Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷              Chapter 5               Winning immortality      🌻 Day 40 🌻 ‘What’ – we discussed the Kena Upanishad. It comes in order. First is Isha, then Kena and then Katho – this comes third. Bodh mantra, just the knowingness, not knowledge or the knower. From objects of knowing to knowledge to the knowingness to the knower – these are the four steps to the Self. You can never make the Divine an object of knowing. This is what people are trying to do in the whole world. “Can I see God? Have you seen God?” When people ask these questions, it is so stupid. The Self cannot be an object of knowing. It is the knowingness itself.  It is in death that the knowingness is not there; just like in sleep your knowingness is absent. Liberation is exiting with the knowingness, like witnessing your sleep. You might have had one or two glimpses here and there, maybe in an adva...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                  Chapter 5                Winning immortality       🌻 Day 39 🌻 Basically Nachiketa has been instructed two things. One is put in your self-effort. You need self-effort so that you don’t become a slave to your senses, you become the master of your senses. Will self-effort alone work? Yama said, “No, it is only grace that works.” Since everyone is a combination of body and mind, matter and energy, the tangible and the intangible, the manifest and the unmanifest, you need two sets of rules to follow. One set of rules for the body, the tangible, the limited. It works only with effort. Then another set of rules to handle the mind, the abstract, the unmanifest. That works through effortlessness. Often we confuse ourselves and do the reverse. In the mind we put effort and for the body, we say, “Let it be, whatever happens.” You have to exercise...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷               Chapter 4           Beyond the layers of existence     🌻Day 38 🌻 विज्ञानसारथिर्यस्तु मनः प्रग्रहवान्नरः । सोऽध्वनः पारमप्नोति तद्विष्णो परमं पदम् ॥ With that scientific temper and subtlety of feeling, one attains that abode of Vishnu! Question: When you die will you recognize your friends and everybody? Sri Sri : Yes, when you die , the first person you meet is your Guru. Then you meet your mother, ancestors, father, and grandparents. They all shake your hands and welcome you. Question: why does the divine split itself into so many forms, make all this drama, and one day go back to its original form? Sri Sri : it does, by its own grace. It blesses “Ok, you are gasping for breath. You legs are tired, arms are tired. You have swam enough. Your skin is getting soggy.” Doesn’t your skin get soggy when you are in the water too long? Then you say, “Enough is Enough”, take a ...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                  Chapter 4          Beyond the layers of existence       🌻 Day 37 🌻 महतः परमव्यक्तमव्यक्तात्पुरुषः परः । पुरुषान्न परं किञ्चित्सा काष्ठा सा परा गतिः ॥ Beyond the intellect is ego. Ego arises from undifferentiated Consciousness. Consciousness arises from Brahman. Brahman is the first cause and the last refuge! Beyond the ego is Mahat Tattva. Take a strand of hair and cut it vertically 100 times. Take one of these strands and again cut it 100 times, the tip of that one strand is the size of an atom. Ego is a 100 times finer than the atom. They have described the dimension of the ego! 100 times finer than that ego is mahat tattva, the principle called mahat! The word Mahatma is a title, which means the one who has transcended the ego. All saints are called mahatmas. In Sanskrit, mahatma means one who has become one with the mahat tattva. Many times finer, 1000 times ...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷               Chapter 4         Beyond the layers of existence      🌻 Day 36 🌻 इन्द्रियेभ्यः परा ह्यर्था अर्थेभ्यश्र्च परं मनः । मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्बुद्धेरात्मा महान्परः ॥ Giving more importance to the senses, than to the objects of senses is wisdom. Senses are incapable of performing but mind wants it. Eyes are tired but the mind wants to see the movie, complete it. Your brain is tired, but the mind is very curious to watch the movie. How many of you have watched movie like that? You have given importance to the movie, more than the eyes.  Give more importance to the senses than the objects of senses. Give more importance to the mind than to the senses and more importance to the intellect than the mind. When the intellect that is beyond the mind, say this is not good for you, just don’t do it. We often don’t listen to our intellect. We go by what our mind says, and it goes wi...