Girish's Blog

  Photo credit: His Holiness Sudhanshuji Maharaj Mental Poise and Courage Many times, in life we are faced with situations which require tremendous mental strength and courage. Sometimes we find the strength and courage and sometimes we don’t, and when we don’t, we face a lot of trauma and loss – it could be emotional, material or financial or a combination of all the three. In school and college, we either face bullies or get cowed down and bullied for the rest of our term in school and college. One way to face these bullies is to become personally strong and learn to fight. But always remember, if you take the violent path, there will always be a stronger person who comes along to knock down your pride sooner or later. If you do become a good fighter, then your ego will make you strut around wherever you go, you will want to put your fighting skills on display, show off even. The best way is to learn these skills for defence, like Bruce Lee once did – your aura itself should ...

  Photo Credit: Dreamstime.com Yoga and Mindfulness Mindfulness can be defined as the ability to be completely aware of everything around and within us. It is that quality which lets us know who we are, what we do and what is around us, while not allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by everything. In simple terms – it is being completely conscious. All of us have this ability and use it and exhibit it unconsciously in our day-to-day life. We need to nurture this and cultivate it as a conscious habit. There are many ways by which one can do this and many spiritual and yoga Masters teach this – prayer, pranayama, bandhas, mudras, asanas such as shavasana , and meditation. The act of simply being aware of one’s thoughts and feelings is mindfulness, rather than spontaneously acting on them. It is not possible to learn this in a few days, it requires regular practice of certain yoga-asanas which helps in increasing one’s awareness. Certain asanas require the practitioner to focus...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Religion – an Inner Science India is a multi-religion cauldron with all the world’s major religions having found a home here. There are countless stories of how people of different faiths who were being persecuted and exterminated in their own countries found shelter in India and then later flourished and found a home here like the Jews and Parsis to name two. The Sanatana Dharma for the Hindus of India denotes the ‘eternal’ truth and teachings of Hinduism. It can also be translated as the natural and eternal way to live. The Sanatana Dharma is based on science which the ancients of India studied and which was then practised through knowledge imparted by sages to their students. But we are not here to talk about the Sanatana Dharma but the true religion of human beings. Like science, there can be only one true religion. We do have Christian physics, Islamic physics, Jewish physics, Hindu physics and so on – it is just physics, else it would be nonsense. Bu...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest ||vedicfeed.com State of Inner Freedom About ten years ago a friend of mine told me that he was being implicated by his bosses in a case of corporate mis-governance. He was just and employee and his bosses were owner-directors in that company. He was stressed to such an extent during the summons by the investigative authorities when he told me that even if he goes to jail, it’s alright, maybe the Guru-energies are sending me there to do propagation work in jail. The moment he got that thought, his mind became stress-free and he relaxed and thereafter the questioning and grilling sessions just sailed through. Whatever situations one comes across in life are due to one’s own acts and as we all know actions have consequences – how we face the consequences and move on impacts our life. To attain that state of inner freedom we have to move from the state of body consciousness to soul consciousness. Once that state is reached, you could be free anywhere – ...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Not the Body, Not the Mind I am sure that we have heard in several discourses by Masters that we are neither the body, nor the mind, we are just the soul, the pure witness. But when we try to think of such profound statements at our level all we see is a physical body in a mirror which is identified by the mind as ‘my body’ through the visual medium of the physical eyes. When one says, “I am not the body,” it is the mind saying so; again, when one says, “I am not the mind,” it is still the mind expressing it! The first layer in this complex creation of the human body is the physical body. One gets identified with the physical body – the body has certain looks, a religion gets attached to it and it has a name too - but all these are temporal, momentary. The body is in a state of continuous flux, like a flowing river – continuously changing, moving. It has nothing in it that is eternal. Every moment the body is changing – in fact cells are dying every mo...

