Life is change. And when change steps into your life, you better allow her to sweep you off your feet.

It has been a month since I joined a 7-month long Teacher’s Training Course at the Yoga Institute, Mumbai.

Doing Asanas (the yogic postures) with full concentration and the right attitude (bhavas), understanding the nuances of the Samkhya Philosophy (one of the major school of thoughts of Indian Philosophy) on which the philosophy and techniques of Yoga are based, reading from Rishi (poet seer) Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (the master treatise on which Ashtanga Yoga- the 8 fold path of Holistic Yoga is based) and comparing it with another great scripture – the Bhagavad Gita (literally meaning the Celestial Song, which is the bible of the Hindus today), looking at Counselling from the Yogic perspective, talks and presentations, and reading literature related to Yoga at the Institute, are some of the activities that I indulge in for more than 5 hours on a daily basis.

This, apart from the 7-8 hours that I have to put in daily at work, plus 2 hours of travelling!

There have been new experiments in my life; I have been toying with this whole new concept of Brahmacharya (sensual abstinence).

At the Institute, the Teachers insist that withdrawing the Mind steadily from outside pleasures, would lead to the 5th level of Ashtanga Yoga i.e. Pratyahara (withdrawal of senses from the world of material passions and provocations).

The Yogis believe that everything in this Universe is made of 3 gunas i.e. Sattwa (the pure element, the birthing principle), Rajas (the active element, the provoking/ motivating principle) and Tamas (the dead element, gross stupefying principle)

In a healthy human being there has to be a balance of these 3 Gunas. If there is more of Tamas, the mind becomes lethargic. If there is more of Rajas, the mind wanders after lusts of the material world leading to a disturbed state of mind. If there is more of Sattwa, there is a natural disinterest in the material world and the mind seeks ways to attain a glimpse into higher states of Consciousness (i.e. Satori of Zen)

The Yoga Institute, Mumbai does not believe in the philosophy of a student being devoted to a Guru for life. They believe that it is the dedication of the student to the Path that is more important, than devoting one’s life to the Guru (which only hinders one’s progress as one becomes attached to the Personality of the Guru and starts having expectations – another trick of the cunning Mind)

Patanjali (who wrote the Yoga treatise) has devoted only two lines to surrender to God as a principle. Perhaps he was an atheist too like the Samkhyans. However, he understood the value of Surrendering one’s ego, the importance of trusting in a Higher Reality and letting go when one’s ego feels all stuck. So he does not deny the possibility of surrendering to this higher force, as an alternative to the rigorous efforts of Yoga to attain Self-Realisation.

Do I want to be Self-Realised? How can I, for if I do I would only be running after a fancy term, a state of consciousness which cannot be expressed in words (as they say) and can only be tasted after continued abhyasa (training) as the Final Goal on the journey.

So for the time-being I do my Dharma (duty) of learning, which I offer into the sacrificial fire of Tapas (enforced discipline) which is necessary for me now, to curb the highly volatile nature of my Mind; and I do it without desire for any fruits…

Freedom from the Misery – the pain that follows every joy and sorrow… isn’t that a worthwhile Goal to pursue in one’s lifetime? Especially after having gone through all that I have been through…?

karmanye vadhika raste ma faleshu kadachan
- Bhagavad Gita
Do your duties without attachment to it’s fruits

(Originally published at Desicritics.org on October 13, 2009. Please visit http://desicritics.org/2009/10/13/080030.php to read more than 50 comments to this article and to contribute your own)

Today, for the first time in 32 years of my life, I cast my ballot! And who could have thought that my first ever ballot would go in favour of the Saffron Forces!

Throughout my life I have raised my voice against these two parties for their religious fanaticism and the disgrace they have brought to the country through the Mumbai & Gujarat Riots!

Yet today I had no option but to vote for the BJP-Shiv sena alliance!

Even as I pressed the blue button next to the symbol of the lotus flower, I felt a surge of power within me, a power that comes when you have a gun for vengeance in your hand, a power that I felt we as a people had lost post-26/11… and I enjoyed every bit of it.

It seemed like the gods in Vidhan Sabha and Rajya Sabha watched over me with disdain on their faces as I slapped their shameless faces with the push of a button!

