Isha Vidhya - A Volunteers's Story. Building the Grassroot Rural Strenght.

We say "We don't have time but The Mind is on Fire".

" BUT WE DON'T HAVE TIME..........

Buddha says: THE WORLD IS ON FIRE! Fortunate are those who can understand it, not only intellectually but existentially. Can't you see your life is nothing but anguish? Now there are two ways to get rid of this anguish, this fire; one is to become so involved in meaningless things that you can forget your anguish, so that the anguish cannot raise its head because you are so occupied: the whole day occupied with money, power, prestige, running after shadows, and when you come back home you are so utterly tired that you fall asleep. And then too you remain engaged in your dreams. Dreams are nothing but reflections of your day; the same game continues in your sleep.

People pass their whole lives in this way. People cannot sit silently even for a few minutes. And the whole Buddhist approach is that unless you are capable of sitting silently for hours together, doing nothing, just being, you will never know who you are and you will never go beyond your anguish. So the first way is to become occupied, involved in anything, whatsoever it is, the only purpose being that you can keep the ultimate question of your life repressed. There is no time.

When people are told to meditate, They say, "But we don't have any time." And these are the same people who are sitting for hours in the movies and they have time. And these are the same people who go to the Rotary Club and just go on doing stupid things. These are the same people whom you will find in the hotels, at football matches; these are the same people who will be playing cards and chess, and if you ask them they will say, "We are playing just to kill time." Time is killing you and you think you are killing time. Nobody has ever been able to kill time: time kills everybody.
And when you tell them to meditate the immediate response is, "But where is the time to meditate?" And it is not that they are consciously saying it; it is a very unconscious reaction. It is not that they are deceiving, they are deceived. It is not that they are just trying to deceive you by saying, "I don't have any time," they really feel, they think, that they don't have any time.

Volunteer for life - Sadhguru

Give openly, without expecting anything in return, and attain mukti.

Volunteering means willingness. When we do things out of our own inspiration, it is called volunteering. If we are inspired, who can stop us? We are not doing it for any purpose; just out of our inspiration. Since the willingness has come from within us, there is no calculation.

Unfortunately, in our day-to-day lives, it doesn’t matter where we go; whether to buy vegetables, or gold, or to get married? Our main concern at these times is to give less and get more. We are considered smart if we manage to get more for less.

But life does not operate like that. Volunteering means to give openly without expecting anything in return. Once we do this, we’ll acquire a different kind of strength. Once we gain this strength of being what we are whether we receive anything in return or not, we’ll get mukti.

Volunteering means just that. It is a rare sadhana. Every human being should make use of this. Every moment of our lives, wherever we are, we should be a volunteer. To make this a part of our lives, we should start by volunteering at our homes, offices and in our neighborhood. We can do small things like -

• Helping our family members and neighbours in their work without them asking for help.

• Complete a pending household chore or take up something new.

• Plant a tree or a plant in a flower pot and tend to it daily.

• Educate children for half an hour a week

• Spend time and share our joy with underprivileged children or old people

• Cook and serve the needy

When we take up these activities regularly, we’ll see that it makes a big difference. Our life will be full of actions that happen out of our own willingness and not under somebody’s pressure. This is volunteering; this is a life of freedom.

THE TIGER THAT LURKS BEHIND WORLDLY JOYS. Be Alert. - Paramhansa ramakrishna

God is like the wish-yielding tree of the celestial world (Kalpataru), which gives whatever one asks of it. So, one should be careful to give up all worldly desires when one's mind has been purified by religious exercises.

Just listen to a story: A certain traveller came to a large plain in the course of his travels. As he had been walking in the sun for many hours, he was thoroughly exhausted and heavily perspiring; so he sat down in the shade of a tree to rest a little.Presently he began to think what a comfort it would be if he could but get a soft bed there to sleep on. He was not aware that he was sitting under the celestial tree. As soon as the above thought rose in his mind, he found a nice bed by his side. He felt much astonished, but all the same stretched himself on it. Now he thought to himself,how pleasant it would be, were a young damsel to come there and gently stroke his legs. No sooner did the thought arise in his mind than he found a young damsel sitting at his feet and stroking his legs.

The traveller felt supremely happy. Presently he felt hungry and thought: "I have got whatever I have wished for; could I not then get some food?"
Instantly he found various kinds of delicious food spread before him. He at once fell to eating, and having helped himself to his heart's content,stretched himself again on his bed. He now began to revolve in his mind the events of the day. While thus occupied, he thought: "If a tiger should attack me all of a sudden!" In an instant a large tiger jumped on him and broke his neck and began to drink his blood. In this way the traveller lost his life.

Such is the fate of men in general. If during your meditation you pray for men or money or worldly honours, your desires will no doubt be satisfied to some extent; but, mind you, there is the dread of the tiger behind the gifts you get. Those tigers —disease, bereavements, loss of honour and wealth etc.,—are a thousand times more terrible than the live tiger.

- Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna

OSHO, CAN YOU ALSO MAKE MISTAKES?

