A question on karma yoga

"You say it does not depend on what one does but on with which attitude one works. On the other side it is said in Gita that everybody is just following his nature and that it is stupid to try to go against ones nature. That implies to me that everybody also has to find a work that suits to ones nature andtendencies. Otherwise the work itself gives so much strain and disturbance that it is very very difficult to have a positive attitude during and towards work. My practical experience is also that i cannot neglect the aspect of WHAT i´m doing. To say :WHAT i´m doing does not matter at all and just take any work which I can get and try to have a positive attitude and be detached would not be a wise decision. Isn´t it? For me both aspects are important. The work i´m doing has to fit to my temper, and interrest. And with which attitude i´m doing that work is important to transform work into yoga. What do you think about the aspekt of WHAT kind of work one is doing? And how is it connectet with the attitude towards work?"

I totally agree with you markus that one has to find the work he does according to his nature as Krishna in Gita suggests. Otherwise one will land in all kinds of problems. Even if you may be a failure in your work if the work is according to swadharma according to ones own nature it is all right!That is the reason one has to choose the occupation which suits his or her nature. If ones nature is sattva it is good for him to go for sattvic activity and same way with rajas and tamas. He will be comfortable doing the work of his nature in general.But unfortunately life is not the same all the time. We have to face situations where in we may have to go ahead and do the activity which is not necessarily our nature. Bu these situations are not there all the time. They are emergencies or unforeseen situations! If we can anticipate such a situation we can always make necessary arrangement. In such cases we have higher nature of ours which is the freedom called we can switch between the natures smoothly without getting into feeling totally unpleasant until the situation is crossed over! This freedom is also our nature and is our higher nature which we can take shelter temporarily. But we should realize if this is going to be a routine affair then we will have to make necessary arrangement. When I said it does not matter what activity we do I mean people have an impression that if they do a certain type of activity it is superior and other as inferior. Like in an institution one who gives intellectual talks he is superior and one who does the sweeping or laundry it is inferior work! According to karma yoga there is no difference. As much as the person giving talks can get peace of mind the sweeper can get equal or some times more peace of mind.

Karma yoga

February 24, 2005

A

Ishavasya Upanishad is one of the important ten Upanishads. . It is the first one that really approves Karma Yoga. And the Bhagavad-Gita elaborately talks about Karma Yoga. “Karma” means “work”; and “yoga” means “peace of mind”. So karma yoga is the methodology by which the work we do can take us to peace of mind. But karma is also used for a different meaning. People also refer to karma basically meaning the past activity we have done and its effect; to say that something is karmic; like why were you born in Turkey and not in America? It is my karmic aspect. Why do I have to go through the suffering? It is karmic. But when we have a great pleasure and happiness, then it is not karmic. Then we easily say, “I’ve struggled hard! I struggled and earned and put all the effort in that work”. Whereas when a suffering occurs, when something bad occurs, then we say it is karmic. If you hit somebody, that is your effort. Somebody hits you it is karmic. That is why “karma” is used very conveniently, so we need to understand what karma basically is.
The second aspect is how karma can give us peace of mind? All agitations, disturbances and the stress all appear because of karma. Activity we feel brings about disturbance. This is the reason when somebody says ‘peace of mind’ people equate it to giving up work. When we simply say that we have to calm down the mind, listeners immediately react saying “if I calm down my mind, how I can work? And how can the work run if we keep quiet?” But that means that karma is the action that is responsible for our problems. And there is no way that I can come out of this activity, so there is no possibility for having peace of mind while I am engaged in work. Do you understand this basically? This is the first secret that Karma Yoga addresses us. It is not the action that is the problem; the problem is something else. Let me give a simple example in the form of a story to illustrate this point.
The idea of yoga is doing some thing extra ordinary. It should be like some thing challenging. How can simply doing an activity give us the benefits of yoga? Just as doing some humanly impossible rigors of discipline, and torturous practices on he body and mind etc are the ones which gives us the benefits of yoga, no pain no gain situation, how can ordinary activity give us the same benefits?
Just to show that it is not some thing very non-human you are expected to do a classical story is there.
Yoga can be in normal work! A saint by name Kaushik was sitting in the forest under a tree meditating deeply. A bird on the braches above was making noise which is natural for the bird. The sage Kaushik got disturbed from his meditation and with anger he looked at the bird with scorching eyes. The very angry looks burnt the bird and it fell dead on the ground.
Kaushik though felt sorry for the bird, on the other hand he was surprised at the power to burn the bird he acquired through the meditation and was proud too!
As his meditation got disturbed he found that he was hungry. He walked to a nearby house to ask for food and stood in front of the house and asked for food. It is the tradition those days that it is the responsibility of the society to take care of the needs of a student and a spiritual seeker engaged in meditation. But they are supposed to ask in humility and not in arrogance. When he stood in front of a house and asked for food the house wife came with all respect and wanted to take care of the saint at the door steps. But she found at the same time her husband walks in and she invariable has to take care of his immediate needs as a devout wife. She therefore apologized to the saint saying, “Sir, I would like to take care of you. Please give me some time wait for about ten minutes. Let me take care of him and come back to attend to you”. With he words Kaushik felt irritated, “how can she neglect me in front of her ordinary husband when a great yogi like him who accomplished a great power is standing there. But he controlled himself for the time being and waited. On top of all this she took little more time than he expected. When she came out she sincerely apologized saying, “I am sorry I made you to wait”. But his anger did not subside. She apologized repeatedly. But the arrogance will not allow one to act with compassion.
When she found he did not change in spite of her repeated requests and also saying that it was no intentional and she could not help the situation, she said, “oh sir, come on give up the angry looks,” and she further added, “I am not the bird to fall pray to your anger like the bird in the forest”.
He was shocked to hear from her about the bird being burnt because he never expected that any one would know about an incident that happened between him and the bird in the forest where no other person was there. How could he believe she knows about it? How could she know if she does not have any yogic powers? He felt her power must be greater than the power he has to burn a bird just by the heat rays from his angry looks. The moment he realized that she is extra ordinary at once he fell at her feet and prayed her to pardon his ignorance and requested her to tell what kind of yogic practices she does so that she acquired such great powers. She simply smiled and said, “I don’t do any spiritual practices and all that I do is to do my household activity diligently and meticulously”. But he could not believe and thought she is hiding about his practices. She in turn replied, “If you want any more information please go to my guru, his name is Dharma vyaadha and he is in the next town, and find out from him”.
Kaushik then proceeded to the town in search of the guru she has referred to him. Expecting to see a great spiritual teacher may be having an ashram or a place like that, he looked around in the center of the town. To his surprise he saw no ashram or no sign board of a spiritual master around there but to his surprise he found a butcher shop with the sign board saying ‘Dharmavyaadha meat shop’. He thought it can not be because he is expecting to see a pious man and not a meat selling person.
As he was hesitating standing there the person in the shop called him, ‘hi gentle man, aren’t you Kaushik and aren’t you the person the lay next village suggested you to meet me. I am the Dharmavyaadha you are looking for.’ Kaushik was totally dumb founded as how could he know what happened between him and the lady next town. But he could not do any thing. He remained as a mute spectator as he found to his surprise the guru is cutting meat and selling meat collecting money and fighting with them for the money! After he finished the work in the shop he counted all the money and took Kaushik wit him to his home. There he took care of his parents joyfully and at the end he asked him, ‘yes gentle man, what I can do for you?’ having seen all the work he is doing yet having such great wisdom, he is now totally surprised and asked him ‘sir, what is the special sadhana or spiritual practice you do so that you are such a great master. Dharmavyaadha replied humbly, ‘all that I do is to do all the duties that I am supposed to do diligently. That is my meditation’.
Right attitude of work can make it worshipThe moral of the story is that when we are doing the normal day to day work with a special attitude, then the work itself is no inferior to the highest spiritual sadhana. The question now is about the attitude, which can transform our activities into sadhana or spiritual practices!
Let me give you another anecdote how the attitude in the work can change the complexion of it.
There is temple that is coming up in a village. And there are several people working in this temple cutting and carving the stones and make some nice, wonderful sculptures. A press reporter goes to these persons and wants to interview. This lady reporter goes and finds a person who is cutting the stones. She asks him, “What are you doing?”
He replies with lot of anger, “Don’t you see that I am cutting the stone? And it’s a hard stone. Look at my hands! They became red. Beating the stone is like hell. And I would like to find some hole to slip away and rest, but the manager is always looking at me. He knows that I am a person who runs away from work. The whole work is like hell. And on top of it, you come and ask me if the work is really a problem. Cutting stone is really a horrible job. I feel I am cursed to do this. How I wish I could come out of this whole wretched work!” the press person asks the question, “ I see you are cutting the stone, but let me know what is coming up here!” he replies for that saying I don’t know why they are making this road and I am not even interested to know!
So she goes to the second person and asks him, “What are you doing?” He says, “I’m cutting the stone here. It’s my job. I work for a definite eight hours for ten dollars; I have my wife and children. It’s a burden for me, but I have to take care of them. This is just a duty I am doing.” She asks him, “Do you know what is coming up here?” He says, “Yeah, they say that there is a temple coming. We do all the work for the temple. Whether it is a temple or jail, whatever it is, how it matters, I just do my duty for eight hours and then I go away from here. I have nothing to do with them.”
Then she goes to the third person. He is also cutting the stones. Then she asks him, “What are you doing?” He answers, “I’m building a temple. In this village, there was no temple for years. Every time there was a temple festival, all these people had to go to the next village. My grandfather tried it for a lifetime to get a temple here. It remained as a dream. My father tried so much, but in his lifetime, it did not happen. It could not have happened in my lifetime as well. By the power and the grace of God, in my lifetime, this temple is coming up. You know, every time I hit the stone I hear such a wonderful music. And look at the way that everything is like a festival ever since that this temple started. This temple brought the whole village together. The temple made this sleepy village into festive mood.” She asks, “How long do you work on this temple?” He says, “Why do you ask how long? As soon as I get up in the morning, I come to this temple, and I start cutting the stones. I eat, drink, and do everything here. Even when I go home in the night, in my sleep, and even in my dream I’m cutting the stones, I dream of this temple. And that’s really enjoyable.”
“When will you finish this temple work?” He replies, “Why are you asking when we’ll finish? I’m sad that this temple work is finishing and I’ll not have anything to do once this temple is completed. I wish I could continue doing this temple work for a long time, and bring in many more facilities around this temple. It’s a blessing.”
When you look at the work, all three are doing the same work, but for the first person it is hell, and for the second person, it is a duty. However, for the third person, it is a blessing. If the work has the qualities inherently the goodness and badness, then these three should not have been feeling the same. But that is not the reality. The work itself does not carry these qualities. Then what is that which makes so much of difference? It is not the work which is disturbing our mind but it is some thing subtle.
Work is external. Attitude is internal. Work belongs to the world. Attitude belongs to you. You cannot change work much because it is in the hands of the world out side! When it happens to change, fine, it happens. But attitude behind the work is in your hands. A certain attitude makes your work miserable and certain other attitude makes it pleasant. Change the attitude, and you will become spiritual. If you do not have the right attitude, you are non-spiritual.
What you do vs how you do It is not the work that determines whether you are spiritual or not. This point needs to be understood very deeply. In fact, we have such stories in Indian philosophy. A woman can even work as a prostitute, but she can be an extraordinary saint. It is not because of the kind of work she is doing, but the kind of attitude she has. Attitude is in your hands and that is a thing you can change. Nobody can force an attitude on you. People can only influence your attitude, but it is you who decides what attitude you should have. And the right kind of attitude can help you turn it into yoga.
When you look at it this way, yoga is not doing a few postures. I have seen some people who have a wonderful body, which can bend in so many ways, but they cannot bend their attitude. They can hold their breath until eternity, but they cannot hold their greed, their arrogance etc even to a small degree!
Now what is yoga and what is not yoga? What appears like yoga may not be yoga. There are many yoga teachers that we come across who do not have the right kind of an attitude, they can bend very well and twist very perfectly yet they are not in true sense yogis because they don’t have right attitude. So karma yoga is not the work outside. It is essentially the attitude behind the work that we do. An attitude that takes toward peace of mind is a healthy attitude. An attitude, which brings about agitations of the mind, is not a yogic attitude. It is a worldly attitude. We have a wonderful ashram Prashanti. You have nice activities going on there. But you may have a few people there who have a wrong attitude. This can happen and does happen in many places. Such a person comes to the doorstep of something which can really help him. Yet he can not take the benefit of it. It is as if you take a spoonful of food and bring it close to your mouth, but you put not in the mouth but in the nose. You suffer. It is not the work that causes suffering but you and you attitude. If a right attitude is there, the work can give you peace of mind. If a right attitude is not there, then the work can cause tension to you. Now, let me give you a few tips as to how we can acquire different attitudes. Once you go to the depths, you have hundreds of things that are there in understanding the karma yoga, but because of the short time maybe we can discuss just a few things.
If you consider the activity, the first step is that there may be such activities that can harm others, and disturbs others. Then those persons may in revenge disturb me. If I hurt somebody, that person will hurt me back. If I tell lies and misguide somebody, that person might misguide and hurt me. Thereby I suffer, and I say, “Look, I’m suffering!” Then one asks, “Why are you suffering?” “I misguided that man and now he disturbs me.” A simple solution for that thing is, ‘do not cause evil to others! If you do not do evil to others, they will not disturb you. This does not even require spiritual knowledge. It is at a very simple moral level knowledge. At a very simple moral level, it is said, “Do good for others and don’t do bad. Be right; don’t be wrong. Help, don’t hurt”. This does not require the teachings. But there is one subtle point we need to understand here. We should not hurt, not because that person should not be hurt. The hurt that you give, you will get it back. That is one of the physical laws. The physical law says, action and reaction, cause and effect are equal and opposite. The cause and the effect are related. That is what the physical law says. Like in a simple example we see, if I eat bad food, my stomach gets upset. This is a very simple law; it is called a physical law. We understand it in a simple way. This physical law which says, what you do has cause and effect relationship. This is called as ADHI-BHUTA.
WHAT YOU SOW YOU REAP Whatever that I do, I get the benefit, the result of it. I do bad, so I get a bad result. You can see it right away. If I jump from the eighth floor of the building, I will die or I will break my limbs. I cannot say that I do not know why God is unkind to me. I cannot say my Karma is bad. You cannot blame anybody. You have been wrong. You have got wrong in return. This is a physical law. The physical law, the cause, and the effect are related.
Logically it is OK. What you sow, you will reap. This is one of the simple things in Karma Yoga. Never do anything bad to anybody. Do not even think bad of anyone. Even that can cause a ricochet effect. Try to do good. But then the next question comes: “I always try to do good, but I get bad.” It is like a person who drives rash on the road, or a person who drives in the wrong direction and has an accident. He has done wrong so he got the result. So simply, do not drive in the wrong way. Do not drive in a rash way, and you will not have an accident. But I am driving in the right direction, and I am not driving rash, yet suddenly someone comes from the opposite direction and in the wrong way and hits me. He is hurt because he is wrong, but why should I suffer a hurt? What mistake have I done? Do you see what it means? I have been good but I receive bad. This is a situation we come across. If it is the good people who suffer then they ask the question, “Why do we suffer in spite of us being good?”
Now consider this argument. An accident is a physical law. The moment we say it is a physical law; it has a cause and an effect. You are hurt physically, which basically means that there is a cause and effect connection. Accordingly the physical law can have two different dimensions. One dimension is that physically both the vehicles collided and so I am hurt. This does not consider whether you are in right direction or wrong. Physically both vehicles collided and so the accident took place. The second dimension is the subtle one. It is why I should suffer when I have done every thing right. This can be answered as chance which means there is no connection to whether you are right or wrong. It is just a chance. But this explanation can not help us to introspect and also this take apposition that what ever happens is a chance and we have no freedom or a say in such matters. There is another way of looking at. It also has a cause and effect connection because this is also a physical happening and it has to have the cause and result. In other words you created cause some time back and the effect you are receiving now! It can be possible that the cause and the effect may be immediate. But many times it can also be spaced at a long gap, or the cause and the effect may be very far away. The cause and the effect may be distanced so far apart that your perception may not reach. The distance may be both in terms of space and time!
Our memory and our perception have a certain limit and limitations. We often do not know what we did thirty, forty years ago. In fact, when you look at your own photographs of four years age, you cannot recognize yourself. You start wondering, “Is this me?” and that basically means that our memory does not go that far. ‘Memory does not go far’ does not mean that the events that took place do not exist. The cause and the effect may be beyond your memory, but they are related. If you plant a mango seed, it takes twelve years to get the fruit. You might think that the seed you planted is of a wonderful, beautiful, tasty mango, but at the seed level, you cannot tell the difference. However, twelve years later when the fruit comes, it is a tasteless horrible mango. Then you start saying, “I planted a wonderful mango seed and I got a bad fruit.” How can that be? What you have planted you have got. This law cannot be violated. Just because your memory does not reach that far, it does not mean that the cause is not there. Because it is a physical law it can not have an exception.
There is a tribe in Africa I heard. Because of some local genetic conditions, this tribe has a memory not longer than six months. They can only think of things that are six months old, and they do not know what happened beyond that. That is as to how the people of this tribe make a connection between sex and childbirth. That connection is a minimum nine months, but since their memory does not go that far, they think that sex is a different part of life and that the child is god-given. It is not because there is a cause and effect relation, but because the cause and the effect are placed beyond the memory. According to Indian philosophy, the effort can bear results not only in this life; it can be after this life. You plant the seeds now, but you reap the fruits later. The “later” may be this life or maybe the next. This is what is called as “karma”. So when we say “karma”, it is not that somebody else is responsible; you are responsible. Then the student asks what the advantage of this hypothesis is. How can we utilize this knowledge? As a result of this knowledge when something bad happens, we do not blame anybody else. We know that it is our own actions, which have given the fruits. Yet I can decide through my actions and attitude what fruits I will have in the future, and not only in the future but in the life after this one. So from now on whatever activity I do, I never plan anything wrong to anybody, so that I shape my future which can be free from agony.
THE STORY OF BUDDHAOne day Buddha went to a house and begged for some food. This is normal for a sanyasin, who has taken to the spiritual life in India. His requirements are very small: some food and few clothes. They do not have any attachments to anything. Buddha was a big king and he became a sanyasin. And then his requirement is just a morsel of food. Sanyasins do not have houses where food is cooked because it becomes an attachment. So the culture goes that these people go to a house and ask the house lady for food. So Buddha went to a house and asked for food. The lady, respecting the culture, wanted to offer food to him. She opened the door but then she saw a well-built, robust forty-year old man in good health. Obviously she did not recognize him so she at once got annoyed and started shouting at Buddha, “why are you begging food? Can you not earn? Why don’t you work at some place and earn your food? Why should you beg for it? You are a lazy fellow!” After she shouted all that at him, she slammed the door on his face. Buddha’s disciple Ananda heard all this and got angry. He told Buddha, “Why did you keep quiet? Look, you are the king of this place. If she is eating food, it is because of the king’s grace. Why did you allow her to shout at you?” Buddha smiled. “Maybe in some previous life I shouted at her. I’m glad that this debt is cleared now. I don’t want to shout at her now, so that I don’t create a fresh balance. She shouted at me and went back, and now I’m peaceful.”
Adhi Bhuta,
Adhi Daiva This basically shows how one’s behavior changes. So karma philosophy is not blaming somebody but seeing how one’s future has been planned. It gives a person a big relief. This is called adhidaiva. So the first one is the adhibhuta, we are responsible for what happens to us because we see immediately or in the immediate future which is in our memory range. The second is adhidaiva, which is beyond our memory, may be this life or may be in the previous but we are responsible. There is a third force called adhyatma. Bhagavad-Gita says that it is our own nature. Adhibhuta is not spiritual; adhidaiva is also not spiritual, because they are cause and effect related, so it is bound, whereas adhyatma is a spiritual force, and that spiritual force is our nature. What is that?
Even good activity can give miseryEvery activity has these three forces as components. The first component is ‘you do right, and then you get the right back’. Second thing is, ‘you get the benefit, and you get the result from the past, and take it as it comes. Consciously eliminate any activity which can result into bad karma to you’. And the third and the most important aspect is adhyatma, which means we have that freedom psychological that whatever happens to us, we are free to worry or not, to get disturbed by that or not’, and that freedom is the spiritual force within us. We all have that. It is our nature – called swabhava. A situation may be bad, but how to take that situation is in my hands. To get disturbed by the situation or not to get disturbed by it and to use it in the right way is a wonderful force of freedom. It is in our hands. The lady shouts, but the smile at her is the freedom that Buddha exercises. That is the spiritual knowledge within us. Once you have that in your hand, show me what can disturb you? There is nothing in this world that can disturb you. If somebody hurts you, equipped with this knowledge you can smile at him. If somebody slaps you on the cheek; you can turn the other cheek. We all have that freedom. If you apply this freedom even one per cent, you have a one per cent saint in you. You have become a Buddha; you have become a Christ for that moment, and this is our freedom. This is Karma Yoga. If we do good and don’t do anything bad even then we may have the problem of agony. It is because we do good and we now expect the results. If the good does not pay the results expected, it becomes our agony. This is the next subject noticed by the student. Let me tell another real life incident. You know Madras in India. There was a slum area. In these slums most often people do not keep their houses clean. A group of youngsters, who were really charged for doing something good, wanted to do good in that area. They went there and saw that the streets and the people were dirty. There was a lot of work to do. So they wanted to do selfless work. They cleaned the streets and the houses, and showed the people how to clean the dirt why to keep clean and live a life of hygiene. They collected all the garbage, threw it out, and gave baths to the kids. In the end, the kids were looking neat; the streets were neat. The time from morning to evening was spent usefully and they were happy. “See we did good work,” they said. They had peace of mind.
The same group of youngsters came again to the same place the next week, and they found the place is as it was before and back in dirt. Yet they consoled themselves, saying “People will not learn it in one day. Maybe if we do this, another two-three weeks, people will slowly learn.” So the following Wednesday, they did the whole thing once again. They cleaned the whole place, disposed of the garbage, gave baths to the kids. Everyone was wonderful and happy. The next week they went there one more time and found the place no different. But they were still not tired. The same enthusiasm was there. They cleaned the whole place, did everything nice. People were happy; the students were happy. Then they went back. Then for the following Wednesday there were some important problems in some other part of the city. Since the students had to go there they could not come to the first place for one or two weeks,. They did all that - Happy. Then once again, the following Wednesday after that, they went back to the same slum area. As soon as the local people in that slum area saw the youngsters, they asked them, with anger,” What happened to you last week? Why did you not come to clean?”
Now you are frustrated. You say to yourself, “I taught them something good. I tried to do good, but the good did not pay the result. The results are not coming forth. The people do not realize” This frustrates us. The work has not frustrated, but not getting the result of the work frustrated us. What we then normally do is blame the work and say that we should not do this work since the work causes us frustration. Look at this subtly. Work itself did not frustrate you, because the first week we enjoyed it; the second week we enjoyed it, and now it has become frustration! If work caused the frustration, had it not have always frustrated you? However, it gave happiness before and how can it give frustration now! If the work is causing frustration then how could it give satisfaction before and why not now?
Work itself does not cause frustration, but there is something else that causes frustration; that is the expectation of the results. The expectation of the results gives us frustration. We do the work with a good attitude, but the expectation of the results is the bad attitude. That is why Krishna gives us a golden rule: Give up the fruit of the work. ‘Ma phaleshu kadaacana’. Give up the desire for the results. Immediately we have a rebel within us for that very thought. The question rises if we do not expect any results, then why do we do or why do we have to do the work? Here, we need to understand the nature of work from a deeper perspective.
When you closely watch we see that we have good intention for doing good. If it is not there then you are not even fit for spiritual knowledge. Spirituality does not start if you have not arisen from bad to good! And a simple moral education is sufficient to make one to come towards doing good to others from doing bad. Therefore in the first place a spiritual person tends to do good to others. He plans and starts working towards that. From the time he starts doing he enjoys the activity. Doing bad has vengeance or venom behind it and that it is crippling and causing pain. He has come out of all that negativity the moment he comes out of doing bad. You were happy as you are doing the good work. That means your inner self was happy by doing good. But as we progress we start expecting results. The expectation of results is outside. Joy of doing the work is internal and very satisfying. But the moment your focus is outside you are disturbed. As long as your focus is inside, you are happy. The moment you turn your focus outside, you are unhappy. Therefore, expecting results brings you out of your personality. You start becoming anxious and frustration for seeing the results and disappointments if they do not give expected results. Even then the objection sustains. You say, “I did good work and the good work should give a good result”. You start wondering why there has been failure. You loose your faith in good work also. It appears good work may not have desired fruits.
GOOD ACTION HAS GOOD RESULTSPlease understand there is nothing wrong with good work and good work has the result. You may not be able to see. Yes, the work has the result. You do not have the result. The result does not belong to you. The result belongs to the work itself. The fruits belong to the root. What the seed is, so is the fruit. The fruit belongs to the seed, and not to you.
Be assured that every good work has a good fruit. However, it might not show the results today. Do you not see that good has a good flow of activity? People did good activity not because they wanted to see the good result. In fact, for doing good activity, many people meet with such horrible obstacles. A person who did good work has been given poison and another is crucified. Yet if the activity is good, it is going to bear good fruits one day. Socrates was given poison for the good message he spread. Jesus Christ was crucified for the compassion he spread. If we consider the activity and if he was interested in seeing the result, Jesus Christ was a failure, but look what happened after two thousand years? People follow Christ. Have that conviction. Any good work that you do is not a waste. It may have fruit some time, yet you may not be there to see it. You should not worry inside about seeing the fruits. Your efforts should be for the good.
Krishna gave Gita for Arjuna in the battlefield five thousand years ago. Even then Arjuna was not satisfied and not totally reformed by that. If Krishna would have cared only for Arjuna, he would have been a miserable person after giving the whole of Gita to Arjuna. He would have been depressed. “Such a wonderful message I have given. Nobody has benefited by that.” Krishna never looked at the benefit. He wanted to give a good message, and that is why this same message is vibrantly living after five thousand years.
In America, I was working with psychiatric patients. One very wealthy billionaire lawyer lady came to me for psychological support. I told her some ideas with which she was very happy. Then I told her that this idea is from a text called Gita. Her face brightened. “How wonderful this text is! How wonderful this idea is,” she exclaimed. She was really blissful, but then she became depressed and asked me, “You say that this idea is from Gita, and Gita is a Hindu text whereas I am a Christian. How can I apply this?” I said, “Krishna did not have the idea for one particular race or for one particular person. His message is for the mankind. If it is useful, take it. If it helps you take out of your problem, please use it.” She was so grateful for that thought. She realized it is not to convert one from one faith to the other but it to help mankind from his/ her misery
Our good is not dependent on a person, a race, or on an area. Our good is for the mankind. Good has no boundaries. The moment good work is attached with an agenda wanting someone to get converted then the good work lost its importance to conversion and that is no more a good work. Goodness of good work becomes secondary and our other agenda becomes primary. A good work does not have any boundaries. Only with the expectation of results, we create boundaries. When Krishna said ‘don’t think of the results’, he never meant that good results were not going to come. His idea was ‘don’t create a boundary around goodness’. The thing which has no boundary is called as the divine (Ananthata= infinite). This is Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga tells us to do the good activity and not to look at the results.
EGO OF GOOD WORK IS BADBut there is one more step Krishna wants us to recognize and it will take us one more step ahead.
Despite the fact that there is no visible result that you expected, do not become depressed. The assurance is that the result is going to be there anyway. Then the second objection when we start thinking is: “What a wonderful, good work I’m doing. I am not even expecting results, but I am doing good work.” This doing good work can become our ego. This is the evil about the good work. A person who does bad work is saved from this evil anyway. A person who does bad work is not egoistic, but a person who does good work can become egoistic. We have to be careful with that. Who are you to do good work? You can never do good work. Good work is always there in this world. You can only become a part of the good work that has been going on. I tell the truth. Truth is always there. Millions of people have been telling truth, and the truth is supporting them. The same way, you are also telling the truth. You can be egoistic of goodness if you start thinking you are doing good work. Subtly seeing you can only join the good forces that are there in this world. Even before the untruth took birth, truth was there. So truth is something which is eternal. The good work is eternal. It is like a river that flows all the time, perennial. Your good work is like taking a dip in that river. Be humble. Be humble that you are given a chance to be good. Good is going on, and you are associated with that. Thank God that you have become part of the good force that is going on. This attitude takes away the ego of goodness, which is much more dangerous.
There is another important aspect of Karma Yoga. Whether good or bad, I will do the work. I can think good. I can plan good. I can organize good. I do so many wonderful things. This has to be eliminated. Consider the simple fact that I am giving this message. I could be egoistic. But many people have already said what Krishna also said all that knowledge has come to me consciously and unconsciously and from me to you. You are fortunate that you have intelligence. You are fortunate that you are able to put these things together. How can you therefore be egoistic about it and claim the ownership of the knowledge?
Three gunasThere are several external agencies responsible in all these activities and it is you are fortunate so you are able to give. For example, if you had mental retardation, what would you have done? Or if people had not passed on this information to you, will you have created it? Therefore, do an activity but do not be the doer behind it. Do not give up doing the activity just because you are not a doer. This is the essence of Karma Yoga.

There is another aspect of Karma Yoga. Karma means activity. God has created a variety of activities. They are absolutely unique, marvelous, and different. That is how the whole universe is created. Observe nature carefully. You will understand. Look at a plant. We have never looked at a plant leisurely. If you look patiently at a plant you can see the wonderful work going on there. The roots go to the ground, and we really do not know what and how they collect from the earth and ground. They untiringly work inside, absolutely in the darkness of the earth, and do not keep what they collect for themselves; they relentlessly pass it on. There is also a stem, the plant portion. It holds the plant tight, has a hard outer cover to protect the plant from external attacks from the creatures outside, and passes on this wonderful message up the plant. Then on the top, you can see the wonderful leaves, foliage, and the flowers shining in the sky. We look at the leaves, the foliage and flowers, and see how beautiful the tree is, and how wonderful it looks; and we see that as a tree. However, leaves are there for a few months until the fall comes, when we see all are gone. It looks as if the tree is dead, but when the tree is dead, when the whole leaves are gone, all that you see is the dry branches sticking out dead like, yet it is still the roots that hold the life. The roots have all the patience. They patiently wait for the next sun to come. They patiently wait for the next spring to come. They give total assurance to the plant: do not worry. You will once again carry that beauty and give fresh leaves and flowers. Those roots do such a wonderful sacrifice. Thus, each part is doing its own job in this plant.
The plant is divided into three different aspects for the sake of our convenience; the roots, the stem and the flowers and foliage. In a plant all these things are necessary for its existence. The manifestation might have taken place separately but the intelligence of roots; stem and foliage are always available. For the sake of understanding they are given the identity as sattva, rajas and tamas. The flowers and foliage are called as sattva; the trunk is called as rajas; and, the roots under the ground are called as tamas. These three divisions namely sattva, rajas and tamas can be found in the whole creation. You can find the same description in the whole of manifested world. Just look at a human being. He has feet always on the ground, and carrying the weight of the whole body and help you climb up and down the stairs. The feet never complain that you have so much weight although they themselves are on the ground all the time. What the feet do is a selfless work. That is the tamas aspect of us.
The middle portion of the body, which holds the body together, and which distributes the food everywhere and cleans the blood all the time, is called the rajas. Then we have the head where you see, think, enjoy, plan, scheme, and imagine: a totally different kind of activity. This is called the sattva. So in our body we also have rajas, tamas, and sattva.
The leaves, the flowers, the fruits, the sky, and the fresh air, are all sattva. The stem the braches are all rajas. So also any thing hard and working all the time holding together like the way a trunk holds the tree together protects all are rajas and the roots buried all the time under the cover if the soil which does not see the light of the day and the putrefied, decomposed food which is the food of the roots darkness where the roots are always are all tamas. Darkness also means not having knowledge not seeing the brightness of life all are tamas. Tamas also means therefore darkness. Similarly there are these activities which are called the sattva, rajas, and tamas. Soft, gentle, quiet activities are sattvic. The activity of the nature of constantly supplying and distributing the material from the roots to the whole of plant and holding the plant together and protecting all are rajasic activity. There is also another activity which is tirelessly going on doing monotonous work not seeing the light of the day, hard, constantly pressurized labor kind of activity, which is tamas. Thus, the creation is made out of all these three different kinds. This is how the whole creation can be looked at it is made up of these three gunas namely sattva, rajas, and tamas. Krishna says, “Look at all these three things.” This is how basically nature and activity can be explained into three different kinds.
Unfortunately most of the spiritual texts set sattva, rajas, and tamas into a hierarchy, saying that sattva is very good and wonderful, and that we all should go to sattva, whereas rajas is bad, and tamas is horrible. This is how most of the texts have translated, but it appears to me in a different way. Each is important and each is doing its own work wonderfully. If you say sattva is good, being in the fresh air, and the flowers and foliage are good, and you take the roots and keep it in the sky trying to make it sattva, the plant will die. Similarly, if you say, “Why do my feet have to carry the body all the time? Let the feet also be in the space outside. Let me use my feet in thinking because I would like my feet to do sattvic activity. Therefore, I will stand on my head.” That’s not right. Each has to do its own job. Sattva has to happen in a sattvic way. Rajas has to work in a rajasic way. Tamas has to work in a tamasic way. Not only that, only when sattva is recognized and provided the chance to manifest its natural state of sattva it is going to be in bliss, and same way rajas is recognized as rajas and provided the opportunity to manifest rajas naturally it will be pleased, and tamas needs the same way recognition.
In the human beings also there are three categories of people. It is not that a person who is of one quality does not manifest other qualities but basically one or the other qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas will be predominant and others will be supporting that major quality. We may have all these three, but one of these qualities can be dominant in us. Some people have sattva as predominant quality. These are people engaged in thinking, planning, and scheming which are basically sattvic activities. Whereas people who are rajas by nature can protect and organize an army of people for giving protection or for running an organization or a country due to their very nature. They are also people who can distribute things and do trade just like the way the middle portion of our body does. These are people who belong to the category of kings and traders. It is their very nature to be able to do that. Sattvic people are like our head by nature. They think and organize. Rajasic people are like our trunk or stomach portion which protects and organizes the food etc. There is also a fourth category of people who are like our feet. They can do heavy work. They do the labor work and we should be able to appreciate their activity. They are like our feel which carries the weight of the body without any complaint from morning to night. We can not say that tamasic activities are inferior activities and thinking and planning are superior activities. We are here to improve the world and make them go from tamas to rajas and then ultimately to sattva. That is the way we can improve the mankind. Therefore in order to improve a person we should make one to do sattvic activity and take him out of tamas activities. By making them to do these activities they are not suitable for such sattvic activity, actually you are giving them trouble. A scientist is a sattvic person. But if a scientist says, “All right, let me start a business,” he will be a failure. Business requires a different frame of mind. It is a rajasic mind. A professor is a sattvic person. If you put him in the army, he will be a failure. He can only think in a way of a scientist. The other day I heard an incident.
During a state of emergency in a country they wanted to have many people in army and they were recruiting all eligible adults were being recruited in army. A professor was drafted into the army and during the training period the captain was giving orders. They were learning to march and the captain was ordering, “Left right, left right. Right turn. Left turn… And left turn. And another right turn’. The professor stood. He did not move with the others. The captain came to him and asked, “Why don’t you join the march?” The professor asked the captain, “You first decide which way to go. Then I will move. You are constantly changing, right turn, left turn and all that.” The professor cannot understand that. By nature, he is a different person.
Similarly, there is a fourth category of people who are laborers, and we have to have respect for them. What they do is a wonderful job. If you ask a professor to do the labor job, he will be a failure, whereas certain people are there for work like that. Understanding their nature, putting them to the kind of work that they are suited to would be a wonderfully harmonious match. The work which is harmonious for you, and the activity which harmoniously blends with your nature does not become a burden.
I was having a colleague in my office. He is a trained engineer but he is basically tamasic in nature. He was happy doing preparing the reports work which really does not require any brain but it is simply collecting the data from one report and reorganizing into another report. He was never tired doing such repetitive activity without any complaint. He does not worry why is he doing that work where that report is going to go or is there any other way of simplifying the repetitive monotonous work. Many of us were wondering how can he do it that we could not have done for such long time. It is alright for few days doing such repetitive work. Therefore these divisions namely the learned class, royal class, trader class, and the labor class are basically divided because of their innate quality of sattva, rajas, and tamas and generally speaking they come by birth in the family.
Gandhi was a businessman by birth. The business spirit or the money matter was there in his blood from hereditary. To show how subtle this nature was, let me give an example that I heard some where from his life.
Those days when freedom struggle was going on, he inspired the whole country by his talks. One day in Ahmadabad, he was giving a talk. There were thousands of people who assembled. It was in the night. First he inspired them for the national freedom struggle and then said that this required a lot of funds. He wanted to raise funds. People were really charged to participate in freedom struggle by giving donations. The organizers spread a white sheet on the stage. People came in a cue, and they were giving whatever money, jewelry they had, throwing it onto the white sheet. All the leaders were standing there. After all was collected, the leaders made a list of the things given. Gandhi was talking to somebody. They finished the counting and showed the list to him. Gandhi looked at the list, just glanced, and then asked them, “Have you taken everything?” They said, “Yes.” He asked again, “Did you not miss any small little thing?” They said, “No. Why don’t you check again?” thus he insisted. They started feeling a little annoyed. Because, you know, businessmen look into small things when the question of money is there. They do not even want to leave small things. He has become a national leader but he still has the quality of a businessman. They were a bit irritated. Realizing this, Gandhi said, “OK. Let’s go now.” Then they retired into the tent.
Suddenly in the middle of the night, Gandhi came unto the stage with a small little lantern. When he was coming, the others also followed him. When he came unto the stage, he found a small stool standing in the corner. One little earring was lying underneath it. He picked up the earring and gave it to the man. “Please take this also carefully because I respect this. Whoever has given this thing must have really urged, pleaded God, that with this, the country should get freedom. That’s why this is very precious,” he said. Then they asked Gandhi, “We have really mistaken you, Gandhiji. How could you guess it and how did you know something must have gone there?” He said, “Naturally, people were coming from this direction, and when they threw their donation items, something could roll and fall in that direction. So I thought that we had not checked under the small table. That’s why I’ve come.” Then they asked him, “How did you know that something was missing?” This is a very businessman like attitude that comes into the picture. “When I was glancing at the list, I have seen the necklace and this and that. They were all alright but when I looked at the number of earrings, I thought that anybody would give two earrings, not one earring. So I should finally have an even number, not an odd number. When I looked at the number of earrings, it was an odd number. Then I thought something must be missing.”
This is the attitude of a businessman. A businessman cannot miss this. Similarly some people by their very nature are leaders and protective. So Karma Yoga says ‘recognize one’s inner nature and give the right kind of work’. Do the work the way that it needs to be done, and then the work will not be a burden.
Nature itself is not a bad it is a combination of sattva, rajas or tamas in a harmonious proportions. Neither sattva is bad, or rajas or tamas. They are what they are. In the journey of life we come across all these things namely sattva, rajas, and tamas. We are comfortable with what suits our nature and there is nothing right or wrong about it. Even the colors can be looked from the angle of sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic. Even the colors also have an appeal according to ones nature. That is why we like also colors accordingly and nothing wrong in that. One might wonder, how can somebody like those colors. It is only that their nature makes them to appreciate those colors!
If every thing is fine, what is wrong and why suffering? Our suffering is due to our attachments. Our problem is our attachment with one or the other. If my nature is sattva I tend to do and choose things according to my nature called sattva and if my nature is rajas I do things and I like things which are rajasic in nature. This is perfect. But life does not always go on in one guna. Here and there once in a while we may have to shift from one guna to other guna according to the necessity. If I am attached to sattva, even when I have to do rajas or tamas, I still end up doing sattva way only due to my attachment. It is like an obsession in the body. A crude example can be if there is some problem in the body the sattvic way to manage is to just apply a balm, and the rajasic way is to give some harsh and painful drugs or application and tmasic way is to cut and do surgery. In case of a growth in the body where you really need a surgery if the surgeon says he is sattvic, he does everything in a sattva way only, even when he needs to cut open the body, take out the abscess, and take out the growth… it is an obsession and is not in harmony. This is wrong!

