of the gross ones. When you manage your breath and life force, your body also gains strength.

Ninety percent of the impurities in the body are released through the breath, yet we typically utilise only 30 percent of our lung capacity. The breath holds profound and transformative secrets for staying healthy. For instance, each emotion corresponds to a particular rhythm in the breath, which directly impacts specific parts of the body.

By simply observing, you can understand this connection. When we are happy, there is a sense of expansion, and when we are miserable, there is a sense of contraction. Although we experience these emotions and sensations, we often overlook this correlation. When you find it challenging to manage your mind directly, you can do so indirectly through your breath.

You receive energy primarily from four sources: food, sleep and rest, breath (which can be learned through specific exercises), techniques like sudarshan kriya that can energise every cell of the body, and a pleasant state of mind that is achievable through meditation. All these are crucial for our overall wellbeing. Presently, there is research showing how sudarshan kriya and pranayama influence the immune system, indicating that attending to the breath and mind can boost immunity.

Food is a key source of energy for the body and mind. Like breathing, we also need to look at what we are putting in our body. We have a prayer – “annadata sukhi bhava” which means, may the one growing our food; one who is bringing it to our homes and one cooking it be healthy and prosperous. If the farmer is unhappy and unhealthy, then the country cannot be happy and healthy. Jaisa ann waisa mann – we become as the food we eat. Healthy food is not just a commodity but a prescription for a healthy life. Natural farming is not just a way to grow food, but a way to respect and nurture the Earth. Our over 22 lakh farmers, trained in natural chemical-free farming, have proved that natural farming can be just as profitable; reduce the input costs for the farmers, produces healthy crops, and keep the farmer as well as consumer healthy too.

The fourth source of energy is rest. Allocate one week every year for yourself, just how you would service your car. During this time, align yourself with nature, rise with the sun, practice yoga and breathing techniques mindfully, eat moderately, chant, observe silence, and witness creation. Sit for a silence programme. This practice rejuvenates our entire system and fills us with enthusiasm and clarity. It brings a smile from within.

Understanding a bit about our mind, consciousness, and the root of distortions is helpful. Each individual is inherently good; these virtues are simply obscured by stress and misunderstanding. All we need to do is uncover these virtues – much like a room that has been dark for years can be illuminated in an instant with a lamp. (Apr 7 is World Health Day)

How to rise above negativity

 

When you have judgement or labels against people, your behaviour starts getting disturbed. You become stiff because of the seeds of negativity you are carrying against others, and your vibration becomes negative. You don’t even realise that you are carrying negativity within you.

Negativity is such that you get sucked into it without being conscious of it. When your intellect becomes sharper and more soaked in knowledge, you will immediately be able to rise above negativity. That is why we need to develop our awareness. To begin, ask yourself these four questions:

1) Are you wasting mental energy paying attention to things that don’t matter?

When the mind expands and recognises its vastness, then trivial matters don’t bother you. Otherwise, you tend to get so stuck in the small things. Every now and then you think: He said so and so to me, she said that to me, that person did not even look at me, that person spoke so harshly to me, and so on. You waste so much of your mental energy paying attention to these useless things. This happens because you have not broadened your vision.

My dear, life is so temporary and fleeting. Your life is short. Where in this short life do you have the time to bother about who said what and why? Why then get stuck in this mess? I tell you, even if God Himself comes and says a few harsh words to you, you should remain smiling and be centred. Think of that as a gift, as a Prasad (blessing or sacred offering).

You should make your mind highly centred and unshakeable within yourself, like a pillar. Do not get carried away or troubled by trivial occurrences around you. Otherwise, you get so troubled by trivial and temporary things. Not only do you get troubled, you also trouble others around you. In fact, we end up disturbing others twice or thrice as much.

Again and again, you must remind yourself to wake up. Come back to awareness and realise that “I am full and content in every way. God is with me at all times, and whatever is required for me will happen at the right time.”

2) Are you blaming or criticising the people around you? Do you harbour any hate?

You are not going to gain anything by blaming or criticising others. And to whatever extent possible, see that you do not create enmity or hatred with anyone. Think deeply and go within your own mind; ask yourself whom you have hatred for. When you realise that, then strive to drop that hatred from within. In fact, I would say that not only strive, but you should also completely do away with hatred and cleanse yourself. Otherwise, there can be no real progress in life.

See, whatever you are to receive, you will surely get it, through someone or the other. When your karma is such that you are to receive something in life, I tell you, even Lord Brahma or Ravana cannot come in the way of that. But if your karma is to receive hurt or discomfort, then whether it is your enemy or your close friends and family, it will come to you and you will have to go through it. Having aversion towards something or someone and avoiding them is a sign of an ignorant person. It is not the quality of a true seeker. A true seeker is happy at all times.

3) Do people feel a sense of peace and calm in your presence?

