Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Life always moves towards perfection. Just like how water flows down and fire goes up, the nature of life is to move towards perfection, to move towards something bigger and something higher. Often people say that the mind is wavering, but the mind is not wavering. The mind is the wave. It is moving towards something. It is moving towards a higher joy. If you get a little joy, you want some more joy. This is because the mind always moves towards something bigger and something higher. Right from school days, what is it that you want? You want to get a higher grade. Which student does not want to get a higher grade? Which artist does not want to perform better? Which scientist does not want to reach the peak? Which engineer does not want to build something beautiful? So wanting perfection is in the nature of human beings. The mind wants to move towards something higher, and the way to achieve it is Yoga. Yoga Helps You Get Out Of Misery If you are miserable, yoga helps you get out of you...

You can be at ease with the uncertainty of the world when you realise the certainty of the consciousness. Often people do just the opposite. They are certain about the things in the world and uncertain about God. They rely on something that is not reliable and get upset. Uncertainty causes craving for stability and the most stable thing in the universe is our Self. The world is of change, the Self is of non-change. You have to rely on the non-change and accept the change. If you are certain that everything is uncertain, then you are liberated. When you are uncertain in ignorance then you become worried and tense. Uncertainty with awareness brings higher states of consciousness and a smile. Bharat says: A certain smile!!! Often people think that certainty is freedom. If you feel that freedom when you are not certain then that is 'real' freedom. Often your certainty or uncertainty is based on the relative world. To be certain about the uncertainty of the relative, makes you certa...

Are you trying to get rid of unwanted thoughts? - Try this simple technique to free your mind   When a thought arises in the mind, it is not easy to get rid of it. The thought keeps coming back over and over again, and if you decide to do something else, you will feel uneasy until you finish with that thought. It becomes irritating like a grain of sand in the eye. Similarly, if you are unhappy about something, that sadness does not easily leave you, whatever you do to get rid of it. Even by listening to inspiring discourses that sadness does not go away. Many times you tell your mind that something is trivial and not to worry about it. But the mind or intellect does not pay any attention. So we can chant a mantra. Our mind takes the form of the mantra that we repeat.  “Manah trayate iti mantrah” – means a mantra is that which is brought to mind again and again. And to practice this mind and the mantra should not be separate. The mind should become the mantra. If the mind thin...

What is Karma? There are billions and billions of living creatures and so many kinds of feelings arise within each of them. All of these feelings propel or cause some action. That feeling is called Karma, and the (resultant) action is also called Karma. Sukshma Karma and Sthula Karma When a desire to create arises from within you, then that desire or feeling is Karma. It is Sukshma Karma(action at the subtle level). The moment a desire arises in your mind, let us say to build a new building, then that’s it – the work or the action has already happened. For example, when the architect has made the blueprint of the house, then the construction of the house has already happened. Then there is Sthula Karma (action at the material level), such as bringing the bricks, stones, mortar, and constructing the house with them. So, the subtle desires or feelings that arise beyond the realm of the five elements is also called Karma, and the action that takes place in the...

As the world celebrates the fourth International Day of Yoga, it’s time again for this ancient art of inner blossoming to be in the spotlight. Thanks to the global patronage over the last four years, the acceptance and popularity of yoga has broken many barriers. The wide array of applications, expectations and perceptions demonstrates its versatility as the super-cure for the ills of the modern world. One of the most common misconceptions about yoga is about it being just another form of physical exercise. Around the world, people have often innocently asked me the same question. While asanas, or physical postures do provide the entry point for many, the science of yoga is much vast and profound. The central teaching of yoga is maintaining an equanimous state of mind. Being able to do any action with mindfulness, being aware of what you are saying or doing makes you a yogi. Science is a systematic, logical understanding of what is. Yoga is also a science, a systematic understanding of...