B

When I need to beat, I need to beat. When I can do it in a soft and gentle way, I should do that way. We should have this freedom. And this freedom is possible only if you do not have an attachment to any one of these natures.
Sattva is good at some places and bad at some places but attachment to sattva is always bad. Rajas is also good on some situations and bad in some situations where as attachment to rajas is always bad. Tamas is also good in some situations and bad in other situations but attachment to tamas is always bad. Thus, yoga is non-attachment: non-attachment to all three gunas.
Karma, akarma,
vikarmaIf you have an attachment, you do it your own way. The result may be some times success and many times may be failure. But you still continue to do it your own way because of your attachment. Though from the point of view of the result of the activity, it may be successful but from the point of view of self it is always bad and non- spiritual because such an activity promotes our attachment only. Therefore what you do is not depended on what is the result but what is the state of the subject or self. If the subject is getting more and ore bound by his nature he is getting bound, if the person is not getting caught up in his own nature then it is freedom. If our focus is on outside it is worldliness and if the attention is self then it is spirituality. Whereas if you do not have an attachment, you can do what is right. One more concept of Karma Yoga and then we can stop.

Krishna gives one more idea of karma yoga in Gita:
Different people have different explanations about the concept of karma, akarma, and vikarma about which Krishna says in Gita. It is often stated that karma is the rituals and the activities such as the performances of Yagana etc. and akarma is like the non action and the example they give is the axle which is behind the wheel. Finally vikarma is explained as the actions which are prohibited like violence, steeling and robbing, injuring some thing telling lies and series of activities of this nature which are essentially bad. I had difficulty in understanding this because Krishna need not say these things to Arjuna because Arjuna has already been good. he can not think of doing any thing of this sort. There is no reason Krishna has to tell him what is good activity and what is the bad activity and also advice him not to do bad activity and do only good activity. We don’t need spiritual knowledge to tell us to do good actions and not to do bad, to do right and not to do wrong. This is the roll of simple moral knowledge. It is not spiritual knowledge because spiritual knowledge is far beyond the moral knowledge. Arjuna has been highly moral and yet he is suffering. Therefore moral knowledge can not find a solution which he needed. Therefore in my point of view we need to look at it from a different angle at Vikarma different from moral angle so that we can get spiritual knowledge. Let me share with you this idea.
According to Krishna in Gita, he says there are three things which he states as karma akarma and vikarma. These can be translated as action, non-action and reaction. It is easy to understand action and non-action but it is difficult to relate it with reaction.
Action is fine, non-action is fine. He calls action as karma. When he says A+KARMA we can look at it as non+action. He says karma is fine, and that akarma is also fine. However he says, don’t do Vikarma. Now in this statement he brings the third concept called as Vikarma. It is unique with Gita. Vikarma is bad. Krishna says, that activity is OK, non-activity is also fine, but he also says, don’t do Vikarma.
Vikarma puzzles us. We wonder what is it and how does it exist. When there is some thing to be done, you either do it or do not do it. You only have two alternatives. Here is a simple example. I am watching a football game. My wife is busy in the kitchen. And the child cries. Maybe he needs a diaper change. He cries. I tell my wife, “Take care of the kid.” She responds, “You take care of the kid as I am busy in the kitchen cooking!” I say “I am also busy and it is the duty of the mother and not the father to take care of the child”, I bring in law point. I now have two alternatives: I either do karma or akarma. I take care of child or I do not take care of him. I choose not to take care of him because I have an idea. It is not a man who should take care of the child. So I tell my wife, “I am busy here watching the football match. You take care of the kid.” I know in my heart also that it is only an excuse and I am not busy. I don’t have to see football match, after all what is there if I don’t watch football match!
She says, “All right, I’ll take care of the kid, but you will not have lunch.” That is her triumph card. That is a problem for me now. Now what to do? I now feel no other alternative as I don’t want to miss the lunch!! Then very unwillingly I agree to take care of the kid with out one more word of argument, but deep inside, I feel angry. Why should I take care? I should not be doing this. I am a man. Men should not take care of children. Men only give birth for a child. All such arguments rise inside. Yet I still go and take care of him. I now angrily ask the child, “Yes, tell me what are you doing all this mess for”? Wife hears my harsh voice and says from in side the kitchen talk to him nicely, don’t be unkind. Now I can’t even be harsh so I stomach my anger and work! That way while I am doing an activity my inside is constantly telling me “don’t do”. This doing has a strong fight inside. This is defined as vikarma. Vikarma is essentially keeping the negativity and fighting inside while doing an activity. This fighting is roughly called as ‘reaction’. Krishna says that action is fine. Non-action is also fine, but this reaction is bad because the reaction disturbs your inner peace and harmony. Reaction is a poison in our body. Every reaction throws adrenalin in the body in an erratic way. Every reaction disturbs your body chemistry. Reaction is bad. Our action can be reaction. Even our non-action can be reaction. So reaction can manifest in the form of action as well as non-action. What we see outside is action or non-action but what is hidden behind is reaction. Action or non-action is only outer cover, but the spirit behind is reaction. Looking or caring for action or non-action is looking at the world but looking and caring for the reaction or the spirit behind is the spirituality.
Now look at our twenty-four hours of the day and seven days of the week. How much time are you spending doing action, or non-action? And how much you are spending our time and energy in reaction?
Suppose you have to get up early in the morning. No doubt you get up early morning as alarm rings and realize what the first thought that comes into your mind is: “Oh my God, I have to get up. I don’t want to get up. It is horrible. I shouldn’t go to that office.” But then you get up and go. You are on the road. You say to your self, “Horrible traffic! Everybody is on the road!” But you still travel. You reach office and there you find your boss and momentarily you say to yourself, “See, how horrible it is. Now I have to face him throughout the day”. Yet you smile and greet. Understand that in each of these actions every one of them is nothing but reaction only.
Same way your non action is in true sense not non-action. You are resting. But you are not peacefully resting. Thought comes up, “if I don’t sleep, what will happen tomorrow? Should I get up and do this and this or should I just say let me do it tomorrow”. That sleep also has an agenda. Ninety per cent of our whole day is in the form of reactions. That is why we are in trouble. Krishna says, “Give up reaction.” Once you give up reaction then you will not have the problem of this fight within and the disharmony within. We feel that is alright but if I do not react how the other person can be set right? I have to get anger; I have to have my reaction and I can not give up reaction.
Reaction causes disturbances in our body chemistry, it spoils the interpersonal relationship. Reaction creates negativity. Reaction is bad. Though it is bad if I don’t have reaction what do I do?
The opposite of reaction is not ‘non-doing’ because reaction can manifest both in the form of doing and non-doing. Do not have reaction. Opposite to reaction is response! Your response helps the situation to become alright. Reaction many times may help the situation temporarily but on a long run it can hurt the situation also. Response unites where as reaction separates! Have response. Respond to the situation. Your response is what is important. Response has compassion and love, where as reaction is very mechanical, it does not have soul! Response is healthy where as reaction is not healthy to one self or even for the situation.
Reaction has the tone i have a right to do this way or the other way. Reaction is basically based on our rights. I have a right to react. It is showing our right. The question choosing between reaction and response is actually between rights and responsibilities. These days, people talk so much about their rights that it is the most important thing in life. Individual rights constitutional rights, human rights children rights abuse of rights so on and so forth. From morning to evening we keep hearing about the rights.
I was trying to find out what to call for rights in the Sanskrit based languages. Very surprisingly I found that there is no word equivalent in Sanskrit language for right, there is no word for right! Sanskrit language is one of the richest languages. It has so many words, which are not there in other languages. When Sanskrit could give us many words could they not have been given one more word called “right”? They wontedly carefully avoided the concept.
They have not given a word for “right”. That is why none of the Indian languages born from Sanskrit has a word for “right”. In all Indian languages, we only use the word “haq” to express right, but “haq” does not have a Sanskrit origin. “Haq” has an Arabic origin. It must have been borrowed after the Muslim invasion of India which is as recent as 12th century or 13th century. But why did we borrow this word? Simple answer is we did not have a word called right. How could a culture survive for ten thousand years without a word called right! Or is it that because we did not have that word, the whole culture survived for a ten thousand years without a “right”. Please understand that this is very important issue. The culture survived not only without “haq”, but the culture survived because that there was no “haq”. Is it not that this haq is a great poison for the social harmony. Search for the whole Indian literature you will find references for responsibilities and nowhere there is reference for rights!
We have no rights but we have responsibilities under Indian culture. During the whole period of Sanskrit literature for ten thousand years, nobody has a right. This we can not even imagine! The king has no rights. Subjects do not have any rights. Women have no rights, men have no rights. Parents have no rights. Children have no rights. But everybody has responsibilities. The king has a responsibility. The subject has a responsibility. The parents have responsibilities. Children have responsibilities. Why?
A ‘rights’ divide you. If the parents say, “These are my rights” to the children, they are not one unit bout they are separating themselves out. The husband says, “These are my rights” to his wife, they don’t become a unit together but he is separating out. If a king says, “I have rights,” he is not one of the people. Whereas, on the other hand, if he says he has the responsibility he is part of the whole population. Like the way hands and legs are part of the body and try to survive and be happy collectively. Same way according to Indian philosophy a home or a town or a s kingdom all are living organisms like out body and various persons involved in this are various components sharing the responsibility of collective living. Father is not is not separate from the family. An individual is not separate from the society king is not separate from the kingdom. Rights separate and responsibilities unite. Everybody’s responsibility is to unite with the other. The parents have the responsibility to make the house beautiful. The children have the responsibility to make house beautiful. The king has the responsibility to make the country beautiful. The subjects have a responsibility to make the country beautiful. Responsibilities bring people together. Rights separate. Responsibility has yoga, reunion built in it. Rights separate us. That is why a culture which has responsibility as the root, is a culture which survives, which is time tested. A simple example: there are thirteen of us here. If we take responsibilities, it becomes simple. On the other hand if we sit and say, “This is my right, and this is my right,” we can only destroy.
I only wish if these concepts of Karma Yoga spread in the world we may want this strong message that we should have a world society where everybody is responsible. What a wonderful world we can create. We have the responsibility to see the world will be with richness. Trees are rich, rivers are rich, forests are rich and every where there is richness. How can I do that? It is simple. Before I destroy any thing let me construct double of that. Before I take a leaf from a plant, let me give water to the plant so that it has two leaves.
Responsibility comes from within. Responsibility has a satisfaction in itself where as rights are looking for the satisfaction elsewhere. A right has to be imposed from outside. A right requires constitution. Responsibility requires spirituality. We have this wonderful country India, for ten thousand years its culture was based on responsibility. This has been said all over the scriptures, and when we got freedom, our leaders wanted to write a constitution. They were very good and patriotic but they lacked the necessary spiritual attitude to look at the spiritual basis of this culture which survived this for ten thousand years intact if not more. The country was not only survived but was the most prosperous. Until few centuries ago the whole world was looking up to India for riches and happiness. Alexander the great came to conquer this country if it were not rich. Gory Muhammad and Ghajni Muhammad would not have invaded this country umpteen number of times and plundered its wealth if it were not prosperous. Vasco De Gamma or Columbus would not have dreamt of reaching India if India were not prosperous! Our leaders would have thought what made this country prosperous? What was the unique feature which was there in its thought process instead of totally rejecting India means a bundle of out dated dogmas! The framers of constitution have taken guidance from American constitution, French constitution and British constitution to frame ours. There fore our constitution has looked at the rights of every one and not the responsibilities. Our culture was based on responsibilities and our constitution is based on rights. Therefore unfortunately, what happened is that our constitution and ruling is mismatched with the culture. It is one of my dreams that the day comes and hope that is not far away, that we recreate a society based on responsibility, and show the world that something like that can work.


Naishkarmya Siddhi,

Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita brings about another extraordinary subtler aspect of activity, which is about naishkarma that state is called as naishkarmya. This is different from Nishkama-Karma, action without desire for fruit. A simple meaning of the word sounds that it is “non-doing”. It sounds very much like non action, but it is different and it is very spiritual.

He says ‘just by non-action one does not reach the state of non-doing, just as by rejecting the world one does not reach the fullness of satisfaction or one attains the supreme’. He shows a clear difference between non-action and the state of non doing. Action and non-action are two different things as discussed earlier. Let me try to explain them in detail. Action and no action are opposite to one another. Both options are there for us very clearly in all activities. We do an activity or we don’t do an activity, either we take the stance of doing or we can take the stance of non-doing depending upon the need and the situation we are in.
I put the seed in a prepared bed of soil and give all necessary things like manure, water, and sunshine etc. Now the plant has to go on its journey from out of seed. That is not in our hands. I now sit and wait. Until now I was on the phase of action now I am in the phase of non- action. I can be agitated and restless; I may pace up and down. These are the only kind of activities I can do. About the plant coming out of the seed I have to wait and see but nothing I can do. I have to accept non-action. I cannot pluck the plant out of seed. Nothing I can do about it. I cannot even say, let me reduce the suffering of the plant in coming out of seed by plucking it out of seed. I may on the other hand, damage the plant or kill the plant itself.
I read the story long time ago whose significance I see now in this context. Some where a social worker saw, a butterfly struggling to come out of its pupa, it is still very tiny and cute but it is going to be a big butterfly when it comes out, but now it is struggling in the pupa to come out. He felt compassionate towards the little one. He felt bad when he saw that the butter-fly is struggling with the hard shell of pupa to break. Now this social worker wanted to help; he thought after all, let me cut the pupa wall little by little without injuring the butter fly, so that he could release a butterfly out of the hard shell.

His intention was not even bad; it was on other hand very good. His intension was never to hurt the butterfly. His intension was not even to see the butterfly fast and own the butterfly. Don’t find fault with his intentions in any way. When he fully cut open the pupa wall the butterfly is released. Freshly coming out to the world, the butter fly fluttered her wings to dry and make it loose, and she wanted to fly in the open sky.

Other butterflies also come out of their shelter, come out of their pupa but naturally with out cutting their pupa and they also fluttered their wings free, and in front of his eyes they started flying in the infinite sky and into fresh air. But this butterfly, which he helped, wanted to fly but could not. The person now found out that the butterfly wings are not fully grown. Like the wings of the other butterflies who struggle their way through and who come out of pupa in natural process. The social worker lamented. ‘Oh, god! What happened’? He wanted to help the butterfly he felt the butterfly is struggling its way but unfortunately, if the butterfly gone through the struggle she would have had fully grown strong wings, but because he did not provide the opportunity to the wings , the opportunity to the butterfly to struggle her way she didn’t develop her wings fully.

Intensions may be good. But a lack of patience wanting to be doer can create a problem.

He has done something which has caused the suffering and he became the doer because he thought he can reduce the suffering of the butterfly. How can you reduce the suffering of plant coming out of a seed, or the suffering of a butterfly coming out of a pupa?

Don’t be a player, even in good activity. Some people become players by involving in doing an activity. On the other hand some other people would become players by withdrawing from doing an activity. So in doing an activity or in not doing an activity, in both cases one can become a player and in turn the sufferer.

Allow ‘doing’ to happen, allow ‘non-doing’ to happen, in both the cases don’t be a player. Human being has a wonderful facility over other creature. Matter has the consciousness which has totally become existence. Matter has nothing but existence. Plants and animals have consciousness, which becomes existence and also the conscious of existence. That’s why plants and animals not only exist but they can work towards existence. Plants send roots in to the ground, through the stones and pebbles to reach the water bed and to get the nutrients. Plants send the leaves in the direction of the sun to support its existence through the process of photosynthesis. The same way animals search their foods. And struggle for existence, because they are conscious of existence.

Whereas the human being is existence and conscious of existence and in addition to the both, he is conscious of the consciousness for existence.

That is why he can be a witness of his existence. And he can also be the conscious of his means or effort for existence. But he has an option in this. He can become a totally involved doer, struggling for existence and may be totally absent as an observer or witness. But he can also be totally a person conscious of the effort of existence which is witness. He can identify himself with the one who is struggling and putting effort for existence. And he can also be witness of the one, who is struggling or putting effort for existence. The moment one become witness, one is free form ups and downs, successes and failures and all emotional upsurges behind the player. Then he can witness that the play is going on. Then the doing is happening. This is the state called naishkarmaya, the non doer. Such a person who has realized naishkarma, or who achieved naishkarmya siddhi, he is walking yet not walking; he is talking, yet not talking etc., ‘I am doing’, concept of him is totally dissolved and he is totally one with the witness and which is nothing but ‘I am being’.

Once you become a sakshi or witness, the search for happiness through the objective possessions, recognitions and all the other things from outside do not make any sense. One finds the happiness within. Search for the happiness outside may be one type of bondage, which is crossed. Subtler than this bondage is the bondage of wanting to be the doer. The doer bondage is much more disturbing and is very difficult to recognize. All the people who do and want to do good are seldom caught in this bondage. That is the reason you see their life becomes very serious and the bliss of life will only be at the lips level. He is constantly in pairs of opposite and he can not accept both success and failure are one and the same. Once this bondage is dropped, he is then free. One who reaches his freedom he is beyond the ultimate pairs of opposite called the birth and death.

Between birth and death, two aspects are blended. We are working and also we are living. One is the ‘doing aspect’, between the birth and death, heart will be pumping blood, breathing goes on, the nourishment as to take place and the struggle for the existence is continuing. All these things are one aspect of life which is the doing aspect. The doing has the limitation of birth and death. And the doing stops with the death. The stopping of the doing itself is death.

There is another aspect underlying this doing which is the ‘being’ aspect, the being has been going through all these changes. Yet the being has none of these limitations or the pairs of opposite. It is free. It has no boundaries.

One who is held by doing is bound by limitations. Therefore fear will be there; where as one, who is identified by being, he is the existence itself. Such a person will not be touch by birth and death success or failure, praise or blame, or finally birth and death. Fear will be there if we want one and we don’t want the other and there is a possibility to get the one which is not our choice. Therefore fear does not touch him who does not have pairs of opposite. That is called as final ‘abhaya’ state or the state of ‘freedom from fear’. This is the subtlest aspect of karma yoga called naishkarmya siddhi. Achieving this in karma yoga is parallel to achieving Samadhi in raja yoga. The description of Brahman is given us “Sat Chit Ananda” where Sat means the existence itself. A person who achieves naishkarmya siddhi has achieved the sat aspect of Brahman and becomes one with Brahman.
Several ideas are there on Karma Yoga. Let me just give one final message. Yoga does not mean running away from the work. Yoga is holding responsibilities more joyfully and harmoniously. Yoga does not make somebody irresponsible. If it makes anybody irresponsible, it is not yoga.

Let me now sum up these few ideas of karma yoga:
Karma yoga can be one of the paths of yoga if only it contributes to the peace of mind and harmony with-in like all other paths of yoga have to give us the peace of mind and harmony.
‘Doing good actions and guiding us not to do bad actions’ is not purpose of karma yoga. This is at simple moral level. Good and bad is at ordinary level of human transaction. If a human being is not doing good and doing bad he is to be punished. There is no spirituality in this. Arjuna was already good but he needed Bhagavad-Gita. It means that karma yoga is not to give us the clarity about good and bad but to take us beyond.
So the journey or the sadhana of karma yoga is to rise from good action to the action without expectations of fruits of action, and finally to go to action where the doer is absent and the doer ship is sacrificed and dissolved.
This is similar to the last three steps in astanga yoga namely dharana dhyana Samadhi. These are sat karma, phalapeksha rahita karma and finally naishkarmya siddhi. Like the body is the temple of god the same way the work we do is also the worship of god. It is our ignorance which makes us to take work as stress or curse or punishment and only if we do some specific activity that will be karma yoga and sacred. An attitude which can make this transformation of all activities we do is karma yoga.
Thank you so much.


Question: Could you please repeat the last sentence in Sanskrit?

I’ll tell you where Krishna thinks about this idea.

karmany evadhikaras te, ma phalesu kadacana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhuh, ma te sango ’stv akarmani
Oh, Arjuna you have the adhikara to do the action but not the fruits for the action. You also do not become the cause for the fruits and don’t be attached to non-action.

Regarding the origin of this knowledge of yoga, Krishna gives a very philosophical Arjuna. In Bhagavad-Gita Arjuna asks Krishna “Look, you are telling all these things. When did all this knowledge come?” Krishna answers that this knowledge is called as yoga and is ageless. Basically the principles of yoga are given birth to creation. Even when creation had not taken place, the concept of creation, the concept of yoga had always been a part of existence. This is a basic idea. The creation has originated from the concept of harmony. When he created the day, simultaneously the night was created. When the birth was created, at the same time the death was defined. This means that this concept of harmony, which is essentially yoga, was even there before creation has taken place. And at any point of time, if the survival has to continue, then this balance has to be maintained. So that is why this idea of yoga or the state of yoga is something which is always there through time. This is why it is called as ageless. This is something which is there at the background and this is the background for the rhythm that is there. A thing which does not belong to this gets eliminated.
For example, when man did not have all this technological developments, all this culture and civilization, it was not that he was sitting in a forest meditating. He was living harmoniously. That is his support of life. It is this harmony which maintained him. That is the background of life. In fact, one of the Upanishads uses this statement called “yoga dandha”. It basically means that the central core support is yoga.
As man has grown he required a method of practice which has to remind him about yoga all the time. That is how these practices evolved. Every one is engaged in these practices as a part of the culture whether he is a servant or a teacher or a trader every one used to practice yoga on a regular basis. The king who was ruling a kingdom of lavishness and luxury is also a student of yoga. Yoga is taught in the school to small children. Yoga is also taught to Arjuna by Krishna in the battlefield. In that sense, yoga is all inclusive. One might wonder what yoga Arjuna was to know in Battle field. Definitely it was not the practice of asanas. But it was definitely yoga. Therefore it is always chanted that it is Bhagavad-Gita and the science of yoga.
People have taken yoga and tried to use it for their own smaller purposes. For example, the Indian dance has developed on the principles of yoga. Indian cooking has developed on the principles of yoga. People have picked few ideas of yoga although they lack the whole system of management.
You are asking me a question about new age group and ask me is it yoga. There are a few yoga principles here and there they have picked up and that they started giving several names. One such thing is what is called a new age group. And they say, “What we are saying the same thing yoga also says.” Actually few of them grasped what yoga says. In my opinion, I have no objection about that since you pick up a few principles of yoga and make your life better. It is wonderful.

QUESTION: You are talking about good and bad, and it is critical in the end deciding what is good and what is bad because it is relative and good and bad changes according to culture. So how will we decide?

In fact, I can clearly say that culturally what is good for one can be bad for one from the other culture. So this is very local thing to call one thing good or bad according to the culture. They are not absolute. This is essentially respecting the culture. In that sense, there is not good and bad in reality, whereas at a much deeper sense, there is no good and bad. So Krishna also gives in Bhagavad-Gita some simple principles of good and bad. But finally, he gives another definition which is a much more encompassing definition. This is, “That which helps the sustenance is good, that which promotes destruction is bad”. Wherever we can adapt the good and the bad in a society of that society, or culture, or whatever it is, it is fine because that culture has not come to you; you have gone to that culture.
Take for example the few things in certain parts of India. There are certain things which are good or bad, but the moment you come to Prashanti, there are different goods and bads. So Prashanti has defined good and bad one way. That definition of good and bad in Prashanti is to develop that kind of an environment and an atmosphere which is necessary for people to grow certain things of life. If I go to Prashanti, I can get what Prashanti can offer to me, and adapt to the good and bad of Prashanti. I adapt these things so that I can get the best of Prashanti. If I’m in a car, the moment I sit in the car in the driver’s seat, I have some goods and bads there, some thing right and some thing wrong, and I need to respect, and the moment I respect, then the car will help me. So we should have that flexibility to accept, but they are not absolute. Absolute bad is that where you clearly see that the end point is destruction and if it is going to sustain and not cause destruction then it is good. That definition of good and bad will help us to take world much better way.

QUESTION: But sometimes destruction can bring something that is good.

That is right. I mean the destruction and the sustenance in the long run. I destroy a bacterium for life to survive because the badness of the bacteria is that it not only destroys the other, but it also gets destroyed in the process. Let me make it a little clearer. For example, take the case of a bacterium. The bacterium is actually surviving in that person. But in the process it destroys that person and when the person is not there, the bacterium also gets destroyed, too. Whatever that is sustained. What is the badness of cancer? The cancer cell destroys a person who is responsible for its own growth. This is bad because it is self-destructive. This has to be understood from a deeper perspective.

Suryanamaskara - Practice

December 24, 2005

One of the readers pointed out since there are several styles of practice of suryanamaskaras why don’t I suggest the technique we adapted in all our contacts. Hence I am giving the details here.v STITI [the starting position]: stand with back neck and head in one line with both hands folded in front of the chest in namaskara mudra.v Start with eyes closed with the sloka of respect to the sun god, Hiranmayena patrena…..v This is followed by one of the sun mantras OM HRAM MITRAYA NAMAHA, OM HREEM RAVAYE NAMAHA, OM HRUM SURYAYA NAMAHA etc. one mantra with one set of practices.v Say ‘ekam’ [one]. Inhale and bend back taking the hands all the way up and back – ardha chakrasana. v ‘Dwee’ [two]. Exhale and bend forward and down completely. Keep the palms by the side of legs, if possible on the ground – padahastasana. v ‘Treeni’ [three]. Inhale and take the [alternately right and left] leg back into comfortable position and stretch the body forward.v ‘Chatwari’ [four]. Exhale and take the other leg back to join the first leg and the whole body is in one inclined plane.v ‘Panca’ [five]. Inhale and exhale sit on the knees and bend the head down, hands stretched in front on the ground – shasahankasana.v ‘Chata’ [six]. Hold the breath [kumbhaka] flat on the floor with palms, forehead, chest knees and toes on the ground in sastanga namaskara asana.v ‘Sapta’ [seven]. Inhale and with palms pressed on the ground raise the head up into bhujangasana – the cobra pose.v ‘Astha’ [eight]. Exhale and raise the waist up stretch the hands and legs into invert v position. Pravatasana.v ‘Nava’ [nine]. Inhale and exhale and sit on knees. It is repetition of fifth pose – shasahankasana.v ‘Dasha’ [ten]. Inhale and bring the right leg forward toes in line with the palms.v ‘Ekadasha’ [eleven]. Exhale and bring the other leg forward – padahastasana.v ‘Dwadasha’ [twelve]. Inhale and come up bend back fully and retrieve into the starting position.v Start the next cycle with chanting of next mantra of surya – the sun god. BREATHING PATTERN Following the breathing pattern is important for the following reasons. The breathing will help make the process of doing the posture easy. Body and Prana have to flow together then only one is in harmony with the other. In sun postures it is taken care of. It is natural that when we bend forward the chest and stomach is compressed and if we do not exhale that will be added burden. Similarly when we bend back breathing in will enhance the bending activity. This cycle is maintained. That is how definitely when we bend forward and down we are breathing out and whenever we bend back breathing in is included. In between the breathing is so managed that when ever we are doing posture we are adapting breathing and not holding the breath.Normally our tendency when we are not aware is to hold the breath when we do some thing. It is necessary to hold breath called ‘Kumbhaka’, when we have to lift heavy weights. But it appears that this habit percolated into other activities. Even when we are bending forward or so also we hold breath, which is not necessary. This continues in almost all activities. Similarly when ever we are anxious we hold the breath. If there is a big unexpected sound around you look in that direction in wondering what it is. That time you watch you will find that while watching you are holding the breath! Logically speaking why we have to hold the breath. There is no reason. But still this sympathetic response we do as a part of our habit. Many times it is not the work which tires us, but the breath holding is many more times taxing for us than the work we do.The practice of proper breathing and the breathing while doing the posture will help us to create a counter habit of maintaining proper breathing wile doing an activity such as bending forward or bending back or twisting.In the sixth position, which is the ‘sa – asta – anga – namaskara – asana our face is directly on the floor or the carpet and our nose is nearer to the ground. If we inhale we may be inhaling dust how ever much we take care. In order to avoid this we hold the breath. This posture also provides us the practice of ‘Kumbhaka’ in a gentle way. All other postures we may breathe or not depending on the amount of time we give in the posture, but in sixth position we need to hold the breath.Fifth and ninth positions are basically relaxing position called sasahankasaka, the crescent moon posture. It is observed that especially in case of patients this posture in between the other flow of postures will help one to relax and regain the balance. Since it is a relaxing posture in this posture do normal breathing. Here in this posture therefore if needed do the normal breathing more than once.One should never be in a hurry to do the number of suryanamaskaras. It has to be done leisurely and with awareness.o If we do not follow proper breathing there may not be any damage but following proper breathing will enhance its benefits.o The benefits due to adapting proper breathing pattern are as follows.o It is found to improve the lung functions.o Deep breathing becomes possible because in these postures we systematically adapt all the three lobes, namely second posture helps in abdominal breathing fourth middle lobe and fifth upper lobe and Bhujangasana facilitates full yogic breathing!o Proper breathing will help to build stamina.o A habit of maintaining proper breathing in various day to day activities will be cultivated. o Since it has all these benefits it is very therapeutical and many times suryanamaskaras alone can be a remedy for lot of ailments.

