The World from my Window

SONG OF THE SELF

2011-05-31T00:08:00.000-07:00

NIRVANSHATKAM OR ATMASHATAKAM

Mano Buddhi-ahankaara Chithaani Naaham
Na Cha Shrotra Jihve Na Cha Ghraana Netre
Na Cha Vyoma Bhoomir Na Tejo Na Vaayuhu
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

Na Cha Praana Samjno Na Vai Pancha Vaayuhu

Na Va Sapta Dhaatur Na Va Pancha Koshah
Na Vaak Paani Paadau Na Chopastha Paayuh
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

Na Me Dvesha Raagau Na Me Lobha Mohau
Mado Naiva Me Naiva Maatsarya Bhaavah
Na Dharmo Na Chaartho Na Kaamo Na Mokshah
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

Na Punyam Na Paapam Na Saukhyam Na Dukham
Na Mantro Na Teertham Na Vedo Na Yajnaha
Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhoktaa
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

Na Me Mrityu Shankaa Na Me Jaati Bhedah
Pita Naiva Me Naiva Maataa Na Janma
Na Bandhur Na Mitram Gurur Naiva Shishyah
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

Aham Nirvikalpo Niraakaara Roopaha
Vibhur Vyaapya Sarvatra Sarvendriyaanaam
Sadaa Me Samatvam Na Muktir Na Bandhah

Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

I am not the mind, intellect, ego, or memory.
Nor am I the ears, tongue, nose, eyes (and skin)
I am not the space, earth, fire, air (and water)-
I am pure Knowledge and Bliss.I am the self spiritual joy of pure. Consciousness Shiva, Shivoham, Shivoham.

I am not the Praana,
I am not the 5 vital airs.
I am not indeed the 7 materials,
Surely not the 5 sheaths,
Not the organ of speech, nor
hand, nor leg,
And not the genital organ, nor the anus.
I am of the nature of pure Knowledge and Bliss. I am Shiva, the most
Auspicious, I am Shiva.

I have neither hatred nor liking,
I have neither greed nor delusion,
I have indeed neither pride
nor jealousy,
I have no duty (to perform),
nor any wealth (to acquire),
I have no craving (for pleasure),
I am not being bound (for
liberation),
I am of the nature of Pure
Consciousness and Bliss,
I am all Auspiciousness,
I am Shiva.

I have neither virtue nor vice,
nor pleasure, nor pain,
nor the sacred chant of
mantras nor pilgrimage,
nor the scriptures,
nor the sacrificial rituals,
I am neither the act of enjoying,
nor the enjoyable object,
nor the enjoyer,
I am pure Knowledge and Bliss,
I am shiva, the
Auspiciousness itself.

I have no fear of death,
nor have I any distinction
of Caste,
I have neither father,
nor mother, nor even birth,
nor relation, nor friend,
no teacher, no disciple,
I am pure Knowledge and Bliss,
I am all Auspiciousness,
I am Shiva.

I am devoid of dualities,
and I am formless,
I exist everywhere,
pervading all the senses,
always I am the same,
I have neither freedom nor
bondage,
I am pure Knowledge and Bliss,
I am Auspiciousness,
I am Shiva.

How to motivate ourselves in Meditation

2010-08-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

The first thing: for a patient to go to the doctor we must make him realize that he is sick; otherwise there is no need to go to the doctor.

Do we remember when we laughed from our very hearts? We have become robots – we do things because they have to be done but there is no joy in doing them. We are living an accidental life. Our birth is accidental, our marriage is accidental, our children are accidental, our job is accidental. Our life has no sense of intrinsic growth and direction.
That’s why we cannot feel like rejoicing. So first we have to make ourselves aware where we are – and almost everybody is in the same situation. Death is coming close – we cannot even rely on our being here tomorrow. And our life is an absolute desert – it has not found any oasis, it has not felt any meaning, any significance – and death may destroy all possibilities in the future.

So first we have to make ourselves aware of our meaningless, accidental, frustrated life. We know it, but we try to suppress our knowing in many ways, because to know it continuously is a torture. So we go to the movies to forget it. We go to parties, we go to picnics, we do everything – just to somehow not remember the reality of our life, our hollowness, futility.
This is the most important part – to remind ourselves. And once a person remembers all this, then to lead him towards meditation is a very simple thing, because meditation is the only answer to all the questions of man. It may be frustration, it may be depression, it may be sadness, it may be meaninglessness, it may be anguish: The problems may be many but the answer is one.