Darshan,
NOT A FEW BUT MANY...PLENTY! because I don't take anything seriously. So many times my sannyasins write to me, "Osho..." Subhuti wrote just a few days ago; when I said that Napoleon was obsessed with food, he wrote to me, "Is it Napoleon or Nero?" Who cares; Subhuti? Whichever you like! Sometimes I say Nero, sometimes I say Napoleon. I am not a very learned mm, and I am absolutely happy in being utterly unlearned.
The other day somebody wrote: "You said that the gospels were written a few centuries after Jesus. This is not correct!" But I have not told you that this is correct! If it is incorrect it makes no difference to me. He has also written -- must be a learned man!...you have fallen in wrong company! -- he has also written: "You said that it was translated into Latin first." To me Latin and Greek are all the same! I don't understand Latin, I don't understand Greek, so all that I meant was that it was translated into something that I don't understand!
Teertha understands it perfectly well. He has written a story. He has written to me:

Osho, I was walking down M.G. Road one day when I saw a very strange sight: there was this man, right in the middle of the road, moving his arms as though he was rowing a boat. (Demonstrate, but mind the microphone!)
I watched for a while, and eventually had to call out to him to find out what was going on.
"What are you doing?" I shouted.
"Rowing a boat, of course!" he replied.
"But you are not in a boat" I called back.
"I am not?!" he yelled, looking panic-stricken; and then started swimming as hard as he could. (Demonstrate, but mind the microphone.)

Now he knows that I can hit the microphone -- and he is much more concerned about the microphone!
I can commit mistakes a-plenty, but I am not deterred by them, I go on committing them -- because if I start thinking that no mistake has to be committed then I cannot relate to you what I want to relate. Then I will have to be absolutely silent, because the truth that I have known can only be related if I am ready to commit many mistakes. Then too it is not related as it is.

A telephone operator in San Francisco says that the city's Chinatown receives fewer calls than any other area of similar size in the city. And with a straight face she explained the reason: "I guess there are so many people named Wing and Wong that people are afraid they will wing the wong number."

I am not afraid -- I go on winging the wong number! And it is not only that I can commit mistakes...the world is proof enough that God also commits mistakes. Otherwise, do you think you would have had any chance of being here in the world?

Mulla Nasruddin was speaking to Morarjibhai Desai. Seeing Mulla Nasruddin in orange, Morarjibhai Desai was obviously annoyed. He said to Nasruddin, "Mulla, what turned you on to Rajneesh?"
'The day I saw him walking out with his hands folded, I knew then that God exists," replied Mulla.
Morarji, looking at Mulla from the corner of his eye, asked, "Hmmm, and what do you feel when you see me?"
Mulla said, "That God can also make mistakes." Osho

★ ♥ ★ Narayan - FOR YOUR LOVE (Krishna Das) W/Lyrics ★ www.SherawaliMaa....

" I am Most Grateful to this man Magga Baba " ~ O S H O

❝ I have had the fortune to be loved by many strange people. Magga Baba is the first on my list. The whole day he was surrounded by people. He was really a free man, yet not even free to move a single inch because people were holding on to him. They would put him into a rickshaw and take him away wherever they wanted. Of course he would not say no, because he was pretending to be either deaf or dumb or mad. And he never uttered any word that could be found in any dictionary. Obviously he could not say yes or no; he would simply go.

Once or twice he was stolen. He disappeared for months because people from another town had stolen him. When the police found him and asked him whether he wanted to return, of course he did his thing again. He said some nonsense, ”YUDDLE FUDDLE SHUDDLE....”

The police said, ”This man is mad. What are we going to write in our reports: ‘YUDDLE FUDDLE SHUDDLE’? What does it mean? Can anyone make any sense out of it?” So he remained there until he was stolen back again by a crowd from the original town. That was my town where I was living soon after the death of my grandfather.

I visited him almost every night without fail, under his neem tree, where he used to sleep and live. Even when I was sick and my grandmother would not allow me to go out, even then, during the night when she was asleep, I would escape. But I had to go; Magga Baba had to be visited at least once each day. He was a kind of spiritual nourishment.

He helped me tremendously although he never gave any directions except by his very being. Just by his very presence he triggered unknown forces in me, unknown to me. I am most grateful to this man Magga Baba, and the greatest blessing of all was that I, a small child, was the only one to whom he used to speak. Those moments of privacy, knowing that he spoke to no one else in the whole world, were tremendously strengthening, vitalizing.

If sometimes I would go to him and somebody else was present, he would do something so terrible that the other person would escape. For example he would throw things, or jump, or dance like a madman, in the middle of the night. Anybody was bound to become afraid – after all, you have a wife, children, and a job, and this man seems to be just mad; he could do anything. Then, when the person had gone we would both laugh together.

I have never laughed like that with anybody else, and I don’t think it is going to happen again in this lifetime... and I don’t have any other life. The wheel has stopped. Yes, it is running a little bit, but that is only past momentum; no new energy is being fed into it.

Magga Baba was so beautiful that I have not seen any other man who can be put by his side. He was just like a Roman sculpture, just perfect. Even more perfect than any sculpture can be, because he was alive – so full of life, I mean. I don’t know whether it is possible to meet a man like Magga Baba again, and I don’t want to either because one Magga Baba is enough, more than enough.

He was so satisfying and who cares for repetition? And I know perfectly, one cannot be higher than that. I myself have come to the point where you cannot go any higher. Howsoever high you go, you are still on the same height. In other words, there comes a moment in spiritual growth which is untranscendable. That moment is called, paradoxically, the transcendental.

The day he left for the Himalayas was the first time he called me. During the night somebody came to my house and knocked on the door. My father opened it and the man said that Magga Baba wanted me.

My father said, ”Magga Baba? What has he to do with my son? Moreover he never speaks, so how could he call for him?”

The man said, ”I am not concerned about anything else. This was all I had to convey. Please tell the person concerned. If it happens to be your son, that is not my business.” And the man disappeared.

My father woke me in the middle of the night and said, ”Listen, this is something: Magga Baba wants you. In the first place he does not speak....”

I laughed because I knew he spoke to me, but I did not tell my father.

He went on, ”He wants you right now, in the middle of the night. What do you want to do? Do you want to go to this madman?”

I said, ”I have to go.”

He said, ”Sometimes I think that you are a little mad too. Okay, go, and lock the door from the outside so that you don’t disturb me again when you come in.”

