Everything is divine - Animate or Inanimate

................................................................................................................................................ As far as I can look at my pre-isha life, I was never inspired to go to temple or to take on to some kind of worship. Looking at the society, I always felt that the temple-going people are always living on the surface and all the worship is just unreal. It is like the body without a soul. Someone like Shreemaa, a realized saint is offering worship, as a complete path in itself. One can check www.shreemaa.org for details. I was inspired to take on to worship by Bhagavan Das, a disciple of Neem Karoli Baba. And looking at the way various festivals that are celebrated in Isha Yoga Centre, it has become a way to celebrate our life in this planet. Why not dance our way to death ? In the following excerpt from a book "Its here now" by Bhagavan Das, Ram Dass is a fellow traveller of Bhagavan Das. Not to forget while reading this excerpt is that Bhagavan Das prepared himself with intense practice before experiencing the things of the other world. The following is the excerpt from the book :-


Ram Dass was always extremely generous. He gave me the sitar he'd bought in Delhi because he knew that i loved music.
A sitar is a very complicated instrument. This one had dozens of strings, and I did not know how to tune it. I didn't know where to begin, so i left it in the empty room next to Ram Dass's room. Every day I'd bring it flowers and worship it has Saraswati - The Goddess of music, art and letters. For weeks I sat with it and meditated.
One day, the sitar spoke to me and told me to pick it up. I picked it up very respectfully, as if I was holding a beautiful woman in my arms. Then it said, "Tune me". And I started tuning the strings. For the next couple of weeks, i spent hours tuning the sitar, never playing it. Finally, something happened and all came together. I started to play. But it didn't feel like I was playing the sitar - It felt like the sitar was playing me. Saraswati was playing the sitar by using my fingers. I never had a lesson. I just surrendered to the Goddess. The music was sublime.
Soon after I learned to play, Ram Dass told me he had been sitting in the next room listening to me play the sitar for about an hour. It was the most beautiful melody. Then he happened to look of window and saw me over at the tea stand accross the street. And still the divine music continued.. He turned white and ran next door, and there was the sitar lying by itself on the floor. There was no one in the room.
Ram Dass realized he had tuned in to where music itself comes from. He realized that I was tuned in to where it was coming from when i sat down to play perfectly, never having had a lesson. In India, musicians practice Nada Yoga, the yoga of sound following the notes back to their source, searching for the original player. It's so arrogant of us to believe we can make music. Only God makes music. The universe is her song.

