Understanding one’s breath opens up so many channels of growth

Breathing is life, but how little we know about it! For example, do you know that you use only one nostril at a time for breathing? At any point in time, either the right or the left nostril will be working. Test it out now. Place a finger half an inch below your left nostril for a few seconds and then under your right. You will now which one is working at that moment. Amazing, isn’t it?
And now read on and learn more. Do you know the active nostril changes at regular intervals (approximately every one and a half hours) during the day? And for a short time, both nostrils come into play together, for a period which is called the sandhi kaal, and this remains for ten to twelve breaths. Have you ever wondered why we have two nostrils instead of one? Breath can easily pass through one passage but we have two! The reasons are much deeper then of basic design alone.

As per the ancient scripture of Swar Yoga, there are three psychic channels in the human body, namely ida, pingala and sushumna.

The right nostril is the channel of solar energy and the nadi that flows through it is called pingala, whereas the left is the channel for lunar energy and is called as ida. When both the nostrils have an equal flow, then for a very short time the central channel which is called sushumna awakens.

Influencing the channels or nadis is the key technique of Swar Yoga. Swar Yoga teaches that the dominance of each nostril during breathing changes regularly. By inhaling strongly through the nose, one can find out which nostril is dominant at a particular time, as one will feel the cooling effect of the airflow inside that nostril.

The nadis ida and pingala terminate in the left and right nostril respectively, and are activated when the corresponding nostril is dominant. The central sushumna is activated when both nostrils operate simultaneously, which usually happens only for a short while when the transition from one nostril to the other takes place and also at dawn and dusk. The periodic alternation of the nostrils balances the entire system. Ensuring that this balance is not disturbed is the basic objective of Swar Yoga. The dominance of the nostrils is strongly affected by the movements of the planets and especially by that of the moon.

Each nostril, when it operates independently, influences the body chemistry in a different way. When both nostrils operate simultaneously, the body chemistry also alters so as to make meditation rather than worldly activity appropriate to engage in.

According to Swar Yoga, the right nostril, being solar or heating in character, increases acidic secretions, whereas the left nostril, being lunar or cooling, increases alkaline secretions. Both right and left nostrils are connected with the opposite sides of the cerebral hemispheres and the olfactory lobe. The nose is in direct contact with the hypothalamus by its link with the olfactory lobe of the brain. The hypothalamus is a part of the limbic system, associated with emotions and motivation.

The nostrils, by means of the process of respiration, are connected with the neuromotor responses, and thus with the autonomic nervous system. These neuromotor responses influence the hemispheres of the brain and the primary activity of the brain, which is chemical. Neurotransmitters are the brain’s chemical messengers. They influence all body functions. Through a network of sensory nerves in the nose, the nostrils are connected to subtle nerves. An EEG was done by Dr Khalsa in San Antonio USA, where the brain was wired with electrodes, and an ultra sound was also done to see if any changes occur when the flows are different. It was observed that when the flow is in the left nostril, the right side of the brain lights up, and when in the right, then the left part of the brain is more active.

One of the techniques of Swar Yoga is to check whether the nostril dominance is in accord with the planetary cycles, and if necessary to correct it accordingly. This would prevent psychological and physical problems. It is especially important to do this every day at sunrise, so that one starts the day in harmony with the planetary energy of that day. Another important aspect of Swar Yoga is to adapt special activities to nostril dominance or vice versa. Breathing through the left nostril influences the cortical activity on the right side of the brain more than the left and vice versa. The twin hemispheres of the brain have highly specialized functions. The right hemisphere, stimulated by left nostril dominance, is connected to feminine, lunar, emotional, visual and more peaceful activities. The left hemisphere, stimulated by right nostril dominance, is connected to masculine, solar, rational, verbal and more energetic activities.

The ancient yogis of India knew all this and much more. They knew the intimate connection between breath and mind. For example, when your mind is angry watch your breathing – it will be disturbed. And similarly, if you hold your breath for long, your mind will get agitated. The yogis were trying to get some degree of control over the mind and body. Swar Yoga advises changing the dominant nostril at the first sign of any physical or mental disturbance. Thus the active side of the body is changed and glandular secretions re-establish balance.

For example, in fever one should plug the operating nostril with a cotton ball and keep it plugged until body temperature becomes normal again. Chronic indigestion can be cured by cultivating the habit of eating only when the right nostril is dominant.

The same goes for eating and defecating in case of constipation. Stress created by hard work and physical labor can be cured by lying on the right side, and breathing through the left nostril for 25 to 30 minutes.

If you want to alter an unwanted emotional state, just breathe through the congested nostril for a while. Swar Yoga techniques can also be used for healing others, for creating favorable conditions in life, to foretell death, and in determining the gender of an unborn child. The techniques of Swar Yoga have been tested and tried by yogis and their lineages for a very long time. If only you would be aware of the goodness and beneficiary changes that can be brought to your life, you could maneuver your life as per your needs and requirements.