And the simplest method of meditation is just a way of witnessing. There are one hundred and twelve methods of meditation, but witnessing is an essential part of all one hundred and twelve methods. So as far as I am concerned, witnessing is the only method. Those one hundred and twelve are different applications of witnessing.
The essential core, the spirit of meditation is to learn how to witness. We are seeing a tree: We are there, the tree is there, but can’t we find one thing more? – That we are seeing the tree, that there is a witness in us who is seeing we seeing the tree. The world is not divided only into the object and the subject. There is also something beyond both, and that beyond is meditation.

So in every act... people do not need to sit for one hour or half an hour in the morning or in the evening. That kind of meditation is not going to help, because if we meditate for one hour, then for twenty-three hours we will be doing just the opposite of it.

Meditation can be victorious: witnessing is such a method that it can spread over twenty-four hours of our day. Eating, don’t get identified with the eater. The food is there, the eater is there, and we are there, watching. Walking, let the body walk but we simply watch. Slowly, the knack comes. It is a knack, and once we can watch small things....This crow, crowing... we are listening. These are two – object and subject. But can’t we see a witness who is seeing both? – The crow, the listener, and still there is someone who is watching both. It is such a simple phenomenon.
Then we can move into deeper layers: we can watch our thoughts; we can watch our emotions, our moods. There is no need to say, ”I am sad.” The fact is that we are a witness that a cloud of sadness is passing over us. There is anger – we can simply be a witness. There is no need to say, ”I am angry.” We are never angry – there is no way for we to be angry – we are always a witness. The anger comes and goes; we are just a mirror. Things come, get reflected, move – and the mirror remains empty and clean, unscratched by the reflections. Witnessing is finding our inside mirror. And once we have found it, miracles start happening.
When we are simply witnessing the thoughts, thoughts disappear. Then there is suddenly a tremendous silence we have never known. When we are watching the moods – anger, sadness, and happiness – we suddenly disappear and an even greater silence is experienced. And when there is nothing to watch – then the revolution. Then the witnessing energy turns upon itself because there is nothing to prevent it; there is no object left. The word ”object” is beautiful. It simply means that which prevents us, objects us. When there is no object to our witnessing, it simply comes around back to us – to the source. And this is the point where one becomes enlightened.

Meditation is only a path: the end is always buddhahood, enlightenment. And to know this moment is to know all. Then there is no misery, no frustration, and no meaninglessness; then life is no longer an accident. It becomes part of this cosmic whole – an essential part. And a tremendous bliss arises that this whole existence needs us.
Man’s greatest need is to be needed. If somebody needs us, we feel gratified. But if the whole existence needs us, then there is no limit to our bliss. And this existence needs even a small blade of grass as much as the biggest star. There is no question of inequality. Nobody can substitute for us. If we are not there, then existence will be something less and will remain always something less – it will never be full. That feeling –that this whole immense existence is in need of us– takes all miseries away from us. For the first time, we have come home.

क्या निर्वाण के भी प्रकार हैं ?

2010-07-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

क्या निर्वाण के भी प्रकार हैं ?

कच्चा फल भी वृक्ष से लगा है, अधपका फल भी वृक्ष से लगा है- अगर हम वृक्ष से लगे होने को ध्यान में रखें तो दोनों में कोई फर्क नहीं है | फर्क इतना ही है कि अधपका पहल पकने के करीब आ रहा है, कच्चा फल बहुत दूर है | मगर दोनों वृक्ष से लगे हैं | निर्वाण तो एक ही क्षण में घट जाता है | लेकिन एक व्यक्ति है जिसने कभी धयान नहीं किया, प्रेम नहीं किया- कच्चा फल है | वो भी अभी संसार में है | फिर किसी ने धयान किया, प्रेम किया - वो भी अभी टूट नहीं गया है , अभी वो भी पक कर गिर नहीं गया है, वो भी संसार में है | अगर संसार में ही होने को देखें, तो दोनों संसार में हैं | लेकिन अगर उस भविष्य कि घटना को हम ख्याल में रखें तो एक कुछ कदम आगे बड़ा है गिरने के करीब, और दूसरा अभी बहुत दूर खड़ा है | एक कच्चा फल है, एक अधपका फल है |

बोद्धों के विचार में ध्यान की तीन अवस्थाएं हैं:

