The word ‘yoga’ is parlance today, it is sold in packets, as incense sticks, as perfumes, as services in joints thronged by “health conscious, spiritual people”, in the west it is the next big thing after outsourcing from India. Today ‘yoga’ is a cooler alternative to gyming, but I guess kickboxing is a close second. The media also has given its fair share of attention to the eyeball capturing potential of ‘yoga’.... there are dedicated channels, over booked day camps covered 24x7 . Even ‘yoga’ masters turning into media magnets is now not that incomprehensible.... after all the TRPs are directly related to the valuation of a channel.
At a recent gathering of devout orange cloth clad ‘yoga’ patrons there was much discussion about the current state of Indian politics.... so much so that the facilitator, often between postures digressed to the recent 2G scan scam to hit the country, he vehemently spoke about the increasing petrol prices and even brandished a sheet containing names and account numbers of Indian politicians who have stashed away cash abroad. The event was an astounding success.
Do you believe that that is all there is to this science? Do you feel that eons ago Patanjali produced this divine literature, so that centuries later you could site on a Nike mat, sipping aloe vera health juice in a full air-conditioned weekends only ‘yoga’ class to cure your miserable backache which you probably got in spite of sitting on your ergonomically designed chair? Or do you believe that indigestion will disappear in a few days because you have signed up for a 10-day accelerated program with money back guarantee?
Was yoga all about an over the counter DVD or a week long free massage included getaway? Is the divine art being given its due importance?
Approaching yoga the way we do today is like using a jet engine to dry your hair.
In Sanskrit Yoga comes from the root ‘yug’ which mean to join. It is the ancient science of union of a soul with its creator, the end of separation, complete oneness with everything.... and yet nothing!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Saturday, April 18, 2009
God of Gold
“Devotion” towards God is showed ostentatiously these days. We have large Puja organised havans broadcast live on television, elaborate preparations , publicity advertising. Allegiance towards God is worn on the sleeve, often coming off as jarring tilaks , braclets,pendants. Now a day’s people subscribe to Mantras on sms, patronise “yoga joints” (especially since it has caught up in the US). A yardstick of your love for God is the amount of money you put on this show. Recently a 15lakh cell phone was offered to SiddhiVinayak, the Sai Baba of Shirdi is ordained with numerous Gold offerings, Jain temples springing up in Italian marble. Diamond studded crowns, Gold Kalases. E-bookings, online darshans.
This is what it has come to, instead of we becoming God-like, we have begun portraying God as a market traded commodity. For a great soul who stood naked under a tree for 12 straight years to seek the Absolute we cast him in silk and jewellery. For the Buddha who renounced everything thing we now try trapping him in 24 karat metals. For the Sai baba who lived his whole life in a single garb and slept on barren stone today glitters fancy silk ware and expensive ornaments. Don’t you think somewhere we have missed the point. In our zeal to show our love for him we have made him a mannequin of our own imagination!
Gautama Buddha, was a prince , who did not know what sickness or death meant till he was a young man. He was that ignorant initially , still gained the final knowledge only because he seeked in the right way. Can you realize that his whole life is like a message for us to do the same and true devotion to him would be following his life and introspect so as to improve our own. Do you think he would even care how much money you put in his donation box at the temple?
They came to show us the way, and not for us to pride in our showcases !
This is what it has come to, instead of we becoming God-like, we have begun portraying God as a market traded commodity. For a great soul who stood naked under a tree for 12 straight years to seek the Absolute we cast him in silk and jewellery. For the Buddha who renounced everything thing we now try trapping him in 24 karat metals. For the Sai baba who lived his whole life in a single garb and slept on barren stone today glitters fancy silk ware and expensive ornaments. Don’t you think somewhere we have missed the point. In our zeal to show our love for him we have made him a mannequin of our own imagination!
Gautama Buddha, was a prince , who did not know what sickness or death meant till he was a young man. He was that ignorant initially , still gained the final knowledge only because he seeked in the right way. Can you realize that his whole life is like a message for us to do the same and true devotion to him would be following his life and introspect so as to improve our own. Do you think he would even care how much money you put in his donation box at the temple?
They came to show us the way, and not for us to pride in our showcases !
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Saying Hi to God....
“Jai Sri Krishna” , “Jai Mahavir” ,”Jai Mata di” , “Jai SiaRam” are popular salutary greeting used widely across India. Often used in place of “Hi” or “Hello” , they have been around for years.