Once, when I was in college, a person came and stood before me and started yelling at the top of his voice. He was yelling so loudly and angrily that every vein of this throat could be seen visibly. There was so much hatred and anger in his eyes. Why so? It so happened that I became popular with the students and many of them held me in high regard. This person did not like that and became very uncomfortable with all the attention I was getting. He was around 50 or 60 years in age, and the thought of an 18- to 20-year-old boy getting so much attention and following troubled him a lot. He shouted so much and even used very harsh words at me. I did not pay attention or listen to all that. Instead, I felt concerned that something should not happen to him because of all this anger welling up in him. So, I quickly stepped inside and brought some water for him. Seeing the glass of water in front of him, he suddenly became quiet. I asked him to relax and sit down.

See, our presence should be such that no matter who comes to us, they should feel a sense of peace and calm. No matter what kind of person they may be, whatever kind of outward behaviour they may have–remember that is their problem and they would have to pay the price for that. You should pay attention to how you are behaving with others. You should ask yourself this question again and again—is my behaviour loving and cordial with everyone? When I am loving and cordial with everyone, then the entire World is with me and will support me—you should remember this.

4) Do you feel that you need to be treated properly?

You should think, “I do not need any special treatment; I do not expect anything from anyone. I am seeped in love and I will be loving and peaceful with everyone.” When you establish yourself strongly in this belief, then you will see that everyone in the world will be your friend. But if you think, “Oh! This person was so rude and disrespectful to me. Why should I be good and respectful to him?”, tell me, who is really at loss here? Then there has not been much real progress in your life. It would mean you are still stuck in the old patterns of your mind; you are still swimming in the small and dirty pool of your narrow mind. You end up thinking that this is all there is to the world.

My dear, just come out of all this. There is sweet nectar flowing all around you. Imbibe and fill your life with that sweetness instead. What great enmity can you have with someone else? Why do you keep your mind so strained and troubled with such negativity? This causes a lot of stress and damage to your brain.

Yes, one should definitely take the right action at the right time as is required. I am not saying that you do something foolish like handing over your purse to your enemy. But what you can surely do is look at everyone with a smile. You can at least cleanse your own mind and get rid of whatever garbage and negativity are present in the mind.

Insight into Shiva Sutras

 

A sutra is a thread and Shiva means that which is auspicious. Among many negative things, take that one positive thing and hold on to it. If someone has fallen in a deep well, what do you do? You help them come up with a rope. That is what Shiv Sutras are meant to do. These are simple one-line sutras that make you aware that your true nature is “Swatmananda Praksha Vapushe”. Your true nature is bliss; your true nature is joy. Your nature is light.

That is why it is said: Namah śrī śambhave svātmānanda prakāśa vapuśe.

I bow down to the wealth that brings peace and fills the body with joy.

How does auspiciousness begin? It happens when the mind turns inwards. When the mind wanders outside, it is caught up in problems and confusion. Do you know what misery is? Misery is when the mind gets caught up in the world and forgets itself. Happiness can be described as remembering yourself.

Suppose a close relative or friend visits you after a long time. You prepare sweets, arrange everything to welcome them and go to the railway station to receive them. You feel thrilled when you finally meet them. The mind instantly blossoms. Where there is no eagerness and anticipation, there is less love.

The mind naturally flows towards that which you love. When you read the word ‘mana’ meaning mind, from the other direction, it becomes “nama.” What does it mean? When the mind turns inward it is namah, and an outward mind is manah. When you enter a temple, you say ‘namah’ and the mind automatically turns inwards.

What attracts the mind outward? It is prosperity, wealth, success and beauty. The sight of anything beautiful draws the mind towards it. The whole world revolves around only one thing, and that is ‘Srī’, which means prosperity. You yearn for knowledge, yearn for happiness, yearn for beauty, wealth, success, advancement – whatever you long for, it is only for one desire, and that is Srī. When we are in a state of namah, when we are introspective, we find Srī and true wealth is born.

‘Śambhave’ – Wealth and prosperity should bring peace. However, often one acquires wealth and problems follow it. While we do need money, along with wealth we also get diseases like stomach pains, ulcers, diabetes, heart attack, etc.

‘Svātmānanda’ – filled with bliss, having a cheerful state of mind. There are some people who do good acts, but do not have peace and joy. But look at children. They are not very serious. They are happy. What kind of happiness do they have? ‘Svātmānanda prakāśā vapuse’ – happiness overflows in them. One characteristic of life is that it should end where it began, and life is a cycle that starts with happiness.

‘Ānandena jātāni jīvanti’ – it is said in the Upanishads: “Life happens in joy and finds completion in joy.” The soul should be filled with happiness – that is the goal of the Shiva Sūtras: svātmānanda prakāśa vapuśe.

Bless with contentment

 

When we do not want anything for ourselves, a unique power awakens within us. We become capable of giving blessings. Only those who are themselves content are capable of giving blessings. If they say, ‘Let your will be done’, it will definitely happen. The blessings of an individual who is content, will manifest. This is the secret behind blessing.

Ideally, as we grow older, our contentment should also increase. The more content we are, the more mature we are. There are two kinds of joy: one of receiving and the other of giving. In our childhood we experienced the joy of receiving. If you give anything to children they are always ready to take it. But as we grow older, we experience the Joy in giving.