झिन्माई: पहली अवस्था में शून्यता उत्पन्न होती है | काम कुछ भी करते रहो, भीतर एक शून्यभाव छाया रहता है | जापान में उसे झिन्माई कहतें है | कभी कभी खुद को भी पता नहीं चलती वो अवस्था; क्योंकि बड़ी महीन और सूक्ष्म है , और अचेतन तल पर होती है | ध्यान करने वाले व्यक्ति को अक्सर हो जाती है झिन्माई | मतलब उसका इतना है कि वैसा व्यक्ति बाहर काम भी करता रहता है, लेकिन बाहर उसका रस नहीं रह जाता | बोलता है, उठता है, बैठता है, दूकान करता है, लेकिन रस उसका बाहर खो गया होता है | बस कर रहा होता है | कर्तव्य निभाता है | सारा रस भीतर चला गया है , और भीतर एक शून्य का अनुभव होने लगा है, जैसे कुछ भी नहीं है ; एक शांति गहन होने लगी है | यह पहली अवस्था है |

सतोरी: दूसरी अवस्था तब आती है जब यह शून्य कभी- कभी इतना प्रगाढ़ हो जाता है कि इस शून्य का बोध होता है , जागरण होता है | अचानक एक क्षण को जैसे बिजली कौंध जाये , ऐसा भीतर शून्य कौंध जाता है |मगर ऐसी कौंध कौंधती है, समाप्त हो जाती है | इस अवस्था को झेन में सतोरी कहतें हैं | सतोरी कई घट सकती हैं |

लेकिन इस निर्वाण तक पहुँचने में पहले धयान या प्रेम के माध्यम से एक शून्यता साधी जाएगी ; एक भीतर ठहरना आ जायेगा; बाहर से हटना हो जायेगा ; उर्जा भीतर की तरफ बहने लगेगी; बाहर एक तरह की अनासक्ति छा जाएगी ; करने को सब किया जायेगा लेकिन करने में कोई रस न रह जायेगा ; हो जाये तो ठीक, न हो जाये तो ठीक; सफलता हो कि असफलता, सुख मिले कि दुख- बराबर होगा; व्यक्ति ऐसे जीएगा जैसे नाटक में अभिनेता; अभिनय करेगा बस |
निर्वाण के पहले ये तीन घटनाएं घटती हैं | पहले एक सातत्य बनता है भीतर अचेतन मन में; फिर चेतन में झलकें आनी शुरू होती हैं ; फिर कोई द्वार पर खड़ा होता जाता है; फिर सब खो जाता है | फिर न जानने वाला बचता है न जाना जाने वाला बचता; न ज्ञाता , ने ज्ञेय; न भक्त, न भगवान; फिर वही रह जाता है जो है | कृष्णमूर्ति जिसे कहते हैं that which is | वही रह जाता है| निशब्द ! अनिर्वचनीय ! वही मंजिल है | वही पाना है |

Innocence is the the door

2010-07-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

To live in the moment is innocence, to live without the past is innocence, to live without conclusions is innocence, to function out of the state of not knowing is innocence. And the moment you function out of such tremendous silence, which is not burdened by any past — out of such tremendous stillness, which knows nothing — the experience that happens is beauty.

Whenever you feel beauty — in the rising sun, in the stars, in the flowers, or in the face of a woman or a man — wherever and whenever you feel beauty, watch. And one thing will always be found: you had functioned without mind, you had functioned without any conclusion, you had simply functioned spontaneously.

The moment gripped you, and the moment gripped you so deeply that you were cut off from the past. And when you are cut off from the past, you are cut off from the future automatically because past and future are two aspects of the same coin… The name of the coin is mind..

Innocence is the door. Through innocence you enter into beauty. The more innocent you become, the more existence becomes beautiful. The more knowledgeable you are, the more and more existence is ugly, because you start functioning from conclusions, you start functioning from knowledge.

The moment you know, you destroy all poetry. The moment you know, and think that you know, you have created a barrier between yourself and that which is. Then everything is distorted. Then you don’t hear with your ears, you translate. Then you don’t see with your eyes, you interpret. Then you don’t experience with your heart, you think that you experience. Then all possibility of meeting with existence in immediacy, in intimacy, is lost…

The dewdrop slipping from a lotus leaf, and the morning sun shining on it and creating a small rainbow around it, and the moment is so overwhelming… the dewdrop slipping off the leaf, just on the verge of meeting with the infinite, disappearing into the lake — and it is as if you start slipping, as if your drop starts slipping into the ocean of God.

