Business to the Buddha

Search results for: “Yoga”

  • Yoga – Secular or not?

    Patanjali Yoga Sutras
    Source – Art of Living website

    It takes a lot of time for courts to offer a judgement, there are argument and counter-arguments. Logic and intuition fails if you do not have proof. That’s why Indian courts take 20 years even for high profile cases (e.g. Mumbai bomb blast), small cases are either solved out of court or not at all during the life time of an accused / plaintiff. Galileo died and hundreds of years later (in 1992) Churches exonerated him of the heresy – of saying Earth if not flat. People do not think logically and thus recently I have been bothered by fanatics on Twitter (follow me on Twitter @krdpravin). So, I feel petty on some things. Well, today I want to write about whether Yoga is secular or not?

    Disclaimer – I am discussing Yoga as Patanjali Yoga Sutra I am not an “authority on Yoga”.

    There was a case filed in California- “Yoga can not be taught in schools as Yoga is not secular”. Effectively the contention was Yoga is actually Hindu religion. California Judge rejected this claim.  Yet there is little more discussion needed on this.

    Think – is breathing secular or not? In yoga Patanjali has talked about Pranayams – breathing exercise. Is remembering (concentrating, meditating on) any God or whether Jesus or other prophet related to only “Hinduism”? Yoga talks about meditating on deity too. Is speaking truth not secular? I can list few more food for thoughts, however let me instead brief on Patanjali Yoga Sutra. Patanjali was a sage, he existed before Christ and had written Yoga Sutras. The sutras have eight limbs –

    1. Yama – 5 abstinence – non-violence, truth, non-covetousness, abstinence and non-possessiveness.

    In today’s world we need all these virtues, very importantly non-covetousness, non-possessiveness. Financial crisis is result of covetousness

    2. Niyama – 5 observances – cleanliness, contentment, austerity, reading scriptures, surrender to god.

    Here one may argue – reading scripture is religious. Did Patanjali say do not read Bible? Even in Surrender to God it is not mentioned that the God has to be only HINDU God!

    3. Asana – Discipline of the body and body posture.

    Largely – people all over the world (include many Indians and Hindus) think Yoga means Asana. Asana is just 12.5% (e.g. 1 part of 8 fold path of Patanjali) of what Patanjali said about yoga. Also, can you say that whatever games played in Olympics are religion? In this context – Hinduism? No! right?

    4. Pranayam – Control of breath

    Common we call breath and this would be idiotic to call breathing non-secular.

    5. Pratyahar – withdrawal of senses from their external objects.

    Well, many of us would not understand this. This is not talked in many religions – this helps in being non-covetous, non-possessive and being content. This is where I think Yoga is far more evolved and different than any Western religion. Though Yoga is not a religion.

    6. Dharana – concentration of the Chitta upon a physical object (say a photograph of Jesus, a frivolous example – Computer mouse).  Take an example of Rosary (a bead) and remembering any mantra / God. Use of bead is common in Islam too. Who says Dharana is about only one religion? It can be followed by any person whether following a religion or not.

    7. Dhyan – Meditation. It is largely professed by Indian religions e.g. Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. So, meditation is also not specific to only Hinduism. Additionally if someone prays with complete devotion that can become meditation.

    8 Samadhi – oneness with the object of meditation.

    Yoga is a very evolved science, of course developed and practiced more than 2000 years ago. But yes Yoga is science, there is no religious seal on it. My Indian and Hindu friends may argue against me saying – it is Hindu practice with various arguments. Foreigners may argue on same lines and state Yoga is religion.

    Well, I am of the opinion – religion is very personal matter and not a group matter. So, if I follow yoga practice (which I do not) I may say Yoga is my religion. But otherwise yoga is a way of life beyond and above all the so call religions of the world – which effectively are cause of troubles, war (include terrorism), fundamentalism and superiority complexes. And yes, Yoga is above the courts and laws too.

    Most importantly – Now do you follow what religious fundamentalism is? I am putting Yoga above everything which is what happens when fanaticism creeps in making a suicide bombers. I did the same in above para (by stating Yoga is above all).

    Yet please remember – 1st step of Yoga has first abstinence – non-violence. This includes not having superiority complex also.