The most powerful application of Swar Yoga lies in meditation and control over the mind. Since the mind is very subtle and near impossible to grasp, the yogis figured out how to use this connection between the breath and the mind. By controlling the breath, they were indirectly able to influence the mind. Swar Yoga can be practiced by one and all, but before you go deeper into it, you have to know the basics of Pranayama.

There is a lovely fable of a minister who was punished by the king with imprisonment in a tower. He called his faithful wife to help him escape, telling her to get a beetle, two drops of honey, a ball of slender and fine thread, a long twine and then a long rope. When the bewildered wife arrived with these things, he told her to moisten the antennae of the beetle with the honey, tie the fine thread to its body and to leave it at the bottom of the tower wall. Smelling the honey ahead, the beetle slowly crept up the wall until it reached the minister. He then got hold of the end of the thread and asked his wife to tie the twine to the other end. He then pulled up the twine and then the rope using which he escaped. The idea is to understand how to manage the links between the gross (rope, body), the subtle body (thread, breath), and the very subtle body (scent of honey, mind).


Understanding one’s breath opens up so many channels of growth and evolvement. When you need to work hard, teach, discipline, eat or defecate, check if the solar energy (pingala) is flowing. If yes, then the actions done will bear results. If you have to do brain work, then it your lunar energy (ida) that should be flowing – this will help you in all studious jobs, meditation, creative arts, music, dance, paintings, studying etc. The change from ida to pingala is very subtle, so if you can keep a check on your breathing, you will be able to observe it.

There are ways and means to change the breath by will, and this art can be learnt from a guru who is proficient in this art.


Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Want To be Happy ..

INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE - H H Dalai Lama

• 
  
  
  Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
  When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.




• 
  
  
  Follow the three R’s:
  - Respect for self,
  - Respect for others and
  - Responsibility for all your actions.




• 
  
  
  Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.




• 
  
  
  Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.




• 
  
  
  Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.




• 
  
  
  When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.




• 
  
  
  Spend some time alone every day.




• 
  
  
  Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.




• 
  
  
  Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.




• 
  
  
  Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.




• 
  
  
  A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.




• 
  
  
  In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.




• 
  
  
  Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.




• 
  
  
  Be gentle with the earth.




• 
  
  
  Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.




• 
  
  
  Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.




• 
  
  
  Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.




• 
  
  
  If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.




• 
  
  
  If you want to be happy, practice compassion. Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Tips for Meditation

Meditation is beyond human intellect and recognition. The state of meditation in its full beauty can not be described in words. The meditative state transcends the limits imposed by time, space, and senses that we operate through. If we want to make, however, an analogous experience of that stage, we can consider the deep sleep state, in which we do not feel bounded by time, space, or causation. However, meditation is different from deep sleep, as it works basically from the psyche.

Though it is said that there are various types of meditation techniques, but still, its goal is one. In reality, you can't learn meditation even if all the meditation techniques are tried. However, there are certain suggestions that you can adopt to gain maximum benefits of any meditation technique. Following are some of these suggestions:

• For all the meditations techniques, you will require to maintain regularity of time, place, and practice. Meditation techniques are effective only if you can regulate your schedule accordingly; otherwise, these techniques simply will not work.


• Time is very crucial for all meditation techniques: dawn and dusk are believed to be the best ones. It is good to start in the morning as you are afresh from your sleep and the daily routine has not taken its toll on your body and mind. Though if you can find some time and a noise-less space in the evening, it can work well then also.


• The space where you try you are meditating and working on meditation techniques should not be changed frequently. It is almost imperative that you choose a place that will be available to you without change.


• People often think that meditation techniques involve keeping the spine and neck tensed like a statue. Though you need to keep it in erect positions, but you should not tense your muscles. You need to sit in a relaxed posture that suits your physique.


• The efficiency of all meditation techniques is based upon your potential to silent your mind. In the start, you will not be able to do it for long time-periods. But once you keep on practicing, you will be well versed for longer periods.


• Meditation techniques often involve an object where you need to concentrate, like, a source of light, a photograph, sounds or music, or even the focal points in your body. However, it is advised that you should never change this point of concentration. You will not be able to still your mind if .


• Apart from the abovementioned suggestions, it should be made sure that you are not anxious about the results of your meditation. It requires practice and regularity, and many people are fed-up from it because they are unable to achieve the state that they visualize to achieve. Meditation should not be taken as a mean or way to find something or to avoid some problems. It is actually the state itself, where if you reach at the culminating point, you will merge in bliss itself.

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The Sormy Ocean

Swamiananda, and his disciple Ranga, were strolling on the beach by the ocean. It was a cold day and the wind was blowing strongly over the ocean, raising very high waves.

After walking for some time, Swamiananda stopped, looked at his disciple and asked:
"What does the choppy ocean remind you?"

"It reminds me of my mind. Of my rushing and restless thoughts", answered Ranga.