In the moment of innocence, not knowing, the difference between the observer and the observed evaporates. You are no more separate from that which you are seeing, you are no more separate from that which you are hearing…

Disappear for a moment from your mind — watching, judging, criticizing, believing, disbelieving, for, against…

For a moment, be just an openness, and you will know what innocence is. And in that, you will know what beauty is. Beauty is an experience that happens in innocence.

A comfortable, convenient life

2010-07-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

A comfortable, convenient life is not a real life –
the more comfortable, the less alive.
The most comfortable life is in the grave.
If you are alive there is inconvenience.
If you are alive there are challenges.
If you are alive then every moment you have to face reality, encounter reality.
Every moment you have to be ready to change and to move.
Reality has no security and that is its beauty.
Life has no security and that is its beauty.
Because there is no security, there is adventure.
Because the future is unknown,
nobody knows what is going to happen the next moment.
That’s why there is challenge, growth, adventure.
If you miss adventure, you miss all.
If your life is not that of an adventure, of a search into the unknown,
then you are living in vain. ~ Osho

Follow your Spiritual Guru with Insight

2010-06-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

There are too many preachers and spiritual leaders propagating various methods – we might just lose precious time before realizing we have not reached anywhere. A little peace, slightly better health may have been achieved – no where near to your inner self.

We could get totally confused and lose precious time in trying the extensive ways offered to us. Could become a mix (khichdi) of the wrong kind. We in our innocence having spent so much time doing various sadhanas (methods) wait for the right opening. We may just end up feeling very disillusioned.

Without the right understanding, though we spend hours praying; required purifications do not take place. All our innumerable methods of praying, meditations, scripture reading, chanting, satsangs, seva, yogic kriya; are only various methods used for our own purifications – not directly related with God.

We all know; without the right purity of – bhao, heart, mind, body, soul – it is impossible to be anywhere near the divine powers.

We as normal humans have no insight to recognize the right form of guru.
Whosoever is your spiritual Guru, Are you following him/her blindly? Are you with your natural self? Consider the following quotes of Osho and decide yourself:

"So always remember, whatsoever I say to you, you can take it in two ways. You can simply take it on my authority, "Because I say so, it must be true" -- then you will suffer, then you will not grow. Whatsoever I say, listen to it, try to understand it, implement it in your life, see how it works, and then come to your own conclusions. They may be the same, they may not be. They can never be exactly the same because you have a different personality, a unique being. Whatsoever I am saying is my own. It is bound to be in deep ways rooted in me. You may come to similar conclusions, but they cannot be exactly the same. So my conclusions should not be made your conclusions. You should try to understand me, you should try to learn, but you should not collect knowledge from me, you should not collect conclusions from me. Then your mind body will grow."

Swami Ramdev Light Exercises - Suksham Vayama

2010-06-15T02:58:00.000-07:00

To keep the joints of the body healthy and to give strength and flexibility to the ligaments and keep them disease-free, practice the following exercises regularly:

Sit in Dhandasan position:

METHOD:

All asanas that are done sitting down are started from the position of Dandasan. Keep both feet together stretched out in front. The palms of both hands should be touching the ground firmly on both sides of the waist. Fingers should be pointing backwards. Keep waist and hands straight and do as directed below.

1. For your toes: Bend the toes of both the feet forward with force. In the same way, also bend them backwards. Keep the heels stable. Do this 8-10 times.

2. For heels and the entire leg: Press the entire feet along with the heels forward and backward. While pressing forward and backward, the heel will rub against the floor. This exercise is very helpful for sciatica pain as well as for the knees.

3. For the feet: Keep both feet at a distance. First rotate the right foot in a circular motion in one direction. Repeat this for 5-7 times. The do the same thing in the opposite direction. Now repeat the whole exercise with the left foot. After that do it with both feet together at the same time.

4. For knees and hips:

(a) Bend your right leg and place it on the left thigh. Hold the right feet with the left hand and hold the right knee with the right hand. Now putting your right hand below the right knee, lift the knee so that it touches the chest. In the same way, do it in the opposite direction too by placing the left leg on the right thigh. In the end, holding both feet with the hands, make the knees touch the floor and then lift them up

. (b)Titli Asan (Butterfly): Bend both legs at the knee, join both feet together at the soles and bring them to near the joint of the thighs. Now move your knees up and down like the wings of a butterfly for 2 minutes. This is very beneficial for giving strength to the hips and to reduce the fat accumulated there.this will also help me

5. For the knees:

(a) Keep both legs straight and keep hands on the waist. Do Akunchan and Prasaran kriyas by tightening and releasing the knee heads. After this join interlock the fingers of the hands and hold the thighs. Now bring the legs towards your hips and while doing a cycling motion, trace out a circle resembling the number ‘0’ in front. Now do it in the opposite direction (that is, if you did it clockwise, now do anti-clockwise)

(b) Stand straight. Press both heels and both knees together. Keeping both hands on the knees, first rotate towards the right and then towards the left in a circular motion. Repeat this execise for 5-7 times. This is good for the knees.

