What is samadhi ?

The word ‘samadhi’ has been largely misunderstood. People think it means a death-like situation. The word literally means ‘sama’ and ‘dhi’. ‘Sama’ means equanimity and ‘dhi’ denotes ‘buddhi’. If you reach that kind of equanamous state of intellect, it is known as ‘samadhi’. What it means by equanamous state of intellect is this: only when the intellect is functioning, you are able to discriminate between one thing and the other. The discrimination that this is this and this is that is there only because the intellect is functioning. The moment you drop the intellect or transcend the intellect, this discrimination does not exist. Now everything becomes one whole, which is a reality.

Everything just becomes one whole. In this state, there is no time and space. You may think the man had been in samadhi for three days. For him, it was just a few moments – it just passes off like that. Lifetimes can pass off like this.

There are legends where it is said that there have been yogis who lived up to 400-500 years and that some of them are still alive. This 400-500 years – is such a thing possible? Theoretically, it is possible. Whether there is such a person or not, is not the point, but it is definitely possible. This 400-500 years is according to your calculation. For him, it might have been just a few minutes.

If you want to understand these things, you have to pull yourself out of the world. Staying in this world, whichever way you look at it, you cannot understand, because you are bound by time and space. When there is no time and space there are no physical quantities. This world, as you understand it today, as you see it today, as you experience it today, is a complete falsehood. It seems to be there, but it is not really there. It just seems to be there, including yourself, just seem to be there.

Now the whole struggle is to see that it is just nonsense. The whole thing is just an illusion. What it means by ‘maya’ is just this. It just seems to be there. Today your physics is proving it beyond any doubt that there is no such thing as matter in existence. Everything is relative. It just seems to be there but not there. But it is so real, isn’t it? It seems very real. Who is going to believe this story that it is not there?

It is there, very much there. The whole existence, the many forms of creation, can you say it is not there? It is very much there. It is there only as long as the intellect is there. The moment you dissolve your intellect, everything dissolves into one.

Extracted from the book ‘Mystics Musings’ – Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

SOURCE : CHENNAI ONLINE 

LINK :http://archives.chennaionline.com/health/yoga/2004/01samadhi.asp 

LINK:http://www.ishafoundation.org/ 

"Looking at death"

Today you are here, and everything is so real - you, your wife, your child, your property, your work, your ideas, your ego - everything is so real. Today you are here, appearing so real. Tomorrow morning, if you are dead, what will happen to you? Where are you? Where did you go? Your body is a nuisance. Once you are dead, would anybody want to keep your body? Even the most loved ones in your family, if he or she dies, will you keep the body in your bedroom? Like Sankara says, “Bharya Bibyathi Tasmin Kaye.” It means, “Tomorrow if you die, that person who loved you very much or who seemed to love you, even she will be scared of this one (the body).”

This is only a body, so don’t get attached. 

You do know that if we bury you here, you become earth. If we burn you, immediately the results are there for you to see. If we bury you, it takes a little longer. But what happens to you? So, it needs probing. It needs looking at. Definitely, needs to be looked at, isn’t it? Because this man who is here today, so real, tomorrow if he can suddenly evaporate and disappear, it is your business to know, because it is going to happen to you also. Definitely, it is everybody’s business to know, isn’t it? So, that’s where the first step is.

The first step is, you start looking at death; then you become spiritual. If you start looking at your own death, you will definitely become spiritual; there is no other way. Unfortunately, today, in society, you avoid the word death itself. Even children cannot use that word. You say “Rama, Shiva.” But the word “death” is banned at home, because you are scared. Just the word, the reminder, scares you. Many people are scared to even see a funeral passing by in their streets because it reminds them of their own death. Whatever you may shut yourself off to, are you really going to shut off death?

Once you are in physical form, there are certain laws, because the whole physical matter have to be under a certain law. The very creation happens with a certain basis. How long the life of the body extends depends on various factors - there are many karmic factors, there are physical factors and energy factors. And there is another thing, the ultimate thing, that the time is over. There is no business for that being to be here anymore. It is finished.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

SOURCE :CHENNAI ONLINE 

LINK :http://archives.chennaionline.com/health/yoga/2004/07yoga08.asp

LINK :http://www.ishafoundation.org/

1 million trees planted, Foundation Yves Rocher, France

as a leading international corporation in botanical beauty care, Foundation Yves Rocher has pledged 1 million trees in support of the Billion Tree Campaign led by the United Nation Environment Program. Consequently, Foundation Yves Rocher has committed to support Project GreenHands in the planting of 1,000,000 trees over 3 years to make one rural area in Tamil Nadu green, as part of its CSR program for global environmental care.
At the launch of the project, a team of employees accompanied Jacques Rocher, the Director of Sustainable Development of Foundation Yves Rocher on a tour with Project GreenHands team to the local villages to show their support for the local community of Tamil Nadu.
Over the past decade, the commitment of Foundation Yves Rocher, which started with 300,000 trees, through the project named “One School, One Arboretum” in France, has grown up to the plantation of 5 million trees through various organizations worldwide.
They are also encouraging their 30 million women customers worldwide to join their action through a marketing campaign and online donation facility passing on to customers the message that the world at large need trees to preserve water, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, combat soil erosion and desertification and provide natural resources to humanity.

SOURCE : PROJECT GREEN HANDS
LINK :http://www.projectgreenhands.org/our-partners/international-sponsors

"Target: 114 million trees in 10 years "

Sounds of Isha provided the inspiration for the launch of a massive greening project at a houseful Kamarajar Arangam on Friday.

Project Green Hands' target is the planting of 114 million trees through various mass initiatives in the next 10 years, an ambitious attempt to cover 33 per cent of Tamil Nadu with greenery.

Sounds of Isha, with a core band of members of the Isha Foundation of Coimbatore, offered a musical presentation from their third album `White Mountain.' The programme by Andrew Mark Adams on the guitar, Swami Vibhu, the lead vocalist, V. Sekar on the flute, Saran Muthusamy on the tabla, Jayashree Arvind on the veena and T.V. Anand on the guitar and the keyboard was a fund-raiser for `Project Green Hands,' which will be formally inaugurated by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, by planting a sapling on October 15.

Isha Foundation's founder Guru Jaggi Vasudev, giving a grim picture of the growing `desertification' of Tamil Nadu said, "Planting trees is not enough. India must cut down on the carbon exhausts and chemical pollution," he said adding that this was going to be even more difficult with the Indian industry and economy having just found its seat and all set to gallop in the next 25 years. Concrete ecological steps were needed now, he added. Project Green Hands also looks to set a Guinness Book of records for the maximum number of trees planted on one day on October 15. But "if somebody comes forward to break that record the next day, we will be only too happy," Guru Jaggi Vasudev said. N. Murali, Managing Director of The Hindu , said the project was a major step in halting environmental degradation. "... To reverse the desertification of Tamil Nadu, this will be a large movement under the inspirational leadership of Sadhguru," he said.