"Yes, the stormy ocean is like the mind, and the waves are the thoughts. The mind is neutral like the water. It is neither good, nor bad. The wind is causing the waves, as desires and fears produce thoughts", said Swamiananda.

"I wouldn't want to be on a boat, in the middle of the ocean, in a storm like this", said Ranga.

"You are there all the time." Responded Swamiananda and continued, "Most people are on a rudderless boat in the middle of a choppy ocean, even if they do not realize it. The mind of most people is very restless. Thoughts of all kinds come and go incessantly, agitating the mind like the ocean's waves."

"Yes", Ranga interrupted him, "You don't have to tell me. This is the reason I am with you. I want to calm down the waves of my mind."

Swamiananda looked at Ranga for a while, smiled and said:
"You don't calm the ocean by holding the water and not letting it move. What is necessary is to stop the wind. The wind is made of your thoughts, desires and fears. Don't let them rule your life. Learn to control them by controlling your attention, and then the ocean of your mind becomes calm."

"And how do I do that?"

"Suppose it is possible for the ocean to disregard the wind, what would happen then?" asked Swamiananda.

"The waves would cease. However, no one can stop the wind."

Swamiananda looked at him with a mysterious smile and said:
"Why not? The wind, the ocean, and thoughts are all within the mind. When you can control the mind, you can control everything within it. But first you have to control your mind, which means you have to control your attention."

"Yes master", said Ranga, " this is what I am trying to do. You say whoever controls his mind can also control the wind. Can you do that?"

"First learn to calm down the ocean of your mind, and then find out if you can calm down the ocean. It is better to learn to control the mind, than enjoying mental tricks. When you calm your mind, you can calm down everything."

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Relaxing Your Mind........

One can achieve deep relaxation, if one follows some simple routines.

These procedures teach us to relax the body and enter meditation, which can take us into an even deeper state of relaxation of the body and mind, which is our natural condition.

1. Relaxing the body

Stress and unhappiness are stored in the body, so we begin by relaxing our muscles. We can achieve this by systematically tensing muscle groups throughout the body and then relaxing the tension on the out-breath.

We can stretch the body and move into various postures, relaxing as we breathe out.

2. Relaxing the breath
When we are agitated, our breathing becomes faster and more shallow.
When we slow down and deepen our breathing we become calmer. We can harness awareness of the out-breath through visualising tension streaming out of the body as we breath out. We can
cleanse the breath through alternate nostril breathing.

3. Relaxing the voice

When we are happy we may spontaneously burst into song, but it is hard to sing when we are sad or stressed. We can therefore learn to relax through free energetic sound.

We can chant yogic mantras and give ourselves permission to make as much noise as we wish without caring about the harmony or disharmony of our voice. We sing the sound Ahhhhhh for the length of an out-breath and release energetic tension with the sound.

4. Ready for meditation

Having relaxed the body we wish to retain this sense of comfort and calm when we start to meditate.
It is therefore essential to find a sitting posture for meditation in which we can be relaxed but alert. Relaxing the mind is more difficult than relaxing the body. We want to be as physically comfortable as possible so that the body does not distract the mind. The body should be upright, balanced and unrestricted. The spine should be erect but relaxed. The body should be balanced and not twisted or placed in a position that requires effort to maintain. Blood needs to flow freely to all parts of the body and in particular to the limbs without constriction or pressure.

5. Relaxing the mind

Meditation relaxes the mind by letting go of thought to experience mind without thought. Thought is an intricate conceptual mesh that surrounds the still deep quietness of the empty mind and acts as a filter for everything that we experience.

To relax the mind we need to loosen and let go of this mesh in order to discover and understand
mind when it is no longer defined by thought. Thought is a natural process of mind but thought is
not the essence of mind. We can only discover ultimate relaxation if we learn to become familiar and comfortable in the empty essence of the nature of mind. We begin by using the breath as a focus and letting go of thought as we breathe out. Over time, we can let go of the breath as a focus and simply let go of thought whenever it arises.

Gradually, spaciousness develops in the mind and it becomes easy to dwell in the space of mind
without thought.

6. Daily practice

Learn to let go of thought and relax the mind. This calls for commitment and effort. Meditating every day makes the mind settle and let go of thought, and increases our capacity to concentrate and experience spaciousness of mind. It is more productive to meditate for a short period every day than it is to meditate for a longer period more occasionally. The length of our daily practice must be realistic and easily achievable so that it does not become a burden or a chore.

Ten minutes of meditation a day is all that is required for meditation to become a life skill that is
simply part of who we are. At first, we will continually lose our focus and we may find this frustrating, but we must not develop selfdeprecation.
Whenever we realise that we have lost concentration we must celebrate this as a moment of re-emerging awareness. To recognise loss of awareness is to have regained awareness. Over time a commitment to practising letting go every day will produce startling results. We will start to understand our relationship with thought and develop increased awareness. We will start to feel
more relaxed about who we are.