For example, in a home there is a mother or a grandmother; when the grandmother is alone in the house, she does not prepare five different kinds of vegetables and four different sweets for herself. But when children come to the house or guests come, she cooks many different kinds of dishes and serves them. So in giving there is joy and this is a mature joy and pleasure. But many times we lose sight of this and we keep looking to receive all our lives, and we remain dissatisfied and a kind of misery pervades.

For wealth to come, the mind should be content. The more satisfied we are, the more we progress. In order to receive blessings, one should be deserving. How will that happen? By keeping your mind pure and clean. How to keep the mind clean? First of all have faith – God is my very own, and I belong to Him and He loves me. To look after my happiness and sorrow is His job and He will do it.

Second, we need to perform seva (service) in society. As human beings, we all have some needs and some responsibilities. If our responsibilities are more, and our needs less, then in life we remain peaceful and content. If our responsibilities are few but our needs are many then we remain unhappy.

Third, for short periods of time, do pranayama, and meditation and a new wave of contentment, joy and bliss arises in our lives. If you practice these three things, you will see that whatever work you desire will begin to get done effortlessly. Stay in the present. Whatever is the past, drop it all. Put aside all the matters of the past, and sit and meditate.

Five secrets for building a healthy relationship

What are the secrets of relationship? How does a relationship develop? First is the attraction. But, if you get what you are attracted to too easily, the charm goes away. However, if it becomes just a little bit difficult to have what you are attracted to, then you develop love for it. What happens when you fall in love? When you love someone, you give yourself to that relationship, and start making demands on that relationship. The moment you start demanding, love diminishes. Then you say, “Oh! I have made a mistake.” Now there is struggle and pain to get out of it. And after you have got out of it, you get into one more, another one, and the story repeats.

The golden three

The way to make relationships long-lasting is through the right perception, the right observation, and the right expression. Often people say that nobody understands them. Instead, you can say that you have not expressed yourself properly. To express yourself properly, you need proper perception, and that can happen only when you put yourself in the shoes of the other person. Then you need the right observation. The way you react when you perceive something is important. Observe your sensation, tendencies, and patterns. Life is a lesson of just three things – perception, observation, and expression. Every mistake you make is really not a mistake; it is a learning process of the three vital aspects of life.

So, the first secret of relationships is to widen our lens of perception and accommodate others’ behaviour, instead of blaming them. If someone is grumpy or a little finicky in his or her relationships, we just hold him or her responsible for the behaviour. But if we see from a wider perspective, many aspects will come together. When people are working for nine to ten hours, they may be upset with something that happened, and they come home to find solace. At that time, you should see the circumstance, situation, and allow them the space to express their frustration or anger.

Life is a lesson of just these three things: perception, observation, and expression

When someone is undergoing labour pain, and if you say, ‘Don’t deliver, keep it, keep it, keep the baby inside.’ What can they do? How long can they keep it inside? So allow them to express and offload. Try to understand why they are upset or unhappy. If you expect them not to say anything, be nice to you 24 hours every day, and 365 days in a year, or if you find fault with them saying, ‘You are useless, you are hopeless’, what will they do? They find that they have no support, and they get depressed. Therefore, you should interact with others, not only through their words and actions, but also from a broader perspective.

Give with a smile

The second thing in a relationship is to give. Relationship means giving, but at the same time leaving some room for the other partner to give. Love involves an exchange. And that can happen only when you give the partner an opportunity also to do something to you. This needs a little skill – to make the other also contribute without demanding. If you demand, the relationship is not going to last long. Demand and blame destroy love. Then, if your partner does not do something that you want to do, then you will get into the self-pitying mode “I do everything. I have been used.” The feeling “I am being used” should be taken out of our consciousness. For love to blossom, self-worth is essential. You should only know how to praise others and uplift a situation instead of finding fault. Any problem in life should be handled with style and a smile.

Advice for women: Never step on the ego of your man or say he is good for nothing. If you do so, he will become one. Always praise and shower him with compliments.

Advice for men: Never step on a woman’s emotions, or insult her family. She may complain about them, but you should be quiet.

Advice for both: Never ask for proof of someone’s love for you. Do not ask each other, “Do you really love me? Even if you find something lacking just say, “Why do you love me so much?” Take it for granted. Even if the spring has died out, it will start again.

Spaces in togetherness

The third aspect of relationships is to give them space. When you do not give people any breathing space, they will suffocate. And suffocation destroys love. The ancient people knew this. So they had a tradition of sending the wife to her parental home once every year. This separation creates longing. If there is no longing in your relationship then love will not grow.

The fourth aspect in a relationship is that it should be treated as a dessert, not as a main course. If your life is based on some goal, then relationship will move along. If all your focus is just on the relationship, it will not work. You cannot have a dessert for your main course, can you?

The fifth aspect is to understand your own self, your own mind, and to be calm, not feverish. Only then, your charm becomes long-lasting. Take some time off and go within your silence, and you will see the strength that comes from within you. From that, your charm becomes eternal, and your love becomes unconditional. If you meditate even for half an hour in a week, you can eliminate these negative emotions and make your presence come alive. The nearer a person comes to you, the more charm there is. That is the nature of our consciousness.

