Healthy Body Needed to Nurture the Soul

 

Healthy Body Needed to Nurture the Soul

There are a lot of sayings with regards to ‘healthy body leads to a healthy mind’ and so on. All these sayings have come because of the experience and observations made by our ancestors. All such sayings ring true even today. With a healthy, physically fit body the chemical reactions created within you all lead to a state of alertness and general well-being – you feel good about yourself; it gives you the confidence to face the world with a smile. One of the best ways to keep fit is to follow the dictum of early to bed and early to rise. By following this routine, you let the body cycle into a comfortable rhythm – wake up, exercise, meditate, breakfast, work, lunch, work, family time, dinner, sleep and rest for the body to recover. While you do this one needs to remember that anything in excess is not good for the body – it could be sleep, work, exercise, food, etc – with a little bit of practice you will be able to find your own body’s rhythm – that is because each individuals physiology is different.

Just imagine if you fall sick all the time, do you think you will be able to sit for meditation comfortably for half an hour? If you do not have the mental or physical strength to sit down for half an hour, how will you even start meditation? If you are destined to be spiritual, then you will definitely find the time and the motivation to exercise, do yoga, make your body physically fit to sit down for that crucial half an hour for your inward journey! Your physical body houses your ‘soul’ – so if you want the soul to become strong then you have to ensure that its house is strong too. In fact, it is your responsibility to ensure a strong house for the progress of your soul. Swamiji keeps sending us motivational videos which show him exercising even today – why is that? That is just so his children understand the importance of physical health for a spiritual future.

With peak physical fitness, you will find your entire attitude to life is different – it is more positive, more confident, more jovial, more compassionate as you imbibe all the positive chemical reactions in your physical body that give you a healthy physique – with this sitting for meditation becomes easy. With the guidance of your spiritual Master your inward journey begins and with the passage of time you start developing a glowing face, a kind of radiance which we call Swamiji’s facial. Pray that all of you can develop the sense of having Swamiji’s facial on all the time!

Love and Anger – Same Energy – Different Manifestations

 

Love and Anger – Same Energy – Different Manifestations

Have you observed the energy which is generated when you love someone and when you are angry with someone? When you are in love - your heart starts racing, your breathing becomes shallow, your mind runs at breakneck speed thinking of all wonderful things and when you are angry, exactly the same thing happens but your mind is full of angry thoughts. That is because it is the same energy with different manifestations – one positive the other negative. When you become angry you are usually told to relax, breathe slowly, count to ten etc – this is primarily to slow down the flow of blood to the brain which is fueling the angry thoughts – the moment you slow down your breathing you will notice that you are actually becoming calmer and quieter.

The root cause of anger is love – that is because when you care for someone or something deeply that is when you feel anger – it arises from the fear of losing it. Again, fear is just a thought which comes to mind, so if at the point of becoming angry you learn to become aware of the rising storm within you, then you can control that anger, smile at it and give it a positive turn by transforming it into love energy. By doing this, instead of letting the anger control you, you start controlling the anger, you start spreading love energy by converting the anger into love. With greater inner progress you let adrenaline fueled reactions flow by as you watch what happens instead of reacting angrily or violently. Through meditation and with progress in meditation, you will observe that you no longer react even when extremely provoked – you remain silent and let the storm ride by. In fact, in many situations I have personally felt compassion and love when people have become angry with me for whatever reason – the moment you show love and compassion to the opposite person who is angry, you find that person losing steam and becoming calm. The antidote for the ‘anger’ virus is the ‘love and compassion’ vaccine – at all times, not just the corona times – 😂.

Meditation is a sure cure for transforming the energy arising from anger within you into love. One should not be afraid of anger, in fact if you embrace your anger and convert it into love, then you could potentially become a fountain of love as you keep converting your anger into love. I have read about anger management coaches who are paid a bomb to teach you how to manage your anger. The best way to do it is through meditation – and guess what? It is free and easily doable. May all of us become fountains of love energy spreading love and compassion to all those who come in touch with us.

Do we ever Forgive and Forget?

 

Do we ever Forgive and Forget?