Suprabatham - Invocation of Lord Venkateshwara

The following is the excerpt taken from the book "It's Here Now" by Bhagavan Das, a disciple of the enlightened master Neem Karoli Baba. The excerpt signifies the importance of the Lord Venkateshwara Temple in Andhra Pradesh. The excerpt :-
One of the most famous temples I was told to see was Tirupati, at "The Seven Hills of Lord Vishnu". This is located in the state of Andhra Pradesh, north of Madras. The seven hills were originally sacred to the seven sages and the Goddess. The statue there is of Venkateshwara (Lord Vishnu) appearing as the charming cow herder Govinda (Vishnu's incarnation of Krishna as a boy). I hiked up the seven hills and dropped into the vortex of devotion swirling around Krishna. It was like wading into a pool. I started to move with the pilgrims, and suddenly I was swirling in the frenzy of devotion.
Here I began kissing the ground as a spiritual practice. I would take a step, kiss the ground, murmur "Om Namo Bhagavatay Vasudevaya (I Bow to Lord Vishnu)", stand up, say "Om Namo Bhagavatay Vasudevaya," bend down, touch the ground, repeat the mantra, stand up. I did this for eight to ten hours, and it altered my conciousness. I went to the inner light of the heart of the deity by approaching the formless reality and projecting an image onto it and crying, "Out of your mercy please let me love you! Become a mirror for my devotion so I can see myself in you."
I didn't understand any of this philosiphically at the time. I was simply lost in the bhava, the divine mood. I was experiencing the truth of tantra: Only God can worship God; only Goddess can worship Goddess. You become what you worship, and then you worship yourself.
Thousands of pilgrims arrived every hour on the hour, asking for boons (spiritual gifts and blessings). They sacrificed their hair. Thousand of Barbers lined up in stalls, and freshly cut hair was lying everywhere in big heaps. The devotees offered their hair, and their prayers were answered.
Intention, commitment, sacrifice, faith, and devotion- together these produce real effects. Too often we underestimate the power of thought. Thoughts manifest. Your life is what you think it is. That's why meditating and disengaging from the thought process helps free the self. The devotees believe, "I will give my hair, my beauty, my good looks to Vishnu and he'll have compassion for me and help me out. " And he did.
The temple was so big that I was dwarfed. I stood under massive carved columns twenty-five feet tall, surrounded by thousand of pilgrims waiting in line to go through the giant doors.
The ceremony in front of the temple was intense. It was as though I had found the one place in the world where God really lives. The music, chanting, prayers, vast number of people--Oh, the enormity of all! I couldn't go to this place just once. There was too much to see and too much to feel.
I entered a turnstyle machine set up by the initiated priests who, with the power of mantra, keep the river of liquid shakti flowing. After many hours of repeating mantras in line, I was finally inside the doors. Everything got dark. The giant stone walls, dark with soot, reminded me less of a cathedral than a fortress. I couldn't see the end of the corridor. It was so long, with a cavern of blackness backlit with flickering torches. The ceiling had to be at least thirty feet high.
Devotees that we were, we all had little boats in our hands made of leaves, containing offerings of food and flowers. Around me clusters of family were waiting together, everyone chanting "Govinda, Govinda, Govinda, Govinda!." Thousands of people were chanting around me . "Sita Ram, Sita Ram" , "Radhe Shyam Radhe Shyam". Everyone was trying to drown out everyone else with their own favourite name of God.
It was musky and damp, and everyone was dripping with sweat. I was drenched, too, as I was pushed along in the line.
There was no way out. I was totally trapped in the enormous crowd. I was like a snake in the bamboo reed: there was no reverse gear; I could only go forward. I had no choice. i was being pushed toward God.
IT WAS GOING to happen. I was going to see God. As it got darker and darker and sweatier and sweatier, I could smell everyone's bodies and all the crushed flowers under my feet. Sonorous sounds of the sacred prayers being chanted by the Brahmins came from both side of the corridor. Imagine a hundred Brahmin on each side, chanting in unison- a really unearthly sound echoed in the chambers of this castle of God.
Finally I came out of darkness and into the golden light. God was tall, fifteen or twenty feet, and made of one solid black, carved, basalt stone. Vishnu was covered with Gold. The Brahmins have melted down everyone's jewelry and stuck it on the statue. Tirupati is the richest temple in India. Those who can afford it, give all their bracelets, necklaces, rings- all their gold- to God, and their desires are fulfilled.
The atmosphere was very intense within five feet of God. The chaos was part of the worship. Yet in the midst of the craziness was a deep sense of peace.
I was standing in front of God with my offering in a basket when one of the priests took it to the feet of the Lord. Then he picked up another offering and placed it in my basket. The priest kept the rupees from the basket as his salary.
Now I had shakti, the energy of God, in my basket. I had offered my devotion, and someone else's devotion was returned to me. All of us are linked in the eyes of God, and the love we offer him, flows back and forth among us all.
The line suddenly jagged, and right in front of God was an empty space. It was the first I'd seen in many hours - a genuine miracle! The statue of Vishnu was very big, scary and mysterious. Although it was black, it was really bright. And the intensity of light was all the greater because I'd spent hours in the long, dark halls. Now I could either go into the light or look away from it. I held that empty space as long as I could. How long could I hold the vision of God? As long as i wanted. Then I closed my eyes, bowed and said "Enough, God. Thank you." and shuffled out of his presence.

Blogger's Remark :

I was excited when I came accross this article. The only thing I could imagine was that someday I would shave my head to see that Sadhguru lives a long life. May Lord Venkateshwara adds my life of years to Sadhguru.

