If we do service, to seek the attention of our Guru, than it is a disease.

 Article from Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi's life


SERVICE OF ATMA SWARUPA IS ATMA SEVA

During the last two or three months, Bhagavan’s personal attendants have been massaging his legs with some medicated oil to relieve the rheumatic pain. Some of the devotees, zealous in attention to Bhagavan’s body, also began massaging by turn every half an hour, and this resulted in upsetting the usual Ashram routine.

Would Bhagavan tolerate all this? He was always considerate even to his personal attendants and would never say emphatically “No” to anything; so he said in a casual way,

“All of you please wait for a while, I will also massage these legs a little. Should I too not have some of the punyam (merit)?” So saying, he removed their hands and began massaging his own legs.

Not only was I very much amused at this but what little desire might have still been lurking in me to touch Sri Bhagavan’s lotus feet and thus perform pranam (salutation) was completely obliterated. Bhagavan’s words have a peculiar charm of their own! Look! He too wants a little of the punyam! What a delicate hint to those who have the intelligence to take it!

It was about that time that a retired judge of ripe old age said, “Swamiji, I should also be given my share of service to the feet of the Guru.”

To this Bhagavan replied. “Oh, really? Atma-vai guruhu! (Service to Self is service to Guru.) You are now 70 years of age. You to do service to me? Enough of that! At least from now onwards, serve yourself. It is more than enough if you remain quiet.”

When one comes to think about it, what greater upadesa (teaching) is there than this? Bhagavan says it is enough if
one can remain quiet. It is natural for him to do so, but are we capable of it? However much we try we do not attain that state. What else can we do than depend upon Sri Bhagavan’s Grace?
Letters from Sri Ramanasramam

Can the Politicians of our country take a leaf, from the life of this Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi?????????

H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces), was driving in Abu Dhabi, he saw a little girl beside the school looking in worry around as she was lost!

H.H.Sh.Mohammed parked his car and went down with his Assistant to the girl asking if she was lost and he offered the little girl a drive to her family house!

The little girl said that her father is supposed to be here and she didn’t accept his drive offer because her dad said to not trust strangers! 

The sheikh's assistant told the little girl that this gentleman is not a stranger, he is Sh. Mohammed!!

The girl answered: yes I know, but my dad said not to go with any strangers.

Sh. Mohammed smiled and he decided to wait next to the girl till her father show-up. The picture was captured by one of the school teachers.

A True Indian Muslim. What he has to say to Pakistani General Musharaff, who has visited India.

Transalation of this video : Musharaff, has visited India. So, the Indian Muslim, at first is congratulating him that after visiting India, u hv started playing the Pakistan's political game here. First, u should know that India's muslim population is bigger than that of Pakistan. Secondly, Indian Muslims has the capacity to solve their problems on their own accord. They don't need the help of the Pakistan's interference in India's affair. Accurately, I can tell u that 70% of the Indian population, though I know it has to be around 90%, are ready to stand on the side of the Muslims, if they encounter any problem. Whether u stay in Pakistan, or u visit India, please don't try to alienate Indian Muslims with your statements.

 

I am placing this movement in your hands, that you carry it forward well. - Sadhguru on Shivanga Sadhana

If the fire of devotion is absent within you, you will go through the process of life as up and down, day and night, darkness and light, wellness and illness, joy and misery. For one who has nurtured the fire of devotion within himself, there is no day and night, no light and darkness, no up and down, for such a being there is no such thing as joy and misery. It is this fire of devotion, which sets a human being free from everything else that every other creature on this planet goes through. All these things I am referring to are enjoyed and suffered by worms, insects, birds, plants and everybody. Nothing wrong with them; the only difference is just this – they exist here as a part of creation. If you want to exist here as a part of the Creator, however, you need that fire in your heart.

A fire, which is not determined by what’s happening around you; a fire which is not subservient to whether you have eaten well today or not, whether life is going the way you want it or not, whether people are behaving the way you want them to be or not, or whether the world is spinning on time or not.  None of these things touch a being who has nurtured the fire of devotion in his heart.

If you light the fire of devotion in your heart, you will not live here as a piece of earth, but as a limb or a part of Shiva. 

 

This process that we have set forth now, that we are referring to as Shivanga, anga means a limb-a limb of Shiva; the journey is from being a part of creation, to being a part of the source of creation or the Creator. This is something that is infused in all living things, not just human beings. Every life around us has the same source but the biggest advantage, challenge or possibility that we have in our lives is that, we are capable of realizing it. We are capable of making it into a conscious process. None of the other creatures can do it. None of the other life forms, though they are made of the same stuff, are never ever able to realize that they are made of this stuff. If you light the fire of devotion in your heart, you will not live here as a piece of earth, but as a limb or a part of Shiva.

These traditions, this culture of lighting up human hearts with the fire of devotion has been there for a long time, but devotees started doing things in such a way that today anybody who believes that they have some level of intellect; people who believe they are right-thinking people don’t want to have anything to do with devotion because devotees are behaving like fan clubs. This is the time for us to set a new culture where devotees are sensitive and sensible people, and that they are not behaving like a fan club, climbing over each other to reach towards something; stepping into each other to reach towards me. We don’t want to see such things happening. These things happen only with fan clubs; they don’t care what’s happening to somebody else. Somehow they want to touch their super-star. I am not a super-star, I am on the planet; stars are all up there.

Let us set this right within ourselves and around us because people who consider themselves reasonably intellectual are allergic to devotion today only because of the way some devotees behave. We have to set this right.  I value this very much and if you also value this, you must ensure that devotees set the right culture, otherwise no one will want to have anything to do with devotion because it looks like a mad gang of people shouting and screaming and climbing on top of each other to get what they want.

Shivanga will grow into a beautiful process, but it is in your hands whether you are going to allow other people to experience the fire of devotion within themselves or they will develop an aversion for devotion. This is a responsibility and a privilege that we must conduct properly.

As devotees, I want you to bring a certain level of sensitivity to everything around you. This culture, of new level of sensitivity and devotion, should become the most beautiful and attractive thing. It has always been. This is what the human heart longs for, that it wants to be on fire without any reason. If it is not on fire without any reason, you will set it on fire with hormones. If there is no devotion, you desperately try to cling to someone. If there is devotion, you will see whatever you want is happening within you; the most beautiful things are happening within you. There is no time even to look around for anything because so much is happening within you.

This movement that we are setting up as shivanga will grow into a very large movement and it is up to you to see that it grows in the right direction, in such a way that it draws people not put off people, because when you put off people you are denying a great possibility to someone else, putting them off by doing wrong things. This is a responsibility that people who walk on the spiritual path have; when you do something which is not appropriate, you are denying the spiritual possibility to many.  That’s a wrong message and that is a very negative thing to do in one’s life. If we can create the possibility, that is great. At least if we do not block the possibility, that is okay, but if we are putting people off and blocking the possibility because of the way we are doing things, then that is a serious concern.

I am placing this movement in your hands, that you carry it forward well. Next year if there are six million people instead of six thousand; it’s for you to see that you have set forth the right culture, that people should look at devotees with great respect and value and not see them as a bunch of out of control people behaving foolishly.  Please make that happen because it is very important that we make it happen the right way.

Love & Grace,

Sadhguru.

Source Link : http://blog.ishafoundation.org/sadhguru/spot/shivanga-setting-the-fire-of-devotion/

Right now, most people are not thinking of enlightenment. They are just trying to live a little better.