    Image source – http://www.artofliving.org/patanjali-yogasutra

    One of the Authority on Yoga is – Sri Sri Ravishankar (Guruji)

  • Music and Yoga

    For a long time I refrained from writing on this topic on my blog. Here it is today…

    I was learning Indian Classical Music (ICM) during 2008-2010. I felt that there is relation between ICM nd Yoga (the chakra of Human body). There are seven swars (Notes) in ICM and seven chakras in body, can any raaga be used to invoke a chakra or help in spiritual practice of an individual? This was the question when I started working on this. My Art of Living teacher (Dr Shikant Agashe) and my Guruji of Music class (Mr B G Tilak) helped me explore this further until I left for further academic pursuits.

    Honestly speaking, I do not have any conclusive research report/measure for the same currently, however a strong feeling says there is some relation. With a few challenges we also devised an experiment and in fact we communicated with few other doctors and experts of ICM.

    People have helped us in providing information about use of ICM in medicine as alternative method and Nad Yoga. So, there are many paths going out from ICM, the path I am considering here is ‘ relation between ICM and The Chakras of human body.

    At a later stage, I happened to read a book titled Music As Yoga by Patrick Bernard (visit PatrickBernard.com). In the book I found something interesting – Page 109 – …According to Young: “when a specific series of harmonically related frequencies are continuous, in more definite way, the sound thus produced stimulates a psychological state which is felt by the listener given the fact that such a series of frequencies will continually trigger a specific series of auditory nerves which, in turn, will carry out the same transmission operation from a periodic model of impulses to the series of points determined by their counterparts in the cerebral cortex…” The above part I feel – somehow – relates to the ICM and yoga. The term written above “specific series of harmonically related frequencies” seems to be specific raaga.

    Still the search (research) is to be continued and for that measurement system is needed, things to do and cart to move… Just thought to share it on my blog – perhaps some strings can vibrate, some can resonate and some find the right tune… and we find something interesting.

  • AI, Humans, and Bharatnatyam

    Recently, I had an intriguing conversation with my friend Vikas on our society’s basketball court. Vikas is an excellent practitioner of Yoga, and he does his practices often around the court. Though we had never discussed spirituality or meditation before but this time we discussed not only work, books but also the Indian spiritual masters. After exchanging New Year pleasantries, we found ourselves talking about the impact of AI on our lives and businesses.

    It was a casual conversation, as our past discussions never really ventured into the realms of spirituality. But as we spoke, I brought up an interesting prediction from the 1920s. Renowned economist John Maynard Keynes had forecasted that in the future, we would work only four days a week, thanks to advancements in technology. I mentioned that with AI progressing rapidly, this could very well become a reality (though it has been close to 100 years from the prediction). One of our common concerns, however, was about the future of jobs – would there be enough work to keep everyone occupied and economy running?

    AI is already transforming every aspect of life, the endless possibilities of Biz Apps to generating artwork to creating videos. Initially, I believed that impact on creative work would be the last by AI, but my perspective changed when I watched a cat cook a meal in a video. While the video was amusing, it also made me rethink the boundaries of AI’s creativity.

    One thing became clear to me—the future may hold something unique: people will increasingly seek out real human experiences. Activities that involve human participation or performances,, like dance, will hold more value than any AI-generated fantasy. People will want to see and connect with others, and the demand for authentic human expression will rise.

    If we revisit Keynes’ prediction of “less work,” I am confident that it will happen. The real question is: what will people do with their newfound spare time? Will they continue to watch endless cat videos, or will they pursue things they genuinely enjoy? Over time, I believe the latter will take precedence. People will look for activities that engage them—activities that require human involvement, passion, and creativity.

    This conversation with Vikas stayed with me, and the same weekend, the thought resurfaced. That Saturday, my daughter Adviti – who is learning Bharatnatyam few months – had a dance performance. The event concluded with a deeply insightful speech from her teacher. The teacher explained –

    In Bharatnatyam, the performer has to be completely in the present moment. Body (through gestures and movements), mind (focusing on rhythm and mudras), and facial expressions (conveying emotions) all require perfect coordination of body, mind, and soul. Without this harmony, the performance falls flat. This concept resonated deeply with me, extending far beyond Bharatnatyam. It mirrored my understanding of meditation.

