Transformation for perfect health

 

Only a healthy bud can blossom. Similarly, only a healthy person can succeed. Health is just not the absence of disease but it is also being mentally serene and emotionally soft. If the mind is stiff and unsteady, one is not mentally healthy. When the emotions are rough, one is not emotionally healthy.

The state of good health is called “swastha” in Sanskrit. It also means ‘being established in one’s Self’ and is not just confined to the body or mind. It has to come as a gift from the cosmic mind- from the innermost of one’s being to the outermost and vice versa.

Sometimes when you enter a room inhabited by a disturbed person, you start feeling disturbed for no reason even if the person is no longer in the room. You have the same feelings, same thoughts and same emotions as that person. Similarly, when there is a harmonious vibration like a place of satsang (chanting or singing), you feel good for no reason.

Feelings are not isolated to one’s body, they are all around. It is the same with the breath and the mind. They are in the whole environment. If there is a fire the heat is not just inside the fire but radiating throughout the place. If one is unhappy or depressed, the feeling spreads to the whole environment.

Other people’s words and actions create jealousy, anger, frustration or sadness in a mind that is not centered. The unstable mind contributes to the process and hence, we become responsible for our negative emotions even though it appears that someone else has triggered it.

When we meditate and do pranayama, we increase prana or the subtle life energy. When we attend to the subtle, the gross is healed. The breath is subtler than the body and when attended to, it heals the body. Similarly, prana being the subtler heals the emotions.

Being individually happy is not enough. A frustrated man will spread frustration; a jealous person will spread jealousy. Everyone we meet has to be happy and radiate happiness. This is the only way we can have that unshakeable peace and happiness.

If somebody is shooting an arrow at you, insulting you, realise that they are doing it because they are miserable. They are pouring out their stress, tension and anxiety. When you have blossomed from within, you can take any insult and turn it into your advantage.

When someone commits a mistake, he is not the culprit; the stress within is the cause. Once, the stress is got rid of, then there is no culprit- no one needs to be forgiven. We begin to realise that the whole thing is just a game in which there is no winner or loser. It’s just a play and fun.

The objective is to have joy in life and make sure that the knowledge we gain permeates within us. As we learn more about life, the mystery of the whole creation unfolds. Then the question in the mind is: What is the meaning of life? and What is its purpose? What is this world? What is love? What is knowledge?

Once these questions arise in you, know that you are very fortunate. These questions need to be  understood; you cannot find their answers in books. You have to live through them and witness the transformation. That is perfect health; you are transformed from within. And the bud becomes a totally blossomed flower.

Balance the mind with meditation

 

Have you observed what is happening in your mind every moment? It vacillates between the past and the future. It is either in the past occupied with what has happened or in the future thinking about what you have to do.

Knowledge is being aware of this phenomenon of the mind — of what is happening right now in your mind as you are reading this article. Information can be acquired by reading books or browsing the Internet. You can open a book on any subject such as how to lose weight, how to prepare for an interview, success 101 and so on. There are innumerable volumes available on a countless number of topics, but the awareness of your own mind cannot be learnt from a book.

There is another tendency of the mind – it clings onto the negative. If 10 positive events are followed by one negative event, the mind will cling to the negative. It will simply forget the 10 positive events.

With meditation, however, you can become aware of these two tendencies of the mind and bring it to the present. Happiness, joy, enthusiasm, efficiency and effectiveness are all in the present.

The human mind is very complex. It has its delicate and tough aspects. If you have had a misunderstanding with a friend or colleague at work, you can become stiff inside and this can distort your emotions leading to negativity and you carry this negativity wherever you go.

However, when you culture your mind with meditation, its tendency of holding on to negative emotions simply disappears. You gain the ability to start living in the present moment and are able to let go of the past.

Balancing the States of Mind

In your day-to-day life, you come across all kinds of situations that can be challenging and demanding a degree of alertness to be able to make good choices. These situations give rise to different states of mind and neither life nor the states of mind occur with our permission. In fact, they often occur in direct defiance to our wishes.

Meditation can bring about a balance between the different states of the mind. You can learn to switch from the tough aspect to the delicate aspect within you. You can stand up when needed and let go when needed. This ability is present within everyone, and meditation enables you to switch between these states effortlessly. The whole exercise is to develop an ability to switch back and forth between the tough and delicate aspects of the mind.