Perhaps one the most frequent queries that consumes a seeker’s mind are the questions “What is enlightenment? Can spiritual practices enlighten me?” Sadhguru, a yogi and mystic with the experience of three enlightened lifetimes, answers these questions.

Sadhguru:

In India, enlightened beings have been referred to as Dwijas. Dwija means twice-born. Once, you were born out of your mother’s womb; it happened unconsciously. You did not make it happen – nature did it for you. When you were born, you came with a certain innocence and blissfulness. A child is innocent and blissful by himself. But since this blissfulness did not happen consciously, anybody can corrupt it in no time. In no time, they will take it away… For some of you, it was taken away by the time you were 12 or 13 years of age; for many it was already taken away when they were 5 to 6. Children are becoming tense at 5 to 6 years of age today because their innocence gets corrupted in no time, depending upon the volume of influence that people around have on them.

Now, if you have to be born once again, you must die first. If you are not willing to die, the question of being reborn doesn’t arise. This does not mean dying physically. If you leave this body, some other nonsense will be waiting for you. But if you die the way you are, if you destroy everything that you called “myself,” then you are born once again. This kind of birth happens 100% consciously. Once again you become blissful and innocent, but fully aware. Now, this blissfulness cannot be taken away by anybody. So, what you call “enlightenment” means a conscious self-annihilation.

Right now, most people are not thinking of enlightenment. They are just trying to live a little better. They want to live a little more peacefully, joyfully, more efficiently, more effectively. We can use yoga for that also. It is a poor way of making use of yoga because yoga is capable of delivering you to another dimension of life; but it’s okay. If people are not satisfied with what they are seeking in their lives, they will never seek anything higher. If you talk about enlightenment to somebody who is hungry right now, he only thinks of food. Whatever people feel is missing right now in their life needs to be taken care of to some extent. Otherwise they will not seek anything higher.

Isha Yoga is offered in such a way that all dimensions are included but nothing is compulsive. When we initiate people into the kriya, it is taught in such a way that everything is available. We don’t want to deny anyone enlightenment just because they don’t know it. We want to create a taste of another dimension so that they will seek it. At the same time, nothing is forcing itself upon you; you can use it any way you wish to. If someone were an ascetic and a “fulltime” yogi, I would initiate them in a completely different manner where the way they should go is compulsive. But generally, I will not initiate someone in a compulsive way. I initiate them in such a way that they can make use of it in many different ways and it still stays alive.

Seeking physical wellbeing is one thing. Seeking enlightenment is something else. To enhance physical wellbeing, you need to learn different techniques of self-preservation. Enlightenment means a conscious annihilation of yourself. For most people, it will take a certain amount of time and maturing to understand that whatever you make yourself to be, in the end, it is frustrating and not enough. However wonderful you make yourself, still it is not enough. Only when you disappear, everything becomes wonderful.

So, if right now all someone wants is to be peaceful and happy, and do better in the activities they are doing – let’s have that, it’s okay. That doesn’t mean enlightenment is ruled out, but such a longing has not come yet. Still, the basic longing is to live better. You are not yet finished with life – you want to live well. When you have lived enough and you know that living better is not going to get you anywhere, then you want to go beyond life.

If you would like to delve further into this topic, check out Sadhguru’s latest ebook, “Enlightenment: What it is”, available on Amazon. Please note that Amazon ebooks can be read directly on your web browser, PCs, tablets and smartphones. Click here for details.

Source link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/yoga-meditation/demystifying-yoga/what-is-enlightenment-can-spiritual-practices-enlighten-me/

Finding your mantra - Making use of the Mystic Chants

Sadhguru:

If you want to have your spiritual process pitched up, if you feel you’re ready for it – there’s no compulsion – one thing we can do is to create an ambience within your body, your mind, and in the atmosphere in which you live. One reason, although it is subject to much criticism, we are creating the ashram or the yoga center in a certain way, is to make people understand that spiritual process does not mean barrenness of life. Spiritual process means grandeur of life. It does not mean obscenity of excess, but grandeur of life. Some aspects of the ashram are very carefully crafted to be minimalistic, and some elaborate and exuberant.
You need to understand, India or Bharath is a culture without morality; there are no morals carved in stone to tell you, “This is what you do and this is what you do not do.” We never depended on morality, because we created human beings who were capable of stirring up humanity in such a big way, the need for morality or a moral code never arose. If there is a simple process of stirring up the humanity within you, if your humanity is on full-time, if your humanity is full-blown, you will not need any morality. Morality is an imitation of humanity. Morality may fix a few things in society, but will cause a complete havoc within the inner nature of the human being.

With morality you will develop a conscience, not consciousness. Conscience is that which hurts when everything else is feeling great. Do you understand what I’m saying? When everything else is feeling great, something within you hurts – that is conscience. It has been injected into you by social norms. What you feel guilty about, what you feel is right or wrong, is essentially a social phenomenon. But if your humanity is full-blown, you wouldn’t need that morality, you would be fine the way you are. So to stir up this humanity, we set up three fundamentals. One is absolute passion towards the source of Creation – this is manifest in this culture in a million different ways. When we wanted to build a town or a city, the first thing we built was a grand temple. The people who built this temple, they themselves lived in huts, but they built phenomenally grand temples.

So, the three fundamentals are – absolute passion towards the Creator, compassion for all life around you, and dispassion towards yourself. If you maintain these three things, your humanity will be always on; otherwise your humanity will get switched off and then you will have to pretend like a fake human being with a set of morals. Then you will develop a conscience. This conscience hurts whenever life feels great.

So if you want to create an ambience within the body, in your psychological structure, your emotional structure, your energy structure, and in the atmosphere around you, a tool that you can make use of is certain kinds of sound. Many of you at some point might have shifted from popular music to classical music. And after you shifted, if you kept this music on in your home or in your car, gently in the background, in many ways the quality of your life could have changed – the way you behave, the way you emote, the way you think, the way you act.

Music is an arrangement of sounds to generate certain sweetness. Music is a fine arrangement, but still it is like the water flowing. A mantra is not that beautiful aesthetically but it is much more effective; it is like a key to open up something. I want you to try it out. They have released a CD called Vairagya. This was released with a specific purpose. I want you to listen to the CD over and over a few times. Listen to each one of the mantras. Each one runs for ten minutes. Don’t choose.  Figure out what really draws you, and then you say, “This is my mantra.” We are following up the CD with a one hour version of each mantra. So keep it going, and keep it going, and keep it going all the time. In your car, in your home, on your iPad, iPod, phone, everywhere. Simply on and on and on for some time.

After some time it will become so much a part of your system and it will set a certain ambience for you. But don’t say, “Oh, I like this mantra. What have you chosen? Okay, let me also choose that.” It’s not done like that. Just listen and listen. When you feel that one of them is really grabbing you, you just go by that. If you say, “This is my mantra,” we will make one hour recordings of it and give it to you and you just set that ambience. Mantra is not consciousness but mantra sets the right kind of ambience. Sound will set the right kind of ambience within this physiological, psychological framework and also in the atmosphere. One can make use of this.

Source Link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/lifestyle/isha-living/making-use-of-the-mystic-chants/

Malai Pozhudil Bombay Jayashree Kannamma Subramaniya Bharathiar

One of the most amazing story telling video, that I have ever come across :)

Bombay Jayshree talks on significance of Carnatic Music. Beautiful Video.