Most of us do it as part of a tradition handed down to us by our parents. We consider it as a way of showing respect to elder. Yet the initial idea for the same remains unknown to most of us.
Religions acknowledge the divinity present in each human being. God is present in you , in me and every other manifestation of his creation. When you say “Ram Ram” you are actually saying that “ I am Ram , You are Ram.” Greeting someone with “Jai Sri Krishna “ is actually praising the Lord present within her/him. A fact often overlooked. For the same reasons some cultures require you to apologise if you touch another person with you feet. However unless you are aware of its true essence most of these practises are nothing but empty rituals, void of any meaning. You might as well greet someone as “Shahrukh Khan” and win over some brownie points. But if you do accept each person as a image of God, may your devotion to her/him go beyond your first three words!
Most of us do it as part of a tradition handed down to us by our parents. We consider it as a way of showing respect to elder. Yet the initial idea for the same remains unknown to most of us.
Religions acknowledge the divinity present in each human being. God is present in you , in me and every other manifestation of his creation. When you say “Ram Ram” you are actually saying that “ I am Ram , You are Ram.” Greeting someone with “Jai Sri Krishna “ is actually praising the Lord present within her/him. A fact often overlooked. For the same reasons some cultures require you to apologise if you touch another person with you feet. However unless you are aware of its true essence most of these practises are nothing but empty rituals, void of any meaning. You might as well greet someone as “Shahrukh Khan” and win over some brownie points. But if you do accept each person as a image of God, may your devotion to her/him go beyond your first three words!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Desire to Desire
Every desire is a desire for happiness. Be it a kid’s demand for a tricycle, toy, chocolate or a
Adult wanting that new house, money, job, mobile...... fill in the blank. We want things that make us happy. In other words we seek happiness through the things we desire and the object of desire is our medium to that happiness.
On achieving our goal, we are happy. This fulfilment leads to a short-lived state of joy. But sooner rather than later we have a new desire and then our intention is directed towards this new obsession. Often when we fail, we are overcome by sadness and disappointment.
This is everyone’s story. We are encountered with this duality throughout our lives happiness and sadness come as complimentary packages, one following/leading the other. Yet we pine for our happiness, seek it in the material we see on the outside. When a person acquires all the things he materialistically desires (money, status, power) he yet finds a void within himself, he turns to charity.
By sharing with others he finds contentment and happiness but still does not satisfy his drive to be happy. At this stage of evolution, he realizes that nothing he seeks on the outside is ever going to make him permanently happy, he is directed inwards gradually he realizes that the true happiness he knew-not-why he searched lies within him.
God is bliss (ananda), non-dual, every lasting, perpetual bliss. With no opposites , no illusions pure bliss. It is this bliss which every soul seeks throughout its journey (countless lives). Miss directed intention makes us seek this happiness in the with-out. We make God out of small things, that is the power of human intention. There is no difference when we long for that toy as a kid or car as an adult , we are all programmed to seek happiness , just that we search in the wrong places. Unfulfilled desires of one life are carried forward to the next, be rest assured that every desire your soul has ever conceived will come to pass, the desire is what keeps us human. So our lives are a journey from one desire to the next, making every intermediate desire important, until we single-mindedly desire Him, at that point the object, the desire and the Desiree become one.
As Sri Krishna once said, “Seek me truly, you will find me.”
Adult wanting that new house, money, job, mobile...... fill in the blank. We want things that make us happy. In other words we seek happiness through the things we desire and the object of desire is our medium to that happiness.
On achieving our goal, we are happy. This fulfilment leads to a short-lived state of joy. But sooner rather than later we have a new desire and then our intention is directed towards this new obsession. Often when we fail, we are overcome by sadness and disappointment.
This is everyone’s story. We are encountered with this duality throughout our lives happiness and sadness come as complimentary packages, one following/leading the other. Yet we pine for our happiness, seek it in the material we see on the outside. When a person acquires all the things he materialistically desires (money, status, power) he yet finds a void within himself, he turns to charity.
By sharing with others he finds contentment and happiness but still does not satisfy his drive to be happy. At this stage of evolution, he realizes that nothing he seeks on the outside is ever going to make him permanently happy, he is directed inwards gradually he realizes that the true happiness he knew-not-why he searched lies within him.