Sadhguru on floods in Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka

...........................................................................................................................................................................08 October, 2009
After the recent floods in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, wherever I go, one question I'm repeatedly asked is: "Such a great calamity; what can we do? Are the gods angry with us? Is there some spiritual process that we can do to avoid cyclones and floods in this country? Can we do some yaga or yagna for this?"
I want you to understand, a cyclone or a flood is not a calamity but just a natural process that can happen anywhere, and at any time. Two-thirds of the earth is under water anyway, so a little extra gets displaced now and then due to natural reasons or maybe because of global warming. But what is a calamity is that so many people have died and so many more have been displaced, their lives shattered perhaps to a point where they will never be able to put it back in their lifetime. This could have been avoided to a large extent, if we only managed our lives better.
The present devastation by floods in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka is not sudden or unforeseen. In 1998-99, when people in this region complained of lack of rains, I said that the way we were progressing in another 5-6 years there would be too much rain. It does not take any great intuition to say this because if there is any slight disturbance in climate over the oceans, a certain low-pressure area will get created over a dry peninsular tract of land with oceans on both sides and with insufficient green cover. This will naturally attract enormous amount of rains.
If there was enough vegetation, it would have held the rain and let it out in small drops to become streams and rivers which we could have enjoyed. But unfortunately, we have stripped the land completely of green cover so the rain, which should have been a great blessing, has become a curse upon us. This is just a natural progression; it is neither God's wrath nor is it some unforeseen force acting upon us. We are the cause for the effect that we are facing right now.
The human tragedy due to these rains is because the land is also overpopulated. In the beginning of the twentieth century the world had a population of only 1.6 billion people. Today we have grown to 6.7 billion, which is an enormous and unprecedented increase. So wherever there are any small changes in nature like earthquakes, tsunami, floods etc, human beings are badly hit, because they are everywhere to die. This has become our condition today.
This is because, through the advancement of medical science, to a large extent we have taken death into our hands. So it is all the more important that we also take birth into our hands. But today various vested interests in the form of religions and other forces are resisting any kind of control over the growth of population. So the pressure on the land will be high with more forest being cleared resulting in more devastation.
We can create human societies either with conscious action or nature and other situations will force us to act in a certain way. It would be worthwhile if we act consciously and see that such situations, such pain and such devastations don't happen to human societies. One of the most important things that we must do right now, as a nation, is to aim for reduction of population by at least one third in the next 50 years. We must also ensure that a minimum of 33% land is under green cover. If these two things happen we can largely control such calamities.
As a part of our efforts in this direction, Isha Foundation started Project Green Hands. I must say, since 1998 we have been making efforts to plant trees in people's minds and in the last six years we have been transplanting it into the land. We have planted millions of trees in Tamil Nadu where the green cover according to official figures, has actually increased by 4.2% in the last 5 years. This is probably the only geographical entity of its size in Asia where the green cover has actually gone up in the recent years, everywhere else, it has been going down. It is not enough if we do this in one state. Everywhere the political leadership, the citizenry, the religious leaders, media and everybody should come together and make sure that our goals on population and environment are achieved.
This is the yaga and the yagna that needs to be done.
For every calamity that we bring upon ourselves there is no need to look for cosmic explanations, this is a local disaster. When I say local I'm talking about what we have done to our surroundings and the planet. This has nothing to do with the cosmic phenomena and is very localized to our planet and to our country right now. So this is something we have to handle and there is no need to look for any cosmic solutions or divine interventions.

Papaji, no-mind, dead mind and silent mind, what are the differences ?

Silent mind means to keep quiet temporarily. It is simply a suppression of the objects in mind. It can happen many times, but it will not last. Still mind is also temporary. Mediatation or concentration can result in still mind. It is like the flame of the candle. When there is no breeze, the flame will be still. When a wind comes, the candle will flicker and go out. Still mind will be blown away as soon as it encounters the wind of a new thought.

As for no-mind, I am hearing this question for the first time. No person from India or the West has ever asked me about this before. I am very happy to deal with this question for the first time.

Before we speak about no-mind, we have to see what mind is. Let us start from conciousness. Sometimes you want to look in a mirror to see what you look like. In the same way, conciousness sometimes wants to look at itself to see what it is. A wave will arise in conciousness. It will ask itself, "Who am I"? This wave that arises in conciousness imagines itself to separate from the ocean. This wave becomes "I", the individual self. Once it has become separate, this "I" degenerates further and start to create. First there will be space, the vast, frontierless emptiness of infinite space. And along with space, time will be created, because wherever there is space, there must be time. This time becomes past, present and future, and from these three attachments arise. All creation rises within the past, the present and the future. This is called samsara. Samsara is endless past, present and future. Anything which is born in time, which stays in time, will be finished in time. And all this is mind. The "I" arose and created space, then time, then samsara. This "I" has now become mind, and this mind is "I".