One of the biggest deterrents for people not being able to meditate is that they don’t have enough time. Yet when they start to meditate, they find they have more time, because they are able to focus and get more done. Not only that, the regular practice of meditation also leads to greater intuitiveness. It sharpens the mind through focus and expands it through relaxation.

With the integration of meditation into one’s daily life, a fifth state of consciousness, called cosmic consciousness, dawns. Cosmic consciousness means perceiving the whole cosmos as part of oneself. When we perceive the world as a part of us, love flows strongly between the world and us. This love empowers us to bear the opposing forces and the disturbances in our lives. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish.

Rest and activity are opposite values, but they complement each other. The deeper you are able to rest, the more dynamic you will be in activity. Planning can hold you back from diving deep into yourself. Meditation is accepting this moment and living every moment totally with depth.

Restlessness, agitation, desire and ambition stir up the mind and keep it engaged planning for the future or being regretful about the past. Real freedom is freedom from the past and future.

The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice make life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you find that you are no longer thrown off-balance by different situations and disturbances. A regular practice can transform the quality of your life by culturing the nervous system to maintain peace, energy and expanded awareness throughout the day. You become beautiful yet strong, capable of accommodating different challenges in life without any conditions.

Let go if you want to find inner peace

 

Do not have any hatred towards anybody. Do not hate even the worst enemy, reach out to him. If you can’t reach out, never mind. At least in your heart do not hate anybody. Don’t hate any living being for that matter, not just people. What holds you back is your hatred. More than your love, your hatred holds you back. Because whomsoever you hate, you live with them, you eat with them, you bear with them mentally. 

The person whom you hate occupies your upper chamber, your middle chamber and any other chamber left, everywhere they occupy. They occupy all of your time, your life, your thoughts, your emotions your mind, everything. So, if not for their sake, for your own sake better don’t hate anybody. 

There are such people who are obnoxious, who you cannot stand, yes. But by hating them, you are destroying your beautiful mind, you are destroying your most precious brain and you are inflicting pain to your delicate heart. 

Now how to get rid of it? Friendliness and compassion. People who are ahead of you, be friendly with them. Otherwise, you will feel jealous. And people who are behind you, who are hopeless, who are trouble- makers, have compassion for them. If you don’t have compassion for them, you will be angry and upset. And anyone who you find in between, kshama, forgive them. 

Whenever you are disturbed, doesn’t matter about what, ask yourself this question “Did I let it go, or are am I holding on to it?" That determines your state of mind, that determines your peace or lack of it. By letting go you will get deep peace.

Better than the practice is knowledge or wisdom; and better than wisdom is deep meditation and letting go of the fruit of action. Because, when you let go, you renounce the whole past. What is karma? The whole past, that burden we are carrying in our mind. When you let go of that, you get eternal peace, the peace that you are craving for.

The importance of awareness

I would like to tell you a story about a saint. A thief once came to a saint and said, “See, I can’t stop stealing. I am a pathological stealer. What do I do?” The saint said, “Look, I’m not going to tell you not to steal, but I am going to advise you to steal with awareness. Whenever you try to steal something, first look at your hand and know what it is going to do, and then with that awareness, go steal something.” The man came back to meet the saint after three months, and said, “Swamiji, it was impossible! I could not steal with awareness.”

The same happens with anger. Anger comes as a sudden outburst, as we commonly say, “I lost it.” What is it that you lost? Nothing but awareness. To do something destructive, all you need is momentary passion, an impulse. You can evoke passion in a person and he can go and destroy something. But to do something creative, we need more than passion. What we need is awareness. We need a certain focus. 

How can we increase awareness? There are simple things you need to observe and practice – take some time out to do very simple things in life, sometimes seemingly insignificant things, such as star-gazing, bird-watching, watching the sunrise or sunset, taking a walk, silently observing your breath. These are a few examples of simple exercises that we can easily follow to develop our awareness. Even in an everyday act such as eating food, you can inculcate awareness by eating slowly, paying attention to the smells and colors in the food and tasting everything you eat. 

Another method adopted to create that awareness is meditation, pranayama, deep breathing. What is the first act we performed when we were born? We breathed in deeply and then we started crying. And do you know what the last act is? We breathe out and make everybody else cry. But in between these first and last breaths, we seldom address our breath, we seldom observe our breath. Our breath has great secrets to offer. It can show us how vast our mind is, how resourceful our consciousness is.