God is bliss (ananda), non-dual, every lasting, perpetual bliss. With no opposites , no illusions pure bliss. It is this bliss which every soul seeks throughout its journey (countless lives). Miss directed intention makes us seek this happiness in the with-out. We make God out of small things, that is the power of human intention. There is no difference when we long for that toy as a kid or car as an adult , we are all programmed to seek happiness , just that we search in the wrong places. Unfulfilled desires of one life are carried forward to the next, be rest assured that every desire your soul has ever conceived will come to pass, the desire is what keeps us human. So our lives are a journey from one desire to the next, making every intermediate desire important, until we single-mindedly desire Him, at that point the object, the desire and the Desiree become one.
As Sri Krishna once said, “Seek me truly, you will find me.”
Monday, November 10, 2008
God made man .... Man made God
World over there are groups people who could kill for their religion, supreme duty they say.
Society calls them “fanatics” , still a milder, non-violent version exists and is treated quite differently. Religious sects , communities, and cliques all pride on their copyrighted version of God.
There was just one Great Mahavira, yet we find two distinct sect Deravasis and the Sthanakvasis, The Great Prophet Mohammad taught the world the meaning of God and the true surrender (Islam) to Him and yet people are more concerned whether you’re a Shia or a Sunni. Or the Christian divide on the basis of the virginity of the great Mother. The Hindu is classified till he fits a cosmically insignificant but egoistically supreme prototype, similar to how the animal kingdom is classified.
We take great honour in our engendered roots and identify ourselves. This is ego-religion.
I have met a few atheists (those who do not believe in the existence of God) and their lives are similar to everybody else. Happiness, victory , joy , sadness, birth, death, accidents, miracles seem to be part of their lives too. Yet I have a strong faith in my God, as a child I had been taught to say his name every night and it works miracles for me. Every time a pass a temple I bow my head in respect.
This is my up-bringing my set of laws, laws which reward and punish my actions. Entering a temple with shoes on is profane, or so is accepting Prasad with my left hand, but still to my dear catholic friend it is no more than a sweet. I have never attended Sunday mass or observed ramzan but still I turned out ok and so goes for my brothers who do not follow any hindu ritual. If a certain religion was supreme then all those who did not follow it would be doomed. An atheist would never get past a measly existence. So would that mean that religion/God is defined by a set of rules and rituals handed down from generation to generation, becoming an individual’s reality based on which family he is born?
Gautama Buddha was not born a Buddhist his thinking made him the supreme one. But these days we do not retrospect religion, what is told to us is what is and what we do not believe in is fiction .
Whatever we believe becomes true for us. A small play of cosmic delusion (Maya, Satan).
We find our God in our sub-conscious rather than look into the all inclusive non-dual super conscious.
We have a man-made god. We are the God that we seek in that temple, mosque, church. We define our rules, play by them and prepare our own score card. Whereas our sole purpose of existence is to merger back into the absolute.
A little thought and it would dawn upon us that every great teacher taught us about the same truth. The same reality the same objective of Human life. The sons of God all descended down the ages to tell us the same thing .Still we are more concerned with the language the message is written in rather than the message!
Society calls them “fanatics” , still a milder, non-violent version exists and is treated quite differently. Religious sects , communities, and cliques all pride on their copyrighted version of God.
There was just one Great Mahavira, yet we find two distinct sect Deravasis and the Sthanakvasis, The Great Prophet Mohammad taught the world the meaning of God and the true surrender (Islam) to Him and yet people are more concerned whether you’re a Shia or a Sunni. Or the Christian divide on the basis of the virginity of the great Mother. The Hindu is classified till he fits a cosmically insignificant but egoistically supreme prototype, similar to how the animal kingdom is classified.
We take great honour in our engendered roots and identify ourselves. This is ego-religion.
I have met a few atheists (those who do not believe in the existence of God) and their lives are similar to everybody else. Happiness, victory , joy , sadness, birth, death, accidents, miracles seem to be part of their lives too. Yet I have a strong faith in my God, as a child I had been taught to say his name every night and it works miracles for me. Every time a pass a temple I bow my head in respect.
This is my up-bringing my set of laws, laws which reward and punish my actions. Entering a temple with shoes on is profane, or so is accepting Prasad with my left hand, but still to my dear catholic friend it is no more than a sweet. I have never attended Sunday mass or observed ramzan but still I turned out ok and so goes for my brothers who do not follow any hindu ritual. If a certain religion was supreme then all those who did not follow it would be doomed. An atheist would never get past a measly existence. So would that mean that religion/God is defined by a set of rules and rituals handed down from generation to generation, becoming an individual’s reality based on which family he is born?