Jagadodharana - Bombay Jayashree

Oasis moon - Karunesh

Why Poverty and Suffering? - Sadhguru in One: The Movie

Sundarammal - An inspiring example of making things happen, what she wants to do.

SUNDARAMMAL

One day, towards the end of her retreat, she invited me and some other sadhus to share a meal at her cell. It was the Telugu New Year's Day. It was then, before the meal began, that she told me her story.

She belonged to a wealthy Telugu family of Madras. She married young but very soon lost her husband. As a widow, she continued to live at home, surrounded by the love of her parents and brothers. She rarely went out, and when she did, it was always with her father. One day he took her to the neighboring temple to hear a talk given by a sadhu. This sadhu was a devotee of the Maharshi. He told his audience about the sage's `conversion,' his disappearance from the world [leaving Madurai], his resort to the mountain of Arunachala, and the rest.

Sundarammal was deeply moved. She begged her father to allow her to accompany some pilgrims to Arunachala. He refused, but promised that he would soon take her there himself.

Some weeks later, she was alone one night in her room, weeping and calling on the Maharshi. Then, quite worn out, she fell asleep. Suddenly she felt a blow on her side and awoke with a start. It was about three o' clock in the morning. There was the Maharshi standing by the head of her cot. "Come," was all he said.

She followed him downstairs, crossed the hall and came out on the verandah. Hardly had she reached it when to her alarm she found herself alone. The Maharshi had disappeared. She sat down uneasily.

Soon a rickshaw appeared and the rickshaw puller said: "Is this Number 12, and are you Sundarammal? An old sadhu told me to come here and take you to the bus. Get in." Sundarammal thought quite simply, "It is Bhagavan, the Maharshi," and got into the rickshaw.

At the bus stand she and the rickshaw puller were both surprised not to find the old sadhu. However, she asked for the Tiruvannamalai bus and got in.

Somewhere on the way her bus passed another one from which someone alighted and then entered the Tiruvannamalai bus. "Are you Sundarammal?" he asked. "Yes, I am," she replied. "Good. Bhagavan has sent me to look for you."

In the evening she reached Tiruvannamalai and retired for the night in one of the large halls kept for pilgrims. She prepared a cake to offer to Bhagavan and fell asleep full of joy.

The next morning she went to the Ashram and fell at the feet of Bhagavan. "Here you are at last," he said to her.

Some days later her brothers arrived, unable to understand how this child, who by herself had never set foot outside her home, could have managed to reach Tiruvannamalai. But Sundarammal was so deeply absorbed that she never even saw her brothers, either in the hall or at midday in the dining hall. Only in the evening were they able to approach her. They told her how upset everyone was at home and begged her to return. If she wanted, they would build her a hermitage in the garden. But nothing moved her and the brothers even spoke of taking her home by force. "If you do, I will throw myself into a well," she said. Her brothers had to yield, but they soon returned with their father. They found her in a cottage near the Ashram and arranged for her continued stay there as well as they could.

During the fifteen years that remained of the Maharshi's life, she never left Tiruvannamalai even for a day.

This was the story that Sundarammal told me that morning—Sundarammal who could never speak of God without her voice breaking with emotion and her eyes filling with tears.

By Swami Abhishiktananda
(Rendered from French into English by Father James Stuart)
— The Mountain Path, Oct. 1980

Nirbhaya's letter to her mom

Before I could share my experience, We could read Nirbhaya's letter to her mom, which i came across in the social media.

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As you are all aware that Nirbhaya could not speak due to breathing problems and constant organ failures. So she communicated by writing notes. These have been put together by her mother on her tragic death and released. They go like this.........

Dear Mom,

I AM SORRY, MOM, I CAN'T FIGHT ANY MORE !!

I still remember, mom when once you and dad asked me what I need to do in my life. I replied I will reduce the pain of other people and became a physiotherapist so that I can try my level best to reduce the pain of others. But today I am not able to resist my own pain. Doctors are slashing my body parts for the fifth time like they were never the parts of my body… it is paining a lot, mom.

I am not able to breathe properly and they attached an oxygen cap. please tell the doctors not to give me the anesthesia, mom.

I am scared.
I don’t want to close my eyes.
If I close my eyes it takes me to that scary phase of my life where I was being cut into pieces.

I was just a bunch of flesh which was being continuously chopped by those animals.
Those faces were very scary, mom
They were like those hungry animals who were biting at every part of my body.

I don’t have the courage to look at myself in the mirror.
Mom, please break all the mirrors near me.

Please take me to the bath. I want to bathe. I want to sit under the shower for years mom so that I can wash the inhuman touch which has made me hate my own body. I tried to go towards bathroom but my stomach pain didn’t allow me to move myself.

I can’t raise my head to see you standing outside the door.
When someone enters in my room I feel very scared, mom.
My heartbeats gets faster and my eyes search for you.
Please be around me. I don’t want to be alone.

Mom these medical instrument beeps are haunting my brain.
They sound like those unhelping traffic sounds which muted my cry and pleads which I was doing at that time, mom.

The silence of this room reminds me of that silence when I was thrown on the deserted road.
I don’t know what happened but I was feeling very cold the same way like a person shivering with very high temperature.

Mom, do you remember once when dad slapped me in childhood, how much you fought with him
until dad brought my favorite chocolate…
Where is dad, mom?? I can’t see him... is he ok mom ???
Please don’t let him cry, mom.

Do you remember once how dad got angry on you when you used to shout at me for anything?

They have beaten me and my dearest friend with some metal rod.
It was paining a lot, mom.
I saw how he was bleeding to save me but they were cowards.
They kept on beating him till he collapsed and then they scratched every part of my body repeatedly, mom.

You always taught me to fight with difficult situations but I am very weak in this situation.
please hold my hand, mom, I want to sleep, mom, please put my head in your lap.

Please wash my body.
Give me some pain killers, my stomach is paining.

Please tell the doctor not to cut more parts of my body. its paining a lot.
I am sorry, mom, I can’t fight any more..!!!

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Lot of discussions are going on, in the social media, whether this letter is Genuine or Fake. But it doesn't matter to me, even if its a fake one because I see the element of truth. It was a difficult time I had in office, while I was going through this letter...............

Its the truth that Nirbhaya had to go through lot of physical pain, when she underwent surgery for 5 times. Today, I was not seized by the anger against those rapists but I wished and wished it again and again, if at the moment of her death, she was not surrounded by those surgical instruments but was surrounded by the loving energy, which was the very need of the hour.

Had we hanged those rapists, at the time when Nirbhaya was on her hospital bed, would that given her relief from the pain she was experiencing? I wish people would look more closely at people who are nearing death and understand what they need really.

If you still don't feel what i am saying, please go through this blogpost of a doctor's sharing :  http://life-after-joining-ishayoga.blogspot.in/2012/04/how-doctors-choose-to-die.html

The best way of parenting your child is to fix yourself because............Sadhguru

A child is everything that you are on a small scale. So if a child has arrived and is of a certain significance to you, the first and foremost thing that you need to do is, start cleaning yourself up. The best parenting you can do is to fix yourself. You might have lived in all kinds of distorted ways, but now a child has come. This is the time to straighten up your life. Don’t worry about straightening up the child’s life because he is learning quickly by imitation. He is picking up whatever he is exposed to. In many ways, you are the biggest source of imitation for him. The best thing is that you are straight; you are the way your ideal is. Whatever you think is the highest way to be, you be that way when the child is around, because he is learning by imitation. He may be exposed to many other sources of imitation which you cannot control. At least you can do your part. So the best thing you can do is to come down from your high horse of “parenting” somebody. Just learn to be a simple friend to your child, so that when he is in some kind of confusion or some kind of trouble, you are the first person he wants to talk to.