I rushed, I ran. This was the first time he had called me. When I got to him I said, ”What’s the matter?”

He said, ”This is my last night here. I am leaving perhaps for ever. You are the only one I have spoken to. Forgive me, I had to speak to that man I sent to you, but he knows nothing. He does not know me as a spiritual man. He was a stranger and I bribed him simply by giving him one rupee, and told him to deliver the message to your house.”

In those days, one gold rupee was too much. Forty years ago in India one gold rupee was almost enough to live on, in perfect comfort, for one month. Do you know the English word ”rupee” comes from the Hindi word rupaiya which means ”the golden.” In fact the paper note should not be called a rupee; it is not golden. At least the fools could have painted it in golden colors, but they didn’t even do that. One rupee, of those days, is almost seven hundred rupees of today. So much has changed in just forty years. Things have become seven hundred times costlier.

He said, ”I just gave him one rupee and told him to deliver the message. He was so bewildered by the rupee that he did not even look at me. He was a stranger – I have never seen him before.”

I said, ”I can also say the same. I have never seen the man either in this town; perhaps he is a passer-by. But there is no need to be worried about it. Why did you have to call me?”

Magga Baba said, ”I am leaving and there is nobody whom I could call to say goodbye to. You are the only one.” He hugged me, kissed my forehead, said goodbye and went away, just like that.

Magga Baba had disappeared many times in his life – people had taken him and brought him back again – so when he disappeared last, nobody bothered much. Only after a few months did people become aware that he had really disappeared, that he had not come back for many months. They started looking around the places he had been before but nobody knew about him.

That night, before he disappeared he told me, ”I may not be able to see you blossom to a flower but my blessings will be with you. It may not be possible for me to return. I am going to the Himalayas. Don’t say anything to anybody about my whereabouts.” He was so happy when he was saying this to me, so blissful that he was going to the Himalayas. The Himalayas have always been the home of all those who have searched and found. ❞

~ O S H O , Glimpses of a Golden Childhood, CHAPTER #15,
1984 in Lao Tzu House, Rajneeshpuram, USA

Exploring the truth of Tantra Yoga with Sadhguru

A lot of misinterpretation especially in the West has presented tantra to mean uninhibited sex. Sadhguru clarifies what tantra really is and what it is not.

Sadhguru:

Unfortunately, in western countries, tantra is being presented in such a way that it is supposed to mean uninhibited sex. It has been so badly misinterpreted. This is because books on tantra have been written by people who just want to sell books. They are not tantrics in any way. The word “tantra” literally means a technique or a technology. This is an inner technology. These are subjective methods not objective methods. But in the current understanding in society, the word tantra refers to very unorthodox or socially unacceptable methods. It is just that certain aspects are used in a certain way. It is not any different from yoga. It is just a small limb of yoga called tantra yoga.


People thinking in terms of “I have sexual needs so I will follow the tantric path,” is nonsense. In tantra, it is not that someone is using just sexuality to grow. They are using every aspect to grow. Unfortunately, there may be people who are attracted to such a path for the wrong reasons. They go because they want a spiritual sanction for their sexuality. Why do you want to bullshit yourself about spirituality? Handle your biology as biology, you do not have to give it other names.

The simple principle of tantra yoga is: whatever can take you down can also take you up. The ways in which a man usually sinks in his life are through food, alcoholic drink and sexuality. Tantra yoga uses the same three vehicles to rise up. But once people start using certain substances, they must be in a certain state, otherwise it just becomes addiction. This needs extreme discipline, a kind of discipline which is not possible for most people to even attempt. When people walk this kind of path, if a 100 people take it up, 99 will end up only as drunkards.

However, this is what is known as left-hand tantra which is cruder technology; it involves various rituals. There is also right-hand tantra which is very refined technology. These two are completely different in nature. Right-hand tantra is more internal and energy-wise, it is all about you. It does not involve any ritual or outside act as such. Is it tantra? In a way it is, but the word yoga includes all of them together. When we say yoga we are not excluding any possibility – everything is there in it. It is just that a few perverted people saw a certain type of tantra which is purely left-hand tantra where there is certain usage of the body. They just took that part, magnified it and wrote books about it with all kinds of weird sex and they said, “This is tantra.” No, it is not tantra.


Tantra means you are able to use your energies to make things happen. If you can make your mind razor sharp to cut through everything, this is also one kind of tantra. If you make your energies work upon your heart to become utterly loving and you can burst forth with enormous love that just overwhelms everyone, this is also tantra. If you make your physical body enormously powerful to make it do incredible feats, this is also tantra. Or if you can make your energies do things by itself without employing the body,  mind or emotion, this is also tantra.

So tantra is not some weird nonsense. Tantra is a certain capability. Without it there is no possibility. The question is “How refined is your tantra?” If you want to make your energies move, do you have to do 10,000 rituals or can you just sit here and do it. That is the big difference. Low technology or high technology is the question, but without tantra, there is no spiritual process.

Source Link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/yoga-meditation/demystifying-yoga/the-truth-about-tantra/

Moving, wherever the winds takes us to.

GOD IS EVERYWHERE

[Chapter from 'In quest of God' by Papa Ramdas, in the book Papa describes the life of renunciation depending fully on Ram having fully renounced the individual will. ]

They(Papa Ramdas and his friend-guide who is another Sadhu) travelled to Kalahasti. After a day’s stay here, they left for Jagannath Puri. It was noon. The Sadhuram and Ramdas were in the train. A Ticket Inspector, a Christian, dressed in European fashion, stepped into the carriage at a small station, and coming up to the Sadhus asked for tickets.

“Sadhus carry no tickets, brother, for they neither possess nor care to possess any money,” said Ramdas in English.