Noting that it was a happy augury that the Chief Minister would plant the first sapling, he said each person who plants three saplings on that day would be committed to nurturing them for two years. "I appeal to all responsible sections of society to see that the green cover of Tamil Nadu and consciousness is aroused to prevent environmental degradation," he said. M. Murali, Proprietor of Sri Krishna Sweets and comedy actor Vivek, also spoke.

Organic farmer Nammalwar, who is behind the project, was also present. 

SOURCE : THE HINDU (SAT ,SEPT 02 , 2006 )

LINK:http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/09/02/stories/2006090221380500.htm
LINK:http://www.projectgreenhands.org/
LINK:http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=711826540&ref=profile#!/ishafoundation?ref=ts

"My meditation lies in planting trees"

Maneka Gandhi is a politician, animal rights activist and environmentalist
What does spirituality mean to you?
It is what allows me to find satisfaction from within, rather than needing reaffirmation from without. It brings the realisation that I own nothing yet everything is mine—the air, the earth, trees, animals, you. For me, the essence of spirituality is the ability to recognise the oneness of all life. I know why I have been put on earth and I know I am protected by all the gods that reside in each stone and ant. So I feel no fear at all.
What do you mean by “the gods”?
All the live energies that exist in every animate and inanimate creation. Do you think I would have come through such a life of turbulence with all my values intact if I were not protected by them? 

So is there such a thing as a guiding or protective force in your life?
I have felt blessed and protected all my life, with my mother intensely protected by the gods, with a guru constantly accompanying me, with leaves, grass, air and animals caressing me — all this protects me.
Besides, I have been given the greatest gift of all —the inability to recognise any form of danger until I am past it. I look back at my life and see lots of really frightening bits. I wonder how I came through them, without even recognising them, or consciously navigating them. I simply bathed in them like one does in the ocean and when the waves reached the shore, I came out.
But what about all the setbacks? Did you never “revolt” against the gods?
Where would I go after revolting? I am not a temple-going person, so I cannot stop doing something I do not do anyway. I can stop talking to them but how does one stop talking to a lotus? If there have been setbacks in my life, look at its achievements.
Do you have a strong sense of purpose and destiny?
I have a very strong sense of why I was created and what is the job I have been given. There is no other way to explain my life. I grew up in a completely apolitical army family even though my maternal grandfather was advisor to the government and like a son to Mahatma Gandhi. Our summer holidays at the Bhopal family home were a haze of picnics, books and lakes.
There is nothing that can explain my meeting Sanjay (Gandhi) at a cousin’s wedding and our instant recognition that this was meant to be. His integrity, strength and wisdom taught me courage and the ability to see beyond both flattery and criticism. Long after he is gone, I still draw upon his strength to see me through. Losing him killed a part of me but it also increased my compassion and understanding. Since then, I have felt impelled to reduce the suffering in this world to the maximum of my ability.
Would you say that all things are pre-ordained?
What happens to you is pre-ordained. How you react to it is perhaps your choice. Life after life you will be given the same sort of challenges until your responses are right. Then you get a ‘get-out- of-jail’ card!
As a child, what did you think you would become when
you grew up?
I was always like this, perhaps the ultimate existentialist, because I absolutely never think of the future. Until I was 30, I used to think of the past, till I realised it was too heavy a burden for me to carry. So I put it away and carried on with my journey.
Does prayer or meditation play a particular role in your life?
Absolutely. I wake up thanking the gods, I thank them about a million times each day and I sleep thanking them. My meditation lies in planting trees.
What were your spiritual inspirations?
I have met so many gurus —just knowing they are there, knowing that India is so amazingly blessed with so much readily available magic and thousands of enlightened people fills me with joy.
Was religion part of your childhood?
My mother’s family has always been close to gurus. But my childhood was simply going to gurudwaras. I am not sure I would call this religion but perhaps it gives one time to think in a harmonious, music-filled atmosphere.
If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
Not a question but a command —just keep Sanjay till I get there and extract an apology from him for checking out so early!
If you were to be reincarnated, what would you choose?
Reincarnation happens till you wear out all your attachments and desires, both of love and hate. I’ve reached a place where I do my duty, work for as much good for all creatures as possible but without any expectation of a reward or even attachment. My temper is legendary — but it has never manifested related to personal hurt or ego, only when I see pain being caused elsewhere. So, I want the ultimate gift from all the gods that look after me —not to be re-born.
What is your idea of happiness?
My heart lifts with the scent of raat ki rani, the koel and peacock’s cry, the taste of a mango, my feet squishing into wet grass, the dolphin leaping, the dog nuzzling my hand, the bees hovering on the bhang plant’s flowers, sunlight on a puddle, tamarind fruit, children shouting while they play, the hands of my guru when I kiss them, the diya on the puja table, the smile on my mother’s and son’s face… What else is important?

SOURCE : INDIAN EXPRESS
LINK :http://www.indianexpress.com/news/my-meditation-lies-in-planting-trees/493636/0

Stalin inaugurates Green Tirupur Movement

Deputy Chief Minister M. K. Stalin inaugurated the Green Tirupur Movement of Isha Foundation by planting a sapling on the Corporation Town Hall premises here on Sunday.
The Isha Foundation volunteers with the involvement of different stakeholders in the conservation of environment planted as many as 25,000 saplings of 34 plant species across the city.
The Green Tirupur Movement has been mooted under the Project Green Hands, an ecological initiative of the Isha Foundation aimed at reversing environmental degradation and increasing the green cover in the State.
At the inaugural, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, called upon the people to joins hands with the Foundation’s efforts to keep the earth habitable to future generations.

Display responsibility  
“Each individual should display responsibility to maintain the trees and take steps to plant at least a few more saplings,” he said.
Ministers M. P. Saminathan, K. Ponmudy, Pongalur N. Palanisamy and Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Mayor K. Selvaraj, Collector C. Samayamoorthy, Inspector General of Police Pramod Kumar and District Revenue Officer K. V. Muralitharan, among others, were present.
A ‘Green Marathon’ was organised soon after the inauguration, to spread the message of importance of trees for sustainable living.

 The run was flagged off by film stars, Prakash Raj and Shreya.

SOURCE : THE HINDU
LINK : http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/25/stories/2009082551470300.htm
LINK :http://www.projectgreenhands.org/home
LINK :https://www.ishafoundation.org/index.php?option=com_newscomponent&Itemid=242&act=view&id=2564

"Why Trees are Special"

It is so easy to take trees for granted, but in fact they are essential elements for the ecological balance of our environments. Trees are instrumental in offering a fertile basis for most land based-ecological processes. A healthy green cover can in fact regenerate even the most highly degraded eco-system. It is under green cover that plant and animal species thrive and brooks and rivers start flowing again.
Trees provide us with much required resources like food, fuel and oxygen, and they combat pollution of the atmosphere. The beauty and tranquillity of trees also nurtures our intuitive sense of a deep connection to nature. It is for this reason that ancient cultures designated trees as sacred. In fact, the Indian sub-continent has an established tradition of growing sacred groves in every village.
Specific examples of why trees matter:

• Trees alter the environment in which we live by moderating climate, improving air quality, conserving water, and preserving wildlife.
• Trees prevent or reduce soil erosion and water pollution
• They act as a wind barriers during cyclones
• During monsoons trees intercept and store rainwater and reduce the possibility of flooding
• They cool temperatures during hot summers
• Regenerate lost flora and fauna
• Act as carbon sinks, absorbing air pollutants and improving the air quality thus mitigating the effects of global warming.
• Add beauty and grace to any community setting

Particular Repercussions of deforestation:

• Leads to soil erosion or impoverishment, especially in tropical areas where soils tend to be thin and nutrient-poor.
• Results in habitat loss, which is a leading cause of species endangerment and biodiversity loss.
• Affects the hydrological cycle through changes in evapo-transpiration and run-off. This frequently results in the creation of arid landscapes that are prone to fire.