    As an audience, we were moved by the kids’ performances, but we were absolutely entranced by the senior performers. The speech, combined with the mesmerizing performances, made me realize something profound: perhaps the true joy of a dance like Bharatnatyam lies not in watching it, but in performing it. It’s an activity that requires full human engagement – body, mind, and soul – something AI simply cannot replicate.

    Reflecting on both my conversation with Vikas and the insights I gained from the dance performance, I saw a clear connection. The future will indeed offer fewer “work hours,” as Keynes predicted. But more importantly, people will likely grow tired of passive consumption – whether it’s endless reels or AI-generated content – and turn to more fulfilling, creative pursuits. Activities that involve deep personal expression, like cooking, dancing, or art, will become more valuable. In fact, it’s possible that many people will turn inward, exploring spirituality. It’s not just about watching a cat cook dinner, but about immersing yourself in the joy of cooking your own meal. Similarly, it’s not just about admiring a dance – it’s about becoming part of the rhythm, the movement, and the expression yourself.

    Also read –
    Playing golf, work and meditation
    Meditation
    Unifying Heart, Mind and Action

    In the end, AI may change how we work and live, but it will never replace the deep human need to create, to express, and to connect. The future, as I see it, will not be defined by what AI does for us, but by what we choose to do for ourselves.

  • Open you mind, experience beyond your beliefs

    Alexa play “bum bum bole”. This is a Hindi film song. The song teaches opening you mind, thinking, experiencing, and dreaming specially beyond your belief or knowledge. The song made me think in different dimension, questioning few things and conclude – experience beyond your belief.

    Source Youtube, original – from Movie Taare Zameen Par

    Alexa started playing bum bum bole song, Adviti was happy. Slowly she learned the lyrics of the song, for her the lyrics are not that very meaningful, yet she learnt singing few lines. She keeps on mumbling them while listening to the song.

    She started saying “bhala machhaliya bhi kyu udati nahi? Socho, socho na.”

    The above line is in Hindi, it means “think why the fish cannot fly, just think”. Somehow it came to my mind that fish can fly if we start calling a bird a fish ?

    I asked Adviti, how about it? She didn’t understand. I reiterated Adviti let me explain

    1. a bird can fly
    2. if I start calling a bird. a fish
    3. so the fish will start flying isn’t it?

    A creative answer to a question that asks you to think.

    I’m answering your question Adviti, you are calling a fish a fish so you are asking the question why can not a fish fly? If you start calling a bird a fish it will start flying 😀

    I think she will need some time to figure out this logic.

    Well this is on a lighter side however in reality our perceptions actually create our realities and whatever we think is based on our beliefs.

    The formless

    Recently a big public, judicial and political debate started in India. The row is of a Shivling in a mosque. Before we proceed further – Shivling is a representation of formless. It is a symbol of energy.

    Gyanvapi Mosque Banaras
    Gyanvapi Mosque Banaras Source Sunday Guardian

    One group – Hindus – is saying that it is Shivling and the other group – Muslims – is saying it is a fountain. Let the competent authorities respond or prove to what exactly it is. The point I want to make is – this is how our belief systems are, we see what we want to see there may be some different reality out there.

    If you dig deeper, Muslims theology states that the God is formless. Hindu’s Worship the formless in the form of Shivling. If you try to connect these dots conceptually the idea is same – formless. Method of praying or bowing to the same concepts of “formless” are different. This underling concept is still not clear to masses. Why create a fight for one upmanship? There are many more dimensions to the debate. I do not want to digress.

    Belief system

    Our beliefs blind us. In Ashtavakra Geeta, Ashtavakra says – you are seeing the rope as the snake because your mind is saying that it is a snake. this belief is making you feel the rope as a snake. Until you open your eyes and mind, you will feel the rope is the snake.

    Our religions are also the same, some people believe in something, other people believe in something else. What is correct or what is true can only be proved when we become more objective, think, open-up and willing to experiment.