It was my turn today to lash out at them post-26/11: My time to wield power and let them know how vulnerable one can feel when one is at somebody else’s mercy for their very existence. I wanted to let them know how it feels when people who put their trust in you let you down!

The Congress has lost my goodwill at the State level! And no amount of “Pseudo-Secularism” card it plays, it will have no sympathy from people like me on the issue of 26/11.

And even though I had to fight with my Boss yesterday for a leave on Election Day (despite all the Government Circulars that had been printed in newspapers asking for offices to remain closed for the convenience of employees to cast their ballot!); against all odds I went to vote!

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I just HAD TO vote this time!

26/11 changed my life! 10 Terrorists from across the border took a joy-ride into this city by sea, in a ferry boat, to hold an entire City and Country hostage for 4 unholy days!

In broad daylight they easily managed to open fire at hundreds of peaceful people – men, women, children and the old! They massacred an Israeli couple in their own house, and held numerous people as hostages at two grand hotels in the city!

The shameful lapse in Security on the part of the Indian Government was so huge that men in uniform had to lay down their lives fighting enemies within the border! This, even as men-in-white in Power in Delhi and Mumbai, roamed around with Z security in their bullet-proof cars!

Never before had the city known such a ghastly and open attack on its soil! The common man had finally caught the Congress Government (both at National and State Level) sleeping!

If we were living in the Age of the Samurais, these people in Government should have committed suicide for failing to provide security to the common man, who is actually their master and not vice-versa!

Instead the Indian Home Minister rubbed salt to fresh wounds of this city, wounds that had still not stopped bleeding, let alone heal. He changed his attire for the media every morning and evening like a Celebrity but couldn’t change the same old clichéd statement he had come out with after every previous Terrorist attack elsewhere!

And then our glamour-boy, the Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh decided to stroll through one of the Hotels at the end of the Attack with his actor son and a director! Gosh! All so glamour-ish, it was, right in front of the eyes of the common man who sat traumatised in front of the television sets watching them!

So highly drunk on power was the Congress high-command that it asked these foot-soldiers to resign, instead of the entire party resigning at the State Level itself! They failed to recognise that their Government had absolutely failed to provide the least of security to the common man and it had no right or business whatsoever to continue after the shameful debacle!

Instead, as the Candle-light vigil died down, and the citizenry had to go back to their normal work for bread and butter, the Congress Government decided to take a complete U-turn on the promise that it had given to the Indian people that of not resuming any talks with Pakistan unless the bigshots in the Pakistani establishment responsible for the Mumbai Terror Attack were bought to book! The Congress Government decided to show mercy to Pakistan at Sharm-el-Sheikh (kitni sharm ki baat, ofcourse!) only to meet a disgruntled Opposition in the Parliament and a popular public disapproval back home!

I had to vote this time! I had to vote the Congress out of power in Maharashtra, to put my part of the nail in its coffin at the State level, even though they have been a huge support for the Gay rights struggle in India (amendment of article 377, which this gay guy is thankful for). However, post 26/11; my Patriotism for my country comes before my Sexuality in the list of Priority.

It is not an issue for this Mumbaikar whether Ajmal Kasab is hanged or not! I look at him as an adolescent foot-soldier, who now captive deserves our mercy! But for people who failed to protect us, and exposed us to 26/11 – Go Congress Go!!!

Yet even as I write this article, majority of the so-called modern people of Mumbai may still vote for the Congress as it views the Saffron forces with suspicion, and the Congress may come back to power.

10 terrorists came by Boat. 288 Terrorists may soon come by VOTE. Beware!

And for Mumbaikars who burnt candles at the Gateway of India but did not vote today, the word for today is:

Idiot: n. A foolish, ignorant or stupid person (from Greek meaning private and ignorant, a person not entitled to vote)

A few weeks ago I had the fortune of sleeping with a guy who could best be described as Adonis!

Fair-skinned, soft tresses that gently fell on his forehead, a cheerful disposition, and a quietness that permeated his very being, he made any person who came into his proximity feel tranquil!

Even in the heat of our unbridled passion, as we gave ourselves away completely to the heat of our youth and the lust we felt for each other’s body and form, I kept admiring the beautiful innocence that the gods in heaven had graced him with.