SOURCE :http://www.projectgreenhands.org/our-work/raising-awareness/why-trees-are-special
LINK:http://www.ishafoundation.org/

"French MNC sponsors 900,000 trees"

French multi-national Yves Rocher Group, world leader in botanical beauty care, is partnering with Isha Foundation in the areas of environmental protection and development in Tamil Nadu.

As corporate partner of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Yves Rocher Group pledged to plant one million trees towards UNEP’s ‘Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign’, launched in 2007. Yves Rocher Group has now teamed with Isha Foundation’s Project GreenHands to execute this pledge. Project GreenHands is a large-scale initiative to increase the green cover of Tamil Nadu by 10 %, create nature awareness and establish sustainable living.
The collaboration will spread over awareness campaigns, nursery development, planting and nurturing of the saplings, and the partners will leverage their respective strengths towards accomplishing the above. While the Yves Rocher Group will provide financial assistance, Isha Foundation will undertake fieldwork through its wide network of volunteers.

In the partnership spanning over a period of three years, Rocher will sponsor 900,000 saplings in total. In the first phase to be executed this year, 250,000 saplings will be planted in Gobichettipalayam taluk. Farmers from twenty-six panchayats in Gobi will participate. The localized intervention will facilitate a close partnership between the company and the village communities who plant and nurture the saplings, and also help monitor growth.

The partnership will fillip the ‘25 Million Trees Campaign’ of Project GreenHands, planned for this year. The total project target is 114 million trees. Last year, the Project set a Guinness World Record for planting the maximum number of trees on a single day. On 17 October 2006, 852,587 saplings were planted across Tamil Nadu by 256,289 volunteers.

India Visit
A group of representatives from the Yves Rocher Group, including Jacques Rocher, President of the Yves Rocher Foundation and Director of Sustainable Development and Prospective, visited India from 21 - 24 September to witness the inspiring work of Project GreenHands. Project GreenHands’ intervention in Gobichettipalayam and elsewhere serves as a model for restoring the environment and improving the quality of life in rural areas without compromising that of future generations.
Yves Rocher Group, the world’s number one brand of botanical cosmetics, stands for life in harmony with nature, as a basis for human well-being. With a presence in over 80 countries, Yves Rocher works towards spreading this message to its 30 million women customers and encourages them to preserve this planet for future generations.

LINK:http://gramotsavam.ishafoundation.org/isha-gramotsavam-2007/french-mnc-sponsors-900000-trees/
LINK:http://www.projectgreenhands.org/news-stories/78
LINK:http://www.ishafoundation.org/

chief minister M.Karunanidhi urges ascetics to follow Jaggi Vasudev's lead

SHOWING THE WAY: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi planting a sapling in the presence of Jaggi Vasudev of the Isha Foundation at Anna University in Chennai on Sunday. Kanimozhi, MP, is in the picture.

CHENNAI: The nation and the world would be better off, if all the ascetics follow the path shown by Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, in environmental protection, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said on Sunday.
Addressing a function organised by the foundation to mark its 25th anniversary, Mr. Karunanidhi said he always held in high esteem the religious leaders such as Kundrakudi Adigal and his successor for their service to Tamil. He respected Sri Jaggi Vasudev for his effort at planting of saplings.
He preferred ascetics who strove for social uplift to those who focused only on religion.
Those who talked of religion alone issued fearsome threats and imprecation, the Chief Minister said, presiding over the launch of a campaign for planting of 2.5 crore saplings.
Green cover Highlighting the importance of green cover, he said Chennai did not have so much green cover as New Delhi and Bangalore; it was dotted with hoardings.
He called upon the people to realise the importance of green cover and work for planting saplings and maintaining trees.
Mr. Karunanidhi, who distributed prizes to winners of rural sports contests, said that: “by nurturing trees, we will nurture humanity.”
D.R. Karthikeyan, former Director, Central Bureau of Investigation, referred to the agrarian crisis in different parts of the country and said insurance cover and remunerative prices would solve the problems of farmers.
Launching the green campaign, Kanimozhi, Member of Parliament, said religion was meant for elevating people, not to divide them.
Sudha Raghunathan, musician and devotee of Sri Jaggi Vasudev, welcomed the gathering.

SOURCE : THE HINDU
LINK : http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/24/stories/2007092460431000.htm
LINK :http://gramotsavam.ishafoundation.org/
LINK:http://www.projectgreenhands.org/news-stories/78

"Saturday night fever"

The whole world is going through a unique kind of neurosis, which was not there in the past. One of the major causes is simply because modern man has stopped using his body to a large extent. In the past, when you intensely involved yourself in physical activity, a lot of your neurosis was worked out. Your nervous energy got spent. I know many people, especially young people, who had psychological problems. They were started a physical activity like swimming or playing some sport daily and everything became okay; because of enough activity, the energy was expended.

Today, man has become physically inactive like never before – he could not afford to be so physically inactive before, he had to do so many things physically, just to survive. So he has become more neurotic than in the past. As a general phenomenon, there were neurotic people then also, but not in these numbers. Today, it has become a common phenomenon in society that too many are in some level of neurosis. This is simply because your energy is not worked out; it’s trapped. You have not transcended your madness and at the same time you’re not working it out. The therapy also is not there. If you went out and chopped wood for the whole day a lot of your energy would be spent, and life would be peaceful; but today it’s not like that. You are not using your body the way it was used, so you go on generating all kinds of diseases, like never before.

This builds up in your system over a period of time. 

Then your physical and emotional energy need some outlet. That is how your bars, your clubs and your discotheques have come into place. People have to work out their neurosis somewhere, somehow. These discos look like madness, you can’t even breathe inside. They are full of smoke and sweat but people are just going wild. You can’t even dance, everybody is bumping into everybody else, but it doesn’t matter, you have to work it out, otherwise you will go crazy. So on Saturday, you go work out your neurosis for the week. Then the piling up starts once more and once again the Saturday night fever comes.

There is another way to drop this madness and go ahead. Completely leaving it behind and going ahead where you are no more a part of it. This is what meditation is all about. Now, if you dance, you simply dance for the joy of it, and not because there is something to work out. If you’re dancing to work out something, maybe it is therapeutic. It is good therapy all right, but there is a certain ugliness about it. It is lusty; you cannot dance out of love. You can only dance out of lust.

