Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Chapter 6 - Guru Is The Way  Day 42 We need to be a little awake to judge whether our efforts have been made to the full extent possible. Rest and sleep can wait till after death. While we still breathe, let us not waste our time sleeping in bed.  Put in effort. Put in 100% effort. If a sadhak feels that he and his efforts are separate then he gets tired, and if he gets tired working, there is a possibility that he will quit his efforts.  If he works for someone else, he will get even more tired. But when he works enthusiastically for himself, he will not get tired. When your son or daughter's wedding draws near, you are busy with preparations.  You work day in and day out, but still you are not tired, but you cannot even work for half an hour for someone else. If you had to do eight hours of work, you can only imagine what would happen.  When you are forced to work for others or do not want to work, you get tired after just three hours. If you are p...

Chapter 6 - Guru Is The Way  Day 41 Some people go to temple, constantly chant mantras and chime the bells non-stop. However, they do not experience anything because their mind is not meditative and there is no spirit or feeling behind the chanting.  Each and every word becomes a mantra if it is full of meaning and feeling. A mantra is not only a word with some meaning.  It contains a feeling, and when we go beyond the feeling then we experience the strength and power of the mantras". The vedas will run after those people who have a meditative state of mind.  They will easily understand the Vedas. Guru Nanak said, "Knowledge of the Vedas and other spiritual knowledge come not just by reading books but naturally flow to those who follow God and act according to his wishes."  The Vedas sing the song of divine consciousness. There will not be any difference between mind and the mantra, both become one. You can control the mind by using a mantra.  W...

Chapter 6 - Guru Is The Way  Day 40 Mind should become the mantra. It means this is how the mind should be maintained: the mind should be prepared this way. This is also a great experiment.  Observe the mind carefully. The tendency of the mind is to return to unwanted thoughts. So much energy is drained from the body every time we think.  Every thought is equal to 1000 volts of electricity - that much energy leaves our system. We are using two wrong mantras, which we need to remove from our mind.  One is that we brood on misery over and over again, and the second is that we keep calling back anger. The mind gets disturbed and the body weak because of ardra or roudra, and then the body falls ill.  Use a mantra in order to rid the mind of these disturbances. How to use a mantra? The mind should be immersed in the mantra. The mind should become the mantra. The mind is always engaged in something. It is always touching, tasting, listening, etc. You may ...

Chapter 6 - Guru Is The Way  Day 39  The mind is just like a mantra. We can realise this if we examine the mind and the intellect. When a thought arises in the mind, it is not easy to get rid of it.  The thought keeps coming back over and over again, and if you decide to do something else, you will feel uneasy until you finish with that thought.  It becomes irritating like a grain of sand in the eye. Observe the state of the mind in this situation. If someone gives you ten compliments and one insult, what does the mind hold onto?  It clings to the one insult. It comes to the mind again and again throughout the morning, afternoon, evening and night. Similarly, if you are unhappy about something, that sadness does not easily leave you, whatever you do to get rid of it.  Even by listening to inspiring discourses that sadness does not go away. Everything is full of happiness, but where is it? The mind discards good things and clings to misery. ...

Chapter 5 - Rest Within  Day 38 Birth and death are both the same - they happen because of the coming together and separation of five elements. We have called these two processes birth and death.  The body is made up of millions of cells, and when all these cells decide not to stay together but to separate, the body starts coming apart. Love engulfs each and every atom in creation.  The principle that holds everything together is love, and the same principle also separates everything. When you observe the sea from an airplane, you do not see the rising waves.  You see the ocean, but the waves and bubbles look still - you do not see the movement of the water. Only when you are near the sea do you notice that new waves are continually rising.  You do not think that it is one wave, but groups of waves appearing again and again. It is an optical illusion. Similarly, the play of the five elements makes it appear that this creation exists and has no creato...

Chapter 5 - Rest Within  Day 37  A body comes into being by the union of energies. There are two subjects for inquiry. One is "I', and the other is "that".  Science asks the question, "What is that?" while spirituality asks, "Who am I?" The body is created by the proper organisation and coordination of energies.  Without the joining of two energies, the creation of a body is not possible, whether it is an ant's body or a human's. This is the only way to create a body.  This is natural and clear. Whenever a body is created, there is a union of two energies. Understand this energy and observe it.  Then you will understand the knowledge of a body's origin. These days, cloning is being done everywhere. Cloning is not a new subject.  In India, Gandhari did it. She made 100 pieces out of an embryo, and placed them in 100 pots and heated them.  However, who was born out of this - Duryodhana, Dushasan and others - is another matter...