It’s very important that parents look at this – whatever their aspirations, whatever their goals, if you want to bring up a child, it is a 20-year project. So when you start, you must have at least a 20-year commitment. Our ideas, our thoughts, our emotions may change as we move on and many discords may happen, disagreements may happen, struggles may happen. When two human beings are in a certain level of proximity, certain level of sharing, many things may happen. But, because we have a 20-year project, we must be committed at least for 20 years. This much maturity and commitment one must have before they decide to bear a child. Otherwise, it is not needed for you. You are still a child; you can fight and go away. You can disagree with somebody and leave the house today, if you are in that condition, you are still a child and you don’t need a child. Asking a child to bear another child is not fair. So you don’t have to bear a child. And you will be doing a great service to the world, because right now our only problem is excessive human population.

Source Link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/lifestyle/relationships/what-is-the-best-kind-of-parenting/

At the moment of death. You are neither the decaying body. You are neither the psychological healthy body. You are the pure freedom, pure consiousness. Osho

Some amazing work from The Unreal Times. Enjoy the snapshot, of what really happened in Chintan Shivir. ha ha ha ha.

 CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SNAPSHOT OF CHINTAN SHIVIR

Shantaraman - Manish Vyas

A message for everyone, If we think, we can settle in the Ashram. A page from Ramana Maharishi's life.

THE DOOR TO GOD IS OPEN, BUT THE LINTEL IS VERY LOW.
TO ENTER, ONE HAS TO BEND

Two women came from Kumbakonam to meet Bhagavan. One of them was a guru and the other her disciple. They were leaving by train the same evening. In the afternoon the disciple brought her guru into the Hall and made an elaborate seat for her in front of Bhagavan. Every now and then the disciple would go up to Bhagavan's sofa and whisper. "In everything, she is just like you, Swami...she is in the same state as yourself.... Please let us have your blessings.... Will you teach us briefly the path of salvation? What is attachment? How to be free from Maya?" She was going on like this for quite a long time. Bhagavan never replied. Evening was nearing. The disciple felt hurt. "Swami, please instruct us...Swami, proceed with initiation quickly, it is getting late.... Be quick, Swami. You know we have to catch the train. Hurry!" The poor lady was getting desperate. "At least tell us something. They all speak of ignorance, what is ignorance?" Bhagavan turned to Muruganar and, in his mercy, said: "Ask her to inquire within. Who is ignorant?" Muruganar told them: "Now you go, your initiation is over." And they went away.

Bhagavan talked about it later: "Everything must be done in a hurry. Everybody has some train to catch. They visit Swami in a rush and want to carry away a parcel of liberation. They read something here and there and think they are quite learned." (Whenever there was a chance to snub our ego, Bhagavan would never miss it). He continued: "Before the people come here, everyone has the most sincere desire to work for his own liberation, but when they settle down, the ego goes to their heads and they forget why they came. They imagine they are doing me great service by feeding me and think altogether too much of themselves. The feeling of self-importance that they have when they serve their guru destroys their hope of enlightenment. Only humility can destroy the ego. The ego keeps you far away from God. The door to God is open, but the lintel is very low. To enter one has to bend.
- SHANTAMMA, in Ramana Smriti
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"Shambo" mantra from Vairagya

In the final installment of Mystic Chants, we bring to you Shambho, the chant that symbolizes the most auspicious thing that can happen to a person – to realize the highest within yourself.

Sadhguru:

An important aspect of Shiva is called as Shambho. Normally, Shambho, or this aspect of the root energy is worshipped by only people who are in the spiritual path, because the word Shambho means “the auspicious one”. The most auspicious thing that can happen to you is to realize yourself, is to reach the highest within yourself.

We think, unfortunately, that getting married is auspicious, getting a promotion is auspicious, building a new house is auspicious.  The most auspicious thing that can happen to you in your life is that you reach the peak within yourself. Shambho is the form in which we are able to call him down to us here very easily, in that form he seems to respond to us much better than any other form. Shambho has been a very dominant aspect in the Isha Yoga Center.  To begin the Isha Yoga Center, to nurture it and to take it to the ultimate state also, this Shambho is going to play a very important role.

In certain systems of yoga, people master the creation of powerful forms. You have heard these kinds of things – Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to feed Kali with his own hands and she used to eat food. This is 100% reality. For a logical, thinking mind this looks like absolute nonsense, isn’t it? He must have been hallucinating. He was not hallucinating; it is just that his consciousness was so crystallized, whatever form he revered was just created right there. So you want Kali, Kali is right there. Anything that you want can be created right there simply because all these forms were established long ago for sadhana. Different yogis, different systems created various forms. There are various beautiful forms and very hideous forms; all kinds of forms people created.

Shambho is one of the more auspicious ones. The word Shambho literally means the “auspicious one”. So Shambho is an auspicious and very gentle form of Shiva, which is rare. Shiva is usually wild; a crazy man he is, but this is a very gentle form of Shiva, a beautiful form of Shiva. These forms were established by people, so that others could make use of it. They are made into such eternal forms, they are always; if you are willing you can bring them down into your experience.

The sound Shambho is very, very significant. In many ways this space (referring to the Isha Yoga Center) is engineered around that sound. The power of this sound and the capability of this sound to liberate a being from one dimension of entanglement and move him to a different state of freedom is something phenomenal, especially because everything that we have done here is engineered around this particular reverberation.

For downloading 1 hr duration mantra : CLICK HERE

Source Link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/lifestyle/isha-living/mystic-chants-shambho/

Sadhguru on Patanjali Yoga Sutras ".................and now, Yoga."

Patanjali starts the Yoga Sutras in a very strange way. The first sutra is “…and now, yoga.” That half a sentence is one chapter. It is a very strange way to start a book of that dimension. Intellectually, it does not make any sense, but experientially what it is saying is: “If you still believe that building a new house, or finding a new wife, or getting your daughter married will settle your life, it is not yet time for yoga.

But, if you have seen power, wealth and pleasure, if you have tasted everything in your life and realised that nothing is going to work in the real sense and fulfil you ultimately, then it is time for yoga.”

All the nonsense that the whole world is involved in, Patanjali just brushes it aside with half a sentence. This is why the first sutra is “…and now, yoga.” That means, you know nothing works and you do not have a clue about what the hell this is. The pain of ignorance is tearing you apart. Now, yoga. Now there is a way to know.

Who am I? Sadhguru

A very useful app for women travelling late in the night, which sends her location to her loved ones, if she presses a panic button.

 www.fightbackmobile.com

 When the goverment is showing so much insensivity in handling the womens safety issue, I feel so much happy that i have come across a application, which locates the location of the women travelling at that point of time and sending it to as many contacts, as we choose. The women, just has to press the panic button and the message is sent.

I feel very grateful to Mahindra Group. This application was initially available, to only the staff members of the Mahindra group. But after the Delhi Rape incident, they have decided to open it for general public. Its free.

I have tested it and it works. Maybe the street it shows is not accurate or I am not aware of how to bring the accuracy but it shows the area accurately. It sends the location to the range of mobile numbers, I have choosen. Maybe, it can come in very handy, if a women has to travel late at night alone, due to unavoidable circumstances. One just has to keep its WI-FI, GPS and Internet ON.