A relationship is like two wheels moving together. It needs attention and effort. We should not allow our love to grow old. The highest mortality rate in our society today is that of love. The strength of a relationship lies in the ability to accommodate rough patches. How well you handle it, gives you skills. See the situation as an opportunity on how to adapt, be accommodating, understanding, and considerate. Excel in exhibiting your character rather than changing the other person. If the relationship comes from the space of giving rather than need, it is a good quality relationship.

 

Holi lessons for the spiritual seeker

 

When sacredness is attached to a celebration, it becomes total, complete. It’s not just the body and mind but the spirit also celebrates. Then celebration dawns spontaneously and life becomes a vibrant fountain of colors. The sacred festival of Holi is not just about outward celebration but also inner wisdom that we must pay attention to. When you are in knowledge, then all the colors in your life coexist peacefully. Harmony in diversity makes life vibrant, joyful and more colorful.

Make friends with enemies

One of the messages of Holi is: Make friends even with the enemy. Let there be no enemy. Why is an enemy born? When we have animosity within us, then an enemy is born. If we have no animosity left in us, then we would have no enemies either. We shouldn’t mind if someone else considers us as an enemy but we shouldn’t perceive any animosity from our side.

All colors co-exist

Life should be full of colors! And each color is meant to be seen and enjoyed separately. All colors emanate from white, and when mixed again, they become black. Similarly, in life, different roles played by us should exist peacefully and distinctly inside us. For example, when a father continues to play his role of a ‘father’ in office, things are bound to go for a toss. When your mind is white and consciousness – pure, peaceful, happy and meditative, different colors and roles emerge. We get the strength to play various roles with full sincerity against the background. All we need to do is dip into our consciousness time and again. Between all the roles, we have to take deep rests, in order to play each role sincerely.

Be Aware of Your Desires

The only way out is to focus attention on the desire and surrender it. This act of focusing awareness or sight on desire or Kama is called ‘Kamakshi’. With awareness, desire loses its grip on our mind and surrender happens and then nectar flows out from within. If you look at the picture of the goddess, Kamakshi, holds a sugarcane stem in one hand and a flower in the other. The sugar-cane stem is so hard and has to be squeezed in order to obtain sweetness, while the flower is soft and collecting nectar from it is so easy. This truly represents life, which indeed has a little of both! It is far easier to obtain this bliss from the inside than it is to try to extract pleasure from the outside world – which needs a lot more effort.

Become a witness

Nature has all colors and so does your mind. You feel happy, unhappy, angry, jealous, compassionate, generous…all these colors of emotions come up in you. The mind is not the same all the time. But when you know you are not that, you are not these colors, moods then you can truly enjoy these colors. You become a witness to all the mind games that go on inside of you. What troubles you most in life is not someone else but your own mind. When you identify yourself with those emotions, you think that is you, then you are in trouble. Meditation is the way to move into this witness state.

This itself is the message of Holi - go hug and color everyone, bow down with respect and radiate love. On this occasion of Holi, spread the colors of love everywhere making life buoyant and colorful.

Wishing all Happy Holi!

Meditation and its many meanings

Meditation is not an act; it is the art of doing nothing. The rest in meditation is deeper than the deepest sleep that you can ever have. When the mind becomes free from agitation, becomes calm and serene and is at peace, meditation happens. When the mind is engaged in some activity, it gets tired.

So any type of concentration, contemplation or any activity in the mind can drain your system. Meditation is that which doesn’t drain you, but just gives you deep rest and we withdraw from all sensory activities like seeing, listening, smelling, tasting. It is almost like sleep, but not exactly sleep.

Meditation is not concentration; it is de-concentration, letting go. When can you rest? Rest is possible when you have stopped all activities. When you stop moving around, stop working, talking, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, thinking—then you get rest or sleep. In sleep you are left with only involuntary activities like breathing, heartbeat, food digestion, blood-circulation, etc. 

But this is not total rest. When the mind settles down, only then total rest or meditation happens. There are three modes to our consciousness: waking, dreaming and sleeping; and a fourth mode is the meditative state. That is, you are aware from within and yet fully in a deep state of rest. Meditation calms the mind and gives it deep rest.

What happens in your mind when you have to wait for something? Do you notice the time passing by? In waiting, you observe every moment that is passing by and this very waiting can take you into meditation. When you have to wait, you can either be frustrated or meditative. Feeling time is meditation.

Meditation is that journey from sound to silence, from movement to stillness. It complements activity, though it appears to be completely opposite. For a layman, we can categorize the whole thing in seven layers of existence: body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the reference point of change which we call the “self.”

You know in life, we notice everything is changing. And how do we know the change, if there is no reference in the mind? There is something in us that is not changing. That something that has been with us, we call it the Self or the non-changing aspect of our consciousness. So, meditation is a journey to the non-changing reference of our Self, the consciousness.