Then at some point, an intense desire for freedom will arise. This desire will arise from conciousness itself. Originally there was a descent from conciousness- from the "I" to space to time to samsara. Now there will be an ascent. As you ascend, attachment to physical object will go, then vital, then mental, then intellectual. Finally , you return to "I" alone. This "I" is still mind.

This "I" has rejected everything. It exists alone with no attachemnts. It cannot go back to the world of attachments, to samsara. It has a desire for freedom; it wants to return to its original place. This "I" which rose from conciousness is now returning to conciousness. It takes the decision, "Become no-mind now" and with that decision the "I" is gone, mind is gone. The "I", which is the mind, has been rejected, but there is still something there which is between the "I" and conciousness. This in-between thing is called no-mind. This in-between entity will merge into conciousness, and then it will become conciousness itself.

Look at this cup (pointing at a tumbler on the table). There is space, emptiness, both inside and outside this cup. The space inside we call "inside space" and the space outside is called "Outside space". Why ? Because name and the form of the cup divides the inside from the outside. When the name and form are removed, the space inside and the mahat, the greater space, becomes one. In fact they were always one. From the point of view of space itself, there never was an outside or inside. Name and form made it appear that there was an inside and outside, but the space was never affected by the artificial divisions. Likewise, freedom is always there, always unaffected by names and forms. Name-and-form is "I". When the "I" goes, the walls which appear to divide conciousness are removed. This becomes This.

When you go from mind back to conciousness, you go through this stage of no-mind. In that state there will be the feeling, the recollection, "Now I have no-mind". Gradually, slowly, this no-mind will merge back into the beyond. But how it happens, I do not know.

One conciousness with the animal kingdom - Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi

.....................................................................................................................................................Ramana's identity with all creation, with all life was total. There were no "others" for him. The following is an interesting excerpt taken from the book "Timeless in Time - Sri Ramana Maharishi" :-

We have an interesting happening at the asram in 1948, recorded by a devotee Narayanan, illustrating the sense of equality prevailing. Not finding Ramana at his usual place, he and his friends were wandering round the ashram when they heard a child like voice "Chee, Asatte" (Tamil word meaning stupid fellow). Looking in the direction from which the sound emanated in the kitchen garden, they saw a small goat, a little monkey, a squirrel and Bhagavan Ramana. "Bhagavan was sitting on his haunches with his legs folded upto his breast. The goat rested between his knees, the monkey had its head resting on the right knee and a squirrel perched on his left knee. Holding a packet of paper in his left palm, Bhagavan picked up groundnuts from it from his right hand fingers, one by one, and fed the goat, monkey, the squirrel and himself by turns. His remarks (Chee, Asatte) seemed to have been addressed to the monkey which had tried to snatch a nut, as he was about to place it in the squirrels mouth. As we watched, the four companions went on enjoying the eating. All the four seemed equally happy, the way they looked at each other and kept close together was quite touching.
The nuts were over, Bhagavan threw the packet away, and said "Pongada" (meaning go away, you fellows) just as an old man talking to his grandchildren.

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Squirrel

When Bhagavan was staying in the Old Hall, he was literally surrounded by squirrels. They would run all over his couch, on his body, and even under his pillows. Ramana had to be extremely careful before he sat or leaned, lest some squirrel be crushed by the weight of his body.
Once a mischievous and overactive squirrel bit Bhagavan's finger. This particular squirrel would not take his nuts from the tin but would insist on Bhagawan feeding him. Yet, when there was some delay, in chagrin he bit Bhagwan's finger. A regular tussle then followed between Ramana and the squirrel. Ramana said "You are a naughty creature! You have bitten my finger! I will no longer feed you. Go away!."
Would that fellow stay quite? No, he began begging of Bhagavan for forgiveness by crawling hither and thither. Bhagavan put the nuts on the window sill and on the sofa and told him to help himself. But no, he wouldn't even touch them. Bhagavan pretended to be indifferent and not to notice him. But he would crawl up Bhagavan's legs, jump on his body, climb on his shoulders and do ever so many things to attract his attention. Then Bhagavan told everyone, "Look, this fellow is begging of me to forgive him his mischief in biting my finger. He wants me to feed him with my own hands."
He pushed the squirrel away for some days saying, "Naughty creature! Why did you bite my finger? I won't feed you now. That is your punishment. Look, the nuts are there. Eat them all." The squirrel would not give up his obstinacy either. Some days passed and Bhagavan had to finally admit defeat because of his mercy towards his devotees.