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                 Chapter 4        Beyond the layers of existence       🌻 Day 35 🌻 यस्य ब्रह्म च क्षत्रं च उभे भव ओदनः । मृत्युर्यस्योपसेचनं क इत्था वेद यत्र सः ॥ None else can know the omnipresent Self whose glory sweeps away the rituals of the priests and the powers of the warriors and puts death itself to death! To which the knowledge and activity both are food, death eats away that life. Death eats away all events. Death takes time in its lap. In Indian languages, if somebody dies, they say, they have been taken away by time. In Tamil they say kalamaita – they merged into time. Death eats away all the impressions, eats all forms. And this Self, this Brahman eats death itself! You can neither acquire the Self by knowledge nor by action. Nor can death deny it. Because, death, knowledge and actions are food for the Self. It eats them away. It is much bigger than them. When ...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷              Chapter 4         Beyond the layers of existence      🌻 Day 34 🌻 अशीररँ शरीरेष्वनवस्थेष्ववस्थितम् । महान्तं विभुमात्मानं मत्वा धीरो न शोचति ॥ What is required to see the Formless in the form? It needs great courage. One who is able to see the Formless in the ocean of forms, in the ocean of emotions, which the world is, sees the quiet, Non-changing, subtle bliss. He is dheera, the brave one, the courageous one. नाविरतो दुश्र्चरितान्नाशान्तो नासमाहितः । नाशान्तमानसो वाऽपि प्रज्ञानेनैनमाप्रुयात् ॥ The Self can be attained only by those whom the Self chooses. The Self can’t be known by anyone, who desist not from unrighteous ways, controls not his senses, stills not his mind and practises not meditation.  ‘One who has not retired from unrighteous things’ – what is unrighteous? That which you don’t want anyone to do to you, if you are doing that to others, it is unright...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                 Chapter 4          Beyond the layers of existence       🌻 Day 33 🌻 The Self is formless in the midst of forms. All these forms – one is yelling, one is shouting, one is calm, one is crying, one is laughing; all these forms behaving in various ways are all just permeated by one form that is my Self! It is Changeless in the midst of change. Everything is changing but that One Thing is not changing. When you are so hard on yourself you say, “Oh! Nothing is changing. I am not changing.” My dear, look a little deeper. When you feel you are not changing, that too is the true! There is something in you that is not changing. Forget about your behaviour, your feelings and other things. Everything around is changing and what is not changing is the True Thing inside you. Instead of looking at the unchanging, you are saying the changing is not changing. That is ig...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                 Chapter 4         Beyond the layers of existence      🌻 Day 32 🌻 We are all a combination of form and formless. Our body is form, the mind is formless. Similarly, the universe is form, Divinity is formless. Energy has no form but matter has form. The entire universe is a perfect combination of form and formless. You must have heard about the new theory of dark matter and dark energy. What physics says is that the space between the objects in the universe is much more powerful than the objects themselves. The space in between two objects is thick, is a substance as well. If the sun is round, it is because the space around it is full of energy that makes the sun round. Have you seen bubbles in the water? Why is the bubble round? Because there is water pressure around it and that makes a bubble round inside the water. Similarly, all the planets, all this celestial substances ...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                 Chapter 3                The grace of the diivine      🌻Day 31 🌻 नायमात्मा प्रवचनेन लभयो  न मेधया न बहुना श्रुतेन । यमेवैष वृणुते तेन लभ्यः  तस्यैष आत्मा विवृणुते तनूँ स्वाम् ॥ The Self cannot be known through the study of scriptures nor through the intellect nor through learned discourses. It can be attained only by those whom the Self chooses. Verity unto them, the Self reveals himself! Relax! It is a futile exercise. Forget about it. This is the last straw of the ego because the ego wants to do something, acquire it, grab it. Now when it is said “No, you can’t,” the last hope is ditched. This is so amazingly beautiful. You are first kindled and coaxed to have interest in it. You would have been immersed in name and form in life. “Oh! Leave all this. You have to look something great – Self, self-realisation. Go for it.” Then you ...