Girish's Blog

  The Path less Travelled When we say – The path less travelled – we recognise that overcoming adversity generally advances our awareness and understanding of the world. The mindset of an explorer or adventurer is to embrace the unknown, regardless of how difficult the journey may turn out to be. In relation to human life, there are many paths one can choose. If one were to look down from a high vantage point one would see people like ants running criss-cross on many different pathways, all of them are on a roadway going somewhere – where is the question! If we were to examine all the pathways upon which people are walking, we notice one thing which is common to all – all these paths come to an abrupt halt once we take our final breath. Our wealth, our careers, our worldly knowledge, our relationships, our art are all left behind when our physical body perishes.  The natural question is what then is the path which is eternal, that outlives the physical body and leads us to...

  The Seven Bodies Swamiji in his discourses has spoken about the awakening of the Kundalini and the seven bodies in brief in his discourses. Here we will try and examine what these bodies are. The first body is the Physical Body – this body is also known as the Sthul sharir – we are all aware of the physical body and most of us do not progress beyond this level in our spiritual journey. This develops in the first seven years after birth. The progress starts once a living Guru plants the seed of self-realisation within you. In the next seven years from ages 7 to 14 one develops the second subtle body which is the Etheric Body or the bhava sharir. Here, the emotional development and maturity takes place. Sexual maturity which is the most wanton of emotions is developed by the age of fourteen. Some people’s growth stops here and they cannot progress beyond this stage at all and get stuck with the physical and etheric bodies. After this is the Astral Body or the sukshma shari...

  Spiritual Energy and the Cosmos We are all aware of the gross body and the subtle body – Swamiji has explained this in many of his discourses. With meditation and opening of the chakras and awakening of the kundalini energy, we start receiving cosmic energy. Actually, this is an ongoing process but because we are not aware and our minds are filled with thoughts of the past and the future, we are actually unable to receive this flow of continuous energy. With continuous practice of half an hour of daily meditation as indicated by Swamiji, over a period of time we cleanse our chakras and meridians and begin to live in the present moment. Once we become more or less empty that is when our own spiritual energy starts connecting with the cosmic energy. Cosmic energy is nothing but the energy of universal consciousness or Paramatma or God – we all are surrounded by it, in and out, it is everywhere – we are just not aware of it. When one’s spiritual energy unites with cosmic energ...

  When will we Learn to remain Awake? Many of us have been practicing spirituality in some form or the other for several years. Some of us are born spiritual, some work at it and become spiritual and some have spirituality thrust upon them. Whichever category you fall into, the question is after becoming soul conscious do you remain in that state continuously or do you vacillate between period of body consciousness and soul consciousness? We all live in society, go to work, attend parties, and so on where we come in contact with a variety of people – some good some not so good. Because we practice spirituality either through meditation, mindfulness practice, yoga or whichever method – we have a tendency to pull in negative vibrations from others. When we do that, we get disturbed and we are not aware about what has disturbed our balance. We try and analyse what went wrong and invariably cannot pin it down! The trick is to remain balanced and aware in spite of living in society ...

  Pitfalls in Spiritual Progress As we move along our day-to-day life and parallelly be a seeker on the spiritual path we will come across several pitfalls which we must be aware of. Spirituality is all about complete unconditional surrender and total faith in one’s Guru who is taking you to your destination – liberation or moksha! But on that path, as we live in society, we need to be aware of the pitfalls which bring you down. This entire journey is like a game of snakes and ladders – good deeds and commitment take you up and deeds which go against the grain of spirituality bring you down through the snake’s mouth! If we are not aware and are stepping in the dark then we end up making more karmas due to misdeeds, wrong actions or plain ignorance which leads to taking more and more births. Such people are unable to release themselves from the cycle of birth-death-rebirth and this has resulted in a population explosion on earth, the consequences of which we face today. Today, p...

  Selfless Service and Spiritual Progress All across the globe we are witnessing heavy rains and floods which has resulted in untold damage to life and property. The scenes all over the world are tragic to say the least. Compassion starts flowing when one sees such scenes and one feels like doing something to help those in dire straits – it could be anything, donating money, clothes, food packets, volunteering physical help in rescue and rehabilitation efforts – it has to be selfless and without any ulterior motives. When your service is selfless out of the kindness of your heart, at this point you are very close to God, your soul is guiding you to do what is right. In the words of Sri M, “An activity that benefits others – feeding the hungry, sharing knowledge with the unknowing, resolving the suffering of others, worshipping the poor, and serving the needy – thinking of them as the very personification of God. One’s spiritual purification is realised only through this selfles...