I love you, Sadhguru

Cast aside your ego, and abide in yourself

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Firm and disciplined inheritance in Atman without giving the least scope for the rise of any thoughts other than the deep contemplative thoughts of the self, constitutes self-surrender to the Supreme-Lord. Let any amount of burden be laid on him, He will bear it all. It is, infact, the indefinable power of the Lords that ordains, sustains and controls everything that happens. Why then should we worry, tormented by vexatious thoughts, saying "Shall we act this way ? No, that way ?" instead of meekly but happily submitting to that Power ? Knowing that the train carries all the weight, why indeed should we, the passengers travelling in it, carry our small individual articles of luggage on our laps to our great discomfort, instead of putting them aside and sitting at perfect ease ?" - Ramana Maharishi

The main point focused on by Ramana is that happiness is inherent and common to all life. Such happiness is experienced by the mind which is abiding in its source, in the spiritual heart. A mind which abides in the heart is the Self itself. Such a mind is a pure mind. When the attention is so focused on this core without paying attention to the rising thoughts, the mind subsides in its source. The mind is always aware of the bliss in the heart.

Source "Timeless in Time - Sri Ramana Maharishi" page 98.

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CAST YOUR BURDEN ON THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE

On the seekers aspiration on how to achieve self-realisation, Sri Ramana replied "One should cast one's burden on the Lord of the Universe who is always victorious. He is the excellent doer of all actions. You should always concentrate your intellect on the heart, which is the seat of the atman and abide there.

"This does, the Lord, is powerful enough to fulfil your object in the future.

"The lord of the Universe controlling the past and the future should be entrusted as the efficient actor.

"When the time comes, the excellent object would be fulfilled. Let there be no doubt in your mind, jeewel of the learned. By steady abidance in the heart, your welfare is sure. Let the work be surrendered to Siva."

Osho poisoned to death - Truth always hurts

............................................................. ......................................................... ....................................................... ............................................................ .......................................................... ............................................................ .......................................................... ..................................................... ................................................... .............................................. ........................................................... ....................................................... ............................................... .................Its really unbelievable that the American Goverment can stoop down to such a low level, that it executed the plan to kill the most loved, most revolutionary enlightened master of this planet. There are many books, which exposes the hypocrisy of the American Goverment. Some of the book such as "Twelve days that shook the world" by Juliet forman, exposes the hypocrisy of the American Goverment. You can buy the following book from this link http://www.amazon.com/Bhagwan-Twelve-Days-Shook-World/dp/3893380582 .
A small article from the words of Osho himself about his experience, when he was arrested in America :-http://www.otoons.de/politics/osho_on_his_death.htm
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Taare Zameen Par - Movie of this century

...................................................................................................................................................Directed by Aamir Khan, It was an awakening experience, watching this movie. Despite trying to be a responsible parents towards our children, we unconciously destroy their very source of joy, their very being. The movie is realistic with a very strong message and depicts a life of our school children, who has to go through a unneccesary torture by parents and teachers. I wish that every parents and teachers watches this movie. Unfortunately, the movie is available only in Hindi Language in the original form.
I remember visiting my son's school on eve of Science Exhibition held in his school. Though the school in which he studies is very famous. You will find that the school's article appears on all newspaper. But there is a proverb that everything that shines is not a diamond. There were various stalls arranged, where students try to explain any one aspect of Science through experimentation. What was shocking that even before I could approach them, they would start explaining their subject. There was fear that they may forget their subject. Everything was memorised, even by the grown up children. Fear was very apparent on their faces. Memorising without understanding is the most destructive way of learning, which is encouraged in all our schools.


I wish that all beings in this planet are rejoiced in whatever way they can contribute to the richness of our planet, never imposing our own mind and belief on them. Giving them freedom to be themselves, where joy of the being has victory over material profit, where stillness of the being wins over the power trip of the society.

About Sadhguru in Hindi

The following PDF file is taken from a Hindi Magazine "Sadhana Path" :-
http://www.ishafoundation.org/news/newsclips/2009/Sadhnapath-June-2009.pdf

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Anger - Expression of Disturbed Mind

Today as I was coming back home on my motorcycle, I saw a autorickshaw farway, immobile. When there was a space to crossby, I thought that I could passaway. All of a sudden, the man came out of auto and I collided with him. The vehicle and myself were hit on the road. But strangely there was no upsurge of anger inside me. I find that the more I am focused to Sadhguru, the less there are chances of being disturbed. Only my body was hit. And the mistake by the man was not intentional. I and the autorickshaw, just parted our ways without looking at each other.