Gautama Buddha was not born a Buddhist his thinking made him the supreme one. But these days we do not retrospect religion, what is told to us is what is and what we do not believe in is fiction .
Whatever we believe becomes true for us. A small play of cosmic delusion (Maya, Satan).
We find our God in our sub-conscious rather than look into the all inclusive non-dual super conscious.
We have a man-made god. We are the God that we seek in that temple, mosque, church. We define our rules, play by them and prepare our own score card. Whereas our sole purpose of existence is to merger back into the absolute.
A little thought and it would dawn upon us that every great teacher taught us about the same truth. The same reality the same objective of Human life. The sons of God all descended down the ages to tell us the same thing .Still we are more concerned with the language the message is written in rather than the message!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Aum
According to Hindu philosophy there are three principle gods, the trinity as it’s called, Brahma the creator, Vishnu the protector and Shiva the destroyer. All other heavenly beings are considered to be reincarnations or manifestations of these three principle entities.
The universe is in Brahma consciousness, created by Brahma, hence the Sanskrit phrase Aham Bramhasmi “I am Brahma”. Which tires to remind us that I am he, a divine being made in the image of god himself.
Lord Vishnu is the divine sustainers and Lord Shiva represents the destroyer of evil or veil of Maya.
Maya is cosmic disillusion, Satan according to the bible which prevents us from realizing our true divinity.
Maya keeps us in ego conscious with its limitations and individuality making us feel that we are separate being and that our physical body and surrounding are in fact the only reality.
This trinity of Brahma Vishnu and Shiva are represented by AUM. The syllable ‘Aa’ is Brahma, ‘U’ Vishnu and ‘M’ Shiva. When we chant AUM we capture the entire cosmos, all words, all things all of everything stems out of this universal sound of vibration. Thus there can never exist any word more powerful than AUM because the word includes Everything.
Yoga means to join. Joining of the Atma to the paramatma. A yogi is a seeker of Cosmic consciousness, seeking the non-dual every lasting bliss (in Sanskrit “Sat chit Ananda”) which in more colloquial terms is God. As a true yogi has an expansion of consciousness, he reaches the realm of the AUM consciousness where he experiences the whole universe as a vibratory outcome of the AUM chant. This is an evolved state of being wherein the observer, the observation and the observed become one.
Anyways for starters, AUM meditation can be a very powerful stress buster, a simple 5 min a day chant can work miracles into your life. Try it because when you chant AUM you are in tune with the song of the Universe.
(Sat: True, pure Chit: consciousness Ananda: bliss)
The universe is in Brahma consciousness, created by Brahma, hence the Sanskrit phrase Aham Bramhasmi “I am Brahma”. Which tires to remind us that I am he, a divine being made in the image of god himself.
Lord Vishnu is the divine sustainers and Lord Shiva represents the destroyer of evil or veil of Maya.
Maya is cosmic disillusion, Satan according to the bible which prevents us from realizing our true divinity.
Maya keeps us in ego conscious with its limitations and individuality making us feel that we are separate being and that our physical body and surrounding are in fact the only reality.
This trinity of Brahma Vishnu and Shiva are represented by AUM. The syllable ‘Aa’ is Brahma, ‘U’ Vishnu and ‘M’ Shiva. When we chant AUM we capture the entire cosmos, all words, all things all of everything stems out of this universal sound of vibration. Thus there can never exist any word more powerful than AUM because the word includes Everything.
Yoga means to join. Joining of the Atma to the paramatma. A yogi is a seeker of Cosmic consciousness, seeking the non-dual every lasting bliss (in Sanskrit “Sat chit Ananda”) which in more colloquial terms is God. As a true yogi has an expansion of consciousness, he reaches the realm of the AUM consciousness where he experiences the whole universe as a vibratory outcome of the AUM chant. This is an evolved state of being wherein the observer, the observation and the observed become one.
Anyways for starters, AUM meditation can be a very powerful stress buster, a simple 5 min a day chant can work miracles into your life. Try it because when you chant AUM you are in tune with the song of the Universe.