Do you know the difference between love and lust? Lust is a strong need, love is not a need. When you love, you settle down, nothing more is needed. You can just sit here for a lifetime. With lust you can’t sit anywhere, you either get into some mad action, or you are bound to go crazy. When there is a certain neurosis, certain madness within yourself, you can only be in lust. Your lust can be for sex, for food or for some particular activity or some hobby, it doesn’t matter what it is, but you develop lust for something. Without that lust you cannot live. Even your work is an effective way of throwing out your lust. It’s just that it is the most popular and accepted way in the world. Today, people just go on working, working and working. Not because they are creating something fantastic, but simply because they have to work, otherwise they don’t know what to do with themselves.

You have to guard that madness cautiously. Nobody ever knows that you have this within yourself and you yourself would like to forget it. You do everything possible to forget it. All the entertainment in the world has come just to hide your madness. If you were perfectly sane, you would not need entertainment. You need entertainment just to cover your madness. If we take away your entertainment, you will go crazy. Man needs entertainment simply to hide his madness. If he was perfectly sane, he would not need entertainment. He could just sit and watch this bamboo grow. If the need for entertainment is gone in you then you will become available to the magnificent exuberance of life. Every moment becomes a phenomenon of immeasurable depth.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

source : chennai online 
link :http://archives.chennaionline.com/health/yoga/2006/11yoga112.asp
link:http://www.ishafoundation.org/

"The way to peace"

Forces of love-compassion and anger-hate are always functioning in the world. It is a see-saw game. The question is, which end of the see-saw do you want loaded? If we are really on the brink of a terrible situation, it is all the more important that the spiritual process is applied more vigorously as ultimately that is the only thing that will maintain sanity in the world.

The moment you start believing in things that are not a living experience for you, you are naturally in conflict. Please see this. You are a peaceful person today, but tomorrow when somebody really confronts your belief system you will stand up and fight. 

What is the intelligence in moving into belief? What is the benefit of moving into belief? The only thing is your ego feels comfortable. ‘I don’t know’ is a big loss for the ego. ‘I know’ is the only way you can make the ego grow, isn’t it? In any given situation, when you say ‘I don’t know’ you are incapable of fighting with anybody, you are incapable of conflict. You are a very humble and wonderful human being. 

Without being capable of bringing peace into your own being, there is no way you are going to be capable of bringing peace to the world. If this little mind, you can’t make it peaceful, are you going to make the world peaceful? Whatever you’re seeing in the world is just a projection of your little mind, an enlarged projection of your mind. Is there anything happening in the world which is not happening in your mind? It is happening, isn’t it?

The science of yoga is a way to look inward. To look inward not from any standpoint, simply to look inward. You cannot look inward if you’re identified with something. The moment you’re identified, all doors are closed to you. Please see, the very way you think and feel depends on what you’re identified with right now.

Let’s say, for example, you identify yourself as an Indian. Now when a situation happens, the very way you feel and respond to it is in a certain way. At that moment in national interest, maybe it’s a good thing, but still, instead of reacting to it you can respond to it more intelligently. When you’re identified, you just become a reaction. You have no choice to think any other way. You have no capability of seeing the other person’s point of view. You have no capability of seeing from where the problem is springing. You will just react. 

It is better that you come from your intelligence, not from your reaction. To come from intelligence, the first thing is you must be able to look at things just the way they are, not from an identity. The moment you look at anything from an identity, you are prejudiced about it.

Meditation is a way to help you drop your identity and experience true peace. At least when you sit and meditate nothing else exists. There is just being, nothing else is there. 

Peace means nothingness. Peace is not something that you create. Peace is not something that happens. Peace is something that always is. Peace is the fundamental existence. What happens on the surface is disturbance. This is just like the ocean. On the surface of the ocean there’s turbulence, but deep down it’s perfectly peaceful. Only if you are in tune with that quality, you know true peace.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

SOURCE : CHENNAI ONLINE 
LINK: http://archives.chennaionline.com/health/yoga/2007/01yoga120.asp
LINK:http://www.ishafoundation.org/

"Role of sadhana in enlightenment"

It is not that something like enlightenment “happens.” Enlightenment never happens. It is there; it is always there. The sadhana that you do is just to see it is there, you understand. You are not doing sadhana to construct divinity within you. All you will construct is only ego. When I went to the US, everybody there is talking of self-development. How to develop the self? You can develop the body; that is fine. You can develop the mind; that is fine. You can develop the ego, which everybody does anyway. How can you develop the self? And if you could develop the self, better discard it, because it is an incomplete stuff. Only that which is incomplete can be developed, isn’t it? If something is already all pervading, eternal, how to develop that? 

Self is one thing that you cannot develop. Everything else you may develop. You can develop the land, you can develop the earth, but you cannot develop the self. And if it can be developed it is better you put it in the storeroom like everything else. That is why Gautama went about saying, “You are non-self. You are Anathma.” People were talking too much about athma, then slowly it took the egg shape. So now he knew a chick will come. People will sit on it and make it hatch also (Laughs). Initially they said, “hell and heaven.” To which he said, “There is no hell and heaven.” “That we also know, but it is about reaching the Divine, God.” He said, “There is no God.” “That we also know. Our Upanishads also say we are Athma.” He said, “There is no Athma.” Then they said, “No, no, no the consciousness!” He said, “There is no consciousness. It is just that you are conscious that there is no consciousness; that is all.” See, everything he demolished because everything that can be demolished must be demolished. That is the whole sadhana. 

So sadhana is not about building something. It is not about creating divinity within you, not about becoming enlightened. It is simply there. Sadhana is just a way of opening your eyes. Sadhana is like an alarm bell. Some people need just a buzz - they wake up. That is all sadhana is. A long alarm bell - it must be piercing. You know, these days kids have those new James Bond watches. In these watches there is a small knife-like object which comes out and pricks you, along with a beep, beep sound. So if somebody is too thick skinned then we have to really poke. The whole thing is a process of just waking up, that is all. We are just stuck to one level of reality.

Waking up to another level of reality, can it just happen? Nothing to happen, if your involvement with this is total, so total that you transcend it. Or you are not at all involved, absolutely no involvement with what’s here, then also you see the other. These are two ways, either with 100 per cent involvement or zero involvement. Then you become loose in the present reality. Then you see the other reality within you.

So never seek enlightenment. The moment you start seeking you get rooted into this reality; please understand that. Without seeking you must work, that is the thing. When people have nothing to get they can’t be intense. That is their problem right now. That is exactly what you need to learn. 

When a person doesn’t seek anything but still he can act totally, with utmost intensity, then there is a way. If you seek, then something else happens; you get entangled with this, then nothing happens. So the whole process of spiritual dimension or the path is just because people don’t get this distinction. They have a mind which doesn’t allow them to be intense and involved with anything where there is nothing to get. That is the reason why it seems to be a great sadhana or struggle; otherwise, it is nothing. If you see this aspect, if you just eliminate this one calculation – “What can I get?” and simply you know how to throw yourself into everything that is around you, then 90 per cent of the sadhana is over in one stroke. Simply, it’s over.