You are a vast sky of love, beauty and charm

 

Often you describe yourself by the way you look and the work you do or by your relationships with other people. But you are so much more than your body, your thoughts and feelings. All of these things are changing, but you are that which is not changing. Wake up this very moment and see who you are. You are unlimited spirit.

What is the nature of spirit? Spirit experiences and expresses value. Values are feelings and emotions that which cannot be captured totally by the words or understood by intellect. The values that enhance life are confidence, cooperation, faith and knowledge.

The values come only through spirit. We think we can find happiness or comfort through the material, yet we know from our own experience that material comfort alone is not sufficient or complete. Happiness is a quality of consciousness. It does depend on matter, but to a far greater degree it depends on attitude and understanding.

As we adopt the values of the spirit, life attains its richest form. Without them, life becomes very shallow and we are dependent and unhappy. It is the dharma of spirit to support life. It is the dharma of spirit to uphold and sustain life. Living the spiritual values makes your personality solid and strong.

What are the effects of the spiritual dimension of life on society? It brings a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole world, for the whole humanity. The spiritual dimension in the truest form smashes the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality and gives one a broader awareness of life present everywhere. Only spiritual understanding will eliminate war.

When the mind relaxes, the intellect becomes sharp. When the mind is loaded with small things such as ambition, feverishness and desire, then the intellect loses its keenness. And when intellect and observation are not sharp, life does not express itself fully. Ideas don’t flow properly and abilities diminish day by day. With this understanding, you step out of your little mind and that step will solve many of the problems in your life.

You want to be free from greed, hatred, jealousy and all such imperfections. If the mind is holding all these negative qualities, it cannot be happy or peaceful — you cannot enjoy your life. So the first step is to see that negative emotions are due to the past and not let the past affect your experience of life now. Forgive the past. If you cannot forgive the past, then your future will be miserable. Commit to dropping the past and starting a new fresh life.

To be fully in the now, you need to learn to handle your botherations. What is it that is bothering you? Whatever feelings you have, be with it totally without holding on to it. Children never worry. They experience and express emotions, but the next moment they are relieved. Whatever feelings you have in the moment, be with them 100 per cent. Share them with the Divine. Surrender them. Cultivate this practice. Then you will not worry. You will be carefree.

On the spiritual path, you will experience plenty. Maintain a balance — have confidence that what you need will be given to you and at the same time, be dynamic, not lazy. Spiritual life is marked by effective and dynamic activity. It is not an escape from hard work or from taking sincere action. Take heart. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing inside you there is a sky without clouds, a sky studded with stars — stars of love, stars of beauty, stars of charm — a pure, clear space, vast and deep. That blue inner space is what you are.

Wisdom is beyond words

 

Wisdom is beyond words. It is the essence of all words! 

If you manipulate words, it is a lie; if you play on words, it is a joke; if you rely on words, it is ignorance but if you transcend words, it is wisdom.

Let us examine a few words which have changed their meaning over time.

Tolerance: Many people think tolerance is a virtue but it is a negative term. Tolerance indicates a deep sense of dislike, a sense of separateness, small-mindedness, limitation of consciousness, which can at any time turn into hatred. If you are tolerating, it means you are holding on; tolerance is a potential volcano!

Disillusion: Similarly, ‘disillusionment’ is good because you have come to reality. 

Purana: The word ‘Purana’ means ”that which is new in town, the most modern”, but it is used in the sense of being old.

Mercy: Mercy indicates lack of intimacy or belongingness. You don’t have mercy on your near and dear ones. You have mercy on those who you think are not yours. Mercy indicates anger, judgment and authority. The Divine is all knowing and all loving; there is no chance for mercy. When there is intimacy, there is no place for mercy.

Forgiveness: When you say I forgive, you think the other is a culprit, and when you think someone is a culprit, forgiveness becomes difficult. But, with a broader outlook, you see that the culprit is also a victim of his or her own mind; a victim of ignorance, unawareness and unconsciousness. Then compassion arises within you.

Austerity: Austerity is often mistaken to be poverty or self-denial. It is neither. Austerity is a sign of social health. It comes out of maturity and only one who is rich in spirit can practice austerity. Poverty of spirit is vanity; austerity brings freedom from the pride of vanity. But taking pride in austerity is vanity!

