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2 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER March 2016

Dear Readers,

In this edition of Isha Forest Flower, Sadhguru tackles a couple of topics that have been subject to heated public debates in recent times. We bring you an extract of a conversation with the notoriously sharp-tongued marketing consultant and author Suhel Seth on the question “Is Banning Beef Justified?” In an excerpt from Sadhguru Spot, he shares his take on the “Shani Shingnapur Controversy,” and explains the actual background why women are denied entry to this temple.

In our Lead Article “How to Deal with the Past?” Sadhguru contrasts the yogic approach to the past with that of classical psychoanalysis. We have also included a matter of physical health that is sadly becoming relevant to a steadily increasing number of people – “Food Allergies.” If you do not want to settle with medication and the avoidance of allergens but get to the root cause, explore better life style choices, and yogic remedies, this article is for you.

The standard set of yogasanas taught by Isha Hatha Yoga teachers is structured and sequenced in such a way that the postures complement each other. In this month’s Isha Hatha Yoga article, Sadhguru sets out “Why Counter Postures Are Important.” Another aspect of the spiritual process that Sadhguru discusses in this edition is “What is Initiation?”

Also in this issue: In our Mahabharat series, Sadhguru speaks about “Krishna’s Sadhana.” The Master shares an extraordinary poem of his – “Weaves of Grace.” He also reveals some of the mysteries of “Kailash.” And last but not least, we present you another sample from Isha’s new recipe book A Taste of Wellbeing – a light, crunchy, and tart “Palak and Fruit Salad.”

The Editorial Team

Contact the Editorial Team:Isha Forest Flower, Isha Yoga Center, Velliangiri Foothills, Ishana Vihar Post, Coimbatore – 641114

[email protected]

EDITORIAL

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ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 3 March 2016 ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 3 March 2016

MUSINGSKailashSadhguru on Touching the Mystical

SADHGURU SPOTShani Shingnapur ControversyDiscrimination or Discretion?

ZEN SPEAKSSame Destination, Different Paths

UPCOMING PROGRAMS & EVENTS Isha Yoga – Program Highlights

ISHA HATHA YOGAPart 26: Why Counter Postures Are Important

MAHABHARATPart 16: Krishna’s Sadhana

What is Initiation?

Weaves of GracePoem by Sadhguru

Food AllergiesSadhguru on Causes, Prevention, and Cure

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE PAST? MAHABHARAT

07 10IN CONVERSATION WITH THE MYSTICIs Banning Beef Justified?Suhel Seth in Conversation with Sadhguru

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LEAD ARTICLEHow to Deal with the Past?Sadhguru on the Yogic Approach to What Lies Behind Us

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ISHA RECIPEThis Month: Palak and Fruit Salad

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CONTENTS

Sadhguru on the Yogic Approach to What Lies Behind Us

Krishna’s Sadhana

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4 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER March 20164 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER March 2016

argue with it. But this will die slowly in the next 80 to 100 years’ time. Until then, you will have to go through that.

About food – if you cannot digest what someone else eats, you really have a problem. Having said that, this entire beef debate went in the wrong direction. First of all, we must understand why there is such a thing about cows in this country. The first and foremost reason is we have been a pastoral nation for thousands of years. Your wealth was measured in the number of cattle you had.

When I was a child, at my grandfather’s house, they would show me one cow, which had a name, and say, “This is the cow whose milk you drink. This is your ‘cow mother.’” Every day, they gave me a jaggery ball that I was supposed to give to this cow because she gave me milk. There was a strong relationship between me and her – this is not some emotional nonsense. Today, we know from scientific studies that if you develop a deep relationship with a cow, the chemical composition

Suhel Seth: People say that if you subscribe to the tenets of a certain political ideology or religion, you must be vegetarian. Why is religion coming on to our television sets? Why are we labeling terrorism with religious badges, saying it is Islamic terrorism or Hindu terrorism? We are creating a world that is replete with hatred, from which there will be no return. I don’t believe any religion, any faith actually prescribes hatred, but it is used to castigate people on the basis of religion. Do you believe that in the civilized world we seemingly live in, private spaces should be invaded? Should we be talking about the kind of food, the kind of religion, the kind of drink, the kind of life we should lead?

Sadhguru: There are different aspects to this question. This division, this intrinsic or endemic hatred comes from people who are screwed up by the scriptures, who believe that their way is the only way, and that others must be either made their way or be sent to heaven. People pick it up from a book they consider as sacred and believe it is God’s own words, so you cannot

Suhel Seth in Conversation with Sadhguru

Is Banning Beef Justifi ed?

In this conversation, prominent marketing consultant, author, and columnist Suhel Seth uses his encounter with Sadhguru on 9 December 2015 in Mumbai to address a few hot, controversial, and at times provocative questions to the Master.


of her milk will be such that it nurtures you in the best possible way. After having drunk her milk for five to ten years, slaughtering and eating her when she is old is unthinkable for us. She is like a second mother.

Another aspect is, when you have a strong relationship with a cow – like people in Indian villages who have cows in the house do – if you are going through misery, the cow will actually shed tears. Because they have emotions like humans, killing and eating a cow is considered as murder and cannibalism. Apart from that, there is scientific evidence today that most of the heart ailments, heart attack deaths, and cancer in America are caused by eating red meat. That is why many doctors in the West advise against eating red meat now. Moreover, its production is an ecological disaster.