Annamaya kosha and suryanamaskara

December 13, 2005

Let us now come to the physical body called ‘Annamaya Kosa’, which is equivalent to physical body. Though we roughly equate it is not strictly so because Annamaya kosa is not water tight compartment but it is a continuum in body-mind-consciousness complex, which is what we are. Because of this difference there are few things which we need to consider. They are Annamaya kosa as the name indicates it needs food. Food is ‘Anna’ and Annamaya is like ornament made out of gold is called as ‘hiranmaya’ where ‘hiran’ is gold. I will no go into this aspect because I would like to go into the exercise aspect which is directly connected with Suryanamaskara. The other two aspects are exercise and relaxation. Exercise is very important aspect of our life. Exercise involves bending the joints twisting and stretching. So in all the postures make sure that you fully stretch and where ever it provides an opportunity twist fully like in the case of third posture or tenth where we stretch one of the legs forward there is a chance to twist too. Use this opportunity. Regarding stretching in the second posture consciously and slowly stretch in back bending systematically from neck muscles to chest and further on to stomach muscles to waist. So that your posture helps you to fully stretch the front portion of the body. Same way use the third posture to be used for stretching the back fully. Every posture involves some body part being stretched. In every posture also recognize that you one should be stable.If we study the postures closely we can see that starting from the top of the body come to the waist then to the lower portion of the body and come to total prostration in namaskarasana. After that the sequence is to retrace the steps back to standing position which is like unwinding. There is a nice symmetry involved, which is also further enhanced by the breathing pattern adapted in the postures. The stretch is from the upper body muscles to the lower limbs thereby e The stretch is from the upper body muscles to the lower limbs thereby exercising the whole body. That is the reason in several schools they consider Suryanamaskara is a wholesome exercise for our body. When we can not do other practices of asanas due to some external reasons we should be able to do at least six sun-salutations. Yoga postures are different from the physical exercises in several aspects. In case of the physical exercises awareness is not mandatory where as in case of yoga practices or suryanamaskaras we must have the awareness. Another aspect in physical exercises we have to do more and more and achieve more and more which is measure for progress. On the other hand in yogic practices such as Suryanamaskara it should be like a flow of physical postures smoothly and effortlessly and not the doing of ‘more’ is important! We have to relax in the practice which means actually the muscles have as little participation as possible. Therefore the physical exercises are for building muscles where as Suryanamaskara will help us in glandular system and the nervous system. For nervous and glandular problems Suryanamaskara is a good solution. Though they are essentially not focusing on muscles, since there is some participation of muscles the practice of Suryanamaskara will help in loosening the muscle tone. Early morning if we do six rounds of Suryanamaskara followed by brief Shavasana for five minutes we have observed that the day’s activities of the work place flow very smoothly and harmoniously. In hospital ‘Stift Rottal clinic’ at Griesbach in Germany, all my doctor friends do the practice of five to six suryanamaskaras before starting their days work.The great benefits of Suryanamaskara is, it helps in improving the circulation of blood and makes the body flexible and helps to spend the energies of Vasana in a neutral way so that it helps to contribute towards inner peace! Simple muscular pains and discomfort because of our sedentary habits will be removed very effectively and makes our activities normally blissful.According to the energy model explanations when we are not engaged in any activity we can experience the accumulation of some sort of uneasiness, and the desire of wanting to do some thing or the other comes up for all of us sooner or later! This is what we call as ‘boredom’. We actually engage in either drinking cups of coffee or munch some fried stuff or in gossiping. These physical activities help us to spend the restless energy for some period of time. This restless-form-of-energy-disturbance is called as moola Vasana or anaadi avidya. Suryanamaskara offers a very non-injurious form of exercise to get rid of this moola Vasana. Therefore Suryanamaskara practice is spiritual in nature taking us to inner peace and harmony!So let me summarize the points for suryanamaskaras.Suryanamaskaras are good for circulation and helps to start the days work much more harmoniously.It is useful in case of glandular and nervous dysfunctions.It helps to loosen the joints and tones up muscles.Spends the general boredom forces and makes the life enjoyable and the over burden of life can be diffused.Heart patients should exercise caution in doing this practice. A proper Suryanamaskara should help one to go deeper into various aspects transcending the physical identification and let us now try to understand from the pranamaya stand point.According to yogic language of physiology we have these chakras which are located in the middle of the spinal chord and the chakras are supposed to be in dormant way so that the serpent power or our vital force is lying coiled in the foundation chakra called mooladhara. Though lot of these things appear to be rather vague we can experience one thing that is we can feel the laziness in the position which correlates to chakras which will make us lazy and we will be unwilling to take up activity. Once we practice this it will make us active. For the first practice of back bending we have to pull our body from the lower abdominal region which will start working at the mooladhara chakra. The next posture will work on the next higher chakra swadhistana, in this sequence these postures are so designed to activate from lower to higher chakras.The posture immediately after the sa-astanga-namaskarasana [where the participant is lying on face on earth, with forehead on the ground, with chin on the floor which is the symbol of surrender to the divine] the posture which follows is bhujangasana, the cobra pose which is indicating the awakening of kundalini or the coiled serpent power. When the force acts without awakened mind it will lead us astray where as when the activity comes up as activity with awakened mind, the same force will be constructive and all activities become spiritual activities. Therefore the Suryanamaskara has a very deep perspective from yogic physiology point of view.

Surya namaskaras

December 11, 2005

(I)Hiranmayena patrena satyasyapi hitam mukhamTatwam pushan apavrunu satya dharmaya drishtaye
[He, Sun!,…………]

[Once I happened to visit the saint Pujya Raghavendra Swamiji of Malladihalli in Karnataka. He showed me round the ashram, and finally we reached an underground or the cellar place and he explained that it is a place of his Sadhana and every day he will go there at three in the morning ... I wondered who will call three as morning! And he said he will do his Sadhana until eight and then he will come out. I questioned him can we know about what Sadhana he does. He replied that he does Sunryanamaskars. I asked him how many he will do. He replied, ‘now a days, doctors told him that I have grown old. So I do only two hundred otherwise I would do lot more’. He was at that time ninety five! At ninety five one could do two hundred salutations how effortlessly he must be doing them! Normally in our classes when we ask people to do six they are already exhausted and need Shavasana!He lived for more than hundred years and his life mission was to spread yoga in rural Karnataka and he also runs an orphanage called Anathashrama] Welcome you all to participate in the sun prayer yagna, where we would like to collectively emotionally involve in the practice of sun salutations in various parts of the world in a disciplined way until at least the fourteenth of January which is the day sun changes his position from winter half [ solstice ] to summer half [ solstice ] . In this series I would like to express some of the thoughts about the sun salutations. In the first place sun salutation is a combination of the following practices.

1. It is a combination of several physical postures starting from standing to go to the ‘posture of salutation’ called ‘sastanga namaskarasana’ [sa=together, asta= eight, anga= limb, namaskar= salutation], and coming back retracing the steps back to the standing position.
2. The number of postures involved can be flexible. Different schools adapted different styles and the number can be any thing like ten or twelve or eighteen or thirty six.
3. Before doing the series of postures most of the schools chant a sloka [verse] from the sun prayers or from any of the scriptures like Upanishad which offers prayers to the sun. The sloka given above is taken from the foremost of the Upanishads called ‘ISAVASAYAM’.
4. After the sloka we chant a mantra or a series of mantras associated with the sun god. There are several names of the sun god which are associated with several aspects of him. Out of them twelve mantras are more popularly chanted.
5. The mantra will be followed by the actual positions stiti, the starting position being the namaskara mudra.
6. In every step breathing is associated and the sequence is so designed that it flows freely as we practice.
7. Generally the practices of Suryanamaskara can be done by normal healthy persons. Only those who have hypertension or heat problems have to consult doctor or any expert yoga master before undertaking these practices.

Before we proceed further in discussing about Suryanamaskara let us see why sun god has to be prayed. Some developed this idea that the offering of our prayers to the natural elements such as sun wind etc as god was started those primitive days when science was not developed and he would be facing several natural calamities. Since he does not know the reason for the vagaries of the nature the only thing he could do was call these natural forces as gods and thinking that god is unhappy with people for some reasons he alone knows, he was afraid of god and therefore in order to please god they would offer the prayers. Thus the sun-prayers must have started! To day we know that sun is a star and is not a human-form-divine. Thus people go to god out of fear! This may have been true in some cases but in offering sun salutations it is not the fear which has driven man for sun salutations!Earlier in villages when ever they used to have terrific thunders in the night and one could see the bolts from the blue next morning the head of the village would assemble all the people and tell them, ‘last night god has been displeased with some people in this village so he has sent bolts from the blues. So who so ever has done what so ever mistake, please come forward voluntarily, and confess and seek punishment! With that people would come and disclose all the mistakes they have done with that one benefit are that the villages used to have fewer crimes!But in this part of the world people were not offering sun salutations because of fear of god especially sun god! There are references about the details of the sun as a mass of energy in the space as a sphere and as the center of the solar system. Even there are indications about the approximate distance of the sun from earth. Based on all these details they have invented a very sophisticated calendar system. So there is less possibility that they have offered prayers to sun out of fear. If they have practiced sun salutations it is because of the respect born out of love and recognition. In fear when we go to god, god is not important but when we go to god out of love god becomes important and self is dissolved! Therefore sun salutations have a very deep meaning. Though the practice primarily has the surrender out of love which is enriching emotional experience it still has benefit at all personality levels namely physical, mental, intellectual, emotional and finally at spiritual level. Let us look into various aspects considering one by one.For the benefit of those who do not know about the five level personality let me briefly give some explanation. It is a way of understanding human being as given in the Taittariya Upanishad. When we look at a man from outside we only see the outer of physical personality and its functioning which may be considered as life force. One can also feel the existence of mind and intellectual activity appears as if it the part of the mental faculty and further they do not have any idea about the subtler levels. In the Upanishad there is systematic discussion is about the existence at five levels of subtleties.At the grossest level we are the physical personality which is obviously visible. Immediately at the next level it is called the Prana personality or pranamaya kosa. It is the Prana which is responsible for the functioning aspect of the physical body. Eyes see, ears hear and all activities happen because of Prana only. Therefore pranamaya kosa is more fundamental. Deeper than that is Manomaya kosa or mental personality. When the mind is not there eyes do not see or ears do not hear. So we are basically mental personality which takes the support of body and Prana for giving manifestation to its activity. I think of doing first and then I employ the energy called Prana and the body as instruments. But on close observation we see we are the intellect and we identify with intellect much more than any thing and it is the intellect which also makes the mind to think and thereby function. So it is a general impression that the most important aspect of us is the intellect but intellect also sub-serves another important aspect which is our actual nature which is bliss or happiness. We do all activities for the sake of happiness and if there is no happiness we do not do. But only doubt one can have is that the happiness or bliss appear to be coming from the object and how we can say it is our nature. For that Upanishad recommends us to look at the sleep state. In sleep we experience happiness without any exception and without any object support. In fact an object coming from out side in sleep which may be your choicest, we do not want that, because it also disturbs the joy of sleep. So we can infer that in deep sleep state we are touching our own nature which is coming from within which is ‘bliss’. So deep inside we are bliss personality and only all in all other outer layers we have intellect, mind, Prana and body. Yoga has its approach to help us at all these personality levels namely physical, Prana, mental, intellectual, and spiritual or bliss personalities. I shall deal with all these levels systematically but before proceeding further let me give some hints for the practice.Do it in the empty stomachPeople with complaints of hypertension can do this only after fifteen days of practice of various simple breathing and loosening exercises so that the body can take the strain.Persons with back pain should avoid front bending pose. Instead they should go to next posture.Persons with ear problems or tinnitus or seizers should avoid back bending and those with seizers should not take deep breathing.

Questions on Isa Upanishad

(1) question: what are worlds covered with clouds or those who worship body willhave great darkness… worlds without sun that people will go if they killthemselves.

Answer: I hope the translation you have given is for the third verse. Let me try asimple understanding. You are right that there is nothing like heaven or hellsome where outside. We create heaven and hell by our own ignorance. When we saythose who kill themselves… it is not about persons who commit suicide in aconventional way. It is essentially, our nature is eternal and we are the eternal principle whichcan not be burnt by fire or touched by water and a sword can not cut us etc. assaid in Gita by lord Krishna. We are eternal and temporarily bound in this bodyfor this short period of time in this life and therefore this body undergoeschange. Those who think they are this body which is short lived and not thesoul which is eternal out of their ignorance are the people who killthemselves, because they out of their choice identified with that which diesand not identified with that is eternal. Such persons worship body. In givingthe idea of worship Upanishad gives the word upaasana, which actually conveysupa= near, in close proximity and asana= sitting with, therefore sittingclosely with body, so close that there is nothing closer than that and nothingcan penetrate in between, this identifying with body is worshipping, as thebody is dying every moment they will also experiencing the death or fear ofdeath! They go to those worlds which are without the light called wisdom. Thosewho identify with body are not one with atman.

(2) Question: why would vidya delude a person from true reality? If you cling toknowledge too much without experience the knowledge it self is not useful…
Answer: You are very true when you said clinging to the knowledge withoutexperience. Knowledge is a tool for experience. A knowledge which does not takeus for experience is non-knowledge. It becomes arrogance! That is a greatdanger greater than having ignorance. Ignorant at least has a hope to becomeknowledgeable one day and further journey is possible towards experience butone who has knowledge but it has become arrogant instead of experiencing ha hasno hope at all! But as you expressed means is necessary for the end. Knowledgeis necessary for experience but means is not the end.

(3)Question: what are self and atman…?
Answer: Atman as I see is our simple experience as exepriencer, when I say I amhappy. It essentially refers to very individual expereice. These remains asindividual until we are in this body and if we not have any specific clingingsthe moment we leave the body the individual becomes nothing but the universal‘I’.

Love,
Raghuram.

Dharma and Creation

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

There has been much confusion between the concept of Dharma and that ofReligion. But it is important to note that Dharma does not belong to anyReligion, just as God does not belong to any Religion. The word Religion isused to indicate the message and method suggested by several great messengersthat was further carried on by his/her followers, the same way that God is the_expression for the higher power behind creation. I am appealing that insteadof using the term Religion, let us call the messages and methods of the greatmasters as Dharma. Instead of limiting the scope of the path as the ‘only’path, let us understand the message of the great masters as one of the severalpaths given by several saints, masters, and prophets. This concept of Dharma will make the world richer; instead of one saint, we can have several saints;instead of one text, we can have several texts. The message can come not onlyfrom past saints, but also from present saints and even those who may come inthe future. With the introduction of the concept of Dharma the spiritual fervorof the human being can be like a flowing river with fresh waters at any pointof time at any place.Let us remove the misconception that Dharma belongs to the Hindu religion. Inthe same way that language does not belong to any one religion, Dharma does notbelong to any one religion. It happens to belong to a language called Sanskrit,but it is a universal term. If there is any equivalent, identical, and allencompassing word like Dharma in any other language then we can just as easilyadapt that word.Now that we understand the broad concept of Dharma and its distinction from anyone religion, it is imperative that it is defined. Dharma has beencomprehensively used for any activity which helps man on an upward journey, asthat is its very definition.

This leads us to two inherent questions:
1. Why does mankind need an activity that helps him/her on an upward journey?
2. What is the meaning of an upward journey and, conversely, a downward journey?

In order to fully understand the answers to these questions, we must understandthat all creation has consciousness as the basis. Consciousness itself is thefreedom aspect of creation. Based on the consciousness principle, we can dividecreation into three different categories.In the first category, consciousness has become mere existence in matter whichis referred to as ‘jada vastu.’ Matter has only existence. This matter followscertain properties or qualities, which is called the Dharma of that material.The Dharma of water is to wet, the Dharma of fire is to burn. It has no freedomof choice. The fire cannot determine that it will not burn the finger of thechild who put her hand in it. Water at a certain temperature becomes ice and atanother temperature becomes steam. These are the qualities which cannot bechanged. This is the first category of substance which just exists.In the second category, substances are conscious not merely to be in existence,but strives to stay in existence. This second category consists of plants andanimals. They do exist like matter but their strive to exist exhibits a smalldegree of freedom. The moment the seed is placed in suitable soil, the journeycalled life starts for the plant. The plant sends its roots into the soil andsends the stem bearing leaves and foliage into the sky in search of sunlight.The plant has no confusion. That intelligence or consciousness is clearlyavailable. Similarly when the stem of a plant comes out, it is in search ofsunlight. Animals also show similar freedom or intelligence within them. I waswatching the Animal Channel on television one day. The program was showinghundreds of baby turtles hatching from their eggs on an early morning justbefore sunrise. As soon as they come out, they run towards the ocean. I was wondering who taught them to go towards the ocean and where it is? They have absolutely no confusion at all. The researcher who was there lifted one of thebaby turtles and reversed its direction, but the baby turned around and headedstraight for the ocean! They not only have existence inherently, but they areconscious of their existence. From small insects to large hippos, animals andplants try to find food and strive to exist.The third category is the human being. S/he not only has existence, strives tocontinue existing, but can also exercise choice for his/her existence. Forexample, hunger is the way a human knows that s/he has to look for food. But,s/he has the choice to either eat or not eat. S/he has the choice as to what toeat and how to eat it. S/he has all of these multiple choices. This is oneexample of how the aspect connected with survival is extended to the aspect ofchoice. S/he can similarly have choices about what to wear, possess, do forrecreation, etc.This freedom of humans is actually a double edged sword. Having this freedomalone is not sufficient; it has been properly and intelligently utilized. Wehave freedom, but we also have resources. We have the intelligence to pursuewhat we desire, but if we don’t have the wisdom or proper direction then we canput the desire, object, intelligence, and the freedom together and leadourselves into the wrong direction. However, when we lead ourselves in theright direction, we can create lasting happiness and peace for ourselves andothers. Otherwise, it can lead to violence, and ultimately self destruction.This may lead to another doubt. Why would anyone lead themselves in the wrongdirection? How can we imagine that one would lead themselves toself-destruction? This needs a very deep understanding. No one wants to destroyoneself. Inherently, we all want to give joy to ourselves and others. There isnothing wrong with this desire and to find ways to fulfill this desire. Somepeople feel that they are extraordinarily intelligent and are getting happinessquickly and efficiently with little or no effort, but this may just beshortsighted. To illustrate this point, let us look at an episode in the life of the saintpoet, Kalidasa. In this story there is a princess who has built arrogance fromhaving three riches: material wealth, intelligence, and beauty. She wasarrogant about her beauty, her position, and even more so about herintelligence. Thinking that she was smarter than the great scholars of hertime, she would insult them and their work. The scholars wanted to teach her alesson and went to find a good looking, but stupid young man for her to wed. Asthey went to search for this boy, they came across a young man who was sittingon a branch of a tree while cutting that same branch. There were other peoplewho were also cutting the branches of the tree but without sitting on thebranch they were cutting! The scholars found him to be interesting, so theyasked him, “Why are you not cutting the branches the same way the others are?”He replied, “The others are stupid. They don’t know how to be as quick as me.See, the way that I am cutting the branch takes less effort.” He appeared tohave valid reasoning since his weight allowed for the branch to bend and be cutmore efficiently. But the scholars looked at him and thought he was definitelythe stupidest person they have come across. The work will definitely be faster,the effort will be minimal, and it looks like a short cut. But, all these gainsare short-lived. That is the error therein. Man also often thinks of immediate advantages, namely of the nature that willprovide immediate results and results with less effort. He goes after objectsfor his gain but he does not realize that the benefit will be short lived. Infact, very often, in the long run, they are not only giving the requiredbenefit but they are causing so much damage to the system, that even to getback to the normal state, we need the substance. This is called an addiction.All addictions are nothing but where we have stared driving immediate,effortless, or minimal effort results that cause happiness which may often beof greater intensity but even this is short-lived and in the long run, theseaddictions enslave us and ruin us totally.Let us look into a different aspect of humans often following the wrong path. Achild learns by imitating. Children even learn to speak by imitating the lipmovements and sound of an adult. As we continue to grow, this nature ofimitation is inherent in us. Most of the people today are following othersinstead of thinking for themselves. Their only reference for doing anything isthat another person has done so.The majority of the population is merely imitators. They blindly follow what issupposed to be influential and impressive. If those who are influential arecorrupt, who are after short term gains and depend on the material world, thismass population will do the same. However, if the influential person followsthe path of right conduct and right character, the mass will emulate thoseideas and put them into practice. The most convincing example of this nature isthe advent of Buddha, who has influenced so many people to follow histeachings.For that reason, society will have, born into it, a person with uncommon wisdomand experience of something beyond and s/he is impressive and preaches inaccordance with social culture of the time. S/he can take with her/him a largemass population in the right direction not only during his/her existence buteven beyond death. These are the great saints and prophets who are alsooriginal thinkers and have a timeless vision and message for mankind. Theycreate such an impression that people follow their teachings and theirteachings become God’s message. The society which is slipping into short timebenefits and long term misery will be given a big shake up and will follow anew vibrant direction. It is necessary to have such great people with visiontime and again. Let us now put these ideas analyzed thus far together. Human beings have thefreedom to do anything they want, but this freedom is dangerous in itselfbecause it can give one the license to excess in one way or another; namelygood or bad. One is after happiness and this cannot be denied as it is his/hervery nature. One also has an inherent desire to find this happiness by whatevermeans available. The nature of human growth and development has essentiallybeen in the form of imitation of impressive people. If one follows short termgoals, s/he can injure themselves and it can bring about a demonic aspect ofthem to surface. Fortunately, society has several people of wisdom- call themsaints, prophets, or wise persons- who will give them direction for live insuch a way that the divinity present in them comes to manifest within andwithout. Thus, an individual is saved, and thereby, society will be saved, fromdegeneration. This concept does not have the boundaries of religion. This concept does notwork within the boundaries of one particular person. This cannot reach all ofmankind through only one book. I have not asked for belief in this because it is Hindu, or not Hindu. With mybelief in Dharma and Yoga, a few mistakenly identify me as a Hindu fanatic,regardless of the logic or rationale of the statement. But this concept isneither Hindu nor Christian nor Jewish nor Islamic. This concept is beyond allof those boundaries. This is what is called as Dharma and this is the one whichcan replace the narrow concept of religion to allow people to be spiritual.

Questions on: "Is Religion Dharma?"

Question: " I do not think religion is bad but I believe there will always be corrupt people in this world with strong desire for power who will try to take advantage of those sincere seekers and their fault interpretations will make it seem bad and will create huge problems for humanity!"Answer: "I am not saying that it is wrong if you follow one particular god form or formless, if you follow one text and teachings of one prophet or a person., but my appeal is only for those who say, “everybody should follow what I believe, the god and the book and the saying of that one particular person or saint”. If we have the word religion then it actually means that way so there are and will be fighting going on in this world. Where as dharma says very clearly and inherently that any god or even no god is alright! My idea is not to eliminate religions but to give safe and respectable position to all religions all forms of god and all spiritual texts in the more encompassing word called dharma. Dharma in my sense is not Hindu word, but it is a universal concept, just like god is not a property of one faith or the other, it is universal concept!question: Even though I accept and tolerate all these diversity and the freedom to approach God through any chosen path, is it enough to say that dharma is better than religion or to say that it is the only way to happiness, inner peace, harmony and tranquility and therefore world peace?"Answer: Spiritual journey is the only way to happiness which is uninterrupted because in spiritual journey you are finding happiness from within as your nature and not as one derived from external agency. That inner nature called happiness is the divinity within. Every religion essentially asks us to find the god within and that is the message of dharma too. But unfortunately many religious people state that their religion only gives salvation. Again let me make it clear when dharma includes teachings of several masters from several thousands of years to today, it can easily accept the saints from other lands too!"Question: "You distinguish dharma from religion and I totally agree with you but as one might further find out that the certain ritualistic practices of dharma, coming from the Vedas which have been the source to Hinduism, please correct me if I am wrong, I am afraid might cause one think that while running away from one religion he /she is now being converted into another one. And to say that Yoga is Dharma may cause people to run away from the practice of yoga."Answer: My point is only to say that every religion with its ideas of the teachings they follow or the practices they follow which do not harm others in the name of religion are all as they are dharma only. In other words to make the point clear I would cite as an example to practice roza, or to offer namaz or doing rituals like fire ceremony of Zoroastrians or the meditation of Hindus are all or the dance of worship of native Americans is all dharma only. But dharma, since it accepts other form of worship and other forms of gods, does not approve killing in the name of religion called jihad, or converting one religion to other by coercion or by bribing!Question: I recently finished reading Introduction to Vedanta by Swami Dayananda and will go over it once again and probably again and again since it is obviously a difficult subject to absorb fully and I feel a strong pull to know more on the SUBJECT (the Self). and to be totally satisfied. I accept everything as it is and have deep love and compassion towards all existence. As an instructor it is my only wish to help people to be healthy, help them have a balanced body and mind, help them find out the silence, the harmony and the peace within themselves. These are the points I have been thinking on and would appreciate to read your comments. Answer: I see you are so pure and you have taken yoga in its right spirit as I see you. My dear Ebru, it is not any flattering but I feel very much connected to you very spiritually. You have taken yoga in its total essence. What you said the inner awareness and increase in that is very true. But many people tend to miss it.Regarding the two aspects of Vedas, the first aspect which talks about the heaven and hell and the practices given are all not verifiable. In fact even the fellow who practices the rituals also does not want to go to heaven right away! He wants to continue here only by hook or crook as long as possible! We have no proof about it. In addition there are also some other practices in the Karma kanda which are essentially for setting proper social order and quality of living like the hygiene and good eating habits etc. With the increase in the knowledge about the world even these practices are out dated and we need to revise. But Jnana kanda the later portion of Vedas are the pursuit of inner nature or gods, going towards peace and freedom from fear are applicable all the times. Yoga belongs to this category. Once we understand yoga to take us inwards then one goes on this journey. Dharma also emphasizes this aspect. Practice of yoga is one part of the practice of dharma, World is never troubled by the people who respect other religions and faiths. On the other hand world feels comfortable and peaceful with people of that nature. It is only those so called spiritual people who do not have tolerance for other people’s faith and god, they converted beautiful age old temples into mosques and age old Buddha statues have been destroyed in the name of religion. In a way they are right because religion gives them the meaning that one prophet one text one god of their choice form is right! That is my concern and I can not give a different meaning to religion because historically religion came with that meaning! So I am appealing to think in the way of dharma and not in the form of religion! When I say dharma I do not mean to become Hindu! I hope I have answered your questions. Please feel free to ask any more doubts. They are very precious for me!

Is Religion Dharma?

July 29, 2005

Many intellectuals thought that with the advent of science and technology, religion would loose its importance and fade into the background. With the occurrence of many global events in this millennium, religion has actually taken the forefront, globally. “Religion” has become a very important word today, invoking both, a sense of good and evil; fear and curiosity. There has been a significant increase in orthodox religious followers, and an equal increase in the number of people who deny religion. Many have begun studying religion in depth. But is religion dharma? Within Hinduism, Dharma is equated to religion, regardless of its true definition. When people talk about Dharma, meaning religion, they often become reserved because of the conflicts religion created these days. Religion and Dharma have come to mean that we should believe in something without questioning it. This is opposite to science and the scientific way of thinking where we need evidence and proof. So, then the question arises, if we can understand things scientifically, do we really need this Dharma? Can we not lead life without any dharma or religion?In order to answer this question, let us spend some time understanding the word ‘Dharma’ and ‘Religion’ and the historical context in which they were created. The culture that was in India or in the Indian subcontinent (Bharata Khande), according to the archeologists, was formed approximately 8,000-10,000 years ago. The world accepts that the Vedas are the first literary pieces created by humans. The maturity of the people of the Vedas is recognized through this literature. Thus, far before these Vedas were written, the tradition and culture were always apparent in the subcontinent in a fully developed form. As an important part of this tradition, in the Vedas, we find the reference for Dharma several times. That means 'Dharma' as a concept, is as old as the Vedas or pre-Vedic times. By the time the Vedas were written, the concept of Dharma, had already been very much evolved and had become not only the integral part of this culture, but as Swami Vivekananda very beautifully summarized it, ‘has been the nerve current behind this culture throughout the subcontinent.’ Being 10,000 years old, Dharma is a very elaborate subject and it has to be discussed separately as an independent topic. For the present discussion it is sufficient to know that it encompasses the wide variety of things such as faith in God, which is expressed in the form of going to the temples, private/ public ceremonies, etc. These ceremonies are essentially God based. Therefore Dharma naturally emphasizes the faith in god. Dharma also emphasizes the various great people who have guided mankind time and again through the scriptures written. Dharma also explains the nature of things such as to rise in the East is the dharma of the sun, to burn anything it comes across is the dharma or the essential quality of the fire. In that way, Dharma is also defined as the essential quality of nature.Dharma at the social level includes charity, protecting the weak, respecting the elders, selfless service for humanity, and etc. At the individual level, Dharma includes practices such as fasting for some period of time or on certain days of the week, engaging in the right deeds, not coveting others’ work, which does not belong to the individual, non-injury etc. Such moral codes are also prescriptions of Dharma. Thus Dharma encompasses all from the understanding of global nature to the individual level. The concepts of Dharma are so vast. In this culture of Indian sub continent where Dharma has been the basis of the society, people used to live and also even now live harmoniously though their Gods may be different and their practices vary. The people who belong to this subcontinent believe and pay respects to different God forms; there are various temples that they go to, and event the rituals practiced are often varied from house to house. In that way, there is variety in India and within this variety is harmony. This variety has been appreciated by one and all in this culture for several years. Hence, in this culture several Gods flourished, several temples came into existence and at the same temple there are various God forms and a multiple practices. Dharma is flexible and so, the psyche becomes flexible under the concept of DharmaThe concept of Religion has a different historical background and context. It is derived from three major western religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Before then, there was no concept of religion. There were several tribal religions that used to exist in the West prior to these three, but they were small tribal religions. Each tribe had their own faith in God and their own form of God. But these tribes fought consistently, and there was no respite from war. Great thinkers of these cultures felt that they should bring about a uniting concept. Hence, this word and concept of ‘religion’ was formed. The word religion means ‘to reunite.’ So historically, the concept of religion was necessary to see that all the warring sections of the tribal communities were brought together. They were educated and given a peaceful way of living. As a result this concept of religion truly enhanced their peace. So in that sense of religion, these religions have done phenomenal work of bringing the various tribes into one fold. This might have ended wars between the tribes but we are not sure whether annihilating these smaller tribal religions has resulted into overall good or not. The great thinkers of those years felt that with this concept of religion, they can bring peace. With the acceptance of one god and only one prophet or a messenger of god and only one book of wisdom, religion was born. The prophet or the leader of the religion would use power or compassion to bring people or warring tribes under the fold of religion. The messenger has also given greater basic laws of sacrifice, compassion, and self discipline. They not only preached, but these principles were also practiced. Religious institutions thus were formed in order to carry on this message to people far and wide. In order to achieve this, they had political and economic backing. On the other hand, Dharma already existed in the East. There were no such facilities such that people would move from place to place and hence, ideas did not go from place to place. While there were communication barriers, until recently, religion and Dharma were two separate ideas and practices; religion was begin followed in the West and Dharma was being followed in the East. As the world grew smaller with technical and communication advances, the process of translating the activities in different countries and putting it into one language became prominent. Dharma advocates charitable acts of kindness, as does religion. Honesty, love, and compassion are emphasized in Religion, as they are in Dharma. Soon the commonalities between Dharma and Religion led to the interpretation that they are one in the same, and Dharma became known as Religion, and Religion as Dharma. But, in doing so, the important differences of the two were not recognized. Thus, it is important to note that although there are similarities in the two concepts, there are some marked differences. Religion refers to one God, one prophet, and one text, whereas, dharma has several saints, many God forms, and multiple texts. What needs to be appreciated and noticed in Dharma is that it has survived for tens of thousands of years with so many Gods, saints, and texts. Moreover, these are continuously revised and saints continuously come on this earth to guide. The concept of one saint does not clash with the other saint. Without knowing this detail, often people ask those Hindus belonging to Sanatana Dharma, “Which one text is your Bible? Which one saint is your prophet?” Some answer stating that Bhagavad-Gita is our sole spiritual text and that Krishna is our sole prophet. In doing so, Hinduism is not defended but rather offended. Sometimes they feel bullied when people ask the question ‘Look at our religion, we have one saint, we have one god and one book, whereas you do not have one particular thing. There is no consistency’. So this is how the Hindus belonging to the Sanatana Dharma feel defensive. Since under the idea of religion, people have to follow one particular religion, one particular saint and one book of wisdom, obviously the followers wanted to be loyal to their own religion. Under the idea or concept of religion, people started claiming ‘……my god is the only god....’, ‘…….my god is better or true god than your god’, ‘…..my book is the message from god….’, ‘……there is only one wise person that is my prophet…’ Thus the religion resulted in war.On the other hand, when according to the faith if we could have accepted a number of saints, a number of texts and a number of gods, then we could not understand why one should say my…is good, and your… is evil! It would not be possible. A religious man started thinking that it is his or her moral responsibility to convert a non-believer into his own religion and may feel it to be his duty. The conversions have become religious activity for them, so called the religious sects. When conversion is the goal, people started converting others by foul means or fair means and conversion has become one the major religious practice for those people who believe in one god, one prophet and one book. The people who had respect and humble for generations towards their ancestors started looking down upon them thinking that they have not reached heaven! This is so because they are so brainwashed. Thus the respect for ancestors has gone away from their hearts who convert themselves from one religion to another. Now after converting their religion, they want to be very loyal to their new religion. So they are the persons who aggressively try to find faults in the parent religion. Religion, and the concept of religion, have created wars, have created conversions and have also resulted in cultural liberation of people. The religion since being the word of wisdom has become a trap for man’s greed, corruption and selfishness. A lot of times they have tried to use the attraction that if you believe in my gods with a touch he can remove you sickness, He can make you healthy. Give the bribe of health, bribe of money and position, or giving some social advantages they try to convert people. If only we spread the concept of Dharma around the globe, we can avoid all these problems. Dharma which can easily accept hundreds of gods can easily accommodate few more gods, which can take wisdom from several hundreds of books of wisdom, can certainly absorb a couple of more spiritual texts. Swami Vivekananda addressed the church congregation in America and stated …“If you hand been a little more patient, we could have easily accepted Jesus Christ as one of our incarnations.” Similarly, when in the culture Dharma, the way of life is so different between individuals; we can smoothly accept another way of life. In addition Dharma prescribes a personal Sadhana. Dharma does not try to lure you saying there is a savior who will save you and you don’t have to do anything. Dharma, though it gives all that freedom at one level, on the other side it reminds a person to grow in the spiritual direction, focusing inwards. The English language is such an adaptable language, that it can easily introduce ‘Dharma’ into its vocabulary. We do not need to adapt ‘Dharma’ to the word ‘Religion’ because that will ultimately dilute its meaning, as it has done thus far. Dharma cannot really remove the religions; Dharma can only absorb the noble and give a facelift to all these religions that already exist and those that come in the future. The new religion coming up does not have to be something like a protest against the previous religion, it can be like an improvement over the previous thought and idea and wisdom so that it can satisfy the changing scenario and moving culture and civilization. This facility we can only give to the world if we can take the world by the word called ‘Dharma’ rather than the word called ‘religion’.We all know that America is a very progressive country which is open to looking forward at various ideas. For example, as North America embraced yoga, the world has also embraced it. Yoga is intended to provide inner peace. Yoga is spreading all over the world like a wildfire. What ever America accepts, the world also accepts. For example, McDonald’s, it started in the U.S., became popular, and is now a worldwide chain. At this juncture when we look closely at what yoga is trying to do; the original idea of yoga is essentially an inward journey, an internal harmony, a peace and tranquility. Once a person develops this inner peace, a harmony or tranquility, such a person can only give peace, harmony or tranquility to the world outside. Yoga is taken as physical exercise, acrobatics or contortions, all over the world. We do not have to worry about it. All that we need to care about is to give the philosophy of yoga which is nothing but the philosophy that is dealt with the Sanatana Dharma or the practices of DharmaDharma is having the components such as the realization of our inner nature, the divinity through the practices of self control in Raja yoga, self sacrifice in Karma yoga, the practices of analysis of happiness analysis of inner freedom and the state of existence which is not wakeful, dream or deep states in Jnana yoga, or by raising above from complaint to tolerance, acceptance appreciation and finally to see divinity through love in Bhakti yoga. Thus yoga is nothing but Dharma. When you look at the principles of any religion for that matter which involve love, compassion, sacrifice, respect for other faiths and practices, etc they are all in a way principles of yoga. If only we can spread the philosophy of yoga as we spread the practice of yoga, we can bring respect for many ideas and thoughts from all the saints and great persons from all over the world.The Upanishad says let noble thoughts come from all directions and this is the approach of Dharma. When this is our highest ideal then it is easy for one who follows dharma to accept the noble ideas coming from all other religions. Simultaneously, when all the people of the world can be convinced about the broad approach of Dharma and understand that what is important are the principles of dharma and not the actual religion, then such an approach will be able to unite the population and help to create the global village – vasudhaika kutumbakam. Such an approach is there in Dharma which is the practical way in which one can practice yoga. This way slowly, when yoga spreads, along with it, the concept of Dharma can spread. A Christian can remain as a Christian practicing yoga and then practicing Dharma. A Jew can remain as a Jew practicing yoga and continue to take the inward journey and the course to Dharma. When there can be such a wonderful harmony between milk and milk, water and water, between the same species, between the same kingdom of plants and animals; in the same way, let there be wonderful harmony between the human beings with the concept of Sanatana Dharma.

