Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Chapter 9 - Eliminating The Cause Of Pain  Day 72  The world which is seen is illuminated. Each thing gives you a message. It gives you an idea of how great the consciousnesses is. Every aspect in this world is an expression of consciousness and everything is active. Everything has manifested out of consciousness.  Everything in this universe is dynamic. They are not static. Flowers come up. Mountains appear to be static but they are not. They are all dynamic. Every atom in this universe is dynamic, means everything undergoes certain stages of evolution.  Everything has a stage, a state. And everything is governed by certain principle and qualities. The entire creation is made up of five elements - the five elements and five sense organs. These are five organs of perception and five organs of action. These are ten organs.  The entire creation is endowed with these two and the mind. This entire creation is there to give you pleasure and relief. Whatev...

Chapter 9 - Eliminating The Cause Of Pain  Day 71  The root cause of pain needs to be eliminated. That pain which has not yet come in life and that sorrow which has not yet sprouted should be nipped right in the beginning. How do we do that? The main cause of pain is forgetting that one's Self is separate from one's environment.  The Self, the seer and the seen - lack of perception of the Self and the objects that are all around the Self. You think of yourself as you. Then the problems begin. Usually, we keep our life somewhere else and not in us. There was a story in the olden days.  The life of the king was in a parrot. So, if this parrot was killed, the king would die, too. The king's life was not in he king. He would not die if somebody did anything to him. He was like a superman. If the King has to be killed, the assassin had to go to a remote island which had a fort.  It was very difficult to get into it. If the assassin did manage to get in, h...

Chapter 9 - Eliminating The Cause Of Pain  Day 70 If you just look into all the pleasures or joy that you get in life, you will note that they all come with a tax and this tax is sorrow. Every event causes some pain. An event could be very pleasant or joyful. But, it comes with a little pinch, a pain.  That pain is that, however joyful an event is, it will end. And the ending of an event, however pleasurable and joyful, comes with a little pinch. The greater the joy it has given, the greater will be the pain when it ends. Parinaama dukha - This is called parinaama, the effect or the result. Taapa dukha - longing for an event. Waiting for a pleasurable event causes pain. Samskaara dukha - the impressions of it, memories of it. Memories of a pleasure also bring pain. So before you have something, the feverishness to get it is painful.  Then, when you have it, the fear of losing it is painful. And, when it is gone the memory of its joy is painful. So the whole th...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 69 When these impressions are good, they bring you much joy and happiness. However, if they not good, they bring suffering. It depends on your merit and demerit. If you have done good to people, then that good karma accumulates and brings you joy.  If somebody is happy, it is because he has done something good in the past. If somebody is miserable, he has done something bad in the past. So, here Patanjali connects every happiness and misery to some action of the past - all that is in your karma tank. And, meditation is the way we wash out the misery. You become so light, hollow and empty. You sing and dance to make thin the veil which is on the Self. This is very precious. Sometimes, you may feel bored. It does not matter.  Just be aware that you are burning some old seeds of boredom. If you are bored with yourself, just think how boring you would be to somebody else? So even if you are bored, never mind. It will make you m...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 67 If you don't cleanse your consciousness of these five miseries or impurities, then you will have to suffer in this life and the next, too. Patanjali said you will have to suffer in this life and in the next life too, because the miseries form a bank of karma.  They get into the reserve bank In you. They form a karma tank. This karma can be washed off and eliminated right away through meditation. You should get rid of the karma and lessen the sheaths of ignorance over you before your body drops. Otherwise, there is no escape for you from these miseries. Some karma will give you fruit in this life and some in the next. Some people may ask, if one day you put your finger in the fire, whether it will burn that day, the next day, the next year or in the next lifetime. They will point out that there is nothing like karma.  They will agree that every action has its repercussions, which are felt in the current lifetime, itself. ...