    This is the reason I like Indic religions – specially Buddhism and Hinduism to a great extent. After reading few philosophical texts of Hinduism I see Buddhism as a subset of Hinduism.

    Experience beyond your belief

    Hinduism has given philosophy of Yoga, Meditation, Bhakti (devotion), Karma, Gyan etc. There are many ways to experiment and experience. The best part is no one asks you to follow a certain path or approach. You follow or practice what you feel comfortable with. In one family you may find members of the family following different paths Bhakti (Devotion), Yoga, and Meditation in some cases questioning everything and not following any. This chaos is perfectly fine in the family.

    Prayer beads - Experience beyond your belief
    Experience beyond your belief

    Out of all these methods, the key is – “experience”. Some paths gave recipe of experiments too.

    Patanjali discusses Yoga Sutra, Shiv Sutra discusses 100+ meditation methods, Narad Bhakti Sutra discusses Bhakti (Devotion), Ashtavakra Geeta tells open your eyes see it, Krishna summarizes everything in Bhagvad Geeta. There are Upnishads, the list is very long to complete, contemplate, try everything and experience. Pick your options.

    If I were to say something, here is my approach pick one in the beginning. I will recommend read Bhagvad Geeta. It gives you a wonderful summary of different paths. Try one or the other path for experience. Whatever suits you from within, go deeper in that path with additional text!

    Interestingly, what the end results is? It is experience. All these paths proposed by the Indian theology are science. They do not want you to believe what is written. In fact, all the titles written above most have question between a speaker and listener. Do not just blindly believe what is written, ask what you have in mind.

    Open your mind

    What every human-being needs to do is – keep aside the belief system and move towards the experience system.

    The takeaway is – open you mind, put aside your battle of belief, and fasten your seatbelts for the journey of experience.

  • Mindful or Involuntary action, are you spiritual or religious?

    Mindful or Involuntary action, are you spiritual or religious?

    I lived in Dhar, a small district headquarters in Madhya Pradesh. It is a small city or say a town. It is a peaceful city with low crime rates. I hope it is still like that. This small place taught me how to handle your fears, it does not include the Fear of the God. Those days there was no fear kidnapping or children lost in the city. So, we kids used to go from one place to the other alone unquestioned.

    Dog of our area

    In Dhar, like any other city in India, you could see domestic animals on road. Stray dogs were no surprise either. There was a stray dog in our area. We walked that place multiple times daily. This dog was tough to handle. It used to bark, run behind, fight with other dogs, and occasionally bite. We kids were scared to cross the place when we learnt about the dog. In fact, we were “dog fearing”.

    Fear of dog

    We could not stop going to school because of the dog. We devised a plan, we started keeping stones in our hands. Whenever we saw the dog, we threw stones at him and ran away from that area. This dog-fear gave us a solution to scare the dog away rather than be scared.

    But why am I telling this story to you? This story has a very nasty relation and question to you – How can you “respect” someone as scary as a mad dog? I know when you read further you may hate me or be disappointed because I am questioning your beliefs. But I must pose this question to you. How can you be “God fearing”? If God is such fearful entity, it must be called a demon, isn’t it? If God is good, we should have a healthy relation with him/her and not a fearful one.

    God fearing

    If you have followed my blog for past few years you must have read about my marriage alliances. In my matrimony profile I had written “I am spiritual but not necessarily religious”. Some of the prospective alliances confused it with “religious”. So, prospective bride or bride’s family told multiple types of stories around their being religious.

    At some of the interactions I smiled and explained to a few that I rarely go to a traditional temple. I may call few places as places for my worship such as my art of living center where I go for weekly sadhana or meditation practices.

    After a few attempts, I started ignoring it – spirituality does not necessarily mean religious. I had lost interest to explain it to people. Why? Because I met about two dozen families or alliances for the alliance discussion.

    Once, I heard a very interesting new term. “I am god fearing”. I had never heard it earlier, I was impressed and surprised too. Probably I was less educated about religion. I had to ask around what does this mean? Is it “religious?”

    Spiritual not necessarily religious

    Fortunately, I have some great mentors, one is Ramana uncleji. I shared this profile with him and asked him what does “God fearing” mean?