Do not make an effort to impress others, or express yourself. When you come from the Self, your expression is perfect and your impression lasts for ages.

Three modes of a seeker - on Guru Purnima 2020

Guru Purnima is a celebration of seekers, and the seeker revises his journey. He reviews his journey. How far you have walked, where have you come from, what you have experienced in life and how many hurdles have you faced and how many hurdles you have crossed. What is your journey and where is it moving ahead?

It is a review of one’s journey. And then, re-dedication. This is the day to re-dedicate. Review, re-dedicate and then rejoice in gratitude. These are the three things that Guru Purnima brings to you. The celebration is for re-dedication and rejoicing in gratitude.

Every seeker has three modes that he goes through.

The sadhak (seeker) wants to satisfy his basic instinct, his needs, to get rid of his misery, so he becomes a sadhak. A sadhak is seeking to be free, to get liberated. Liberated from what? From misery and lack. Lack and misery are what one wants to be free from. One wants to experience abundance. This you know when there is someone to take care of you, when there is the power, the divine, who is taking care of you. This faith is pashu-bhava. It is the basic mode.

The first mode is confidence that there is someone who is taking care of my needs. I am concerned about my needs, right? When you know there is someone who is providing for you, then you are relax, you have comfort. If you have a dog at home, a horse, or other animals, the animals know their master is there and the master will provide for them. There is confidence and a certain loyalty for the master. That loyalty and confidence is the first mode of sadhak.

The second mode of sadhak is veera-bhava or invoking the valour within you. Life poses many challenges where things get shattered. In these moments, your confidence get shattered. You start doubting your own abilities. You start doubting your progress. You start doubting yourself and everybody else, which is a reflection of your own self-doubt.

When these turmoil come, when these arise in you, when you have the valour of ‘I will go through this. I will I will come out of it successfully. I will achieve this. Come what may,’ invoking that valour is the second mode of the seeker.

The first is confidence and faith. The second mode is conviction and valour to move on the path. ‘I will go through, come what may.’

And then the last one, the divine power, when you feel total oneness with the divinity. Sacrifice and dedication in veera-bhava lead you to divya-bhava, which is divinity.

What is divinity? It is when you see that everything is a game. The whole universe is just a play and display of consciousness. You are not shaken and not moved by anything whatsoever. 

You know sometimes, we can say we are all love but others are bad. No. In divya-bhava you see the role of everyone else also as divine, not just yours as divine. You find every single role, whatever it is, as divine, as a game, as a play. That is divya-bhava.

These are the three modes a sadhak moves through in life as time progresses.

The secret behind your thoughts

How does a thought arise? The mechanism of thought has never been explained before by anybody, anywhere. In order to understand how a thought arises, you need to have an amount of established consciousness and silence in you.

When silent, the mind is calm and memory is subdued – then, no thoughts arise. When the mind is excited and memory is stimulated, the chitta, your recording apparatus, is stimulated. Then, they jointly produce an impulse of energy, which is a thought.

Thoughts come and you recognise them as they come. You cannot recognise a thought before it comes; it is impossible to know a thought before it comes! You only know thoughts as they come. If they are silly, you simply laugh at them and they will move away. Sometimes you are amazed at your thoughts, “Such a stupid thought is coming into my mind!” and you wonder where did it come from; and if it is an ingenious thought, you are also in wonder, “What a great thought; this is such an excellent idea!”.

Thoughts arise anyway, but you choose to act, or not act. This is what awareness brings in you. If you are not aware, you simply act on the strongest impulse, or the strongest thought. But when you’re alert, then you choose whether to act or not.

It’s like a person, who is walking in his sleep. He has no control over where he’s walking, or what he’s doing. He simply walks! Do you see what I’m saying? A sleepwalker just walks – he doesn’t know where he’s walking, or It’s like a person who is walking in his sleep; he has no control. A sleepwalker just walks – he doesn’t know where he’s walking, or what he’s doing. But the moment the person is awake, and walking, then he chooses to walk either left, or right, this way or that way. That is the difference.

Today almost everyone is a sleepwalker! There are very few who are aware and then act. Are you getting what I’m saying? Today, most actions are like sleepwalking; people are not aware. They are simply acting on the strongest impulse. When you meditate, there is keenness of observation. You become totally relaxed, yet at the same time, you possess the strength of intelligence, the sharpness of awareness. When you are aware, and then you act, then that is the right action.