Be drunk all the time!

Questioner: I do attend a lot of courses in yoga but when I get back, I go back to my old self. I’m not at peace. How do I sustain the benefits I derive from this class onto my daily life? Is there anything wrong with enjoying a good drink? Because even doctors say a drink a day is probably good for you.

Sadhguru: The wise said, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ When did it change from the apple? An apple a day keeps the doctor away, a drink a day keeps the doctor with you. I’m not surprised if the doctor is saying that!

With a good drink in the night definitely you will not have enthusiasm to do yoga in the morning. Right now the drink whatever variety of drink you have: wine or whiskey, is just soothing you a little bit. It’s playing on your chemistry to make you feel peaceful and relaxed. If a small quantity of it is so relaxing, then if you drink a bucket of it you must be really relaxed. But it doesn’t work like that.

A little more drink, suddenly makes people violent and uncontrollable. Things that they wouldn’t have done in their life, they have done just because they had one more drink than they should have had. Lots of crime happened because they had one extra. So the question is not about, ‘Is this wrong or is this right?’ I’m not talking about this in moralistic standpoint. Are you for life or against life? That’s the fundamental question. If you are, for life, what is it that you call as life?

Right now, you know you are alive because you are alert enough. Suppose you fell asleep, would do you know whether you are alive or dead? All your experience has disappeared. So, essentially in your experience of life, awareness is equivalent life. The experience of life is such that, only what you are aware of exists for you, rest does not exist for you. Right now, you are sitting here, there is a huge tusker behind you; such a big animal. Any kind of intoxication, it doesn’t matter what kind, lowers your awareness. Why is it said that you shouldn’t drive after drinking? It is because it lowers your awareness.

If you become fully aware instead of existing here as a piece of creation, as a piece of flesh and blood, you will exist as the creator himself. That is the choice you have. Either you live here as just a piece of creation or you live here as the creator himself.

So, if you want to exist as a creator, your awareness has to spread. However, your depressions, unhappiness, confusions, alcohol, all are acting as hurdles to this attainment. So, if you are seeking only a bit of pleasure, I’m not against it. Wouldn’t you however, be interested if I give you an opportunity to have a much bigger pleasure? If I taught you how to be drunk all the time yet remain fully alert? If yes, you are for life.

It’s just that whatever yoga you did, it works only for those who practice. That’s the problem with yoga. I think it’s so with anybody. If you go to a doctor, it works only if you take the medicine that he gives you. Even the drink - it works only if you drink it - right? So, I’m not against drink, I’m not against pleasure. I just think it’s a pity that human beings are settling for such small pleasures when something far bigger is possible. I can have you drunk all the time. Free, no hangover and no doctor!
by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

bookswim

DONNA MERKLE tells us: "I am disabled and at times I am either on bedrest or am housebound because of the weather. I have lots of friends and family that will stop by or call, but when they all go home, the phone stops ringing for the night, and it's just me and the cats, I love knowing that I can always curl up with a good book. Book Swim gives me the option of what I want to read, when I want to read it. I love seeing the package outside of my door or someone will come walking in and say, "Hey, guess what I found outside your door?" This is one service for the disabled that is well worth every penny."

Pranic Healing for Body, Mind and Soul

In Pranic healing, we believe that we are all made of ‘prana’ or life-force that runs through our body, like water and sponge, and also envelopes it. The stronger and healthier our prana, the bigger, more spread out and more potent this energy field around us, also called the “energy body”.

One of the basic tools of pranic healing is the ability to feel and analyse this energy body. In a process called ‘ scanning ’, a healer’s hands, made sensitive by experience and concentration, can make out which areas of the body and mind are lacking in energy and so, fairing poorly.

Pranic healing is accomplished through very simple procedures which are easy to learn. The first process is ‘cleansing’ - to remove the devitalized, diseased energy in the whole body or in the affected part, and to remove blockages in the energy channels. The second process is ‘energizing’ - to replenish and reinvigorate the body with fresh prana or vital energy.

Pranic healing uses “no drugs or gadgets”. It is non-invasive and requires “no physical contact” with the patient. Physical touch in not required while healing, because the practitioner applies pranic healing on the energy body, rather than on the physical body. It has no side effects. However, it must be emphasized that Pranic Healing is not meant to replace the allopathic system of medicine, but in fact to complement and supplement it. It can be effectively combined with any other form of treatment. It can be used for self healing and healing other people even thousand miles away.

