The Concert of the Body!

The concert of our body!

Our bodyis like a unimaginably and incalculably evolved and complex machine with all macro and micro systems working in tandem 24/7. All organs working perfectly in Symphony always. The pulse rate, heart rate, body temp, digestion all working at the same speed always. Even the speed of actions, speech and thoughts also works in the same harmony. The mind as well. This is the Concert of the body and the mind.

And the Maestro of the Concert is Sir "Breath".

The speed of the breathing can be manipulated to speed up or slow up the body to meet the requirement of the occassion, whether it be relaxation or Exertion.

Nowadays stress keep up almost always at the higher side of the equilibrium.
Being forever on the high, results later on in life as 'adrenal fatigue', reulting in weight gain, fatigue, depression and the beginning of a hundred diseases such as sugar, bp, heart issues even cancers.

Therefore the body's equilibrium, known as 'Homeostasis' should be brought down to a lower level of exertion, its natural level.

The easiest way to do it is control breath by 'Deep Breathing '.  The deep and slow breathing with a pause between in-out and out-in restores the natural state within few minutes.
Now the body is relaxed and calm, out of the "Fight or flight mode". Now awareness, observations, thoughtfulness and intelligence increase, one step towards happiness.
In this state we do not react, but we respond with thought, resulting in much better results with much less effort. The result is Success.
The tweak is also very helpful before a speech, interview, negotiation, wherever anxiety etc is common.

So when feeling anxiety, anger, stress, fear and tension always remember to deep breath.
The best way to deep breath is 6-3-6-3.
As explained earlier, 6 second inhale, 3 pause, 6 exhale and 3 pause.
Do it in a silent atmosphere and see immediate results.
Wish you a Happier life!

Yog: Doing it the right way!

Yog is the best and most effective way of good health and we Indians are the.most privileged people due to the early exposure to Yog. Still, while a good number of people have adopted yog in their lives, very few of them  are found reaping the wonderful benefits of Yog in their lives. Are we doing it right? Let us find out.

What is Yog?
Yog is not an set of exercises, but a complete package of steps to take a person to his final goal of Self-realization .

The earliest treatise of Yog is 'Yog-Sutra' of Patanjali.
The very first line of Yog-Sutra says, "Yogashchittavrittinirodh" i.e. Yog is the way to free mind from its nature and the nature of mind is memories, ego, emotions etc.

The Yog is said to be Ashtanga Yog, I.e. Of 8 stages.
A person evolves through these 8 stages to the final goal.

The eight stages are as follows,
1. Yama (Principles or moral code)

Ahimsa -  non-violence in word action or thought
Satya - Truthfulness
Asteya - non stealing, honesty, integrity
Brahmacharya -  Celibacy
Aparigah -  non-hoarding or non
possessiveness

2. Niyam (Personal Disciplines)

Shoucha - Purity of body and mind
Santosh - Contentment
Tap - Endurance
Swadhyay - Self study
Eshwar Pranidhan - Surrender to God.

3. Asan: postures to heal, strengthen the body and the energy paths

4. Pranayam
Strengthening and control of Pran (energy) through breath

5. Pratyahar (Withdrawal of Senses)
The preparatory stage to Dharna

6. Dharana (Concentration on Object)
Concentration of mind on one object or thought.

7. Dhyan (Meditation)
With drawing mind from all external objects and Focusing it
on one point and meditating on it.

8. Samadhi (Salvation)
State of Super bliss, joy and merging individual
consciousness in to universal consciousness. Union
between Jivatman and Paramatman. Union of Shiva and
Shakti in Sahasrar Chakra (the top of the head). Realizing the Bramhan (pure consciousness) or Realization of God is the ultimate achievement of Human Birth.

So friends, now that we understand the full glory and scope of Yog, we also see that the procedures that we follow also need improvement.

Yam being tge first stage is also the foremost and the first Yam of non violence is of the utmost importance.
As long as we carry anger, hate, envy and complaints towards almost each and every one we know, the stage of Pratyahar or beyond is closed to us and even Asans and Pranayam will not heal the body as the root causes keep existing.
A mind full of issues will face the same issues even with closed eyes, theofore it is much more important to resolve all these issue before we seriously go forward in the journey of Self discovery.
In Zen they say, " In the journey of the world, everyday we pick up something, in the journey of Self-realization, everyday we drop something."
Anger, the first thing to be dropped can only be dropped by compassion and compassion can not enter the mind, till the mind space is cleared by cleaning the issues and grievances we hold, which can only be done by forgiveness. I have already written detailed articles on forgiveness on this blog.