A question about Bhagavat gita

June 23, 2005

My question was about why Krishna would urge Arjuna to war instead of ahimsa. And I think I know the answer, or at least part of it, now. Krishna's and Arjuna's discussion wasn't about an historical war as much as about the war we all have inside between good and evil. THAT internal war cannot be run away from by saying we believe in nonviolence. To do so is a lack of discipline."My dear Larry,This is one explanation that this whole episode is not historical but it is the psychology. This can be taken partially that the whole of Mahabharata and especially the Bhagavad-Gita is a very intense psychological treatise. It is very useful to look at it as psychology than religion. Though this has applicability we may face the awkward situation on several other areas. When some one makes a mistake in order to correct him if we say take the characters of Bhishma or Arjuna as an example they rebel against that idea that it is not a historical and no one has lived like that what you are expecting out of me. That is why as far as possible we should try to project it as real life recordings so that is become our guide for life.There are these three gunas into which the whole creation is divided. They are sattva, rajas, and tamas action also can be divided into these three groups. Like the way a plant is divided into three aspects namely roots is tamas trunk is rajas and flowers and foliage is sattva. When we find some thing wrong in the body we can first go with sattvic way to gently apply simple medicine. When this sattivic way fails we should now take mare violent action like giving shot of medicine which is rajasic. If this also fails the next course of action is to cut that part in surgery. This is Tamasic way of correcting. Our preference is not how we do it but it is what way to do it. Krishna tried all kinds of sattvic and rajasic methods to avoid war but now war has come and Arjuna as a Kshatriya is leading the army and because he is Kshatriya he has the responsibility to protect the dharma in the society. In order to protect dharma in the society Arjuna with the help of Krishna exhausted all possible sattvic solutions. The last of them is Krishna himself went for negotiations. But Duryodhana taking it to be their weakness rejected that out right on the very face of it. Now the next course available is to weed-out the Adharma unrighteousness by rajasic way or by war. On another occasion Krishna says in Mahabharata to Panadavas. Don’t go for war or don’t invite war. Bur if war comes don’t hesitate to face. That is the dharma of Kshatriya.So it is not the question whether war is good or bad. But an action has to be taken based on individual merit, it has to be examined and we need to find out whether the action is driven by personal preferences and how it can not only disturb the dharma but it can contribute for the cause of dharma.

Seetkarma Kapalbhati: A Technique to aid with Respiratory Problems

“If I were not a doctor, I would have to spend all of my savings on your nasal drops!” was the constant teasing I received from my dad when I was a student in high school. With my constant nasal allergies, we were fortunate that my dad regularly received free medical samples of nasal drops, so I was able to clear up my sinuses when needed. But, ultimately, I was fed up with having to constantly use medicine for temporary relief. I wanted to find a way to clear my sinuses and to prevent the congestion without using medicine.One day, I came across a book which stated that yogis would practice a technique called “Neti” which removes all respiratory problems, including blocked nasal passages! Unfortunately, the technique was explained in a crude way and nobody in our small town could guide me in the practice. But my intrigue and hope to find a non-medical cure for my sinuses, motivated me to practice this on my own.Initially, I struggled with the technique. After much practice, I finally mastered the technique and found that my nasal allergies and congestion, which would often lead to wheezing, had totally vanished!It was only after I went to Kanyakumari for my yoga training, I realized it was not “Neti” that I was practicing, as Neti involves the use of a neti pot. I was actually practicing a technique, which used no neti pots, called seetkarma kapalbhati, according to the Gheranda Smhita a Hata yoga text. Outlined is the procedure of the Seetkarma Kapalbhati technique:1.Take a mouthful of normal to lukewarm water.2.Hold the water in your mouth and bend forward, leaning your hands on your knees.3.Inhale fully and push the water in your mouth up close to nasal level by keeping the water on your tongue.4.As the water is close to the nasal passage, breathe out gently and allow the water to flow out along with the air through the nostrils.5.Again, when you have to breathe in, take the tongue down and ensure that the water does not interfere with the air passage. The air coming out of the nostrils pushes out the water and the mucous obstruction the nasal passage.6.Sometimes, all of the mucous is not released in the first try, but the water has loosened the mucous. After a couple of rounds of this technique, blow out of the nostrils, one at a time, so the loosened mucous and remaining water will be forced out, leaving the nasal passage free from congestion.Initially, I regularly practiced this for two months and found immense relief. Now, I just practice this technique on the rare days where I feel a little congested. The wheezing has totally disappeared and I don’t have to subject myself to unnecessary medication! This technique is a little complicated and you may not succeed in one try, but keep attempting, without loosing patience, and you will definitely succeed! Once learned, it is easier than neti and can be incorporated into your morning routine!

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Question:I interestedly read Mr. Raghuram’s essay on “Is Yoga a Religion?”. I wish he was clearer on a few points:

1. When he says, “We do not have the word religion in our culture,” we should be counting that we also do not have the words “yoga” or “dharma” in our culture. Even in our country, we do not have a single definition of religion. Some say, “religion is morality,” and one another makes another comment on it. Some of these comments may be conflicting with each other or some may be matching with yogic comments.
A. The concept and definition of religion is clearly understood by its users as a faith based on the sayings of a person, called a prophet, and in a God that is mentioned there-in. The definitions found within the English dictionaries are aligned with these same principles. However, Sanatana Dharma did not develop in that sense. In Sanatana Dharma there are tenets for morality but it expands beyond these tenets through the Upanisadic literature. You are correct in mentioning that we do not have the words “Yoga” and “Dharma” within the English language. Some cultures do not work with the concept of dharma or yoga, therefore, there is not an equivalent word in the language. Fortunately, the English language is adaptive. Thus, the words “yoga” and “dharma” are now being adapted into the English language to preserve its original meaning.

2. Therefore, generalizing or to talk in the name of others may be wrong. As we have different religion commentators in our geography, in India also there are different yoga commentators. (Shri Mataji supports her theory of kundalini awakening not conflicting with religions by borrowing verses from holy books in some Sahaja websites etc)
A. When you review the “Is Yoga a Religion?” article, you will note that there is no generalization of anything in my clarification of yoga. Rather, it is a clarification based on the actual translation of ancient yogic texts. Kundalini yoga is given in our texts as a method of experience which can be verified by all practitioners of yoga. There is no conflict in that practice.

3. Abstention from religion, yoga, or other paths may be because these persons have heard, seen or experienced something. On behalf of myself, the best thing a teacher can do is to say clearly that “they do it that way, I do it this way.” Why should we carry the faults of some other marginal yogis on our shoulders? But of course, that decision is up to oneself.
A. I am in total agreement with you, in that, there are several paths and the student should choose his/her own path to meet his/her needs. I am simply clarifying that the concept of yoga comes from ancient texts and that the meaning of it has been accepted by teachers of yoga for many thousands of years. Let us try to understand that there is no need to define it differently.

4. Is Holiness absolutely out of yoga?A. Holiness comes from “whole” which is the purpose of yoga. “Yujyate” means “joining.” With the practice of yoga, one will be able to be much more holy, than otherwise. Therefore, holiness is not excluded from yoga.5. Isn’t Bhagavat Gita a holy book?
A. The Bhagavad Gita is a spiritual book, but it is also a very logical and rational text for guiding us beyond the material world.6. Isn’t Krishna a personal Godhead? Frankly speaking, to consult this source and to say “Yoga is not a religion” is a conflict in itself. Or are we only consulting the “not holy parts of” the book?A. As I explained in my article, by labeling Yoga or the Gita as a religion, we are limiting the scope and expansive approach of yoga or Sanatana Dharma. Therefore, we focused on the idea that yoga is Dharma which is a different concept than religion. Yoga is not “religion” as defined by the English language but it does not exclude “holiness” and spirituality. I hope this New Year brings with it an understanding of the concept of Dharma, rather than limiting one’s ability to rise to universal consciousness by the recent concept of “religion.”

PRACTICE : A Simple Solution to the Stress of Modern Day Society

January 31, 2005

In the modern, fast-paced society of multitasking, distractions, and responsibilities, stress and exhaustion are inevitable. We rarely sit still without feeling as though we are wasting time or becoming anxious about the rest of the day. Hence, exhaustion, stress, and stress related disorders are apparent throughout our community. Recent studies indicate that even the common cold can be attributed to stress. Stress induced ailments include hypertension, anxiety, irritability, sleep disorders, diabetes, and back pain. We allow ourselves to take a “break” from our hectic schedules via unconscious methods of relaxation or with the support of external influences, such as drinking, drugs, or social diversions. Unfortunately, when we remove the influence of the external agency, we once again revert back to our original or an even worse state of dissatisfaction. So how do we begin to relax and begin to de-stress on a more permanent level from within?One method, is through the practice of Shavasana. Shavasana is a conscious process of relaxation which is the crown of all postures. It is important to do this after all other asana (physical) practices to derive the full benefits. As it is defined in the sutra of Hata Pradeepika,“Uttanam shavavat bhumau, shayanam tat shavaasanamShavaasanam kshanti haram, chitta visranti kaarakam”Spreading on the even ground in a head up position, is called shavaasana. Shavaasana is good for removing exhaustion and establishing peace of mind.The general principles of Shivassana are outlined in the sutra of Hata Pradeepika, but the actual benefits and internalization of the practice can only occur from experience. The Practice of ShivassanaThe Position:1. Lie down on the even ground (on a soft carpet) on your back.2. Spread your legs and hands comfortably apart3. Ensure that your back rests comfortably.Note: Asthmatics, while in heavy breathing, may feel more comfortable lying on your belly, instead of your back.The Practice:There are three levels of Shivassana:1. Isometric Relaxation (IR): Tighten the entire body from head to toe continuously, while also holding in your breath for as long as possible. Then collapse the entire body, including the breath, at once. While collapsing, you can observe the body slipping into relaxation in the next minute. This is a great experience which can be practiced while sitting anywhere, anytime.2. Quick Relaxation (QR):Another modification is where you collapse the body and observe the breathing at the belly level. The belly should rise on inhalation and drop on exhalation. Completely detach from the body and observe the body sinking with each breath out. Gently chant “Aaaaah” with each breath out. This will take about 2-3 minutes and takes you into deeper relaxation.3. Deep Relaxation (DR):Relax the each body part individually from toes to head. First, relax the joints then move on to each muscle. As you reach the waist, go to deeper relaxation with the help of sound resonance of gently chanting “Aaahh.” As you reach the shoulder level, relax deep into the cell level with the sound of “Uuu.” Relax your head with the sound “Mmmm.” Then relax the entire body with the sound resonance of “AUM.” The entire exercise takes 10-12 minutes.There are further modified techniques that are yoga nidra and progressive relaxation given by different schools of yoga. All of these practices can be done directly before going to bed after a long day of work and can enhance the quality of sleep. Initially, shivaasana can be practiced with audio music but once you begin getting deeper into the relaxation, the music may become a hindrance and silence may be preferred.As you begin the exercise, you may find that you fall asleep in the process of this relaxation. There is nothing wrong with this, but will actually enhance the quality of your sleep! After a few days of practice you will begin to consciously relax without falling asleep. Shivassana assists in transcending the physiological plane and allows us to go into more subtle levels of existence to Pranayama Kosa or subtle personality as we continually practice it. SUMMARY: Shavaasana is a corpse pose which can assist in alleviating stress and stress related issues such as hypertension, back pain, diabetes, and gastric disorders. It can be practiced in 2-10 minutes, but the only way to obtain the benefits is through regular practice.

Instructional tapes are available at www.vyasa.org or www.yogabharati.org.

Love,
Raghuram

What is Yoga? (Part II)

Jan 31, 2005

A continuation from the “What is Yoga?” article in the previous newsletter.“Tam Yogam iti manyante stiram indriya dharanam”Controlling all of the senses, including the steadying of the mind, is known as yoga.- UpanishadsKrishna further defines the practice of yoga within the Bagavad Gita, a text of yoga, where he is referred to as a Yogeswara, or master of yoga. Krishna and Arjuna converse within the battlefield where Arjuna is taking the advice of Krishna prior to going into war. It is here that Krishna imparts the following advice to Arjuna:“Yogastah kuru karmani.”Perform the activity in the state of yoga.When Krishna instructs Arjuna, he is well aware that the activity to be performed, is that of fighting a war. If a war can be fought in a yogic way, all other activities must be able to be completed in the same manner!What does it mean to do an activity in a yogic way? It is definitely not combating while trying to keep the body in any yoga position! It must be something completely different. The earlier definitions we explored describe yoga as a technique to calm the mind or a method to develop inner harmony. Theoretically, this is a wonderful ideal to achieve and even fathomable when we are sitting alone without any interactions or activities which can contribute to the disturbances of the mind. However, when we say that yoga is a state of being that we are supposed to embrace at all times throughout our daily activities, even when at war, the concept seems more idealistic than practical. It is easier to conceptualize yoga as a practice we can do many times throughout the day, rather than accepting it as a way of doing all of our activities. This is where the true meaning of yoga is defined: when we are performing specific practices we are doing, but when we truly act in a yogic way, it is our being. Let us further understand the difference between “doing” and “being,” as yoga is more important as a way of life, a way of being, rather than simply a method of doing:Doing is external, while being is internal.Doing can be for a designated period of time, whereas being is always, at all times.Doing may not transform us, but being is a method of transformation, the way a bud becomes a flower.Doing may not percolate in to being, but being influences all of our “doing.”Doing may be useful for an individual, while being is useful for him/herself and those around him/her.Doing is often a cover or mask which does not penetrate deep into the self, while being is a catharsis.By simply performing the “practices” of yoga, one will not be a yogi, or a person in the state of yoga. One must be a yogi from within in order to permeate those qualities in all walks of life.Within the Indian context, this concept is not new. In our childhood, our grandmothers were quick to question a “yogi” in anger, “ What is the use of doing yoga, when he always gets angered and is short-tempered?” It is through such examples, that we understand that whatever practice of yoga one does, is not as effective as having a peaceful and undisturbed existence, the essence of internalizing yoga.Swami Vivekananda beautifully stated, “Each soul is potentially divine and the goal is to manifest the divinity within by controlling the nature, external and internal. This you do either by work, worship, philosophy, and psychic control. One or more or all of these methods and be free.” He further added, “ Temples, rituals, books, dogmas, and doctrines are but secondary details.”The theory is understandable, but it leads us to more practical questions. Why do we do the physical positions or breathing and cleansing exercises in the name of yoga if it is a state of inner harmony? What is its relationship with meditation? How are all these various techniques, from hot yoga to hatha yoga, from kundalini meditation to chakra meditations, interconnected? Why are there so many techniques of yoga and which is correct and incorrect? Why and how yoga helps in addressing health problems? Supposing, we do yoga for health reasons, I am healthy now, so why should I continue to do practices of yoga? The potential divinity as mentioned by Krishna is the state of yoga which does not need to be acquired but is already within us. The key is to remove whatever it is that is obstructing the manifestation of this divinity, or Vritis as referred to by Sage Patanjali. In order to determine the obstacles covering our divinity, how we acquired them, and the level at which they are covering our divinity, we need to understand our true personality. This is further described in the Upanishads and is referred to as Panca Kosa Viveka.

Love,
Raghuram

What is Yoga

January 6, 2005

Bend It Like Beckham, PanjabiMC, Bollywood Dreams, Bride and Prejudice, Night Shamalyan, henna tattoos, Indian Restaraunts, House of Spices. The influence of South Asian culture has spread globally and one of the pioneers and fastest expanding trends in the world comes from the most ancient texts and practices in India: YOGA. As the highly respected guru, Smt Nischala Joy Devi observed, “Within the United States alone, there are about twenty million people practicing yoga.” And then corrected herself by adding, “or some form of yoga.” With the advent of yoga magazines, yoga bags/mats, yoga clothing, and yoga studios, yoga tools and yoga diets it seems the entire world is embracing yoga and its benefits. Unfortunately, in the rapid growth of this “trend” the true meaning of Yoga and its benefits are often overlooked and the purpose of its practice is frequently diminished into a superficial form of physical exercise performed to obtain the “yoga body.” Many do not take time to ask the question, “What is yoga?” When we dig deeper into the question, we naturally look at the definition of yoga, not as it is defined by modern society, but, rather, through the definitions found in earlier yoga texts.The first written account of the definition of yoga is found in the most ancient texts of Hinduism, known as the Vedas and Upanishads.“Tam Yogam iti manyante stiram indriya dharanam”Controlling all of the senses, including the steadying of the mind, is known as yoga.Another ancient text on the philosophy of yoga, known as Yoga Vasista, was given to Lord Rama by Sage Vasista. “Manah prasamano payah yogah”A technique to calm the mind is yoga.And later, Sage Patanjali, who has compiled the knowledge of yoga and has written its treatise, defines yoga again.“Yogah chitta vrutti nirodah”Yoga is to cleanse the mind of disturbances.Likewise, the definition of yoga can be found in various other ancient Indian texts. In none of these texts do we find any sentence defining yoga as a set of physical postures. Hence, we can, without a doubt, begin to understand that there is much more to yoga than the contortion of the body into strange acrobatic positions or a type of physical achievement.While I was giving a talk about the research and therapeutic work in the field of yoga in Bangalore, a gentleman from the audience stood up and asked, “I do sirshasana (the head stand pose) for one hour everyday, is that okay?”For a moment, I pondered my answer. How could I tell him that doing a headstand for one hour is not yoga? It might be one of the postures in yoga, but yoga has such a deeper meaning and philosophy. After all, at least he is practicing sirshasana and is interested in yoga, so how could I discourage him? Compounded with that question he asked me if it is okay. I thought, if it were okay, then why would God create us head up, feet down and then say, “My dear friend, I made the mistake of creating you head up, feet down. Please correct me!” So then I answered, “Yoga means peace of mind.” And then light heartedly continued, “Yes, continue to do an hour in the headstand pose, so long as while you are in the headstand, people at home will have peace of mind… Further, if the head is not useful for any purpose, let it carry the weight of the body for an hour; it is good!”But we see that yoga is beyond the hour of physical postures when, in the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna takes the purpose and meaning of yoga to a higher dimension, giving it a deeper notion. He tells Arjuna “Yogasthah kuru karmaani,” which means do every activity while in the state of yoga. This further defines yoga, not as doing something external, but rather, as a state within us. It is not connected with doing; it is connected with being. Even doing asanas (physical postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), or kriyas (cleansing exercises) are all external to us, but Krishna is not referring to these externalities; He is referring to the state of being. If we are so focused on what we are doing that we fail to internalize the practice, and then we are missing the purpose and idea of yoga. One may be a master of body contortions or become extremely non-violent to the point of not killing germs, but if his/her internal being has not transformed into peace, tranquility, and harmony, then s/he has missed the purpose of yoga. This takes us into the higher dimensions of understanding yoga which will be further detailed in upcoming articles.
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Let us take a minute of silence and prayer for all of those who lost belongings, loved ones, and even their own lives, during the dreadful natural disaster which hit South Asia and neighboring countries over the holidays. May we hold them in our prayers and hearts.
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Two Viewpoints of this Manifested World

August 13, 2004

First time when I heard that our sympathetic nervous system fights with the enemies on our body I felt uncomfortable. I felt like they are army. I was wondering why should you call the functioning of eyes as seeing, ears hearing, tongue tasting, and stomach digesting, etc why should we call sympathetic nervous system as fighting while we use fighting as a bad thing in outside world. Parasympathetic nervous system now fights with the sympathetic system.
I am not a student of medicine- do not even have a basic knowledge of anatomy or physiology. But I try to feel from my heart what I come to know.
Similarly when I was hearing about the theory called survival of fittest of Darwin I had similar feeling of non-acceptability because I always feel nature works in harmony. Nature does not work with an agenda if something is weak, so it should be eliminated because there is no ‘utility of it by its survival’. As if utility is the basis of creation!
I would like to share some of the ideas in this regard. Not that I am very clear with the entire picture but this appears to be due to the influence of some notions which may be baseless on the theories man creates. The nature has its own way of functioning. We only label it so that we can be guided by our understanding. That influences further our thinking process.
There are as I see basically two world views. One is that the world is bad and the journey in this world is full of hurdles and we need to be very careful and keep fighting all the time. We need to have this awareness and caution in order to fight and succeed, without which you are no more. We need to struggle all the time. Life is a battle field.
The second view is that the creation is basically good and is from god and it is his freedom and his choice of ‘one to become many’ that He has become many in the form of various animals and birds trees and rivers sky and the beautiful clouds and all. The manifestation is a beautiful song and the living is a festivity. Every breath you take is a celebration every step you take in walking is a dance. And finally the basis of the creation the divinity hidden in the creation is the harmony which keeps the creation intact.
I am comfortable with and I feel our scriptures have always taken the later view as spiritual view and that is why we have such prayers samno mitrah sam varunah etc. or saha na vavatu etc. and I was trying to find out what could be the origin of the second view of the nature namely fight is the essence of existence.
When I think I feel the origin for the first way of thinking has been developed as follows.
In certain parts of the world, mainly in the west, man had to constantly fight for his survival. He had to fight the nature’s vagaries such as extreme cold conditions and extreme hot conditions when he did not have the facility like what man has today or he did not have the defense system like animals have. But he is having intelligence so that he could develop his skills and technology for his safety. This same argument he brought in all his activities and in explaining every thing he came across in the creation. In order to fight he has to first of all convince himself that it is enemy and it is bad, and given a freedom or if he slackens the whole creation, particularly the animals are there to destroy his very existence.
But the reality is that the animals do not attack unless they are hungry and they find food in front of them; unless they find that their life is threatened they don’t attack. May be they sense that man is much more capable than them in terms of their intelligence so it looks like they are afraid of man much more than they are for any other creatures. Actually these days so much of research is done in the area of animal behavior. They even say that the animals are not violent just like that. They may just be playful some times.
I was watching an animal channel. A tiger was lying after having a meal. A deer was grazing at a couple of feet away not noticing the tiger. The tiger just opens his eyes yarns and goes back to sleep. The commentator says that the tigers are not violent. They eat their food.
Even though such kind of research shows that animals are not basically violent, we have not yet revised our opinion regarding human being who is supposed to have evolved from animal and the human being continues to be violent. Violence is not his basic nature because even the primary assumption that animals are violent appears to be wrong.
First of all it is assumed that the fighting is or aggression is the essence of creation, and several aspects of creation are explained based on this aspect of aggression. Recently my friend in Germany said that they are taught from the childhood this concept, ‘Homino homini lupus’ which basically means, he explained, man is a wolf for another man. It means man is always waiting for an opportunity how to cheat how to deceive and how to destroy another human being. Wolf is believed to be an animal not only just kills but it is very violent and destroys its pray. In other words man is a pray for another man. This means man is there to destroy the success or existence of the other man. This is mirroring the idea that animals are violent and so is man. Now when you look at how all the other ideas emerge out of it. When you question why man is like a wolf, the answer arbitrarily given I think is, because man is originally a sinner. Therefore the concept that man is a sinner is to justify the original idea that man is wolf of another man. So a strong man subdues a weak man!
The same theory has been applied to all other creatures as follows. It is not only man but the whole creation is like this. That is why it is hypothesized that a strong animal tries to destroy the survival of the weak animal so the law of creation is ‘survival of the fittest’. To what extent the fight is going on or when it is going on? The answer is it is going on in the creation all the time. Taking the same clue the activity going on in our body is also explained in the same way. In our body we are fighting all the time in the form of the sympathetic nervous system fighting the external aggression. Fighting is a way of life.
Extending this concept of violence to the work place the work that you do in the office is also psychologically explained as fight. That is why the work place is like a battle field. The whole market is a big company has to eat up the weak company. The big industry has to wipe away he weak industry, which in sophisticated language we call as expansion or merger. Where we can get more for less we are smart and intelligent. It is not only in our own country but in the countries where the labor is cheap go there and exploit them. That is why these days the cry called the out sourcing. Working even at the individual level is like a fight and we need the respite from this fight. That is why we need a vacation from the work. You can see the expression on the faces of the people who go to the work, which it is some thing unwanted, like.
When the society believed in the theory that every body is a wolf of other, then naturally every one is fighting with the other and every one is looking for his pound of flesh. In such a society what the man required is the simple law of mutual survival. In order to prevent or reduce the exploitation, laws are created, rights are fixed. This is your right and this is his right. Nobody should violate other’s rights. Father has a right mother has a right- child has a right adult has a right. Adults’ rights are much wider so every child wants to become an adult as early as possible. People are given rights and rulers have rights.
Things like love your neighbor, don’t steal other’s wealth etc were good enough for people to be so called spiritual. So the spiritual laws were mainly the laws of being good and doing good. Therefore the message of being good has been the core message of spirituality.
On the other hand a society and culture which is totally wedded to the idea that the creation is from god and it is his play and basically man is good and only we need to remind him, these people have a different approach in life. These people worked in trust of other and also trust about the other creatures on the earth. Aggression was not necessary in life. Being good is an ordinary thing!
The first view point namely that we need to fight and survive there is a very strong ego in it and it has to be nurtured. In order to fight we need ego and stronger the ego greater you are. The character of the ego has been only in the form of violence. It is this ego which says that the whole world is created by god for his enjoyment. He has every right to plunder with this creation!
One who has no ego can not be considered as successful. Ego is not only of the things what you have, such as beauty or wealth, intelligence or knack, smartness or aggression, these things not only we have to have it but we need to exhibit too, we need to let others know about it. To project it also is very important, to advertise becomes very important. There is not only no value for humility but it is actively condemned. Ego is the achievements of out side and it looks like we depend up on more and more outside because we have less and less inside. We have nothing realized inside so we tend to look out side.
Showing off the supremacy over other creatures has been recreation and pass time. That is the way the bull fight, WWF or similar things have significance. For a mind which does not see point in this kind of philosophy, these fights look as very barbaric and sinful. One wonders how these things can be enjoyed or why such things are not considered as crime.
We also meddle with the creation for our advantage. Keeping the chicken in closed cages and putting powerful lights day and night so that they do not sleep and in turn they give more eggs or pushing the animals mercilessly through the slaughter houses can not fit in any stretch of imagination as the leaders of creation which we claim to be!
This violence has percolated in every aspect. Even yoga is practiced as fighting with the body. All the definition of the asana given by the scriptures and all the definitions of yoga are kept aside because they do not satisfy this basic aspect of violence. So these days even yoga is practiced with no mercy on the body. Even if you have mercy on your body the teacher will not have. There are such quotes ‘no pain no gain’.
Fasting was suggested as a wonderful spiritual practice by our ancient scriptures. It is not to punish the body or to be violent with the body but essentially to develop the control over the mind which is following the vasana forces. But today even the fasting is like punishing the body and the gentleness is disappearing in the so called spiritual aspirants. Bhakti-way of looking which means looking with love and compassion and having an attitude of pardoning has been replaced by policing and fault-finding.
True Indian philosophy has nothing in the form of violence. Every thing is to enhance or manifest the harmony or divinity. Our medicine is not to fight the disease but to help health. Practice of asanas is a way of satisfying the body so that body will be peaceful. Satvic or right kind of food is that food that doesn’t leave body fighting with the food. Fasting is also to fight or punish the body. It is a way to give rest to the body or to give such training to the body that body will learn to slowly develop satisfaction with any kind of or no food. It is again and again emphasized that if you develop no aggression inside you will be able to manifest aggression outside also. What is there inside comes out from us and we manifest that quality. That is why this society is never a conqueror yet survived ten thousand years if not more and is still vibrant! It is in this culture where the lord Krishna advises Pandavas, who were extremely good yet, face all kinds of hardships that they should not invite fight or war but when war comes they should not hesitate! Here is the case where even war is used for the sake of peace! This is a culture to please fathers desire son leaves kingdom and goes to the forest, or son gives up marriage including the kingship and serves the kingdom. There are cultures where one after the other son killed his father to occupy the kingdom! That fits very clearly the concept ‘survival of the fittest’.

Love
N.V.Raghuram

Questions and Answers

May 30, 2004

Private Talk - Istanbul / Turkey


"Om Brahmarpanam
Brahmahavih Brahmagnau
Brahmanahutam
Brahmaiva tena gantavyam
Brahmakarma samadhina
Om Santi, santi, santi"

Translation:
"The oblation is Brahman,
The clarified butter is Brahman,
offered by Brahman in the fire of Brahman,
unto Brahman verily he goes who cognises Brahman alone in his action."
I would like to tell you something from a session I had in USA. Two school children sat for a lunch break. One says to the other “ let us pray for the food”. The other says “ I don’t have to pray; my mother makes good food”.
In the Indian custom basically, before every activity of the family we always have a fire ceremony. When somebody is born or when somebody is dead, we always have a fire and an offering to the fire. By offering to the fire, we offer to the universe. One of the important things that we offer to the fire is “ghee”. The food that we are eating is also one of those fire offerings. This prayer basically goes like this. The person offering is called the Brahman. The hunger inside is also called the Brahman. The fire is also Brahman. The fire also symbolizes our gastric fire. Ghee, the clarified butter is also Brahman. The process of eating food is a kind of fire offering. Let this fire activity ennoble the universe. When we say that everything is Brahman, it means my personal choices do not take part. By eating, I should never bring about the idea whether I like it or not. When everything is Brahman, there can be no such thing as liking or disliking something. I only want this fire to be useful.
In this whole process we offer this clarified butter. Ghee basically comes from milk. If you put milk on the fire, the fire will die. We make butter normally and then we boil it. Then the ghee comes out. When you put the ghee on the fire, the fire glows. So when you put milk on fire, the fire dies but when you put ghee, it glows. If you don’t put yourselves on this process, the fire dies. I need to go through Yoga practices like this. The Yoga practices are like churning the milk and taking the butter out. Then you put it on top of fire and the ghee comes out. Unless we go through a process of churning and developing ourselves, we will not be useful.
We usually complain about schools. But when we go to the process of hard work, then the intellectual development takes place. Only then we are useful to the society. If we don’t go through all these strain, we will be useless. So every process of learning is like every process of churning. Most of our prayers are based on reminding ourselves about our purpose of living. Finally we end up saying “om shanti shanti shanti”. The purpose is peace. Peace in the past, peace in the present and peace in the future. Ingredients of our food should also be peaceful.
When we look at ayurveda it talks about six different taps. Sweet should not be too much or too less. Salt also should not be too much or too less. Generally children tend to prefer some tastes to others. But for a proper eating, we need all these 6 different tastes.
The prayer says two things. We don’t pray for any favor from the God. We are reminding ourselves about the purpose of our life. Eating should be done in order to ennoble the world. No great work can be done without going through the hard work.
What if we accept the world as it is?
No one can be as harmonious as that. How many really can be like that? Show me one person who can do that and I will bow in front of him. The world is not dead. It is constantly changing. It is not dependant on whether I want or I don’t want. The essence of the creation is movement. If I flow this movement, then I will show less resistance. What we can do in a life time? Can I add a little bit of fragrance into this life? Can I add a little bit of positive thinking? Can I add a little bit of taste into life? This should be our aim. Look at the earth. In God’s creation, everything adds something to the earth. A flower is there for a few hours a day, adds a bit of fragrance to the world and then dies. A bird is alive for a few years, it gives wonderful music to the world and then dies. Even a simple earthworm makes something for the world. So everything makes a change in this world and we should be asking what we are doing for this earth. My grandson can ask me:” your grandfather has left a beautiful world for you. What kind of a world are you leaving for me?” You should be able to tell your grand son that you have added a bit of fragrance to this world. Are you leaving him a world of dust, wars, and chaos? Are you leaving him a world that doesn’t have fossil fuels? Are you leaving him a world full of stress and tension? This is the kind of world we will be leaving to our grandsons. We should allow the world to grow, because it is her nature. “Let me add a bit of fragrance to this flow” should be our aim.
Could you talk about reincarnation?
Actually life is not connected to death. Death is connected with birth. Whatever that is born must die. You are not guaranteeing anything when you are born, accept the fact that you will die. Birth and death are connected but not life and death. The mistake of having been born can not make you deny your death. What is there in between birth and death is life. Life is between birth and death but who says there is no life after death? We will continue to live in a different way after death. Life is different when we are awake and when we are asleep. Birth and death are events on you. More and more we identify ourselves with something that goes through birth and death, then we think they are absolute. If you are not identified with something that goes through birth and death then you will see the eternity of life. The basic question is “how will I go that state that does not undergo birth and death?” With the practices of Asanas, we are slowly getting detached from the body and rise to higher levels. Similarly with meditation, you get detached from the mind. A flower is here today but it will die tomorrow. But if you look at flowering, it continues. If you hold on to a man, he is here today but not tomorrow. So Yoga raises us from flower to flowering or from man to mankind.
When we are in touch with Yoga, we are in touch with science. In this process we also have some benefits. These benefits are that we get good sleep, we don’t get asthma, etc. When people come to our center with health problems, I tell them that they are about to touch a permanent science. So you should be grateful that you have diabetes or hypertension because you met with such a science.
Can we reach the unchangeable?
We are all trying to go to that state. One of the greatest Yogis, Sharabindu says “Yoga is a constant process of enhancing the growth. It accelerates the growth. What may happen in 100 years happens in 10 years, or what may happen in 10 years, happens in one year. This is what Yoga is. We are all walking on that path”.
Anybody who wants to do Yoga does not have to do the Asanas or the Pranayamas. There are hundreds of different techniques possible. When mother Therese was helping the poor, she was in fact doing Yoga. What Dalai Lama did was also Yoga. I had an opportunity to spend one day with Dalai Lama. He was one of the really extraordinary people I have ever met. The problems he confronts are unimaginable. Anybody would become mad with the kind of problems that he has. But he is a great saint. At the end of the day I was still waiting for one little phrase saying that the Chinese are bad or evil. But he didn’t have any anger towards anybody. Somebody asked him whether he hated Chinese or not for the problems they made to your public? He smiled and said “one day, they will realize”. You can see the amount of peace he has. All these people are practicing Yoga in their own way. Some of the greatest scientists which we now call the “saints” put these practices together in the form of Yoga. When you practice for a few days, you can follow the change in your mentality.
If a poor house wife cooks food with love and gratitude to God for she still has hands to cook with, instead of complaining about her poverty, is this also considered as Yoga?
Anything that takes you to the words “harmony and peace” is Yoga. With the help of Asanas and Pranayamas, I reach a peace of mind. If the activities that I do, add disturbance to my mind, that is not right. Karma Yoga essentially has some principles. The attitude when you do an activity also takes you toward a peace of mind. I may be repeatedly doing the same thing everyday like cooking. After several years, this might be creating trouble for me and I may be getting difficulties. This is where the principles of Karma Yoga should help us. In Bhagavat gita, Krishna says that activity is called Karma and no activity is called A-karma.
Krishna says that both Karma and A-karma are fine. So doing an activity is fine and not doing an activity is also fine. But he says “don’t do vekarma”. This is where we need to understand the depth. There can only be an activity or a non-activity, so Karma or A-Karma. How can there be a third thing called vekarma? Let us look at an example. I am watching a football game in TV and the child cries. My wife is busy in the kitchen and she tells me to go and take care of the kid. But I am doing an important thing; I am watching the game. So she tells me that the game is not important, but taking care of the child is. Still I refuse and then my wife tells me that she will look at the child, but we will not have lunch. Here, taking care of the child or not taking care of the child are two things that can happen. Both are ok. But when I go and take care of the child because my wife tells me to do, I get angry at her. So when we do or don’t do anything, we should do it with peace. Activity that you do with vengeance is not good. When you do an activity, do it with a smile. But we create a hierarchy on our minds all the time, choosing what is good to do and what is not good to do. If only you can remove that, it would be wonderful. Several years ago we prepared a spiritual retreat with 20 people that would last for 7 days. We hired a cook to cook the food. We were making philosophy discussions. Suddenly we realized that the cook had run away. So somebody had to prepare the food. I volunteered and cooked the food. If I had found cooking inferior to the philosophy discussions, that would cause a problem in me. What you do is your ego, how you do is your spirituality.
There is no gain if there is no pain but we are not running after pain. Our goal is one thing, and that is peace. Running after pain has a very serious psychological implication. The idea should be not being afraid of the pain. If a person has never felt pain, he would be shocked when he faces it one day.
I lost my mother. They were very difficult days for me and I was inexperienced. My elders told me to leave it to time. I refused. I refused to sleep and to eat. But then I had to eat and I had to sleep. I saw how quickly the time tunnel flew. I survived because I could stick on to the present moment. Are “staying at the moment” and “being” the same thing?
Being at the present is all we need.