We will start to feel less pressured by our life circumstances. We will begin to let go of self-centredness and find joy in being kind to others.

7. Further practice

When we have established a daily practice of letting go we can experiment with contemplative practices that change our ordinary view. We can examine our relationship with others through looking at how we interact with a friend, an enemy and a stranger. We can practise purification
visualisation to discover clarity, and we can practise methods of developing loving kindness to enrich ourselves and develop openness and generosity.

Through relaxing the body we feel refreshed and invigorated.
Through relaxing the mind we discover openness and clarity.
Over time, the moments of experience of mind without thought will lengthen and occur more
frequently and this spaciousness of mind will sparkle in our everyday lives. We will start to notice our habit patterns and cease to be their victim. We will discover that we have a choice about who we are and how we live. We will discover emotion as naked energy and our sensory experiences will become enlivened. We will become more open, patient, tolerant and kind. We will discover open appreciation and awaken to our natural state of well-being.

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

“How does one seek union with God?”

“How does one seek union with God?”

...
“The harder you seek, the more distance you create between Him and you.”


The god is within each one of us just look with love and care u will see him.....




Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Let the flavour of meditation spread all over your life..

Drop the ego, howsoever bitter it is, howsoever painful it is, and you will be tremendously rewarded.

Meditation sharpens your brilliance. Ordinarily your sword is rusty. You have never cared about it, you have not even taken it out of its sheath. And it needs constant sharpening, otherwise it is not even useful in cutting vegetables’ And it has great work to do — it has to kill you! That’s what sannyas is all about: cutting your head-off with your own hands. It is real suicide. It is not of the body, it is the suicide of the ego — and the ego is very subtle and very cunning. Unless you are sharp enough it will go deceiving you. You throw it out from one door and it will enter from another. And it is so cunning that it can even come in the name of humbleness.

You can watch the so-called humble people and you can see their egos. They are egoistic about their humbleness, they are egoistic about their simplicity, egoistic about their saintliness, even egoistic about their egolessness. A man without ego is neither egoistic nor egoless. Both are dropped. He is simply there. To create that state is very great intelligence is needed. Mind is not enough, only meditation can help.

So concentrate on meditation. Make it a point that this is the topmost priority in your life, everything else is secondary. I don’t say anything else to my sannyasins, all that I want them to do is to become meditators, and everything else follows of its own accord. Freedom comes, bliss comes, peace comes, celebration comes, virtue comes, transformation comes, and ultimately the experience of god.

Become an image of meditation, become meditation. Walk in meditation, sit in meditation, eat in meditation, sleep in meditation. Let the flavour of meditation spread all over your life — breathe in, breathe out, but meditation continues.

Meditation simply means an awareness of all that is happening. That which is happening outside — that is the outermost circle of your life. Then that which is being done by your body — that is the second concentric circle, closer to you. Then the third concentric circle is that which is done by your mind. And then the fourth is that which is done by your feelings and emotions.

And within these four concentric circles is your centre, the fifth. If you become aware of all that is going on, sooner or later you will become centred at the centre and you will be able to see the whole panorama, the whole drama of the outer world, of physical activity, of psychological activity, of emotional activity. And when you are able to see all this you become free of it because immediately you come to know that you are the seer, you are not the doer. That is the greatest revolution in life, when this shift happens, that you are no more a doer but just a seer, a witness. Than one becomes an image of meditation — a Buddha, a Christ, a Zarathustra.

Meditation releases great creativity. It is an explosion; all your seeds start sprouting. For the first time you see how much potential you were carrying within yourself: a great garden with so many flowers, such beautiful bushes and trees and so many birds singing… a whole paradise! But we are not ordinarily aware of it. We are completely closed, we have not opened up; we are living like a capsule which has no opening, no windows.

Leibniz has the right word for it. He calls man a monad, a windowless house; no doors, no windows. Meditation throws open all the doors and all the windows. Suddenly you become aware of the vast sky, the stars, the moon, the sun, the wind, the rain, the rainbows, the clouds — the whole infinity of it, the whole spectrum of it. And the moment you become aware of it your heart starts singing and dancing.

That’s what I mean by a poet. I don’t literally mean a poet; not that one starts just composing poetry, but that one’s whole life becomes poetic. To whatsoever one does there is the golden touch of creativity. You touch dust and by your touch it is transformed into gold. Wherever you move it becomes a sacred place; wherever you sit it becomes a temple, a shrine of infinite beauty and grandeur. Whatsoever you do releases the imprisoned splendour within you. And this goes on happening; it is not something that happens once.

Meditation starts an explosion which is infinite, which goes on and on, unending; there is no end to it. There is a beginning in meditation but no end.




Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Meditation & Breathing

The question of how to start meditating and what to do can seem a little scary to those who have no experience with it. There are a million books out there on the subject, and many of them say contradictory things, which adds to the confusion. Since the question came up on a few of the groups I post on, I wanted to put something up to help those who are looking for a place to start. Keep in mind, I'm no Guru, but I can share what I've found works well for most of he people.