We have been told so many times in our life, in fact I remember since school days we were always told to forgive and forget. Many times, people say things without any intention to hurt anyone, people make fun of others, crack jokes at the expense of others and forget about it. Everybody has a good laugh, even the victim of the joke laughs along with the rest. But sometimes, the victim of the joke is hurt and does not forget the joke, it plays on in his subconscious and he keeps on digging up the perceived hurt. When he does this, he is actually opening up a mental wound, this can never heal, a physical hurt heals with time but a mental hurt is re-opened every time you think about it!

I remember my mother remembered a hurt for more than 40 years and I could see the pain on her face every time she thought about it. I would tell her to forget about it and she would look at me crossly and say, “You have found a Guru, I am not you, I can never forget this!” This would make me feel sad, and I would think how does one ever forgive if one cannot forget?!?

This question would continuously bother me, till I realised that one can only truly forgive only if you totally forget that hurt and surrender it to the Guru-energies. Once you surrender it, it does not belong to you. After doing this for several of the hurts which I had undergone, I realised that even if I remembered those incidents, I wasn’t feeling any remorse or anger or any negative emotion – it is then that I realised that the only true way to forgive is to surrender all your bad experiences, hurts, insults and what have you at the Lotus Feet of the Guru. Once you have surrendered them, let go of them, they are no longer ‘yours’ and you can truly move on in your life without having the baggage of those bad memories.

If you truly want to forgive, it is not just giving lip service, you have to exorcise the hurt from your subconscious, you can only do that by totally, completely, unconditionally surrendering these bad memories to the Guru-Energies. Try it, I am sure you will benefit and be happier and more peace with yourself after doing it.

Nation First to Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam

 

Nation First to Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam……

We are all aware of the current controversy in India over various groups of people trying to undermine the nation for political or personal gains! We, as a people have to first of all rise above all individual, caste, race, religion related issues and identify with the nation, then only will we have unity and progress as a collective force in the world. Swamiji always says that one has to rise above race, religion, gender, colour if one wants to progress spiritually – in the same way if the Nation has to grow to become a world leader then its citizens will have to rise above its petty, treacherous and dangerous politics. We, as a nation need to come together to take on all the negative forces attacking the country both from within and from outside. India has always historically been a leader and has accepted all religious denominations into its fold and has flourished in spite of that. It is probably the only country to have accepted and provided shelter to various religions as well as been the land which gave birth to several religions.

Our loyalty lies first with the nation only, our army has people from every religion but it still works as a very effective professional army without allowing religion to affect its performance. There is no karmic bondage if a soldier kills another human being in the course of performing his duty!

Once we accept the concept that our nation will always come first, then we can think about Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam – this too can happen only if each and every person starts meditating and creating his/her own positive aura. This is a very long process – Swamiji has mentioned several times that one cannot bring about world peace unless one finds peace within one’s own self. For this to happen meditation has to become a global phenomenon! With June 1 being accepted as World Yoga Day by the United Nations, I feel a beginning has been made. Swamiji is making tireless efforts to explain that yoga is not restricted to physical asanas which is just one part of ashtanga yoga, but also includes meditation and finally a state of samadhi! I personally feel that the universalization of meditation has started globally on a grand scale with several Gurus promoting and teaching meditation. It does not matter which Guru you follow – it is important that you follow the teachings and practice meditation to develop your own individual strong aura. Once this happens at the micro level, then slowly over a period of time we may see that humanity which unfortunately seems to have disappeared, starts arising within the human species again – once this happens, we can say that we are on the way to realising the concept of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam – ‘the World is one family’. Thus, we will move from 'Nation First' to 'World as One Family' – I pray that we all find the humanity within us through meditation, identify with our inner peace, the core within – the silence and become one with the vibrations of the universe!

Be a Solution Provider!

 

Be a Solution Provider…

In my profession as a CA, I have always believed in the concept of being a solution provider. Clients will not approach you if they don’t have problems – so instead of giving long winded solutions, cut to the chase and provide a viable and workable solution. That helps.