If one’s relaxation is absolute, if you were utterly relaxed, relaxed to a point where you have no individual existence then there will be no need for sadhana. But the ego knows no relaxation; its existence is in a certain effort or tension. You have accumulated tensions, that is why sadhana is needed. Sadhana is not an effort to get somewhere; it is a tool to drop the effort and the need to get somewhere. Enlightenment is not an accomplishment, but a homecoming.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

SOURCE : CHENNAI ONLINE 

LINK:http://archives.chennaionline.com/health/yoga/2006/12yoga118.asp

LINKS :http://www.ishafoundation.org/Sadhguru/sadhguru.isa

"Shedding the personality"

Right now, whatever you call as ‘yourself’ is simply a certain formation of the mind you have collected. It is a certain type of information in your mind. When you say, “I’m a good person,” “I’m a bad person,” “I am haughty,” “I am meek,” or whatever you may say, all those things are simply certain formations of the mind, or in other words, it is just past accumulation. You simply live through your past. If the past is taken away, most people are just lost. Everything depends on the past. It is the previous moment which rules everything. This moment is not important. As long as the personality is important, it simply means the previous moment is important. This present moment is not important, because the personality belongs to the past.

In this moment you really have no personality, do understand this. The personality that you carry is a dead thing. When you’re carrying a dead body over your shoulders, you can’t walk very far. With a dead body, which way can you head? Only to the burial ground, isn’t it? If you carry a dead body for too long, you will have to bear with terrible smells. Your personality, the stronger it is, the more odoriferous it is. You can go far in life only when you can leave your past. This is like a snake shedding its skin. Do you know how a snake sheds its skin? One moment it is a part of its body, the next moment it sheds its skin and just goes on without turning back. If every moment one is like a snake leaving the skin behind, only then there is growth. Only a person who does not carry the previous moment to this moment, only that person is free from everything, and that quality will be felt everywhere. Within a few moments of meeting you, people will trust you to the extent that they would not even trust their parents or husbands or wives, simply because you don’t carry the burden of the past with you. If you carry the past with you, then you will also smell like anybody else. The whole world stinks with personalities. Everybody has his own strong smell or personality. These are the various stenches in the world, and they keep clashing all the time. When one does not carry this odour, one can cross over this existence. One not only passes through this world effortlessly, one will pass through the very process of life and death effortlessly. This person crosses the ocean of samsara without any effort. What looks like a great effort for somebody else will be happening for this person without any effort. Everything just simply happens.

There may have been some moments in your life when you felt true compassion towards something or somebody. In those moments, all your personality, who you are, what you are, everything would have melted. Nothing would have been there. You are simply there in that moment. 

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

SOURCE: CHENNAI ONLINE
LINK:http://archives.chennaionline.com/health/yoga/2006/11yoga113.asp
LINK: http://www.ishafoundation.org/

"The snake and ladder of life"

Whatever the past karma, it is like this: let us say, until the age of 30 you earn 10 million rupees Now you can either squander it or make it grow. In the past, you might have created some riches within you. In this life you may either add to it or squander it; but definitely some quality of that will be there in your life, though in unconsciousness it may go to waste. So because of your spiritual practices, those riches may manifest now in terms of material comfort, like a good house, the right kind of atmosphere, or maybe good people around you. In spite of all this, you may not make use of it and just become complacent. That is the whole cycle. Why I repeatedly say that the whole game is like the Snake and Ladder game is; you climb the ladder and there you’re happy. The very comfort that comes out of it, that comes out of good karma, may make youcomplacent and that is it, down through the snake you go. Then once suffering comes, you start looking and grow. You may squander it and go down again. This is the way of the fool, wasting his energy; but someone who has sufficient intelligence in him should even take each breath as a step towards growth. It is very much possible. Even after reminding a person hundreds of times, if he still does not wake up, if he is still lying down in his comforts, what can we do? He will be lost. He has to suffer once again, and then maybe seek growth. This whole spiritual process is not happening to even one percent of the population. For all others, when things are going well they are laughing, and when things go bad they are crying. There are very few people in the world who, whichever way it is, are okay and balanced. For them nothing is a great benediction, nothing is a problem. Everything is just another life situation through which they can become free. The rest of the people are all the type who will go the way the situation pushes them. They are like cattle. You have evolved into a human body, but otherwise there is no real difference. Between the way animals live and generally the way people live, is there any great difference qualitatively? Maybe quantitatively there is a lot of difference. There is more variety to your activity; you drive a car, you watch television. All that nonsense you do, but qualitatively, where is the difference? If the difference has to come, it can only come with awareness; there is no other way. Generally, mental alertness is mistaken for awareness, but awareness is a far deeper dimension than just mental alertness alone. When awareness arises within you, love and compassion will be the natural follow-up; then each breath becomes a step towards growth. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

SOURCE : CHENNAI ONLINE  LINK:http://archives.chennaionline.com/health/yoga/2006/12yoga119.asp

I Would like you to throw some light on dreams . Are they the projections of the soul ??

QUESTIONER : I Would like you to throw some light on dreams . Are they the projections of the soul ??

SADHGURU: On dreams ? All dreams comes from your mind. Dreams cannot go into your soul, if there is one.
They don't even touch the two soles of your feet . Much importance has been given to dreams today .
In the West, especially in the process of psychoanalysis , Freud and Jung have given too much importance to dreams . In the East , the enlightened have always ignored dreams because they are just another outcome of the madness that you call 'mind'. Your mind , as I already said , is just a garbage bin that gathers things from the people around you .This mind is of appropriate significance as a good survival tool. That is all . To survive in the world you need this stuff, but in terms of life itself, it is of no real significance . Generally most people live their lives like a dream and they even have an investment in their dreams . it is like this .

Have you heard of Jack Stevenson ? Once Jack Stevenson was sharing his dreams . He was regretting ,
"Today I made a big mistake in my dream ". People asked , "What nonsense. How can you make a mistake in a dream ?  A dream is a dream and how can anyone make a mistake in a dream ? " He said , "No, you don't know .Do you know what happened ? I went to the Vatican and the Pope himself  offered me a drink .
We sat there and he offered me a drink and he asked me , "Do you want it warm or cold ?"  I said , "Warm."
So he went inside to heat the water, and that was the mistake ." Someone asked, " What is the mistake about that ?  In the dream you asked for a warm drink , what about it ?" Jack said , " By the time he could heat the water, I woke up . If I had just told him , I would have it cold, you know , I could have enjoyed the drink ."
Life is going on like this for most of the people . People think that before the water heats up they can have another drink on the side -- a cold one ; and they miss both .

All you dreams are straight from your mind . So it doesn't matter what kind of dreams you have . whether you see a GOD or you see a DEMON in your dreams, it doesn't matter . What ever is utmost in your consciousness reflects itself . Generally , ninety percent of dreams are just an expression of unfulfilled desire.
There are certain other dreams which happen on a different level which could be intuitive . There could be some amount of intuitiveness in your dreams .