I remember a event few months back. I was sitting in my shop with few of my friends. My motorvehicle was just parked outside my shop. In India, the bullock carts are unpredictable vehicles of transportation. They don't have a brake. So all of a sudden, it hit my vehicle. I just stood up, as if nothing as happened. It was only the vehicle, not me. These meditations have dis-identified myself with all the outside objects. The friends, who were enraged, encouraged me to fight with the bullockcart man. The first thing, my consiousness was searching for, was, my chappals. Feeling embarrased at what I was doing, I enacted a argument with the man outside. But when I came back in the shop, my friends told me clearly that all my anger was a cover-up and it seems that your Isha Yoga Practices might have loosened the anger within you. I wonder that I have been introduced to only the basic exercises and am optimist on what the future holds for me since there are many advance programs, which I have not done yet.

Shambavi always comes to my rescue

Today I was calculating over the monthly expenditure I incur every month. What was revealing was purely disturbing whereby my monthly expenses are more than the income I earn. My father wants to play the role of the boss whereby he decides how to expend money but does not want to know whether the shop is in profit or loss. This thought about the situation which is going beyond my control, kept running in my mind again and again. I was in depressive state. So when I came up in the evening to my home, it was my usual time for evening practice. But because of the depressive state, there was a temptation today to skip the practice. But in the time like this, I always remember Sadhguru's words "The outside situation is beyond your control but what happens within you is always under your control". So I went ahead with my Shambavi Practices. Has it always happened, I came out refreshed, away from the dark clouds of depression.

My experience always says that how much ever the thought might be depressing, it cannot hold over you forever. Even today, though the situation over my father's behaviour has not changed but those thoughts are not clouding over me, like in the past. Life is open, to be explored in other dimensions. Thoughts always stay for a certain time. If one stays has a witness, they will pass away, leaving no scar of the past. So I learned a key.

Even during the practices, I notice that there are tempting thoughts, depressive thoughts, angry thoughts, happy thoughts but I have taken a decision that I will be seated for the next 40 minutes, no matter what my thoughts says. Usually thoughts are the extension of the what kind of society you are exposed to. As we can observe that society always harbour violence, aggressiveness in a deceptive state. So it is we, who have to decide, whether we want to live a life of selfish human being or the way shown by Sadhguru. This is bringing me to live life with clarity.

Project Greenhands Song

Click http://www.projectgreenhands.org/ to know more.

Something we can learn from a Awakened Aids Patient

Source : "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" - Sogyal Rinpoche.


This is the story of Rick, a real life story, where even under difficult life situations, he lived the life with grace and richness. Despite facing the imminent death, he faced the death gracefully. But facing the death with open arms became possible for him, only because he lived the life in gratitude for the whole planet, feeling the oneness with it. The following are the excerpts from this book :-
Rick lives in Oregon and has Aids. He is forty-five, and used to work as a computer operator. Sometime ago, he came to the annual summer retreat I lead in the United States (I refers to Sogyal Rinpoche), and spoke to us about what death, and life, and his illness meant to him. I was amazed by Rick, who had only studied the Buddhist teachings with me for 2 years, had taken them to heart. In this brief period he had, in his own way, captured the essence of teachings: devotion, compassion, and the View of the nature of the mind, and made them a part of his life. Rick sat in his chair and faced us all and told us how he felt about dying.

I hope that these excerpts of Rick will give you some flavour of this moving occasion :-