When I was young I had a conflict with my parents because I didn’t want to the school they wanted me to go to. I realized that they wanted my happiness but they didn’t ask me how I would be happy. So I questioned myself and realized that this was not my way and so I changed my way. At that age, I was even considering death, and I was only 19. So I changed my school and I went to the sports school instead of engineering school. But in the coming years I decided to make a career in sales. What I realized is that we smile when we are happy. But this should be the other way around. There is no way I can think in negative terms when my lips are facing upwards. I have had many crises in my career. I think one can only be happy when he overcomes the difficulties. So I should be thankful to the ones who have made my life even more difficult. This was my experience. What I want to know is whether people are born equally on that aspect or not.
There are 3 factors shaping our life. The first one is the genetic factor, the second one is the environment, and the third one is the self afford. A person who continuously blames the genetic factor will never grow. Genetic factor is just to recognize. Someone who takes the best of the environment and progresses is successful. Environment offers us many chances. It is like gambling. Taking the best out of it and growing is the most important. If you don’t give up the personal effort, you will always enjoy your life. It is not a matter of what you have become but a matter of how much you enjoy what you have become.
When we do the Asanas we are actually stretching the muscles. All these muscle fibers send millions of neuronal signals to the brain. These signals bring about tremendous degrees of inner awareness. Without this, we are aware of millions of things outside. The practice of Asana tries to divert our multidirectional awareness on to a uni-direction. That is why you get more aware of yourself. It is not because the outside is bad. We do Yoga to be able to be aware of our selves. The beauty of experience happens when you get out of it. Let us say we enjoy sleep a lot. The joy of the sleep is your last connection with the body. The body is necessary but it is a tool and you have to get out of it. If you have food you are satisfied and you don’t worry. The body gives you joy by getting out of it. Consciously when you leave the body consciousness, you get joy. This is the basic principle of Karma Yoga. When you do an activity with a total absorption, then you are not aware of the body. Enjoying that total satisfaction is important. When we continue that way, the physical exhaustion shows up later on. If you do a job that you enjoy, that tiredness will not bring about stress or tension.
Could you advice us some books?
There are so many books. 10,000 years ago a group of people recorded everything about this culture in 4 texts. They include the activities of life, the cultural factures and the spiritual factors. These four texts are called the Vedas. Based on that, people have made additions and several texts have come. Therefore we have huge amounts of literature. The most essential spiritual knowledge comes from Upanishads. We consider Upanishads as the essence and the others as the supporters of it. So we try to understand everything from the point of Upanishads. Why are the Upanishads so important? Because they work on the most fundamental questions of mankind like “what is I?”, “what is fear?” and” What is death?”
If you look at Yoga as a philosophy, then it does not interfere with your religious beliefs. If you take it as a religion, then it will create a problem. Then why should we take it as a religion instead of philosophy? In Christianity, the religion was different from philosophy. A great philosopher like Bertrand Russell asks why he is not a Christian. Philosophy and theology are opposite to one another. It is the same in Islam as well. In Indian philosophy, Sankaracharya was a philosopher and also a theologian. Similarly Krishna was a philosopher and a theologian. That is why Hinduism has a unique approach.
I was working with the patients of eating disorders in California. There was a very successful lawyer but she had eating disorder problems. I talked about Gita to her and gave some ideas. She was thrilled with the idea and she wanted to go. But suddenly she wondered and asked. “You said this is from Gita, and Gita is a Hindu text. But I am a Christian, how can I apply it?” I told her not to worry whether it is a Hindu text, a Christian text or a Buddhist text. “If you find this idea useful, just take it” I said. She asked me whether she needed or not to convert into Hinduism to apply it. I told her it is not like a currency that can be converted. It is basically psychology. After that she came to my meetings with a tape recorder.
Let us say there is an earthquake here and the whole building collapses. Can you be positive enough to thank God that you are still alive although you have lost one arm? Everything starts with your own positive approach to things. Yoga or Reiki could only be supportive things to clear your mind off. You advice people to have a positive approach to life and to find happiness. Some people make a lot of money in order to convey the knowledge he has to get to that happiness. I observe that people are missing something called “happiness”. All the philosophies, religions, and ideologies are after one thing: peace and happiness. Especially religions promise happiness to people but they give more pain then the happiness they have promised. I believe very much in the existence of one Creator. That Creator has sent the religions suitable for their time, culture and other aspects to answer their needs and to elevate that public to a higher step. The three messiahs, Moses, Christ and Mohammed have conveyed the orders of God to their communities. In fact they only convey one knowledge but since they have come in different times, people regard them as “different” and everybody considers his own religion right, and the others as wrong, or even as enemy. Religion is the most effective type of knowledge affective on beliefs. 95% of the people in the world have a belief or a religion. Although religion promises such happiness, it also causes lots of pain. It is expected to be an authority of belief, but it can not. Philosophy and science can not create a belief. Spiritualism developing at the end of 19th century aimed to prove the existence of God through scientific ways but in the hands of some charlatans, it no longer was a knowledge strong enough to develop beliefs in people. When you look at the tragedy the humankind is in, you see that it is because they are away from an authority of belief although they have beliefs. So there is a gap of belief in human beings. The youngest religion came about 1400 years ago but like all the other religions, it too has been divided into many subgroups. So again Islam too, has become too far away from uniting the people as it has been diversified itself. It has been marginalized. Philosophy, although it gives happiness could not have succeeded to become as effective on people as religion. Religion is a knowledge of God where as philosophy is a knowledge of humankind and that is why people are more stuck to religion. Science on the other hand has no intentions of becoming a religion. Science is based on observations and experience. Today, neither religion nor philosophy or science alone is an authority of belief. On the other hand people require a belief. If God sent messages to human beings 1400 years ago, why wouldn’t He send messages afterwards? Are all His messages finished? Today we need a knowledge to unite the humankind. Studies on this subject like Dr. Moon does, is nothing but a new variation of the existing religions. Today we need such a knowledge that it should be religious, scientific and a product of humankind. Such a knowledge will unite people no matter what their ethnic or cultural backgrounds are and it will be a synthesis of religion, science and philosophy. Such a knowledge should create a conscience belief.

Talk on Migraine, High Blood Pressure, Epilepsi and Gastrointestinal Diseases

May 30, 2004
Raghuramji - President of 1st Yoga Festival - Istanbul / Turkey

It normally takes more than a week to cover the techniques regarding headaches, migraine or the gastrointestinal diseases. Here we have around 1.5 hours and let us try to make best use of it.
I will not go into the details of anatomy or psychology because that is a different subject by itself. I will give you their connections with Yoga. When Yoga was developed those people did not have the anatomy knowledge we have today. We should not also forget that they understood human physiology by looking in the words rather than the laboratories. If a Yogi can look inside and feel what the things inside that are effecting are, we also can do it. Lots of Yogic knowledge is achieved by looking in words. If you say you have a mind, you don’t say it because the books tell you, you say it by experience.
Let us try to understand things from Yoga point of view, looking inside. The definition of mind is peace of mind and harmony. Peace of mind and harmony are essentially our nature. If you are not peaceful, then there is a reason for you to come out of your nature. If you are not in harmony, it is because of some outside influence. This harmony and peace is also your health. Health is our nature. From the Yoga literature and the Indian point of view, the word we use for health is “swasta”. In Sanskrit it is called “swa+sta”. Swa means self and sta means being. So health means “I am in myself” and sickness means “I am away from myself”. To be yourself, you do not need any reason. You can understand this very easily. When you ask someone how he is, and he answers he is fine, you don’t ask him why he is fine. That’s because to be fine is our nature. However being sick is away from our nature. Only then we question why he is sick because there should be a reason. May be he has a headache. Headache means being away from our nature. We ask why he has a headache and he answers:” in your company we will get headache”. Sickness should have a reason. Health does not require a reason.
These days everybody is sick and very few people are really healthy. That is why the number of hospitals and therapists is increasing. Every house is like a medical shop. Why are we away from ourselves? Somehow our life style takes us away from ourselves. If you understand this you can go back to your nature. A technique to go back to our nature is what Yoga is.
Yoga does not do something. Yoga is getting back home. When you apply the peace and harmony at the body level, that is relaxation. At the prana level, that is slow. At the mind level, it is the calm state of mind. So Yoga is a technique to relax the body, slower the Prana and calm down at the mind level. The technique we apply at the body level to relax is called Asana. Similarly the technique at the Prana level is Pranayama. The technique we apply at the mind level is meditation. At the emotional level we call it Bakthi Yoga. There are many different techniques of Yoga. If you are away from relaxation at the body level, then you are tense. If you are away from slow at the Prana level, you have speed. If you are away from a calm state of mind, these disturbances will be agitations of the mind. When you are sitting quiet your mind is in agitation because you have a problem.
The question is “how do you say that this is our nature?” One of the important things when you are at yourself is that you feel happy. Smile is our nature. To be happy is our nature. Look at the children, they naturally smile. It is so difficult for us. The photographer has to beg us “please smile”. These days, even when he asks us, we don’t smile. That’s why he forces us to say “cheese” so that it looks like a smile. How unfortunate it is that we have lost our own nature. When we are in our nature, the child is so happy. Naturally, you see that the child is relaxed at the body level. When you let a child sit down, he immediately takes his toe and puts it in his mouth and start sucking. We can not even touch our toes naturally.
Similarly at the prana level, the child is very slow naturally. And at the mind level, the child is very calm. They are never worried. However we have come away from our nature. Tension is the way we come away from our nature at the body level. With speed we come away from our Prana. And agitation is the way our mind is away. We are constantly worried. If you are not worried, then you worry about why you are not worried. Anything happening in India or America worries us. Even football or basketball can worry us. One day I received a phone call at three o’clock in the morning. At that time of the day you immediately think they are calling from abroad or there is something serious. I opened it and somebody said” Raghuram, I am sorry but I could not sleep and I had to disturb you” He was actually living 2 miles away from us. I asked him why he called me at that time of the night. He said that there was a cricket game going on between India and England and India was losing. He asked me what he should do. I told him to close the TV and go to sleep. Is there something to worry about here? Even the cricket players are not worried but you are. This is how we get away from our nature.
So Yoga is going back to our nature. All these tensions, speed and agitations are all kinds of “doing”. But when you look at slow, calm, and relax, they are states of “being”, Yoga is a conscious process of going from “doing” to “being”. We are wrongly called as “human beings”. Actually we should be called as “human doings”!!!. Only when you practice yoga you can become a human being. When you understand Yoga like this, it will be easier to apply Yoga for all the sickness problems.
Headache essentially is not a disease. It is a symptom. Any pain or aching is not a disease but a symptom. When you hold on to the symptom, you can go to the sickness. Understand what the symptom is from. If you try to remove the symptom may be you will miss the sickness. Don’t take the symptoms seriously, but take the sickness seriously. Particularly, a symptom like headache has hundreds of different reasons. What we feel unbearable is only the headache. What is going on behind the symptom may be much more important to address.
The reason for that can be your nature, your environment, or some other difficulties going on inside. The body, mind and spirit complex is very sensitive. God has created this instrument and it is very delicate. It can not take a little cold or a little heat. It is upset with less food or extra food. We have sensitized it much more. This sensitivity brings about the symptoms. If you closely watch your headache, you will see it has connections with several organs. Your cold or a blunt nose can bring a headache. A virus inside can bring a headache. A urinary infection can bring a headache. A bad stomach can give a headache. Most importantly, a neurological disease can give a headache. Also, a cancer or a growing tumor can give us a headache. That is why a symptom like headache should be understood properly.
If you have a respiratory problem, then this headache can be removed very easily. If a respiratory disease is causing a headache then you must do every week at least two times Neti or nasal cleaning. In Neti, you basically take the water and pass it through the nostrils. It’s not just cleaning the nostril; it is much more than that. Blockage in the nose happens because your nasal passage is over reactive to the changes happening outside. A small dust, a leaf fallen or humidity cause over reactivity in the nasal passage. People have always been reactive to these things since the old times. What used to happen, is that people were so peaceful inside that although humidity or dust used to cause problems, people were still all right. It also depends on your body resistance level. If it is high enough, you will not have a headache despite the environmental conditions. By Neti, you calm down the nasal passage. When you take the water in your nose, the first feeling is irritation and you want to take it out. Then you close your eyes and relax. If you still continue to take in water, your inner system now relaxes. So by Neti, you bring down this inner stress level. When you do it continuously for a few days, your inner disturbance level comes down and all the things outside will not disturb you any more. We always advice kaphalabati or active breathing to be followed by Neti.
Particularly if you have problems with pollens, then you can add a few drops of honey in the water you are using. Some people have headaches because they are allergic to milk and dairy products or to domestic animals. In this case, you put 3-4 spoons of milk for one cup of water. There is a device called Netipot and when you put water on one side, it flows from the other. When you do Neti regularly, it also brings an irritation to smoking. So a regular practice of Neti is very useful.
After Neti, do Kaphalabati which is active breathing out. When you put in water, the water vapor goes to the sinuses and they create a blockage there. The blockage of sinuses can also cause headache. We have a frontal and maxility sinuses. When these sinuses are blocked, then we have a headache. You can feel the headache in these areas. These are actually simple headaches of sinus or allergy. Please make sure that the person does not have any problems of hypertension.
The second kind of headaches is the tension headaches. In this kind of headache, people complain about not just an ache in one zone but in the whole head. You feel like you want to pull your head out. That exactly is the symptom of tension headache. For tension headaches, alternate nostril breathing is very good. There is a third kind of headaches which also might be due to tension. But essentially the tension is around the neck and the shoulders. These days, this kind of headache is very common because people are very much working with the computers and they have problems in their necks and shoulders. This may cause some cervical problems. When there is tightness in the neck muscle, the head ache occurs. In such cases we apply neck turning exercises. You sit on your knees. Keep the hands by the side of your knees. Bend down to the floor and put your forehand on the floor. Raise your hip upwards and roll your head. When you roll forward, you inhale and when you come back, you exhale. Hypertension patients can also do this but it is particularly for the headaches caused by tension.
Even if you have spandulosis or gastric problems you still will have a certain degree of headache. If you have some psychological diseases, you can again have tension headaches. If you have hyperthyroid, you should do sarvangasana.
Q&A Session
In sarvangasana, do the glands work more or less?
Actually there is an optimum level that they should be working in. With these practices, the less functioning glands will start functioning better, and the hyperactive glands will slow down. Both sarvangasana and neck-rolling will help to those with hyperthyroid and hypothyroid.
There is another issue which I should mention to you as you are Yoga teachers. A very important neurological problem is epilepsy. Sometimes epilepsy is due to chemical imbalances in the body. In such cases, they give simple medications. The epilepsy sometimes could be due to some other disease conditions. In that case, it is not epilepsy but a seizure like epilepsy. In such cases, there are medications that can solve the problem. If it is not a chemical imbalance but an electrical imbalance from the brain, that much more serious. Electrical problems in the brain are increased in the presence of oxygen. That is why, patients suffering from epilepsy don’t do exercises that are hyperventilating. People who are epileptic should not practice xxxxxx or kaphalabati. They should also not be doing sarvangasana. This is a real must, they should absolutely not practice these exercises.
Another important aspect of headaches is migraine. Migraine is a very complex problem. Even thinking about it gives you a brainy feeling inside. You start feeling your brain like sand. The headache starts from the eye brows and goes all the way to the back. There can also be a partial headache of migraine. Migraine headaches can be caused by ear problems also. Another important cause of migraine headaches is premenstrual syndrome. Migraine headache can not be under control if you have a full stomach. The moment you have the symptom, you try to vomit it out. Your uncontrollable excess brain activity may also cause migraine headaches. So do kapalabhati and jalandrabandha. Before jalandrabandha, you may do mulabandha.
In mulabandha, you hold the rectal muscles tight. Sit straight. Pull the body from the waist. Inhale and exhale through the nostrils 3 times. Then you close your eyes and do the rectal muscles bandha. After that you stabilize without breathing. When you feel like inhaling, release the bandha and then inhale. Don’t inhale without releasing the bandha. This is an absolute precaution. If you inhale while in bandha, there can be a possibility of having a muscle catch. Jalandrabandha is the most important for the migraine headache. Similarly we do the inhales and exhales 3 times. After exhalation, we do mulabandha and press the neck down. The chin should press in this gap. Hold it as long as you can hold your breath. Then release the jalandrabandha and release the mulabandha and inhale. This order is very important, don’t miss this order. The most important precaution is you should not be doing this when in pregnancy. This would be a strain on the kid. People who have epilepsy do not do the initial three times breathing. In fact for epilepsy, bandha is very good.
For epileptic people, actually Yoga itself is very good except for these three exercises. Other practices will develop a wonderful harmony in the whole body-mind-spirit complex. With that way, epilepsy affect can be reduced. We had a boy who used to have around 15 attacks of epilepsy a day. With medication, his symptoms have come down in 6 years. He doesn’t have epileptic attacks any more and his brain function has improved. For some period of time, he was like mentally retarded child. Now he is slowly picking up all the activities. The first thing that happens in the case of epilepsy is that normally people are not aware when they have a seizure or an attack. With the practice of Yoga, inner awareness, he was able to say when he was going to have an attack. Yoga builds up tremendous amount of inner awareness. Once the awareness is there, they can get prepared for their attacks. The intense of the attack is higher when you fear the attack. This awareness of Yoga also takes away the fear of the attack. Once you have the awareness, you get prepared and you are not afraid of the attack.
How many times should we be doing the neck-rolling for tension headaches?
You should do at least 15 times. It also goes for spandulosis. What are the limitations for the hypertension patients?They should not do inverse postures. They should be careful for back-bending postures. Let us talk about gastrointestinal problems now.
Basically any disorders of the gastrointestinal track, like ulcer, acidity problem, or gas problem are under the category of gastrointestinal disorders. To some extent, irritable bubble syndrome, connected with the psychology a lot, is also one of the gastric problems. In such cases, sun salutation is very good. You can drink a couple of glasses of water and then start doing surya-namaskar. Also, it should be done a little bit fast. It should be like a continuous activity. At least 6 salutations is good. The second one is the pavanamuktasana. It has three different stages to be done. In the first one you do it with the right leg, and then with the left leg. Afterwards you do it with both legs. This is the second most important gesture for the ones with gastrointestinal disorders to do. The third one to be done is arda-matsyandrasana. You sit and twist the body in that. This you can do repeatedly on either side. After this, you can go to bhujangasana. We repeat bhujangasana 5-6 times. Afterwards you walk front and back on your toes. You stretch your hands upwards, pull the body up, stand on the toes and walk front and back. You walk about 15-20 steps 3-4 times. Then you do savasana. People with hypertension or epilepsy can do these practices. Even when you are pregnant you can do these. Can you give us some advices for people with memory problem?Trataka is very good for memory. Just keep a flame at 4-6 feet distance and keep looking at it. Watch it with plain eyes. Just fix your eyes on the flame with your eyes and your mind. Constantly keep looking at the flame. Have a smile on your face. Your breath should be normal. Your whole attention should be on the flame. Keep doing this for about 3 minutes. Then close your eyes and relax for 1 minute. Then open your eyes for once again. Continue to look at the flame for about another 3 minutes. After that turn your head to the right and then to the left. But continue to be looking at the flame as you do this. Again close your eyes for a minute. Open your eyes and continue to look at it for 2-3minutes. This time turn your head up and down slowly. Do this for regularly every day and it will improve your memory. It normally takes 10-15 minutes. Kaphalabati and Nadishudi also improve the memory.
You had better do the Trataka in a dark place. Behind the flame, there should not be anything to disturb your mind.

Questions and Answers

May 29, 2004
Private Talk - Istanbul / Turkey

It is not only in meditation that this happens. Many times, even in your sleep or when you are sitting very freely and relaxed, your mind gets into meditation without your knowledge. You sometimes cross that barrier of time, suddenly you are in a different time and then you get confused. You get up but you have the impressions of what you have seen. It might be about the future. Currently it doesn’t make sense but when the time gets there, you suddenly say “I know it”. You had seen it one month ago but it didn’t make any sense at that time. If the mind was aware of the past, present and the future, then the mind would get mad. Things would be confused, and you would get disturbed. That’s why it is a safety mechanism that our mind works in. In a mental person, the past, present and the future are all together and he gets confused and becomes a mental patient. It is fortunate that we have our perception of now, not the future. When all the possibilities get in your mind, you become schizophrenic.
You see the mirage. The mirage is not real, but seeing the mirage is real. Even a person who knows the signs behind the mirage and knows that it cannot exist, continues to see the mirage.
Do the Yogis who have supernatural powers know that the world is not real? Is this why they can do such things?
The physical reality follows certain laws. I can only create an illusion that I am flying. I can cerate an illusion and you will all think that I am flying. So it is rather a hypnosis rather than Yoga. I can hypnotize you in such a way that you will think I am flying in the air. God first created the laws, and then the laws became the objects. Burning comes first, and then it becomes fire. If a Yogi denies the fire burning, that means he is denying God. You can not deny the God’s laws. The creation is based on laws.
Are the paranormal powers also an illusion?
It says in Bhagavat Gita that if I have a desire to do something, then the good powers help me to improve my activity. Many times, such things appear to be happening out of nowhere. Let me give an example. One time, I wanted to go to Romania. Romanian Embassy rejected my Visa. I was already in Germany then. There was a great desire from the people there that I should go to Romania. Then somehow Romanian Embassy in Germany calls me and tells me that they will give me Visa. But it was too late, and didn’t have time to go and get the Visa. They told me to come and get my Visa even if it is midnight. So I got my Visa at 23:00. How did this happen? In fact it was a miracle. The taught of me willing to go and do some good things over there made this happen. This willingness goes to their minds and then they go ahead and do it.
Is this kind of like hypnosis?
No it is not very much like hypnosis. These vibrations are already there, you are just catching them.
In Karma principle, it is said that if you think everything positively, then good things will happen. If everything is there already, just by positive thinking, you can pick the good ones for yourself.
The people who take drugs know where they can get drugs in a city first time they get there. They immediately pick up the vibrations and they interact. If you have a good heart, people with good heart will come to you, almost like accidental. Actually it is because the good vibes are attracting the good vibes of the other.
But even if you have a good heart, if the other person doesn’t have that good vibes, then there is no way you can change her. There are even husbands and wives like this.
Then they quarrel and get separated afterwards. If you and I are thinking in different ways, we can be together for some time but after that we separate. There is no need to match 100%. The important aspects’ matching is enough to spend a life time with that person. We might be matching with somebody else in different aspects. A wife might be matching spiritually with somebody else.
Doesn’t that bring competition?
You should not feel that it is a competition. You should feel that it is what you need. If you think of it this way, then you never feel competition.
There are so many girls close to me. They are married but their husbands do not worry that my presence in the women’s lives is going to affect their presence in their wives’ lives.
What is the difference between the schizophrenic people and us? May be we are all dreaming. How can we be sure that this world is real? There is a book of Swami Krishnananda in which he says that this world is a dream. His student asks him that the world look so real and how it could be unreal. He answers: “when you are dreaming, you never know that you are dreaming. Only after waking up, you can say that you are dreaming”. This is the analogy he was making.
We should understand one thing. For a person who is dreaming, the dream is very real. When he wakes up, a consciousness looks at the dream and says that it was a dream. The inside consciousness in a dream, also becomes dream. When I look from the wakeful consciousness, my dream consciousness becomes a dream itself. Then the whole world becomes unreal. When I rise from the world consciousness to soul, then this world becomes unreal. But before that, my being in this world becomes unreal. It is not right if I consider myself real, but the world I live in unreal. We know that what we lived was a dream because we have experienced another consciousness other than the dream consciousness. Only when you are in the awake consciousness can you tell that the dream was unreal. So you have to identify yourself as out of the dream consciousness to be able to do that.
When you meditate, you realize that this world is not real. But afterwards you go ahead and continue to live in this world. That means that you don’t have to reject your dream consciousness. You still know that there is a dream.
I know that I had a dream last night, but again I will go back to a dream tonight. It is like this, I will once again feel that the dream is real. Nobody can be free from the dream. You see the rainbow and you know that there is no such thing as a rainbow. But still you continue to see it. It is just like the mirage example. The knowledge does not take you away from the experience. You will not be influenced by that. Your consciousness that is out of the event will be influenced but not your dream consciousness. So your wakeful consciousness will not be influenced by the dream. But the dream consciousness will be influenced by the dream. It depends on what you identify yourself with most of the time. I try to identify myself with not this consciousness. What is the difference between this consciousness and the other consciousness which is supposed to be my soul? How much I am not attached with this, gives me that consciousness. If you can not get detached, then you can never experience that consciousness.
Is it possible to be detached without being Tamasic? There is a very slight difference between detachment and being ignorant. You can not be detached from just something.
Care comes from loving. I love you so I care for you. So my care comes from my love much more than my attachment. My attachment makes me say:” I am important and therefore the world is important”. If I have an attachment with you and I need you all the time for my sake, it is not the attachment that cares for you. I do not care about the world if I have an attachment. If I love you then I should care for you because of you. If I tell you not to go to work because I want you with me, this is adjustment. I f I love you, you should be free to do however you want. So love cares much more than the attachment. Attachment actually is opposite of love. This is a very common mistake that we feel love and attachment are together. If I really love you, then I should have no attachment with you.
It is also about trust.
Yes, it is. We have a Sanskrit word called “Shraddha”. It means much more than just trust and faith. If I trust that you will do something, and you don’t do it a couple of times, then I distrust you. Trust and distrusts depends on the events outside. Shraddha does not depend on the events outside. My importance that I give to the world is Shraddha. If you have a Shraddha, then no damage can come to you. If you have Shraddha, you can put it on me or on an activity that you do. You may lose your faith in men, but just because of one person, you don’t lose faith in mankind. You can not live alone, so you have to have faith in people.
This is also what Krishna says in Gita.
Yes. Shraddha means basically, “yes, I am open”. So it means that if you offer me tea, I will open my cup and take it. So Shraddha means “I am ready to take”. It is like opening the windows for the sun to come in, but the sun is already there. There are two differences between faith and Shraddha. Faith basically is blind. In faith, the intellect is incapable of taking it. With Shraddha, intellect comes. The moment intellect comes, if I don’t have Shraddha, then it becomes negative. If you have Shraddha, you don’t add motive behind it but at the same time, I will judge with my intellect. Upanishad says:” how do you approach a teacher?” The answer is: “Don’t approach with faith because it is blind. Approach him with Shraddha.” It means that you can re-question whatever the teacher says. You should question it seriously, not negatively. Let me give an example. Shamivaran had a doctor friend called Dr. Clark from Harvard. There were two doctors very close to him; one was Dr. Clark and the other was Dr. Ballentine. I was with those doctors once. A heart patient came. Shamivaran told him to do some things. Ballentine said that doing another test for the patient would be better. But Dr. Clark refused, saying “Shamivaran told us to do only this one”. I asked why they couldn’t critique Shamivaran. He was not even a medical person. They told me that they had faith in Shamivaran. This is wrong. Faith does not mean that you give up your intellect. In faith, you give up intellect but in Shraddha, you don’t. Let us say you are not a medical person at all and you go to a doctor. When the doctor says something, your intellect will not help you there. You have faith in the doctor because you know he has solved similar cases before, or you know somebody whom he has cured before. So you don’t question his diagnosis. For faith, you need a track record of faith. For Shraddha, you need an intellect and an approach. People should come to me with Shraddha, not with faith because I want you to be total. Shraddha means “giving totally” but faith means” I am taking away the intellect I am giving you”. So in faith, you don’t give totally. If somebody tells me he is listening to me with faith, then I could as well have a bug listen to me because bugs don’t have intellects. I want a human being to follow me not a bug. I want an intellect and an emotion to come with my listeners. Shraddha has totality in the picture; the intellect is not kept aside like faith does. If I go the airport and they tell me that everything is all right with my ticket. Then I have a faith that I will fly tomorrow. We need faith in this world to work because the world is co complicated that you can not go into all the details yourself.
If the God is the creator and he is the forgiver, what is the difference between these two ways of doing something or not doing anything?
Anything is ok, provided you don’t have ego behind it. If a person is rajasic, he will be forced to things, or if he is satiric, he will work like the way you water a plant. It doesn’t matter which way you do things. If your way is rajasic, you can only be happy by forcing, if your nature is satiric you are uncomfortable with force.
In case I don’t come back to life again, what will happen to me and my soul?
Should something be happening? You become yourself and nothing else. You become one.
Does this mean “becoming God?”
The language of becoming is the language of the world. Being is not the same as becoming.
What does it feel like to become one?
Don’t worry about that.
If there is a being, then there should also be a non-being.
Our minds are full of “yes” and “no”, and “right” and “wrong”. That is why we have all these questions.
Should we be asking for things, for them to happen?
It is not just a matter of asking. It means you are seeking, and looking for it. You have an urge to know. It is like opening the windows for the sun to come in. If you don’t open the windows, then the sun will not come. So, there, asking doesn’t mean having questions. The moment you say you know something, you will not know any more. But if you say you don’t know, then you are open and you are seeking. Some people come to my seminars for some spiritual journey but if they don’t ask, they can not make any improvement.
Some people were born in Prashanti, then how do they change?
There are three things responsible for a growth. First one is our Karma, and the second one is the environment. The third one is our own effort.
Why did they give up?
They give up because after they were born, they get attracted by the environment that is non- spiritual. They find happiness there. If you want to go to Himalayas, you work hard to get there. Then suddenly you come to a milestone that says Himalayas is 88 km away. Then you get happy only with that and stay there.
When I had a relationship, I realized afterwards that I had to allocate the time of Yoga to my partner. This could happen to anyone and it is a bit scary. If I were born in Prashanti then it would be easier. You can very easily get attracted to something but in Pradhanti it should not be that way.
In Prashanti, once you get used to that routine, then you will be looking for what you are missing. That is why we need “satsang”. Prashanti can offer satsang. It is not something you should do compulsorily, you should do it voluntarily. People all over the world like my lectures and they come and listen to me. But how many of them are in Prashanti? If the personal commitment is there, then the process goes on.
If you see what is there in front of you and take the right step to go ahead, it is not fatalistic. If you go to sleep thinking God will take care of everything, this is fatalistic. When you do everything that needs to be done, only then you can leave things to God. I can not go on eating junk food, and say that God will take care of it and I will not become obese. This is fatalistic. I should be taking the right food and make my exercises. In case I get a cancer only then I can surrender to God. Surrendering to God does not exclude your efforts.
My Reiki teacher told me that if you want something from God, I should ask from God, and then wait for the answer instead of praying.
We don’t ask God anything for ourselves. If you ask something from God, it means you are separating yourself from divinity. My hand does not ask for anything from me, because my hand is a part of me. I am a part of God, how can I ask for anything from Him? What unites us together is love. So we just go to God out of love. He is just wonderful and he is me. Only with love can we two become one. We should be praying for the mankind. We should pray for everybody to be healthy, not just us.
It is said that some of the Gods can never be like the saints and the saints are higher beings than the Gods. How is this possible?
These Gods have certain types of duties they are responsible of. Total internal freedom is much more superior to doing chores. Indra is basically a position. If you can deny even that position and go ahead, then you are a greater saint. Indra has given up his Indra state like a president who gives up his title. You can become so free that you can forget all about your layers. Human beings are superior because they can improve themselves. All the celestial artists are small Gods. A Guru is not just a Brahma but he is a person from high levels.
Are the angels in Islam, Christianity, or any other religion like Gods in the Hindu system?
In Indian philosophy that is why we have several levels of Gods which could be called as angels. These are abstract details. It is not really worthwhile to be spending much time on that. It is much more important to work on how we can free and grow ourselves.
You said we should be praying for the mankind. I pray for my realization.
Praying for the realization of oneself and working for the realization are not opposite to each other. It is not a bad thing to ask for realization of oneself. You surrender your ego in the form of prayer but you still continue to work. If you don’t work then you become tamastic. So it is good and necessary that we pray God for realization and nothing else. The moment I think of something else apart from realization, I separate myself out of God.
The idea of Neti Neti, not his or not that, is a tool. I do not say Neti Neti for things that I do not have any connection with. I am not a Prime Minister, why should I worry about it? If you hold on to Neti Neti alone, than it leads you to negativity. It is kind of desperate. It leads you to a state of depression. Neti Neti does not have the freedom.
Why would you be depressed then?
You are still thinking of being somebody but you are constantly becoming nobody. Neti Neti is even worse than a failure. A failure is all right, and can be improved. But if you are not even a failure it means you are so bad. Many people don’t even attend anything because they don’t want to be a failure. Then they can’t be a success. In the process of Neti Neti you may be becoming depressed inside. It is like walking on a robe.
What is the purpose of Yoga?
Actually the purpose of life is very important.
Then what is the purpose of life?
The purpose of life is living. We constantly struggle to live, rather than living. We don’t appreciate the moment we are living. Yoga is essentially makes you feel that you are living.
So the aim of Yoga is to keep me living. How is this possible? Is it with these postures or with philosophy?
It is basically with philosophy that is translated into practical ways through asanas, pranayamas, etc.
When we do all these asanas, does it make us live? I am not into Yoga, so what I do is struggle for living, but since you are into Yoga, you are living. Is that so?
We should remove from our minds that Yoga is just doing breath exercises and some postures. They are only applications of Yoga. Yoga includes much more than that. We should be doing activities according to Yoga. This means that if you are doing an activity, you should be 100% in that activity. If I am talking, my mind, my brain and my mouth are all focusing on my talking. If I am thoroughly behind this activity that means I am living that activity. A person may not do the asanas or the pranayamas but he may be a Yogi by doing an activity in such a way. A person doing all the exercises but complaining all the time when eating is not a Yogi.
I was told before that the purpose of Yogi was to prevent ourselves from being reincarnated several times and unite with the One immediately.
It is not a question of being reincarnated. Without this experience people will have their own agendas, difficulties, desires, angers, etc. That causes coming back to life again. Then the world, even before you were born, is already bonded with certain agendas. The birth of a person, who has practiced Yoga and is free, will not be out of bondage but out of freedom. Such a person’s only activity will be helping others and enjoy being. Those people that we call as the saints or the prophets are such people who are in this world only for helping others. So it is not freedom from birth but freedom in birth.
What do you exactly mean by freedom? What are we free of? Am I not free?
For me, everybody has freedom. We also have limited purposes. A person who knows it can apply them right away. For example, something really upsetting you has happened. You may apply freedom and not worry about it. There must be degrees to applying freedom. That freedom gives us a big relief. Otherwise we would have been crushed by the life experiences. A broken heart can kill a person but we can overcome it and not worry about it. This realization, with the help of Yoga, helps us to apply freedom all the time.
So you are talking about not caring.
Such a person cares more consciously because he knows he has freedom inside.
Let us say there is something going wrong with my job but I didn’t give much importance to it and I didn’t worry about it. A very close friend of mine has got cancer but I still didn’t worry about it. Somebody crushed my car and I didn’t worry about that either. Is this what you are mean by freedom?
Let me give you an example. Two years ago I was supposed to travel to USA. There was no problem about my visas, passports, etc. Everything was ready months ago. I went to Bombay airports 3 hours ago for the check in. When I went there I realized that there was a big crowd there and a big commotion was going on. I asked what had happened. They said that the plane was already booked and they were not going to take any more seats. I told them that I had a ticket and a reserved seat. They told me that all the other men had the same things and that is why they are fighting. I could also fight or get angry and shout. But because of my peaceful calm nature, I enquired why this mistake had happened. They told me that normally 20% of the tickets were cancelled and that is why they had oversold the tickets. Legally they were all right. I asked them what the alternative for me could be. They told me I could fly tomorrow and they would pay me for all the extra expenses. I thought and came to the idea that I was not going to lose anything by going one day late. I could understand that person’s difficulty and I felt compassionate for him. I could fight with him and spoil both his mind and my mind. However I accepted his offer and told him to fix me a room from a hotel. The man was shocked. He couldn’t believe that I had said ok and not fight with him. I talked with the other passengers who were fighting and tried to convince them into my solution. I convinced a few passengers and in 10 minutes, all the commotion was gone. Because of my peaceful nature and compassion for people, I could go on positively. Let me give you the philosophical background behind it. Brahman and the Atman are the total peaceful states. Immediately next to them comes love, compassion and sense of wonder as manifestations. We call these three things “beauty”. When we limit these with ego, then comes the other feelings like hate. When we give up ego, love, compassion and sense of wonder will come up to the surface. That is why all the prophets manifested nothing but pure love, compassion and sense of wonder. Yoga helps us do this.
Why have the human beings been created?
The material world has the cause and the effect. We always look for a reason. There is always a purpose and an act behind it. But the divine does not work with the equation of cause and affect. So such a question, when you look from a spiritual point of view, is because of God’s freedom to create human beings. In Sanskrit way, we can say the God has become human beings. God has the freedom to become human beings, animals, or anything. A child doesn’t do an activity because of a reason. When we walk, there is a reason to it but children walk for the sake of walking. When we were small, there was a Muslim family living across our house. Their little girl would knock at our door but we weren’t tall enough to open the door so our mother had to come and open the door for her. She would come and open the door. My mother would ask her “why did you come?” and she would answer “to go back”. God works like that.
There are so many paths on this world. Everyone is just going to God at the end of the day. So the ultimate goal of everyone is the same. So it doesn’t matter if you practice Yoga or not. So evolution could never be stopped. There are many ways but Yoga could be a short cut way when you compare with the other ways. But, if the God was a mountain that everyone tried to reach to the peak, the natural way is the long road in which you can do sightseeing and enjoy the road. However there is also a short cut way in which you can injure yourself and it could be painful. Why don’t you prefer the long but good walk but the short and painful one to reach the peak? Also, what does Yoga feel about art?
Art and imagination are parts of divinity. That is why children have interest in arts like poetry, music, etc. But people usually get easily caught up with the idea that they should be engineers or doctors.
I would very much like to play violin. I also want to be an actor on the stage and be clapped. I also want to be a singer but my voice is not good. If I come to this world once again, I would like to play violin if I can. I want to come again and again until one day I can play violin. Isn’t it hurrying up when your goal is to reach the ultimate end through this road not the other? Don’t you miss something when you don’t want to be a violin player?
This topic is very well discussed in the Upanishad. The happiness that you get in arts is a 100 times greater happiness than an ordinary person’s happiness. It is not only greater, but it is also a spiritual happiness. It is spiritual because when you really enjoy playing music, you don’t feel hunger when somebody eats something before you while you are playing violin. If you are truly happy in playing music, you do not even look for audiences to clap you. One of the very great musicians of South India was once singing in Bangalore. It was really wonderful. After the song was finished, everybody clapped very hard with joy. He said “I know that you really enjoy this music but you really do not know how much I enjoy singing.” Singing gives him such a joy that even the listener can not understand that. The most important thing when somebody goes through that ecstatic joy is that he becomes peaceful and calm inside. If I can not sing like him, it doesn’t mean I cannot have such a joy like him. When he sings, many people clap hands. When I sing, my wife drags me away from the house. Upanishad says “you can also have that joy because this joy is due to his mind becoming peaceful inside”. I can reach that peace with the help of Yoga. By doing Yoga I don’t deny the happiness that he gets when he sings. That’s why I am happy all the time. I may not sing like Pavarotti, play football like Maradona, or do gymnastics like Nadia Komanichi but by Yoga, I have the happiness of all these people.
We are all going up the mountain; there is no doubt about it. It is when we have fear, doubt or insecurities about our journey, that is where Yoga can help you. If somebody is already happy, Yoga doesn’t want to disturb that person. That is why it is absolutely an individual decision. If a person makes Yoga, it doesn’t mean that he has lost the joy of all the sight seeing. People making Yoga do not feel regret.
But I can take my time and enjoy the world where as you are trying to go up the mountain quickly. You live the beauty spiritually but I live them physically.
Do you think you enjoy everything? How much can be enjoyed? There are billions f things that can make you happy but you can just see a small part of it. Out of thousands of sight seeing places, you may only enjoy 10 of them. To understand how the ocean tastes, you don’t need to drink the whole ocean. Yogi is someone who has tasted the ocean now and then, and knows how it tastes like.
Is life only an ocean? There are many things tasting differently. While meditating, do you get this worldly enjoyment?
You get much more intense than what the world can offer you. That is why, when you come out of meditation, it is like a fall.
If the reason of my living is experiencing this world, why should I close myself and miss the world by only meditating? I am created to live as a body not only as a spirit.
That is a very beautiful question. Spirituality doesn’t mean being away from this world. This is a wonderful world but we just see the top of the iceberg. It is not like a two dimensional plane. Our existence is in three dimensions. There are so many things deep inside us. We have such a depth inside, that we have dreams and many kinds of creativity. We all have a potential to become a Buddha or Jesus. Each one of us has that depth inside. To go deep into that level we need meditation. If I deny the world outside, I can never appreciate the world inside. If you can not see God in his manifestation, how can you see God in manifest? That is why we advice people not to come to spirituality as a way to escape from the world. If a person who says the world is not good, he is not accepting God. If 3 or 4 people can find peace within my presence, than I am satisfied. A true spiritual person will become accepted in the world but he doesn’t feel the need to be liable to it.
Is there anyone around you doing Yoga and also is very rich? Or is it more likely that people who have experienced catastrophes are more into this spirituality?
One of my very best friends in Bombay has the second biggest pharmacological company in the country. He also sincerely practices Yoga. One of the top most psychologists in Houston also practices Yoga. What is common about the people who sincerely practice Yoga? There are four different qualities. Somebody who goes through sufferings of life and can not find a solution can become spiritual. Another kind wants to get the best in the world but every time he can only get the second best. This leads to deep dissatisfaction and he goes for spirituality. The third kind of people is very intellectual and they ask for the meaning of everything. The fourth kind is by nature very quiet and peaceful. They might get a hint from somewhere that he himself has a spiritual quality.