Every mystical or spiritual tradition I've studied have certain key aspects in common, but the most basic one seems to be controlled breathing. Even the most advanced meditation techniques usually start with some basic breath techniques. Here's a place to start:




Sit in a comfortable and relaxed position. Some people prefer to sit cross-legged or in the lotus position, but a comfortable chair with both feet planted on the floor works equally well for these exercises. If you're having trouble concentrating, feel free to close your eyes or sit in front of a blank space like a wall so there is nothing distracting you visually.




1) AWARENESS. Become aware of your breath. Notice if it is slow or rapid, shallow or deep. Don't try to alter or change it, just notice the body's natural rhythms. As you do so, you may become more aware of other things, such as the feel of the air on your skin, your pulse throughout your body, and so on. As you become more comfortable, allow your body to relax, bit by bit. Start at the soles of your feet and work your way up to the top of your head. Become aware of each part of your body, how it feels, what sorts of things it's doing as you relax. You might get a twitch here and there, or the occasional itch. Don't worry about it; scratch where it itches and maintain your state of relaxation. Keep your focus on your breathing throughout this exercise, noticing if it changes or stays the same.

This can be done at work, at home, in bed, or wherever the urge strikes you. This is particularly good to do if you feel stressed out, angry, scared or frustrated. Try it three times a day, seven days in a row. You might be surprised at the results of such a simple exercise.




2) CONTROL. Once you're comfortable with the above exercise and wish to move on to something a little more involved, start to focus on deepening and controlling the breath. A key point here is to focus on pulling your breath deep into your belly and diaphragm.

Start by making a slow, controlled inhale for eight seconds, hold for a second or two, then exhale for ten seconds, and hold for another second or two. Doesn't sound like much, but for those of us with asthma or a smoking habit even this can be a challenge. If you find this too easy, see how many seconds you can comfortably inhale and exhale for, and then work at extending the inhales and exhales by a second or so every couple of days.

You might find yourself getting a little dizzy or light-headed during this exercise due to a combination of hyperventilation and increased energy flow. This is fine, just return to the earlier technique of observing your body's natural breathing rhythm until you feel comfortable again.




3) FOCUS. In the above two exercises you might have noticed that your mind tended to run off in different directions at the slightest provocation. Worries about the day, mental to-do lists, thoughts about work or school, random memories of conversations, and more are constantly fighting for attention in the mind. Many of us are not even aware of how much internal dialogue is actually taking place on a constant basis. This technique will help you to focus and calm the mind.

As you're breathing deeply and comfortably, think of something that evokes a feeling of peace in you. It can be anything, as long as it's simple; the image of a clear lake or sky, the sound of a stream running over rocks, or even just slowly repeating a single word, such as "love" or "peace" itself. If you have a water fountain in the room, try to focus on the sound of the trickling water. If you have trouble maintaining a mental image, you can even start by looking at an actual photo of a peaceful scene. If nothing else seems to work, try mentally or verbally chanting a basic vowel sound, such as "Aaaahhhh" or "Ooooohhm".

At first it may be difficult to stay focused. Your mind will try to skip around from thought to thought. Don't worry about it and don't get upset with yourself; just notice the thought, let it go, and return to the object of your focus. If you start getting frustrated, go back to counting your breath for a while until you're ready to try again.

It helps to have an egg-timer or digital watch while doing this. Set the timer for three minutes the first time. Once you can maintain focus for three minutes, work your way up to five, then ten, then fifteen. Do this at least once a day, preferably twice; once as you're getting out of bed in the morning, and again just before you go to sleep at night.

If you can maintain your focus on one word or image or sound for fifteen minutes without distraction, and do so every day, Congratulations! Not only will you find your body is less tense and your mind more focused in your daily life, but you are also ready for pretty much any meditation technique or spiritual discipline available.






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Reaching for higher ground

What is spirituality, or, rabbaniyat, to use the Quranic term? It is the elevation of the human condition to a plane where the mind is focused on the higher, non-material realities of a godly existence.

The one who gives all his attention to worldly things and who centers his attention on mere appearances is regarded as being material-minded. Conversely, one who rises above material things or appearances, who finds his focus of interest in non-material things, is regarded as being spiritual or godly. The latter is one who follows the injunction of the Quran: ‘Be devoted servants of God’ (3:79). That is, one who lives a God-oriented life.

Spirituality can answer the questions, ‘Who am I? What is the purpose of my life? What is the creation plan of the Creator?’ A seeker is able to find true spirituality by finding rational answers to such questions, whereby he receives spirituality at the mind or thinking level. True spirituality is based on contemplation and reflection, it is an intellectual activity. When the seeker discovers the truth, his life enters a new phase -- that is, building his personality according to spiritual principles. This intellectual journey is two-fold, one is to solve the riddle of why human beings undergo negative experiences in this world and the other is to offer positive solutions. It addresses the paradox of human beings having been given the freedom to make their own moral choices, and their frequent misuse of this freedom -- a course of action which causes them to repeatedly face situations in which people do each other harm; losses are incurred because others’ injustice; severe provocations are suffered because of untoward experiences. At such times spirituality helps us to convert negativity into positivity.