So, how does this apply to people who choose to walk on the spiritual path? You may well ask this!! It is all the more relevant, because once you start meditating regularly you will find that solutions start presenting themselves. Perceived problems are no longer problems, or their impact is reduced to such an extent that you do not see them as problems any longer!

As we go through life we start maturing and with increasing maturity comes greater understanding and patience, this generally helps us in coping with life’s challenges. In India, we have a support system in the family and its values based on our ancient heritage, but that has reduced dramatically in modern times. Nuclear families have more or less eroded the support system. So, in such a scenario how do we cope? Because cope we have to! Our life is our own to live, we have to find our own solutions which facilitate smooth and harmonious living. If we can find peace in our own lives then we are in a much better position to provide solutions to others.

With increased depth in meditation, the more time you spend within, the greater the understanding of energy and the way it works, in fact the positive energy around you itself starts providing solutions to you or through you to those who present their problems to you. If anyone approaches you with their problems listen patiently, and provide the advice spontaneously without thinking too much – if you do that then understand that it is your soul which is providing the solution. This solution will invariably strike a chord with the person facing you and in time you will most likely receive the feedback that their problem has been resolved!

When you meet a person with compassion and an innate aura of love energy, the person opposite invariably ends up sharing very personal problems and unknowing to that soul, he/she expects you to provide the solution. Your heart will tell you the answer and you will just give it naturally and spontaneously. This is your Guru giving the solution through you as a medium – always remember that you are the medium, else you will open a window for the ego to step in. Be a solution provider while remaining alert and aware of all circumstances.

He is Always Testing You!!

 

He is Always Testing You!

When you start walking on the spiritual path, mentally you start thinking – ‘Whooosshhh all will be fine now, He will take care of everything!’ This faith is of course not misplaced, but the process of life is often misunderstood after coming under the umbrella of a Satguru!

It is my experience that one’s life gets completely transformed for the better, it becomes calm, it becomes peaceful, it becomes joyous – but that does not mean that everything is hunky dory! You will suddenly find obstacles coming in your life, difficulties in your job/profession, it is not smooth sailing. That is when you begin to have doubts – in fact I have heard several people say that their problems started after they commenced meditation!

In several of His discourses, Swamiji has mentioned that if this is going to be your last birth then all your past karmas have to be extinguished, and if your past life has had upheavals then you end up facing those karmas on a high-speed basis. So, it appears that meditation is affecting your life badly. But always remember that the Satguru always gives you the inner strength and positive collectivity to face these life’s challenges to such an extent that you do not feel its impact at all.

Once you start performing Guru-karya, he will test you all the time. It could be questions, it could be tasks, it could be anything – you just need to be alert and remember that he is doing this for you! For your overall growth, for you to get depth in your spiritual practice – nothing is off the table – the most unexpected things will happen – but just face them with a smile and move on. That is what he expects you to do. Do not resist, if you do, then the task becomes tougher and life becomes tougher. Submit to His will, and you will find that you sail through life, through thick and thin.

Suddenly you will realise that you have begun to expect the unexpected – as you understand from within – oh! This is just another of His tests – and you face it with a smile and move on. The moment you start understanding and expecting this, you will find yourself facing life with a smile, you will notice people around you also start becoming happy and comfortable – this happens with the development of your energy field, your aura. Keep meditating and you will see that the tests which He is putting you through, are now not tests anymore, but just a game which you are playing with Swamiji as the referee!!

 

How do I get Peace?

 

How do I get Peace?

It is said that Gautam Buddha had asked this question – How does one get peace? Everyone loves to say ‘I want peace’ – but do not know how to find that peace. He had mentioned that the answer lies in the three-word statement itself!

So, do you know the answer? I have mentioned this several times doing various talks in various fora. If you drop the first two words, then you are left with peace! What does this mean? Well, let’s take the second word first – ‘want’ represents the desire. First get rid of the desire and then you can tackle ‘I’ representing the ego. Easier said than done, right?!? Human beings have cravings and wants and they desire most things which are useless. This starts from a very young age, with modern day parents enticing children and promising them a whole gamut of goodies to get them out of their hair! The children cry or are making a nuisance of themselves – which is natural at that age – but parents start pampering them with stuff so that they keep quiet and allow their parents to do their ‘thing’ so to say! So, the kids develop a desire for goodies which they really don’t need – as they grow up it builds up into a kind of peer pressure – if ‘x’ has this brand then I want ‘y’ brand which is superior – now remember - nobody is looking at needs, your ‘I’ pops in to say ‘he/she’ has that so ‘I’ must have this which is better! With this attitude and passage of time it becomes very difficult to get rid of this unwanted desire – one always forgets a fundamental rule that Paramatma always provides for your needs but not your wants.