6. For the stomach and waist:

(a) Grinding: Interlock the fingers of both hands and keep them on top of the legs in front. Now rotate the hands from right to left in such a way that the waist bends forward and the hands touch the toes while moving in a circular motion. When the hands come to the thighs, bend the waist backwards. Keep the legs straight and steady. Now repeat this from the other direction.

(b) Spread your legs a bit open in front. Keep both hands at shoulder level in front of you. Touch the left toe with the right hand and rotate the left hand straight backward like a mountain. Also rotate the neck towards the left and look backwards. In the same way, repeat it from the other direction. These two exercises give relief in lower backache and the stomach too becomes healthy. At the same time it also reduces fat accumulation at the waist. However, if someone is suffering from severe backache, he or she should not do these exercises.

7. For the back: with each hand hold the other hand’s wrist and take it upwards behind the head. Inhaling, with the right hand pull the left hand towards the right behind the head. Keep head and neck still. Exhaling take the hands up. In the same way, do it in the opposite direction.

8. For fingers of the hand:

(a: Spread both hands below you, keeping the shoulders straight. Then fold the joints of the fingers with force and then straighten.

(b) Then make tight fists enclosing the thumb and then gradually release. Do this for 10-12 times.

9. For the whole arm and for cervical spondolytis and frozen shoulders: Keep both hands straight in front of you at the same level with the shoulders and make fists enclosing the thumb. Now move the fists in a circular motion in both directions. Elbows should remain straight

10.For the elbows:

(a) Keep both arms in front of you with the palms upwards. Now touch your shoulders by bending your elbows. Slowly straighten once again.

(b) Then keep your arms straight at shoulder level on both sides with palms up. Now touch your shoulders from the sides by bending your elbows.

11.For heart, cervical and shoulder pain:

(a) Fold both hands and touch the shoulders. Elbows should be in front at shoulder level. Now join both elbows in front of the chest and with circular motion, trace out a big zero. Do this in the opposite direction too

. (b) Make fists with both hands and hold them near your chest in such a way so that the lower part of the fingers touch each other. Now, inhaling, straighten the arms in front of you. Keep in mind the fingers are in touch with each other and not separated. After the arms are straight in front of you, exhale and bring the arms close to your chest again. In this way, repeat a number of times.

12. For the neck:

(a) Sitting straight, rotate your neck towards the right, touching the right shoulder. In the same way, touch the left shoulder. Now bend the neck forward and touch the chest with the chin. Now slowly bend backwards according to the best of your ability. Next rotate your neck in a circular movement in both directions alternatively.

(b) Hold your right hand against the right side of your head over the ear and push. Push your hand too with your head. Pressing the hand with the head and head with the hand makes the neck tremble. After doing this for 4-5 times, repeat on left side.

(c) After this, interlock the fingers of the hand and hold them behind the head. Now press your head with the fingers and press the fingers with the head. While doing this the head and neck remains straight. This pushing in opposite direction will only bring about a tremble which will help in blood circulation in the neck and keep it healthy.

13.For the eyes: Move the pupils of the eyes first up and down and then left and right. Then move in a circle, left to right.

Wonders of Pranayama: Stay Fit with Swami Ramdev 45 Minute Pranayama

2010-06-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

Pranayama arouses the internal energy of a person and makes him healthy, balanced and active. Swami Ramdev advises the seven-step pranayama package for a healthy, and stress free living.

The whole process takes around 45 minutes and the duration can be increased up to two hours also. Morning time is ideal for its practice. Take bath and wear loose clothes. Sit straight; keep the neck and head absolutely straight. The body should be stable and spine should be straight. This seven-step pranayam package can be followed daily in the given sequence.

1.Bhastrika Pranayama

Procedure : Sit in a comfortable Asana. Breathe in through both the nostrils forcefully, till the lungs are full and diaphragm is stretched. Then breathe out forcefully also.Take deep breaths and then completely breathe out.

Duration : 2 mins atleast. 5 mins max.