Steps - How to download the application

1 - Register yourself or log in through Faceback with Post click.
2 - After the successful Log in in the portal, Click to Download.
3 - Enter the mobile number on which you want to deploy for the Fight Back application.
4 - Select your handset on which you would like to download the application from the device list.
5 - Click on Download button, and you will receive the link to download via SMS.
6 - By clicking on the download link within the received SMS your application will start downloading.

Do spread this to create awareness.

Also, there is another similar app bSafe Safety alarm.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bipper.app.bsafe&feature=search_result#?t=W10.

A sannyasin said her father has cancer and her family keep asking her to go home, but she is undecided as she also wants to stay here. Osho says that as the father is old, it is better she go....

Osho - One should Die celebrating

[A sannyasin said her father has cancer and her family keep asking her to go home, but she is undecided as she also wants to stay here. Osho says that as the father is old, it is better she go.... ]

Osho - And this is a significant time. Go, and be as loving to him as possible. Be very meditative while you are around him. Just sit silently by his side and become completely silent, hold his hand. If you become silent, he will start falling into silence, and he needs that. If he can die joyously that will be a great gift to him.

Everybody has to die – cancer or no cancer, that is not very important. The most important thing is that one should die celebrating. And if he can celebrate, if he can be silent and happy, maybe he can live a little longer too. This is the paradox: if you are too much afraid of death, death comes sooner; if you accept it, it may not come so soon.

Sometimes it happens that the day a person accepts death, death becomes afraid, because with the very accepting you become very strong – fear is our weakness! Now he must be scared... and in the West particularly, people are so much afraid of death. In the east things are a little different – at least, they used to be different: people accept death, it is part of the game.

But in the west death seems to be anti-life, it is not part of the game. It seems to be inimical, it is not the friend. So if you can bring this understanding to him it will be a great gift. And now you can share with him – you can share me with him! Go, take a few tapes, let him feel, tell him to meditate – he can start chanting, chant with him. Create some kind of new atmosphere around him. Prepare him to receive death, and that may become his most valuable experience in life.

In fact, it has to be so, because death is the crescendo of life – it is the last flame – it is not against life! It has nothing to do with the devil, it is not evil. It is just that nature wants us back, that our journey is over, our station has come! Those whose journey is not over will continue in the train, and those whose journey is over get down... and there is nothing to be sorry about.

So go there, but don’t go crying and weeping. If you want to cry and weep, cry and weep here before you go – be finished with it! Cry and weep and get into it – completely clean yourself. Go absolutely joyous, with total acceptance, almost with reverence for death – only then can you share something with him.

An old man was dying – he was one of my friend’s grandfather – and he was always against god, against prayer, against meditation, but in the last days he remembered me and he asked me to come. I enquired as to why. He said ’Now I feel that I have missed something and if you can come and be with me, at least for a few days.... And I am going, I am going fast.’

So I went and stayed with the old man. After three days he died, but those three days were a beautiful experience. Because of death he became very receptive, he dropped his argumentativeness – he was an argumentator. He was not in the mood, not in a situation, to argue. Mm? – death was coming so there was no point; he wanted to learn. I have never found such a disciple! He was really keen to learn meditation – naturally so because the doctors had said that at the most he would survive for one week, not more than that.

He also had a sort of cancer, a very fast-growing cancer: you detect it and within a week you are gone. Nothing can be done about it – it spreads so fast that there is no way to do anything. So I remained with him.... I would just sit by his side and would tell him to just be silent, to feel me, and I would hold his hand. He had terrible pain, each moment was of great pain He couldn’t sleep without tranquillisers – even with tranquillisers it was difficult – and death was closing in.

But the second day, in the morning I was holding his hand almost for four, five hours, and then he suddenly said, ’But this is unbelievable – I am falling silent! It is incredible! The pain is there and I am feeling separate from it.’ I said, ’Keep quiet – this is the moment of meditation. Keep quiet and feel it!’ And the day he died, he died utterly a new man.

The third day he was completely aloof from the body – he was crying with joy! He died a religious man, almost a saint! And when he died, not only he felt – his whole family felt a sudden change. Just before he died, near around two hours before, he was in utter pain but yet not in pain at all. He stopped all medication.... So you just go, mm? And when will you be able to come back? How long will you take?

Source: from Osho Book "This is It"

மார்கழித்தான் ஓடிப் போச்சு

A glimpse into all the songs, from one of my favourite albums "Devotion" by Sharma Sisters.

When the farmers are reeling under depression, from the failing monsoon, Sadhguru has taken the initiative to revitalize their spirit, on this pongal season.

Pongal, a celebration of the harvest, is a tradition thousands of years old. But today, its vitality is ebbing, and rural India is losing its spirit. Sadhguru speaks about the urgent need to revitalize rural India and its traditions.

Sadhguru: India is a country where we had 365 different festivals for 365 days of the year. The whole culture was in a state of celebration. If today was plowing day, it was a kind of celebration. If tomorrow was planting day, there was another kind of celebration. If the day after tomorrow was weeding, that was a celebration. Harvesting of course, is still a celebration which is the Pongal or Sankranti festival.

But in the last twenty years, the life of a rural person in India has gone down so terribly. The old systems have completely broken up and nothing new has come up to support him. For example, during Pongal, farmers would put make-up on their bulls, paint them so colorfully, and walk on the street with tremendous pride. But today he is ashamed of taking out these two bulls, simply because he has attended school till the fifth standard. You don’t know what kind of damage it does to his life, because there is nothing else for him to do, nothing else to live for.


Agriculture, just as a means of remuneration, is a heartbreaking process. Joyless agriculture will lead to all the farmer suicides and other things that we are seeing today. When people worked on the land with a very deep connection to it, there was a different feeling about it. The thing about our country is, though we have almost no agricultural infrastructure as such in the rural areas, we are producing food for 1.2 billion people. This is a feat that our farmers have achieved because of the traditional strength of knowledge that they have, which today is being eroded in a huge way for which we will pay a price. If our ability to produce food for this one billion people goes away, we as a nation could break up.

It is very important that rural revitalization happens. This is not something a government can do. A government can change policies and give economic opportunity, but a government cannot go and change each and every individual’s life. People keep asking me, “What to do? The government does not have resources.” Today, corporations have become so large, they are nations by themselves. Each industry can take up one taluk in the country to set up training, education, healthcare – not as charity – but as a long term investment. If you do this, in 10 years’ time you have a fabulous human resource, dedicated and loyal to you. Industry has to partner with the government, NGOs, and the concerned people, and put it into action on the ground. We always think India is 120 crore people. That is not the way to think. Think of one district, and just transform it. We have just been talking about it for too long. This has to happen!

An appeal: You can support Isha in reviving the spirit of rural India this Pongal. Isha volunteers will initiate a mass action on Tuesday, 15 January, to revive the spirit of celebration in rural communities in Tamil Nadu. Over 40,000 people will learn traditional folk dances, and will dance and celebrate Pongal together on a massive scale! 
Through this initiative, entire villages will renew the spirit of Pongal, thus re-energising communities, restoring people’s spirits, and bringing back the timeless act of expressing gratitude through a high-spirited celebration.