    Uncleji told me – “None of the Indian religion teaches you fear. In fact, none teaches you fearing from God in specifics.”

    I added – yes, I understand – Krishna is embodiment of love.

    Spiritual mindful lotus

    Uncleji continued – “Yes, the concept of fear of God is from Abrahamic religion (religions that started from the Central Asia). The girl is from a convent school.”

    I was shocked, how could he figure it out? He was correct, though the profile did not have specifics of primary education. He said I understand it because mostly this is where you may learn the concept of fear from the Gods. Regular Indian family may hardly teach “Fear the Gods” at home.

    He further added, the concept of fear from the God works when you must keep people in check and let them follow you “unquestionably”. Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism etc) hardly force you to follow the diktat without questioning.

    I further mumbled – that’s correct, Arjuna asks questions to Krishna in Bhagvad Geeta. Vashishtha answers to Rama in Yog Vashishtha. In Ashtavakra Geeta, Ashtavakra discusses with Janaka and Shiva Sutra is full of questions from Parvati. We Indians have argued with almost every God.

    Spiritual vs religious the difference

    I have met many people who keep on bowing whenever they see a temple. It happens at times when the closing of eyes and folding of hands looks like an involuntary action. Involuntary action means something that happens without your conscious choice; examples are breathing, digestion and closing of eye in case of sudden light.

    Namaste on the back

    If you are just folding your hands without even your knowledge or without any deeper respect in your heart what is the meaning? It is like you closed your eyes when you saw a danger.

    The idea of bowing down is not necessarily incorrect. Devotion makes you bow. This comes out of reverence and not fear. Bowing down can be a great mindful act and not an involuntary action, isn’t it?

    Rarely, I saw that bowing down out of devotion or reverence. Mostly people bow down crossing any place of worship because of two reasons either they have some demand, or they are scared.

    Fearing the God

    In fact, I am amazed, the convent educated are a step ahead in the confusion. I saw these convent educated to make a cross on their face (similar to a Christian would do while crossing a church). I asked to one – what is that? She said we passed by the temple.

    I smiled and said shouldn’t you be folding your hand?

    Fear of the God

    I further inquired, why did you do that? The response was – it has become a habit. Really? A habit? Did you not learn something known as “respect”?

    Fear created this habit. It is like an involuntary action, as a kid we used to keep stone when we saw fearsome dog in Dhar. How can you be a God-fearing person? How can you call yourself religious if you fear God?

    At best the creature who gives you fear can be a fearsome villain, a monster or demon, if I say in Hindi an Asur or Rakshasa. You can fear a stray dog not the God. If you fear the God, it simply means you are taught incorrectly, there is likely a problem in your religious learning.

    Next time, when you bow down remember – the temple or the Murti in the temple is just a representation. The God is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. You would know soon if you are religious – as conditioned in childhood – or spiritual. It is better the bowing down happens due to reverence and mindfulness rather than fear and involuntary.

    Image source – Husky dog by Ilya Shishikhin on Unsplash, Lotus by Jay Castor on Unsplash, Yoga pose by Avrielle Suleiman on Unsplash, Love and fear quote frame by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

  • Develop taste

    In school, we studied the concept of survival of the fittest. However, learned it in Engineering. With the practicals lessons on “survival of the fittest” our tongue had learned tasting food without hurting itself from the hot food. With time, we must learn to develop taste for different things in life, be it good or bad food, experiences, situations, or practices. At least, we must be open to test and experience before making an opinion or choice. Once we develop taste, we can choose to continue with the new things or no, isn’t it?

    The story

    Pramod – my engineering batch-mate – was an awesome cook. He had a roommate whose nickname was Golu. Whenever Pramod used to cook, we used to wait for the final bell to open our attack on the food. I still remember the food, how can I forget the fragrance of lentils (dal) and rice?

    Over time each one had learned, if you wait for the food to get warm, you would remain hungry. Everyone knew this and complied with the principle of attacking the food as soon as possible. Those days were unconventional.