There is a lot more to Pranic Healing than just healing part. It not only makes you aware of the aura around the human body - the 'chakras' (energy centers) and their effects on our health, but also teaches us how to feel or scan the aura and determine which parts of the chakras may be affected. By learning about energy, we become more conscious about its ubiquitous presence, be it in people, buildings or even objects. Just by recognizing the existence of energy, we learn the possibilities of the healing process and bring in harmony and productivity to every aspect of our lives. Pranic Healers
around the world have started using Pranic Healing for their businesses, homes, relationships, projects and studies with fantastic results.
by MCKS Yoga Vidya Pranic Healing Karuna Wellness Centre

Jade. Versatile and Stable

A long long time ago, China was brutally invaded by the Tartars, who were so cruel to the people that the Dragons shed tears. Those tears became jade, revered as the most auspicious healing stone in China and till today sought after for its powers.

At its most fundamental, jade soothes. It calms, balances and detoxifies. At other levels it provides heavenly protection from harmful spirits, ushers prosperity, fertility and good luck.

Two basic of varieties of jade are available in a rainbow of colours, jade-ite and nephroite which is becoming increasingly rare. Properties of each colour resonate with the seasons, directions and elements eg Red Jade for the South, exemplifying yang or Fire signs. Chosen on the basis of translucency and texture, jade is much more than ornamental in value. Jade is considered to be a symbol of purity and serenity and works well as a stabilizer and cleanser.

In terms of crystal healing, jade treats the kidneys, removes toxins and heals stitches. As an aid to fertility and childbirth it is connected with the spleen and the hips. Green jade, the most common of all jades helps calm the nervous system and is known to bring harmony between people.

Different colours have been given different attributes by spiritual healers around the world. Blue jade aids meditation and helps people who may be feeling overwhelmed. Brown jade helps to ground a person. Green jade is used to soothe the nerves. Lavender jade helps heal from heartbreak. Orange jade brings joy. Red jade helps release buried anger and resentment. White jade aids better decision making. And hellow jade boosts the energy.

Whichever way you look at jade or in whatever colour you choose, jade works quietly and subtly. The way it has for millions of people down thousands of years.

by Mita Bhan
Source: www.mitabhan.com
Photo: Daniel Tan

Inner Nature

by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

The word nature means that aspect of life which is limited to the perception of the sense organs. Only what you can see, hear, feel, sense taste, smell - that is nature. All the things that we call as nature are physical
. Now, I am using another word called Inner Nature. That doesn’t come in the orbit of nature; it is not a part of the physical nature. Spirituality is about going beyond nature, it is about going beyond the limitation of the five sense organs. If we are limited to only those things which we perceive through five sense organs, our whole involvement with life will only be physical. Nature is physical quantity. It may be in the three different forms of solids, liquids and gases. Air is around you. Water is flowing. Earth is there. Body is there. Blood is there. All this is physical. Now, the material sciences are busy with the physical nature. They go on searching for more and more endlessly. But it is not endless. Anything you pursue on the physical level, somewhere there is an end. Maybe the end is far away. Maybe we can’t see the end right now. But there is an end to it. Whether it is medical science, or physics or chemistry, whatever you take, you go to a certain point and you stop. For example, physics has reached a certain point where it has stopped. Physics is not a growing science anymore. Because we have reached that end point where the physical quantity ends and something else begins. That something else cannot fit into the logical faculty of our perception. That something else cannot be perceived through the five sense organs. It cannot be deduced into this or that. So physicists, they have come up with what is called as fuzzy logic. These are all excuses to be illogical. You don’t want to admit that you are illogical. Because you are a scientist, you can’t be illogical. So, they have come up with what is called fuzzy logic - which is no logic. A poet is not logical. Mystics are not logical. Their scope of life is not limited to the logical mind. It is beyond that. They seek through their experience because they know the logical mind is useless. They seek through their intuition. But a scientist cannot seek through his intuition or through his experience. A physical quantity can never be unlimited. Spirituality is about transcending the limited and going into the unlimited nature. Not settling for the limited. If you want to become spiritual, you have to transcend nature. Only then you become unlimited. In the process of yoga, in any spiritual process, so many practices and other processes have been created to slowly transcend our nature. Gradually, one by one, one by one, you defeat nature. That’s one way. There is another way of simply slipping out of nature; there is no question of defeating. You are just above it. You are above your own physical nature. You have heard of yogis and others. They sit in one place - all needs of the body are forgotten totally. You have heard of many such people sitting for months or years in a place. Now, he has transcended his physical nature. Whatever the limitations of the body - it is no more a limitation for him. He has gone beyond that. All the animals are doing what is natural - eating, drinking etc. If all you want to do is live like any other animal - why do you need a philosophy, why do you need spirituality? You can simply live. You don’t have to evolve a philosophy or read Vedas to co-operate with nature. Nature will make sure that you co-operate. Now, if you have to transcend it, then you need something else. If you want to become a part of it, there is no problem. When you are with nature, slowly you’ll become a part of it. It will absorb you. Somehow, that kind of peace - when night settles, you also become peaceful. If you live in a place where there is no electricity or anything, you know - simply when sun sets, everything becomes quiet including your mind. Simply be in forest for 2 days and see. When the sun sets and everything becomes quiet - you also become quiet. So nature just overtakes you and absorbs you into its fold. That much will happen. But that’s not what we are looking for. We want to go beyond that. We don’t want to settle for nature. Nature means - it wants to perpetuate life. The moment you are born with this body, it has certain needs. It has to eat, it has to sleep, it has needs for certain pleasures. It has a need to reproduce itself. These are all nature’s tricks to keep life going on. Now, even that - man has forgotten because he has become so artificial. He doesn’t even enjoy that. Now, the elephant
you see in the wild here - he simply roams about, eats what he wants, drinks what he wants, he just goes about doing things, he is natural. Nobody taught him any philosophies. Simply he is natural. Man has forgotten that also. He has made himself so unnatural. He has not become super-natural. He has made himself so unnatural that his suffering has become very deep. If he becomes natural, definitely some amount of peace and happiness will enter his mind and heart. Definitely he will be more peaceful and more happy. But he is not totally free from suffering. Going beyond nature is the ultimate deliverance. All yogic processes are only methods to go beyond the limited dimension of nature.