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                Chapter 3             The grace of the divine       🌻 Day 30 🌻 अशरीरँ शरीरेष्वनवस्थेष्ववस्थितम् । महान्तं विभुमात्मानं मत्वा धीरो न शोचति ॥ When the wise realise the Self, Formless in the midst of form, Changeless in the midst of change, Omnipresent and Supreme, they go beyond sorrow. If you really dislike somebody, hate somebody; just imagine them in your mind without the head. This is one of the tantric techniques. When somebody has great animosity, hatred against somebody, what do they want to do? They just want to take the sword and chop their head off. Instead of physically doing that, just imagine that his head is chopped off. This is a human tendency from ages. What did they do in the middle ages? Anybody they didn’t like, they chopped their head off. In the tantric technique, imagine that the person who is bothering you has had his head chopped ...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷               Chapter no 3       The grace of the divine      🌻 Day 29 🌻 कष्तस्य सुकस्य न कोऽपि धात् I heard this from elderly people. I spent my young days with older people. All my other friends would wonder why I go and sit with elderly people. They wouldn’t understand; they would make fun of me. Nobody gives you happiness and sorrow. Sorrow is a making of your own mind and when you go beyond sorrow and then the joy that comes out of you is your true nature! Nobody is giving you joy. When you are in touch with your Being, you are joyful. Why are you happy when you are in touch with the Guru? Guru and Self have same vibrations. Your innermost and the teacher have the same frequency. That is why you feel comfortable with the Guru, because you feel comfortable with the Self.  Why does Guru give joy? Your self is joy. When you are with the Guru, your mind opens, your ego opens; it ca...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                  Chapter 3               The grace of the divine       🌻 Day 28 🌻 At the end of 700 shlokas, Lord Krishna says, सर्व धर्मान् परित्यज्  Leave all Dharma to take refuge in Me. Have confidence in Me, and leave it. Arjuna was so righteous, he said, “Krishna, why are you telling me to fight this war. Do you have any sense?” Such was his tone. “What are you telling? I don’t agree with what you say. What you are saying is against dharma.” Krishna smiled and said, “You talk like a great knowledgeable pundit, but you are so foolish. You are crying. You are on an emotional roller coaster.” त्यक्तवा ह्रदया दौर्बल्यम् ह्रदया दौर्बल्यम् – weakness of heart, weak emotions. Come on, wake up, drop this. Then Krishna told him the Gita. Finally, he said, “Drop the dharma and take refuge in Me!” Rights and wrongs keep our mind in the gross, in the nam...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                 Chapter 3           The grace of the divine       🌻 Day 27 🌻 When the Buddists meditated, they found Aum. Jains meditated and they found Aum. Sikhs found Aum. Zoroastrians found Aum. Aum is very similar to Ameen. In the Jewish tradition, it is Shalom. Aum is there in Shalom. Aum is the eternal sound, Aum is what one hears. So that which cannot be expressed by any name or form is represented by sound. That sound is Aum! Though it is beyond sound, it can be identified with the sound Aum. When I was in Connecticut, one lady came back to me and said that she did an experiment with the sound Aum. They recorded the sound and frequency of Aum, it is exactly the same as that of earth’s rotation around its axis. Aum also has the same cycles. This just testifies what we hear all the time, that this universal sound Aum is always there. We were part of that before birt...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷               Chapter 3             The grace of the divine      🌻 Day 26 🌻 ॐ इति ऐतत् That is Aum. In all eastern traditions, all those who meditated experienced the sound Aum. All other sounds merge into this one sound Aum. Before birth you were in Aum and after death you will be in Aum. This is the sound of one hand clapping, one sound remaining.  So, at the moment of death, when someone says Aum and leaves the body, he will be immediately absorbed in Aum. When one dies, first he is able to see what is all around. His entire life comes before him like a film. All the sanskaras (impressions) open up. This is normally for people who are not deep meditators. If you are a deep meditator, all impressions are already gone! That is why you are dead while being alive. You usually hear, “Kill the mind”, “man maro” in Hindi. What does “Kill the mind” mean? It means to remove...