Now, many people ask how to quiet the mind in meditation or how to get into a deeper meditation? So I would say, first accept the noise and not fight it. You fight with it and feel that you should not have this noise. The more you want to get rid of it, the more it will stick to you. The principle of consciousness or mind is such that resistance does not eliminate it but makes it grow. So first you have to let go and not resist it.

Second focus on the five different ways of getting into meditation. Breathing will help you get rid of the noise. Proper food can also make an impact on meditation. Exercise, posture and refined emotions, good understanding, all of these will aid meditation. 

Effort and effortlessness

 

Anything that is natural does not require effort. You bathe in the morning. Do you bathe with a lot of interest? Do you brush your teeth with a lot of interest? No, you don’t. Just because you have to do it, you do it! It’s natural and effortless!

Like when you are smiling naturally, that smile is effortless. But if you are asked to smile then that becomes a difficult task. Doing an action that requires effort is aasakti. However, doing work that comes naturally and gives you inner peace is done in nirasakti.

If you ask those who prepare food every day, they would be able to prepare it without much effort. However, if the same task is handed to a person who never cooks, he will flip through the pages of a recipe book again and again, to prepare the same food. He will keep tasting the food to check the balance of spices. So wherever effort is applied, the job is done with aasakti, and this leads to feverishness.

You being feverish about going to, for example, Mysore is aasakti; and effortlessly driving your car to Mysore is nirasakti. Nirasakti is not disinterestedness or depression; it is just an effortless attitude. The next effortless thing is meditation. If you put effort into meditation, that is it! You will not be able to do it. Meditation happens effortlessly.

All other things need effort – memorising anything requires effort, learning skills need effort. If you want to learn the computer, it takes you some time to adjust to the keyboard! If you want to learn some sport, you have to give 100% effort. If you want to play the sitar, you have to put in effort. And if you need to tell a lie? – 500% effort! This is because when you tell a lie, you forget what you have told, and it needs a lot of effort to keep it in mind!

Life is a combination of effort and effortlessness and they are complementary. If you work dynamically, you sleep well. If you have memorised well, you remember automatically. If you are doing service, you are able to love more, because there is satisfaction and your heart is opening up. If you can see beauty everywhere, you can appreciate beauty!

When you can do this, things become effortless; even jobs requiring effort, will not be strenuous. Do you see? When you want to do something, when the heart is in it, when there is an appreciation of beauty, then even effort is not strenuous.

Satsang

 

Satsang means the company of reality, being in touch with the truth. It is not just singing some complicated songs which you don’t understand. Music is one part of it. The second part is understanding the logic. The third part is reposing in deep meditation and being with yourself. 

So, which is the right company? That which makes you feel light, which makes you feel the problem is very trivial as compared to what you thought. If company makes you perceive the problem as being bigger than it is, that is not satsang. Satsang is where you can drop what people think about you and be authentic.

Usually, people who are in celebration don’t go into the depth, while people who experience silence, don’t usually celebrate. However, satsang is when we value both silence and celebration. The purpose of music is to create silence deep within you and the purpose of silence is to create dynamism in life.

Music is laya yoga; laya is dissolving. This is the highest form of samadhi (unity with the divine). Sound is a form of energy. Your whole body is made up of atoms. When you sing bhajans, the sound vibrations get absorbed into every particle of your body. Just like a microphone absorbs sound and converts it into electricity, the body absorbs the vibrations and transforms it into consciousness.

If you are sitting and listening to gossip or loud jarring music, then that gets absorbed by your body and does not give a nice feeling. When you hear knowledge, or chant with all your heart, that elevates your consciousness. Being with this truth kindles the energy in you and awakens the consciousness because the sound energy very easily penetrates into the mind.

The body is made up of five elements – earth, water, air, fire and ether. The ether element is associated with sound. And sound unites. Sound reverberates in your body. Our mind and consciousness are ancient. When you dive into different layers of consciousness, there are different languages that are present there. The most ancient layer of our consciousness can understand the most ancient language of the world – sanskrit.

When we are sitting, thinking or talking then every mind thinks differently, no one thinks alike. But when we sing or chant sanskrit bhajans, then the mind which is so ancient identifies the impressions of all these old bhajans, our consciousness begins to unite and somewhere deep inside sharing happens. And the bhajans or mantras make deep impressions in the mind where they remain for a long period. It is like a brush. Each bristle joined together can clear all the knots in mind.

That is why even though we don’t know the meaning of some of the words, we simply chant them because just chanting them has a positive effect. It is not the meaning that is important. So when we sing, we don’t have to see how well we sing, and where we are singing. Just close your eyes and be one with the music, the sound. You dissolve into the space that is, through bhajan.

We usually think bhajan is just singing songs. Bhajan means sharing. Divine is love and when you blossom in that love, you share the love. Divine is compassion, and when you are compassionate, you are in bhajan. When the mind is split into one hundred parts, there is misery. And the same minds when they all get together, becomes one unit, then there is joy.

Navigating storms in life with knowledge

 

All around the world, countries have stormy seasons. The tropical countries have their monsoons, and non-tropical countries have their yearly winter storms. The layout of the planet, along with its various climates and weather systems, make it such that there is always a storm happening somewhere on Earth. 