Benefits : heart, lungs, brain, depression, migraine, paralysis, neural system, aabha aabha, tej, obesity, constipation, gastric, acidity, Croesus (liver), hepatitis B, uterus, diabetes, stomach problems, cholesterol, allergic problems, asthma, snoring, concentration, and even cancer and AIDS.

Bhastrika Pranayama : click here for deailed description

2. Kapal Bhati Pranayama

Procedure : Push air forcefully out. Stomach will itself go in.

Duration : Start with 30 times or 1 min. increase upto 5 mins min. upto 10 mins max.

Benefits : increases aabha and tej. helps in obesity, constipation, gastric, acidity, Croesus(liver), hepatitis B, uterus, diabetes, stomach problems, cholesterol, allergic problems, asthma, snoring, concentration, and even cancer and AIDS.

Tips : Heart and high BP patients, and weak people do it slowly.

Swamiji says “dharti ki sanjivini hai kapal-bhati pranayam” and that it “cures all diseases of world”..

Kapal Bhati Pranayama : click here for detailed description

3. Bahaya Pranayam

Procedure : Breathe air out, touch chin to chest, squeeze stomach completely and hold for a while. then release chin, breathe in slowly. Repeat the process.

Duration : Beginners should perform Bahya Pranayama 3 to 5 times. Advanced practitioners can do 11 repetitions.However, in the winter, advance practitioners can do up to 21 repetitions

Benefits :Good for hernia, stomach ailments, uterus prolapse and all urinary and prostate problems. Channels the energy of the root lock hernia,

Tips : People with hypertension and heart problem should avoid performing Bahya Pranayama.

Bahaya Pranayama : click here for detailed description

4. Anulom Vilom Pranayama

Procedure : Hold your right nasal with thumb, breathe in from left. Now open right nasal and close left nasal with middle and ring finger and breathe out from right nasal. Now breathe in from right nasal. Now close right nasal and open left and breathe out and in from left nasal. and so on.

Duration : atleast 10 mins.

Benefits : heart, high BP, heart blockage, vat-cuf-pit, arthritis, cartilage, bent ligaments, sinual fluid reduced, parkinson, paralysis, neural related, depression, migraine pain, asthma, sinus, allergy

Tips : breathe into lungs not to stomach. no organ in stomach absorb oxygen. Do not hurry. Do it slowly. Rest whenever needed (in any pranayam).

Anulom Vilom Pranayama : click here for detailed description

5. Bharamari Pranayam

Procedure : Close ears with thumb, index finger on forehead, and rest three on base of nose touching eyes. Breathe in. And now breathe out through nose while humming like a bee.

Duration : 10 mins

Benefits : tension, hypertension, high BP, heart, heart blockage, paralysis, migraine pain, confidence, concentration

Duration/repetitions: Beginners may practice Bhramari three times and advanced practitioners for 11-21 times.

Bharamari Pranayama : click here for detailed description

6. Udgeeth Pranayama

Procedure : Inhalation and exhalation should be long, slow, soft and subtle. Inhale slowly and when ready to exhale, chant Om slowly and steadily. With practice, lengthen each breath to one-minute, that is, to say inhalation and exhalation should total one-minute of time. Visualize the breath entering and moving inside the body.

Duration : 10 mins or more

Benefits : Good for insomnia and for deepening the quality of sleep and relieving bad dreams. Helps the mind to become one-pointed and facilitate the practice of conscious sleep (Yoga Nidra).

Udgeeth Pranayama : click here for detailed description

7. Pranav Pranayama

Procedure : Close your eyes and sit quitely. Breathe in naturally. Duration : 2-3 mins or more.

Purpose:

Spiritual development and to widen your perspective so that you begin to realise the One In All and the All In One – the constant universal vibration AUM/OM, which is found in every single minutest atom.

Benefits : meditation

Pranav Pranayama : click here for detailed description

Taken from http:/atmabodh.net

House at Kashani - My NativeVllage

2010-06-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Meditation - Simply Silence

2010-06-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Meditation is nothing but withdrawing all the barriers — thoughts, emotions, sentiments — which create a wall between you and existence. The moment they drop, you suddenly find yourself in tune with the whole; not only in tune, you really find you are the whole.

When a dewdrop slips from a lotus leaf into the ocean it does not find that it is part of the ocean, it finds it isthe ocean. And to find it is the ultimate goal, the ultimate realization. There is nothing beyond it.