One thing that we as a nation can be proud of is – without any kind of infrastructure, without any kind of science or technology, our farmers have been producing food for over one billion people, which is no mean achievement. Their own conditions are most pitiable, but they have produced food. If you give an MBA 10 acres of fertile land, the best seeds, and ask him to grow crop, he will understand how complex it is. In this country, we have had this knowledge of agriculture for over 8000 to 10,000 years. It has been passed down as a samskar, not as a technology or teaching. The land was rich because we never killed animals. Today, India is one of the largest exporters of beef – this is not acceptable. If someone in this country wants to eat it, let them – it is their way of life. But we should definitely not export beef, because it will destroy the land. At some point, we will no longer be able to produce the food that we are producing now.

I think the government should establish a policy – for every acre of land, there should be a minimum of four to five animals. Otherwise, we will kill the soil; we will kill the future of this country. We have to look at it in that context, not

in terms of religion. When examined closely, the Hindu religion as we know it has no restrictions about what to eat or not to eat. It is a cultural emotion, because we see the cow as a second mother, since we drink her milk.

Suhel Seth: There is empirical evidence that the culling of animals beyond a certain age is economically beneficial to farmers who would otherwise have to support unusable cattle. But I won’t even go there. I don’t eat beef, but I primarily eat chicken and lamb, and I’m glad the world hasn’t found that to be dangerous yet.

In any case, you are right – the argument is potent. The cow is a second mother for us. At the same time, people from another religion or article of faith, who don’t believe that the cow is the second mother, but live in this country and have been guaranteed fundamental rights by a Constitution that all of us have adopted – what business do we have to interfere with them, as long as what they do is legal? To my mind, this is also a form of intolerance. If spirituality is about finding yourself, keeping the channels of quest open, why do we confuse metaphors with what people want to eat, as long as it is legal?

Sadhguru: As long as it is legal. But right now, there is a law against it – so it is illegal.

Suhel Seth: In four states, it’s legal to eat it.

Sadhguru: In those states, people are still eating it. This law was formed in a state of confusion. They should make a law that prohibits beef export from this country.

Suhel Seth: Linked to the whole beef argument is also this seething rage resulting in a wave of seeming intolerance. What’s your take on this whole tolerance–intolerance debate, and the so-called public intellectual, which is almost like partial pregnancy – you never know what the hell they mean.

Sadhguru: These “intellectuals” that we hear


about on television and in the newspapers seem to be experts about everything. They think it is their right to comment about things that they do not have a clue about. Can I tell you a joke?

Suhel Seth: Please.

Sadhguru: So this happened. On a certain day, a young Indian woman was sitting on a plane at Singapore airport, on a flight bound for Australia. She was reading a book. A big Aussie guy came and flopped down next to her in business class. You know, today it has become like this – men don’t see a woman as just a woman – they think she is a possibility of some kind.

He sought her attention, but she was just reading the book. Then he said, “Hey, do you know, the journey will become shorter if you converse with

the co-passenger?” She looked at him, closed the book, and said, “Okay, what do you want to talk about?” He fumbled and said, “Why not nuclear physics?” Then she said, “A cow, a horse, and a goat all eat grass. A cow lays patties; a horse drops muffins; a goat drops pellets. Why?” He did not know what to say. She said, “Think about it,” and opened her book again. He spent ten minutes in confusion and finally said, “Hey, okay – tell me. I don’t know.” She said, “Then how can you talk about nuclear physics when you don’t know shit?” [Laughter & applause] So, there is a lot of talk about intellectuals. I think someone who is really intelligent will understand that no matter what kind of intellect you have, it is not enough to grasp the nature of existence. Those who think they have so much intellect obviously have too little.

A Taste of Well-BeingSadhguru’s insights for your gastronomics

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How to Deal with the Past?Sadhguru on the Yogic Approach to What Lies Behind Us

Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. In order to move forward, how valuable is it to analyze one’s past and try to learn from it for the future?

Sadhguru: Do you want to become as crazy as Freud? He was the one who started psychoanalysis. He was a brilliant intellect but totally crazy and paranoid himself. He tried to cure people of all kinds of mental disorders, manic depression, and paranoia, but he himself was paranoid about death. He always wanted to go to Egypt. These were the times of the great excavations of ancient Egyptian tombs, temples, and mummies. These things piqued his curiosity. He badly wanted to see them, but he was so terrified of crossing the sea and seeing a dead body, he never made the trip.

There are so many teachings and theories on the planet – one smarter than the other. The most important thing we have to look at in this context is – has the teaching worked for the person who is offering it? If it has not worked for them, it is not worth anything. If it is not good for them, how can it be good for you? On the other hand, if you see it has worked brilliantly well for them, then even if you do not agree with it intellectually, just do it, because it works. Not everything that looks great necessarily works. By contrast, something that does not look that great may work brilliantly. Someone may look out of it but be brilliant. Someone may look pretty but be out of it.

About analyzing your past – the yogic system is about keeping a distance from the past. The fundamental understanding is you cannot fix the past. Can you learn from the past? The learning has been happening in so many ways – you do not have to sift through the past again for that. The past impressions have found expression in the very way you sit and breathe. If you randomly check the breath of ten people, they are not breathing the same way. They breathe according to the imprints within them. In Samyama participants, you can observe that in seven days, their breathing patterns change dramatically – not because they are consciously trying to change it, but because they learn to keep a distance from their past. Suddenly, there is a certain ease in the very way the life process is happening. Consequently, the breath changes.

