Girish's Blog

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Ego dies, Soul is Born All spiritual seekers have at some point or the other felt the fear of ‘knowing themselves’. Why? Because there comes a point where we cross the boundary of the ego and enter into the world of egoless-ness. That point is the point of great fear — because it looks like death. And, in fact, it is a kind of death: the ego disappears. And up to now, that has been our identity. Up to now, that’s what we have been thinking we are. And suddenly it starts evaporating. A great fear grips the heart: “I am dying!” because our identity is dying. We are not really dying; in fact, we are being born. It is a rebirth; it is a true birth. It is like the seed dying into the soil. The seed will not be there to witness it; no seed has ever witnessed it, so how can this seed believe and trust? And the same happens with the ego: the ego cannot trust that there is anything more than itself. And the ego is dying, and the ego starts breathing its last...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Confusion in Spirituality Often, it is our physical and mental well-being that we talk about. We are oblivious to the importance of our spiritual health and forget its importance. Our mind, body, and soul have to be in great condition for us to achieve overall wellness.  However, when our spiritual health is disturbed by spiritual confusion, the equilibrium among the three components of our existence is lost. Spiritual confusion happens mostly to people who are on the path of self-realisation. When they break their old constraints and understandings, they feel lost. Since our beliefs, cultures, and ways of life have taught us to live a certain way, we feel confused when we must break those shackles. When we start expanding our awareness, our inner darkness diminishes. Our inner darkness refers to our biased side, full of prejudice and unable to accept different versions of truth aside from those of ourselves. Since we...

Photo Credit: Pinterest   Devotion and Spiritual Practice Words are a means of expressing one’s devotion – it could be through songs or poems – and these words come straight from the heart, these words come with their own energy. Words cannot describe the Supreme Being, but we like to show our devotion, so we describe to the best of our capacity. Music is an intrinsic part of  bhava  and  bhakti,  and it goes beyond all words. If you listen to Beethoven’s music, there’s something going on inside. That is why from ancient times the great  sages , the great teachers introduce music. Kabir said - A heart which has no love, no affection, no devotion, no  bhav  is equal to a  cremation ground, there is nothing there, it’s all burnt, finished, nothing is left. There is no life out there. He gives an example of saying that it’s the bellows of a blacksmith also breathe because they also go up and down like our lungs but there is no life.  ...

  Photo Credit: Fire up Water down Five Elements and the Human Body  In these five elements, unless we want to explore mystical dimensions, we do not have to bother about the akasha. Among the other four, seventy two percent of our body is just water. Another twelve percent is earth. Another six percent is air, which is the easiest thing to manage and take charge of because there is breath and we can take charge of it in a certain way. Another four percent is fire. Taking mastery over fire could do many things to us but because we are householders living in family situations, we do not have to take charge of fire. The remaining is akasha. We do not have to bother about that unless we want to explore mystical dimensions of existence. To live well, four elements are enough. The fifth one is not relevant for people who just want to live well.  If these five elements do not cooperate, we can struggle as much as we want, nothing happens. Only with their cooperation, fro...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Akasha Element and Spirituality Akasha (Ether) is the first and most subtle of the great elements. When we think of space, we often think of it as being empty. However, Akasha is the space in which air, fire, water, and earth come together as creation. It existed before anything else came into being and it is that which everything will return to.  Ayurveda, the traditional Hindu medicine system and the sister-science of yoga, teaches us that space, along with air, is the stuff of which vata dosha is made. When vata dosha is imbalanced, we may feel weak, be underweight, have digestive difficulties, and suffer from free-floating anxiety and nervousness. Balanced vata dosha means that we are creative, energetic, and expressive. Vata may not be experienced through the physical senses, but it can be felt through its effects. It is our thoughts, words, ideas, and beliefs. Akasha is the space through which these things move beyond the ethereal and in...

Photo Credit: Pinterest Fire Element and Spirituality Fire is an element that has been revered and explored since the tradition of yoga began over 5000 years ago – from physical fire used in rituals, to the internal flame of the heart, and the digestive fire or  agni. In the ancient Vedic texts, the fire deity (also known as  Agni)  is mentioned in one of the very first verses. It represents the fire within the sun, lightning, as well as the fires lit within homes and for more specialised sacrificial uses.  Let us look at the elemental dimension of fire or  agni  – its manifestations, ways to conduct it, and above all, ways to master it. Though among the five elements, fire accounts for the smallest proportion in the composition of the human body, its influence is tremendous. In many ways, fire represents life. One major indicator for whether we are alive or dead is if the fire is still on within us, or if our body has gone cold. Life upon this planet i...