The same phenomenon holds true for people. Life is found to be caught up in storms very often, either in some part of the mind or body. You are not yourself when you are in even a small storm. By their very nature, storms take you away from your centre, and you don’t know what to do. All your practices, concepts, ideas, and ideals fall apart during storms.

Your devotion, your love, all the beautiful things you cherish in your life simply seem to be missing, or meaningless. These things happen when you are under the influence of a big storm. And even when the storm has subsided, the very memory of it disturbs you even more. 

So what do you do when a storm appears overhead? Nothing appears to be helpful. When you sit and close your eyes to meditate, you see that the mind is all over the place. You feel as though you are in a burning furnace and you don’t know how to put out the flame. It’s like an oil well is burning inside you. The more effort you make to cool it down, put the fire out, the more the fire comes alive, and brings more restlessness and agitation.

Know that storms are minuscule when compared to the ocean of the Self. In the Ashtavakra Gita, King Janaka says, “Mayya anantha mahaambhodau - In the ocean of my Self, many such lives are arising and dissolving.” Janaka knows that all those whom he sees are part of him and that all the lives he sees are just his own form. I have taken so many forms, and in my own consciousness is acting this way in that mind, that way in that mind; in all these different minds different roles are being played, but it’s all me.” One wave arises, and another wave comes back and recedes into the ocean of the Self.

By the nature of life, different minds continually springs up into this “person”. You temporarily become all these persons and personalities and life and lifestyles and dramas and soap operas. Imagine watching wrestling on television. Can you feel that both of the wrestlers are inside yourself? If you have ever acted in a drama or in theatre, you may have consciously experienced this. You may perform a monologue in two different acts, and act in completely opposite forms. In the first half you act as one person, and in the second, you act as another person who pushes all the buttons of the first person.

Like waves, these two people clash with each other. It’s in you, in your own nature, in your own form. Different waves arise, different beings arise, different souls arise. They rise, they clash with each other, they play and they dissolve to go back into you. These storms come into your life whether you like it or not. It lashes on you and pulls you out of your likes and dislikes. Every storm that has come into your life has widened your horizon, making you deep and more powerful. Every storm has destroyed some smallness or obstacle in you. The storms that rise in you never stay in you forever.

Every storm is a blessing. It cuts you, it destroys you, and it finishes you off while you cry. If you are knowledgeable, you don’t cry—you will laugh. Even though the event is the same in either case, you now laugh at it because you know that it is insignificant in the face of your true infinite nature. This is the role of knowledge. In knowledge, you smile and laugh at all events, including the most difficult ones. You grow out of the event with the power of knowledge. Even a drowning person can hold onto a straw. It’s like holding onto a life jacket, the knowledge in the storms.

Even the smallest life jacket can save you from drowning. Everybody in the world faces these crises. They manifest as personality clashes, relationship problems, worries about the future and whatnot. People feel insecure, and as the days pass by, they wonder what they’re doing with their life. They wonder whether they’re in the right place or not, or if they have the right people around them. These thoughts bring about all sorts of confusions, jealousies, anger, and hatred. But the person with the life jacket is saved and rises above this storm. He should put on the life jacket, blow it up, and keep it well prepared.

Love, truth and strength

 

In love, one often feels weak, but truth brings strength. Then why would someone tell a lie to their close ones or to their beloved? Lovers often ask this question. Love cannot stand untruth, and relationships tend to break up when untruths exist. Understanding the paradox of love and truth; allows one to discover the answer to this question.

People often tell lies just to save and maintain their love. The fear that truth might damage love, lends to lies told between a husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, parents and children and in other family situations.

In love, one often feels weak, but truth brings strength. So, the question that may arise is - why do people prefer love over truth, weakness over strength?

Love is that which generally does not want to be sacrificed and so people are ready to give up the truth for love even though love takes the luster out of truth. Also, there are times when truth can make love bitter while in love, even lies appear sweet.

For example, when Krishna lies to his mother, Yashoda! With truth there are judgements, but true love is beyond judgements. Thus, true love can make one weak and yet it is the greatest strength.

Ultimately, the truth that does not nourish love makes no sense, and the love that cannot withstand the truth is not true love. If one is assured that their love is so strong that truth can neither break it nor cause bitterness, then truth prevails and love continues to shine.

Nourishing your emotions

 

A person without emotions is like wood without any juice. You need to make yourself interesting to inspire people to be with you. This will happen when you nurture yourself with music, prayer and service. The way to expand from individual to universal consciousness is to share others’ sorrow and joy. As you grow, your consciousness should also grow.

When you expand in knowledge with time, then depression is not possible. The way to overcome personal misery is to share universal misery. The way to expand personal joy is to share universal joy. Instead of thinking, “what about me?” and “what can I gain from this world?” think, “what can I do for the world?” Service leads to the dynamic experience of heart. It creates a sense of belongingness.

Lack of service can lead a person to depression. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Pain is physical. Suffering is mental. If you are not sensitive to others’ pain, then you are not a human being. That is why you need to serve. Service alone can bring contentment in life, but service without silence tires you.