  The God spot in the Brain You may or may not have heard about the God-spot which exists in the brain. You have definitely read about the research on the God-particle in atoms on which large-scale research is taking place. But God spot! Well, this is a spot which is said to be in the brain which is one distinct area which is responsible for spirituality. Certain parts of the brain play more dominant roles, but all of them work together to facilitate an individual’s spiritual experiences. Whether you have it or not, you are wired for it. There is a central part of the brain which is known as the limbic system, which has the thalamus and the amygdala – it is in the center of the brain and it is connected directly to the stem – the brain stem – the medulla. They have found that this limbic system is that which is the emotional part of the brain and if the person has that which is known as  samadhi  – a spiritual experience, it is the limbic system that becomes active – no...

  Kindness and Compassion One of the best spiritual teachings which I read was in a post by Sri M – it was all about kindness and compassion. If the seeker is following and practicing the teaching then the teacher is right within him, however far he may be physically! That is the difference between a spiritual Master and a school, college, university teacher! The teaching needs to be imbibed in a way that it becomes a subconscious part of you and you become the teaching. He explained this with a story which went something like this – There was a great king who wanted spiritual guidance, so he went to the Royal Sage and asked him for guidance. He told him to go visit a certain village and meet a sage called Raikva. The king went to that village and asked for Raikva and the villagers sent the king to a hut. The Royal Sage had told him that this sage does not own any ashram, all he has is a cart which he pulls to earn his living. When the king reached the hut, he saw a man come pu...

  What does Freedom Mean to You? When we hear the word freedom in the modern context, it is all about rights – freedom of expression, freedom to practice one’s religion, freedom to protest, freedom to do this, that and the other. Never mind if your freedom tramples on someone else’s freedom. The ego only recognises what is ‘mine’ and to hell with what is ‘yours’! The media, the political world is up in protest – freedom is under threat, democracy is dying in some of the most robust democracies – the irony being that people shouting about threats are not being arrested and thrown in jail in such democracies – whereas countries like China can get away with murder and still not be held accountable – look at the Uyughir issue. In fact, the Islamic countries talk about threat to their religion in all countries except in China, where it suddenly becomes an internal problem! As far as I am concerned, for me freedom means becoming free from bondage to the physical body – that can only ...

  Doing Meditation or Meditating? There is a subtle difference between ‘doing meditation’ and meditating. The question is whether one can do meditation? One can definitely practise meditation but do meditation – naa, you can’t do meditation because if you are doing meditation then you are not getting a state of meditation. The very fact that ‘you’ are doing it means you are involving the physical body in action. Meditation is the means to connect with your inner self – it is a slow process that involves total and unconditional surrender with complete faith to a higher power, it could be your Guru or Enlightened Master or any person to whom you submit yourself for higher spiritual learning. I personally feel that even when a person says, “I am doing meditation” – that person subconsciously has the feeling of being a ‘doer’ – the moment that happens the ego comes into play and the state of meditation which one is trying to attain goes further away. When you observe people who are...

  Remaining Centered in a Material World Today, with all the chaos both political and the pandemic which is afflicting all parts of the world, staying balanced and centered is becoming more and more challenging, I would say. Luckily, with the lockdown we do not have access to newspapers anymore – at least we have stopped subscribing to the print media. I have also stopped watching TV and the slanging matches which sell as news today! So, just by staying away from the media, to a certain extent, I manage to retain a degree of sanity. But the question is – is this enough? We are bombarded with all kinds of stuff through the alternated media and it comes directly into our handsets! I invariably read or watch something which is of some interest – 90% of the whatsapp, telegram, facebook, Instagram posts are ignored. I end up seeing only what needs to be seen. This actually happens automatically – anything of interest just pops up and says – ‘read me or watch me’! If you have a com...

  The Moment is the only Reality In 2009 the seed was sown He said - regular meditation is needed. Sit alone and drink the nectar each morn And in the evening, sit with a group and be reborn. This happened day after day, every day  Until the day dissolved, into a moment’s play. The dissolution opened the inner eye And showed the way to die, then re-emerge without the ‘I’. The falling of the ‘I’, it lifted a burden huge That for eons was carried in the cauldron within. The weight was gone, and the time conundrum  Dissolved into nothing except the moment. The pandemic taught us to stay at home Meditation took us deep within our dome That dome is our home, we live in it. In our day to day ignorance we had lost the way. Now however the way is clear  Live in the moment and be without fear. The moment is the only reality for sure! Once we realise this - we are infinity!!