Yoga does not believe in sifting through the past. Only when we want to do a specific type of work, and we are looking for a certain type of individual, we sift through the past a bit to identify that individual. You do not have to know what happened in past lives, because you are not able to sensibly handle your existing, conscious memory itself. What happened a long time ago still hurts you. When that is the case, digging up the past is not necessary. Keeping a distance from it is what is needed. Otherwise, you could easily get trapped in it. How much ever you think you arrive at an understanding about the past,

LEAD ARTICLE


Isha after Sadhguru

the quality of your life will not improve.

If your interest is in life – not in a particular subject that may earn you a PhD somewhere – there is no need to sift through the past. What you have to learn, you have to learn from the present, not from the past. Especially trying to uncover subconscious or unconscious layers of memory is a serious mistake, because you will rouse devils that you cannot handle. The very fact that you are digging into the past shows that your current life is not beautiful and exuberant enough. Because you are not able to sufficiently experience what is here now, you think you will find something there in the past and improve your life. Life can always be improved on an activity level, but if your life needs to be improved experientially, it means you are not doing well.

So, please do not analyze your past. What is needed is to make yourself intense right now. If you burn with intensity, no matter what your past has been, it will not bother you. If there is no intensity, the past will crowd you from inside. If you are insipid, the past overlaps your presence and your future. There is no need to dig up and cultivate the past. It is important that you are full on right now. Your body is a product of memory, and so is your mind. To give an example – if two different creatures eat the same food, their bodies will make it into their specific kinds of bodies, simply because of the memory that they carry.

There is evolutionary and genetic memory in your body. Otherwise, how can the same food be converted into the bodies of different kinds of creatures? It simply depends upon the type of memory that you carry within you. The same applies to your mind. Whatever I give you, you tend to make your own thing out of it. But there is something called life – beyond your body and mind – which is just like a flame. If you let it burn with a certain intensity, then whatever memory your body carries, whatever memory your mind carries, all fire, all light goes in the same direction. Life will move in the direction that you are aspiring to. But if you go by the bank of memory that you have, it will not let you move where you have to. Whatever you do, it will take you around in circles.

Memory is like a treadmill – it gives you a lot of exercise, but never takes you anywhere. If you want to get off the treadmill and walk on the earth, then the life within you has to burn. It is time to intensify your very way of being. In every cell of the body, there is memory. Your DNA is memory, your chromosomes are memory – everything is memory. You cannot shake it off, but if life burns intensely enough – so intensely that your body and mind cannot catch up with it – then a distance will arise. Once there is a distance between you and your memory, there is a clear distance between you and your body, between you and your mind. Then you are getting somewhere – not by sifting through the past.

Questioner: Sadhguru, what will become of Isha and this consecrated space after Sadhguru?

Sadhguru: We are not just building buildings of brick and stone here. I have said this many times – we could actually remove the Dhyanalinga [granite form]; the energy form would still be there. We only keep the stone

because people need something visual to focus on – otherwise, their eyes will wander around. Isha and the Dhyanalinga are not about bricks and stones. The brick and mud will vanish at some point, but the energy structure will remain. In terms of energy, there is no such thing as “after Sadhguru” here. It will be the same, because the energy structure is way bigger and much more consolidated than the stones that you see. The energy structure is the basis. The stones are only added as a decoration.


Excerpted from a talk by Sadhguru at the Isha Hatha Yoga School.

For dates and details of Hatha Yoga programs, visit www.ishahathayoga.com

Spinal HealthPART 26

Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. What is the significance of the spinal twisting postures that we do after the sarvangasana series?

Sadhguru: Imaging cutting your body horizontally in the middle – you will see the lower part of the body weighs much more than the upper part. The largest muscles and biggest bones are in the lower body. And the spine is designed to support a certain amount of weight. Even a slight overload of the spine will create problems, because it is a subtle thing, made of 33 pieces of bone.

You could compare the spine to the suspension of a car. If you drive certain luxury cars in India, they will be in the garage half the time, simply because they have multi-link suspensions, while our roads are made for one-link suspensions. If you go a little faster and hit a road hump, multi-link suspensions may go out of alignment, and you go straight to the garage. They are not made for such a level of stress. You can still drive, but it will drag. The idea of a multi-link suspension is enhanced maneuverability. Similarly, your spine is a 33-link suspension.

When you do any kind of upside-down posture, there is an exceptionally high amount of weight on the spine. Because of that, after doing any inverted asana, you have to take the time to flex the spine back to its natural state. Therefore, after sarvangasana and halasana, you do ardhamatsyasana, which means bending backwards, in the opposite direction. Why do these postures in the first place? It is very important that the spine is exercised –

otherwise it will become rigid and useless. If you do not exercise it, your ability to experience life decreases dramatically.

Not everyone experiences life with the same level of sensitivity. Going back to the car analogy, not every suspension experiences the road with the same sensitivity. The sensitivity of your suspension determines the maneuverability. If it is super sensitive, it maneuvers well, but one pothole, and it gets misaligned. You can make your body like that of a WWE wrestler, which means, by eating in a certain way and building that kind of body, you may be strong, you may be able to crush someone’s head with your bare hands, but you cannot experience life in its full depth and dimension.