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                 Chapter 3            The grace of the divine       🌻 Day 25 🌻 एतध्द्येवाक्षरं ब्रह्म एतध्द्येवाक्षरं परम् । एतध्द्येवाक्षरं ज्ञात्वा यो यदिच्छति तस्य तत् ॥ 'Aum' consolidates all that I am telling you. Death gives you the sound 'aum'. In Buddhist tradition it is called the sound of one hand clapping. Go deep in meditation, there is a sound that resonates in you–'Aum'. When you die the sound that remains with you is Aum.  I said two things will stay with you – sound and sight. Sound is Aum, sight is light. So, death is nothing but a light and sound show! This world is nothing but a light and sound show. Just remove all the images from your mind – images means light, and there is no world! Remove all the sounds, there is no sorrow. What is sorrow? When somebody blames you, someone says something wrong to you. What is that? It is sound. Remove ...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷               Chapter 3                The grace of the divine       🌻 Day 24 🌻 सर्वे वेदा यत्पदमामनन्ति तपाँसि सर्वाणि च यद्वदन्ति । यदिच्छन्तो ब्रह्मचर्यँ चरन्ति  तत्ते पदँ सङ्गहेण ब्रवीम्योमित्येतत् ॥ Here, the Lord of Death gives the Word that all scripture glorify, which all spiritual disciplines express to attain, for which aspirants lead a life to self-restraint. Why do people practise charity? Why do people practise self-restrain, why do people take monkhood, stay in monastery? Why do people become nuns and fathers or swamis? Why do they all do this? What is the purpose? They want to attain something higher but they get lost in their way. They simply become recluses, become monks, but they don’t get it. The purpose of them doing all this is to see that which is beyond death.  The Lord of Death told Nachiketa, “This is why they all are doing it a...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                Chapter 3               The grace of the divine      🌻 Day 23 🌻 तं दुर्दर्शं गूढमनुप्रविष्ठं  गुहाहितं गह्वरेष्ठं पुराणम् । अध्यात्मयोगाधिगमेन देवं मत्वा धीरो हर्षशोकौ जहाति ॥ For those who go deep in meditation, there is no fear of death. For others there is only one fear, that of death. All fear is about death. Behind the fear of losing money, fear of losing reputation, fear of losing attention, fear of losing status – behind all that, there is only one fear that is of death! Meditation is confronting that. When you are in meditation, there is stillness, nothing exist. This is what takes you away from the fear of death.    When they say heart (cave of heart), it does not mean emotion and love. “I want to open my heart” – please don’t do that. “O! My heart is closed; I want to open my heart.” This is a big problem, especially in the...

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷                Chapter 3               The grace of the divine       🌻 Day 22 🌻  अन्यत्र धर्मादन्यत्राधर्मा– त्रास्मात्कृताकृतात् । अन्यत्र भूताच्च भव्याच्च  यत्तत्पश्यषि तद्वद ॥ What nachiketa said next is very beautiful. A student usually says, “Teach me what is right.” But Nachiketa said, “Teach me of That you see beyond right and wrong.” He has transcended the limited logic of the mind. There is beautiful quote in Sanskrit, दुर्जनम प्रथमम् वन्दे, सज्जनम् तदन्तरम् I bow down to the wicked, for he is teaching me the lesson at his own cost. The one who is teaching me the lesson by falling into the pit needs to be appreciated first. Then, I thank the wise, who guides me to the right path. How beautiful is this! Doesn’t make your emotion light and uplifted? You are left with no other emotion than gratefulness and thankfulness. Nothing else it left....

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷               Chapter 3                The grace of the divine      🌻 Day 21 🌻 Body has the limitations, so does the mind. Good thoughts come, bad thoughts come, and emotions come, so what? You are happy sometimes, you are upset sometimes. Sometimes they are not your emotions, they are somebody else’s emotions, which get on to your body and mind. How many have experienced this? This is body-mind complex, these things happen. “I want to get rid of it, I want to be pure.” This is another problem. For a moment those vibrations come to you, so what? Be brave, this is where you need courage. Those emotions come and go, you watch them. Sometimes you react, “O! I reacted, I did this, and I did that.” Never mind that you reacted, it is finished. Don’t be hard on yourself. Remember one thing – the present moment, come to the moment! Jealousy comes inside you and you think, “I am a se...