Yet in this earthly ritual, even as I travelled through the contours of his luscious body, my gaze would come back again and again to his eyes … looking for divine refuge, searching for the very essence of Beauty there, only to be hugely disappointed!

What was missing? In this perfect union of two heavenly bodies, why did I keep feeling a void in my heart that was painfully insatiated?

When the heat calmed down with the heartbeats and the world around made its foray into our consciousness; even as we lay spent on the bed I wondered what had left me discontented after a perfectly divine love-making experience. What goodness was missing there in his perfectly poetic face that I searched for in vain?

Ever so often, after that eventful night, we have crossed each other’s paths as perfect strangers, exchanging glances of formal greetings only to hasten to a busy day ahead!

Yet every time I meet him, I search for that one thing in his eyes which I finally know is missing, an ingredient which if I had found in his eyes could by its mere existence given me the reason to abandon this life on earth in the faith that I have fully lived!

It is only now that I know his eyes lack the other essential half to complement God’s perfection expressed in his beauty- the essential ingredient of love. If I could find the beauty and love together in his eyes even for a night, I would have found a glimpse of God Himself!

Holy sweet love, how you keep your distance from a pilgrim who seeks you in the most perfect of places!

Ya Khuda! Have you stopped placing souls in objects which you decorate with your light?

Where will I find the noor of your beauty coupled with the grace of your bountiful love?

So said, your pilgrim continues his journey on the Path to reach you! Forgive me my Complaint, but the Separation is turning unbearable. I need the balm of thy succour in this scourge of a desert, even as I worship your noor in objects you have blessed your beauty with!

Please provide me with the perseverance that alone can keep a dervish on His difficult Path, the lack of which would drive him insane!

Don’t keep Yourself away for too long!

Hi Guyz,
I have been busy with my new job and my Yoga class.

There is a lot of theory on Yoga being discussed! I am researching on Indian Philosophy (Nyaya, Charakha, Vedanta, Samkhya, Kashmiri Shaivism, Jaina, Buddhist) and also Non Indic (western philosophy)

Practice of the Yoga asanas is making my body more supple and flexible.

Was down yesterday with fever. Perhaps the hectic activity all of a sudden was too much for my body to bear.

M fine now. The more i am learning about yoga technique, the more i feel closer to the sufi technique of self-realization.

God (khuda), pain (dard), love (mohabbat), separation (judai): everything fits so well.

Will write soon here…

Golden Boy

Unrequited love can really hurt!

The pangs of love needs the caress of a lover to soothe away it’s pain! Yet in one-sided love there is no one to soothe that pain away!

Nursing my own wounds,

Why does God have to tinge the most beautiful of emotions and the most useful of emotions with pain?

That just might be true! And yet, my heart dares to commit the sacrilege to daydream! This heart lusts for life, wanting to fetch from it all that it can… and when it fails to achieve, it lusts for death!

A week ago, I felt so suicidal that I wanted to end my life. And then I met this guy on a gay-dating-portal. We exchanged cellphone numbers on the Internet!

And a beautiful relationship blossomed over the phone! Next, we were afraid to meet up, since it was virtually a Blind-Date. We did not know if we would like each other when we actually met face-to-face, after having gelled so well over the phone!

We met! We sort-of liked each other!

Yet I fell in love with his eyes instantly! And I texted him a message of love!

Just to think that till last week I had been so suicidal and all, and now this! It seems that the Mind just cannot live without desires and is constantly looking for objects (of affection) to identify itself with! When it seems to lose sight of its desires, it withers and wants to embrace Death!

I have the next two years of my life planned out! And even as I see my friends living through their planned out lives, I find it difficult to stick up with plans! For just when I have planned it all out and invested my resources, another wish tugs at the chords of my wishful heart, asking for attention!

Such is life, going round and round in the loop of desire!

Will I found love? Will I find my work? Will I be able to keep life?

I don’t know about 1947; it was three decades before I was born. From what I have read I know that India was partitioned in 1947 during Independence from the British Raj. Yet, it amazes me to notice that the nuances of Partition are still investigated in Political circles, even as the fire of its aftermath ignites the hearts of people on both the sides of the Indo-Pak border to this day.

All I know is that a line was drawn then dividing the Land, and all hell broke loose.