Source Link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/lifestyle/revitalizing-pongal-and-rural-india/

Actor Siddhart's conversation with Sadhguru

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ACTOR SIDDHART'S CONVERSATION WITH SADHGURU

Forever - NILADRI KUMAR

Among the hue & cry of the rape incident, are we forgetting something? An article from Chetan Bhagat to the Change Seekers.

Dear change seekers,

In recent weeks you have worked hard to make India a safer place. The recent Delhi gang rape dominated headlines and received world-wide attention, mainly due to your efforts. However, be mindful of certain worrisome negative aspects of this outrage. You may create a lot of noise, but not the desired change. It is important to understand India first.

India, no matter what your Civics teacher told you, is not an equal country. India is divided into four classes with different levels of power. For simplicity, let us call these classes the Ones, Twos, Threes and Fours (deliberately avoiding upper-lower classification).

The Ones are our political masters. They control India, primarily through control over land, resources and laws that govern us. They don’t directly own assets, but control the asset owners, the Twos.

The Twos are our industrialists and capitalists. They help secure and increase the power of the Ones. Business magazines honor them with terms like ‘the dynamic entrepreneurs of a new liberalized India’. While some may deserve such accolades, most don’t. The Ones allow the Twos to become rich through limited competition and tightly regulated approvals. Real estate, mining, infrastructure or most other sectors, no company in India can thrive without support of the political class.

The next class, the Threes, are people like you and me. We are people with a certain amount of affluence and education, comprising around ten per cent of India’s population. While life is a struggle for many Threes, they do have a basic standard of living. However, the Threes still do not get speedy justice, accountable leaders or a protective police force.

Notably, Threes have recently acquired a new media power. They are affluent and buy things advertisers want to sell. Hence, the media caters to Threes. The Threes dominate social media too. This power is real and substantial.

The Delhi gang rape victim was a Three, and the gruesome case made the rest of the Threes feel vulnerable like never before. They wanted the rape to be debated. Hence, for almost a month little else could be discussed in a country of 1.2 billion people. However, in the process, the Threes might have done some damage. For despite the well-intentioned outcry, they inadvertently showed that they care about themselves much more than another huge class, the Fours.


The Fours are the 90 per cent of the country, people with limited education, abysmal standards of living and little hope for a better future. They are our farmers, slum dwellers, domestic helpers and the hundreds of millions of Indians without proper healthcare, education and infrastructure. They get no debates on TV. People won’t protest for them on India Gate.

The Threes either shun them, or impose their new-found modern values on them. For example, Fours may see women-men relationships in a regressive way. The Threes, exposed to the latest Western beliefs, will mock them.

If you noticed the various debates and opinions on the case, the Threes only accepted ideas in line with their own liberal, modern value system. Nobody could dare say anything even slightly alternative or stress on the Indian reality without being ridiculed.

The Threes found a new power, but used it like the Ones and Twos — for selfserving purposes.

For will we ever passionately discuss the issues and lend our media power to issues that affect the Fours? Will we go to India Gate to help slum dwellers get proper drinking water, for instance?

As we alienate the Fours, we leave them open to be exploited by the Ones. The Ones echo the sentiments of the Fours and throw some scraps at them. In return, the Fours ignore the Ones’ misdeeds and bring them back to power. Meanwhile, we Threes keep screaming and watch our own self-created reality show.

This is no way to create a revolution, or even change. We have to take the Fours along. If we want people to change, we should not mock or deride. Instead listen and understand first and slowly nudge people towards change. Don’t just laugh at anyone who says women should cover up and not venture out at night. Suggest that while this old belief may come from a place of practical reality, this cannot be the primary solution. I am not saying these people are not regressive. However, if you want change, be inclusive.

India’s poor are a not separate species from us. If the politicians didn’t protect the Twos so much, we could open the economy further, truly liberalize and create a lot of opportunity.

Source Link :  http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-underage-optimist/entry/open-letter-to-the-indian-change-seekers

Aum Namah Shivaya - Sadhguru on Chants from Vairagya

The fourth in the series of Mystic Chants is “Aum Namah Shivaya”. Sadhguru tells us that it is the basic mantra that purifies our system and helps bring meditativeness into those who are otherwise unable to hold it. 

 

Sadhguru: The sound AUM is not to be uttered as Om. The way it is to be uttered is, open your mouth – “AAHH,” and as you slowly close your mouth it becomes “OOH,” and “MAA.” It is a natural happening. It is not something that you do. If you just exhale open your mouth and exhale, it will become “AAHH.” As you close your mouth, it slowly becomes “OOH”, and when you close it, it becomes “MMM.” “AAHH,” “OOH,” and “MAA” are known as the fundamental sounds of existence. If you utter these 3 sounds together, what do you get? “AUM.” So we say “AUM” is the most fundamental mantra. So the mantra is not to be uttered as “Om Namah Shivaya,” it is to be uttered as “Aum Namah Shivaya.” 

Repeating a mantra with the right kind of awareness has always been the basic type of sadhana in most of the spiritual paths in the world.  Most people are incapable of rising to the right levels of energy within themselves without the use of a mantra. I find more than ninety percent of the people always need a mantra to activate themselves. Without it, they are not able to sustain.

So the basic mantra, which is held as the Mahamantra in certain cultures, is Aum Namah Shivaya.  ‘Aum Namah Shivaya’ can be practiced in different dimensions.  These are known as panchaksharas; there are five mantras in this. These panchaksharas represent the five elements in nature or they also represent the five main centers in the system – they are ways of activating these five centers.  They are also a very powerful purifying system.

There are many different dimensions in which we can look at this mantra. Right now, we want to use this mantra as a purificatory process, and at the same time as a foundation, as a base for all meditativeness that we may attain to. Aum Namah Shivaya is not a bad word. You can utter it. The question is just, ‘Are you ready for it?’  It is not about somebody. You’re not calling somebody. You want to dissolve yourself, because Shiva is a destroyer. If you call a destroyer and then you’re hoping that he will save you, it’s a mistake, isn’t it?

 Read on how to use mantras :  CLICK HERE

For free download link of the mantra : CLICK HERE
 
As a part of the Mystic Chants series, we will be releasing the rest of the Vairagya chants, one every week, for free. To support our efforts, you could also purchase the entire album online here.

To read about the significance of mantras, visit Sadhguru Spot on Becoming A Mantra.

TALES OF BHAGAVAN

1. This happened about two years before Bhagavan’s Maha Nirvana. One morning Bhagavan was in the hall surrounded by devotees from many lands. It was time for lunch and everybody was hungry. Some were already in the dining hall, waiting for Bhagavan to come. At that time Bhagavan was suffering from severe rheumatism in his knees, which were swollen and gave him severe pain; to get up he had to rub them first to remove the stiffness and it would take some time. At last he got up slowly from the sofa, and leaning on his walking stick, was about to go through the doorway when he noticed a village milkman, wrapped in a cotton shawl, with a mudpot hanging on a strap from his shoulder.

Bhagavan stopped, looked at him and exclaimed, “Look, is it not Chinnappaya”? “Yes, it is me, Swami,” the villager replied with devotion and respect. Bhagavan asked him, “How are you? Are you well? You have come to see me? Very well. But what is in your pot? Have you brought some koolu (gruel)”? “Yes Swami, I have brought some koolu”, replied the milkman shyly. “Then come on, let me have it”. Bhagavan put away his stick, cupped his two hands together and bent forward holding his hands near his lips. The milkman started pouring the porridge from his pot in a thin stream into Bhagavan’s hands, as he sipped it with his chin between his wrists. The poor man’s face was beaming with joy and Bhagavan was drinking steadily, as if the grey porridge was nectar to him.
The dining hall was full of hungry and somewhat angry people. One of them came out to see what could be the cause of the delay in Bhagavan’s coming, and when he saw what kind of lunch Bhagavan was taking, he exclaimed, “How unfair, Bhagavan. We are all waiting for you and you are late
for the sake of this peasant”!