    Golu used to eat with us, however, after the meals he used to start finding fault – salt was less, there was no taste of spices, and so on. Initially, we responded, later we realized it was his habit. So we started ignoring it, yet Pramod had had enough of it. This happened so many times that once Pramod told him – “you won’t be allowed to even touch the utensil, forget eating.” We had dinner, washed utensils, and gave it to him. Golu started cooking we were watching him assuming he is a critique he must be a better cook.

    Golu cooked; while he was cooking we’re aghast and repeatedly told him do not put so much red chilly powder, not so much turmeric, etc. The food was red due to red chilly powder. We refrained from eating the food. We knew it was terrible, however, he kept on praising himself – in vain – his facial expressions were enough for us.

    Learning

    The learning was – either you develop a taste – in this case, it was a rather wonderful food – for the food or learn cooking yourself. A larger lesson for life, we end up making an opinion about things without knowing much about those. Some times we make this error – we follow Yoga or take Ayurvedic medicine and make fun of the same in public. At times, people have not done meditation yet, they critique it. The best I would advise anyone is to practice meditation at least once even if you want to critique it. It would have a positive impact on you. Who knows, you would continue doing meditation, knowing what you have been missing in life?

  • Coronavirus – Lock down? Stop and introspects

    Coronavirus has put many people across the world in a lock down situation. Many cities in Europe, China and US are standstill. In India also, some states govt or cities authorities have closed malls, cinema halls, schools etc. Who have got the luxury for them, it is a great time to sit at home to stop and introspect. People should not become couch potato at home and watch Netflix / Youtube day in and day out. This is a time to sit and introspect, what I did and what is my take? Here it is.

    Phylogenetic analysis of Coronavirus

    Introspection

    I started off with asking a question to myself – have we become dinosaurs of current times? Animals evolve, even the virus evolves check this last para of CDC website on Coronavirus – “…coronaviruses … can evolve….” This research by The Lancet states the virus has evolved and closely related – 88% – to two bat derived virus. Imagine how fast the virus is evolving from 2002 to now. It is an amazement that the tiniest virus evolves. How about human beings? How are we evolving? We’ve improved our healthcare system from outside, is this healthcare restricting us from developing our inherent immunity that has been there in every organism naturally? If your belief system does not allow you to accept the theory of evolution be it. However, this evolution is evident scientifically and being researched and discussed on the science fraternity widely.

    Dinosaur’s extinct one fine day, we are still struggling to hypothesize how this happened? Is it a possibility that something like Coronavirus happened with them too? I do not intend to scare with conspiracy of dooms day. My thoughts are still on introspection, we have developed a lot of technologies. Example is mobile phone, I have a 6 GB RAM mobile, I hardly require such configuration, My father has a smartphone too, he only accesses calling feature and one fitness app. Our technologies have grown multi-fold; many of us we do not even know how to use these. During this lock-down of cities, people are going to waste time on entertainment and create havoc on social media. Instead, we must spend this time with self sitting silently. It could be above conspiracy theories war, economy, healthcare and evolution.

    Conclusion

    I introspect on evolution and meditation. We spend time on how we can remain fit. Here is an interesting research done by Oslo University on a Breathing technique (Sudarshan Kriya) taught in Art of living courses. The research says Yoga Changes your Genes (Oslo university, Norway) and improve your immune system. Until the natural selection helps human beings evolve, practice Yoga and meditation it will help you – as the research states that “…changes in 111 genes expression patterns were observed, improving immune system…”.

    I leave you with this thought – stop, meditate and introspect.

    Image Source – The Lancet “Phylogenetic analysis of Coronavirus”

    Disclaimer – I am associated with the Art of Living foundation and practicing Yoga, Meditation and Sudarshan Kriya from 2004 onward.

    Related other blogs –

    https://business2buddha.com/2013/07/06/yoga-secular-or-not/
    https://business2buddha.com/2019/04/06/the-observer/

  • Time – thoughtful Welcome 2020

    So, another year of our life passed! Everyday we are living, in another words everyday every living thing is dying too. The only uncertain thing in life is – “which would be my last breath?” This thought of uncertainty must make us feel that every moment we are living is a gift. Every moment, the time in itself should be a welcome moment. Here I am to help you read a section of Yoga Vasistha The Supreme Yoga (a discussion between Lord Rama and Sage vasistha). What better day to write this to you and make you too think about welcoming the 2020 thoughtfully?