Talk on Prana

May 29, 2004
Private Meeting - Istanbul / Turkey

Thank you for inviting me to this group.
Every time a child is born, through the child, God is sending us a message that he still has hope on the human beings. We will try to make that hope of God live, by the groups of this nature.
We have to constantly work to see how the human beings are together. The Sanskrit word for unity is what yoga is. So yoga is a practical science of uniting and being together. The essential spiritual nature of creation is this wonderful harmony. Look at a plant. The roots are under the earth and the flowers are towards the sky. But there is a wonderful harmony between the roots and fruits. This harmony shows the health of the plant. If you look at an orange you will again see harmony between the bitter outer layer of the orange and the sweet fruit and the bitter seed inside. The seed does not disturb the fruit and the fruit does not disturb the seed. They are born together and live together in harmony within the same fruit. When there is such a harmony in a fruit, why can’t we have this in human beings? If there is any enemy of man, it is only another man or as Bhagavad-Gita says he is his own enemy. We have to bring man closer to man in harmony by yoga. There are hundreds of ways by which we can put them together. But it can only be possible if I have the harmony inside me. So the journey starts from me. A flower has a fragrance and then it gives it to all around it self. Similarly if I have harmony inside, I can spread this harmony to the world.
But look at the human being. With human beings the mind says something and the body says something else. Within the mind also one part of the mind says yes while the other part says no. Why we can’t have this harmony.
In God’s creation there is such a wonderful harmony. We have very hard teeth but in between we have a very soft tongue. Look at the wonderful harmony between the tongue and the teeth. They not only do not disturb each other but they protect and help each other. Only when we are anxious they can disturb one another. If we are peaceful, there is harmony. Therefore disharmony is the sign of anxiety.
Basically yoga is harmony and yoga is peace. It is easier said than done. Just by asking mind will not be peaceful. Now the question is about how to get to that harmony and peace. We have several different techniques to reach harmony. So many yoga masters ever since ancient times have given us various techniques according to the need of the people at that time. Five thousand years ago someone has given us Kriya Yoga. Three thousand years ago somebody gave us Ashtanga Yoga. A thousand years ago somebody gave us Siddha Yoga. Recently Mahesh yogi came and gave us transcendental meditation. Definitely hundred years later somebody will come and give us another kind of yoga. The names and the practices may be different but the goal is the same. The only single goal they have is peace, harmony and those techniques which will not give us this goal of peace and harmony they are quake systems.
Why not we have only one system and why do we have so many techniques then? It is because we have different varieties of people with different varieties of minds. That is why what may suit you, might not suit me. What technique may be useful for someone may not be useful for some one else. That is why we have so many varieties of techniques. Not everybody has to like the same thing. It does not mean that they have to fight and be against each other. This is what Swami Vivekananda said a hundred years ago in the Parliament of Religions. There are hundreds of ways to reach to God’s place- the peace of mind. But the goal is the same in all of them. We choose what is good for us and reach a peace of mind. One of the biggest disturbances is in the inner life force called Prana. When the mind is agitated, you can see the agitation in the energy of the body.
Anger, depression, schizophrenia are all mental disturbances. They percolate into the life force, Prana and make it very agitated. Yoga says, if can get my mind to peace, then my body becomes peaceful and calm. If you can set the harmony between inhale and exhale, between systolic and diastolic, then you can see the harmony in your mind. Let us see the case somebody has panicked in a traffic accident and he is disturbed. All he needs to do is calm down and take deep breaths. You can see his panic level comes down. Once his mind is calm he in not in panic any more.
We do this to a lot of children having anxieties because of exams. We make them sit down and take deep breaths before the exams. We can see that once their panic levels come down, their recollection, memories and responses are better. We have done many research studies to prove how a calming down in the prana level can bring down an absolutely wonderful performance. This prana is sometimes translated as energy. This is not like the physical energy we measure in calories. This is the life energy within us. We are all born with a storehouse of this life energy. The faster we spend this energy, the older we become. When we slow down this process, we live longer. Respiration is one of the manifestations of this inner life energy. That is the reason why the animals that have faster respiratory rates live shorter. Animals having slower respiratory rates like elephants or crocodiles live longer. We may also see the benefit this way that as the way we breathe we are exhausted at the end of the day. But if we can reduce the speed we are not exhausted at the end of the day!
Pranayama practices are about how we can slow down this inner life force. People who practice for two weeks at our center can bring down their respiration rates from 20-22/ a minute to 15-16/a minute. People with hypertension and heart sicknesses always have high respiratory rates. According to Ayurveda, a high respiratory rate is a disease all by itself. People practicing pranayama continuously for 2-3 years have around 10-12 respirations in one minute. We have seen people who regularly meditate and do pranayama have respiratory rates of 1-2 /a minute. That means our lungs do not have to work as much as 20 times per minute but 1 or 2 by the help of yoga. Once you can bring that down, then you can realize how enjoyable the life itself is. Exhaustion will not be there, we will be much more relaxed all the time and the remaining prana can be used for other activities. You can observe that such a person is peaceful in everything he does.
Yoga says that if you have established in peace, people coming close to you can also feel that peace. Naturally this is something one has to experience. This is not something that can be taught but it is a feeling of that peaceful nature. How slow can we go with that prana? There is a story that comes in ‘Ramayana’. There is a person searching for a saint. He realizes that within a couple of miles to that saint the flowers are always fresh and the grass is always green. He can see liveliness all around.
He goes to the saint and humbly says “you must be really great because I see your influence”. “What kind of a meditation do you do to become such a saint?”
He answers “I am not very educated to do types of meditation. I am a very simple person. People say the best way of meditation is to slow down the respiration. That is pranayama.”
The man asks” what do you mean by slowing the breath?”. “It means slowly inhale and slowly exhale”. The man asks “how slow do you do that?” He answers “with one inhale and one exhale, one generation passes”. The man says” you never die”, and the saint says “I saw many people passing away in front of me”. The issue is not about dying or not but if the breath can be so slow, how blessed the life can be.
We spend so much prana that at the end of the day we are very tired. If we can slow down the breath and the whole inner activity, at the end of the day you will be as fresh as you were in the morning. That freshness is our health.
That harmony is the spiritual health. A person who is peaceful inside and has harmony can only spread harmony to the world. We have a few techniques to see how our mind is there on the respiration. At the beginning we will see how we can slow down the breath. After that, we will leave that technique aside but we will continue to have slow breath. Once we identify the gap between inhalation and exhalation, we can go to superior levels of our consciousness. You can see that there are huge subconscious levels of us hiding behind very little conscious levels outside. The world is so busy with shallow conscious levels that we do not know the depth levels of subconscious that we have. A person who can go to his subconscious levels can not develop anger any more. This is how Pranayama leads us to meditation.
Question and Answer Session
What is the difference between Atman and Brahman?
Prana is the energy what is behind our activities. When it becomes softer and softer, it has greater degrees of freedom. That itself is called Atman. Why do we worry about something indescribable as Brahma? The important thing is it is indescribable but it is something that can be experienced. It is such a wonderful experience that it is god who would make us experience this. How can we share other than words and words are very inadequate tool to share this expereince?
Could you describe the word “aum”? What is the effect of “aum” on human beings?
Basically these are the two letters that are active in our mental activity. Mind mostly functions in the form of dialogues. It is all like the way we talk outside we will be talking inside too. This talking in the language we are familiar with. What ever language we talk it all has these essential features. At one end which is the beginning of all our dialogues it is “a”. Every language has therefore the first letter as ‘a’. ‘A’ is the sound we produce with the mouth fully open and we can not do any thing below. And the other end is “m”. ‘M’ is the sound we produce with mouth fully closed and we can not do any thing beyond that! A is the beginning. Below “a” there is no sound we make. It is the sound you make with your mouth full open. The first sound that a child makes is “a”. The last sound that makes sense is “m”. The sound “m” is made by the mouth fully closed. You can not make any more sound beyond that. All the words, the sounds, the anger, the feelings, and everything else you speak are in between “a” and “m”. If I draw two lines graphically with one of them being “a” and the other “m”, all the dialogues will be within these two lines. When you join this ‘a’ and ‘m’ together, then it envelopes all the other things. ‘A’ and ‘M’ joining together represents the whole creation. That is why we have “amen” and “aum”. The sound which is produced by joining them therefore represents creation.
Let me tell you the benefits of this in practice. The world that matters to us is the dialogues that are going down inside us. Whatever the dialogue is that is going on inside, the moment you say “aum” or “amen” it envelopes all the dialogues that have been inside. There can be no dialogue inside you that can escape from “aum” or “amen”. Whenever we say “aum” it envelopes all the sounds of the mind. The moment we stop saying “aum”, Aum itself dissolves. When it dissolves, you go into a “no-mind” state. Aum is important because of that silence. Every time we pronounce “aum” we reach that profound state of silence. Saying it repeatedly, slowly we can reach that “no-mind” state. That is basically the reason why “aum” is added to almost every spiritual sound. It is that state where you are awake but your mind is resting. We normally have an experience of body resting but mind not. The body rests, the prana rests, and even the mind rests after “aum”. It is after that silence that all the creation takes place. One can experience how creation comes out of this silence. That is why we are in touch with Brahman and Atman. It is still unexplainable because the words become silence in this, and the explanation we will give will not satisfy the actual Brahman. Aum is bigger than all the words. That is the reason why they say that is the state that can not be explained but it can be experienced.
Is it possible to increase the life energy inside us? I do not mean using it properly; I mean can we increase it?
What we do is not increasing the energy. We tune such a way that we attract similar kinds of energy which is the intention called as ‘sankalpa’ together and manifest very big activities. We become the core and all the other similar intentions can join that.
What energies are you referring to? How are we going to absorb them?
There are several people who have same kind of intentions and same kind of passion. If I strongly manifest my passion and my energy and my prana, then I will have the capacity to attract similar kind of minds and energies. Then it starts to become like a big wave. The only way we are separated from that force is our arrogance.
This is the reason that when we want to do some thing we find that some unknown forces come together without our planning and make things possible. We think that we are lucky and things look like coincident. But the explanation given is that they are not coincident but the influence of these subtle forces which have given the energy for our activity.
What is levitation?
I would consider that all these physical laws are the manifestations of God himself. Anything I do to deny any of the physical laws is going against the God’s will. The first thing is I feel I need to reach divinity. Sailing against the wind of God is basically our arrogance. Trying to break some of the nature’s laws for me seems to be not a very happy idea of yoga. There is another God’s law that is creating a world of illusion. Even though there is no water, showing that there is water is an illusion. That is what we call a “mirage”. Similarly when there is no object actually as rainbow, seeing a rainbow is a mirage. It looks like it is valid in the nature’s law but it is not there and you see it. Levitation can be seen as an illusion which is not there but we see it. I feel that we do it by psychedelic energy.
Bears go to sleep for months. During that time his respiration rate goes very slow. When a bear can do it subconsciously, how can human beings can not do it?
There are three types of animals going in hibernation. They are frogs, snakes, and bears. Nature has provided them with hibernation abilities. When the animal hibernates there is most minimum activity of survival and all the rest of the activity is conserved. This capacity is provided to the animals so that they will not be struggling for food when the food is not available like in winter. This is actually the only indication that has inspired human beings that he can also try to hibernate. In the case of animals when they are in hibernation there is no development or growth taking place. This is a law of nature. But when we consciously hibernate it is a spiritual growth. That is one of the reasons why we try to go into a peaceful state of mind. It is like a consciously made hibernation. Mandukya Upanishad talks about this. It especially talks about frogs. Frogs go to hibernation as a natural phenomenon which is supposed to be the fourth state of consciousness. We normally know three state of consciousness. These are wakeful state of consciousness, dream-state of consciousness, and deep-sleep state of consciousness. Beyond these three, we have a fourth one. The indication of this fourth state of consciousness is all these hibernating animals. If I go to that fourth state of consciousness consciously, that is what we call a meditation. A frog goes to the fourth state of consciousness but stays as a frog. This is natural for it. But when a human being does that he becomes a Buddha.
Could you talk about the concept of chaos in harmony?
This is a little bit difficult subject so please bear with me. In the nature, chaos and harmony are never separated. We think they are opposite but in fact in nature, they are always together and complimentary to each other. Look at a tree and you will see that the leaves are similar. There is an absolute harmony. When you closely observe and compare the leaves, you will see that they are totally different. There is a total chaos. There is a chaos but there is also harmony there. Every tree has leaves, roots and trunks within a wonderful harmony. The moment you see it from a distance you can tell it is a tree and see what is the species and variety. When you come close, you see that no tree is like another tree. Similarly if you take even our cells; there is a similarity and you can see an absolute matching. But if you more closely observe, you will see they are different and in chaos. The continuity of the creation takes place because of the combination of harmony and chaos. Harmony brings the discipline. Chaos brings absolute and infinite creation. If only harmony is there, creation will die. Similarly if only chaos is there, creation will again die.

Talk on Hyperactivity

May 29, 2004
Raghuramji - The President of the 1st Yoga Festival - Istanbul / Turkey

Before we start the session, I would like to start with a brief meditation.
I will give you the instructions:
You may sit cross-legged. Try to keep your shoulders straight. Close your eyes. Relax your whole body in this position. While your eyes closed, observe your breath. Inhale and exhale completely…
Follow the breath from the nostrils until the lungs… Once the breath gets slower and relaxed, observe the mind… No tension and no tightness of the mind… Imagine a wonderful flower in your mind with beautiful colors and a wonderful smell. Try to think that this moment is the most blessed moment of your life. Let us say three times “aum” while breathing out. Join your hands at the heart level and repeat after me. Bend forward while exhaling. And saying ‘aum’… Aum…
In English, the word “man” comes from the word “mind”. Also in Sanskrit, the word “man” comes from the word “mind”. One who has a mind, is a man. When we say man here, we do not only mean the male but also the female. The important aspect of human being is the mind. Essentially, the idea of yoga is to see how we can develop in harmony at the mind level. When there is harmony, there will be peace of mind. It is easier said than done.
What we really need to look at is how to get into that peaceful state of mind. There are very few people on the streets whose minds are naturally peaceful. They were born with a peace of mind. They really do not have to do anything. Nothing can disturb their minds. There are two types of people. One category of people who have peace of mind but they do not do any constructive activity. They are very dull and they are not really useful to the society. In the understanding of yoga they appear to be peaceful but in reality they are not but their disturbances are in the seed form. But people in the other category are very peaceful and very creative at the same time. Yoga wants people to have peaceful minds and at the same time be creative. When we look at the non-creative people, they do not even exercise their minds. They do not make any activity and they are just above the simple material level. They do not fight against the challenges or the difficulties of life. Therefore they are not creative or active at all. When we put these people in some kind of an activity, we see that they really suffer. If you can put them in protection, then they can not harm themselves. This is the category of people who have not yet been evolved. Looking at the other people who are active, we can say that they have evolved.
A person who is active or hyperactive has lots of creativity and has lots of ideas unlike a dull person. A dull person is not sensitive. An active or hyperactive person is already sensitive. Sensitivity is growth. We need to develop sensitivity. Developments in technology and science are actually making us more and more sensitive. Hundred years ago people were not this sensitive. A person who is sensitive is a person who is developed. Sensitivity is growth. In hundred years of time, people will be much more sensitive than us.
Let me give a simple example regarding this. Hundred years ago men did not have a cleanness concept. But today we have developed and we wonder how people lived at those times. We are also sensitive to information these days. Thanks to the information technology growth. People wonder about how they used to live without a radio or a television. We wonder how they lived without knowing what is going on around the world. Today we have all these things available.
Hundred years ago traveling to U.S.A. took three months by boat. Today you can go anywhere very fast. I wonder how people could take a trip as three months to go to America. Hundred years later, things will be totally different. We are now sensitive to spending such a time in travel. May be people in future will look at our televisions and think how primitively we have lived. This is how the sensitivity grows as the technology develops. Another thing is the inner speed. We complain about the speed out side. But the real problem is not outer speed but it is the inner speed which is a problem. Let me state an example which is common for most of us. When I was at school, I used to visit my brother who was working at a bank. At the bank, they used to keep a notebook called daybook to keep track of everything that was done at that day. They had to add the four to six digit number and it used to take around 15 minutes which they used to do leisurely. Today we have computers and all the data is on the computers. All you need to do to close the day is just hit a button and the computer adds. In one minute, the calculation is finished. We are restless. If we wait just a few seconds more, we start complaining. Twenty years ago, men would give 15-20 minutes where as today, we can not wait for even 15 seconds. This means that the outside world is getting faster and faster but our inside world moves much faster than that.
The outside world has become fast and inside world has become faster. The outside world gets more sensitive but the inside gets even more extra sensitive. Outside becomes active and the inside becomes hyperactive. Hyperactivity does not belong to outside but to our inside.
To learn about hyperactivity is to actually see within. A simple experiment our philosophy asks us to try to sit quiet for some time and see what happens. We can sit for 5-10 minutes. May be that will create a force inside because we will get restless. We want to do something or we will get bored. The way hyperactivity manifests in us is in the form of boredom. Boredom, hyperactivity and hypersensitivity are very closely connected. Less developed countries have less problems of hyperactivity. When the country is less developed, people do not complain about boredom also. Our grandfathers and grandmothers did not have televisions or radios but they never complained about boredom. My grandfather used to come from the field and sit comfortably in his chair without any complaints. My father, being the next generation, used to complain about boredom in his 40-50s. In my own generation, this boredom starts with the early ages like 20s. Fifty years ago a child of six or seven years hardly used to complain about boredom. Fifty years later look at my son he started to complain about boredom when he was 6 years old. This hyperactivity and boredom start to be seen in people at earlier ages. The reason appears to be the technological progress we see. When we did not have all these play things etc we were less restless. With all the supports to engage us today we are growing more and more restless. A more developed country has greater problem of this. That is why we can see small children being hyperactive and complaining about boredom in developed countries more than in the developing countries. If we don’t solve this problem now, a couple of generations later, the children will be born not by crying but by saying “I’m bored”.Maxim Gorky a Russian noble laureate when he visited USA once, was taken round the various places of entertainment, as they wanted to show him how rich America is and how much people have. At the end of the whole tour Gorky said with sad face wondered how poor people are! The officials who were with him asked do you mean Russian people who do not have such things. He said no I am talking about Americans who need so many things to engage them otherwise they get bored! I am sorry about the restlessness in American public.
We somehow need to get rid of this restlessness. Let me come to some ideas of yoga. Inside our body, there are no different kinds of energies. There is only energy that we call the life energy, prana. Prana is responsible for our respiration and activities. It is also responsible for boredom and restlessness. When we can not control prana, it becomes restless. When we have control over it, then we become better people. This restless energy goes more to the brain region. As the pressure gets bigger we somehow spend it away. What normally do we do when we are restless? We walk to spend that energy away. Another way to get rid of the energy is to gossip. It gives such a wonderful relief. You throw away your inner restlessness and the emptiness is created inside. What you enjoy in gossip is that emptiness. Some people smoke to get rid of this restlessness. When you smoke, the nicotine takes away the restless energy and you get rid of it. Sex is another way to get rid of this restless energy. We have several sensory organs through which we involve in activities. These are all the centers through which we spend this restless energy. These centers are called the chakras. Basically, when we feel the urge to smoke, it is because of the restlessness inside not because of the mouth or lungs. What is wrong if we spend this energy in the form of sex, smoking etc.? What happens is that, they take away our restlessness when we are in contact with objects but it comes back to us soon as we are denied of the object, afterwards. The problem with these ways of spending the energy is that they make the mind much more restless. After involving in a gossip, you feel the relief first. But afterwards, you observe that your mind become much more complex. All these methods to spend that energy have evil attached. Spending this restless energy by hyperactivity is unhealthy. Gardening on the other hand is a wonderful way of spending this energy. But today we have so many concrete buildings that there are almost no gardens at all. In India, women knit while they wait for the bus at the bus stop. I am sure same way women do activities all over the world. That is a way wonderful way of spending their restless energy inside. I always wonder why women have such wonderful activities but not men. Therefore women always are knitting to conquer their restlessness where the men spend restlessness by smoking in India. Smoking is a problem for the health where as knitting is not. Another way people spend their restless energy is by eating. The whole bubblegum business survives on our restless. Probably the bubblegum business will be even better as we get more and more restless. That is how we spend that energy and become peaceful.
In all these activities, we spend that energy but we do not address the basic issue as to how not to become restless inside again. This is a very important point. Spending the restless energy is important but how not to become restless is much more important. Essentially, yoga works in that area.
The role of the yoga is to make you less restless inside. One of the most important key factors in yoga to control that restlessness is being aware. Being aware of yourself, you will be able to control your restlessness.
There are two ways of looking at this awareness. There is a positive and negative awareness. One of the greatest thinkers of India is Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He used to tell a simple story to explain this awareness. There was a farm house in a land of 100 acres and there was a watchman for this house. This watchman used to travel around the farm and check if everything was all right. He was a very good watchman. He used to know all the details about the farm. If anything was missing in the farm, he would be aware of it. If there was a thief or an animal jumped into the farm, making a sound, he would be aware of that too. He would recognize any small sound. That is his job. He does this job only for the 8 hours that is his work hours. After that he becomes tired and he could not continue that awareness as a watchman for more than 8 hours. He would like to break off! If he does more than one day he becomes sick.
And there is another person who also has awareness. His awareness is of different nature. He knows what things are available in the farm house. If there was a problem in the car, he could go into his garage and get the necessary equipment to fix it. If a guest comes, he knows in garden, which tree to pick the good fruits from. He is aware for 24 hours, and he is the owner of the farm house. Those 24 hours of awareness is not a burden on him. A watchman’s awareness is a burden after 8 hours; where as the owner’s awareness is not a burden for 24 hours. Watchman’s awareness is a pressure where as the owner’s awareness is a relief. What is the difference between the watchman’s awareness and the owner’s awareness? The watchman’s awareness is always the awareness of negativity. Watchman’s awareness is around what is wrong, where is the weakness, where the thief, etc can enter. The owner’s awareness is a positive awareness. Ramakrishna used to say that the watchman’s awareness is bad, but the owner’s awareness is good. Watchman’s awareness is a burden but the owner’s awareness is a relief. God sent you not as a watchman of your body but as the owners of your body. Ramakrishna therefore suggested don’t have watchman’s awareness on you, have owner’s awareness. A hyperactive person is generally thinking what is wrong. We are tutored to think that the more negativity we see, the more intelligent we are. We think that if we can find fault, we are great. While listening to music, when we see a small fault and point-out the mistake, we feel proud that we know about music. Education is making us more and more negative aware people.
Yoga awareness is about positive awareness. If you become more and more negatively aware, then the world looks negative. It is very easy to see something that is negative. In a white sheet, we can immediately see a black spot. You do not need to put any effort to see that black dot. Mind very easily goes to that negative awareness. The closer you look at something, the more negative you see. This is how we get closer to hyperactivity and negative awareness. We have to develop consciously positive awareness.
When you look at a rose garden, there are actually more thorns than roses. One flower at least has ten thorns. The more you look at these thorns you wonder why they call it the rose garden instead of the thorn garden. That is right according to the democratic ideas also. When you start negative awareness, it is like looking at the thorns instead of the roses. The more you look at the thorns; you may even start blaming the rose flower the more. Then you can say that the flower is having a conspiracy against you. The flower is attracting you and therefore the thorns can harm you. When you start looking at the negative, even the positive will appear negative to you and you feel you are really smart.
On the other hand, the more you see the flowers, the more you appreciate the garden. If you look at the flowers, you may even appreciate the thorns. You may start saying that the thorn is beautifully placed there to protect the rose. Yoga tries to improve positive awareness. The first help of yoga to come out of hyperactivity is to learn to look at everything positively.
Let us look at our daily life. What do you do first when you get up in the morning? You look at the clock. It is time that you have to get up. You have a lot of things to do. A horrible day has started again, you curse the day! But you can’t help it. You start the day with negativity! Yoga says, stop all these. Think about the positive things. Before you start any activity just spend 10-15 minutes thinking of the positive things. Then your day becomes positive.
The practice of yoga gives a great advantage to you. When you stretch you body, your muscles excite hundreds of neurons in your brain. When you stretch the body, these neurons get activated. Activated neurons add to your awareness. By stretching your body, you are actually developing your awareness. Awareness is nothing but trying to build a harmony between the mind and the body. When you stretch your body in the yoga, use this awareness and look at the stretch positively. When you do that, your stretches will be able to take you to deeper levels of relaxation. Don’t worry about your pains or the bending that you can not do. Think about it positively and think you can do so much. That positive awareness will help you go to a positive relaxation.
This relaxation will make you less restless. Try to do the practices of yoga slowly and gently. The positive awareness helps you to agree with self in just a moment. Stay in the final posture. Allow yourself to observe all the changes taken place in your body. Observe your blood flow and pulse rate. Listen to the vibes inside your body dispassionately. All these will help you to go to deeper relaxations. Thereby you are actually trying to reduce your inner hyperactivity. You will not lose your sensitivity meanwhile. Once you are peaceful inside, you can always bring in energy when an activity is needed.
This is valid for the second category of people I have explained earlier namely the people who are basically very sensitive but they are not restless. They can do the activity calmly but they do not need to become hyperactive. They are aware of everything but they do not react. Actually you can do a set of exercises to see how aware you are inside. In Sanskrit the word pragna which is translated to English as “awareness”. There is no better word for it than awareness. Awareness is always object oriented. Awareness always has “of what?” Where as pragna is not object oriented, it is subject oriented. Pragna is a state inside, not a state from outside. We are aware of all the things around the world. We are aware of what is happening in America in India; we are aware of the politics today. We are aware of all these things but we are never aware of our inside. This is not pragna; it is awareness alright but not pragna.The practice we will do today is about how to bring bout that awareness from outside to inside. We will see how our blood flows and how our heart works. We will see how we can enter the sound resonance, and see the various impulses of the nerves. We will improve our awareness about all these activities. This is done basically by reducing the scattered and fragmented awareness out side. Finally we will eliminate all the things and we will become mere awareness. That mere awareness is what is called the pragna. Other objects, we have to show with the help of light. Even the moon can not be seen without the sun light. We don’t need another light to see self. Pragna is light itself. With the help of pragna, we can see other objects. Once we become pragna, then we can bring the pragna into all our actions. If you do this yoga practice 45 minutes a day you can become pragna yourself. Once you bring in pragna in all your activities, your activities will neither become dull or hyperactive. You will be wonderfully active and at the same time you will not be hyperactive. You will be the master of the activities; the activities will not be your masters. You are here and now. I can answer a few questions now.
Question and answer session:
What is the person when he is having this awareness?This question was asked by Arjuna to Krishna in the second chapter of Bhagavad-Gita. There he asks what a person is like in the state of pragna. To be aware of everything outside us, science helps us. Science does not have any prescription for inner awareness. Your self awareness is what the yoga alone can do. In this respect yoga is not against the science, it supports science.
We are very much object- oriented. Do we have to spend some time alone and quiet?
We are trained by the present day life style to live in object orientation. We have no opportunity to be in subject orientation. That is the way meditation practice is to be taken. This is essentially to be quiet and take this quietness into deeper inner layers of us.
When there is a hyperactive person in front of me I try to be calm. When I am calm, he gets more hyperactive.
A person in the state of awareness would never harm another person. A person who is aware could only help others to grow. If that person’s silence is going to help the other person, he will remain silence. If that person’s silence will make the other one even more hyperactive, he will be silent inside and will not allow his silence to exhibit outside which can harm other person. So he will show his emotion with out getting caught up in emotions so that the other person will mend himself. A person who has established a world of pragna can never harm the outside world. I would like to give an example from my son. He was very peaceful at school. His friends used to tease him and make fun of him. He would come home and cry. All the others have told him not to fight with those kids. But my son used to say that the quieter I am, the more they tease me. I told my son without loosing awareness to go and show his strength to them because he was strong enough. But do not keep any anger within you while doing this. The next day he went and just showed his strength to them. Afterwards they all became good friends of him. When I say be peaceful, I do not mean lose your self respect. You know our Indian gods. One of their hands is in the pose of granting boons with peace but the other hand has a bow and arrow or any other weapon. I can be peaceful when I am strong when needed. Never lose your self respect in the name of yoga and spiritually.
How can we be aware of something outside us?
That is the fundamental difference between matter and consciousness. Matter is not aware of being aware. For example a tape recorder gives all the material that it has. But the tape recorder is not aware of itself. The essential thing about human being is that we are aware that we are human beings. The question of awareness is not like a mirror that reflects but like something from inside to outside. Mirror only shows what is there in front of it. Similarly, tape recorder only gives out what is in there. Self-awareness is what reflects the inside to outside. It can choose or it can reject. I can choose to take something or reject it. When we add spirituality to awareness, then we can get the positive things and reject the negative. If I can find awareness in myself then I can be aware of whatever I want.
Practical session:
We can go to some practices now.Lie down comfortably in shavasana. Join the legs together and hands on the sides of the body. Close your eyes. Tighten the toes and heels. Tighten the knee caps. Tighten the thighs and the waist. Exhale and tighten the stomach. Inhale and hold the breath. Turn the hands as fists and tighten the hands. Tighten right up to the shoulders. Continue to hold the breath. Tighten the neck, tighten the face… tighten….tighten…Relax… Exhale freely… Relax the whole body. Now let us do it one more time. This is how the awareness is gathered in the body. Slowly turn to the side and stand up. Close your eyes. Stay straight. Put your hands freely over the shoulders. Observe… Inhale and the exhale freely. Gently move the body from right to left and left to right. Give your weight to right foot and then to left foot. Then give your weight to the center again. This way the body is aware of its weight. Observe the weight equally distributed to both legs. Move the body to front and to back. The weight now goes to toes and to heels. Then move it to the middle. Observe your weight equally distributed to both legs. Both legs have equal awareness. Now let us improve the awareness in our right side. Inhale and raise the right hand slowly. Observe the stretching at the right side of the body. Exhale and bend to the right side of your body. Stretch the whole right side of the body. As you are stretching, observe the awareness on the right side of your body. Maintain the posture as long as 8-10 inhales. Relax and breathe freely. There is a smile on our faces. Slowly inhale and go up straight while the hand is up. As we go straight up, the stretching disappears on our right side. Now our right side is full of awareness more than our left side. Our right side is livelier. Stay in this awareness for as long as 8-10 respirations. Now let us do the same thing for our left side. Now both sides of my body have awareness and they are livelier. Release the arms freely from the shoulders. Inhale and exhale. Bend forward. Recognize the stretching in the thighs. Stretch the waist and the spinal cord. Bend down fully. Stretch the back of the body, and you will be aware of your pulse. Remain in this final posture for about 10-12 respirations. Slowly come back. Inhale. As you go up the stretch is released. The awareness continues to maintain. As we go up, the blood flows downwards. The head feels lighter. This way we have improved our awareness in our body. We have also developed a personal awareness. Slowly slide your hands up towards your waist. Push the elbows back. Exhale and inhale. Stretch your thighs as you go back. Stretch the neck completely. This exercise will improve the awareness in your front areas. Inhale and say “aum”. Slowly go back to normal and let the blood flow back to the brain. Relax. Now your whole body is full of awareness.