Service without spirituality will be shallow and cannot be sustained for a long period. The deeper the silence, the more dynamic will be the outer activity. Both are essential in life. When you bring some relief or freedom to someone through seva, good vibrations and blessings come to you.

Seva brings merit; merit allows you to go deep in meditation; meditation brings back your smile. When you sing and pray from your heart, your emotions are nourished and you become lively.

Changing two tendencies of the mind

 

Have you noticed what keeps happening in the mind every moment? The mind keeps wondering what is going to happen next. Knowledge is being aware of this phenomenon of the mind; of what is happening right now in the mind.

All other information and education can be acquired by reading books. You can open a book on any subject, be it birth, death or dietary habits; there are volumes of books available on countless topics. But awareness of our own mind cannot be learnt by reading a book.

What does our mind do? It vacillates between the past and the future. Every moment, it is either angry about the past or anxious about the future. There is another tendency of the mind – clinging to the negative. If 10 positive instances or events are followed by one negative event, we cling to that one negative thing. We simply forget all the 10 positives.

To bring about a change in these two tendencies of the mind is the greatest help you can render yourself. Becoming aware of these two tendencies in the mind will make you very natural, very simple. These are very precious values and will enable you to blossom from within.

We are actually born with this innocence in us; but as we become more and more mature and intelligent, we tend to lose this innocence and end up becoming stiff. Drop the stiffness, and then see how much more rewarding, more enjoyable, more interesting life becomes. This is knowledge. And this is also worship.

Overcome the four reins pulling you backwards

 

Sukha (pleasure), dukha (sorrow), logic and feverishness — these four reins pull you backwards. You dream of pleasure; this is so amazing! Even after experiencing different pleasures, you think there is pleasure somewhere else. You are pulled by the rein of pleasure. Every pleasure has been so momentary, has left your hands empty, depleted, drained. Yet one hopes for more pleasure, some unknown, unseen pleasure.

Sukha is pleasure and dukha, sorrow or the fear of sorrow. What is the sorrow that you are afraid of? What is going to happen to you? You have gone through many problems. As a child, you cried so many times when a toy broke. But what happened? You passed through that. You have passed through many stumbling blocks in life, which you thought were impossible. Yet you remained untouched by any of them. Nothing could ever shake you. It appeared to have shaken you at that moment, but later on you found that you are as complete as were before.

And then there is desire for more, wanting more and more. We burn with desire; and this burning in desire does not allow you to relax into the peace of your being. Unless you let go of the desires, you can never find peace, you can never rest in the divine love. Love is the process of dissolving, of giving, of offering, of serving. If you do service to gain some merit, it is not service.

Let go of these desires. When you are able to let go, then you blossom. Wait for the blossoming. Wait for the time; don’t be in a hurry. Every bud takes its own time to bloom; don’t force a bud to become a flower. You will have to follow a certain code of conduct. This is the manure by which the rose of love will blossom. Be non-violent, not just in your action, but also in your heart, in your speech, in your thoughts. You may be non-violent in action due to fear of the law. But in the mind when you said, “I am going to kill them! I am going to choke them!” you have already choked them.

Follow the truth. Be with the truth. Be with the existence. It means live in the moment. Existence is truth. Often we mistake ‘being truthful’ to mean just speaking the truth. It’s not just speaking truth; but expressing truth your whole life. Keep the purity of your mind, speech, and body. Purity is not mixing up things. So when you become witness to the body, mind, intellect, memory and all your different faculties, and don’t get mixed up with them, that is purity. Observing the observer, being very pure; this is a deeper meaning of purity.

The greatest joy is in compassion or daya. Just stand in a corner and see the whole world. If you can just feel compassion for the whole world, a shift has already happened in your consciousness. Look at all the people who are indulging in all that you don’t like. Just for a moment, have compassion for them all, for the way they are. Then a shift happens; you become big; your Self expands.

Faith of astikya transcends logic and reasoning. You live in a very logical world. Every step in your life is measured. You reason for everything that you do and for all your experiences. You try to capture your experiences through logic, through reasoning. When the reasoning or logic breaks down, you tremble. Sooner or later you again find some logic, some reason, and feel comfortable with it. But reality is beyond logic; truth is beyond logic; you cannot capture truth by logic. If you could reason out all your life and all its experiences, then you have not lived life fully, you have not known life fully.

Understanding spirituality

 

Life is eternal; we never give a thought to this truth. When someone dies we declare that the person is immortal, but the truth is we ourselves are immortal too. That is why we do not feel that we have grown old. No matter how old a person is, he feels he is never going to die. If someone else dies, we say, ‘oh that poor fellow died’. ‘Everyone else dies but I won’t’, this feeling is there somewhere. There is a stream of awareness within us that cannot be destroyed. To acknowledge and observe that stream is spirituality – 'I have not changed, I have not grown old, I am just the same.'

This brings such courage and strength in life that nothing can shake you. Examining your life, observing it is spirituality, it is ‘satsang’. Satsang is not just singing bhajans but pondering on the truths of life. The most important truth of life – there is an element within me that does not perish, does not diminish and is deathless. If you direct even the slightest attention to it, life becomes easy and uncomplicated. The second truth – everything changes. The body undergoes many changes, as does the mind, so do our thoughts.