When I thought I was dying, two years ago, I did what was natural: I cried out, and I was anwsered. And it took me through several weeks of horrible fevers, where I thought I was going to go in the middle of the night............This devotion, this crying out............When this is all you can do, we have that promise from Padmasambhava (Seen has a every embodiment of all the Buddhas in Tibet) that he is there. And he doesn't lie: he has proved himself to me many times.
If it were not for Padmasambhava, whom Rinpoche teaches us is the nature of our own mind, our own buddha nature, if it were not for that glorious shining presence, I couldn't go through what I'm going through. I just know I coundn't.
The first thing I realised was that you must take personal responsibility for yourself. The reason I am dying is that I have AIDS. That is my responsibility, no one else is to blame. In fact there is no one to blame, not even myself. But I take responsibility for that.
I made a vow to myself and to whatever god there may be, before I came into Buddhism, that I just wanted to be happy. When.........I made that decision, I stuck to it. And this is very important in doing any kind of training of the mind. You must make the decision that you really want to change, no one is going to do the work for you.
Our part............is to work with the daily aspects of our situation. first is to be grateful that you are in this body, and on this planet. That was the beginning for me - realizing the gratitude for earth, for living beings. Now that I feel things slowly slipping out, I am becoming so much more grateful for everyone and everything. So my practice centers on this gratitude, simply a constant offering of praise to life, to Padmasambhava, who Is living all of these multitudinous forms.
Don't make the mistake I did for so many years, that "practice" means sitting straight and saying mantras, thinking "I'll be glad when this is over". Practice is much bigger than that. Practice is every person you meet; practice is every unkind word you hear or that may even be directed at you.
When you stand up from your practice seat, that's when practice really begins. We have to be very artful and creative in how we apply the practice to life. There is always something in our environment we can connect with, to do the practice. So if I am too dizzy to visualize Vajjrasattva above my head, I stand up, and I go and wash my morning dishes, and the plate I'm holding in my hand is the world and all its suffering beings. Then I say the mantra........OM VAJJRA SATTVA HUM...........and I am washing away the suffering of the beings. When I take a shower, that's Vajrasattva above my head. When I go out in the Sunshine, it is the light, like the hundred thousands suns, shining from Vajrasattva's body and entering me, and I just take it in. When I see a beautiful person walking down the street, I might in the beginning think, "What a nice looking person", but the next instant I am offering that up to Padmasambhava with my full heart, and letting it go.. You have to take real life situations and make them your practice. Otherwise you will have only an empty belief that gives you no solace, no strenght, when hard times start. It's just a belief: "Oh. Someday I'll go to heaven. Someday I'll be a buddha. You are a Buddha, now. And when you practice, you are practicing at being who you are..............

It's very important to take situations that are occuring in your life and use them. As Rinpoche keeps saying, if you have practiced calling out and asking for help, then in the bardos(After-death situations) it will be natural to do the same............. I made a mantra out of this line by Dudjom Rinpoche: "Lama of unrepayable kindness, I only remember you." Someday, it is all I can manage to think; it is the only practice I can get out. But it works great.

So.............Happiness, self-responsibility, gratitude.......don't confuse a dead, ritualistic practice for a living, ongoing, changing , fluid, opening, glorious practice. Because, and it's my experience right now - and I know it sounds like words perhaps, but I know in my heart it's not - I see Padmasambhava everywhere. That's just my practice. Every person, especially the difficult ones, that are making life difficult for others around them, to me that is the blessing of the master. To me this illness is the blessing of the master. It is grace. So much grace, I can chew on it.

But this has happened because I have trained my mind..............When I srarted, I used to judge things constantly in my mind. I would judge this person; I would judge that one. I would judge the way he looked; I would judge the way she sat; I would judge, "I don't like today, it's too rainy, too gray. Oh poor me.......Oh love me.......Oh help!. So I started with that. It was just a constant commentary in my mind. But I made a start. I would write myself little notes and stick them into refrigerator. "Don't judge".

When you live in your mind-that is choosing between this and that, "This is good.........This is bad, I don't want it," between hope and fear, between hate and love, between joy and sorrow, when you are actually grasping for one of those extremes- the essential peace of your mind is disturbed. A Zen patriach says "The great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences." Because your Buddha nature is there. Happiness is everywhere.

So I began to work with my conceptual mind. At first it seemed like an impossible thing to do. But the more I practiced at it........I found out; If you leave the risings on their own place, they are perfectly fine, where they are. Just be with them, and be happy, because you know you have the buddha nature.

You don't have to feel like you have the buddha nature. That's not the point. The point is trust, which is faith. The point is devotion, which is surrender. That, for me, is the essence. IF YOU CAN TRUST WHAT THE MASTER IS SAYING, and study and try to bring the teachings back to yourself in difficult times, and train your mind not to fall into its habitual patterns, if you can just be with what is happening, with bare attention, after a while you notice that nothing stays around very long. Not even negative thoughts. Especially not your bodies. Everything changes. If you leave it in its place, it will liberate itself.