Talk on Yoga and Obesity

May 28, 2004
Raghuramji - The President of the 1st Yoga Festival - Istanbul / Turkey

Nameste. Welcome to this session on yoga and obesity.
Let me give you some ideas about the background of obesity and then we will do some practices. This year in United States of America, they declared that obesity is the number one national epidemic. They found that more than 32% of the young adults are obese.
Obesity not only makes the body heavy and nonfunctional but it also makes the brain functioning come down. Because of obesity, when the blood has to reach every part of the body, it puts a very big burden on the heart. One of the most important reasons of heart attack is found to be obesity. Because the body is big, the blood has to circulate in the body but it can not reach the brain. Our glands in the body function better when there is no obesity.
In addition to these, there are lots of social problems regarding obesity. There are families in which everyone is obese. Malnutrition is considered as better when compared with obesity. People consider obesity as only a body disease but it is a total personality problem. People consider burning the calories as a solution to obesity. Recently they found that is not the real solution. There is a reason why the body does not burn calories and you become obese. I work with patients in California suffering from eating disorders. The patients that I see are not just obese; they are several times the size of normal obese that normally we refer. They are so fat that you can not even make them burn the calories. Doing the fat burning exercises will give them hear problems or fractures. I have seen that there are specially designed cars for them to drive.
All these patients’ problems start with the mind and emotions and percolate in their bodies. Our body is how our mind directs the body. Our body is how we use and abuse this body. Let us see how the obesity problem can occur starting spiritually.Our physical body is different from any other physical object like a table or a chair. In those physical objects, there is no life. But here there is life. Because of this, there are essentially three major differences between a dead physical body and our body. Any physical and inert body does not require food, but we constantly require food. The food should just be for nourishing but not for any other reason. While eating, we should eat in such a way that the food should be harmonized in our body. I have seen people, who eat food because they are bored and they do not know what to do. I have also seen people who are angry or emotionally upset. In order to get rid of this disturbed mental condition they go on eating. The first important thing about the food is, we should eat only when we are hungry. That is the harmony at the simplest level. In the nature, everything is in this harmony. You do not find a cat or a dog in the forest that is obese. They have plenty of things to eat but they don’t abuse their eating. They eat as much as their hunger permits. I was watching the Animal Channel on the television. A tiger after having a good meal was resting. There was a deer very close to him grazing. The tiger opened his eyes, looked at the deer, yarned and then closed his eyes continuing to rest again. Just because the deer was there, the tiger did not jump on the deer. He kept quiet because he was not hungry. The speaker said the tiger was not violent and he was full so he did not kill and eat the deer. He further said tigers are not violent they eat food if needed.
So we should always think whether we eat food for the sake of hunger or because of many other reasons? But in order to think we need awareness. This awareness is absent, replaced by our desire to eat the moment we see food. That is one of the reasons why before eating we in India sit peacefully and say a simple prayer. Though we may not really think of the meaning or many times we may not know the meaning it helps us in bringing about our awareness. A simple prayer takes away your anger or your emotional disturbances and only pure hunger will be there. Let us just limit here to that fact that we should eat food only for the sake of hunger.
The second equally important thing is fasting. People do fasting for so many other reasons. The fasting is very important to give rest to the stomach. The energy inside you is enough for you to survive even if you fast for 20 days. But we don’t even wait for twenty minutes. We should be able to develop a control over eating by fasting at least for one day or half a day in a week. If you fast for one day in a week, you will give your stomach a rest from a continuous activity. On the day of fasting, there are possibilities that you will become emotionally irritable. If you are able to do the fasting peacefully without getting irritable, then that fasting works like a therapy. That fasting will basically integrate with the whole body complex. There are several regulations given in Indian thinking for fasting. The word in Sanskrit for fasting is ‘UPAVAASA’ which means staying with oneself, (upa= near to oneself, and Vaasa= staying) it means not staying with food but to stay with self not needing food.
Apart from the food, the other aspect at the physical level or body level is exercise. A physical inert body like a chair or table doesn’t need to do any exercise. Just keep it away for a couple of years and when you bring it back it will again be the same useful object for you. But on the other hand if you keep your body without working for even a month, it will lose its efficiency. When there is a fracture in your arm you immobilize it for 6 weeks, and then the arm becomes useless for some time. Our body needs to continuously do exercise. Our legs in this body are designed to walk for at least 5 miles every day. Our body is designed to sit down and get up naturally. Remember 50-60 years ago, in a place like India people used to walk so easily because the vehicles were not there in those days. In India, all the temples are made on the hills. People so easily used to go up the hill see the God and come back easily. It was a regular exercise without calling an exercise. Slowly we stopped doing those exercises. Now there are cars and we do not walk. There are elevators, and we do not climb the stairs. The worst thing is that we never sit on the floor like this squatting. As a result, our body has stopped doing all these activities. As a result, one day when you have to walk, you start gasping of breath.
We continue to eat but we stop doing exercise. Naturally that food is converted into fat instead of muscles. That is why people get obese. Obesity is one of the results of this. The other problems could be all kinds of heart diseases. Then you rush to the doctor and the doctor makes you go through all the battery of tests and makes a report about you. Finally he will tell you that you don’t have any major problem. Actually you don’t have any problem. He will tell you to take some medicines for your non-existing problem and in addition he will advise you to go for a walk for 2 miles every day. For your health reasons, sit down and get up few times every day. These are what we should be doing naturally and we have given up. But now we need a doctor to come and tell us. Now it looks like a big activity for us to walk due to some heavy reason, but this was a natural activity for our grandfather.
The other day I was going on a daily morning walk like any day and my friend appeared which is, his first day of walking. Immediately he was surprised to see me in the early morning and started with a smile and surprise, ‘oh, I thought you do yoga? You also have it…? How much is sugar? Is it under control; a flood of questions. Indicating people walk only if they have sugars and only on advice of a doctor.
Lack of exercise is another way we have abused our own body. I have seen in USA particularly, a large number of population who go to work, come back and eat and then sit at home and watch TV and sleep. This is all they do. What will happen to that kind of a body but get to all these problems? Naturally our body needs exercise. There are essentially three different types of exercise we need to do. One is necessary for the healthy body. That should include bending, twisting, walking and jumping. These exercises are necessary for everybody. The second type of exercise has much more localized affects which are prescribed for an athlete. For example a tennis player has to do specific exercises that are local in the body muscles and are useful for his game. Each specific sport or game has specific combination of practices which are specially researched into and given.
General types of exercises are associated with age. Until the age of 40-45 we need to do exercises regularly for keeping fit and building up. From 45 to 60 we should do stabilizing exercises. After 60, we should slowly go to relaxing exercises. Unless we have a health problem we should continue to do these exercises.
Another important aspect of our body is relaxation. I have seen people giving a lot of importance to exercise but not enough for relaxation. In fact, the only way that people relax is just sleep. We never do conscious methods of relaxations. In a lot of obesity cases, the solution is not the exercise but together with it the relaxation. People have not paid much attention to this relaxation. Sleep gives a certain amount of relaxation no doubt but a conscious relaxation is much more important. If you do not have a good sleep, your relaxation is not that good. Sleep is not in our hands. Whether the sleep will be good or not is not in our control. If you take medicines for sleep that sleep is also not a relaxing sleep. To some extent we can control the sleep by doing exhausting exercises. You probably will get a good sleep after that. But it is very important to do conscious methods of relaxation. The importance of yoga is essentially to give us that conscious method of relaxation. The essential purpose of yoga is not to give exercise but to give a conscious method of relaxation. In seventies, Dr. Herbert Benson has made a research in this regard in America. He was a medical doctor from Harvard. His observation was that a good sleep can give up to 7% of rest in the body. Where as a conscious method of relaxation like yoga will give 17-18% of rest. That means that you can get twice to thee times as much rest by conscious relaxation in a shorter period of time compared to a good sleep. His hypothesis also answers why a conscious relaxation will give deeper rest. We have a sympathetic and a parasympathetic tone in our bodies. While in sleep, the sympathetic tone will not come down as much as in the conscious method of relaxation. A sleep will not bring down your sympathetic tone. It makes a little change but not very appreciable. Hypertension will not become normal by sleeping. One important disturbance for obesity is also sympathetic activity. Where as a conscious process of relaxation will help bring down the sympathetic tone. This is where yoga is very important. We have made many studies on how yoga can help bring down the sympathetic tone. One important experiment we have done is Yoga that we gave to the astronaut sent to space. I gave him classes on conscious methods of relaxation. One of the major problems of the people who go to the space was high sympathetic tones. Once he practiced yoga he could bring down this tone to normal levels by consciously relaxing. Later we received a request from the pilots in America saying they want to learn Yoga. The second experiment we have done was with the blind children. We introduced Yoga to a blind school with 70 children. After one month we saw that all the sympathetic parameters have gone down. I have to tell you why it was important with the blind children. What happens when you compare the blind children with the normal children is that the blind do not have eyes but the others have one important sensory organ called the eye. Children without eyes feel threatened in a world where everybody can see and they can’t. Because of that threat their sympathetic tone is always high. When you see something threatening, your sympathetic tone will go up. These children always feel threatened because they live in a world of people who can see. Therefore their sympathetic tones are high. In general their sympathetic tones are almost 15-18% higher than a normal person’s. With one month of practice of Yoga, their sympathetic tones have come down to such wonderful levels that their health also improved. Yoga has to be given essentially for the idea of relaxation. Once you are able to relax, the body becomes harmonious.
There is a wonderful harmony between food and hunger in the case of people who are doing yoga. So it is not burning the calorie but harmonizing the calorie that is important. This much is enough about physical body level.
Deep inside we have the life force personality behind the gross physical personality called Prana. This Prana is a subtle personality of us. When this Prana is slow we are healthy and when the Prana is fast, we are sick. The speed of Prana indicates the sickness condition within us. One of the manifestations of this speed in Prana is in the form of speed in respiration. When the speed of Prana manifests in digestive system we unnecessarily start feeling hungry. There are three ways that the speed of Prana manifests at the physiological level. The text called ‘yogavasista’ discussed about this. One of these ways is the indigestion. Because of that people do not feel hungry. As a result of it, they lose their weight. Another way is because of this speed of Prana people start developing wrong digestion. These are the people having problems of acidity and gastric diseases. The third type is over-digestion. This category of people develops obesity. Because of the restlessness of Prana, although they eat enough they still feel hungry. This hunger is not a real hunger but an illusion of hunger created because of the speed of Prana. A regular practice of Pranayama will bring down the speed of Prana.
Essentially there are two techniques which will help us reduce the speed of Prana. One of them is doing the left nostril breathing. If you do 27 rounds of left nostril breathing in one sitting three times a day, it is stated that it will bring out a higher metabolism. That will help reduce the obesity on the body. The second method is to do the same thing with the other nostril. The third method is the diaphragm and abdominal breathing with the sound resonance of “aum”. With each exhalation do 9 times “aum”. The sound resonance of “aum” tries to harmonize the energies of the abdominal level.
Since people are of different varieties, which can be classified broadly into three types we have three problems of digestion. Generally people who are very sensitive have usually wrong digestion problems and not obesity. People who are no only sensitive, but are shy and emotional are the ones who suffer from obesity.
Let us go the mental personality now. The agitations of the mind, the restlessness of the mind can percolate into physiology creating obesity. What is more important is, the more subtle levels we go, the effect will also be more. The restfulness of the mind is very important on the process of digestion. That is the reason why the mental level, along with these exercise and practices of yoga asanas and pranayama; we must also do the practice of meditation. In meditation we try to make the mind peaceful. If you are not introduced into any specific methods of meditation, you can play some nice soft music and put your mind on the music. It should never be done for more than 20 minutes.
The intellectual level is one of the important levels which can give us logical support for controlling obesity. If we can resolve the mental disturbances by roper understanding and logic we can control it before it percolates into our body level.
Most of the cases of obesity are because these people are emotionally disturbed and upset. It is always suggested that we should have a positive attitude towards an obese person. We should be able to leave the problems aside and not think about them all the time.
In developed countries one of the important problems is that people are too conscious about their bodies. Body is just a useful instrument. It is not everything. It is just an outer layer. Several times deeper and more intense is what we are. One of the aspects of Yoga is to be able to leave the body alone aside and go subtle inside the body level. The healthy body is the body that I can leave and come out of it. A healthy child is at body level only when he or she is hungry; most of the time the child is detached from body. Therefore a child is healthy when it does not give you too much of a problem. A healthy child does not require mother’s attention very much. When the child is sick he want the mother’s attention all the time. Similarly healthy body is the body that does not require much of your attention. Children are so wonderful because they are not attached at the body level, they think of their body only when they are hungry. Otherwise they are happy with their happiness inside. Just to give an example in our ashram a boy was playing with the other kids and while playing he fell down. He hurt his knee and blood was coming out. But he went on playing happily. His mother came and saw the wound said “oh you are hurt”. Then he looked at his knee and started crying. This means that it really did not give him pain. Only when he looked at it and brought about the consciousness of the body then it started to give him pain. If you are not in the body level, that indicates that you are healthy. I see so many people get so concerned about things at the body level like food, exercise etc. These are all necessary but it is to go beyond which is important. Good food good exercise good rest etc should help us to see how we can get out of the body level. Animals also do not stay at the body level. That is why they are very happy. A friend of mine is a medical doctor in Colorado USA. One day he was busy in a surgery. Suddenly he gets a phone call from vet’s office. They said his dog has come out of the house and is run over by a car. They said his legs were broken and they were fixing it. The doctor finished his work and went to see his dog. It took one hour for him to reach once he reached vets office and asked for his dog. The receptionist said they did surgery and everything was successful. He then asks where the dog is. They tell him that the dog will come to him when he hears his voice. And in two minutes the dog really walks to him. He was surprised at this because when he performs surgery on somebody he has to put them in ICU and special ward for a week, where as in dog’s case, one hour after the operation the dog can walk. How is this possible for the dog to get up so easily? The vet answered “people are so worried about their body that they stay in hospital. The dog is not worried about the body so he comes out immediately”. The practices of Yoga, exercises and relaxation are all important but essentially coming out of them is much more important. That is the reason why at the end of the Yoga practice you do the DRT and shavasana. That will help you come out of the body. The healthier the body is, the easier for you to do the shavasana. This is how the problem of obesity can be taken care of.
Emotional aspect is another thing we need to pay attention to. Emotional disturbances can bring about obesity in a person. The feeling of not being accepted in the society can be an example. Then they start hating their own body.
You are the closest person to your body. If you hate your body, nobody else can help your body. The most important emotional aspect in obesity is to befriend our body. We have worked with many patients by giving them the suggestion to respect their body as friend. Just because from time to time you can not discipline it, you don’t have to hate your body. According to Indian philosophy, the body is considered to be the temple of God and you are the divinity living inside. That is why we should try to feel close to the body and help the body to come out of this problem.
Questions and Answers
Some people can go to sleep immediately in shavasana. Does their sympathetic tone go high if they fall asleep? Why does it happen?
There can be several reasons for falling asleep in shavasana. One of the reasons can be the habit of going to sleep the moment you are in horizontal position. Sympathetic tone will not go up but it will stop going down when you fall asleep. If somebody falls into sleep after shavasana, that sleep is even better than the normal sleep. It is better if they can overcome that sleep but they should not worry about it because that is a better quality of sleep. The reason is because we are so conditioned to sleep when we lie down. That habit makes us go to sleep. With a few practices of Yoga you can overcome that.
Sometimes when somebody is in shavasana he doesn’t want to come back to body level again. Why is this?
There could be two reasons for this and one of them is good where the other one is bad. The good reason is that he is in a very good and peaceful state and he does not want to come out of it. The other is being against going to the activity. The relaxation might develop hatred for activity. This is bad. A relaxation should not develop negativity for activity. A proper relaxation should not develop any negativity at all. A practice of Yoga can never develop negativity in you. If it brings about negativity for activity, then it is due to the quality of tamas or lethargy rather than a good relaxation. Lethargy brings about lack of awareness. You have to get rid of it by the actively participating in Yoga.
Our body is provided with neurons. Whenever we stretch the body, it is said that these neurons get activated in the brain. That develops our awareness. What mechanism happens let us not worry about it but our experience is we develop awareness. Therefore it is not important how perfect you do the posture. What is important is how you develop your awareness through the stretch. You can not expect an obese to do good yoga postures. That is why the perfection of the posture is not important. The stretch, they do, bring about awareness and that is very good. The stretch should come from inside not from outside which means don’t stretch externally but let a person doing yoga stretch himself from within. Outside stretch may be useful for a small time. Some Yoga schools do such stretching activities. It could only be useful for an initial period. After that, the stretch should be developed from inside. That internal awareness is very important for relaxation. If the stretch comes from outside, and is not coming from inside the body develops a resisting tendency. Anything coming from outside, the body tries to resist and tries to fight it out. By providing an external stretch you actually try to develop a resisting tendency inside. Psychologically that is not a good thing for yoga. Essentially a person practicing yoga is free from all kinds of resisting forces inside. A resistance inside takes away the psychological flexibility. We should never encourage resisting forces to develop inside. That builds our irritability and arrogance. That is why the author of Hatha Yoga says, Yoga should never be done by force or pressure from outside. That is why in our Yoga schools the teacher does not come and bend you or force you and press you to do it. We allow people to do the postures with the effort from within. Out side is only to correct the positions.
Is calling people to Yoga classes also a kind of force and pressure?
That is right if the person is not a willing candidate for yoga. The moment there is a force from outside, there is always a reaction inside. We should convince them. At the beginning we give the practice from outside but slowly the practice should come from the depth. Interest to do yoga should come from within. What comes from inside, transforms you. If you force a person to become a better human being, he will be waiting for an opportunity to be bad. As a result there will be no transformation. That is why we have a beautiful prayer in the ideas of Yoga: “Let the raw fruit become a fruit from within”. Such a fruit, fruiting from inside will have wonderful fragrance, color and taste; similarly the person who transforms from inside spreads wonderful fragrances, colors and taste.
Let us do some practice now. We will do some salutation and prayer. Afterwards we will do Shawasana followed by meditation.

Yoga as it is

April 16, 2004

To day all over the globe one of the most important topics being discussed every where, is yoga. In fact yoga entered space several years ago when Rakhesh sharma the Indian astronaut, talked to Indira Gandhi the then prime minister of India, from space saying he is practicing yoga on the space ship. Though it is becoming popular today in the world, it was a part of daily life, at least for some people of India through out the centuries as can be seen from the ancient texts. Time and again the reference comes in the writings for all these years. It appears that we dont have to take the trouble of redefining the term yoga but it is necessary that we understand in its true sense and like the way the sages have expressed with reference to the context. If we have to define it differently then we need to establish what was wrong in their definition and how a modified definition will help us for our growth and development.Understanding yoga becomes necessary because today when you go to the market ( earlier it used to be taught in the Ashramas but today we can find yoga being advertised, franchised and marketed in yoga studios.) we find different things being practiced in the name of yoga. There are patented names for yoga according to the masters, some times giving their names and some times giving some catchy names and marketable names. But the moment we call it yoga it has to mean some thing specific. That should be the minimum respect and justice we do to the ancient yoga masters. In this context we need to look into the various texts for information. The earliest text is the Upanishads, which are part of the Vedas, second being the Ramayana or supposed to be its part Yoga Vasista one of the oldest texts ( though original Valmiki Ramayana has not made mention of it), next comes Mahabharata or its part, the Bhagavad-Gita, more scientific presentation the Yoga Sutras of sage Patanjali, and the latest of the yoga texts called the Hata pradipika while taking these texts I shall try to give few of the definitions as giving all the definitions is not possible for our purposes.While describing the origin of this knowledge in Gita, Adi Shankaracharya said, that this knowledge is given by Lord Vishnu at the time of creation itself. The acharya (teacher) of Hatha pradipika says yoga is given by shankara at the time of creation to Parvathy. Though the names of who has given to who may be different and may appear like mythological the note worthy fact is that this knowledge is a very ancient, and is available at the time of creation itself!In Sanskrit every word has the root letter from which the word is derived. Accordingly the root letter for Yoga is yuj, which suggests joining, or bringing together two things the jeeva atma and the param atma. In a practical sense it means if we can create that kind of body-mind-consciousness complex of us that we could easily blend us with the universe around us in all kinds of situations peacefully without any disturbance that is yoga; jeevatma being the body mind complex of an individual and param atma is the god in the form of manifested world around us.Upanishad says yoga is sthiraam indriya dharanaam, holding the senses (external organas and internal organs) steady is yoga. Yoga Vasista is the text which gives the dialogue between Vasista and Rama, Vasista explaining to the latter about the philosophy of yoga so it is known as yoga Vasista. Naturally the definition for yoga given by Vasista is important. Here yoga is said to be the trick for calming the mind. manh prashamanopaayah yoga iti abhidheeyate.Bhagavad-Gita is an important text in this context, because of which at the end of every chapter we express this is taken from this text which is the Upanishad knowledge, Brahma vidya- the knowledge of ultimate reality, the science of yoga and is the discussion between Krishna and Arjunaetc. every chapter in this is called as yoga and it presents the idea of yoga in ever so many ways. In this yoga is defines as Samatvam yoga ucchate- yoga is the state of equanimity. Gita also describes the state of yoga as samaadhu acala buddhih tatha yogam avapsyasi. When the mind is kept in the state of tranquility, then it is has achieved the state of yoga. Yogis mind is like the steady flame which is protected from wind, yatha deepo nivatastho..yogino yata chittasya.. Sage Patanjali who has put the ideas of yoga from all the ancient wisdom writes the crisp definition of yoga in his sutras of yoga which is the text on yoga. In his second sutra Patanjali says, yoga is to arrest the disturbances of the mind, yogah chitta vrutti nirodhah. And in the next sutra he gives it a person who controls the mind will establish himself in the state of self, tathaa drastuh swarupe avasthanam since the disturbances identify us else where, vritti saarupyam itaratrah.From all these definitions it can be seen that there is consistency in the thinking of yoga from the time of Vedas and Upanishads up the time of Patanjali which in Sanskrit is called as ekavakyata. Yoga is a methodology to achieve and also a state of peace of mind, tranquility and harmony in all circumstances.This gives rise to several questions such as, why do we need to calm the mind, what is the advantage, why doing postures, manipulating breathing are called as yoga, what has body or breath got to do with mind. All these questions we will look into in future discussions.
Love
N.V.Raghuram

Ramanavami Day

March 31, 2004

Ramanavami day greetings to one and all!It is on this ninth day of the new moon Rama was born in Ayodhya in Treta Yuga. Very important is that all the four brothers are born on this day and on this same day they got married and on this day Rama was finally on the throne.It is not so easy to pardon Kaikeyi for what she has done that over-night the things have changed from a festive mood to grave situation. But with a noble heart one can pardon her. But it is just impossible to pardon Manthara who poisoned the mind of Kaikeyi for no reason. Bharata too could not pardon her even though in many respects Bharatha showed the qualitites matching with that of Rama. But when Rama returned from the forest and he found everybody with great joy and happiness, he started searching for Manthara. Finally when he found her in the dark room locked up not being able to pardon self. Rama goes to her addressing her as mother. He wiped her tears saying how much he loves her. He recollected all the wonderful incidents from his childhood in how many ways she has taken care of his happiness. He made her forget all her evil doings and brought life to her. Incidents of this nature are in abundance in the life of Rama. Let us look into ourselves and find out how much we can pardon and also make them feel that it is our pardoning but they are also wonderful and potentially divine and only on a freak moment they happened to do a mistake.Why can't we pardon? The reason is we think that our happiness is taken away by someone so we can not excuse. Once we are convinced our deep inner nature is bliss absolute and we can not be disturbed by outside we can only be compassionate to others.
Love
N.V.Raghuram

How to control Prana and go beyond

March 30, 2004

The Pranamaya level of being is fine but we need to go beyond to subtler levels. Let us do this simple exercise. Sit still peacefully; not rigid but with ease and suppleness. Close your eyes and observe breathing. Observe in-breath and out-breath at the tip of the nostril. Continue to observe, don�t interfere with it. Let it be more and more gentle and soft and you continue to notice! Do not worry about any ratios, and don�t worry about which lobe (part) of lung you are working for your breathing and all that. Don�t even think of uniformity in breathing. No other consideration at all except watching the breath at the tip of the nostril for some time, say three to four minutes.Then slowly along with the inhaling breath, go from the tip of the nostril up to the throat. Now watch the sensations at the throat. Don�t interfere with any of the sensations. Continue to notice the feeling of the breath at the throat for another three to four minutes. Continue with closed eyes and continue with total absorption. From the throat proceed to the depth of lungs along with the in-breath. The whole passage of breathing is relaxed and wide open naturally. You can notice hardly any friction and sensation in the whole passage of breathing right from the nostril up to the death of your lungs. It is the friction in the wind pipe which is responsible for the feeling of exhaustion. So this provides an opportunity to withdraw from the nasal passage as you breathe and you can feel the movement of lung muscles for your breathing. You can also observe that there is no obstruction between the air inside and the air outside. The inside air is called as breath and the air outside is called as air. You are in between! Do not take note of any wanderings of the mind, just ignore. Let the whole body continue to be relaxed. You become nothing but breathing. Once you have the experience of becoming yourself breathing, slowly and peacefully notice that you are not the breathing but the lung movement, which enables the breathing to manifest. You will be surprised with direct experience of being the Prana (kind of force) which is responsible for breathing and breathing is only consequential. Breathing is the result but actually, you are that which is behind the lung muscles. Make that Prana force goes on by itself without your interference. Prana the life force is going on its own. You are a witness of it.In the next step, after recognizing the movement of lungs going on spontaneously, notice the gap between exhalation and inhalation. Lung muscles come to a temporary halt. This is a very pleasant state where you are not doing any thing including moving the lung muscles. That you notice as the most restful state. As you go on identifying with that state, you start experiencing that the movement of lung muscles is going on out side of you and you are the stillness, non-active state in between the movement.You are one without any physical movement of lungs at all. That is when you can slowly transcend the Pranamaya Kộsa. (Once you are able to transcend the Prana or movement at respiratory level you can have the experience of transcending at other parts of the body in other activities. You are not breathing yet breathing is going on. You can same way transcend the limbs and walking is going on. You are not talking but talking is going on and so on).After transcending the Pranamaya kosa we come to identify with the manomaya kosa. Pranamaya kosa is left behind. The disturbances now in the form of thoughts belong to manomaya kosa. Ignore the thoughts and merge the mind in Aum chanting, by chanting Aum three times leisurely while you exhale; three fourth of exhalation say Aum and last fourth silence. Observe that all the thoughts of the mind merge into Aum and finally Aum merges into silence. Stay in that silence and thus transcend the manomaya kosa and further on to merge in silence.Stay for a period of ten to fifteen minutes and finally come out of meditation with the chanting of AUM. Percolate the peace through out the being and before opening the eyes, after rubbing the palms against each other, palm the eyes with warm palms and massage the eyes and face gently.Do this repeatedly for a few days so that you start experiencing the effect of the meditation.
Aum Shantih Shantih, shanthihi.
Love
N.V.Raghuram

UGADI

March 19, 2004

On the 21st of the month of March, we are moving from Swabhanu Samvatsara to Tarana Samvatsara. It is also precisely 5106 years from Mahabharata war period. Wish you all on behalf of sVYASA and Yoga Bharati a very happy Ugaadi on this occasion.This is Chandramana Ugadi, because our calendar follows moon like there are some other calendars in the world that follow sun’s motion. Moon has a great advantage because not only moon but the positions of all the stars can define the day, month, year and various larger cycles in time. We have very complicated micro divisions of time. That is why it is said that our calendar and measurement of time is complicated and at the same time very accurate. We did not have to revise the dates over several thousands of years whereas other calendars in the world have undergone changes. It is said to be Sage Mathematician Aryabhatta who gave the final shape and usable formula of our calendar. Ugadi is also known as Yugadi (Yuga+Adi) in Kannada indicating Yuga according to the Indian calendar the recon of time called YUGA started on this day. According to legend Brahma created the earth on this day and called it as the first day. In Maharastra it is called as Gudi Padwa. In Bengal it is known as Vishu or Naba Barsha and in Kashmir it is known as Navreh and in Ladakh it is LossarOn this occasion instead of writing routine topic I would like to change the idea to something different. I will give here just a couple of incidents, which are about children. Children are unique and have a very sharp perception which can totally surprise you. They are our best teachers, our best entertainers, and more than any thing living gods in front of us. Don’t miss observing their innocence, intelligent, unique and honest thinking.It was a long time ago, one day I happened to go to my friends place with Amrit, my son, who was then six years. My friend was not there. My friend’s wife asked us, “Can I give you any thing to eat or drink?” I said, “No, nothing because we are heading home and it is lunch time”. “What about Amrit. Can I give him lunch because it is lunch time?” she asked. I said “no”. She asked “then can I give him some milk?” For that also I said, “No, he will go home and will have lunch.” Basically, I wanted to avoid him messing up. She said, “Why do you reply on his behalf for every thing. Let him say what he wants”. “Ok, ask him what he wants” I became defensive! Amrit replied “I will have food.” I said “OK”. When she gave him food he was having food very neat and with out making any fuss, I was surprised.Her son was watching him eating nicely. She commented to her son, “look at Amrit he is so clean and neat while eating. You are just the opposite.” I felt bad because, I know how Amrit is when he eats at home and because of Amrit he is being criticized.But, to my surprise, her kid, who is also a good friend of Amrit casually replied, “Yes, because he is eating at somebody else’s house!Sumant asked his mom, “Raghuram uncle is very smart! Isn’t it mom? Mom questioned little kid not more than six years “how you know he is smart. Do you understand what he speaks?Sumant replied without any hesitation, “He is smart because always he talks and every one listens”!Isn’t it wonderful?LoveN.V.Raghuram
P.S.
One of my friends from Turkey Mr. Ali asked this question, What is the meaning of Swabhanu and Taarana Samvatsaram?Let me share the reply with all.Samvatsara means year and these are the names given to each year. Swabhanu is actually SWA+BHANU= self in the form of Sun god.Same way Taarana is that which crosses us from the ocean of ignorance to knowledge! Aren't they wonderful!
Love
N.V.Raghuram

Yoga goes mainstream in USA

March 17, 2004

Hot yoga. Tot yoga. Power yoga. Disco yoga. Yoga Kickboxing. Fat-blasting yoga. Years after the ancient Eastern discipline caught on big in the United States, yoga is proving to have a suitably limber foothold here. Not only are more people taking up yoga, but it is being geared for American tastes. There is yoga for dieters, for jocks, even for new moms and their babies. "Yoga is evolving to meet cultural needs," said Yoga Alliance president Hansa Knox Johnson. "We have people who have different kinds of energies. Some of them are go-go, some are kind of more restless, some are more heavy, sedentary. So different yogas are appropriate for different kinds of people." Yoga has been gaining steam in this country for years. A study released last summer by the magazine Yoga Journal said about 15 million people in the United States practiced yoga — a 29 percent jump from the previous year. The yoga boom probably peaked a year ago, according to The Yoga Research and Education Center, but researchers there still expect interest to remain at higher levels. Yoga has benefited from the same baby boomer-fueled fitness trend that fills kickboxing classes and aerobics studios. But increased interest in alternative health practices has helped too. Yoga is often championed as a way to bring peace of mind in a jangly world. "Our biggest spike in enrollment came right after 9-11," said Deborah Foss, executive director of the Albany Kripalu Yoga Center. "I think people were so stressed out, they were looking for a place to calm down." Relatively few Americans had immersed themselves in the 5,000-year-old discipline when Foss took her first yoga class in 1989. In the years since, a lot of people have been attracted to aspects of yoga: the postures, the controlled breathing, the meditation and the aim of uniting mind, body and spirit. Today, yoga reaches all sort of demographics, from football players to school children to prisoners. And with more people taking up yoga, more styles of classes cropped up. Are you athletic? Power yoga might work. Don't mind a good, purifying sweat? Bikram Yoga, sometimes called hot yoga, is typically performed in rooms heated to around 100 degrees. Pregnant? Aqua yoga can make movement easier. Foss favors Kripalu Yoga, which she teaches under soft lights with slow stretches and sweet incantations of "Ommm." But the center offers classes that run the spectrum in terms of physical demands. Some latter-day yoga offshoots would seem alien to a practitioner from 5,000 years ago, particularly those who focus on the quest for a better body. Some purists sniff at the likes of "yoga for kickboxing" and trendy yoga wear like "Om earrings" and "Yoga chick" tops with Buddha prints. The fear is that turning yoga into a commodity or merely a physical training tool can obscure its higher purpose. "The whole thing is to integrate your body, mind and spirit," Foss said. "When we Westernize everything — and the culture is so built upon competition and big, better, more — sometimes we lose the essence of the practice." But Foss also notes "there's not one right path." Foss and some other yoga veterans view it this way: While being able to put your leg behind your head is not the ultimate goal of yoga, many forms of it can lead practitioners to other dimensions of yoga. "Yoga has been around for 5,000 years, and this is just a wave. And if it brings more people to the practice of yoga and they discover yoga's deeper dimensions, then it's a good thing," said Trisha Lamb Feuerstein, director of research for the Yoga Education and Research Center. Then there's what Feuerstein calls "yoga hybrids and mutants." She found "Yogilates" (a blend of yoga and Pilates); Yo-Chi (yoga plus T'ai Chi); Boga (boxing and yoga); and Smoga (yoga for smokers). Some of these hyphenated yogas test the patience of even inclusive sorts like Johnson. Yoga has its own philosophy, as do other serious disciplines, and mixing them isn't always a good thing, she said. With the proliferation of so many flavors of yoga, Johnson foresees a new backlash-driven focus on classic yoga. But she also believes yoga will continue to adapt. "That's really the ideal of yoga," she said. "It's for all of this to coexist peacefully." "When we Westernize everything — and the culture is so built upon competition and big, better, more — sometimes we lose the essence of the practice." Deborah Foss, Albany Kripalu Yoga Center

Love
N.V.Raghuram

HOLI

March 9, 2004

Like most of the children in India I also heard the story when I was a child like this. Shiva was meditating and one time Rati and Manmatha also known as Kamadeva were dancing in Kailasa. Their dance disturbed Shiva’s meditation. Angry Shiva opened his third eye and burnt Kamadeva. That is why this day is being celebrated as HOLI. I was terribly puzzled when I heard this story as it could not convince me. Rati and Kamadeva were not demons like Ravana or Keechaka; he was a Yaksha and she was a Yakshini. They were meant to dance and create joyful atmosphere. Why should he be killed and his death has to be celebrated with colors and sweets and dancing.This puzzle of mine has been solved when I heard the full story much later which I would like to share.When Manmatha who is all beautiful and all lovable and all likable which is the meaning of Manmatha was appeared to be burnt to death, Rati, the great pativrata, (devoted to husband) was in great grief. Sage Narada advised her to go to Parvathy and request her to grant her, and save her husband from Shiva’s wreath. When Parvathi, Shiva’s consort, asked her Shiva what mistake has he done and why was he eliminated. Shiva replied, Manmatha was the concentrated beauty and love. That brought him ego and has created arrogance. Yakshas are supposed to enrich the whole creation by their special presence. He became self centered. I had to teach him a lesson and do proper thing. So I thought beauty, joy and love are things which have to be shared with the whole creation and therefore on this full moon day I have distributed Manmatha all over the creation. Rati is not the widow but she can find her husband in whole of the nature every where. Let her therefore spread herself whole world. Rati is charm and if you look at the world on this full moon night with clear sky you will nothing but appreciate the beauty of the creation. Next morning the earth wakes up with full of colors and dancing. Where ever you find beauty and joy it is Manmatha you find Rati, the attraction, the good feeling there.This Holi is also called as the “festival of Kama” with the blessings of Shiva let us also recognize the beauty of the world and it is an occasion of raising from Kama to Prema by dissolving ego and to Bhakti by surrendering to the divinity.