Photo: Michael Lorenzo

Passage of the Guru

Recently I wrote a brief article entitled “Passage to the Guru”. It described a recent retreat I was blessed to take in the company of my master, Avatar Adi Da Samraj, at his hermitage island in Fiji. This one is entitled “Passage of the Guru” since my beloved master unexpectedly passed from the body on November 27, less than two weeks after I returned. He had been in perfect health, and was working in his art studio when he suddenly took his Mahasamadhi. His devotees were in shock. Like hundreds of others from around the world, I immediately headed back to Fiji to participate in an extended vigil. It was a time of both heartbreak and grace. Heartbreak because there was a deep longing for this most precious of beings. And grace because his presence was felt as strongly as ever before. It is said that the passing of a true Realizer is a great wind that blows countless blessings to those open to receiving them. Many of my friends from various countries had remarkable stories of such blessings. What became completely clear was that Adi Da was continuing to teach and instruct his devotees. How is this possible? In Adi Da’s case he left a large number of books, essays, and art. There are DVD’s of his Darshan and CD’s of his discourses. There are temples for devotional worship, and a body of instruction for different phases of spiritual practice. There is a community of devotees around the world who are seriously committed to following the way he has given. But most importantly, his spiritual presence and his state of realization are untouched by the passing of his body. Just as there are millions of people who have a devotional relationship to Krishna, Buddha, Jesus
, or Sai Baba, the presence of Adi Da is a light that continues to burn bright. All that appears before our eyes arises from that which is formless, eternal, infinite, and Divine. Things come and things go. Bodies are born and bodies die. The passing of the guru is a stark reminder that one day each of us will pass, too. Until then will we live as suffering beings that follow our own desires only to be reincarnated for more of the same? Or are we willing to be mastered by a true Realizer (in the body or not) and thus participate in prefect freedom, beyond the reaches of birth and death? This is the question for both Adi Da’s devotees and for aspirants of truth everywhere.

What do you do when you do?

Psychologists say that a person living in western countries never sleeps for more than 14 minutes at a stretch - more often it is less. After 14 minutes he comes back to the dream state or wakeful consciousness or just floats in the dream level. Again he goes back to sleep for a maximum of 14 minutes. Then he comes back to the dream level. Again he goes back to sleep. They call this the rapid eye movement or REM sleep pattern.

You never sleep totally even when you sleep. There are levels of mind in which you will never have dreams. You never need to have any dreams. You can directly enter into deep sleep, if you know how to live in the now, the present moment.
If you know how to live in now, you will know the art of eating, the art of sleeping, and the art of doing everything. That is the art of living.