The next aspect to tackle is more difficult – ego, the ‘I’ – that is a huge challenge! The only way to get rid of your ego is to become more and more humble, more and more accepting, keep on checking on what you say, how many times in a day you use sentences with ‘I, me, myself’! At the subconscious level these words are pushed into your conversation by your ego. Consciously try to become more inclusive – start using ‘we, us, they’ etc and over a period of time you will consciously notice that your ego is subsiding. This is the most difficult to get rid of as it keeps changing form.

Start meditating, be regular, make meditation your hobby as Swamiji says, make it second nature to you, so that you feel incomplete if you do not have your daily dose of charging of your battery through meditation. Be conscious, be aware, become a witness and always make a mental note about your desires and your ego manifestation and slowly you will witness for yourself that you are being filled with inner calm, inner peace, inner silence – that is because the unnecessary noise in your mind – the desires, the negative emotions, the ego are slowly and steadily being wiped clean. When all this happens, you will be left with only ‘PEACE’. May all of us find that silence within us which is so deafening that nothing is heard but that beautiful SILENCE!

Journey from Highway to One's Home...

 

Journey from Highway to One's Home…

I am sure all of you have heard Swamiji tell each one of us that he has taken you at great speed on the spiritual highway and dropped you off on the lane to your home! In this day and age, where a shift of consciousness is taking place, quite a few spiritual Gurus in India are shifting gears to ensure that their disciples are ready for the forthcoming new age. We can also see that a lot of foreigners are becoming a part of this movement and joining in the journey to inner peace.

Swamiji plants the seed of self-realisation inside you when you attend one of his 8-days shibirs whether live or through video conferencing or through recorded videos – it does not matter. Swamiji has said many times that Guru Tattva has also upgraded itself from the earlier phase of having a one-on-one relationship between the Guru-disciple. This is the age of one-many relationships where there is one Guru and millions of disciples – all of them are being planted with the seed of self-realisation in a very subtle process on the fourth day of the shibir which is attended by many people. After the seed has been planted the disciple has to regularly meditate for 45 days to check whether this path is for him/her or let go of the practice if it does not suit him/her. If the disciple decides to go on then for the next six months, he/she needs to meditate regularly every day at home and at the centre (at least once a week in collectivity). On doing this the seed planted within becomes a sapling and then over time it becomes a strong banyan tree!

This is the journey from the highway to one's own home – to reach your own soul, to merge your own existence with that of Paramatma who is within you. This journey from the highway to the home is both divine and filled with obstacles at the same time. For some the journey is short and sweet, for other's it is long with twists and turns! One needs to overcome a whole gamut of emotions, fight several demons before one becomes comfortable on the journey which takes you home. This is something you have to do yourself – no help is coming your way! It is a very selfish journey – and you have to be selfish if you want to reach that state which is called liberation! The word selfish is used in a positive context – here it means focused, uni-directional, the destination only is visible – just like Arjun could see only the eye of the fish during the Swayamvara – you should only have the objective of achieving that state which is called moksha, everything else is a distraction.

The challenge is doing it while living in society without being affected by all the distractions around you. For that you need samarpan, samarpan and samarpan – with the divine Master’s blessings, over a period of time you will find yourself becoming more and more detached as you come nearer and nearer your goal. I pray that all of us reach our home in this birth itself!

Actions have Consequences - Don't they?

 

Actions have consequences – Don’t they?

As human beings we all behave in varying manners when reacting to situations. Some people react positively and some in a contrary manner. Why does this happen? All of us come with baggage from our past births – this baggage is stuck in our subconscious and we are not even aware of this. Certain reactions to situations are because of this hidden baggage – and we have no clue as to why we reacted in this manner.