Bhagavan grew indignant. “What, do you all think that I am here for your sakes only? Do I belong to you? Did you care for me when I was on the hill? Nobody wanted me then, only the shepherds, who would share their koolu with me.” And he went into the dining hall followed by the milkman and his pot.

2. On a moonlit night some devotees were going round the holy Arunachala Hill, chanting the Vedas. Suddenly they saw a leopard standing right in the middle of the road and looking at them. The singers were paralysed with fear. They could neither sing nor walk ahead or run away. The leopard looked at them quietly for quite a long time and then slowly crossed the road and disappeared into the jungle. The devotees thanked their stars, completed their round of the hill and, after returning to the Ashram, related their adventure to Bhagavan, who listened carefully and said, “There was no reason for fear. The leopard is a jnani who came down from the hill to listen to your chanting the Vedas. He went away deeply disappointed because out of fright you broke off singing. Why were you afraid”?

3. In front of the temple dedicated to Bhagavan’s mother a magnificent hall was built and a gorgeous sofa carved from a single block of black granite was placed in the hall for Bhagavan to sit on. When all was ready he was requested to move from the old hall to the new one. Bhagavan refused. A stone statue of him was being carved and he said, “The stone swami will sit on the stone sofa”. And it came true. Bhagavan used the stone sofa very little and only for the sake of the large gatherings which were brought by the news of his fatal illness. When he was no more in the body, the statue was enthroned in the new hall and there it is now.

4. Once somebody brought Bhagavan a wounded dove. Bhagavan held it in his hands for some time and then asked the devotees gathered in the hall, “Who will take good care of this bird until it is quite well”? No offer came. Some time
back the Maharani of Baroda had presented a white peacock to the Ashram and everybody was eager to take charge of it. Bhagavan looked around and started talking to the dove, “What a pity you are not a peacock. You are a mere dove, a useless little thing, not a costly bird presented by a Maharani. Who wants you? Who will care for you”? The dove was kept in the Ashram in a clumsy cage, became well and flew away. But the lesson of universal compassion remained.

5. An old Telugu man with a long beard, an iron pot and chopper for cutting wood made his abode in the Draupadi temple. He would beg some food in the town, boil something or other in his iron pot on a small fire of wood cut with his chopper and eat it during the day. For hours together he could be seen standing and looking at Bhagavan. He would spend the night in the temple, which was dilapidated and abandoned and surrounded by jungle. Once Chalam found him standing all alone in front of the temple and gazing at Arunachala. “I sleep here”, he said when Chalam asked him what he was doing in the forsaken temple. “What, sleeping here all alone? Are you not afraid”? exclaimed Chalam.
The old man seemed indignant. “Afraid of what? Bhagavan throws his light upon me. All through the night I am surrounded by a blue radiance. As long as his light is with me, how can I be afraid”? The incident made Chalam deeply humble. Bhagavan’s love and light was given in full measure to a poor old beggar, while those who pride themselves on being his chosen disciples are left high and dry because they have themselves to attend to.

6. A devotee wanted to take a photo of Bhagavan together with Ganapati Muni. Bhagavan consented, and a carpet was spread near the well, on which a sofa was put for Bhagavan to sit on. Ganapati Muni sat down at his feet, but Bhagavan asked him to sit by his side. Ganapati Muni was reluctant, but Bhagavan lifted him up and made him sit on the sofa. The photo was taken, and some prints were made and distributed among the devotees. The Ashram authorities came to know about it when it was all over and, quite naturally, were indignant, for sitting on the same level with one’s Guru was a serious breach of custom, implying a claim for spiritual equality. The negative and the prints had to be given up. But the man who had taken the photo refused to surrender his copy. It did not bring him any luck; shortly after he committed suicide. The question why Bhagavan forced Ganapati Muni to sit on the sofa was never answered. Maybe it was his way of bringing the deeply hidden weaknesses of everybody to the surface.

7. We were sitting one morning in the hall in deep meditation. Suddenly there was the sound of the tap-tap of a stick. A tall blind Muslim was trying to find the entry to the hall with his stick. I helped him to come inside. He asked me in Urdu where Bhagavan was sitting. I made him sit right in front of Bhagavan and told him, “You are now sitting just in front of Bhagavan. You can salute him”. The Muslim told his story. He lived near Peshawar and he was a moulvi (teacher) of repute. Once he happened to hear somebody reading in Urdu about Bhagavan and at once he felt that Bhagavan was his spiritual father and that he must go to him. Blind as he was, he took the next train and travelled thousands of miles all alone, changing trains many times, till at last he reached Ramanasramam. When asked what he was going to do next, he said. “Whatever Bhagavan tells me, I shall do”. His immense faith made me ashamed of myself. How little did the man hesitate to place his life in the hands of a South Indian swami. And what a mountain of doubts and hesitations I had to wade through before I came to Bhagavan’s feet in earnest!

Recounted by Chalam in 'Face to Face'

A lesson of humility to be learnt. From the life of Lahiri Mahasaya.

A lesson to be learnt.

……..Via Trisulini Devi who shared Babaji Mataji's photo

Humility

"The scene was a Kumbha Mela at Allahabad," Lahiri Mahasaya told his disciples. "I had gone there during a short vacation from my office duties. As I wandered amidst the throng of monks and sadhus who had come from great distances to attend the holy festival, I noticed an ash-smeared ascetic who was holding a begging bowl. The thought arose in my mind that the man was hypocritical, wearing the outward symbols of renunciation without a corresponding inward grace.

"No sooner had I passed the ascetic than my astounded eye fell on Babaji. He was kneeling in front of a matted-haired anchorite.

"'Guruji!' I hastened to his side. 'Sir, what are you doing here?'

"'I am washing the feet of this renunciate, and then I shall clean his cooking utensils.' Babaji smiled at me like a little child; I knew he was intimating that he wanted me to criticize no one, but to see the Lord as residing equally in all body-temples, whether of superior or inferior men. The great guru added, 'By serving wise and ignorant sadhus, I am learning the greatest of virtues, pleasing to God above all others—humility.'"— from Autobiography of a Yog

Sadhguru on how to use Mantras from Vairagya Album

Mantra means a pure sound. Today, modern science is proving that the whole existence is reverberations of energy, different levels of vibrations. Where there is a vibration there is bound to be a sound.

As there are different types of forms, every form has a sound attached to it or, every sound has a form attached to it. When you utter a sound, a form is being created. There is a whole science of using sounds in a particular way so that it creates the right kind of form. We can create powerful forms by uttering sounds in certain arrangement. This is known as the Nada Yoga, the yoga of sound. If you have mastery over the sound you also have mastery over the form that is attached to it.

Sounds of Isha has made a presentation of chants for the first time which is called Vairagya. They’ve put together five chants, ten- minutes each. You listen to these chants for some time and see which one you identify with best. Then you can get a longer version and just be with that. Right now you just listen to these chants. Don’t try to like or dislike them in terms of their musical quality or whatever, just listen to them. These sounds should become like your breath. After some time, without even listening you will be reverberating with the chant. It’ll do wonderful things to you.