It is important to keep the spine sensitive, flexible, well-aligned, and mobile. All the yoga you do is in some way aimed towards that. So, after sarvangasana, which reverses the load upon the spine, it is extremely important that you stretch the spine back to its normal self. I call it a “self,” because without the spine, you would not experience most of the things that you experience as a human being. It is designed to do things you would not imagine possible. Keeping the spine well-protected, strong, and sensitive is important for a yogi because you want to experience the whole universe as a part of yourself.

Why Counter Postures Are Important


MahabharatMahabharatPART 16

Krishna’s Sadhana

MAHABHARAT SERIES

Participant: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. Did Krishna do any sadhana before his enlightenment? What brought him to such a state in this life and who was he actually?

Nara and NaryanaSadhguru: Those who grew up in a traditional Indian atmosphere would have definitely heard of Nara–Narayana, the two sages whose beings were tied together and who partnered in many births. Their adventures went on for thousands of lifetimes. Not all of it is preserved – here and there, there are snatches of what they did in different lifetimes. Here again – we are going ahead of the story now – Krishna and Arjuna are recognized as Nara–Narayana. Arjuna is Nara – Krishna is Narayana.

Krishna went to unreasonable lengths to keep Arjuna’s friendship, because they are bound up as beings. Many times, the prince that Arjuna was did not understand why he should do a certain thing or take a certain course. Arjuna took a lofty stance, saying that a human being can attain by being compassionate, loving, and generous. Krishna said, “That is not why we are here. We have a certain thing to do.” Arjuna replied, “But compassion, love, and generosity are my dharma.” Krishna said, “Nothing doing – we have to do what we have to do. We were born for this, and we will do only this.” This is one dimension of the question.

Simply Joyful and LovingAbout Krishna’s sadhana – for a human being to just live in joy and love every day, from the moment he wakes up in the morning till he falls asleep at night, is a tremendous sadhana. People are smiling when someone is around, but if you look at them when they are alone and feel unobserved, what kind of a depressed face they make says everything about them. A great percentage of people are quite horrible by themselves. If you cannot be alone, that obviously means you are in bad company. If you were good company, it would be great to be alone.

It is more like a festival to mix with people, but being is always in aloneness. If you make yourself into a beautiful being, just to sit here is fantastic. Therefore, to be joyful and loving every moment of your life itself is a tremendous sadhana. That is what “being a mother to the world” means – to be loving every moment of your life – not only if a certain situation occurs, or if you see a certain person. If you are simply loving, indiscriminately, your intelligence blossoms in a completely different way. Now, in making choices, it gets crippled. To be loving is not a gift to someone else – it is a beautiful thing for yourself. It is a pleasantness of your system – your emotion, your mind, and your body naturally become pleasant. And there is substantial scientific evidence to prove today that only when your system is pleasant, your intelligence functions at its best.


In Perfect TuneIf your heart beats 60 times per minute in restfulness, when you sit there, you are in tune with the planet. In activity, it can go up and down, but if you are above 60 in restfulness, you are a little lost. If you have even a slight infection, you may hit 85 or 90. If you are healthy and well, many of you will be at around 65 to 75. If you really do your sadhana, even simple things like Surya Namaskar and Shambhavi for 1 1/2 years, for sure it will be 60 – you will be in tune. When you are in tune, being loving, being joyful, being like a flower is natural, because that is how the being is made. This being is not made to be depressed, sick, or anything like that – it is made to flourish.

This is Krishna’s sadhana – he is in perfect tune with life around him. No matter what kind of games he played as a child, he was in fabulous tune. The fact that though he stole butter from people’s homes and pulled all kinds of pranks on them, still everyone loved him means somehow he got them in tune with himself. Only when you feel in tune with someone, you will feel pleasant in their presence. If you do not feel in tune with someone, if you just look at them, you will feel unpleasant. This can even happen with the same person. When you are in tune with that person and you look at him or her, there will be pleasantness. At times when you are not in tune with that person and you look at him or her, there will be unpleasantness – they don’t have to do anything wrong for that to happen.

Reminder of His MissionUntil the age of 16, Krishna’s sadhana was to be in tune with life around him. Then his Guru Sandipani came and reminded him that his life was not just about playing around, that there was a bigger purpose to it. Krishna struggled a bit with that. He loved the village he lived in, and everyone loved him. He was totally involved with everyone and everything around him – man, woman, animal, and child. He said, “I don’t need any great purpose. I just like to be in this village. I like the cows, the cowherds, the gopis. I want to

dance and sing with them. I don’t want any great purpose in my life.” But Sandipani said, “You have to stand up because this is the purpose for which you were born. This needs to happen.”

Krishna went and stood on a small hill that is known as Govardhan Hill. When he came down, he was not the boy he used to be. He went up the hill as a playful village boy and came down with a different gravity about himself. People looked at him in shock. They knew something phenomenal had happened, but however phenomenal it was, they knew they were going to lose him. When they looked at him, he still looked back at them smiling, but there was no love in his eyes – there was vision. He saw things that they could not even imagine.

Megha(Poem by Sadhguru)

The dark mystic of the agesarrives not with a bundle of messagesBut with mischief that enamors kings and sagesDetermined to have his way with a smilehe did commit ravish deceit and slaughter evenLife does not absolve him of taintbut could not bind him even a momentHe’s no saint or sagebut glowed with wisdom for all ages

After Sandipani reminded him of this, the first exploit for Krishna was to kill his uncle Kamsa and end his tyranny over the Yadavas. Then he withdrew into the ashram of his Guru Sandipani, along with his brother Balarama and his cousin Uddhava, and lived the life of an ascetic, a brahmachari, for the next seven years. Until he was 22, he did intense spiritual sadhana. He also did weapon training and became a great wrestler. In spite of that, he did not become all muscle, like Arjuna and Bhima.