Every action we take has consequences both for us as well as for those who are part of the given situation. If you observe the current global scenario, we have very responsible people in posts of power and responsibility indulging in semantics to avoid taking responsibility for their actions! Have you noticed this? Misinformation, disinformation, white lies, grey lies – humans have come up with various terms to shirk responsibility and misinform people – news is no longer news – it is just a marketing tool to get across a certain viewpoint – fact and fiction have somehow got merged! And the ordinary person is left mystified by all this. All this is now a part and parcel of the game of avoiding responsibility for the consequences that arise from one’s actions!

If we stop taking responsibility for our actions and the consequences that follow, believe me we are heading for a disaster. We need to recognise the problem and act to correct the course we are taking. One way to course correct is meditation – one can start meditating in the proximity of a realised master, have the seed of self-realisation planted within, and then start introspecting on various aspects of life. Once you start doing that the picture starts becoming clear – the haze, the fog starts evaporating as the inner light starts burning brighter and brighter.

With the lighting of the inner lamp, one always starts taking responsibility for one’s actions. The awakened soul will never let you act in an irresponsible or arbitrary manner. You yourself will notice the change within you and you will smile – the smile of inner joy and bliss – as you realise that your course correction has taken place. Meditate and light your inner lamp – be the source of light to all those around you – awaken them too by guiding them to the electrician who connects you to the powerhouse!

Is anything ever ‘BAD’?

 Is anything ever ‘BAD’?

We get educated in schools, colleges and universities – we are filled with information which helps us make a living. In today’s world that is called ‘knowledge’. But is that knowledge really useful other than for earning a livelihood? Throughout one’s life one learns through experience. The best teacher one can ever have is ‘life’ as it teaches you ‘lessons’ which you never forget!

Most of us take these life’s lessons in the wrong spirit – I have heard this question so often – why does this have to happen to me only? I always say who do you say that – why should it not happen to you? Life is teaching you a lesson – don’t you want to learn it. Life is a very harsh teacher, because if you don’t learn your lesson, then the lesson keeps repeating with greater and greater intensity till you finally accept the lesson and move on in life!!

Remember that life’s lessons are meant to be learnt – people believe that anything adverse which happens in their life is ‘BAD’. We are all enduring our karmas and enjoying its fruits too in this life. We come with a lot of baggage from our past lives and at the same time we are continuously evolving to a higher frame of consciousness every birth. So, whatever lessons life is teaching us they are all to be taken in the right spirit. If you take these lessons in the right spirit, then will you ever call such lessons ‘BAD’? No, of course not! Because that lesson in the form of a ‘bad experience’ has taught you an invaluable life lesson – which can thus never be ‘bad’, can it!!

Every lesson in life is just that – a lesson – not good, not bad. It is our mind which puts it in slots of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending on how it affects us. So, one can effectively say that our mind is the culprit in defining ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

Through regular meditation in the proximity of a divine realised Himalayan Master we can resolve this issue. Regular meditation clears the chakras or energy centres and the nadis or the meridians and ultimately calms the mind as you start practically living in the moment. Once you start living in the moment, nothing else matters as you start witnessing life and not become affected by it. Let us all meditate regularly and attain that state which will enable us to see existence as it is and not slot it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Samarpan = Surrender?

We all practice Samarpan Meditation, but do we really understand the meaning of the word ‘Samarpan’? We translate it as ‘surrender’ – but is that the real meaning of the word? In English the word ‘surrender’ is related to wars, battles, where one army surrenders to another on the battlefield, or a criminal surrenders to the police or something similar! The word in this context has attributes of violence or refers to violence or violent action in some form or the other!

Whereas ‘Samarpan’ is related to one soul’s surrender to another Master Soul. Here the word ‘Samarpan’ means a kind of submission to the Master. Complete, total, unconditional surrender to the Master is the nearest meaning to the word Samarpan.

The next question is how does one surrender to the Master? This is not the military ‘surrender’ – this is more of an emotive feeling of submission to a realised Master. Many people have asked this question -  they have no clue on how to awaken this feeling.

