Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Chapter 10 - The Eight Limbs Of Yoga  Day 84 There are the five yamas, and then the five niyamas. The niyamas are, Shaucha is physical purity, keeping oneself clean. People may not take a bath for several days and wear perfumes. This is not cleanliness.  Water should run in and on this body - both inside and outside. You have to drink enough water and let it run through the system. Water is the greatest purifier for this physical body. There needs to be cleanliness in the atmosphere and in the environment.  If you are used to being unclean, you do not feel anything if you are. You can see this in the slums. The people there do not mind living in very dirty conditions, with garbage all around. It just does not register in their consciousness.  They are used to it. In the same way, you get used to being unclean, and keeping your room unclean, etc. It starts with your postponing your bath one day or wearing the clothes that you wore the previous day.  A...

Chapter 10 - The Eight Limbs Of Yoga  Day 83  When you give things to people, it brings back something to you. There are some good vibrations and this makes you happy. If you are very unhappy one day, then give away something or give some gifts to somebody. Then, your consciousness will change, shift and sometimes when you accept gifts from someone, you will feel unhappy.  In the ancient days, they knew this science very well. They used to call wise people to their homes and give them food and gifts. And, when they accepted, they would give one more offering. This was to show thankfulness to the wise people for having accepted their offering. This was called dakshina. So, if someone accepts a gift, then the giver should be thankful. This is called dakshina. The giver is thankful because they are not just taking something. The acceptors are giving back their mind and taking away certain impressions or karmas of the past from the giver's mind.  Non acceptan...

Chapter 10 - The Eight Limbs Of Yoga  Day 85  Santosha - contentment and happiness. Happiness is an attitude. If you are used to being unhappy, you will grumble and be unhappy even in the best situations. Nothing can make you happy in the world. What happens when you are happy, when you smile?  There is much relaxation on your face - in the muscles of the face, in the head, etc. There is freedom, joy and relaxation and if you have trained your muscles and your nervous system to be unhappy, then there will be knots and stressed in your face.  There will be stiffness in your head and in your body and you will remain unhappy irrespective of the situation, surrounding, etc. Santosha is a practice. Being happy is a practice.  Unconditional happiness is a practice. You need to decide that you are going to smile, no matter what happens. You need to feel that everyone and everything is going to die and disappear, anyway. So, you do not care. You need to feel...

Chapter 10 - The Eight Limbs Of Yoga  Day 82 When you do not accumulate then you get knowledge of previous births and knowledge of different species. The communication in you improves. When a person wants more and more, he just thinks of himself and is obsessed with fear. He does not know the eternal value of life.  Life has been there from ages and will continue for ages to come. Non accumulation means confidence in one's existence and in one's ability, and having knowledge of one's self. If you know how to make bread, then you will not go in making bread for a week and then store it for a year in your room.  It will become stale and inedible. In China, there is a proverb, "What you give, you gain more. Whatever you scatter, you will have it all. You lose what you hold on to." When you scatter, it all comes back to you. Everything is yours and you are all over.  A person who is very afraid of himself and who has no idea of his strength is very stingy....

Chapter 10 - The Eight Limbs Of Yoga  Day 81  Brahmacharya, usually means celibacy. Celibacy brings you a lot of strength. Brahmacharya has a bigger and deeper meaning than just celibacy. Brahma means infinity, charya means moving in the infinity. You move like a glow of light when you know your vast nature and consider yourself not to be just the body.  This is when celibacy naturally happens. When you are sitting in deep meditation, you do not feel you are a body and that you are a lump of heavy weight - eighty pounds, ninety pounds, one hundred pound body. You feel so light. You feel as though you are like a feather. When you walk you do not feel the weight of your body. You feel more space.  The more joyful you are, the less do you feel the body. The more you are in infinite consciousness, the lesser will you feel the tension, or the physical bodily weight, or presence. That is Brahmacharya. Our consciousness expanded to the infinite and moving in the...