Sadhana of a Different NatureKrishna remained gentle and tender because his sadhana was of a different dimension and nature. Sandipani designed it in such a way that it was largely internal. Since Krishna did not


belong to Dwapara Yuga – he lived and acted like he belonged to Sat Yuga – everything happened on a mental level for him. Sandipani did not need to open his mouth to give an instruction. All was conveyed mentally; all was grasped mentally; all was attained mentally.

When they came out of their sadhana, there was a distinct difference between Krishna and his brother. While Balarama became huge and muscular, Krishna physically remained the way he was. Balarama used to taunt him, “Maybe

Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. I went to Kailash in 2012, and you did an initiation process there with each one of us. To this day, this has been one of the most significant experiences in my life. Could you please explain a little bit about it?

Sadhguru: Normally, an initiation process is towards a particular purpose. If we initiate you into Shoonya, it is so that you can become meditative, have enough energy, and become conscious enough to be able to separate yourself from your psychological process. Likewise, for different purposes, there are different types of initiations. In contrast, what we generally do when we are at Kailash is not to bring about a particular experience but for you to become open to the immense possibility that is there – that is the most important thing. An initiation like that is to open the door and see how much you can absorb because the entire space is such a tremendous phenomenon. Each one of you will experience this initiation differently. If you are willing and open, you may find something phenomenal opening up for you.

Questioner: Sadhguru, you have described

Kailash as a mystical library. Where exactly is all this information stored? In a particular element, maybe akash, or is it in the entire mountain?

Sadhguru: In terms of storing knowledge, akash is important, but if information is only stored in the akashic aspect of elemental nature, it would be fragile. The whole physical mass, including all the five elements, is made use of to store the information. And more than that, a dimension that is non-physical, an energy that has nothing to do with the five elements, is used as a permanent storage – Kailash is largely that. Because of that, the elements are also reverberating in a certain way. The elements are at their peak there because of this non-physical dimension.

In the modern world and in modern science,

you did nothing. I have been working hard. I have become a great warrior. How come you still look like this?” Still, in the wrestling ring or in an archery contest, no one could take on Krishna. As a swordsman, very few people could come anywhere near him. But he did not become muscular because his sadhana was purely mental, and he displayed that in a million different ways as the story goes along.

KailashMUSING Sadhguru on Touching

the Mystical


what is considered as knowledge is a bundle of conclusions that are drawn by observation of a certain dimension or aspect of nature. By contrast, the knowledge here is not a bundle of conclusions – it is like a powerful stimulant. If you touch it, it opens up dimensions within you and around you. It is not a conclusive knowledge but a stimulating one. If you touch it, you will be on fire within you, and it is for you to read it.

Questioner: You said yogis who have the privilege and the burden of carrying a dimension that is not in the experience of common people have deposited their knowing in the Himalayas. Is that why you travel to Kailash each year?

Sadhguru: You do not go to Kailash to leave your signature. That is the last thing I would do. You go to Kailash because it is something so immense that if you spent a lifetime there, it will still draw you. This is the tenth episode of Kailash for me now, though I am generally not the pilgrimage-going kind. One thing is, if I close my eyes, wherever I am, I am fine – I do not have to go anywhere. I am not going there out of restlessness. I am not going there to find Shiva.

I am not going there to find myself. But the sheer immensity of Kailash draws me there. No matter how many times and in how many ways you look at it, still there are endless other ways to look at it. The only reason not to go there anymore should be the legs and the lungs.

Definitely, there are imprints of yogis in many places, such as Velliangiri hills, Kailash, and many parts of the Himalayas. Though much has happened since then in terms of time and events, but still certain imprints are distinctly there. The imprint of those who worked not with their body, not with their mind, but with their innermost core, is for always. Anyway, the imprint will be preserved, but it is important to preserve an atmosphere that will allow other people to experience it. That is the responsibility of people who are around today. Let us say you set up a marketplace at the Dhyanalinga, the latter will still reverberate, but people will not be able to experience it. Maintaining a certain atmosphere is important for Kailash and any other place like this.

“If you can really be with Kailash even for a few moments, life will never again

be the same for you. It is a phenomenon beyond all human imagination.”

Join this once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the Abode of Shiva.

- Sadhguru

Starting from 5thAug 2016

+91 9488 111 555/333 ∗ [email protected] ∗ www.sacredwalks.org

Kailash Manasarovar


What is Initiation?

The following article is excerpted from a darshan with Sadhguru at the Isha Yoga Center on 27 December 2015.

Questioner: Pranam, Sadhguru. You said that with Inner Engineering, you have established an initiation process, and also that sitting at the Dhyanalinga can initiate one into a spiritual process. So, what types of initiations are there, and what does initiation mean?

Sadhguru: There are a billion ways of doing it. Every aspect of life can be used to ignite something in someone. It is just that some are conducted formally, the rest are done in many different ways. What is happening here now is called darshan. This is not a discourse, but unfortunately, we end up talking, because most people do not know how to simply sit. But darshan means to just behold. In this culture, no one goes to a temple to pray. They go for darshan, because they want to imbibe that energy form. They want to take that form into themselves so that it stays with them and works for them from within. Darshan is a kind of initiation.