Buddha, seeing what had happened to Jainism, that it had become ritualism, dropped God, he dropped all rituals, and single-pointedly insisted on meditation. But he forgot that the priests who had created rituals in Jainism are going to do the same with meditation.

And they did it, they made Buddha himself a God. They talk about meditation but basically Buddhists are worshipers of Buddha — they go to the temple and instead of Krishna or Christ, there is Buddha's statue. God was not there, ritual was difficult — around meditation, ritual was difficult. They created a statue and they started saying, in the same way all religions have been doing, "Have faith in Buddha, have trust in Buddha and you will be saved."

Both the revolutions were lost. I would like that what I am doing is not lost. So I am trying in every possible way to drop all those things which in the past have been barriers for the revolution to continue and grow. I don't want anybody to stand between the individual and existence. No prayer, no priest; you alone are enough to face the sunrise, you don't need somebody to interpret for you what a beautiful sunrise it is.

You are here, every individual is here, the whole existence is available.

All that you need is just to be silent and listen to existence.

There is no need of any religion, there is no need of any God, there is no need of any priesthood, there is no need of any organization.

I trust in the individual categorically. Nobody up to now has trusted in the individual in such a way. So all things can be removed.

Now all that has been left to you is a state of meditation, which simply means a state of utter silence.

The word meditation makes it look heavier. It is better to call it just a simple, innocent silence and existence opens all its beauties to you.

And as it goes on growing, you go on growing, and there comes a moment when you have reached the very peak of your potentiality — you can call it Buddhahood, enlightenment, bhagwatta, godliness, whatever — it has no name, so any name will do.

-- Osho

KRISHNA : A COMPLETE INCARNATION OF GOD

2010-05-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

There is no other reason but one, and that is total emptiness. Whosoever is empty is whole. Emptiness is the foundation of wholeness. Rightly said, emptiness alone is whole. Can you draw a half emptiness? Even geometry cannot draw a half zero; there is no such thing as a half zero. Zero or emptiness is always complete, whole. Part-emptiness has no meaning whatsoever. How can you divide emptiness? And how can it be called emptiness if it is divided into parts?

Emptiness is irreducible, indivisible. And where division begins, numbers begin; therefore, number one follows zero. One, two and three belong to the world of numbers. And all numbers arise from zero and end in zero. Zero or emptiness alone is whole. He is whole who is empty. And it is significant that Krishna is called whole, because this man is absolutely empty. And only he who is choiceless can be empty.

One who chooses becomes something. he accepts being somebody, he accepts ”somebodiness”. If he says he is a thief, he will become somebody; his emptiness will be no more. If he says he is a saint, then also is his emptiness destroyed. This person has accepted to be something, to be somebody. Now ”somebodiness” has entered and ”nothingness” is lost.
If someone asks Krishna who he is, he cannot answer the question meaningfully. Whatever answer he gives will bring choice in, and it will make something or somebody of him. If one really wants to be all, he must be prepared to be nothing.

Zen monks have a code, a maxim among themselves. They say, ”One who longs to be everywhere must not be anywhere.” One who wants to be all cannot afford to be anything. How can he be something? There is no congruity between all and something; they don’t go together. Choicelessness brings you to emptiness to nothingness. Then you are what you are, but you cannot say who you are, what vou are. It is for this reason that, when Arjuna asks Krishna who he is, instead of answering his question, he reveals himself, his real being to him. In that revelation he is all and everything. The deepest significance of his being whole lies in his utter emptiness.

One who is something or somebody will be in difficulty. His very being something will become his bondage. Life is mysterious; it has its own laws. If I choose to be something, this ”something” will become my prison. Krishna is complete in another sense: his life encompasses all there is to life. It seems impossible how a single life could contain so much – all of life.

Krishna has assimilated all that is contradictory, utterly contradictory in life. He has absorbed all the contradictions of life. You cannot find a life more inconsistent than Krishna’s. There is a consistency running through the life of Jesus. So is Mahavira’s life consistent. There is a logic, a rhythm, a harmonic system in the life of Buddha. If you can know a part of Buddha you will know all of him.Krishna’s wholeness lies in the fact that he has no personality of his own, that he is not a person, an individual – he is existence itself. He is just existence; he is just emptiness. You can say he is like a mirror; he just mirrors everything that comes before him. He just mirrors.

And when you see yourself mirrored in him, you think Krishna is like you. But the moment you move away from him, he is empty again. And whosoever comes to him, whosoever is reflected in his mirror thinks the same way and says Krishna is like him. For this very reason there are a thousand ommentaries on the GEETA. Every one of the commentators saw himself reflected in the GEETA.