  Photo Credit: Tint Yoga Air Element and Spirituality With its qualities of lightness, clarity and movement, the air element has been connected to gods, goddesses and deities for thousands of years . Vayu is the primary Hindu deity of winds and breath, said to have been ‘exceptionally beautiful’, riding through the sky ‘noisily’ on his shining chariot. As the ancients seem to have known, we may not be able to see air and wind, but they have a profound impact on the world around us, and are an invisible yet powerful force of nature. Among the five basic elements – earth, fire, water, air, and ether – which make us and everything in the universe, air is the most accessible and relatively the easiest element to gain reasonable mastery over.   Within our own bodies, there are subtle energetic winds – known as the Vayus  – that correspond to our physical and emotional actions. Yogic texts say that keeping these winds moving well is one of the keys to caring for oursel...

  Photo Credit: Gaia Water Element and Spirituality Life begins in water. Our first nine months are spent in our mother’s womb surrounded by warm fluid . Water is a representation of wisdom, peace, and purity. The spiritual meaning of water lies in its reflection of the human spirit and the interconnection of all creations. We are all well aware of the necessity of water. From keeping us alive to quenching our thirst, to washing the dirt from our bodies and our food, not to mention its role in producing that food, our survival depends on water. But what does such a valuable life force mean spiritually? As a symbol of life, water represents divine generosity. Indeed, it’s a  personification of healing and suffering, protection and vulnerability, change and constancy, stillness and rage. Water in all its glory is considered a purifier of the soul. Water is the basis of purification in multiple religions, and many cultures use water as a sacred practice to heal inter...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Earth Element and Spirituality Our body comprises of the five elements – earth is associated with the muladhar or root chakra. Though the element of earth is part of physical matter around us too, it is best we start to perceive and understand it from the basis of our lives, because most people only really experience their own body and mind. Knowing and experiencing the element of earth from within is part of the Yogic process. Whenever we eat food, we swallow a part of the earth – meaning we take a part of this planet to sustain our body. Consequently, how we treat our planet is how we treat our own bodies. That’s why it is important to understand the role of the earth element   in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. If the earth element is not cooperating with us, we don’t get anywhere. If the body does not support us, none of our aspirations will take us very far. Unless we are completely detached from the physical, it wi...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Accept and Respect One just has to accept the idea that one can be better and one starts becoming better. People are very miserly in accepting happiness; nothing else is a barrier. It is just that people cannot believe that they can be happy, this is the barrier. And if we can’t believe that we can be happy, how can we be? People believe in unhappiness; they are great believers in unhappiness; they believe in hell. They talk about heaven but they believe in hell, they talk about God but they believe in the Devil. In fact, they talk about heaven only so that they can believe in hell because without heaven there will be no hell. They talk about happiness so that they can feel really miserable; in comparison to happiness, they can see how unhappy they are. But they don’t accept this simple truth which can transform their life immediately, instantly – that life is meant to be blissful, that it is just normal to be blissful. Not to be blissful should be a ...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Happiness Can’t Be Sought Happiness cannot be sought; we cannot seek it. It is a by-product; it is a natural consequence. If we make a goal out of happiness, we will never find it, we will always miss it. It comes very silently, it comes like a whisper, it comes like our shadow. When we are totally absorbed into something and not thinking about happiness at all, it is there. Whenever we are thinking about it, it is not there, it is very shy. Whenever we look around, it disappears; whenever we start thinking - ‘Are we happy or not?’ - we are not. A happy person never thinks about happiness - he/she is so happy, how can he/she think about happiness? Only an unhappy person thinks about happiness, and by thinking, he/she becomes more unhappy. Actually, when we go about our business, our day-to-day work honestly and diligently with complete focus – our mind becomes quiet, silent, and in that silence we find our true happiness. In fact, when we work in this ...