To use an analogy, take an induction motor. It has all the parts in it, but even if you put electricity into it, it will not work. It needs induction. Actually, there is no perfect scientific explanation for what we call induction. It is a certain kick, and suddenly it goes off. Similarly, whatever is there in me is there in you, but it does not work without induction. We can do induction in many ways. We do it in gentle ways. If you don’t get it, we will do it in formal ways. If you still don’t get it, we will kick you in the butt. “Yogaratova Bhogaratova,” Adi Shankara said. That means, somehow get it.

If life was a million years long, we could do it in very aesthetic ways. But life is brief. Before you know what happened, it will be gone. There is an urgency. Because there is an urgency, we do it in such ways so that you do not miss the point.

But still, there are hard nuts, so harder ways are needed with some people. But actually, if you are really, absolutely open, just sitting here should be enough for an initiation, but it does not work like that for everyone. People take things in installments, so we do initiation in installments. That is why there are so many programs – Inner Engineering, Bhava Spandana, Samyama, and other kinds of initiations I am doing with different types of people.

If you have just come for the first Inner Engineering, we initiate you in one way. If you come to Bhava Spandana, it is a series of initiations – three days, non-stop, so that you cannot miss it. If you come to Samyama, we do another, very powerful series of initiations. But human beings do not just want to have a spiritual experience – they also want to be competent of doing something in particular. Depending on that, we will initiate you in a certain way. There are initiations for brahmacharis, for Bhairagini Maas, and many other varieties of initiations that I am doing informally.

Many of you who have sat in various satsangs with me would have noticed that every time, it feels different, because depending upon what we are doing that day, depending upon the time of the year, the time of your life, and what is needed right now, I will do it differently. As many forms of life there are, that many kinds of initiations we can do. When we first trained people to deliver a spiritual process to other people, we started formalizing the initiations. If it was only me, I would not have done any formal initiations. But we regulate the formal initiations to make them manageable and repeatable. Formal initiations became a necessity because we wanted it to reach far and wide.


As a Weaver strives to putone thread upon anotherEvery thread as crucialas the other, for bare threadsto evolve into graceful fabric.

So is life my BelovedEvery thread as crucialas the one before and after.Weave you should the threadsof life of complex texture and hueinto a fabric of beauty and gracefit for the boundless Being – Divine

Fabric not just a device tocover the body of parts private.Fabric that shall allow you totouch the organic beauty ofCreation and become a passageto privacy to cohabit theInner Divine. Threads oflove, threads of prudence, threads ofplay and threads of workThreads of closeness and distanceThreads soaked in sanity ofSense and insanity of Bliss

Threads of such varied textureand hue, to weave it all intoOne graceful Garment.Devotion my Beloved theonly way. Ungracedby Devotion it can allturn into messy knots.

Make life a weave of GraceMy Beloved

Love & Grace,

Weaves of Grace

Poem by Sadhguru


Food Allergies

Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. I have a question about food allergies. For some people, a single peanut can be life-threatening. And there are children who get allergies early in their lives. Why does the human system develop allergies, and can yoga help?

Sadhguru: This is basically because of our brilliant modern science – the human system is being messed up in too many ways.

Unhealthy FoodThe fundamental mistake is that food is made in a factory. Food should come out of the earth, because this body is earth. As far as possible, your body should be in tune with the earth. Apart from that, food allergies are mostly found among meat eaters. Particularly when you eat mass-produced meat products, you do not eat one animal’s meat – you eat all kind of parts of all kinds of animals, mashed and made into a sausage. You cannot stay healthy eating such food. But people eat it, as long as someone lists out the amount of protein, and whatever else it is supposed to have. Even in garbage or excreta, you may find proteins and other “nutrients,” but still, this is not the thing to eat.

When I was a child, they only gave us milk from a particular cow. Today, the milk you buy in the supermarkets is from thousands of cows – all mixed and processed. Particularly in the United States, people are consuming a huge amount of animal hormones – through mass-produced dairy, poultry, and red meat. To everything, all kinds of additives are added. Your body is an organism – it is made to absorb organic nature of the planet and make it a part of itself. You cannot just add synthetic supplements and expect them to become a part of the human being. We know that the body consists of a certain amount of amino acids, proteins, and so on. But if you take

all these ingredients and put them in a test tube, you cannot make them into a human being. That is not how it works. There is another dimension of life that makes all this happen. If you have no regard for that, you are bound to suffer.

Don’t Mix Too MuchAnd above all, especially in the US, there is too much food everywhere. Because there is so much food, you do not look at it and treat it with the necessary respect and awareness. Even in India, this unfortunate habit is on the rise. If you go to affluent places, there will be lots of different items on the plate, which people will mix and eat. When we were children, if we mixed two things and ate them, our parents and grandparents would tell us, “You are eating like a beggar,” because a beggar had to mix and eat whatever he collected in his begging bowl.

You are supposed to eat each item separately, because the stomach treats each item in a particular way. If you mix everything and eat it, your system will get confused, and consequently, it will develop allergies over time. If I eat alone, I only eat one item. I do that because I am conscious about how food behaves in my body, and how my body, not just the tongue, welcomes and enjoys the food that I consume. This is not being frugal, this is not being controlled – this is just being conscious. Without being conscious, you cannot live well.

Allergies on the Rise Unfortunately, in another two generations, people will be allergic to half the things they eat. People even develop allergies against rainwater and sunlight. Where can you live in such a condition? And what if you become allergic to the air that you breathe? That may sound funny, but if people are allergic to water or sunlight, becoming allergic to air is not far away.