The Ticket Inspector replied: “You can speak English. Educated as you are, you cannot travel without a ticket. I have to ask you both to get down.”

The Sadhuram and he accordingly got down at the bidding of the
Inspector. “It is all Ram’s will,” assured Ramdas to his guide.

They were now on the platform and there was still some time for the train to start. The Ticket Inspector, meanwhile, felt an inclination to hold conversation with Ramdas who, with the Sadhuram, was waiting for the train to depart.

“Well,” broke in the Inspector looking at Ramdas. “May I know with what purpose you are travelling in this manner?”

“In quest of God,” was his simple reply.

“They say God is everywhere,” persisted the Inspector, “then, where is the fun of your knocking about in search of Him, while He is at the very place from which you started on this quest, as you say?”

“Right, brother,” replied Ramdas, “God is everywhere but he wants to have this fact actually proved by going to all places and realising His presence everywhere.”

“Well then,” continued the Inspector, “if you are discovering God wherever you go, you must be seeing Him here, on this spot, where you stand.”

“Certainly, brother,” rejoined Ramdas, “He is here at the very place where we stand.”

“Can you tell me where He is?” asked the Inspector.

“Behold, He is here, standing in front of me!” exclaimed Ramdas enthusiastically.

“Where, where?” cried the Inspector impatiently.

“Here, here!” pointed out Ramdas smiling, and patted on the broad chest of the Inspector himself. “In the tall figure standing in front, that is,in yourself, Ramdas clearly sees God who is everywhere.”

For a time, the Inspector looked confused. Then he broke into a hearty fit of laughter. Opening the door of the compartment from which he had asked the Sadhus to get down, he requested them to get in again, and they did so, followed by him. He sat in the train with the Sadhus for some time.

“I cannot disturb you, friends, I wish you all success in your quest of God”. With these words he left the carriage and the train rolled onwards.

O Ram, Thy name be glorified!

Maharajji - The Funny Prankster. When one falls in love, one forgets who he is.

Two Devotees, A policeman and a dacoit were both once visiting Maharajji. Each was massaging a leg. Maharajji said to the dacoit: "There is a bounty out for you and anyone who brings you in gets a reward. Isn't that true?"
"I don't know, Maharajji," the dacoit replied.
Then Maharajji turned to the policeman and, indicating the dacoit, said: "Do you recognize him?"
"No, Maharajji."
Such was his play.

Who says that Enlightened Masters don't get angry :P :P :P

I appreciate whatever God gives me, but I don't miss it, when it is gone. Someone once gave me a beautiful coat and hat, an expensive outfit. Then began my worry. I had to be concerned about not tearing or soiling it. It made me uncomfortable. I said, "Lord, why did You give me this bother?"

One day I was to lecture in Trinity Hall here in Los Angeles. When I arrived at the hall and started to remove my coat, the Lord told me, "Take away your belongings from the pocket." I did so. When I returned to the cloakroom after the lecture, the coat was gone. I was angry, and someone said, "Never mind, we will get You another coat." I replied, "I am not angry because I lost the coat, but because whoever took it, didn't take the hat that matches it, too."

Don't let your feelings rule you. How can you be happy if you are all the time fussing about your clothes or other possessions? Dress neatly in clean clothes and then forget about them, clean your house and forget it.

Kashi - The Eternal City | DVD

Yogananda on the significance of how you start and end your day

Be silent and calm (in meditation) every night for atleast half an hour, preferably much longer, before you retire, and again in the morning before starting the day's activity. This will produce an undaunted, unbreakable inner habit of happiness that will make you able to meet all the trying situations of the everyday battle of life. With that unchangeable happiness within, go about seeking to fulfill the demands of your daily needs. - Yogananda.

Music from Deva Premal - Mangalam

Adi Yogi Shrine coming up at Tennesse, America. Are you ready?

Ending Genetic Cycles - Sadhguru

What is truth? Sadhguru.

Aye hain Savare by Sounds of Isha. Fill your heart by the divine.

Shivanga Sadhana - The six Shivangas, who walked 430 kms TO GRACE (VELLIANGIRI MOUNTAINS). Can it be a trendsetter?

The Shivanga Sadhana for men, is a powerful process that enhances one’s receptivity to the energies of Dhyanalinga, and allows them to explore higher levels of experience in body, mind, and energy. The sadhana takes place during Uttarayana, a time of great spiritual significance, when the sun’s run shifts to the Northern Hemisphere – a time recognized as highly conducive to receive Grace.

This year’s sadhana for men began on Thaipoosam on 27^th January, and will culminate on Mahashivarathri, on 10^th March. Over 6000 Shivangas from all over the world will be completing their sadhana at the Isha Yoga Center on Mahashivarathri, with a pilgrimage to the Velliangiri Mountain’s sacred Seventh Hill, a space of tremendous power and energy where Adiyogi himself spent time.

Walking to Grace

Nagercoil Shivangas

Six Shivangas from Nagercoil have decide to walk to the Isha Yoga Center as a part of their sadhana. Their 430 kilometer journey began on the 27^th of February, when they set off at four in the morning after Guru Pooja. With two more days of travel remaining, the six of them shared their experience of the past 10 days, with the blog team.

“There are really no words to describe the experience. The closest I can say is that it is like a Samyama Sadhana. Shiva is with us. It has really demolished the ego and changed the way we experience life. At every place we stop, volunteers have been taking care of everything for us. They anticipate our needs without us even having to ask for anything. They are there with food, medicines and anything else that we might need.

