Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

*Chapter 3 - Bubbles On The Water* *Day 18* However, we are like a drunken man or a monkey. Our waking state is not wakeful at all. We act like a monkey that has been forced to drink alcohol and then eat asafetida.  In moments when you feel afraid or when your life is in danger, you wake up fully and become aware of everything around you.  A beginner cyclist spots each and every rock in the road, and as he sees rocks, he shouts, "Rock, Rock," and then in mid fall, he yells, "Falling, falling". If someone who is afraid of cockroaches gets out of bed, switches on the light and glimpses even a small cockroach, he will scream. He imagines it is a big cockroach. However, at that moment he is really awake. Similarly, if a person sees a snake, it is the worst.  He might even faint. We are not aware of the differences between the waking state, dreaming state and sleeping state.  When we get up in the morning, our eyes look drowsy. After having breakfast, we go out to work w...

*Chapter 3 - Bubbles On The Water* *Day 17* Are you awake, sleeping or are you dreaming? The problem is that you are doing both. While you think you are awake, you are actually dreaming.  We do not notice the differences between the waking and dreaming states. That is why we try to make our dreams come true.  To consider dreams real is a sign of ignorance. Look at a child who starts crying after he wakes up from a dream.  He thinks that the dog that was chasing him in his dream was real, and so even after waking up he keeps crying and shouting, saying that a dog bit him.  While considering a dream as real is a sign of ignorance, understanding that reality is just like a dream is a sign of an enlightened person.  The main problem lies in not understanding the difference. Instead, you sit, day-dreaming. There are two types of dreams- a day-dream happens when we are awake, and dream happens when we are sleep. When you become aware that a thief has broken into your ...

*Chapter 2 - Energy Centres* *Day 15* For a computer to work properly, it needs to stay at the right temperature and be in proper condition. Our body is a super-computer, which is very delicate.  If a man-made computer requires a specific environment, then what do we need? Our bodies also require proper conditions.  That is to say the mind should be alert and aware, and the body should stay fit and active, which requires regular pranayama, exercise and so forth.  When you do pranayama, do it will full awareness and attention. When you work hard, only then can you enjoy rest, and that rest is where shivtattva is. When you direct your attention to the energy centers, the world gets annihilated. You yourself have to take apart your own world.  Nobody else can do it because you are responsible for creating your own world. There is a story about a very famous locksmith.  It was said that nobody could make a lock that could be compared with his locks. One ...

*Chapter 2 - Energy Centres* *Day 16* In this way the whole world is one shakti chakra. Your life will end in 40-60 years. After that, the breath, mind and soul of this life will be recycled into a new body, which will also die and be recycled.  Everything in this world has a cycle. Whether a dog, cat, parrot, crow, or owl, all die only to be born as some other species in another womb.  This recycling is also known as punarjanma, or rebirth. This world is a wheel made up of different wombs. You are now born as a human, maybe a man or woman.  A rat may be born as a cat and the cat as some other creature. Understand that you take rebirth in the form that you adore, hate or fear.  The rat, which is afraid of the cat, dies with a cat impressed on its memory, and will be reborn as a cat. The cat hates the dog and so will be reborn as a dog.  If a dog fears man, it will take rebirth as a man. Humans are the only creature that scares everything. In this cen...

ZEN story "THE DOOR OF PARADISE" A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin and asked him: "Are there heaven and hell?" "Who are you?", Haquin asked. "I am a samurai!", replied the warrior. "You, soldier !?", exclaimed Hakuin. "Which ruler would want you as a guardian? Your face is like a beggar's." Nobushige was so enraged that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued, "Well, you have a sword too!? Your weapon is probably too dull to cut my head off." When Nobushige drew his sword, Hakuin remarked, "This is where the gates of hell open!" At these words, the samurai, understanding the teacher's lesson, put his sword back in its scabbard and bowed. "This is where the gates of heaven open", Haquin said.