So friends, see the wonder of Yog by following the correct path with forgiveness being the very first step.

Heaven and Hell!

Where lies the Heaven, Where lies the Hell?

If Mind is happy then this same world is heaven,
If Mind is unhappy then this same world is Hell!

Be happy, make this world your Paradise.

The Richest man!

Once I met the richest man of the world. I asked him, "How much do you have?"
He said, "Enough."

The story of Adam and Eve: another interpretation

The story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Paradise of Eden or the "Original Sin" is no doubt the most well known story of all times. While it is universally accepted that their expulsion was on account of the disobedience to God's word, a deeper scrutiny unravels an altogether different message, a coded message.

Recall the picture. It shows the first male and first female standing under a tree, one on each side. Sometimes they are shown holding the forbidden fruit, while satan is shown to be present in form of a snake to lure them. The sanke is shown coming down the tree. The fruit which was their folly, their fall from the divine to the humane, from the immortal to the mortal, from bliss to pain, hunger, thirst and so on.

Now let us try a different view. Let us recall the oriental knowledge of 'Kundalini'. The kundalini is the immense untapped energy, shown as a coiled snake, which when unlocked and channelized to the highest 'chakra', opens the door of divinity for the humans. The door to bliss and immortality.
There are said to be three channels of energy, 'Ida', 'Pingala' and 'Sushumna'. Ida starting on left side is the feminine, Pingala on the right side is the masculine, and sushumna is the middle path to the divinity.
So, to summarize,  the energy of the snake when taken upwards through the middle path of sushumna makes a human divine.
In my post on The interpretation of the form of Shiva that we worship is also shown in this light.
The same message is being given in the story of Adam and Eve in the reverse way. Here also a male and female on sides of a tree, which symbolizes the spinal cord holding the tree like brain, while a snake is shown coming down. The message is the downward movement of the energy of kundalini metamorphosing the divine to the human.

So, the Oriental says that the Rise of the snake( kundalini)  gives the divine knowledge while,
The biblical story gives the same message in the reverse way, that the coming down of the snkae locks the divine knowledge and subjects the immortal blissful divine to humanity and the perils of hunger, lust, mortality and sorrow.

A wonderful example of the unity of the most guarded knowledge!

P.S. - 'Caduceus' is the symbol of the medical profession world over. It is said to be the staff held by greek god 'Hermes'. Hermes was also said to be first teacher of the Alchemy. Now, take a look at caduceus, which seems to be telling the same story symbolically. More on this later.

Adam and Eve: A different interpretation!

The story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Paradise of Eden or the "Original Sin" is no doubt the most well known story of all times. While it is universally accepted that their expulsion was on account of the disobedience to God's word, a deeper scrutiny unravels an altogether different message, a coded message.

Recall the picture. It shows the first male and first female standing under a tree, one on each side. Sometimes they are shown holding the forbidden fruit, while satan is shown to be present in form of a snake to lure them. The sanke is shown coming down the tree. The fruit which was their folly, their fall from the divine to the humane, from the immortal to the mortal, from bliss to pain, hunger, thirst and so on.

Now let us try a different view. Let us recall the oriental knowledge of 'Kundalini'. The kundalini is the immense untapped energy, shown as a coiled snake, which when unlocked and channelized to the highest 'chakra', opens the door of divinity for the humans. The door to bliss and immortality.
There are said to be three channels of energy, 'Ida', 'Pingala' and 'Sushumna'. Ida starting on left side is the feminine, Pingala on the right side is the masculine, and sushumna is the middle path to the divinity.
So, to summarize,  the energy of the snake when taken upwards through the middle path of sushumna makes a human divine.
The same message is being given in the story of Adam and Eve in the reverse way. Here also a male and female on sides of a tree, which symbolizes the spinal cord holding the tree like brain, while a snake is shown coming down. The message is the downward movement of the energy of kundalini metamorphosing the divine to the human.

So, the Oriental says that the Rise of the snake( kundalini)  gives the divine knowledge while,
The biblical story gives the same message in the reverse way, that the coming down of the snkae locks the divine knowledge and subjects the immortal blissful divine to humanity and the perils of hunger, lust, mortality and sorrow.

A wonderful example of the unity of the sacred and guarded knowledge!