Sadhguru on Causes, Prevention, and Cure


Going to the doctor and he diagnosing what kind of allergy you have is not a solution. You need to look at it in a more fundamental way. It is not just about being allergic to a particular substance. Essentially, your body reacts to life itself. Children are allergic to milk today. It has never happened in earlier generations that a child living in a village or a tribe had lactose intolerance.

Lifestyle ChoicesIf you look at how people even in better parts of US cities are eating – well-dressed, successful professionals stand on the roadside, stuffing their faces with whatever food they got from vendors there, you will see why. This is not the way to eat. The way you consume your food matters too. I feel really sad for such people – you do not see an element of joy on their faces. They may have less than half an hour to go, eat, and come back to work and make more money. If you live like this, how can you not suffer? Even a small groundnut is telling you, you are not living properly. You must get the message.

A groundnut allergy is a killer. Once I was traveling an American airline and they announced, “Today, we will not be serving peanuts because there is one person on this flight who is allergic to them.” You may wonder if he is allergic, why can you not eat peanuts. But if you open the packet, just the smell could cause him to die of suffocation. Allergies can cause such violent reactions. Hopefully, this wide-spread allergy against groundnuts, which used to be one of the most nourishing food items for previous generations, will make people realize that it is time to stop and look into why these allergies occur, and what we can do about it. But instead, someone will do a million-dollar research on it.

How Yoga Can HelpSo, what can you do about allergies? Yoga can definitely reverse this process. There are thousands of people who, by doing Shakti Chalana Kriya or Shambhavi, have become allergy-free, particularly from pollen allergy. If there is someone around you with food allergies and they are willing to do something about it, one simple thing you could do is give them some vibhuti, ask them to add one pinch of it to one liter of water, and to drink five liters of this vibhuti water every day. The body will cleanse itself in a few months, and the allergies will go down. If you do some yogic practices along with that, definitely the allergies will disappear. That is what it takes – cleansing.

The Body’s Warning SignalAnother factor is the atmosphere you are living in. If you are constantly inhaling toxins and eating things that are bad for you, the body will react. An allergy is a reaction of the body, because you are not treating it as life but as a mechanical thing. This is not only about being allergic to a specific substance. It may happen that in the manufacturing process of the body, something went wrong and you cannot take one specific item. If that is the case, you can simply avoid that one thing. But now, allergies have assumed epidemic proportions. Fundamentally, our bodies are reacting to the way we live.

When the number of people who are getting allergies is constantly increasing, it means we are doing something fundamentally wrong. Processed foods are ruining people’s health, but it is a big industry.

Fundamentally, our bodies are reacting to the way we live.


Shani Shingnapur Controversy – Discrimination or Discretion?

Excerpted from Sadhguru Spot of 3 February 2016

Questioner: Sadhguru, why are women not being allowed into certain temples? For example, now with the Shani temple. Why this discrimination?

Sadhguru: At Linga Bhairavi near the Isha Yoga Center, India, men are not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum, but they never protest. They are married and domesticated – they have been trained not to protest against anything (laughter).

It needs to be understood that these temples are not places of prayer – they are different types of energies. Since we are aware that the planets in the solar system have an impact upon our physiology, our psychological structure, and the context of our lives, we have created temples for the different planets.

Based on the time and date of your birth, and the latitude and longitude of your place of birth, Indian astrologers make complex calculations to see which planets have the greatest influence on your life. These things are relevant to you to some extent. However, if you have access to inner technology, it will level out these planetary impacts.

Shani or Saturn, which is a faraway planet, takes 30 years to complete one revolution around the sun. Considering the revolutions of Saturn and those of the Earth, and your birth details, they can calculate what impact Saturn has on you at different times of your life.

Shani is one of the sons of Surya, the sun – the other one being Yama. Shani is the lord of dominance, distress, depression, disease, and disaster. Yama is the lord of death – the “D” company. These two are brothers-in-arms, always working in tandem. Their mother, Surya’s wife, is Chaya. Chaya means “shadow.” This is science expressed in a dialectical way. The sun is the source of light for us. His wife is Chaya – shadow. Only because there is sunlight, there is shadow.

The seventh day, Saturday, is the day of Saturn. Seven being Saat, it is Saaturday or Saturday. Saturn is the seventh planet or graha in the Indian astrological system. The word “graha” means “to grasp” or “to impact.” Saturn as per modern astronomy is the sixth planet. But the Indian astrology looked at celestial objects which have a strong impact on life upon this planet. In that context, Sun and Moon are also counted as grahas, not to be understood as planets, making Saturn the seventh graha.

In the order of grahas that have a strong influence upon this planet – Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – though Shani is the seventh, he is a very dominant force, as health and happiness give you freedom of life, but disease and depression will seriously dominate your life. The question is are you allowing external forces, such as the celestial objects, to influence or impact you, or is your inner nature the only influence upon you. Hence, in this tradition, profound astrologers refused to make predictions for those who are on the spiritual path or under the influence of a spiritual Guru.