In dream states , accidentally , sometimes you can touch your subconscious mind .When you touch your subconscious mind , you transcend the limitations of time and space . Time and space are a  creation of your conscious mind . You may have a dream like this : early morning you saw yourself  sitting in a garden ,
your friend came and said something to you , something , an ordinary situation . Tomorrow morning you are sitting in the garden and the same friend comes and says the same things to you . Things like this happen .
You dreamt something and then it happened . This may happen simply because you transcend the limitations of time and space when you touch the subconscious . It has got nothing to do with deeper dimensions of who you are . Dreams always come from the mind . Do not attach too much importance to dreams . Stop dreaming and start living , it's time .


SOURCE : ENCOUNTER THE ENLIGHTENED [CHAPTER 2 UNVEILING ]
LINK :http://www.ishashoppe.com/India/encounter-enlightened-p-2861.html

"Get a handle on how you drive your soul"

Jealousy, anger, resentment, hurt, pain, depression are poisons that you drink but you expect someone else to die. Life doesn’t work like that. If you drink the poison, you die," says Sadhguru Vasudev, the man behind Isha Foundation.

It is said that our body retains every memory, even when our conscious mind forgets. Our body stores happiness, sadness, trauma, anger, joy, guilt, and every other emotion. The experience could be joyful as well as traumatic. But what matters is how we hold on to that memory. Talking about negative thoughts which affect a person’s mind and body, Sadhguru Vasudev throws light on what triggers them and the process of "inner engineering".

He says, "There are no negative or dark elements in any person. You can make your mind function whichever way you want. Unfortunately, many people make their minds function in ways which are detrimental to them. The problem is your unwillingness to employ your intelligence. Why should you suffer from something that you don’t want to?"

The mystic, who has offered himself tirelessly to help many achieve their full innate potential, says that feelings of jealousy, anger, hatred, contentment and many such emotions are not inherent, but a person creates them. Sadhguru says, "The problem is not that jealousy, anger, depression or any such emotions live in you or come to you because of an external factor. The problem is that you create them in your mind once in a while."

Explaining further, Sadhguru clarifies, "Why are you creating something that you don’t want? Are you angry, hateful or depressed while reading this? Maybe not. This proves that these emotions do not exist in your basic nature, but you create them by your own choice."

So how does one control the flood of negative thoughts in his mind especially in times of despair? He opines, "The fact is that many emotions which hurt you are not in your control. They bother you because you don’t know how to deal with them. You’re driving your body and soul without knowing how to handle them."

So does this mean that most of us know nothing about ourselves? He explains this with an example, "For instance, just like you should know everything about a gadget or a vehicle to use it in the best possible manner, similarly you must know yourself well to drive yourself. If you knew everything about your body and mind, you would always be happy."

And if you ask Sadhguru about the perfect way to drive one’s mind and body, he answers in two words, "inner engineering". But what is inner engineering?

"Engineering essentially means making things the way we want them. You can use the same technique for your inner self. And if you make your inner being the way you want it, you’ve engineered it well. And if you’re making it the way you don’t want it, it’s bad engineering," smiles Sadhguru.

So how do we engineer these negative emotions which leave us with a negative bent of mind? Sadhguru says that the only way to heal oneself is to know oneself. "By turning inwards," smiles Sadhguru. He pauses and adds, "Right now, the only means of perception that you have are your five senses. All of them are outward bound, isn’t it? You can see what’s outside, but you can’t see what’s inside. You can hear people outside but there’s so much activity in the body you can’t hear. When an ant crawls on your skin, you can feel it, but when the blood flows, you can’t feel that. Similarly, now you spend enough time to create jealousy and anger within yourself, but I used it in a meditative way and I’m ecstatic, wherever I sit I’m blissful."

SOURCE ; DECCAN CHRONICLE 

LINK; http://www.deccanchronicle.com/dance/get-handle-how-you-drive-your-soul-583

"Ignite the hunger for knowledge "

 There are so many things that one can do in this world — walk, swim, dance, gossip, love, drink, have drugs… And yet, for ages why is it that human beings have longed for something beyond all these? When you are struggling for survival this longing fades, but the moment your stomach is full, once again it starts. If you and your body were indestructible, this longing would not have risen.
Every day, you may not be conscious about death, but with a slightest provocation you become conscious of it. For example, someone you love went out and did not come back at the appointed time. You would start thinking “What could’ve happened?” Did s/he fall dead somewhere? That’s the last thing. In between, there is injury, pain, disease. “What could have happened?” is just a reminder. Somewhere you know that this can be terminated. We often think that we have a wonderful life. We live with so many thoughts and emotions, but little do we realise that one day it’s going to wane. The human nature is unwilling to accept this truth. So, there are all kinds of arguments. Some people say there is something beyond death. Others say there is nothing while some say that you will land up in the lap of God, that’s where you came from. Since time immemorial, people have been arguing but without any conclusion. Well, if you have a single-track mind where you “don’t want to look at anything else”, then you have an answer. But, if you have more than one track in your mind, you won’t have an answer. You will only have more and more questions.
People have propounded every kind of answer they could think of, yet it has not solved anything because this is the trick. Are you simply in search of solace, where you need someone to tell you, “Everything will be okay; there is a party waiting on the other side?” or have you become insane and can’t live without knowing? Longing for knowing will not happen unless there is hunger for knowing. For example, many mothers approach me, complaining, that their child does not eat. I tell them, “Just leave him with me, he will eat. Because we will make him run, we will make him walk. And after that, whatever food is given to him, he will gobble up!
If you want to eat well, you don’t need encouragement or coaxing, you need hunger. If you want to know, you must know the pain of ignorance, not somebody’s lecture. If the pain of not knowing is burning within you, you will know. Aren’t all creatures on this planet finding their food somehow? In the middle of the desert, they are finding something because they are hungry. So, people have always tried to kill your hunger with false food, with their own ideas which give solace for a certain period of time and only slow you down. It doesn’t matter for how long you slow down, but when the moment of death comes, suddenly you know that you know nothing about life or death.

Sadhguru
— Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. An author, poet, and internationally-renowned speaker, Sadhguru’s wit and piercing logic provoke and widen our perception of life. He can be contacted at  www.ishafoundation.org
SOURCE : THE ASIAN AGE
LINK :http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4936:ignite-the-hunger-for-knowledge&catid=42:op-ed&Itemid=67

"Lose yourself to become a winner "

As children, we played a game simply because we enjoyed it. Slowly, sport has evolved into an investment opportunity. Take the Cricket World Cup for example. Sadly, as the players become more and more involved in the championship, they forget the play. In fact, play becomes work. Only when players enjoy playing, they can perform their best.

Playing for India means fulfiling a billion people’s expectations and that is not easy. When players start playing to satisfy other people’s expectations, their minds are stressed and their physical activity also becomes limited.

When a man is truly happy and carefree, he can engage in incredible physical action. This is the main aspect of yoga for sport, that action can be performed without prior thought. With thought, intentions can be visible. So one does not think, one simply acts, as is needed in this moment.