  Aura Explained Yesterday I wrote about charisma and aura. Today, I will try and give more information about the aura. We now know that aura is nothing but the bio-energy or electro-magnetic field surrounding every living being. Even plants, trees, animals have an aura. The aura has colors of the rainbow and each color is associated with the chakras or energy centres or glands in the human body. The aura has seven layers each layer connected to each chakra this in turn is said to give rise to seven auric bodies or planes. The first one is the physical aura or etheric plane which is closest to the physical body and represents our physical health. The next one is the emotional aura plane and as the name suggest it is directly linked to your emotions and its color changes as per your mood – if you are in a bad mood, it will appear dull or smudged. The mental plane is related to logic, reasoning and thoughts – this is the third layer from the body. Beyond this layer is the astral ...

  Charisma and Aura We have heard and read so much about a person’s charisma and how it is attractive and so on. We know that great leaders, actors, sportspersons have a very attractive personality and we are invariably told that they have great charisma. In this post we will see if charisma and the aura or electro-magnetic field around a person’s physical body is the same thing. Charisma is someone or something with a compelling and charming personality or traits that are attractive and alluring to others. This word is invariably used to describe people who have an outgoing, likeable, energetic personality which naturally attracts other people towards them. According to me the aura is something more than one’s charisma – I personally feel a person with charisma may not necessarily have a great aura. People with a good aura are usually spiritual people with years of meditative practice and penance behind that aura. The aura is the electro-magnetic or bio-energy field surround...

  Is Spiritual Evolution a Revolution? The world has got several major religions with their own religious books and methods of worship. If you observe across the globe people have started questioning their own religions because what is written in the books goes against basic tenets of humanity. Organised religion today is more about getting people to respective places of worship and getting donations for various projects of such institutions. Unfortunately, today this has become more about money than about ‘religion’. The pandemic comes along and all places of worship are forced to shut down. This has caused tremendous financial loss to organised religious institutions all over the world. With almost no footfalls, such churches, mosques, temples, gurudwaras have still to bear operating fixed costs. And all the while the followers of their respective faith were flooded with opportunities to meditate through online programs led by various spiritual leaders across the globe. Sudde...

The Art of Listening We have all heard people saying so and so person is a good listener, he is always willing to lend an ear and listen to your woes, etc. All our listening is focused on the outside world, as we are aware only of the physical ears. The ears listen to the sounds which are transmitted to the brain which decodes those sounds and you understand what is being heard. You are actively listening to external sounds, noise throughout your life – and now in the modern world the noise in cities is so much that we have a new kind of pollution – noise pollution! This continuous hammering of a variety of sounds ends up creating stress in people, so much so that they start yearning for silence. When they feel stressed, then a holiday to a resort is on the cards, but once you reach the resort you feel the external silence, which is absence of noise pollution – but the noise in your brain continues. Your thoughts, your work stress, your family stress is carried with you in your bra...

  Is Awakening akin to Soul Consciousness? We have heard the term awakening a lot in spirituality – but what do you understand by it? How do you know whether you are awakened or on the right path to awakening? Is awakening a rebellion of the soul? We could say that a spiritual awakening is a call to higher consciousness and a heightened sense of awareness. This brings about a personal transformation and a radical shift in how one sees the world! With spiritual awakening a shift in one’s mental framework is experienced. For those of us who have found a Guru the process of awakening takes place during the initiation and bestowing of the Guru Mantra by the Guru. Once you receive the Guru mantra and start chanting it as per the instructions received and meditating upon the mantra, we begin to observe a gradual change in our personality. This change is actually being brought about with the cleansing of chakras through meditation – all changes are beneficial to the physical body. You...

  Understanding Karma How does karma affect one’s life? In one of my earlier posts, I had mentioned that the soul chooses its parents before birth in such a way that it has the best chance to work out its past life karmic bonds. With this as a given, it means that no person in your life is a coincidence. Karma places everyone into your life for a reason – you just do not know it, because you have not reached that level of awareness which gives you the ‘vision’ to ‘see’ why things are happening in the way they are! Karmic relationships will always play out the way they are supposed to, whether you like it or not and despite your best efforts. So, the best way to minimize the effect is to recognise the role of each and every person in your life. Such people will come for a brief moment, some time or be with you throughout your life – all this depends on what karmic bonds are being worked out. Here, it is necessary to mention that as you live your life, you need to pay particular ...

  What does ‘be Spiritual’ Mean? I have been asked this question many times over the past 2 – 3 years. I have ruminated over this question and tried to analyse what it means. The answers I have given to different people may have been different depending on the context with which it was asked. I will try and include all those points in this post based on my limited understanding of the subject. Primarily, being spiritual means having a feeling or sense or belief that there is something which is greater than ‘myself’, something more than just sensory experience and that the greater whole of which we all are a part of is cosmic or divine in nature. A spiritual person first begins to love himself and then that love expands to include all beings living or otherwise. A spiritual person cares not only about people but also animals and the planet as a whole. Such a person knows from within that we are all One, and consciously keeps trying to honour this Oneness. Spirituality is often...