  Photo Credit: Good Morning Quote Every Day is Sunday When we were children we always used to think every day is Sunday – a holiday, meant for fun and frolic. What happened as we grew up! Our happiness is our state of mind – so, even today, if we think every day is meant to be enjoyed then do so. Why every day? Enjoy every moment of life as if it is our last! Don’t make a problem out of it – that is the nature of the mind as it constantly searches for something to pounce upon – even our happiness. It makes a problem out of happiness also. If we are feeling happy, we ask, ‘Why?’ That question is dangerous . If we are suffering it is good to ask ‘why?’ because the suffering has to be dissolved, transcended; ways and means have to be found to get out of it - so the ‘why?’ is relevant. But when we are happy, then to ask ‘why?’ is to disturb it. There is no need to ask any questions. When happiness surrounds us accept it totally without any questioning. It is a habit of the mind ...

  Photo Credit: Twitter Remember God Loves Us Bliss is a by-product of trust, of total trust in existence or in God. God is not a person but the impersonal presence. The very life of existence is God, the living energy is God. And to trust in it means to stop struggling against it. Struggling against it creates misery; it is trying to go upstream. But trust means surrender, going with the stream. And going with the stream is bliss. All misery is because of the ego and its struggle, its resistance. Trust means that resistance has been dropped. We don’t think of ourselves as separate from the whole; we are just an intrinsic part of the great harmony of existence, a small note in this great orchestra. Then bliss is natural. There is no need for war and there is no need to be a warrior. Relax. Drop those attitudes which have made man a fighter with others or with himself. Drop all those attitudes. There is no need to fight with anything. Accept. Whatsoever is, is good. Jesus pr...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest To Feel Needed Our very presence on earth is an indication that existence needs us. We are fulfilling a certain need; we are not useless, we are not accidental as science goes on telling people. The greatest need of man is to be needed. The moment one feels needed life starts having ecstasy. Even if a single person needs us it gives us significance. A child needs a mother — that’s enough to live for. A man needs his wife and that’s enough to live for. A friend needs us… without us there somebody will miss us, somebody will feel lonely — that’s enough for us to feel meaningful. And the religious person is one who feels that the whole existence needs him, hence his joy is infinite. If even one person can give meaning to our life by making us feel needed, then we can imagine how much bliss can happen when we come to feel that the whole infinite universe needs us, that we are all fulfilling some purpose. Suddenly life becomes poetry, a song. A dance aris...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Worthlessness? God creates the world out of his love. The world flows out of his love – it is an expression of his love, an explosion of his love. He loves every creature… from stones to stars. We are all protected by his love, we are all continuously showered by his love. Everyone has to consciously become a beloved of God. Once this recognition penetrates the heart, it transforms our whole being. It is as if suddenly a light comes into darkness and darkness is gone. Just the idea ‘God loves me’, just the feel of it – ‘He surrounds me like a caress, his lips are on my lips, his heart is in my heart. I am not abandoned by existence; I am loved, cherished by existence. I am not worthless, I am not unworthy…’ and the dignity and the splendour starts growing within one. And remember a great paradox - real dignity has no ego in it; real splendour has no idea of any superiority. In fact, the ego is just a cover-up for our worthlessness. Because we think o...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Existence Has No Language If we depend on language there can be no communication with existence, as existence knows no language! Existence is a mystery, we cannot interpret it. If we interpret it, we will miss. Existence can be lived, but not thought about. It is more like poetry, less like philosophy. It is a sign, it is a door. It shows, but it says nothing. The problem is we think about existence – our mind comes in the picture – this is the barrier to approach existence. Thinking about existence will never bring us close – we need to learn to look, see, feel, and touch! Then we will be nearer. The moment we think we go off track and into a private world – thinking takes us into a private world. This is our own private world, we are imprisoned in our own mind. The moment we stop thinking, we are no more – non-thinking we become open, porous, existence flows into us and we flow into existence. The mind’s tendency is to interpret, even before things h...

  Photo Credit: JKYog Surrender – Guru Does The Rest In every discourse Swamiji talks of ‘samarpan’ – surrender – and then see what changes take place. But surrender is the greatest gamble. Surrender means putting aside the mind completely. When we surrender to the Guru, we give our everything to him with the feeling that our life is now in His hands, and whatever happens will be his wish. It will be for our spiritual benefit – that much we accept, whether what happens is considered to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ by society! When we start behaving like this our friends and family think we have lost it completely – because people who live in their logic and in their minds will think we have gone mad! In reality this is not madness – it is courage that has made us take this step and this step is the deepest jump one can ever take. All saints during their lifetime were condemned as mad men – Jesus, Buddha, Shirdi Baba, but time proved that they were saints of their eras. They were giants w...