Rabbaniyat provides us with the right philosophy of life. It is a guide book, leading us out of the darkness of ignorance, and ushering us into the light of reality. Spirituality is our helpful companion in times of difficulty. It saves us from succumbing to adversity. It is the art of crisis management, from which we derive intellectual inspiration when in need. Everyone is in need of spirituality, whether rich or poor, powerful or powerless. Spirituality provides a man with a starting point for life. Anyone who is deprives of spirituality will also be deprived of this starting point.

The spiritual path enables us to see things that remain invisible to the physical eye. It enables us to learn lessons from the past and see the future in the present. It is the source of human progress.

Repeatedly, we find occasions in life, when we feel helpless. It is when we feel that life has become rudderless and without direction, that a spiritual savior holds out hope, as a source of courage and conviction.

How is that one who seeks out the divine and who treads the path of enquiry is able to acquire superlative human qualities? The answer is that the ends of a seeker and what he seeks are inseparable from God who is the source of all goodness. God is thus the source of inspiration for everyone.

Spirituality produces God-oriented thinking in him. His life thus becomes a God-oriented life. This is what makes a spiritual person unassailable. A spiritual person enters into such profound communion with God that he becomes very powerful indeed.



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Harness the 'power of three'

Our Vedic culture gives a lot of importance to the ‘power of three’. In fact the entire creation is sustaining on this power of three, i.e the Trinity–Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiv. Harnessing this power in your daily life will energise and refresh you. Here is a practice from the Sanatan Kriya that will help you do just that.

The ancient texts indicate that the emergence of sound marked the beginning of physical Creation. And the first sound was OM (AUM). Divided into four parts (A, U, M, and silence) it represents the journey of the spirit. Before sound, i.e., Creation, there was eternal silence, or absolute stillness. It was from here that the journey of an individual began. Sound has a deep and profound effect on the physical body of a being, whether we are able to immediately feel the effect or not depends on the kind of sound one interacts with. Grosser and heavier sounds affect the physical body, the grossest layer of a being, and have a short lived effect, while subtler sounds touch the lighter layers and the effect lasts for a longer time.

The syllable ‘A’ (as in approve) represents the force of Lord Brahma, the Creator, the syllable ‘U’ (as in ouch) represents the force of Lord Vishnu, responsible for the preservation of all that is Created, and ‘M’ (the humming of the male bee) stands for the force of transformation of Lord Shiva, as well as for stillness, that is, evolution, or coming back to where you started from, stillness the fourth part, the touchstone of evolution, since it is stillness that leads you back to where you began from.

Sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed and back straight. Take a few deep breaths and begin chanting A-U-M followed by silence. As you chant ‘A’, your awareness moves up your body till the naval, while paying reverence at the feet of Lord Brahma; as the awareness rises from the naval till the shoulders you chant ‘U’, paying reverence at the feet of Lord Vishnu; the awareness further rises from the pit of the throat with the chant of ‘M’, paying reverence at the feet of Lord Shiv; finally ending in silence.

Repeat the above as many times as you can. When you open your eyes look at the centre of your palms, then your entire body, then anywhere else. A word of caution here, do not suddenly get up after the practice and always do it under the guidance of your Guru.

Practice of this will open the subtler dimensions while giving you a healthy body, beautiful glow and peace.



Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Being present – how to be present with what is already present

The present moment has always been available to spiritual seekers, but as long as you are seeking you are not available to the present moment. “Seeking” implies that you are looking to the future for some answer, or for some achievement, spiritual or otherwise. Everybody is in the seeking mode, seeking to add something to who they are, whether it be money, relationships, possessions, knowledge, status.. or spiritual attainment.

This is it. There is no more. If you can be present, it’s the whole ball game. The immediacy of life in the present precedes the mind and all concepts.

It’s hard for the mind to understand what being present is because the mind is never present. Yet, we do have moments of presence, when we are awed by beauty or those times when we are in flow.

You will find being present is ordinary. Don’t expect the extra-ordinary; that will take your right out of presence. Don’t expect some sort of psychedelic or out-worldly spiritual experience. And yet, with continued presence, there is a shift. The extra-ordinary is contained in the spaciousness of the ordinary.

Try it. It is not an effortful presence. The ego is capable of creating a mental space of presence, and you can tell because ego-presence feels effortful, artificial and dull. That’s not presence. That’s trying hard to be present.

We are already always present, so it’s little misleading to say “be present.” What we mean by “be present” is really to be Awareness, absent of the constant lurching for the next moment, the grasping, or the becoming.