(Taken from the Osho's Book Krishana : The Man and His Philosophy)

Virtues of Krishna : Relevant To Our Time

2010-05-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

Krishna is utterly incomparable, he is so unique. Firstly, his uniqueness lies in the fact that although Krishna happened in the ancient past he belongs to the future, is really of the future. Man has yet to grow to that height where he can be a contemporary of Krishna’s. He is still beyond man’s understanding; he continues to puzzle and battle us. Only in some future time will we be able to understand him and appreciate his virtues. And there are good reasons for it. The most important reason is that Krishna is the sole great man in our whole history who reached the absolute height and depth of religion, and yet he is not at all serious and sad, not in tears. By and large, the chief characteristic of a religious person has been that he is somber, serious and sad-looking – like one vanquished in the battle of life, like a renegade from life. In the long line of such sages it is Krishna alone who comes dancing, singing and laughing. Religions of the past were all life-denying and masochistic, extolling sorrow and suffering as great virtues. If you set aside Krishna’s vision of religion, then every religion of the past presented a sad and sorrowful face. A laughing religion, a religion that accepts life in its totality is yet to be born. And it is good that the old religions are dead, along with them, that the old God, the God of our old concepts is dead too. It is said of Jesus that he never laughed. It was perhaps his sad look and the picture of his physical form on the cross that became the focal point of at traction for people, most of whom are themselves unhappy and miserable. In a deep sense Mahavira and Buddha are against life too.
They are in favor of some other life in some other world; they support a kind of liberation from this life. Every religion, up to now, has divided life into two parts, and while they accept one part they deny the other, Krishna alone accepts the whole of life. Acceptance of life in its totality has attained full fruition in Krishna. That is why India held him to be a perfect incarnation of God, while all other incarnations were assessed as imperfect and incomplete. Even Rama is described as an incomplete incarnation of God. But Krishna is the whole of God.

(Taken from the Osho's Book Krishana : The Man and His Philosophy)

Enchanting Himachal: About Himachal

2010-05-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Enchanting Himachal: About Himachal

Awareness and Consciousness

2010-05-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

I'm great follower of Osho. I love his approach toward life:

  "I don't believe in anything.
   I don't have any belief system.
   I don't have any creed, dogma.
   My whole approach is existential.
   One should not have shoulds and should nots.
   One should simply exist spontaneously.
   Live in the moment.
   Be alert, and enjoy whatsoever happens out of that alertness.
   Don't keep an attitude, character, morality, descipline.
   Don't fight with you.
   Don't try to make a structure around you of character, of morality.
   Don't descipline you too much. Move with the situation,
   respond to the situtaion. Remain loose and natural, floating.
   Don't try to impose any thing on you, your being.
   If you are too much cultured you will loose all that is natutal.
   Then you will be a machenical thing, not floating not flowing.
   Live moment to moment. Live with alertness.
   Be aware and conscious." -

Osho

2010-05-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

Kshitij had the BITSAT test at Mohali, so whole family were with him. Did some shopping for Kshamta from Chandigarh and in the evening had dinner with brother at Panchkula.

Hello World-Healthy Life Style

2010-05-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

Attended two day Naional Conference ( राष्ट्रीय संगोष्टी) on Bhartiya swastiya Chintan (भारतीय स्वस्थ्य चिंतन at Hotel Peterhoff in Shimla. It was about promoting indian system of medicines, our traditional system of attaining and maintaing optimum health.Following the seminar for Healthy Life Style these points emerged:

Early to bed, Early to rise is still golden rule.
Late Good Morning invites problems like incomlete defacation, acidity, and hurrying in all day activities.
All meals well in time and regular intervals is key of Good Health, of cource, balanced diet which must include raw seasonal raw seasonal fruits and vegetables, sprouts raw and roasted cereals, milk curd.
You cannot expect clean bowel in morning after having a late night dinner. Food at very large interval makes you weak and invites acidity.
Minimum 30 minutes walk and exercise to move all joints everyday helps in all way. Jogging, sports activity ( tradition kabbadi, Kho Kho, gilli danda are equally effective) are the keys of fitness. Walking is easiest and most efffective way of physical fitness.
Participatin in family functions, festivals social gatherings, community activitiea makes you happy and provides mantal peace and social security.
Live each and every moment of life. Happiness is in small things in daily routine are bigger than the grand goals.
Faith in God and Natural justice maintains mental peacd and relieves fear.