Knowing that everything is changing stabilises you. When you are established in this truth, such a smile blossoms from within you that can never fade, cannot be robbed. To sit in an effort to gain this knowledge is satsang. If we change ourselves, we can change our environment, our society and this world.  ‘God knows Gurudev, how many lifetimes it will take for me to gain this awareness’ – do not harbour such thoughts. Now that you have come for satsang, believe that you have already gained it.

Once you are on the train, know that you will reach the destination. That is for sure. How do we make this smile unshakable? How do we make our time on the planet meaningful? Being human we all have certain needs and certain responsibilities. If your needs are more than your responsibilities, there will be unhappiness in life, guaranteed! If your responsibilities are more than your needs, life will be peaceful. What you need to do is reduce your desires and take on more responsibility. And when in our life, personal needs disappear and desires no longer exist; an extraordinary, mystical ability is awakened within us that enables us to bless others.

When we do not want anything for ourselves, we develop the strength to fulfil the desires of others. This is the second step you have to climb. First, become aware of your desires and whatever desires are left. Have the confidence that by God’s grace they will be fulfilled. The next step is, ‘I want nothing.’ When you want nothing, you will become so strong that whatever you say to anyone will become a blessing to them. If you bless anyone, it will manifest.

When we die, only two questions remain: how much love have you shared, and how much knowledge have you gained. One day or the other, we are going to die. But we have to make sure, we all come together and create a divine society till the time we are in this world.

Sacred symbols of the divine

 

Throughout the ages, in all cultures, place, time, people and symbols were considered sacred because the moment you consider something sacred, your inertia disappears, and you become more alive and attentive.

When every action of yours becomes sacred, you become one with the Divine. Whatever our ancestors said, there are profound mysteries hidden behind them. Facts have been explained by them in symbolic form. Let us see a few:

— Lord Shiva, in sitting posture, has a snake around his neck. This implies the state of meditation.

— Earth on Shesh Naag implies centripetal force. There are two kinds of earthly forces, one is centripetal force and the other is centrifugal force. The movement of these forces is not straight but they have a snake-like movement. It represents centripetal force which means ‘not going straight’ and the Earth rotates on its axis and around the sun.

— The fact that Divinity is both male and female was represented as ‘Ardhnareeshwar’. God is not just man, or just woman. Everyone is made up of both male and female genes.

— Saraswati carries a rosary representing meditation; a book representing intellectual knowledge and a musical instrument – veena. This means wisdom dawns only when intellectual knowledge, music and meditation come together. Saraswati sits on a rock, meaning once you have acquired wisdom, it is deeply grounded in you. 

— Goddess Laxmi sits on lotus, meaning wealth is flowing and anything can happen anytime.

— Even the weapons in Gods’ hands have a deeper meaning. God-Goddesses are within us, are our very own. So they show human flaws of anger, jealousy etc. in them as well. Therefore, you don’t feel guilty when such emotions arise in you. The purpose was to bring you closer to God.

‘Rishis’ chose to express Divinity in terms of symbols rather than words. Words change over time, symbols don’t. But eventually you need to transcend and feel that the entire creation, with all its symbols, places, species, people and your whole life, are sacred at all times.

Renunciation a.k.a. the art of letting go

 

When someone blames or praises you, just observe what happens to your breath, what happens deep within you. If someone gives you a compliment, it doesn’t become a part of your breath. But if someone insults you, your breath starts burning and your heart gets filled with anger and remorse. Generally, people get stuck in negativity and unpleasantness, rather than positivity or pleasantness. Of course, when you love somebody, love becomes a very deep part of you.

Suppose you have an ideology you strongly believe in, then that becomes a part of your breath. For example, some people are committed to doing something good for the environment; then day and night they will think about it. Or someone has a particular project in their mind, then that project becomes a part of them. They are fully into it, and it’s OK.

But renunciation is the ability to drop everything and rest. Many people do not succeed in a project, because they become feverish about it. They lack renunciation. Whether you like it or not, every night before going to bed you renounce everything. If you don’t renounce, you won’t be able to sleep. Insomnia is a sign of non-renunciation.

However, renunciation has been wrongly understood. Living in the moment and making the mind free is what renunciation is all about. It does not take away fun from life. You know, people have such wrong ideas. They feel, “I don’t want to be a monk. I just want to enjoy life.” The word renunciation has been distorted to its maximum limit. I tell you, there is nothing scary about renouncing.

You think you have control over your entire life. But let me tell you that you have zero control over yourself. Often, we try to control other people’s life, their thinking, their feelings, the way they should or shouldn’t behave or the way they should live. When one lacks control over oneself, he cannot control anything or anybody.

Renunciation happens only in the present moment. When you are in silence, you are not acting. You are amidst the chaos but inside, you are tranquil and peaceful. You live these opposites simultaneously and this ability is in the seed form in everyone. Only those who renounce can come to God.