We walk in silence, just chanting to ourselves. Sadhguru has been with us every step of the way. It’s amazing how some things have turned out. We had planned to walk 40 kilometers every day. On the first day, we managed 55 kilometers without even being aware of it. But this took a toll on the second day. When we woke up, our legs were blistered and we managed only 14 kilometers. We had to stop because one among our group was in a really bad state. He had to lie down and take rest and wasn’t in a position to continue. He asked us to carry on, and said that he would somehow make it, but we decided that we would get to the ashram together and refused to leave him behind. Just then we received a phone call from the ashram, and we were told that Sadhguru had enquired how we were doing. That was all it took! Our friend who had been out for the count, shot up and walked on like a new man! It was all we could do to keep up with him!

It has been an amazing experience for us. We still have some distance to go, but we feel that this has been a great blessing that comes only once in many lifetimes.”

Source Link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/inside-isha/isha-yoga-center/shivanga-sadhana-walking-to-grace/

Jyotirlingas - Tools for Ultimate Wellbeing

Indian culture has been among the few cultures on this planet – if you look at it in terms of its geographical size, probably the only one of such size – where for thousands of years, the whole population was focused only on the ultimate wellbeing of the human being. The immediate, material wellbeing was just handled as a small part of one’s life. The moment you were born in India, your life was not about your business, your wife, your husband or your family; your life was only about mukti. Every aspect of life was about your liberation. The whole society was structured like this.


So, they naturally wanted to use every possible device they could create, every possible situation in life, to enhance this process. If you got married according to the traditional rites, the priest at the ceremony was telling you just this: this union of you and your spouse is not important. It was not about you getting married. Both of you meet and make use of this for your ultimate union. You got married because you have some compulsions within you, you are not free of them yet, but you use them as a tool for your ultimate wellbeing so that you reach towards the Ultimate. Everything was just about that.

In this context, many kinds of powerful devices were created in this culture. Jyotirlingas were created as very powerful tools in this direction. Some of them are still very much alive and intense; they could definitely be useful. If one has become meditative by his own nature, then outside help may not be relevant. But for someone who is not meditative, it is very relevant. It is a powerful experience to be in the presence of such forms.

Jyotirlingas have tremendous power because they were consecrated and made in a certain way. There are only twelve Jyotirlingas in the world. They are located at certain geographically and astronomically significant points. These points are subject to certain forces in the existence. A long time ago, people with a certain level of perception very carefully calibrated these spaces and fixed those points according to the celestial movement. These spaces are created in a certain way, not just using human capabilities, but the forces of nature. That is the reason why the Jyotirlingas are located at those particular points.


These temples were consecrated according to the science of energizing forms. This is the science of using life energies to enhance human life in a phenomenal way. If you transform mud into food, we call this agriculture; if you make food into flesh and bone, we call this digestion; if you make flesh into mud, we call this cremation. If you can make this flesh or even a stone or an empty space into a divine possibility, that is called consecration; it is a fantastic science. Unfortunately, we have lost that sense of what consecration really is; all kinds of ridiculous things are happening around it, and people have turned it into a business.

Mahakaleshwar Temple, Ujjain.

 

 

I don’t usually visit temples but I happened to go to the Jyotirlinga in Ujjain. This temple has been vandalized in many ways. Invaders demolished the temple and it was rebuilt two or three times, but still, if you go sit there, this little form, just this little piece of stone, which has been sitting there for thousands of years, will just blow the hell out of you. It is reverberating like it was made yesterday.

Jyotirlingas are very powerful tools if one knows how to make use of them. If you know how, you can completely reorganize the constitution of your system in the presence of a linga like that; you can rewire your system completely. For every kind of linga that was created, there was a specific sadhana attached to it. The sadhana aspect is all gone nowadays. The temples have become like a monument for someone who died long ago. Some of the Jyotirlingas are no longer alive, but many of them are still very powerful tools.

Source Link :  http://blog.ishafoundation.org/yoga-meditation/science-of-temples/jyotirlingas-tools-for-ultimate-wellbeing/

Bhagavan Ramana narrates Devotion of Saint Kannappar

Bhagavan began to read out the life of Kannappar,the great devotee saint. He went on reading incidents in his early life, and how he went to the forest and found Kudumi Devar, the Sivalinga, his Lord, up the Kalahasti Hill in the Chitoor district (of Andhra state). Then he told how Kannappar worshipped the Sivalinga with water carried in his own mouth, flowers taken from his own hair, and the well-cooked and tasted beef prepared for his own meal — knowing no better and having no better to offer his beloved Lord. The way in which the ordained priest, Siva Gochariar, resented the intruding defiler of the sacred Sivalinga was so characteristically brought out by Bhagavan, with His own explanations of the rites and the meanings of the mantras used in the worship, that it
enriched the recital greatly to the benefit and admiration of the devotees.

Then came the scene of scenes, when the Lord in that Sivalinga tested Kannappar and incidentally revealed to Siva Gochariar the intensity of the forest hunter’s worship from a place of hiding. He saw the unexpected trickling of blood from one of the eyes on that Sivalinga;he saw Kannappar running to and fro for herbs, and
treating the Lord’s eye with them. Then he saw how,finding them all useless, Kannappar plucked out one of his own eyes and applied it to that in the Sivalinga; then,seeing the treatment was effective, he ran into ecstasies of joyful dance.

When Bhagavan came to the story of how Kannappar was plucking out his second eye to heal the second of the Lord, and of how the Sivalinga extended a hand to stop him, saying “Stop, Kannappar!” Bhagavan’s voice choked, His body perspired profusely, His hairs stood on end,tears gushed out from His eyes; He could hardly utter a word, and there was silence, pin-drop silence in the Hall.
All were dumbfounded that this great Jnani could be so overpowered by emotion and ecstasy at the great hunter saint’s
devotion. After a while Sri Bhagavan quietly closed the book, dried the tears in His eyes with the ends of His towel, and laid aside the book, saying, “No, I can’t go on any further.”