In a situation like mine, when fear becomes so obvious to you, and so predominant, and you feel like you are being swallowed by the fear, you must take your mind in hand. I have realized that fear is not going to kill me. This is just something that is passing through my mind. This is a thought and I know that thought will liberate itself, if I keep my hands off. I also realise that's what happens in the bardos, when and if you see a vision coming at you that might be frightening; it's not coming anywhere other than you! All those energies we have kept damped down into our bodies are being released.

Some of you have been dearer to me than my family. Because you allow Padmasambhava to come to me in just another way, through your care and your concern and your love. You don't seem to care that I have AIDS. No one has ever asked me "Well, how did you get it?" except a old friend of mine who called me a week or so ago and said "Aren't you afraid that this is God's curse on you?" After I stopped laughing, I said "You believe that God has cursed the earth and the human body is impure. I , on the other hand, believe that blessing is the original starting point, not a curse." From the beginningless time, everything has already been accomplished, pure and perfect.

So what I do now is just rest in radiance. It's everywhere. You can't get away from it. It is so intoxicating that sometimes I feel like I am just floating in the radiance. I am letting Padmasambhava, as he flies through the sky of mind, just let me tag along.

Now If i were sitting out listening to this, I would say "OK then, why aren't you healed?" People have asked me that. It's not that I haven't tried: I bought a whole suitcase full of pills. But I stopped that question quite a while ago. I guess the reason I did was because it seemed it would be manipulating and interfering with the process that had started. This process is very cleansing for me. I know there is a lot of karma being burned up. It's cleansing perhap's for my mother, because I offer this for her. She suffers quite a bit. Then there are spiritual friends in this group whom I love like brothers and sisters, they suffer to. I have made this covenant with Padmasambhava: If I have to stay around and suffer so that some of it could help cleanse and purify you as well as me, what a blessing that would be! This is my prayer. And I'm not a person who likes to suffer, I can guarantee you that!. But I feel that grace, that blessing, pushing me gently into that suffering.

And at this point, from studying what I have studied of Rinpoche's teaching on the bardos, death is not an enemy. Just like our thoughts are not to be seen as enemies.........And life is not an enemy. Life is something glorious, because in this life we can awaken to who we truly are.

So I beg you - from the bottom of my heart - not to waste the opportunity you have, while you are still relatively healthy, to work with what Rinpoche is offering you........He knows how to get the point in speaking and teaching about what Dzogchen is, and he knows how to take you there in the heart. That is so important: and especially when you are getting ready to die.

So I'm here to say goodbye. Atleast for this time around...........I want to say goodbye to all those of you who have become my brother's and sister's, those of you whom I know not have not had the privilige of getting to know better, those of you I have not even met................I have a feeling that within the next 6 months I may die. It could be within the next 3 months. Si I hold you all in my heart, and I see you all bright and shining. There is no darkness. It is just light from Padmasambhava's heart, pervading all of us. Thank's to the master's blessing.

TO BE CONTINUED.....................................................

Volunteering + Practice = Continuity in Practice

When people initially join the Isha Yoga program for 7 days, the climate is simply euphoric. I have seen number of people crying, with the tears in their eyes, thankful for whatever Isha has offered to them. When I watch them, I feel simply excited. They can feel the loving atmosphere all around. Soon I feel that there will be a large turnout of people in the monthly sathsang.

But what happens next is that, hardly 10% of the people come back to monthly sathsang. What happened. Where did those people go, who were ready to offer themselves with totality during the initial program ?

What I feel is that those people have lost contact with the loving atmosphere, which they experienced during the program. Mostly they were led into an illusion that it was only the strenght of the practice which made them enjoy the atmosphere. I feel that they can be brought back with a little compassionate push from behind. Those people are not aware that how intimate life can be, if one is intensely involved with it. We call it volunteering here in Isha.

I feel that atleast once, when the new isha program is to held, the old volunteers should offer some kind of work to the previous batch participants. If necessary the old volunteers should make way for the new participants. Maybe, The old will need to be innovative, in finding new ways with involvement with life. The old volunteers need to be a guiding force to encourage the new participants to take on the life with enthusiasm.

But for the new participants, certainly, it should not be entrusted on them but gently asked that we need your help and If possible, please involve yourself in volunteering. If the participants experience the joy of volunteering, the joy of being together, the joy of being in the Isha family, then there is no power on earth that can stop them towards liberation and living a fulfilled life.