The fate of Kashmir (pieces of which are held by both countries) is still a matter of contention between the two countries; and I have noticed how the Indian media remains tight-lipped about the everyday rallies and bandhs (closures) in the Valley; while its Pakistani counterpart fans the fire.

The Valley is burning and it is my personal belief as an Indian Hindu citizen that a UN plebiscite in Kashmir is the need of the hour in order to judge if the people want to stay with India, Pakistan or want total Independence. It will do a great deal of good to the future of India, Pakistan and Kashmiri people.

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As a Hindu child I grew up in a mohallah in Mumbai consisting of Hindu and Moslem people who participated actively in each other’s festival. Muslim guys and girls would swirl away into the night to the music of Garba during Navratri and Sewaiya (a Moslem delicacy) would be served to Hindu neighbours during Eid.

Mumbai riots of 1992 changed all that!

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Amidst increasing ghettoisation that took place in the city after the 1992 riots and the immediate bomb blasts of 1993, Muslim families ran away from Hindu dominated localities and pockets of the city, while Hindu families fled from Muslim neighbourhoods. Today that ghettoisation is complete (the latest victim of this was the Celebrity Imran Hashmi)

I was a 15-year-old Hindu lad then, a Mumbaikar who was growing up to the tunes of Bollywood (the Hindi Film Industry)

Bollywood has always served platters of romantic movies with songs that put ‘Aashiqui’ (romantic love) on a high pedestal.

Upper middle class Intellectual circles still stay away from Hindi Movies; though the majority of Indians have grown up being influenced by the concepts of romantic love that they preach.

The beautiful lyrics penned down by both Hindu and Moslem Indian writers have kept the flame of the Sufi concept of ‘Ishq’ burning in the hearts of the Indian youth.

Ishq-e-Majaazi (Allegorical Love)

“chhoo lene do naazuk hothon ko
kuchh aur nahin hai jaam hai ye
qudrat ne jo hamko baksshaa hai
wo sabse haseens inaam hai ye”Singer- Mohd. Rafi, Lyrics-Sahir Ludhianvi, Music-Ravi, Movie Kaajal 1965

Translation: “Let me touch those delicate lips/ It is nothing but wine/ It is God Who has gifted me these/ A big reward”… is an example of one such Bollywood song. In Sufism, the beauty of one’s beloved is considered to be a representation (symbol) of the Perfection of God. No wonder then that it has the power to evoke true love in the heart of a lover! Intoxication i.e. wine, or jaam, is a symbol of divine ecstasy. In the Hindi Film Anwar (2007), the chosen murshid (guide) advises the young protoganist of the movie Anwar, that he has to fall in love in the earthly realm in order to evolve true love for God in his heart. For Sufis believe that only when a person treads on the path of earthly ‘true romantic love’ and suffers in the pain of separation from one’s beloved, can one get in touch with the rend of separation from God Almighty that is suppressed in the heart of every Individual. In many Indian films (the modern story-telling characteristic of a community) when the two lovers cannot unite, they kill themselves. But Sabr (perseverance) on the path of love despite everything, is an important maqam (station) of the Sufi way that leads to tawaqqul (trust in God) i.e. the state of yaqin (certainty)

“Ye ishq nahi aasa, Itna to samajh lejiye… Ek Aag ka dariya hai, aur doob ke jaana hai”

The path of Love is not easy, first understand this. It is a pool of fire, and you need to drown to cross it. When one treads through the fires of earthly/ romantic love i.e. ishq-e-majaazi (Allegorical love), one can get a glimpse of the greater Path leading to God i.e. ishq-e-haqiqi (True Love) We Hindus call Ishq-e-majaazi i.e. True love as “Bhakti”. Hindu-Saint Meera was a perfect example of somebody who was on the path of Ishq-e-haqiqi. This is the beauty of the path of the Spirit, the essence of religion that comes to one after one is on the Path for a long time: This is the path of gnosis (self-experience) which is the same whether it be Moslem or Hindu as exemplified by Meera.