Can you try to remember one incident from your day in complete detail? You are more dead than alive even when you are awake. You almost live like a man in half sleep. You do things without fully knowing what you do. You do recall brushing your teeth; but do you remember the sensation of cold water in your mouth? Do you remember the feel of the taste of the toothpaste in your mouth or the pressure of your toothbrush upon your gums? And how did you feel after brushing? Or how was the water being poured on your body in the shower? How did the whole thing happen? What is happening after you have eaten your food? Look at your life; look at your face; you are all almost bored. Somehow you are pulling along. Life is just a drag. Why? Because, all you do, all that you know to do for everything is how to postpone. Your mind never sits with your being. Your mind never lives in the same moment that you are in. You are always in the space of tomorrow or in the space of yesterday. It is never in the space of today, now, the present.

Live in the present. This is the secret art of living.

PARAMAHAMSA SRI NITHYANANDA

Get enveloped by happiness

This is a wonderful centering meditation which Osho calls The Book of Secrets. The whole approach is on integrating your energies; when you are happy or unhappy, the focus is always on the outside. It is somebody who makes you happy or unhappy. The fact is that the feeling rises in your heart, the other is just an excuse.

The sutra is:

On joyously seeing a long absent friend, permeate this joy. When you see a friend and suddenly feel joy rising in your heart, concentrate on this joy. Usually people start talking, remembering things of the past and miss this joy. After the moment is gone this joy will wither away.

The sutra says, feel the joy and let it spread all over your being, get enveloped by the happiness. As if you have become it, and meet the friend while being aware and filled with your joy. Let the friend be on the periphery, and remain centered in your feeling of happiness. Let the emotion take precedence over thought.

Osho has given variations of this meditation. "This can be done in many other situations. The sun is rising, and suddenly you feel something rising within you. Then forget the sun; let it remain on the periphery. Be centered in your own feeling of rising energy. The moment you look at it, it will spread. It will become your whole body, your whole being. And don't just be an observer of it; merge into it.

There are a few moments when you feel joy, happiness, bliss, but you go on missing them because you become object-centered. And this is not only with joy, but with everything: with anger, with sadness, with misery, with happiness, with everything it is so. The difference between negative and positive emotions is: if you become aware of a certain emotion, and by your becoming aware the emotion dissolves, it is negative. If by your becoming aware of a certain emotion you become the emotion, if the emotion then spreads and becomes your being, it is positive. Awareness works differently in both cases."

The Best Way To Worship God

The Quan Yin Method is for you to realize that God is you, the way you make Him. God can be as low as a worm, if you are that. If you don't raise yourselves higher than the worm's level then God will forever stay as a worm. If you raise yourselves higher, the higher your God is, the higher God is glorified. So glorify God by your own power of meditation and realization. That's the best prayer. That's the best glorification for God, the most significant prayer and the most significant job that you could ever do for God. (Applause) If we say we worship God, Buddha, Allah or whoever you say, and we remain in ignorance, then we truly despite God; we truly disgrace God and Buddha.
Therefore, Buddha said, "If you believe in Buddha, but do not understand Buddha, you disgraced Buddha." That is the truth. How do you disgrace Buddha? By remaining in ignorance and letting others see that you are an ignorant God, that you have no belief in God anymore, because God is ignorant due to your own ignorant thinking and view point. You think God is like that. "I pray to Him, but He doesn't hear. I am crawling here, but He doesn't see." It is not God who does not see. It is you who does not know that God sees, and who does not directly receive God's blessing, because you build a lot of obstacles around yourself. You, yourself, deny the benefit and the blessing from God, because you think, from a conditioned mind, from many generations, that you're not worthy; that you're wrong; that you are ignorant; that you do all the wrong things against your God's nature.
Therefore, even now, when you pray, this kind of thinking subconsciously prevents you from knowing you are God, knowing the benefit of God. Then you think God is only that. God is only for you to pray to, to complain to and to demand from, but it is not so. Every God is truly different. Depending on how you think and on your level, God is different. Not that there are so many Gods, but our view points differ, so God differs. Do you understand now why we must understand and realize God in order to say that we truly worship God? (Applause) Therefore, what the Buddha said is not wrong. If you don't understand Buddha, don't just blindly believe in Buddha or you'll disgrace Buddha.
Anyhow, you are on the right path. I think you may have realized it by now, otherwise you wouldn't have come to see me. Even those who failed also came to see me, or wanted to come to see me, at least. They might not have the face to come, but never mind! If they want to practice slowly outside, without control, without somebody to keep reminding them, nagging them, then they can stay home and slowly crawl. Those who want to follow me faster, must work hard and be fast. I like you to be fast. You can never be too fast for me (applause), because the world is in need of such fast working people. The world is so desperately short of these fast thinking, intelligent, conscientious, moral and honest people. Therefore, the more the better.