Mantra is not something that you utter; it is something that you strive to become because the whole existence is a complex amalgamation of sounds. In that we identified certain sounds, which are like keys that open up every realm in the universe. Unless you become the key it will not open up for you. Becoming the mantra means you’re becoming the key; only if you are the key can you open the lock, otherwise somebody else has to open it for you and you have to listen to him. See you have to endure me because you did not open it.

Love & Grace,
Sadhguru.

Dying gracefully - Sadhguru.

Death is inevitable, but only a few people have the fortune of a graceful death. Sadhguru tells us about how to ensure a graceful exit for a dying person, and the importance of taking away the “choppiness” of death.

Questioner: I have a parent who is nearing her death. What is the best way to prepare her for this?

Sadhguru: Everywhere in the world, people talk about dying peacefully. All they are talking about is they do not want to die in a choppy manner; they want to recede gently. To take away the choppiness of death, one simple thing you can do is to have a lamp – preferably with ghee but you can also use butter – burning constantly, 24 hours of the day next to that person. This creates a certain aura so that the choppy nature of withdrawal can be regulated to some extent. Another thing you can do is to set up some kind of a universal chant – something like Brahmananda Swarupa on a CD – at a very mild volume. A consecrated sound like this in the background will also make sure that choppy withdrawal can be avoided.

Having a lamp and a simple chant going should continue up to 14 days after one has been certified dead, because he may be medically dead but not existentially dead; he is not completely dead. Death happens slowly. The withdrawal of the life process from this lump of earth – the body – happens step-by-step. For all practical purposes, the activity of the lungs, heart and brain has stopped so they are declared dead, but it is not yet so. Even if the person’s body is burnt, he is still not dead because his movement into the other realm has not started.

It is based on this that there are various kinds of rituals in India up to 14 days after somebody dies. Unfortunately, the knowledge and power behind these rituals have mostly been lost and people are just doing things for their livelihood. Very few people truly understand the significance of what it is. Unless one leaves absolutely consciously that he is instantly off, for such a person we do not do anything, but for all others, these things are done because you have to show them the way.

So the first thing that is done when somebody dies is, anything that has been intimately in touch with their body, such as underclothes, is burnt. Other clothes, jewelry, everything is distributed – not just to one person – but among many people within three days. Everything is distributed as quickly as possible so that they get confused. They will not know where to hang around anymore. If you were to give a bundle of their belongings to someone, they would go there because the energy of their own body still exists in the clothes. These things were done not only to settle the dead but also to settle the family and relatives, so that they understand that it is over. It doesn’t matter how involved and attached you were to somebody, when it is done, it is done – the game is up.

Even if it is your enemy who is dying right now, you must create a peaceful atmosphere for him

Generally, everywhere in the world irrespective of which culture, it is said, “even if it is your enemy who is dying right now, you must create a peaceful atmosphere for him, you don’t do ugly things.” Maybe you shot him in battle, but you take off your hat when he is leaving or you say, “Ram Ram,” or whatever you know. When somebody is dying, at that moment the whistle has already been blown and the game is over. There is no point kicking now.

That is the reason why, when you see that even the dead are not treated with respect, something within you shakes. Not because you have to treat a body with respect but because he is exiting slowly. It doesn’t matter how he lived, at least that must happen well. Every human being must have that much intention.
Editor’s note: If you have had any experiences about the passing of a loved one, let us know about it by sharing in the comments section.

For more information & a free download of the chant, visit the Brahmananda Swarupa blogpost. You can also find more information on lamps at the blogpost about the significance of lighting lamps.
If you would like to delve deeper into the process of life & death, purchase Sadhguru’s ebook, Life & Death In One Breath. Please note that the ebook is available on Amazon. Amazon ebooks can be read directly on your web browser, PCs, tablets and smartphones. Click here for details.

Please comment on the source link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/yoga-meditation/peaceful-death-dying-peacefully/

Sadhguru on No-conception year

Brahmananda Swarupa Chant from Vairagya Album

we bring you the third of the Vairagya Chants. “Brahmananda Swarupa” is said to invoke stillness in all those who make it a part of their lives…

 

Brahmananda Swarupa Isha Jagadisha

Akhilananda Swarupa Isha Mahesha

Sadhguru:

Brahmananda Swarupa sweetens your life.
Brahma refers to the creator. The creator has been described as emptiness, as boundlessness, as light, and as darkness. Whatever is the basis of creation, that’s Brahma. And Brahma is Akhila, which means he’s all-pervading.

Ananda refers to the blissfulness or ecstasy of the creator. Swarupa is ‘an image’. So, we are talking about an image of the ecstasy of the creator. Isha means that which rules. Jagadisha means the same thing, said in a different way. Jaga means existence. Jagadisha is the ruler of the existence. The creator is referred to in so many ways, so we’re saying this whole existence is an image of the ecstasy of the creator. That’s what the chant fundamentally means.

The ecstasy of the creator is manifest in so many ways; it comes in the form of a tsunami, it comes in the form of a tornado, it comes in the form of sunshine, snow, and most of all, absolute stillness. A major part of the creator’s ecstasy is expressed as absolute stillness. Here and there, one planet, one galaxy, little tsunami, little tornado, but a major part of it is stillness.

When we invoke a chant like this, this is not just a chant,a certain amount of work has been done on it. It has been kind of consecrated, you can say. The very sound has been consecrated. When we consecrate a sound like this, it has been done with the intention that a large part of you will become stillness but you will retain the liveliness of life around you.

A chant can either be used as a key, or it can be used as raiment that you wear. It is clothing that you wear all the time. So this is more like your clothing, this is not a seed. If you keep on chanting, it will be around you. If sufficient involvement goes into it, if it becomes your life’s breath, then you will see, people can feel this. There have been many instances like this.

It happened with Ram Das was at the time an unrecognized sadhak. He was wandering and one night, he slept in somebody’s home.  In the middle of the night, the owner of the house realized that somebody’s doing, “Ram, Ram, Ram”. The owner was annoyed as he wanted to sleep. So he went to check on Ram Das, but he found that the saint was fast asleep. But he could still hear the sound of “Ram, Ram”. Then he slowly went towards Ram Das and the sound was coming out of his body. Ram Das’ whole life had been into this so much, even when he slept, the body was just reverberating “Ram, Ram, Ram”.

You can make this chant like that, but it takes a lot. Such people, they don’t speak anything else. They won’t utter any other word. If they want to call you, they’ll say, “Ram, Ram.” If they want to give you something, “Ram, Ram.”  They won’t say anything else. They do not want to disturb their system with any other sound other than that one chant. Slowly, this sound becomes like a coating, like a shield around them, a cocoon of certain energy, that it reverberates only that. It is a beautiful way of doing things, but how could you do it?  How could you reply, “Brahmananda Swarupa,” to everyone? But you could do it for short periods of time. And on certain days, you could take a break from everything, go into silence and just chant through the day. It will make a big difference.

Read on how to use mantras :  CLICK HERE

For Free 1 hour mantra available for download : CLICK HERE

For the free download of the Brahmananda Swarupa chant, please visit the Sounds of Isha website, here. As a part of the Mystic Chants series, we will be releasing the rest of the Vairagya chants, one every week, for free. To support our efforts, you could also purchase the entire album online here. Stay tuned to this space for more.