Be present with what is already present. The body is always present, so we can always bring attention deeply into the body or breath to be present. Perception is always present–taste, touch, smell, sight and sound.


Do the following to be present:

Sit down, shut your eyes, and watch your breath. Become aware of breath going in, and going out. Breathe freely, there is no need to control or change the flow. Become aware of the sensation of air passing through your nose and nostrils. Pay attention to the lungs filling up and emptying. Pay attention to the belly expanding and relaxing. If attention is distracted by thought, gently bring it back with a smile.

Expand your attention to the sound of breathing. Don’t label or analyze, simply listen to the undulating sound of breath. Notice that there is no time between perception and hearing. Time only happens when there is thinking about hearing. Hear without thinking. Is there any effort required to hear? Pay attention to the way the sound is heard. As you notice the sound, pay attention, just to hear the sound, without decision or interpretation or judgment. Hearing just happens. There is no thought required. Meet the perception half-way. Is there any time delay between the sound and the hearing? The hearing of sound is thought-less, time-less. Relax, and be the awareness that hears the sound, without thought.

Expand your attention further to any sound that comes into perception. Don’t label or measure or judge. Just pay attention to the sound. Notice the sounds pop up in Awareness, inside of you. There is no space or time between awaring and the occurrence of the sound.

If thoughts rise, let them and shift attention back to the sounds.

Now feel your weight. Feel your skin touching your clothes. Feel your skin touching air. Don’t label or figure out what it is touching, just simply feel the perception of touch. Go inside the body to feel it. Put attention inside your hands and soon you will feel a tingling, an aliveness. Notice there is no time between feeling the sensation and being aware of the sensation. Just to feel, is there any time required between the sensation and the feeling of it? There is no decision, no effort, no thinking; it just happens. Time only happens when you interpret the sensation with thought.

Move attention to taste. Do you taste anything? Is there a taste? Don’t figure out what it is. Just be aware of it.
Move attention to smell. Is there any smell? Don’t label it or figure out what it is, just abide in the perception of it.
Open your eyes. Look around the room. Don’t label anything. Simply take in the seeing. Take in colors without labeling them. Take in the background, the ceiling, floor, the walls, the sky, clouds, anything without labeling. Feel the colors rather than seeing them. Notice there is no time delay between seeing and awaring. Perception takes no time. It is right here, right now. Don’t label anything, see it for the first time. Trace the contours and edges very slowly with your eyes. This is just Awareness. Everything you see is Awareness seeing in Awareness. The entire visual field and beyond is in Awareness. All these objects are simply perception in Awareness.
Move deeply into the Now.

When you are deeply in the Now, look at the grasping and running-away feeling in the mind, with Awareness.


Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Vipassana : The meditation technique of Gautama Buddha

Vipassana is the technique of lord Gautama Buddha . The path of Buddha is considered as Golden Mean because he teaches that there in no need to go to any extreme – neither in indulgence nor in abstinence. His path is a Golden path, which does not demand affiliation to any idea, belief or dogma. Even after the lapse of more than 2500 years since he walked on this earth, there is no decline in his teaching or in the relevance of his miraculous and amazingly simple meditation technique ‘Vipassana’. In fact this meditation technique is often considered as the technique of the future because of its extremely simple yet very powerful method. For the busy and extremely complicated life of 21st century, Vipassana is the kind of friendly meditation which can be done by anybody, anywhere and at any time.

What and why of Vipassana

Vipassana means ‘to come and see‘. To be more precise - to come inward and see. It is the way of the Buddha. He do not give sermons on reality. He only says ‘ “come and see – ‘Eehee Pissico‘. Just come inward and see for yourself the reality.

In a single sentence :What is Vipassana ?

Vipassana is :

“To watch your breath with awareness. “

That’s all ! It is just simple . To be watchful of your breath as it comes and go. It is Vipassana. The easiest meditation technique of all time.

Breathing is the most of important life process of our body. Nobody can exist without breath even for a single moment. In fact breathing is so important that nature has made it automatic in all living being. Nobody has to remember to breath. Just like internal vital process of our body like pumping of heart, circulation of blood, digestion of food etc, the breathing also happens on its own. Numerous meditation techniques are centered around breath. Almost all spiritual schools has developed a majority of their meditation techniques around breath. The reason for such infatuation with breathing is that it (breathing) is not merely a process of inhaling oxygen and exhaling Carbon Dioxide. Breathing, in reality, is a bridge between our body and our self.

From the moment we come into this world – till the moment we die, we continue taking breath. Breathing is a link between our soul and our body. So when one meditates on breathing, invariably, he gets connected with his self. As already described in ’What is meditation‘ (that all meditation techniques are the methods through which our true self is revealed to us), when you mediate in Vipassana , you will realize your real identity – Self.