Chapter 5 - Rest Within  Day 36 The happiness experienced in samadhi is similar to, but greater than the pleasure and happiness we get in the world. There is no duality.  There is no condition that you will enjoy food only when you are hungry. Anybody, whether elderly or young, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, can enjoy samadhi naturally.  Such happiness is your nature. Once you have that enjoyment, then happiness appears everywhere. You are happy, because you are content your mind is fulfilled and satisfied whether you are looking at a garden or watching the sunset.  You will not feel jealous even if you see others happy. Suppose there is a group of four or five people talking, laughing and joking amongst themselves.  An unhappy person suspects that these people are teasing him. If your mind is unhappy, when you see someone laughing, you will get indignant and scold them.  The moment you blame a person or a situation know that you are unha...

Chapter 4 - Methods Of Developing Leadership Skills  Day 7 9. Building a Team - These 5 principles will help you build a strong and effective team :  i. Never underestimate your team members. If you do, you will not be able to win their trust. ii. Defend your intentions and not your actions. Often people defend their actions and lose sight of their intentions. Then they feel sorry and weak. There is no need to feel sorry. You should defend your intention to do right. iii. With teamwork you will achieve more than you can individually. Some kinds of work are best done alone, and some others, as part of a team. You should find a balance between working alone and working in a team.  In either case, you will face obstacles. The skill lies in not developing an aversion to either and instead, focusing on the goal. iv. Do not defend someone's mistakes. It does not do justice to the team and stops the person from learning. Soft-heartedness and misplaced compassion in a...

Chapter 5 - Innovation  Day 13  Breath definitely brings about the required change in us. Breath can change the doer, the person within you, the one who is depressed into someone who is enthusiastic, creative, who can withstand any drawback, resolve any conflict. Another issue that we need to look at is the way many people cannot stand criticism. I think this is a serious lapse in our education. We simply do not train people to withstand criticism.  The moment someone criticizes us, suddenly we bring in a mental barrier. We shut down all levels of communication, become defensive and stop learning.  I am of the opinion that if we can train people to take criticism and give constructive criticism when needed, then we will find such a huge difference in their attitude, in their behaviour in their approach to any situation, and towards people as well.  We need to inculcate an inclusive attitude, rather than encourage an attitude where we shut people out....

Chapter 5 - Innovation  Day 12 So what does it all mean? It means that you are so formal, you are walking around with a glass gaze all the time. It means we are content to remain in our shell and not really connect with one another, each time we communicate.  As a result, there is no real communication, no bonding happening. We need to create that informal environment around us, wherever we go, for authenticity to blossom.  We need to truly understand the difference between motivation and inspiration. What can we do for motivation offer our employees a raise in pay, give them some bonus.  Now this works for a couple of months maybe, and then that is it. It will not be enough to make the person's enthusiasm sustain over a longer period of time.  But if people are inspired from within to take up a mission, to see a job through to successful completion, they will put their heart and soul into it and their efforts will bring success.  This is what i...

Chapter 5 - Innovation  Day 11 Our body is like the wick of a candle and our mind is like the glowing light all around the wick. Just as a candle lives on oxygen, the flame needs oxygen to keep burning.  If you cover the candle with a glass, the light remains only as long as oxygen is present. The moment the oxygen runs out, the flame is extinguished.  In the same way, we are also completely dependent on oxygen, or what we may call the life force. This life force is what our ancestors called the atma, the jivatma. Are you still reading the words on this page? You know, when someone talks in deeply scientific or philosophical language, the mind just takes a break and goes for a cappuccino.  But if you are a thorough scientist, you truly understand spirituality. If you know about dark matter, dark energy, if you know about the origin of universe, if you reflect on the magnanimity of this universe, you will become spiritual.  In our universe, there are ...

Chapter 5 - Innovation Day 10 When your mind is at peace, your intellect becomes sharp. If your mind is clogged with a million worries or desires or sorrows, you are unable to achieve anything.  Some calmness in the mind, some pleasantness, is essential for the mind to function at its best. Do you know why children are so sharp? It is because they are happy.  As you grow up and as your happiness graph declines, that is when your ability to learn and imbibe also declines. You smile less.  It is spirituality that makes you smile, that allows you to keep the smile that nobody can take away from you, and not just when you greet somebody, but a genuine, lasting smile that springs from the depth of your mind, your heart.  That is a pleasant mind. The intellect becomes sharper, then it gets re-established. If you are not coordinated within yourself.  If you are not integrated within, if body, mind, breath, awareness, life, is haphazard, then neither is ther...

Chapter 5 - Innovation  Day 9 I will now tell you about The Art of Living. The Art of Living is a volunteer-based organisation. And when it is volunteer-based, there is no interference.  Everybody does the kind of work that they want to do, what they think is correct. And to manage a group of volunteers is the most difficult thing.  Our apex bodies and organisers have great experience doing just that. They cannot hire anybody because everybody is their own boss.  The skill lies in coordinating this whole group in which everyone thinks that they know best about what is needed. It is a challenge to work in this environment.  It can cause a lot of frustration. And especially in a spiritual organisation, where you cannot be frustrated. If you are frustrated, you are told, "You have to go and meditate, do not work now."  You will be given many knowledge lectures. So you cannot be angry, you cannot be frustrated, you cannot get upset. Because after al...