When the players practice intensely, everything that they have to do on the field becomes their second nature. Action can simply flow out of them — as the game demands. This way, they can respond with agility to whatever the other team throws at them. With proper practice of yoga, bringing sufficient control over their mind and body, they can learn to act without prior thinking intelligently.

When playing a game, the cricketer should drop all identity. If the cricketer constantly thinks of himself as per his identity, it would be very burdensome. Once he becomes 100 per cent free of identity, he doesn’t have to play the game. It just happens.

That is how, a cricketing legend is born? For such a player, co-ordination is at its peak. He knows what he wants in his life. He is so committed to what he wants that it becomes a reality. If our cricketers can organise their energies, bodies and minds in such a way that they get more and more focused, everything happens at its best.

Cricket is just one form of activity the player has chosen. It is important that this person becomes truly aware — physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Then whatever game he plays, he will play very well.

What the player makes of himself is more important than cricket. Without bringing a certain quality into themselves, they cannot bring quality into the game. If they cultivate humility, they can aspire to reach unimaginable heights of performance. Humility is just acceptance of what is. Out of this acceptance, they can use their intelligence and act.

Accepting the other team is most important. When acceptance is total, there is no more opposition. Only if the other eleven people are there can a game be played — only then is a match possible. With acceptance, there is no tension. The other team’s capabilities and victory record will no more be a problem.

With total acceptance, their presence will diminish. This is a spiritual process also. When acceptance is total, the entire existence becomes a part of one. This is the way of nature.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is the founder of Isha Foundation. He is a yogi, mystic and spiritual master who is also deeply interested in cricket, golf and biking.
www.sadhguru.org

 

SOURCE: DECCAN CHRONICLE

LINK: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/other-realm/lose-yourself-become-winner-026

"God doesn’t look like you "

If there were no human beings on this planet, there would be no God-talk going on among the other creatures. Essentially, it’s a human thing. Human beings want explanations for everything, while other creatures are okay with what is going on with their
lives. Human beings want explanations because their intellect will not settle without answers.
So, if there were no human beings, none of the other creatures would be talking about God. The very idea that God is a big man up there has come because somebody told us that existence is human-centric. But, in reality, it’s not. Existence is definitely not human-centric; before you came it was there, after you go, it will still be there. So, earth being the centre of the universe and human beings being in the image of God has made humanity so absolutely crude and insensitive to every other life on this planet.
If only such things were not taught to us. If somebody had told you that God looks like every other creature on this planet and not like us, you would treat all of them with utmost gentleness, wouldn’t you?
This was actually done in Eastern parts of the world, where God is the very earth that you walk upon, the water that you drink, the food that you eat… There is no other God to talk to, so you walk gently upon this planet and your humanity gets expressed. Now, however, in the name of divinity, we have completely forsaken our humanity. If you forsake your humanity, you will not know any divinity.
So this idea that God is a big man or a big woman; the idea that creation is human-centric is a very damaging idea. Creation is not human-centric. You are only a small happening in the existence.
Tomorrow morning, if you, I and everybody else evaporates, there will be no disturbance. It will be just fine, actually better! There will be no ecological problems. We think too much of ourselves, that’s the biggest problem. As individual people, we think too much of ourselves. As humanity too, we think too much of ourselves. It is very important that we, as human beings, recognise that every other creature treats and experiences its life as important to itself as our life is to us.
When we say God, we are trying to refer to the basis of creation. Because we have no clue what its nature is, being human we try to give it a human form. But various other cultures on this planet have given it various other forms, too.
People worshipped buffaloes, elephants, snakes, cows, earth, fire, water. They gave it a form that they could relate to. In India, in every village you visit you will always find one tree being worshipped. Nowhere else in the Western part of the world is there any relevance for animals because people were made to believe that every creature is here only to serve you. This is a gross idea in a human mind, isn’t it? Modern science, unfortunately, is going in this direction. Right now we are only looking at how to exploit everything.
We won’t even spare a bacteria, an organism that we can’t see with our naked eyes. We know how to make use of it for our benefit. But after using everything for our benefit, it still doesn’t seem like we have been hugely benefited. This is because well-being doesn’t happen that way. Well-being will not come just because you try to milk the whole existence.

BY : SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV

SOURCE : THE ASIAN AGE
LINK :http://asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1921:god-doesnt-look-like-you&catid=42:op-ed&Itemid=67

Unlock your energies through yoga

When we say 'yoga', for many of you it might mean some impossible physical postures. Yoga means to be in perfect tune.

When you are in yoga, your body, mind and spirit, and existence, are in absolute harmony. When you fine-tune yourself to a point where everything functions beautifully within you, the best of your abilities will just flow out of you. When you are happy, your energies function better. Have you noticed that when you are happy you have endless energy? Even if you don't eat or sleep, you can go on and on. So, just a little happiness liberates you from your normal limitations of energy and capability.

Yoga is the science of activating your inner energies in such a way that your body, mind and emotions function at their highest peak. When your body and mind function in a completely different state of relaxation and a certain level of blissfulness, you can be released from so much suffering. Right now, you come and sit in your office, and you have a nagging headache. Your headache is not a major disease, but it takes away your capability for that day. With the practice of yoga, your body and mind will be kept at their highest possible peak.

There are other dimensions to yoga. When you activate your energies, you can function in a different way. As you are sitting here right now, you consider yourself to be a person. You are identified with many things, but what you call 'myself' is actually just a certain amount of energy.

Modern science says that the whole of existence is energy manifesting itself in different ways. If this is so, then you are also a little bit of energy functioning in a particular way. As far as science is concerned, this same energy which you call 'myself' can be a rock, mud, tree, dog, or you. Everything is the same energy, functioning at different levels of capability.

Similarly among human beings, though we are all made of the same energy, we still do not function at the same level of capability. What you call capability or talent, your creativity, is a certain way your energy functions. This energy, in one plant it functions to create roses, in another it functions to create jasmine, but it is the same energy manifesting itself. If you gain some mastery over your own energies, things that you never imagined possible you will do simply and naturally. This is the experience of people who have started doing these yogic practices. It is the inner technology of creating situations the way you want them.

With the same materials that we build huge buildings today, people used to build little huts. We thought we could only dig mud and make pots or bricks. Now we dig the same earth and make computers, cars, and even spacecrafts.

It is the same energy; we have just started using it for higher possibilities. Our inner energies are like that. There is a technology as to how to use this energy for higher possibilities. Every human being must explore and know this. Otherwise, life becomes limited and accidental. Once you activate your inner energies, your capabilities happen in a different sphere altogether. Yoga is a tool to find ultimate expression to life.

SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV 


Source : The Times of India 
Link :http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/spirituality/speaking-tree/Unlock-your-energies-through-yoga/articleshow/5239998.cms

Your Destiny is What You Make of It

All along, you've been shaping your destiny unconsciously. But you can also work on it consciously. If you make the effort to access your core and realise that everything is your responsibility, and shift your focus inside you, then you can rewrite your destiny.