  Photo Credit: THATfirst||Swami Vivekananda Sannyasa in Modern Times We, in India, are all aware of the meaning of Sannyasa which is the final life stage renunciation in Hindu philosophy, the other three stages being Brahmacharya (bachelor student), Grihastha (householder) and Vanaprastha (forest dweller, retired). Sannyasa is a form of ascetism which is marked by renunciation of material desires and prejudices, represented by a state of disinterest and detachment from material life and has the purpose of spending one’s life in peaceful, love-inspired, simple spiritual life. When we talk of becoming a Sannyasi or ascetic in modern times we do not mean a person who renounces everything and goes into the forest or to the Himalayas. The question is can one become a sannyasi and still live in society following all the rules of the society in which one lives? Swamiji has given his own example and said that one can be a householder, have a family and at the same time attain to spiri...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Know Your Own Path In spirituality there are two ways by which you can reach the ultimate truth – the path of Truth and the path of Love. In the end both these paths converge – duality ends and thereafter there is only merging with universal consciousness. We have been coming and going, assuming different bodies over several births, in some we have experienced poverty, in some wealth, in some an average life and so on, but in every birth, we have experienced hardship as well as good times. We have also been led onto the spiritual path, we have done penance and spiritual practise – all of us have a bank locker filled with these past life experiences. These are hidden deep below in our subconscious mind and in this birth, we have accumulated impressions – both good and bad of this birth itself – so what is hidden in the bank locker stays hidden. You can find the key to this locker by following the path of truth, viz. attaining the state of a sakshi or...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Attachment and Detachment Attachment is defined as the ‘inability to practice or embrace detachment’ – in spirituality this is viewed as the main obstacle towards a serene and fulfilled life. Detachment or non-attachment, is a state in which a person overcomes their attachment to desire for things, people or concepts of the world and thus attains a heightened perspective. Detachment is considered a virtue and is promoted widely in the East. According to the Bhagwad Gita (5.10) – “One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus is untouched by muddy water.” This actually means living life free from encumbrances and the attractions and distractions that life has to offer, not passively by running away from them, but actively by developing equanimity and self-awareness. Attachment means holding on to things dearly as if you cannot live without them or as if your very ha...

  Photo Credit: Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satguru is Your Doorway Swamiji has spoken about the ‘ dasham dwara ’ (tenth doorway) also known as the ‘Gurudwara’ (a Gurudwara is the Sikh place of worship) – as Swamiji has explained the region just below the Sahastrara or crown chakra is the Gurudwara or the entrance or doorway to liberation. For uninitiated individuals it is impossible to open the tenth doorway in a single birth and required rigorous spiritual practice over several births to attain that state. But if one is initiated as a disciple of a Satguru then the Satguru helps in showing the path to opening of this doorway. A Satguru is only an instrument, a means, a doorway to the beyond. Why is this called a doorway? What do you think a doorway is? It could have been called anything – but a doorway even in the physical sense is nothing but empty space – you open the door and you go from this side to the other literally through empty space, isn’t it! Hence, when a doorway opens and...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest || J. Krishnamurti A Satguru Shows You Your Self We are all aware that the relationship between a Guru and his disciple is a spiritual one. It is a quest for one’s own identity, the ultimate quest of self-discovery. One knowingly or unknowingly seeks out a Spiritual Master, a Satguru, but rest assured it is not you who has found the Master, it is always the Master who finds you. When the time is right you will be led right up to him or her. One invariably starts seeking a Guru when one is in a dark space filled with stress and problems, when one has achieved everything in life but there is still discontent, when one feels the urge to find out who we really are and why we have taken birth. All these and many more questions for which we have no answers, make us set out to find a Master who can give us the answers and show us the path to inner peace. We all need help to be able to see ourselves for who we really are. That is the job of the Satguru – he sees y...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest || AIR Asking For Liberation Swamiji is said to be the ‘Bestower of Liberation’ ( Moksha-daata ) of the present time. He has also said that just pray for liberation and He will hold your hand till the end. Swamiji has instilled the seed of awakening within us (his disciples) – and he has shown us the path to liberation. He has done his part – now it is up to us for doing our part. Asking or praying for liberation is not going to grant us liberation, because it is not that simple and, in a way, it is simpler than that. Asking or praying for liberation is a non-starter because nobody can grant you liberation, it is your own spiritual practice that gives you this state. Actually, each one of us is liberated on taking birth itself, it is only that we live in ignorance of our true state, and hence we end up in the karmic cycle till we find our spiritual Master or Satguru who reminds us of our true nature and shows us the way to get out of the cycle. After H...

  Photo Credit: iStock God is Looking for You All of us keep looking for God outside, this search has been going on for thousands of years and it still continues. Similarly, God too is looking for you but he is looking within you. That is the difference. The day you turn inwards and start your search within, the day is not far when you will find God! God is definitely not a person or a physical entity that we ‘find’ or ‘meet’ – God is more like a quality of godliness in existence. God is present more in the form of love, silence, joy, bliss – it is the presence of a god-like feeling that develops within you once you start delving deep inside yourself to ‘find’ God. God resides deep within you and it is your Master or Satguru who shows you the path to reach that core within yourself. God is a presence at the innermost core of your being: it is actually your own presence. It is not meeting someone else, but uniting with your own self, after which the duality ends and we end up se...

  Photo Credit: Power Living Busy Lives and God Modern day life keeps everyone so busy that it appears that we rarely find time for God. We are studying, working, playing, and in our spare time either on social media or on visual media – finding time for God does not even cross our minds! I remember a story which Swamiji had narrated during one of his discourses – he had seen a lady sweeping the floor of her house while chanting something. Out of curiosity Swamiji asked her what she was saying and she laughed and said that I am chanting, “I am sweeping my house, I am sweeping my house”. According to her by doing this she was focusing her entire energy on the job at hand. This is a prime example of living in the moment, living in joy while doing even a mundane chore. If we treat whatever we are doing the moment as an offering to God as a form of worship, then howsoever busy we are it really does not matter. When we are cooking food for the family if we concentrate just on the cookin...