In Vipassana you have to be just aware of your breath. A simple rule is that no matter what you do, no matter in whichever action you indulged in – just be aware of your breathing process. Be watchful of breath as it comes inside your body and goes outside. Don’t try to control your breath. Vipassana is not ‘Pranayam ( the yogic exercise in which one control various movements of breath). If your breath is deep let it be, if it is shallow let it be. Just let your breathing in its natural rhythm.

Understand this by this analogy: Just imagine that a river is flowing. Now the flow of the river may be fast or slow. What you have to do is to sit on its bank Just watch the river as it flows. Don’t try to create ripples in it. Don’t do anything that affects its flow. Just be a watcher. This river is your breath. The breathing process is going on. Just be a watcher of this process. Slowly slowly as you watch your breathing, your mind will start calming own. You will see that all thoughts are disappearing on their own. Eventually as you keep practicing, such moment will start coming when you see that everything has come to a standstill. There will be no thoughts, there will be no emotions. However, there will be full awareness. The state of choiceless awareness. In this state you will know the real you.

Some important things about Vipassana:

(1) Though this extremely easy meditation can be done anytime, anywhere, initially it is strongly advised that you allocate some fixed time for it on daily basis. Choose a separate room and sit in a comfortable position. Them meditate by watching your breathing.

(2) The real success will come when you can be aware of your breath while doing all kind of daily activities like reading, playing, driving, swimming, or doing any domestic task. However this stage will come after a regular practice for a considerable amount of time. At that point there will be two aspects of your existence – doing and being. You will be doing everything, fully involved in your tasks, yet inside there will be a center of awareness in you undisturbed by outer circumstances. That will be the true state of a meditator – the one who will be creative outside and meditative inside.

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spare a thought

Have you ever thought about thoughts? What they are and where they come from? Thoughts are not the product of our mind for it is incapable of producing anything. Everything already exists, even thoughts – and they do not reside in the mind. Their abode is elsewhere, not in the physical body.

Every thought is a potential manifestation. The level of consciousness of the person who is thinking is directly proportional to the ability of manifestation of his thoughts. That was the science behind the curses and blessings of the saints.

What is the source of thoughts? Sit down comfortably with eyes closed. Take yourself to a state of thoughtlessness where your mind is absolutely blank. Now slowly become aware of the first thought. Be fully aware of where this thought is coming from. Is it from within your physical form or from somewhere outside? Follow the path of this thought till you know it has come and touched your physical. Every time you do this exercise you will find that thoughts are always coming from outside, and never from within. Yog talks of blocking these thoughts to achieve a state of shunya or stillness.

The physical is a dimension. Similarly, there are other dimensions of other beings also which lie beyond the physical. Thoughts are beings, residing in another dimension, beyond. Thought already exists there, in the manomaya kosha. What we refer to as ‘thinking’ is actually connecting to that layer, those beings. When Brahma created the Universe, all kinds of thoughts were created, too. We only connect to a particular thought depending on our composition and that of the thought.

We connect to thoughts by their chakras – a sexual thought would be connected by the swadhishthan chakra. The respective chakra collects thoughts and sends it to the ajna or master chakra which translates the language of the thought world to the physical and sends it to the brain, and then the body acts. When it is said that all great men think alike it means that they are all connecting to thoughts of the same nature.

Thoughts have certain compositions, like every other object of creation; they are composed of a specific frequency of sound or colour, which is audible or visible at the time of connection. Imagination in the form of sight or sound is again connecting to the thought dimension.

Prana manifests in the form of sound or colours. Different thoughts evoke feelings of calmness, peace, cheer, romance, depression or fear, for example. Similarly, there are various compositions of colours – some are dull, depressing, and others are vibrant, pleasing, each having a different effect on the physical.

Thoughts in the form of sound and colours constantly keep the mind engaged. The mind is never still, never at rest, at any point of time. The flow of thoughts from the manomaya kosha never ceases to happen unless awareness is taken to layers beyond the thought dimension. This state is that of dhyan. When consciousness expands and reaches a state where thoughts cease to exist, you experience thoughtlessness, where you don’t realise the passage of time. You then exist in the dimension, which is above time, for here there is no time, everything that exists there is still, because time is actually the distance between two thoughts. Time is an inherent part of manifested Creation. Here a yogi goes over the boundaries of manifested Creation and so goes over ‘time’.


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Joy of Meditation

When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place. In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the eternal Self reveals itself.

Bhagavad Gita

Health, a light body, freedom from cravings, a glowing skin, sonorous voice, fragrance of body: these signs indicate progress in the practice of meditation.

Shvetashvatara Upanishad

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance.

Gautama Buddha

When a seeker merges in the beatitude of samadhi, he does not perceive time and space or name and form, the offspring of maya.

Ramakrishna

Don't seek experiences in meditation. The path to God is not a circus.

Paramahansa Yogananda

Cry Within. Meditate within. Dive within. Your inner achievements will far outweigh your outer imperfections.

Sri Chinmoy

Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit.

Jeremy Taylor

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You