Then we could realise the import of His words in Aksharamanamalai: “Having become silent, if one remains
like a stone, can that be called real silence?” His blossomed
Heart had in it the perfect warmth of devotion, no less than the supreme light of Knowledge.

- 'At the Feet of Bhagavan', TKS

Sadhguru, Can i do Reiki on a person without taking his karma into me?

Perceiving life without logic. - Sadhguru.

Your life is a mess because you have given too much significance to the psychological process that is happening in your mind rather than watching the miracle of existential process

Buddha said, ”Look at this man. He has killed his father and mother both!” - Uprooting the whole conditioning - Osho.

Once it happened that a great king, Presenjit, came to see Gautam Buddha. When he was sitting in front of Buddha, a man came, touched Buddha’s feet – a very old man, one of his disciples, a sannyasin – and he said that, ”I am going now on a long journey to spread your message. Bless me.”

Buddha looked at Presenjit and said, ”This man is the answer to your question.”

Presenjit was asking that, ”I would like to become a sannyasin, but my old mother may feel hurt – she is too old.”
Buddha said, ”Look at this man. He has killed his father and mother both!”

Presenjit was very much disturbed: Killed? Father and mother? And Buddha is appreciating the man! When the man left, Presenjit said, ”I don’t understand! You praised that man and you said he has killed his father and mother!”

Buddha said, ”Yes, psychologically. Not really, not physically, but deep inside he has dropped the clinging with the father and the mother.”

One should kill... not the mother on the outside, but the clinging in your inner world.

That’s what Jesus says to his disciples, ”Unless you hate your parents you cannot follow me.” He does not mean that hate your father and mother: he means deep down you have to uproot the whole conditioning, the whole clinging, the whole attachment. Only then you can become mature, centered, grounded. Only then you can be an individual in your own right. But mind goes on finding subtle strategies to avoid reality.

The Saga around the story of burned toast - Chetan Bhagat narrates his father's experience

When I was a kid, my Mom liked to cook food and every now & then I remember she used to cook for us. One night in particular when she had made dinner after a long hard day at work, Mom placed a plate of bread jam and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. I was waiting to see if anyone noticed the burnt toast. But Dad just ate his toast and asked me how was my day at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember I heard Mom apologizing to dad for burning the toast. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned toast." Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his toast burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your momma put in a long hard day at work today and she was really tired. And besides, A burnt toast never hurts anyone but harsh words do!" You know, life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. What I've learned over the years, is that learning to accept each others faults and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences, is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship. Life is too short to wake up with regrets. Love the people who treat you right and have compassion for the ones who don't. ENJOY LIFE NOW. It has an expiry date.:)

The awareness with which Buddha lives - Osho

One day Buddha passing through a street in Vaishali, a fly came and sat on his head. He was talking to Ananda about something. So just automatically the way you do it, he simply waved his hand. Then he suddenly stopped talking to Ananda and again waved his hand. Now there was no fly.

Ananda said, ”What are you doing? The fly has gone.”

He said, ”The fly has gone, but I acted unconsciously. I waved my hand automatically. Now I am moving as I should have moved, with full consciousness, awareness.”

Buddha is so conscious that before sitting on the floor, first he will look to see if there is any ant or anything that may be killed by his sitting there. In his every act he showed immense awareness. Even walking he was stepping every step fully conscious and gracefully, every gesture fully conscious, gracefully.

Want to gossip? Pass Socrate's Triple Filter Test

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.

One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

Triple filter?"

That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test.

The first filter is TRUTH. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of GOODNESS. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

No, on the contrary..."

So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of USEFULNESS. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

No, not really."

Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

This is why Socrates was a great philosopher & held in such high esteem. Friends, use this triple filter each time you hear loose talk about any of your near & dear friends.

Ramana's Famous Reply To His Mother

The Guru's Silence is more vast and emphatic than all the sastras put together

Positive Thinking - How to Use Thoughts?

Can one obtain everything if one takes refuge in God wholly and solely, without any thought of anything else? Bhagavan answers

Questioner: [Given to Sri Ramana in the form of a written note.] They say that one can obtain everything if one takes refuge in God wholly and solely, and without thought of anything else. Does it mean sitting still in one place and contemplating God entirely at all times, discarding all thoughts, including even thoughts about food, which is essential for the sustenance of the body? Does it mean that when one gets ill, one should not think of medicine and treatment, but entrust one's health or sickness exclusively to providence?

In the Bhagavad Gita it says: `The man who sheds all longing and moves without concern, free from the sense of "I" and "mine", he attains peace' (2:71). It means the discarding of all desires. Therefore should we devote ourselves exclusively to the contemplation of God, and accept food and water only if they are available by God's grace, without asking for them? Or does it mean that we should make a little effort? Bhagavan, please explain the secret of this saranagati [surrender].

Bhagavan : [After reading the note Sri Ramana addressed everyone in the room.] Ananya saranagati [complete surrender] means to be without any attachment to thoughts, no doubt, but does it mean to discard even thoughts of food and water which are essential for the sustenance of the physical body ? He asks, `Should I eat only if I get anything by God's direction, and without my asking for it? Or should I make a little effort?' All right. Let us take it that what we have to eat comes of its own accord. But even then, who is to eat? Suppose somebody puts it in our mouth, should we not swallow it at least? Is that not an effort ? He asks, `If I become sick, should I take medicine or should I keep quiet leaving my health and sickness in the hands of God?'