The religions of the world were invented for the less-brave and people who have not started on the Spiritual path. So we find words, treatises, scriptures, religious inquests, historical blunders and plunders, interpretation, and confusion: because all of these belong to the Mind-chatter and the Mind is bound by the limitations of Time, Matter and Space unlike the Spirit. Beyond the words of Religion, lies ‘Faith’ -the realm of the Spirit. This realm (of the Spirit) is the same for a Hindu or a Moslem. Only the path i.e. religion is different.

Scholars, intellectuals, our Politicians, religious fanatics, kings and other saints of the past, needlessly get into a war of words on matters of religion! They lead holy Jihads of words and swords, and interfere in the progress of the common man. While the common man is busy with finding his way towards the realm of Spirit in his religion and has nothing to do with bloodshed All the common man needs is an environment that is congenial to the needs of his earthly survival i.e. roti, kapda and makan (food, clothing and shelter) so that he can also look out for the needs of his soul: the spiritual manna. People who are die-hard Intellectuals, terrorists and Kings do great injustice to the common man by disturbing the peace of the Land.

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I, for one, fell in love with the beauty I found in my beloved. I know it was true love because I experienced the pain of love for the first time in my life. Many people are afraid of this aspect of love i.e. Pain. So they either escape into intellectual mind-chatter i.e. mental mast****tion (mental self-appeasement), or fall prey to hatred and violence when they get all entangled in relentless mind-pursuits all the time afraid to face the pain of separation (with God) in one’s heart.

These are the lost sheep of the Lord’s herd. One can only pray for them, and at best forgive them if one can, for one’s own peace of mind and spiritual-progress. Personally, coming to terms with the pain of unreciprocated love and separation, I fell through a trap-door onto the Path of God.

I did not know anything about the first-hand direct experience of the ‘Path of God’ until I learnt of the Islamic/Sufi concept of love and reconciled with the pain in my heart. Then I set out in search of a murshid i.e. guide (we call such a person a Guru in Hinduism).

I am fortunate that I found a Guru. To this day I walk “not by sight but by Faith”
Islam/Sufism helped me regain my own path and Faith i.e. Hinduism.

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Ishq-e-Haqiqi (True Love) True Believers (Hindu or Muslim) and true lovers of God have no time for Religious Inquests or spreading of hatred in the name of religion. They are too busy nursing the pain of Love in their own hearts for their Beloved (God). We Hindus believe that Bhakti (i.e. true love for God) cannot be cultivated in oneself without the Grace of God Himself. So I have no hate for people who chatter over religion and spread hatred based on the Past because of their own lack of direct first hand experience with the realm of one’s Spirit. They don’t know the essence of their own religion, and are too stuck in words words and words, facts and figures, history and injustice (the realm of the Mind). They are too scared of what they would find if they looked within: the pain of love and separation.

Peace

Read on for quotes by Sufi Saints:

1.      “All that is left
to us by tradition
is mere words.

It is up to us
to find out what they mean.”

The above are the words of a Sufi poet Muhammed Ibn ‘Ali Ibn ‘Arabi (1165 - 1240 AD)

1. O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
   My heart has become capable of every form:
   it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
   and a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s Kaa’ba,
   and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
   I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love’s camels take,
   that is my religion and my faith.
2. All that is left
   to us by tradition
   is mere words. It is up to us
   to find out what they mean.
3. Were it not for
   the excess of your talking
   and the turmoil in your hearts,
   you would see what I see
   and hear what I hear! 
4. When my Beloved appears, With what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, For none sees Him except Himself.

(This article written by Golden Boy was first published at www.desicritics.org under the title Media - Praise Only After Death)

Now that Dr.YSR Reddy has passed away, every TV news channel has decided to focus on his life story. We will now be told by the media, his relatives, and other politicians (of even the opposition parties) of how he struggled his way up the ladder of success in his lifetime, accomplished outstanding feats for the common man etc However all this would now be done, posthumously.

Till yesterday I, a common man in Mumbai, did not know much about this Personality. Now that he is dead, the Media - TV and Newspapers, and people who knew him will see to it that I read or hear about him, as they would sing kirtans and of him.

Suddenly, an entire day of a Country will be dedicated to him, schools and colleges will remain closed in different States and flags will fly half-mast.

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In India, we celebrate the goodness of a person only after his death!

Dr.YSR Reddy achieved in his death all the airtime-coverage that in his lifetime he could never have even dreamt of.