Because his is a 30-year cycle, once in 30 years, you become more susceptible to the influence of Saturn. This phase, known as Saade Saati, or in Tamil, Yelarai Shani, lasts for seven and a half

SADHGURU SPOT


years. You may become more susceptible to disease, depression, disasters, and death, and more vulnerable to external influences. In order to bridge the pits that may occur during a Saade Saati, various processes and rituals are associated with Shani temples. There are temples for Shani Deva, where Saturn is personified as a god. Currently, there is this controversy about allowing women to enter a certain temple in Maharashtra, the Shani Shingnapur temple. Very powerful processes are conducted at this temple. Shani temples are mainly used for occult purposes and exorcism. People come there mainly to ward off occult influences or because they feel they are possessed. Because occult processes are conducted there, the energies are not conducive for women. As a woman is entrusted with the significant responsibility of manufacturing the next generation, her body is far more receptive and vulnerable to certain types of energies – especially during pregnancy and menstrual cycles.

Should women not enter the sanctum at all? They could if they were appropriately trained for it, but it would be much more difficult to train women than men for this purpose, simply because of a few biological advantages men have in this area of life. In the very nature of female biology, occult forces can have a deeper impact upon her system.

To remove occult influences and perform exorcisms, certain energies are used that are not nice for a woman at all. Shani is not nice. But he is a part of our lives – we have to deal with him too. Because of these occult forces, women are asked not to enter the area where such things are done. It would not be good for their physical wellbeing.

When certain things go wrong with life, you have to deal with them in a certain way, which may not be pleasant. These temples were created for this purpose. Today, some people perceive it as discrimination that women should not enter this space. It is not discrimination but discretion.

Maybe the way it is enforced is crude and seems discriminatory, and that is why these women are protesting. If one day, men protest in front of Linga Bhairavi and want to enter the sanctum, I will lock it. I will not let them into sanctum because it is not designed for men unless they are appropriately trained for it. This is not discrimination – it is necessary discretion. The space of Dhyanalinga, for one half of the lunar cycle, is managed by men; for the other half, it is managed by women – as that is the nature of an inclusive consecration, which Dhyanalinga is.

At certain temples, like the Velliangiri hill temple, women are prevented from going up the mountain, as the path goes through dense forest that was rich in wildlife in the past, and it was considered unsafe for women to take this journey. But today, these rules can be relaxed.

In view of the demand to allow women entry to the Shani temple, we need to educate people about the science behind these temples – what they are about and why they were built. In today’s democratic fervor, we want to establish equality, but in certain contexts, this would work to the disadvantage of women. Otherwise, we are one species and two genders. Except for a few areas such as this one, the only places where gender should matter are bathrooms and bedrooms.

Love & Grace,


Date Program Place Contact

4–6 Mar 2016

Yaksha – A Celebration of Culture

and Music

Isha Yoga Center,Velliangiri Foothills, Coimbatore – India

0422-2515300

7 Mar 2016 MahashivaratriWith Sadhguru


[email protected]

9–13 Mar 2016

Ayur Rasayana Intensive


0422-2515464 / 94890 [email protected]

9–13 Mar 2016 Yogasanas Isha Life, Mylapore,

Chennai – India83000 11000 / 044-24981185

[email protected]

14 Mar – 3 Apr 2016 Yoga Marga


[email protected]

17–20 Mar 2016

Inner Engineering Retreat

Isha Life, Mylapore, Chennai – India

94442 30403 / 90801 44320 [email protected]

21–23 Mar 2016

Surya Kriya & Bhuta Shuddhi


83000 93555 / [email protected]

24–27 Mar 2016




25 Mar 2016 Bhuta Shuddhi Isha Life, Mylapore, Chennai – India


26 Mar 2016 Bhastrika Kriya & Shanmukhi Mudra

Isha Life, Mylapore, Chennai – India


27–30 Mar 2016 Yogasanas Isha Life, Mylapore,

Chennai – India83000 11000 / 044-24981185

[email protected]

28–31 Mar 2016 Angamardana



31 Mar – 3 Apr 2016




31 Mar – 3 Apr 2016

Bhava Spandana(Ladies)



9–10 Apr 2016

Shambhavi Mahamudra Program

With Sadhguru

Marina Bay Sands, Expo Hall F – Singapore

+65 6100 [email protected]

Current at the time of print, however subject to change. For full program schedules and updates, please visit our website: www.ishafoundation.org.


INGREDIENTS

For the Salad:3 Cups Baby spinach leaves (palak) – washed, chopped into medium-sized pieces 1 Cucumber, small – washed, peeled (optional), chopped into small squares 1 Apple, small – washed, peeled (optional), chopped into small squares ¼ Cup Cashews – chopped ¼ Cup Roasted groundnuts – chopped 2-3 Sprigs Coriander leaves, fresh – chopped 1 Orange, small – peeled, segmented, and cut into small pieces ¼ Cup Raisins

For the Dressing:1 Orange 1 Lemon or lime 2 Tbsp. Honey ½ Cup Olive oilBlack pepper, coarsely ground, to tasteSalt to taste

METHOD

1. Put all the salad ingredients mentioned except the orange pieces and raisins into a deep bowl.

2. For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the juice of the orange and lemon along with the honey, salt and pepper.

3. Holding the measuring cup of olive oil above the bowl, pour the oil in a thin, steady stream, whisking constantly until the mixture appears slightly creamy and no whole droplets of oil can be seen.

4. Mix the dressing with the salad ingredients in the deep bowl.

5. Lastly, add the raisins and orange pieces. Toss well and serve.

ISHA RECIPE

PALAK AND FRUIT SALAD

A version of this recipe is going to be published in Isha’s new cookbook “A Taste of Wellbeing” that is due for release on Mahashivaratri 2016. For further details, please see page 6.


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ZEN SPEAKS

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