All the time, your focus is scattered, because what you consider is 'you' and 'yours' is your house, car, wife, child, pet, education, position, and power. If you are stripped of all these things, you will feel like a nobody. So what you call yourself is what is spread around you.

'You' means it is you, not this carpet, wall, child, or anything else. 'You' is just you. Right now, you're not an established being; you are a scattered being. You are not you; you are a crowd. The crowd's fate is always predestined.

Once you act as an individual, the indivi-sible self can no longer be divided; it is this. It cannot be here and there. Once you become a true indivi-dual, your destiny is within your grasp; it is yours.

Those who are in a hurry to grow spiritually avoid getting into marriage, children and relationships because the moment you have a spouse, you get identified with 'this one'. Once you have children, you get identified with them. Now, 'you' includes them also.

Once you get identified with them, one by one, you get identified with too many things. Your identity gets scattered.

However, searching for the real 'you' does not mean denial of family or social situations. The root of all identification is in the two fundamental accumulations: body and mind. Once removed from these two, 'you' become free from all identifications. In this freedom you become the master of your own destiny.

The body is the source of all attachments. But you don't have to keep searching for non-attachment somewhere else. You don't have to go about distancing this and that in your life, but once you get scattered, your destiny becomes pre-ordained. Whichever way your karma is, it just goes that way.

The significance of Sanyasa or Brahmacharya is just this: Shifting the whole focus to you. When I say you, it is just 'you', not your body or mind. If you are unable to be like that, you just choose one more identity.

When you say 'you', make it 'you and your Guru'. You attach yourself to the Guru without any hesitation, because you have no entanglements from the other side. You can get as entangled as you want with him; for he is not going to get entangled.

The moment you are ripe, you can drop the relationship. With other relationships, it is never so. If you get entangled, even if you want to become free, the other will not let you go.

Either you can reshape your destiny or, if such awareness does not come, the Guru can help you do it. You just create a longing to grow, to dissolve, to know. What has to happen will happen. Once you become an individual, your destiny becomes yours.

If your destiny is in your hands, you would naturally choose freedom and not bondage because the deepest longing of every life is to become free from the very process that one refers to as life or death.

So once your destiny is happening in awareness, the next step will just happen by itself, because life within you has the intelligence to choose freedom, not bondage.

Only because your destiny is being created in unawareness, you go about weaving bondage around yourself.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

source : The times of india
link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/SPEAKING-TREEBRYour-Destiny-is-What-You-Make-of-It/articleshow/398734.cms

Look within to transcend your habits

Our habits are related to our self-image. Change this image and you've changed the habit.

Every human being has created a certain image, a certain personality of himself, and all his habits—like smoking for instance—have become second nature to him. Now, how can we work on them?

The way the mind works

The more you say, "I don't want something", that [thing] becomes the basis of your mind and starts to rule it.
Let's do an experiment right now. Don't think about monkeys for the next 10 seconds. Hmm, try it… only monkeys come to your mind, isn't it?
This is the nature of your mind. You can't do anything head-on with your mind. You need to understand the process of your mind and see what to do with it.

Giving up a habit

Now, people always come to me saying, "I want to give up smoking, what should I do?" I tell them, you are not smoking right now, why would you smoke otherwise? Your body is not the kind of machine that smokes; automobiles do, but not your body. If you don't want to smoke, don't smoke". Then they say, "No, no, I am a smoker I am trying to give up smoking and it's not working." The question is not about smoking or not smoking.
It happened like this. A man and his lady neighbour were great friends. One day they were driving somewhere and as soon as the car was parked, his hands were all over her. She said, "You fool! What are you doing? I thought you are a decent fellow and I came with you, what is this nonsense?" He said, "No, I gave up smoking."
If you compulsively give up something, this is what will happen to you. It will take shape in some other way.

At the root of habits

Now, what is it that you are trying to do with smoking? Probably you are down, you are trying to stimulate yourself with nicotine, or psychologically you feel incomplete. By holding a cigarette in your hand, you feel little more brave, and man-like.
Kids start smoking because they want to grow up soon. A 10-year-old kid wants to smoke because he wants to become a man instantly. When he inhales and blows the smoke into somebody's face, he feels like a man. Not anymore, but it was so 10 years ago. 

Struggling to quit is futile

Once there was a Sufi saint called Ibrahim. One evening, two of his disciples were sitting very morose in the garden of his ashram/centre. One said to the other, "I want to smoke but we are on a spiritual path, how to smoke?" The other one said, "Even I want to smoke; I don't know what to do."
Then they decided, "Let's ask the master whether we can smoke." In the past, there have been many Sufi saints who smoked constantly.
So the next evening, one disciple was sitting in the same spot, totally miserable. The other disciple came there, smoking. The first disciple said, "Hey! Why are you smoking? Master told me not to smoke." The other disciple asked, "What did you ask him?" The first replied, "I asked him if I could smoke when I am meditating." "That's your problem," said the second monk. "I asked him whether I could meditate when I am smoking, and he told me to go ahead."
So don't try to give it up, bring awareness into your life. Bring awareness to every aspect of your life; you will see that everything that is not necessary will simply fall by the wayside. If you try to give it up, you'll only struggle.

Your image of self

The image that you have created within yourselves has nothing to do with reality. It has nothing to do with your inner nature. It is a certain image that you have built, most of the time unconsciously. Very few human beings have built a conscious image of themselves. All others have built images according to whatever kind of patterns or external situations they fell into. Everybody has some image of what they are.
Now, why don't we create a new self-image consciously? The way you really want to be. If you are intelligent and aware enough, you can recast your image into a totally new image, whichever way you really want. It is possible. But you should be willing to leave the old one. This is not pretension. Instead of acting unconsciously, you act consciously. You can create an image that supports you best; that kind of image, which creates maximum harmony within you; that kind of image, which has least friction.

Your image and your inner nature

You create an image, which is closest to your inner nature. What kind of an image, do you think, is closest to your inner nature? Please see. The inner nature is silent, not dominant, but very forceful. Very subtle, yet very forceful. Now that is what we need to do: the grosser elements within you—your anger, your limitations—must be chopped off. Create a new self-image, which is subtle, but tremendously forceful.
You work on the self-image before actually sitting for a process to fix a new image on you. One that is the best for you and everybody around you. Think about it for the next one or two days and create a proper image for yourself. What should be the fundamental nature of your thoughts and emotions? Before we create something, let's really see, if what we are creating now is better than what we have.

Seeing yourself the way you want

Choose a time when you would not be disturbed. Sit comfortably with your back rested and relax.  Now, close your eyes and visualise how other people should experience you. Create a whole new human being. Look at it with as much detail as possible. See if this new image is more human, more efficient, more loving.
Visualise this new image as powerfully as you can. Make it alive within yourself. If your thought is powerful enough, if your visualisation is powerful enough, it can even break the bonds of karma. The limitations, the karmic limitations, can be broken by creating a powerful visualisation of what you want to be. This is the opportunity to transcend all your limitations of thought, emotion and action.

By sadhguru jaggi vasudev
source : complete well being
links :http://completewellbeing.com/article/look-within-to-transcend-your-habits/