Why do we get to hear of a person’s accomplishments and good words about him, only after his death?

The Media gives coverage to a Politician, a bureaucrat or a police officer only when it is time to point an accusing finger at the person.

No wonder then that we have no ‘Ideal’ in the Political circles for our kids.

What we hear from the Media is NEWS of Corruption, rape, violence, treachery, scandals! Acts of piousness and virtue are either looked upon with suspicion if given coverage, or do not receive coverage at all.

These are the signs of a growingly suspicious attitude in our Society.

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Turn on any TV NEWS channel in the morning and chances are that you will feel sick in the stomach with the kind of negative NEWS that is served these days!

Yoga instructors advice us not to start the day by reading Newspapers or by tuning in to the TV NEWS channels early morning. For if you do, you will be served with a picture of the world that is gory, of people who are out there to get you!

We as a Society are becoming so intellectualized and so utterly disconnected with our hearts that we can no longer view anyone or anything without suspicion.

We need the Media: the Newspapers, blogs, writers, and newsreaders to reinforce on our minds time and again how bad are the people and the politicians, communities and their history, the streets or some country.

Kids grow up in this hostile environment digesting all the negativity, telling themselves that everything is a mess. They either turn into a rebel or turn totally selfish with no thought for the other and no love for one’s neighbour, in an over competitive world where “everyone and everything is so BAD”

No wonder then that modern diseases like Diabetes, hypertension, skin-diseases, cancer, heart diseases, and mental disorders are all stress-related diseases. We have lost sight of the world as a beautiful place.

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In all this if one were to ask objectively what keeps this Fear and Suspicion alive amidst ourselves, we will see how all the Negative conditioning of our minds via the Media, have led us into an in-bred distrust of other people and the society; we will see how suspicion has become a tool for us to keep ourselves on our toes all the time in a “ big bad world”. We would rather trust a bad opinion about somebody, some community or somebody’s history than trusting a good opinion. Fear breeds fear, and makes us feel well-prepared.

The Solution: 

I believe that there are many instances of generosity, heroism, humanity and love from the past and the present that never finds its way into the NEWS bulletins. If these were to be a given a fair amount of coverage, that in itself will be a great triumph for humanity and a revolution in our attitude as a people.

There are many NEWS out there that can nourish the hearts and minds of the new generation, heal the scars from the minds of the old generation and bring out the goodness that still remains in the world.

In balancing between the Positive and the Negative, the Nourishing and the Dejecting, can true Journalism really serve (and perhaps save) society!

There are many good books on Kundalini. I quote from what I have read or heard from my Gurus.

Our Body is actually the Physical sheath, called Annamayi kosha.. Anna means grain or food.. it is made from the food we eat.

Ayurveda explains how the food is then broken down into bones, flesh, blood, marrow, etc.. in stages..

But there is more to the body. We also have the Manamayi Kosha which is another body that covers our physical body, and Bhutamayi Kosha which is the uppermost sheath… They are akin to energy body; something on the lines of Aura..

Our Bhutamayi Kosha holds karmas - anubandhanas, from this and previous lives that is to fructify sooner or later.

The Manamayi Kosha holds our emotions and attitudes!

Now to keep all the three bodies in perfect order there are the 5 pranas (life-force) in the body. For e.g. Paana takes care of inhalation etc, Apaan takes care of excretion and reproduction etc..

Also there are Seven Energy Centers in the Body (I have attached a pic for the locations)

1.Root Chakra i.e. the Moolaadhaara chakra(Lord Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of this Center)

2.Sexual Chakra (sacral Chakra)

3.Solar Plexus (Swadhisthanna)

4.Heart Chakra (hrydaya)

5.Throat Chakra (vissudhi)

6.Third Eye Chakra (between the brows: Aangya)

7.Crown Chakra (Sahasrara chakra)

Apart from the Energy from food, we also get energy from the Universal Energy known as chi or ki in other languages. (In Reiki we make use of this) We Indians call it Shakti.

If for any reason e.g. by disturbed thoughts, or due to some problem if any of our Chakra is affected (& they usually are), there is an energy imbalance in the body.

We also have Nadis in the body: Sushumna, Ida and Pingala nadis. Nadis are channels for the flow of Energy in the body.