In the book Sadhana Panchakam written by Sankara, it is stated that for treatment of the disease called hunger one should eat food received as alms. But then one must at least go out and beg for it. If all people close their eyes and sit still saying if the food comes we eat, how is the world to get on? Hence one must take things as they come in accordance with one's traditions, but one must be free from the feeling that one is doing them oneself. The feeling that I am doing it is the bondage. It is therefore necessary to consider and find out the method whereby such a feeling can be overcome, instead of doubting as to whether medicine should be administered if one is sick or whether food should be taken if one is hungry. Such doubts will continue to come up and will never end. Even such doubts as `May I groan if there is pain? May I inhale air after exhaling?' also occur. Call it Iswara [God] or call it karma [destiny]; some karta [higher power] will carry on everything in this world according to the development of the mind of each individual. If the responsibility is thrown on the higher power things will go on of their own accord. We walk on this ground. While doing so, do we consider at every step whether we should raise one leg after the other or stop at some stage? Isn't the walking done automatically? The same is the case with inhaling and exhaling. No special effort is made to inhale or exhale. The same is the case with this life also. Can we give up anything if we want to, or do anything as we please? Quite a number of things are done automatically without our being conscious of it. Complete surrender to God means giving up all thoughts and concentrating the mind on him. If we can concentrate on him, other thoughts disappear. If the actions of the mind, speech and body are merged with God, all the burdens of our life will be on him.

Q: But is God really the doer of all the actions I perform?

A: The present difficulty is that man thinks he is the doer. But it is a mistake. It is the higher power which does everything and man is only a tool. If he accepts that position he is free from troubles, otherwise he courts them. Take, for instance, the sculpted figure at the base of a gopuram [temple tower], which is made to appear as if it is bearing the burden of the tower on its shoulder. Its posture and look are a picture of great strain which gives the impression that it is bearing the weight of the tower. But think. The tower is built on the earth and it rests on its foundations. The figure is a part of the tower, but it is made to look as if it is bearing the weight of the tower. Is it not funny ? So also is the man who takes on himself the sense of doing.

Are we really the owner of our children? Osho relates

You ask me: Have You never wanted to have a child Yourself ?

No, for the simple reason that I don't want to burden this earth.

It is already burdened too much.

I used to live in Raipur for one year. One day I just saw the neighbour beating his small child, so I rushed into his house and told him 'What are you doing? I will call the police!'

He said 'What are you talking about? This is my kid! And I can do anything that I want to my kid! And who are you?'

I said 'This is not your kid. This is God's kid. And I can claim as much as you can claim.'

He could not believe what nonsense I was talking.

He said 'This is my kid. Don't you know?—you have been living here for one year.
He could not understand because of the claim—the claim that 'This is my kid, and I can do anything that I want to do.

For centuries parents were allowed to kill their child if they wanted to. They were allowed, because the thought was accepted that 'You have given birth.' How can you give birth? You have been just instrumental. Don't claim.

No child belongs to you. All children belong to God, they come from God. You are at most a caretaker.
-OSHO

Is there anything in this world, which we can claim, it is mine? Kriyananda narrates Yogananda's incident from his life.

Note : Mukunda is Yogananda's birth name

                                              After Mukunda's graduation from high school, and after he'd met his Guru Sri Yukteshwar, his father has brought him a motorcycle with sidecar.  Mukunda enjoyed his new toy, a symbol of his approaching manhood.  Sometimes his Guru would ride with him in the sidecar.  As they went bouncing through the streets, laughing merrily, the breeze would blow their clothing, flapping it about their bodies as if with kindred enthusiasm.  For a time, Mukunda was known, jokingly, as "the motorcycle swami".

                                               Mukunda was indeed pleased with his new acquisition.  It was easily the nicest present he had ever received.  He never entertained the thought, however, of being attached to it.

                                              One day he parked his motorcycle on the streets in front of his father's home, and went indoors.  Later, as he was leaving the house, he saw a casual acquaintance gazing at the vehicle admiringly.

                                               "Isn't it beautiful?" exclaimed Mukunda.

                                               "Oh yes." replied the other warmly.  A note of longing entered his voice as he added, "If only I could have one like it!"

                                                "But you can" Mukunda replied instantly.  "Take it. Its yours".

                                                "I--I--What do you mean?" his acquaintance faltered.  Then thoughtfully, "How much are you asking for it?"

                                                "I wouldn't take anything for it," Mukunda replied with a smile. "I'm giving it to you."

                                                The other was incredulous.  "But--but you just can't give away something so valuable!"

                                               

"Ofcourse I can!  And I will. Seriously,"  Mukunda insisted, "I want you to have it.  I couldn't enjoy it anymore, knowing that you'd like to have it. I'll be very pleased if you accept it."  He added, "Just wait a minute.  I'll get you the bill of ownership."  He reentered the house and returned later with that important piece of paper.

                                                 The other could barely stammer his gratitude.  His eyes, however, bore eloquently testimony to his feelings.

                                                Mukunda felt divinely contented.  "I own nothing, beloved Divine Mother," he thought happily.  "The things I use are Thine, not mine.  I return joyfully to Thee, their rightful owner, whenever I see Thee wanting them through others."

Excerpt from "Paramhansa Yogananda - The Biography" by Swami Kriyananda.

Yogananda at his humourous best :P

Swami Kriyananda narrates Doctor Lewis experiences of being with Yogananda

                           "The Master," Doctor told us, "asked me to join him one morning in practicing the energization exercises on the hotel porch in San francisco."  Doctor chuckled.  "I nearly died of embarrasment! But what good reason can there be, after all, to feel embarrassed about doing a good thing?  My self-conciousness had no worthier basis than the fact that our exercises aren't known to most people!  Master decided to cure me of this false notion.

                            "As we were exercising, a policeman walked by on his beat.  Master, affecting a guilty conscience, stepped hastily behind a pillar, and continued to exercise there.  The policeman glanced at us suspiciously.  I was praying for a miracle that would dematerialize me on the spot!  But master went right on exercising as if nothing as happened.