    Yoga Vasistha starts with Dispassion of Rama and his long speech / question regarding life. I am yet to complete reading the book, however I could not stop posting this part of the book for two reasons – appropriate time (end of this year / beginning of new year) and just read this chapter.

    Vairagya Prakaran (Dispassion)

    Rama:
    …All the hopes of man in this world are consistently destroyed by Time. Time alone, O sage, wears everything out in this world; there is nothing in creation which is beyond its reach. Time alone creates innumerable universes, and in a very short time. Time destroys everything.

    Time allows a glimpse of itself through its partial manifestation as the year, the age and the epoch; but its essential nature is hidden. This Time overpowers everything. Time is merciless, inexorable, cruel, greedy and insatiable. It is the greatest magician, full of deceptive tricks. This Time cannot be analysed; for however much it is divided it still survives, indestructible. It has an insatiable appetite for everything – it consumes the smallest insects, the biggest mountains and even the king of heaven!

    Even as a young boy plays with a ball for his pastime, Time uses the two balls known as the sun and the moon for its pastime. It is indeed Time alone that appears as the destroyer of the universe [Rudra], the creator of the world [Brahma], the king of heaven [Indra], the lord of wealth [Kubera] and the nothingness of cosmic dissolution. It is indeed this Time that successively creates and dissolves the universe again and again. Just as even the great and mighty mountain is rooted on earth, this mighty Time is also established in the Absolute being [Brahman].

    Even though Time creates endless universes, it is not wearied, nor does it rejoice; it does not come, nor does it go; it does not rise, nor does it set. Time the gourmet sees that the objects of this world have been ripened by the fire of the sun, and when he finds them fully ripe he consumes them! Each epoch of Time is decked, as it were, by the lovely jewels of colorful beings for the pleasure of Time that playfully wipes them all out.

    To the lotus of youthfulness, Time is the nightfall; to the elephant of life-span, Time is the lion. In this world there is nothing, high or low, that Time does not destroy. Even when all these are destroyed, Time is not destroyed. Just as a man after a day’s activity rests in sleep as if in ignorance, even so Time, after the cosmic dissolution, sleeps or rests with the creation-potential hidden in it. No one really knows what this Time is.

    Time – thoughtful Welcome 2020

    We have become slaves of time. We rush to office seeing 7:30 AM, have lunch at 1:30 PM (at times when not hungry too) and so on. I remember writing recently – this too shall pass. Yes, we shall be consumed by time as Rama says in his dispassion. It is an opportunity that when you are celebrating the new year, think about some serious thoughts in life regarding work, fun and spirituality.

    Source: The Supreme Yoga, Yoga Vasistha

  • Living in the moment, how?

    Have you been disturbed by the outside environment? Is it that you lose your temper when some external factor influences you? It is nothing new, isn’t it? I too face the same time to time. Recent observations helped me look at these incidents little more carefully. Thus, I could question myself – How can one be centered and focused from the outside distractions? How can one live in the moment? Here I’m with some of my own’s answers too.

    Incident

    I’ve been associated with the Art of living since 2004 and practicing the practices taught there. This involves some yoga asanas, pranayam, Sudarshan Kriya (A breathing exercise) and meditation. I’m continuing with my practice after marriage and my daughter Adviti‘s birth. The only difference now is that Adviti comes and sits on my laps occasionally. It is kind of distraction. Though it was good that it happened, now I’m more aware and question myself, how can one be a saint in professional life? The saint in professional life thought came to mind because there are multiple distractions and problems we face daily, how can one be focused even after so many distractions?

    • Adviti-with-me-sudarshan-kriya
    • Adviti-with-me-Pranayam

    Initially, I was bit uncomfortable that Adviti is disturbing me. Somewhat worried when doing asana if my hand or leg may hurt her. It is said that when someone is meditating or doing his/her spiritual practice you must not disturb the person. In fact it is said that you must not even touch the person. Here this infant is sitting on my laps, holding my hands and asking me to join her to play something. It happens rarely to me that I’m in a meditative state when I’m “doing” something.