So what are we surrendering to the Master? – if you introspect, go within, you will most likely get the answer to this question. One surrenders one's past and then one surrenders one’s ego, one’s desires, one’s feeling of hatred, one’s feeling of anger – in other words all your negative emotions are given up at the Lotus Feet of the Master – if you can do that easily, then one can say that your Samarpan is complete. At least at that moment it is complete!

Surrendering the ego is the most difficult – that is because it keeps manifesting, keeps changing form and keeps fooling you into thinking that – yay! I have lost my ego, I am free! Then some event takes place and your ego pops up again – and then you immediately realise this if you have started living your life as a witness, as a soul. Immediately your soul will give you the warning signs and you become alert and say to yourself – O! I thought I had lost my ego – this is another manifestation! You then surrender this manifestation too and this process continues till you truly become empty – an empty pipe through which Paramatma’s energy flows! Pray that all of us reach that state of freedom which makes us into an empty pipe, a flute, which plays Paramatma’s divine music!

Lockdown - Bane or Boon?

This lockdown was a bane for many and a boon for some! For the poor who had to go back to their towns/ villages because of lack of facilities in the states / cities in which they were working it was a particularly trying time. But they were not complaining – because their needs are limited to getting two square meals a day. But the well to do, so called ‘entitled’ class were complaining because they could not party, go out and have fun, no drinks, no dance, no picnics – all their avenues for enjoyment were shut. For them it was a particularly trying time and they were the ones who were complaining the most! 

For many, it was a time to reconnect with their families as there was no pressure of leaving early for work, going through the stress of peak hour traffic / public transport rush. A new way of life was born - work from home where the work life balance was easier to maintain. For many people it was a time to exercise, do yoga, meditate, connect with their inner core. 

For those who were already meditating it was a blessing in disguise - Ashrams closed, temples closed, churches closed, masjids closed - so how do you pray? It was as if God to had taken a vacation! The only way out was in!! The opportunities to search for God outside had suddenly become zero. The realisation for those who were meditating and who depended on the Guru's proximity, on the Ashram visits to soak in that energy - those doors were shut. That is when Swamiji opened the celestial doors by conducting online meditation camps which were hugely successful. Those who could connect with the subtle turned inwards and merged with their inner consciousness - became calm and one with themselves - for them it was a boon. The initial silence of the lockdown was the golden period for inner growth. Did you catch that wave? If you did, then you will know what I mean. Yes, the lockdown was a boon. How about you? 😊🙌🙏

 

The Mind is your Own Battlefield

I am responsible for what I say and not for your understanding of what I said. Many times conversations are taken out of context and one creates a perceived hurt in one’s mind when the other person says something which you understand in a totally wrong manner! It is best to ask for clarifications before jumping to wrong conclusions and thereby creating a mental illusion of hurt. Stay calm, stay peaceful, don’t overthink conversations and attribute meanings to it which exist only in your mind – the mind is a very funny thing! If you don’t control it, it will create havoc in your life. The mind is your own battlefield! The mind creates situations out of ordinary conversations into perceived hurt and insult. This results in mental agony. In life, you will face many such mental battles and how you tackle these battles will depend on the state of your mind. Your thoughts create the battlefield or the garden of peace. How you think and the company you keep determines your reactions to situations in life. If you are part of a positive collectivity then there are very good chances that your mind becomes a garden of peace. But, if your friends and companions hold a negative outlook on life, it is most likely you will be negative because herd mentality takes over. If you want to win the war – then all the battles have to be fought with a positive outlook on life. To get that positive outlook stay in positive collectivity which is available in all meditation centres. In such centres too, you will realise that you connect to only those people who vibrate in your frequency. Meditation is the key to overcome the mental battles and ultimately win the war!

Meditate, turn inwards and make your own battlefield (the mind) a haven of peace and harmony. Once your battlefield becomes a garden which gives the fragrance of peace, calm, joy and bliss you will have won the war. Come, let us meditate both alone and in collectivity (morning and evening, respectively) to attain a state of peace and calm – end result your battlefield is now your own garden of peace!!