Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

One day I left the Ashram. Another devotee accompanied me. I think it was Kashi bhaiya. So I just left. And nobody came to know where I went. We went to a faraway village. And then I asked the driver to stop the car outside a house. When I went inside the house, there was a man sitting inside the house. The man was a simple farmer, who had just a small farm to himself. But he had a television on which he had watched my programme. And after watching that programme, he had such an intense desire to meet me.  He would think, 'How do I meet Guruji? I can’t afford to travel to Bangalore. I have to meet Guruji in some way or the other'. And I went and stood at the door of his very house. He got such a shock. He fell on his knees and started crying. He was a simple farmer who only grew tomatoes in his farm. His farm was less than half an acre in area. He had a small family.   Similarly, once I went to a certain school one day. I took classes for both the teachers and stud...

I had been to the Bangalore ashram for the first time, this year in January. My aunt had requested me to give her letter to Guruji.  The letter was sealed in an envelope. I promised her that I would give the envelope to Guruji, in His hand, to which she said that she would love it if I gave it directly to Him, but since it gets really crowded in the ashram, I might have to put it in the basket. What she said was very true, but I knew how important it was for this letter to reach Him, so I made a strong Sankalpa in my heart for the same. Since this was the first time I was visiting the ashram, I did not really know how to reach the place, and was travelling with a friend, who too was going to Bangalore for the very first time. Eventually, I landed up meeting 50 more volunteers in the train, who were also headed to the ashram. They had an appointment with Guruji. They asked us to come along to meet Guruji. “This was the best time to hand over my aunt’s letter!” I thought ...

I was never a big follower of any Guru. The whole concept was alien to me. My elder sister on the other hand was devoted to Guruji. She insisted that I do the Yes!+ course but I dodged it for more than a year.  Then she gifted me a book, ‘Stumbling into Infinity’ by Michael Fischman. The book told the tale of Michael, one of the first followers of Guruji and how his life had transformed. When I finished the book, I was in awe and couldn’t wait to do the course. Luckily for me, I found out from a friend that the next course was happening in two weeks. However, my final exams were to begin the day after the course ends so I was apprehensive but my friend convinced me to do it. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and the Sudarshan Kriya experience was magical. After my course and exams, I flew to the US to meet my sister. We went to Los Angeles to volunteer for Upanishads, a discourse by Guruji that was going to take place over three days. Everyone told me I was very lucky to ...

If I say that I am grateful, I am thankful or anything else for that matter, it does not suffice. Nothing that I say can ever express the love that I feel for Gurudev. I was suffering for 2 long years with bleeding in my intestines. Surgery did not help, and neither did the various medicines that I kept trying. I ate healthy and worked out, but all in vain. On the outside I was a fit young lady, but inside I was broken.  The breaking point came when one day, in January 2013, I suddenly could not breathe. As my husband rushed me to the hospital, my breathing became very laborious and my body became paralyzed. But through my struggle to breathe, I kept hearing a voice telling me not to worry as I had experienced something similar (fast breathing) in the Sudershan Kriya. It kept getting tougher and tougher to breathe, with each breath. In a matter of minutes, I could see my world crashing and I quickly started bidding goodbye to my husband and my young children. In my mind...

Chapter 7 - Kriya Yoga  Day 58  Patanjali has said four things. Manaha prasaadaha - the pleasantness in the mind. It is a big tapas to maintain the pleasantness of the mind. You may feel pleasant but soon you drop all that pleasantness. Manaprasaadah is maintaining the pleasantness and contentment in the mind. Sowmyataam, sowmya means calm and composed. You can feel pleasant, but excited. That is not sowmya. Some people feel very pleasant but they do not feel calm.  The pleasantness can mak them feel very crazy and excited. So, along with pleasantness it is essential to be composed - sowmyataam. People who are happy create trouble for others. This is because they are not aware that, in their excitement and happiness, they say and do things that may adversely affect others.  But if a person is calm and composed, he is more aware. There is awareness in a composed mind. You are sensitive to other’s feelings and to your surroundings. So, what is required is p...

Chapter 7 - Kriya Yoga  Day 57  There are three other sections of tapas - the bodily tapas, the tapas of the speech, and the tapas of the mind. Bodily tapas is maintaining physical hygiene, avoiding lethargy, having control over the five senses, etc. You may want to watch the television, but you do not. You are not hungry and you just do not eat even if you want to.  Physical tapas is maintaining personal hygiene and continence, remaining in the Self and having a control over the senses and the body and then, there is tapas of the speech. This is saying only such things that do not distress people - speaking the truth and speaking the pleasant truth.  Make a note of what you tell people when you are with them, what do you talk about? Do you excite them and do they leave you feeling relieved and at peace or do they leave you feeling angry, jealous, greedy, frustrated or depressed? Often, you are a better person when you are silent. You are more charming an...

Chapter 7 - Kriya Yoga  Day 56  There are three types of tapas - sattvic, rajasic and tamasic. Sattvic tapas is one in which you are not even aware that you are doing it. You are just part of the phenomenon. The world today is a phenomenon and you are just a part of that phenomenon.  Where do you exist? There may be so many waves or ripples in a lake but it is ridiculous if each one of them thinks that it is existing as a wave. When a wind blows, so many waves arises, and they all subside a little later.  And one wave calls itself Jyothi, another is Michel, and there would be others - David, Dev and Lillian. Those limited waves have been given different names. And all these waves will subside in a few years, and new waves will arise. One goes through this fire of life with this awareness. This is Sattvic Tapas.  There are those who practices with a desire to achieve something. They have this motive even when they are doing some service or seva. And, ...

Chapter 7 - Kriya Yoga  Day 55  When people criticize you, there is a fire which flares up in your system. When you speak before a big crowd, you are uncomfortable and nervous because you fear their opinions and criticism. Badabaagni is the fire of social criticism. It is said that man is a social animal and lives in a society. He has to follow certain rules and cannot love as he pleases. He cannot feel that, since he is free, he can do whatever that he wishes. When you drive, you have to follow the rules.  You have to drive on the correct side. When you walk, you have to do so in the proper place. You have to stop where you should stop. You have to follow certain rules and regulations, certain code of conduct.  This will give rise to certain fears in you - the fear of criticism, the fear of getting a ticket, the fear of being punished, etc. Abiding by certain laws brings up certain concerns for keeping to those laws. If you are greatly concerned about cr...

Chapter 7 - Kriya Yoga  Day 54  When life will move through all these fires, it will emerge as gold. Unfortunately, you have not understood this principle. You do not even allow the fire to come up in you. When you have fever, you take paracetamol and suppress it.  You just get rid of the symptoms of the problem. You do not attend to the root cause. It is not that you should not take medicines. You should take it the natural way. You should attend to the root cause of the problem and eliminate the bacteria, rather than just eliminate the symptoms or the fire in the system. Naturopathy and Ayurveda deal with this principle to keep alive the Bhootaagni.  Your body had its own air-conditioning system. But, it you turn on the external air conditioner all the time, then you are destroying the self modulating system of the body. The air conditioner is kept switched on all the time in hot and tropical countries. There is no prana, or freshness in such an environ...