                          "Minutes later, the policeman returned.  Again master ducked behind the pillar.  This time the policeman, his suspicions thoroughly aroused, came over to us.

                          "Whats going on here" he demanded.  He probably suspected us of being two crooks planning a crime.

                          "Oh nothing, Officer!"  Master assured him with an exaggerated air of innocence. "Nothing at all.  We're just exercising. See?"  To demonstrate his utter sincerity. he repeated a few movements, then smiled as if in hope of a reprieve.

                          "Well," muttered the officer, "see that you don't get into trouble."  With massive dignity he moved on.  By this time I was shaking so hard with suppressed laughter that my embarrasment was forgotten completely."

Excerpt from "Paramhansa Yogananda - A Biography"

Swami Kriyananda talks on the dangers of disciples, who takes the Guru for granted because of physical closeness and talks of significance of Attunement to the Guru

Paramhansa Yogananda & his disciple Kriyananda

Swami Kriyananda relates his own experience of being with his Guru Paramhansa Yogananda :-

                                      In fact, I found that in his (Paramhansa Yogananda) later years he spoke of truth in all its vastness and subtelety, and much more impersonally than had been in his earlier years.  Those disciples who had come to him many years before were not prepared for this new, and more impersonally wise, divine master.

                                      The fact is, his early years were spent in trying to reach a large audience, and to uplift them with general spiritual teachings.  In his last years, he turned from mass upliftment to training individual disciples in the higher teachings of the spiritual path.  In his earlier years, he had presented himself in such a way as to give people the impression that what he had accomplished, they could accomplish easily.  He belittled himself, in order to make it easier for others to identify with him.  During his last years, however, he challenged his disciples to meet him on his own actual, exalted level in infinity. 

                                        Disciples who had been with him for many years tended to treat "youngsters" like me with a certain condescension, saying, "You weren't close to him, for many years, as we were."  What they didn't realize was the physical closeness to the Guru could also draw a bandage over the eyes, blinding the person to his inner greatness.  Therefore the great master Sri Ramakrishna said, "One who is enlightened is like an oil lamp which casts its rays at a distance, but creates a shadow directly underneath it."

                                       Since the true Guru is not that which appears outwardly, but his inner overreaching spirit, it can easily, and often does, happen that those who come to him early in his life actually develop less of an awareness of who he truly is than those who come nearer the end.  Ramakrishna's closest disciples were those who came towards the end of his life.

                                     A master often has his own mission to fulfill before he can assume the role of training disciples.  Therefore, again (as i said), those who came to him early may see him more naturally in terms of that outer role.  In our Guru's case, he did train certain disciples from the beginning, but he showed himself to them much more from a level of human personality.

                                    One difference I noted in him between when he was with us and when he was with the public was that, when he was with his disciples, he spoke more about Attunement with the Guru than even about personal spiritual practices like Kriya Yoga.  In the first chapter of the Gospel of St.John it is stated, "As many has received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God."  By "received him" much more was meant than mere belief in Jesus Christ.  "Received Him" meant deep inner attunement with t he Saviour's conciousness.

                                  It is not possible for the ego to rise out of ego-conciousness by self-effort alone.  Every struggle to do so only twists around to affirm that lesser conciousness yet again.  Only by Attunement with a True Guru, who has himself transcended ego altogether, can one understand what it means to see things no longer with a personal bias.  Without a Guru, it is impossible for techniques by themselves to raise one out of this final, and most fundamental, delusion; that we are each a separate reality, distinct and separate from all others.

                                  Indeed, yoga techniques alone cannot ensure that anyone finds God.  As the Master said of Jean Haupt, a male disciple who had practiced endless kriyas, but than had left the path, "He was like a merchant: I've done so many kriyas. Now, Lord, you must give me so much realization."  The spiritual path is not like that.  One cannot buy God!".

                                 I understand now, that every kriya should be an act of devotional self-offering.  For everything comes, in the end, by God's grace.  Grace is like sunlight on side of the building.  If the curtain of one room is kept closed, grace will not be able to enter there.  Human effort is necessary, but that effort must be in cooperation with God's will.  Such effort is indeed necessary, as a means of removing any and every ego-created obstacle to the sunlight of God's grace.  Beyond that point, however, self-effort will only strengten the ego.  This is where yoga comes in, but it must be performed with the attitude of aligning ones' egoic will with that God's will; it must not strenglten the ego.  Grace flows most powerfully in the inner presence of, and even more importantly through inner Attunement with, one's Guru.  As the sciptures of India state, "One moment in the company of a (true) Saint will be your raft over the ocean of delusion."

                               The master told us the story of Draupadi, wife of Arjuna.  Krishna once said to her, "Why don't you practice the yoga techniques?"
                                 "I would like to, Master," she replied, "but how can i, when i am unable to take my mind away from you long enough to practice them?"
                                "Krishna then," Yogananda told us, "only smiled".

Can one meditate, while watching T.V? Robert Adams

Do not believe that if you're watching TV or watching a movie you cannot meditate or practice Self-Inquiry.
You will be amazed that as you're watching the movie you can keep inquiring,
"To whom does this come?
Who am I?"
Or you can become aware that you are like the screen in the movie.
You cannot see the screen, you see the images on the screen.
Yet the images are not real.
If you try to grab them, you grab the screen.
Just contemplating this helps.
And then you realize that you are like the screen, that is your real nature, and all the images in the universe are superimposed upon you, just as the images of the movie are superimposed on the screen.

99 Sadhana, Satsang and Transcripts - October 3, 1991

Parijat - Hearts Awakening -Sri Anandamayi Ma

The Science Behind Sanatan Dharma - Sadhguru