Love
N.V.Raghuram

Concept of Prana

March 3, 2004

As I said earlier, the concept of prana has been originally given by our ancient scriptures, which makes such profound sense. Let us see what the rishis have to say about it. In Taittariya Upanishad the rishi says,tasmadva etasmaat anna rasamayaat, anyontara aatma pranamayah, te naisha purnah. Deeper or subtler or more essential than this (food or biological) self is the self in the form of prana. He is more complete than the food self. This is explained by Adi Shankaracharya in his commentary on Taittariya Upanishad as follows. The biological body is filled with the prana having the same shape as the biological body. The subtle body is more complete than the gross one.Further the Upanishad says, Pranam deva anu prananti, manushyah pashavascaye, which means that the forces like fire, etc (devah) depend on prana for their activity. This indicates that various types of forces within us have their activities based on prana. When the sage said, biological body is supported by the prana-body at subtler level, he meant that, the biological body and the biological forces alone may not decide, how much to spend for a certain activity. More of it is spent if this prana draws more of this energy and less and less energy is spent. So the performance of the other energies depends on prana. Therefore prana is more fundamental. This is what we have seen in the other examples how a person spends more energy than the other in doing the same amount of out put. But this prana depends on the mental body (Manomaya Kosa). This is the next observation. How can we relate the statement made by Upanishad sage? Let us try to understand the mental body. Our mental body desires to do some thing which may be a perceivable thought or may be non-perceivable idea which may be arising out of mind or mental personality. Prana has greater freedom than biological body or the freedom which we see in biological body is essentially due to the presence of Pranic body. Mind has power or authority over the prana because of which mind works its way through prana on body. When I desire to move my hand I let my mind influence prana which in turn moves the corresponding energy and the hand moves. We do not see all these things happening because we have such a speed between thinking and doing that we do not notice the gap.Subtler than biophysical body is prana, and when this prana becomes softer gentler and subtler it is mind. This prana is the cause for life. This prana is life. pranohi yasmat bhutanaam aayuh jeevanam, yaavat asmin shareere praano vassati taavat aayuh. As long as there is prana in the body, so long there is life. By relaxing the physical body or by experiencing the feeling of satisfaction at the body level one can go to prana level recognition. All those practices that we do at bio-physical body level are essentially to facilitate us to detach from the bio-physical level. Once when we detach and go to unconscious level it is sleep. But if we maintain consciousness and feel satisfied totally at bio-physical level we transcend to prana level, which is the cognition of only a gentle activity at a minimum level going on. Prana itself can not be perceived but its effect in the form of respiration or pulse or some other sensation goes on.From Prasna Upanishad what are the ideas of prana let us find out. In Prasna Upanishad it is said that like the spokes of the wheel holding the wheel taking all the burden of the wheel transmitting on the stationary axle, prana is one thing on which every thing in this universe is fixed. It is the prana which burns like fire, shines like the sun, rains like clouds, the wind, the earth and the moon. It is both form and formless! Prana is born out of Atma, the I as a shadow is born out of an object by the actions of the mind and has subdivided into five functions.
Prana cakshusrotra mukha nasikabhyam Aditya
sun
Eyes, ears, nose and face
Apana paayupasthe pruthivyam
earth
Genitals and anal track
Vyana naadenaam vaayuh
air
Nervous system
Udana urdhvam udaanat tejas
light
Upward activity
Samaana swayam pratishte madhye Akaashah
space
In the middle portion of body
Further it is described that prana with udana together with jeevatma (individual soul) is lead to the sankalpa loka (the will-domain). All these subtle elements and their subtle aspects, what can be seen and heard etc, mind and thoughts, ego and its objects, every thing rests in the state of sleep like birds in their nests.This is an interesting statement from the point of rebirth! Our memory is some thing which not only belongs to this body. Body undergoes changes every moment. Therefore body also means this moment, because this body is constantly undergoing changes. Memory belongs therefore to our past and future. This is important because memory connects us to future and past. Our memory is the one which carries us to the future. In other words our memory transcends this body. It carries the impressions in subtle layers deep within us and brings up from this subtle level when ever it is required. The above sutra tells us that this memory can go beyond this body along with Udana carrying the impressions into other world called Sankalpa loka. When this body is left by our soul or self, these Sankalpa desires also follow our soul but do not have an instrument called body in order to manifest in the form of activities. That is the bondage we have from the birth. In order to fulfill our deep rooted Sankalpa desires we will be doing several activities which in turn bring about newer desires. Thus the bondage continues.An anecdote which has some element of humor I would like to share. It was my very early job in a government organization, and I was still my probation period. I was very junior and I had a super boss who was a superintending engineer wanting to become chief engineer. His desire was so strong that if he comes across any temple he would go in to pray to god make me chief engineer. He would see any sadhu sit with him ask when he would become chief engineer. He became like a great joke in the office. One day I came a little late to the office and as soon as I entered lift I found this man alone in the lift. I greeted him good morning, and the lift started moving up to fifth floor of the building. We were only two in the lift and the door closed. Suddenly I was shocked to find this man falling at my feel and asking Raghuram, bless me I want to become chief engineer. I said in shock, sir, leave it. You are so senior and I am so junior what can I do! He replied, I heard people talking that you also meditate. May be you have powers to bless me! I said, oh my god what will people think if they see this, for which he said, that is why I am holding you in the lift so that no one will see us. As soon as the lift stopped in fifth floor and we came out he immediately became my boss in front of others and started asking me, Raghuram, why are you late? I was surprised! That is to show how much he was caught up in wanting to become chief engineer.As he was given to several vises, one day he became sick of jaundice and went into deep come. He was in ICU and we as colleagues were taking care of his body in coma as various machines were working around him. Even doctors also gave p hopes and we were waiting when the end will come peacefully. After nine days that evening he recovered some it of consciousness. Before death there will be sudden spark of life coming up! I was by his side and gave held his hand and in the process of giving positive feeling I said in his ears loud, sir dont worry you will become alright and once you are better we will go home. As if he heard he opened his lifeless eyes, and with feeble voice said, Raghuram, save me I want to become chief engineer! I was surprised to find that the thought has gone to such deep layers in sub-consciousness that the moment he got a bit of consciousness it surfaced. Consciousness belongs to body and sub-consciousness belongs to that part of prana namely Udana, i am sure that, this desire will definitely go with him life after life and the struggle continues!When a person looses his one of the limbs the memory of the limb happens to linger on for several days and he would be having pain or itch in that limb. It is also observed that he would be feeling like using that limb. When this can happen for a lost limb the scriptures say that even when a person looses his body, he, meaning his soul will still be around that place trying to express his self but unfortunately he does not have the body to manifest his expressions. That is the reason in the Hindu culture there are ceremonies of offering food and taking care of them to be performed for the departed persons by the people who are close to them. This will continue for twelve days with an idea by then the connection with body is slowly gone and the soul now departs finally from that vicinity. The food and other offerings may not reach the soul but the feeling of taking care by the family in Hindu thinking will certainly reach the person, the soul. So the offering is expected to be given with devotion and emotional feeling. Unfortunately the procedures are becoming these days as rituals and loosing the emotional touch.We can see how people store their deep rooted wishes and desires, angers and animosity etc, in their subtle and unconscious layers of mind that these are not going to get washed out just by leaving this body. Spiritually evolved are the people who do not have any of these bondages and so they have freedom and their souls are liberated. That is the reason our spiritual texts say that desires are our bondages so to have neither good nor bad desires. That is how we can free our Udana.
Love
N.V.Raghuram

Man "sentenced" to Yoga Lessons

January 29, 2004

WASHINGTON: An American judge has introduced a new twist to the US justice system by 'sentencing' a man convicted of spousal abuse to a yoga course instead of a prison term. Texas Judge Larry Standley ordered James Lee Cross, a car salesman accused of slapping his wife, to take a yoga class as part of his one-year probation. "It's part of anger management," Standley said. "For people who are into it, it really calms them down." Prosecutor Lincoln Goodwin agreed to a sentence of probation with yoga and without jail time because Cross had no significant criminal history. Cross told the court that his wife was struggling with a substance abuse problem and that he struck her on New Year's Eve during an argument about her drinking. "He was trying to get a hold of her because she has a problem," Standley said. "I thought this would help him realize that he only has control over himself." The unusual sentence came as a surprise not only to legal circles but to the accused and his wife. I'm not very familiar with yoga," Cross told the Houston Chronicle, which first reported the story. "From what I understand, it may help in a couple ways, not only as far as mentally settling, but maybe a little weight loss." Cross' wife, Wendy, said she thought yoga would be good for him. "I know there are a lot of benefits to meditation," she said. Yoga instructors in the region also hailed the sentence, although some derided it as a reflection of how faddish the practice had become. There has been a big yoga revival in the US over the last few years. Some Indian gurus like Jaggu Vasudev have introduced yoga in the US prison system with outstanding results.

or Visit http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/444793.cms

Love
N.V.Raghuram

Prana and Pranayama (Q&A)

January 14, 2004

Namaste,
One of the delegates asked a very simple but honest question in one of the conference. Not many people paid attention to it but it made me think with sincerity.
The question is a common man has the grasp of two things; one is body and the other is mind. When one has pain or injury it is there at body level. Another thing that bothers one is worry or suffering which is there at mind level. This appears to give him answers to all his problems. Apart from these two why do we need a third aspect called prana? How can we convince somebody with the idea of prana? Excepting India the whole world developed so far for several thousands of years with out a word equivalent to prana. For a lay person who is not introduced to Indian ways of thinking, in what way can we convince him about the importance of prana?
This, I found, is a very interesting question. Some of the speakers tried to answer it in their own way. Some suggested that we all have life pulsating in us. That is prana. This is alright that we have life which is prana. The objection is that we know that we have life, which is prana and we know we are living as long as there is prana in us and the moment it goes away we are no more! This truth everybody knows. Everybody knows that as long as there is prana there will be activities going on, such as, heart will be beating and respiration will be going on. There will be activity in the hands and legs, eyes, ears and in the brain. If this energy is same as the food energy that we take, then as long as we continue to give food so long we should be living. But it is not so. This prana may not be the energy that we take in the form of food, because even though we continue to take food we will not continue to live. So life energy is different from the food energy we take and food appears to be complimenting this, which is some kind of fundamental aspect called prana.
I thought in another direction to convince myself to think about this prana and need to continue to work with this prana in the form of pranayama practices. Several years ago, I was invited for a satsang by a friend of mine, who is a very highly sophisticated lady, coming from an aristocratic family. She wanted to offer me a cup of tea which she wanted to make. She put half a liter of milk on the stove. When the water started boiling she transferred two cups in to another vessel and put some tea powder added milk and it has become cold. Now she once again tried to heat it and add sugar. Then she found the vessel was not proper and transferred it into another vessel and tried to stain and on and on! I told her, “Madam, I would have spent lot less energy in making two cups of tea rather than watching you make two cups of tea!”
Outcome of the result being the same, one can do with less prana where as the other spends more prana. There can be such a difference in the life energy being spent by different people. This difference does not depend on the food energy that we take. A few more similar day to day life examples I can bring up here. When you look at the hand writing of some people you can notice this difference. Some people write continuously for ten pages at a stretch very legibly and beautifully and the letters you can find them to be uniform and no change in their shape and size indicating there is no energy level difference between beginning and at the end of writing for him. On the other hand many others feel completely exhausted by the time they come to the end of the page, while they are writing. This we find does not depend on the food one takes nor the training one has taken in the activity called writing.
This I feel is the way prana can manifest in the form of writing. This is prana in English we can refer to it as life force, for the lack of any other word. This is certainly different from the energy that we take in the form of food!
The same way when some dancers dance, it is so soft like gentle flow of breeze, where as when some dance you feel as if there is an earth quake! This difference is seen not only in dancing, but you can see it in every activity such as walking, talking, singing, playing, cooking etc. a person exhausts large amount of the life force in doing these simple activities where as some others are just fresh even after doing a large amount of work. And this difference is independent of the energy a person consumes in the form of food. This is known as prana!
If the amount of prana a person puts behind an activity is constant and unchangeable, which means the amount of prana spent by one in doing certain activity is absolutely fixed like one’s finger prints, and if a person has no control or command over this prana one spends, then there is no point in discussing about it. Then the difference between the prana spent by different persons for same amount of work done is different. If it is like one person is tall and one is short and nothing can be done about it. It looks so from our experience like if one asks how to reduce amount of energy spent behind walking or behind talking we can not suggest how can that be possible. But, on the other hand, there is one function-center in our body where we can control it to some degree. That is our respiratory center. At respiratory center we can definitely but gradually create a change. If you suggest one to slow down breath rate one can make it happen. One can make the respiration soft and smooth. Voluntarily one can take deep breath and thereby achieve slow respiratory rate. A practice of this manipulating prana spent for sufficiently long periods of time can bring about a permanent change in the respiratory rate.
Prana is that force behind respiratory muscles to generate and control our respiratory activity. By slowing the respiratory rate we are actually controlling the prana, breath is only consequential. Prana is responsible for all the activities with in us. In other words different activities are the manifestation of same prana through different centers such as seeing, hearing, talking, and thinking etc. slowing down the prana activity at one center. Automatically sows down at all other centers. We become cool!
This can be experienced naturally. When somebody is in panic and agitated slowing and deep breathing will help him to come out of the panic situation. Prana slowed down at respiratory center slows down the activity of prana at all the other centers. That is the reason the pranayama practices are given as slowing down the speed of respiration by Patanjali.
One of the important difficulties one encounters in trying to slow down respiration is monotony (not having variety) and the other difficulty is that our mind starts wandering away in all directions and as a result we loose our awareness. Once the awareness is not there we are not there any more to slow down the activity of prana. It is therefore necessary to have techniques to attach our awareness to respiration. These techniques may also have some other benefits incidentally, such as improving lung functions etc, but primarily it is to slow down prana activity.
These techniques are of three categories.
The first category is where the physiological details of respiratory center are used. Our lungs have three sets of muscles, namely the diaphragm muscle which separate stomach from lungs, the chest muscles which are spanning between the ribs and the third, the clavicular muscles which are associated with clavicles and shoulder blades. Respiration takes place through both the nostrils and if necessary we also use mouth for respiration. These details are utilized for the sake of pranayama practices in a nut shell. Some of these techniques are anuloma viloma pranayama, nadi-shuddhi pranayama, suryanuloma and chandranuloma pranayama, and bhastrika which fall under the first category.
The second category of practices uses the temperature aspect of respiration. We can feel the temperature of the air we breathe, varying with moisture while we breathe through mouth. We can also feel warm breath while exhaling. Can we enhance this property and make it useful. These practices are Sheetali, Sheetkari, and Sadanta pranayama.
The third category of practices is associated with sound. The sound that we produce while talking uses our breath. The practices are Nada-anusandhana, Bhramari etc.
The essential philosophy is that the peace of mind is the purpose and goal of life. Where there is no peace there is no happiness even though we may have many other things may. Yoga by definition is the technique to calm down the mind. This peace of mind, when percolated into prana, manifests as slowness and at body level manifests as relaxation. If we have neglected this goal of life, we are deviating from the very definition of yoga. But though the goal of pranayama is to slow down the prana inside some times consciously suspending the breath with a gentle pressure can also be adapted which is known as Kumbhaka. This may be useful for removing the lethargy and dullness.
In the path of spiritual progress one elevated himself above the level of physical body with the help of asanas and transcends the prana body by slowing down the prana. Further the mental body is transcended through meditation which is described in the Patanjali yoga sutras as Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
Thus the practices called pranayama are not what you do with prana, but what you do to prana so that we can transcend the bondages and disturbances at prana and we can continue our journey to subtler layers of existence.
Here I have not covered the details of the technology of practices of pranayama. They are available in various pranayama texts. Let us but bear in mind one thing that techniques are all for the sake of enriching and enhancing the inner peace and harmony.
Love
N.V.Raghuram

Prana and Pranayama

December 30, 2003

Namaste,
One of the delegates asked a very simple but honest question in one of the conference. Not many people paid attention to it but it made me think with sincerity.
The question is a common man has the grasp of two things; one is body and the other is mind. When one has pain or injury it is there at body level. Another thing that bothers one is worry or suffering which is there at mind level. This appears to give him answers to all his problems. Apart from these two why do we need a third aspect called prana? How can we convince somebody with the idea of prana? Excepting India the whole world developed so far for several thousands of years with out a word equivalent to prana. For a lay person who is not introduced to Indian ways of thinking, in what way can we convince him about the importance of prana?
This, I found, is a very interesting question. Some of the speakers tried to answer it in their own way. Some suggested that we all have life pulsating in us. That is prana. This is alright that we have life which is prana. The objection is that we know that we have life, which is prana and we know we are living as long as there is prana in us and the moment it goes away we are no more! This truth everybody knows. Everybody knows that as long as there is prana there will be activities going on, such as, heart will be beating and respiration will be going on. There will be activity in the hands and legs, eyes, ears and in the brain. If this energy is same as the food energy that we take, then as long as we continue to give food so long we should be living. But it is not so. This prana may not be the energy that we take in the form of food, because even though we continue to take food we will not continue to live. So life energy is different from the food energy we take and food appears to be complimenting this, which is some kind of fundamental aspect called prana.
I thought in another direction to convince myself to think about this prana and need to continue to work with this prana in the form of pranayama practices. Several years ago, I was invited for a satsang by a friend of mine, who is a very highly sophisticated lady, coming from an aristocratic family. She wanted to offer me a cup of tea which she wanted to make. She put half a liter of milk on the stove. When the water started boiling she transferred two cups in to another vessel and put some tea powder added milk and it has become cold. Now she once again tried to heat it and add sugar. Then she found the vessel was not proper and transferred it into another vessel and tried to stain and on and on! I told her, “Madam, I would have spent lot less energy in making two cups of tea rather than watching you make two cups of tea!”
Outcome of the result being the same, one can do with less prana where as the other spends more prana. There can be such a difference in the life energy being spent by different people. This difference does not depend on the food energy that we take. A few more similar day to day life examples I can bring up here. When you look at the hand writing of some people you can notice this difference. Some people write continuously for ten pages at a stretch very legibly and beautifully and the letters you can find them to be uniform and no change in their shape and size indicating there is no energy level difference between beginning and at the end of writing for him. On the other hand many others feel completely exhausted by the time they come to the end of the page, while they are writing. This we find does not depend on the food one takes nor the training one has taken in the activity called writing.
This I feel is the way prana can manifest in the form of writing. This is prana in English we can refer to it as life force, for the lack of any other word. This is certainly different from the energy that we take in the form of food!
The same way when some dancers dance, it is so soft like gentle flow of breeze, where as when some dance you feel as if there is an earth quake! This difference is seen not only in dancing, but you can see it in every activity such as walking, talking, singing, playing, cooking etc. a person exhausts large amount of the life force in doing these simple activities where as some others are just fresh even after doing a large amount of work. And this difference is independent of the energy a person consumes in the form of food. This is known as prana!
If the amount of prana a person puts behind an activity is constant and unchangeable, which means the amount of prana spent by one in doing certain activity is absolutely fixed like one’s finger prints, and if a person has no control or command over this prana one spends, then there is no point in discussing about it. Then the difference between the prana spent by different persons for same amount of work done is different. If it is like one person is tall and one is short and nothing can be done about it. It looks so from our experience like if one asks how to reduce amount of energy spent behind walking or behind talking we can not suggest how can that be possible. But, on the other hand, there is one function-center in our body where we can control it to some degree. That is our respiratory center. At respiratory center we can definitely but gradually create a change. If you suggest one to slow down breath rate one can make it happen. One can make the respiration soft and smooth. Voluntarily one can take deep breath and thereby achieve slow respiratory rate. A practice of this manipulating prana spent for sufficiently long periods of time can bring about a permanent change in the respiratory rate.
Prana is that force behind respiratory muscles to generate and control our respiratory activity. By slowing the respiratory rate we are actually controlling the prana, breath is only consequential. Prana is responsible for all the activities with in us. In other words different activities are the manifestation of same prana through different centers such as seeing, hearing, talking, and thinking etc. slowing down the prana activity at one center. Automatically sows down at all other centers. We become cool!
This can be experienced naturally. When somebody is in panic and agitated slowing and deep breathing will help him to come out of the panic situation. Prana slowed down at respiratory center slows down the activity of prana at all the other centers. That is the reason the pranayama practices are given as slowing down the speed of respiration by Patanjali.
One of the important difficulties one encounters in trying to slow down respiration is monotony (not having variety) and the other difficulty is that our mind starts wandering away in all directions and as a result we loose our awareness. Once the awareness is not there we are not there any more to slow down the activity of prana. It is therefore necessary to have techniques to attach our awareness to respiration. These techniques may also have some other benefits incidentally, such as improving lung functions etc, but primarily it is to slow down prana activity.
These techniques are of three categories.
The first category is where the physiological details of respiratory center are used. Our lungs have three sets of muscles, namely the diaphragm muscle which separate stomach from lungs, the chest muscles which are spanning between the ribs and the third, the clavicular muscles which are associated with clavicles and shoulder blades. Respiration takes place through both the nostrils and if necessary we also use mouth for respiration. These details are utilized for the sake of pranayama practices in a nut shell. Some of these techniques are anuloma viloma pranayama, nadi-shuddhi pranayama, suryanuloma and chandranuloma pranayama, and bhastrika which fall under the first category.
The second category of practices uses the temperature aspect of respiration. We can feel the temperature of the air we breathe, varying with moisture while we breathe through mouth. We can also feel warm breath while exhaling. Can we enhance this property and make it useful. These practices are Sheetali, Sheetkari, and Sadanta pranayama.
The third category of practices is associated with sound. The sound that we produce while talking uses our breath. The practices are Nada-anusandhana, Bhramari etc.
The essential philosophy is that the peace of mind is the purpose and goal of life. Where there is no peace there is no happiness even though we may have many other things may. Yoga by definition is the technique to calm down the mind. This peace of mind, when percolated into prana, manifests as slowness and at body level manifests as relaxation. If we have neglected this goal of life, we are deviating from the very definition of yoga. But though the goal of pranayama is to slow down the prana inside some times consciously suspending the breath with a gentle pressure can also be adapted which is known as Kumbhaka. This may be useful for removing the lethargy and dullness.
In the path of spiritual progress one elevated himself above the level of physical body with the help of asanas and transcends the prana body by slowing down the prana. Further the mental body is transcended through meditation which is described in the Patanjali yoga sutras as Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
Thus the practices called pranayama are not what you do with prana, but what you do to prana so that we can transcend the bondages and disturbances at prana and we can continue our journey to subtler layers of existence.
Here I have not covered the details of the technology of practices of pranayama. They are available in various pranayama texts. Let us but bear in mind one thing that techniques are all for the sake of enriching and enhancing the inner peace and harmony.
Love
N.V.Raghuram

Some Questions on God and the Soul

December 24, 2003

1. Did we exist along with God as individual souls on the spiritual planets or were we created by God? The un-manifested divinity (God) has become manifested us. That is creation. Ignorant of being this idea is being in the plane of world. Realizing this is being in the spiritual plane. As long as we have individual consciousness we are aways individual souls.
2. Are we God's expansions and if God expanded Himself to create us? What was his purpose in doing so? Was God Alone before the souls were expanded or created? He has no purpose in creating. To have some purpose means that there is some thing higher than creation. Life is very precious. It is his wonderful creation- celebration! To have a purpose means this creation is incomplete and we have to do some thing more than what god has done. That is not right. So just surrender to him. It is our worldly training that we have to have a purpose for every thing. Since creation has no purpose creation is a sport of god!
3. If we were created, then for what purpose and why do we have to suffer so much even when we are trying to be good? It is our ego that we think we can plan. But god has a different plan for us. We suffer when we find our plans are not working!
4. Why do sometimes the thinking comes that it is very hard to continuously act (do some work in devotion or do some fruitive work) and the best type of realization is impersonal realization. Don’t worry about realization. Be here and now, be in a sense of satisfaction through out in life.
Love
N.V.Raghuram

Influence of thought on our thinking

First time when I heard that our sympathetic nervous system fights with the enemies on our body I felt uncomfortable. I felt like they are army. I was wondering why should you call the functioning of eyes as seeing, ears hearing, tongue tasting, and stomach digesting, etc why should we call sympathetic nervous system as fighting while we use fighting as a bad thing in outside world. Parasympathetic nervous system now fights with the sympathetic system.
I am not a student of medicine- do not even have a basic knowledge of anatomy or physiology. But I try to feel from my heart what I come to know.
Similarly when I was hearing about the theory called survival of fittest of Darwin I had similar feeling of non-acceptability because I always feel nature works in harmony. Nature does not work with an agenda if something is weak, so it should be eliminated because there is no ‘utility of it by its survival’. As if utility is the basis of creation!
I would like to share some of the ideas in this regard. Not that I am very clear with the entire picture but this appears to be due to the influence of some notions which may be baseless on the theories man creates. The nature has its own way of functioning. We only label it so that we can be guided by our understanding. That influences further our thinking process.
There are as I see basically two world views. One is that the world is bad and the journey in this world is full of hurdles and we need to be very careful and keep fighting all the time. We need to have this awareness and caution in order to fight and succeed, without which you are no more. We need to struggle all the time. Life is a battle field.
The second view is that the creation is basically good and is from god and it is his freedom and his choice of ‘one to become many’ that He has become many in the form of various animals and birds trees and rivers sky and the beautiful clouds and all. The manifestation is a beautiful song and the living is a festivity. Every breath you take is a celebration every step you take in walking is a dance. And finally the basis of the creation the divinity hidden in the creation is the harmony which keeps the creation intact.
I am comfortable with and I feel our scriptures have always taken the later view as spiritual view and that is why we have such prayers samno mitrah sam varunah etc. or saha na vavatu etc. and I was trying to find out what could be the origin of the second view of the nature namely fight is the essence of existence.
When I think I feel the origin for the first way of thinking has been developed as follows.
In certain parts of the world, mainly in the west, man had to constantly fight for his survival. He had to fight the nature’s vagaries such as extreme cold conditions and extreme hot conditions when he did not have the facility like what man has today or he did not have the defense system like animals have. But he is having intelligence so that he could develop his skills and technology for his safety. This same argument he brought in allhis activities and in explaining every thing he came across in the creation. In order to fight he has to first of all convince himself that it is enemy and it is bad, and given a freedom or if he slackens the whole creation, particularly the animals are there to destroy his very existence.
But the reality is that the animals do not attack unless they are hungry and they find food in front of them; unless they find that their life is threatened they don’t attack. May be they sense that man is much more capable than them in terms of their intelligence so it looks like they are afraid of man much more than they are for any other creatures. Actually these days so much of research is done in the area of animal behavior. They even say that the animals are not violent just like that. They may just be playful some times.
I was watching an animal channel. A tiger was lying after having a meal. A deer was grazing at a couple of feet away not noticing the tiger. The tiger just opens his eyes yarns and goes back to sleep. The commentator says that the tigers are not violent. They eat their food.
Even though such kind of research shows that animals are not basically violent, we have not yet revised our opinion regarding human being who is supposed to have evolved from animal and the human being continues to be violent. Violence is not his basic nature because even the primary assumption that animals are violent appears to be wrong.
First of all it is assumed that the fighting is or aggression is the essence of creation, and several aspects of creation are explained based on this aspect of aggression. Recently my friend in Germany said that they are taught from the childhood this concept, ‘Homino homini lupus’ which basically means, he explained, man is a wolf for another man. It means man is always waiting for an opportunity how to cheat how to deceive and how to destroy another human being. Wolf is believed to be an animal not only just kills but it is very violent and destroys its pray. In other words man is a pray for another man. This means man is there to destroy the success or existence of the other man. This is mirroring the idea that animals are violent and so is man. Now when you look at how all the other ideas emerge out of it. When you question why man is like a wolf, the answer arbitrarily given I think is, because man is originally a sinner. Therefore the concept that man is a sinner is to justify the original idea that man is wolf of another man. So a strong man subdues a weak man!
The same theory has been applied to all other creatures as follows. It is not only man but the whole creation is like this. That is why it is hypothesized that a strong animal tries to destroy the survival of the weak animal so the law of creation is ‘survival of the fittest’. To what extent the fight is going on or when it is going on? The answer is it is going on in the creation all the time. Taking the same clue the activity going on in our body is also explained in the same way. In our body we are fighting all the time in the form of the sympathetic nervous system fighting the external aggression. Fighting is a way of life.
Extending this concept of violence to the work place the work that you do in the office is also psychologically explained as fight. That is why the work place is like a battle field. The whole market is a big company has to eat up the weak company. The big industry has to wipe away he weak industry, which in sophisticated language we call as expansion or merger. Where we can get more for less we are smart and intelligent. It is not only in our own country but in the countries where the labor is cheap go there and exploit them. That is why these days the cry called the out sourcing. Working even at the individual level is like a fight and we need the respite from this fight. That is why we need a vacation from the work. You can see the expression on the faces of the people who go to the work, which it is some thing unwanted, like.
When the society believed in the theory that every body is a wolf of other, then naturally every one is fighting with the other and every one is looking for his pound of flesh. In such a society what the man required is the simple law of mutual survival. In order to prevent or reduce the exploitation, laws are created, rights are fixed. This is your right and this is his right. Nobody should violate other’s rights. Father has a right mother has a right- child has a right adult has a right. Adults’ rights aremuch wider so every child wants to become an adult as early as possible. People are given rights and rulers have rights.
Things like love your neighbor, don’t steal other’s wealth etc were good enough for people to be so called spiritual. So the spiritual laws were mainly the laws of being good and doing good. Therefore the message of being good has been the core message of spirituality.
On the other hand a society and culture which is totally wedded to the idea that the creation is from god and it is his play and basically man is good and only we need to remind him, these people have a different approach in life. These people worked in trust of other and also trust about the other creatures on the earth. Aggression was not necessary in life. Being good is an ordinary thing!
The first view point namely that we need to fight and survive there is a very strong ego in it and it has to be nurtured. In order to fight we need ego and stronger the ego greater you are. The character of the ego has beenonly in the form of violence. It is this ego which says that the whole world is created by god for his enjoyment. He has every right to plunder with this creation!
One who has no ego can not be considered as successful. Ego is not only of the things what you have, such as beauty or wealth, intelligence or knack, smartness or aggression, these things not only we have to have it but we need to exhibit too, we need to let others know about it. To project it alsois very important, to advertise becomes very important. There is not only no value for humility but it is actively condemned. Ego is the achievements of out side and it looks like we depend up on more and more outside because we have less and less inside. We have nothing realized inside so we tend to look out side.
Showing off the supremacy over other creatures has been recreation and pass time. That is the way the bull fight, WWF or similar things have significance. For a mind which does not see point in this kind of philosophy, these fights look as very barbaric and sinful. One wonders how these things can be enjoyed or why such things are not considered as crime.
We also meddle with the creation for our advantage. Keeping the chicken in closed cages and putting powerful lights day and night so that they do not sleep and in turn they give more eggs or pushing the animals mercilessly through the slaughter houses can not fit in any stretch of imagination as the leaders of creation which we claim to be!
This violence has percolated in every aspect. Even yoga is practiced as fighting with the body. All the definition of the asana given by the scriptures and all the definitions of yoga are kept aside because they do not satisfy this basic aspect of violence. So these days even yoga is practiced with no mercy on the body. Even if you have mercy on your body the teacher will not have. There are such quotes ‘no pain no gain’.
Fasting was suggested as a wonderful spiritual practice by our ancient scriptures. It is not to punish the body or to be violent with the body but essentially to develop the control over the mind which is following the vasana forces. But today even the fasting is like punishing the body and the gentleness is disappearing in the so called spiritual aspirants. Bhakti-way of looking which means looking with love and compassion and having an attitude of pardoning has been replaced by policing and fault-finding.
True Indian philosophy has nothing in the form of violence. Every thing is to enhance or manifest the harmony or divinity. Our medicine is not to fight the disease but to help health. Practice of asanas is a way of satisfying the body so that body will be peaceful. Satvic or right kind of food is thatfood that doesn’t leave body fighting with the food. Fasting is also to fight or punish the body. It is a way to give rest to the body or to give such training to the body that body will learn to slowly develop satisfaction with any kind of or no food. It is again and again emphasized that if you develop no aggression inside you will be able to manifest aggression outside also. What is there inside comes out from us and we manifest that quality. That is why this society is never a conqueror yet survived ten thousand years if not more and is still vibrant! It is in this culture where the lord Krishna advises Pandavas, who were extremely good yet, face all kinds of hardships that they should not invite fight or war but when war comes they should not hesitate! Here is the case where even war is used for the sake of peace! This is a culture to please fathers desire son leaves kingdom and goes to the forest, or son gives up marriage including the kingship and serves the kingdom. There are cultures where one after the other son killed his father to occupy the kingdom! That fits very clearly the concept ‘survival of the fittest’.

Love
N.V.Raghuram