    Long back I had a blog draft, in which I had contemplated what must be going in the mind of a sadhu (monk) who has left everything and gone to the Himalayas. He must have achieved the peace of mind he might be looking for. I had lot of questions to this fictional sadhu about he lessons. A thought cropped up when Adviti started sitting on my laps during my practice. Will a sadhu – who has attained peace at Himalaya – remain the same peaceful person in the world where there are distractions? The distractions can be traffic to office or noise of road construction or for that matter, your daughter wanting you to play with her, when you’re meditating.

    Learning

    My daughter has been a great learning to me. She is a cute little doll who enjoys moment to moment she lives in the moment. In fact she is so full in the event that if she is crying “she is crying” period. This is the case with every infant and kid, they are in “the now” all the time. Adviti does not know what I am doing or if she should stay away from me during those 30 min or so. She is fully involved, perhaps she is not aware that it is called awareness and still she is completely AWARE of her action.

    How to live in the moment?

    Almost for all questions my answer ends with spiritual practices. There is nothing wrong in this, I think. At the end of the day we all are spiritual being in various levels of evolution. There can be few simple to do points to be aware –

    1. Becoming aware of our thoughts, many a times we are doing one thing and thinking another. This distraction should be minimized. Keep an eye on the distractions.
    2. Do any activity with full awareness, it is difficult in the beginning. Why – read point 1 above. Keep aside your mobile, stop all notifications (except calls perhaps). This is how babies are, fully involved in the now
    3. Meditate, sit silently for some time and make it a daily practice. It helps. I know there are a lot of meditation techniques (Vigyan Bhairav talks about 100+ such techniques)
    4. As a professional, whenever you are doing an activity – know what is the outcome expectation from this activity. By the way outcome expectation is an innovation method too. When you are aware about the outcome, your actions should “ideally” be directed towards the outcome. It sounds contrary to the most famous guidance of Krishna (paraphrase) – “You do your duty, fruit of duty is not in your hand.” Though, here the guide is your actions should be directed towards the outcome. It implies here that plan for the result, and act in the moment.

    Results of action with awareness are better than just actions. We get distracted by event. The ability to respond to the activities around (and inside) with awareness improves us as an individual.

  • What will people remember you for?

    Almost every Sunday, I go for Art of living follow up. Here we do some yoga, pranayams and Sudarshan Kriya. Whenever someone asks me about Art of living and eventually Sudarshan Kriya, I say – “one must do Sudarshan Kriya at least once before dying”. It changes you from within. After the session, not just me but many people feel tranquility and peace of mind. Personally, I don’t even want to speak (even think) for some time at least. The experience is wonderful, being with one’s Self – with a capital S.

    So today too after the session I was in the same state. Our follow up teacher asked – “what would you want people to remember you for?” It was an interesting question. I had never given it a thought. Why would I want people to remember me? I gave an honest response – I never thought about it. Some responses were ‘I made people happy’, ‘for a peaceful life’ and ‘I did not bother people.’

    All these answers were good, but were not my answer. I thought a bit – should I be remembered for my thoughts, blog articles, being a successful professional / entrepreneur, a wonderful father etc. What would I want people to remember me for? No single option was resonating with me. At the same time, my mind was wandering in another direction too. Why would I want people to remember me? Does not it sound like having a bit of ego, if not very overt and prominent one?

    My answer was confusing; “I never gave it a thought”. As if I won’t die and people won’t get chance to remember me! But even if I die one day, why should anyone remember me?

    The teacher then said a wonderful line of the movie Kung Fu Panda – “Your story may not have such a happy beginning but that does not make you who you are, it is the rest of it- who you choose to be” The teacher concluded find purpose in your life.

    When the word purpose came on the fore, the only answer that resonated with me was – I want to be enlightened. The dilemma is – “I”, “want” and “remember” these things are kind of craving. Is not craving the thing that one has to drop? Even for that matter craving to be enlightened!

    At times such question seems futile. Though it doesn’t mean one has given up or there is no purpose in life. If life-journey of a-person’s life inspires / makes some other person remember that a-person, the inspiration and remembrance is choice of other person not necessarily goal of a-person.

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