  Photo Credit: Pixabay Complete Freedom is Full of Love Osho had once said that freedom has two sides – from and for. Most of us look at freedom from only one angle – ‘freedom from’ – this could be from nationality, from a certain religious place of worship (church, temple, synagogue, mosque), from a certain race, or from a particular political ideology. This is the first part of freedom – from something – once you have attained this freedom, you will feel very good, very happy and light as if you have removed an inner burden. For the first time you start rejoicing in your own individuality because all this time your individuality was covered with all those things which you have got rid of. This is just half the issue, then you will start feeling sad as the other half is now missing – the freedom ‘from’ is fulfilled but what about freedom ‘for’? Freedom by itself is meaningless unless it is freedom for something that could be creative like freedom to paint, sculpt, dance and s...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest You Yourself are the Barrier Some of us have spiritual inclinations since childhood, some develop it later and some are literally pulled into the spiritual vortex as if by an unknown force. But once the individual embarks on the spiritual path, he/she finds his/her Master or spiritual guide who has attained a state of liberation and wishes to bestow his state to his disciples. During this process he instils the seed of spirituality within his disciples and teaches them how to meditate and go within. Once the Satguru or Master does this, it is upto the disciple to practice meditation, turn inwards and find his/her own inner peace. The whole universe lies within us but we are ignorant of it. The journey within begins with the Satguru and ends with no ‘self’. The biggest barrier to this state of void is our own self. Once our Master tells us that liberation is possible in this birth and He will ensure that we will get it while He is living, gives us the...

  Photo Credit: WishesMsg || Holding Hands Quotes Hold My Hand Tightly Every parent tells their child to hold on to their hands tightly when they are passing through crowds, crossing the roads, travelling in the dark or whenever there are any stressful situations. The idea is to provide the child with security and also do justice to the parents’ sense of duty towards their offspring. When we move on to the spiritual path we get initiated as a disciple with a Master or Satguru. The Master gives birth to our soul and we feel born again – we feel like we have turned over a new leaf. The Satguru who gives birth to our soul is also our spiritual mother as opposed to our mother who gives birth to our physical body. In the time in which we are living today there are many well-known Satgurus who have given birth to tens of thousands of souls – to name a few His Holiness Shivkrupanand Swamiji, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Sri M, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and so on. We are living in the age of s...

  Photo Credit: Quotefancy || Srikumar Rao The Journey is the Destination We have all heard about ‘spiritual journey’, which begins for normal persons after they meet their living Satguru or Master. This journey begins after the Master plants the seed of awakening in the disciple and the disciple nurtures this seed through his spiritual practice of yoga and meditation. The question which bothers most people is – when will we reach our destination? This question has been asked of Swamiji many times and Swamiji has given different replies depending on the state of the disciple asking the question. Swamiji always answers based on what he ‘sees’ at that time – and the answer satiates the minds of the masses listening to the response. The way I see it and I may be completely wrong – is that the journey itself is the destination. From whatever little I have experienced to date is that there is really no end to this journey – all it does is take you deeper and deeper into your own s...

Photo Credit: Vince Gowmon What is Darkness?   It is said that there is nothing like ‘darkness’ – darkness is nothing but the absence of light. When you cannot recognise light, then you see darkness. What is dark for humans is bright as light for animals like cats, owls, tigers, bats and so on. Everything is relative. When you have one the other comes along with it – you just cannot have only one side of a coin can you? The moment you realise that darkness is a part of the whole, then it is no longer darkness. The real darkness is your ignorance – your not knowing what it actually is! Your not knowing is the darkness – the moment you know the darkness disappears. We welcome both day and night, because without night the day is not complete – night makes the day complete. Some people are afraid of the dark to such an extent that they need a night lamp even to just sleep. The moment you fall asleep, it is dark but there is no fear because ‘you’ are not aware of the dark after fall...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest God’s Will Always Wins Each of us has our own will which we use to fulfill our desires. We may call it will power or it could also be our ego which sees that we always get our way. Many times, we succeed because our will is in sync with God’s will and we think that it has happened because of ‘my’ will! The question we need to ask ourselves by rising above our I-sense is – can we humans do anything which is against God’s will? Everything in life happens if God wills it, otherwise it doesn’t! Howsoever much we try, the simplest of things will find huge barriers if God does not will it to happen. We end up banging our heads against the wall, try our very best and even then, things don’t happen; this leads to frustration, stress and a whole lot of tension. We should trust completely. If we trust completely, then even if others talk negatively or have negative feelings towards us then we need not harbour any ill will towards them. In fact, we needn’t even...