(Sat: True, pure Chit: consciousness Ananda: bliss)
Friday, October 10, 2008
The Nature of Everything
There is an innate desire in all of to seek answers, answers to fundamental questions that are at the very core of our existence. Each of us as per our beliefs, experience and introspection tide down this search into a set of perceptions, which we then believe governs everything. Religion, superstition and ritual are then all outcomes of trying to quantify the elusive. Nevertheless the apparently endless quest continues.
Albert Einstein in with his theory of relativity proved that all we perceive (Light and matter) is in reality Energy, i.e. matter and energy is inter convertible.
E=mc^2
m:mass c: Speed of light (constant)
This is further corroborated when matter is put under an electron microscope, the observation reveals that 99% of what we conceive as solid is in fact hollow. Thus energy is all that exists. Energy be it light , sound, heat, electrical or any other form vibrates. Just as Energy is at the heart of all matter , it is the vibration that is an inseparable entity of all energy. So we may now modify the equation to
Vibration = mc^2 x constant
This hypothesis that everything around us including ourselves are vibrations. The most subtle form of a vibration is a thought. Each time we think, we create a vibration. Thus now, the equation can be transformed into its final form:
Thoughts = mc ^2 x constant
Thus we conclude that our entire universe has its origins in our thoughts.
Quantum physists now postulate that it is impossible for a universe to exist without mind entering into it. The mind is shaping the very thing that the mind is trying to perceive. In other words, the perception of the perceived is being distorted by the perception of the perceiver. A fact proved during quantum level experiments where the outcomes vary depending upon the observer.
The ancient hindu scriptures also proscribe to the theory. AUM in Hinduism (Ahem in Christianity, Amin in Islam) stands for the universal sound of vibration. The vibration gave rise to the entire universe.
“At first there was the word, and the word was Ahem” - Matthew
Where does this point us to? If our entire universe (and countless other universes) originated from a single vibration, where is the origin of that vibration? Who conceived that thought? What is the nature of the creator?
A simple exercise may help: Chant the word AUM repeatedly and rhythmically....
It would go something like this: AUM AUM AUM AUM........
Observe that between two AUM there is a pause! A moment of silence , a void ..... a nothingness....
Or we can say silence gave rise to AUM!
But even in nothing you need something to know that nothing exists, “ something which is perceivably non-existent but still conscious of itself ” A entity through which all of everything manifests , the cosmic creator..... the cosmic consciousness.... the true nature of everything!
Albert Einstein in with his theory of relativity proved that all we perceive (Light and matter) is in reality Energy, i.e. matter and energy is inter convertible.
E=mc^2
m:mass c: Speed of light (constant)
This is further corroborated when matter is put under an electron microscope, the observation reveals that 99% of what we conceive as solid is in fact hollow. Thus energy is all that exists. Energy be it light , sound, heat, electrical or any other form vibrates. Just as Energy is at the heart of all matter , it is the vibration that is an inseparable entity of all energy. So we may now modify the equation to
Vibration = mc^2 x constant
This hypothesis that everything around us including ourselves are vibrations. The most subtle form of a vibration is a thought. Each time we think, we create a vibration. Thus now, the equation can be transformed into its final form:
Thoughts = mc ^2 x constant
Thus we conclude that our entire universe has its origins in our thoughts.
Quantum physists now postulate that it is impossible for a universe to exist without mind entering into it. The mind is shaping the very thing that the mind is trying to perceive. In other words, the perception of the perceived is being distorted by the perception of the perceiver. A fact proved during quantum level experiments where the outcomes vary depending upon the observer.
The ancient hindu scriptures also proscribe to the theory. AUM in Hinduism (Ahem in Christianity, Amin in Islam) stands for the universal sound of vibration. The vibration gave rise to the entire universe.
“At first there was the word, and the word was Ahem” - Matthew
Where does this point us to? If our entire universe (and countless other universes) originated from a single vibration, where is the origin of that vibration? Who conceived that thought? What is the nature of the creator?
A simple exercise may help: Chant the word AUM repeatedly and rhythmically....
It would go something like this: AUM AUM AUM AUM........
Observe that between two AUM there is a pause! A moment of silence , a void ..... a nothingness....
Or we can say silence gave rise to AUM!
But even in nothing you need something to know that nothing exists, “ something which is perceivably non-existent but still conscious of itself ” A entity through which all of everything manifests , the cosmic creator..... the cosmic consciousness.... the true nature of everything!
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