My understanding of Kundalini is this: Kundalini is the dormant energy that lies asleep in one’s Moolaadhaara chakra. Hindus call it the Goddess Shakti.

With Saadhana (i.e. practice under the guidance of a true Guru only), this dormant energy is slowly and gradually awakened.

Saadhana is differently prescribed by different Gurus and Gurukulas and schools of thought…. It can be mantra, visualization, meditation etc.

There are also traditions wherein the Guru bestows his grace to the Disciple at the beginning of the Guru Student relationship, i.e. at the start of the Spiritual practice through Deeksha (initiation into the Tradition of the Kula) in the form of Shaktipaat (transfer of Energy) or giving some secret mantra to the disciple.

With further progress in one’s Sadhana (spiritual practice) which may take a whole lifetime or lifetimes, the dormant energy travels through the Channel: from Chakra to chakra rising higher towards the Crown Chakra. When that happens, a person becomes enlightened. He gets all his answers about Life, our existence, the past, future etc. He may then choose to become a Guru perhaps, but he has still to be a Karma yogi i.e. he goes through his usual life.

Here there is a line of caution: the Sadhana has to be done only under the supervision of a True guru. There are many problems that one encounters on the way as Kundalini progresses and only a Guru who has himself awakened his Kundalini and is efficient, can help you through these problems. There have been cases wherein people have done Sadhanas from books without a Guru and have ended up in Mental-asylums or Psychiatric-wards! Also there are Siddhis (power to work miracles or karaamats) that comes along the way but these are to be ignored by sincere students or they may end up getting entangled further in Karmas.

Yoga

There are 8 parts to Yoga of Patanjali, the great seer who wrote the Masterpiece on Yoga called the Yogasutras… This comprehensive Yoga is called Ashtanga Yoga.

There are guidelines called Yama and Niyama, which form the first two parts of Yoga which one vows to practise before one takes the other parts of the Ashtanga Yoga one by one.. Sivananda Yoga and Satyananda Yoga (of the Bihar School of Yoga – where my Guru belongs to), necessitate that even before the Yama and Niyama, the student should go through Shrama (physical labour) in the Ashram atleast for four months even as he takes up Yoga.

The third limb of Ashtanga Yoga are the Aasanas, like Sukhaasana, Garudasana etc… which develops flexibility of the body to make it a proper vessel for future Sadhana. In modern times we use it also for physical well-being. The Yoga Institute of Mumbai says that Power Yoga is not Yoga and Bihar School of Yoga agrees!

The fourth step ahead is Pranayama. This purifies the Nadis… Even these are to be done under strict supervision starting from simple pranayamas and then one should proceed gradually to the difficult ones. Baba Ramdev’s Pranayama shown on TV should be done, according to my humble opinion, much later after having practised the simple Pranayamas over a period of time.

Beyond these, any decent Yoga teacher or Institute would want you to be patient before you learn about the remaining four limbs of Yoga.

These are:

• Pratyahara – abstraction of the senses, withdrawal of the senses of perception from their objects
• Dharana – concentration, one-pointedness of mind
• Dhyana – meditation (quiet activity that leads to samadhi)
• Samādhi – the quiet state of blissful awareness, superconscious state.

(Source: Wikipedia)

My Yoga teacher at the Yoga Institute in Mumbai warned that Pratyahara was the bridge between the material world and the world of Renunciation… Once a person crosses this bridge, there is no coming back. He loses interest in the material world.

Almost 99% of the students then did not want to learn anything about the remaining four limbs of Yoga

Yoga is a Special science, and is the heritage of India.

-Golden Boy

1. O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
   My heart has become capable of every form:
   it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
   and a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s Kaa’ba,
   and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
   I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love’s camels take,
   that is my religion and my faith.
2. All that is left
   to us by tradition
   is mere words. It is up to us
   to find out what they mean.

    

3. Were it not for
   the excess of your talking
   and the turmoil in your hearts,
   you would see what I see
   and hear what I hear! 

4. When my Beloved appears, With what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, For none sees Him except Himself.  

5. Rabia of Bashra, as she told of her journey to Mecca: -“I see only bricks and a house of stone;
   What do they profit me?
   ‘Tis Thou that I want.”