Show me your friends and I will show you your future: Power of Gunas (Material modes of nature)
Show me your desires and I will show you your destination: Power of Sankalp (intentions)
Show me your karmas and I'll show you your reincarnation: Power of Rinanubandhan (karmic debt)
When we worship "God" in Bhakti Yog, there is no need for shame or embarrassment.
We are surrendering to the supreme, purified, upgraded version of our current self. We are choosing perfection over mediocrity, what we were once and what we are to become once again.. eventually.
The more we identify with this body, the more pain and suffering we will undertake.
Yajna, Daan and Tap overcome this identification.
Most powerful is Dhyana.
One who is not afraid of boredom or loneliness is only suited for Dhyana.
News channels need to broadcast real unbiased data, not their elite panel opinion. We the people are fully capable of forming our opinions.
Give us news, not your views.
If we cannot even find few minutes of time everyday to assess our attitude/conduct/behavior in silence/solitude, few minutes to let the desirer talk to the witnesser we are preparing poorly for consciousness to stay happy after it has given up the body. Let them talk regularly.
Our relationship with God should not focus on fear and guilt. Rather we should base it on admiration and envy for his impeccable ability in creating a masterpiece like us. Give credit where it is due.
Less you expect, more the universe surprises you
More you expect, more you suffer
Ego prefers desire over satiation of desire
Maya ensures desire cycle keeps peddling
Desire begets more intense desires or different desires
Satiate desire -> boredom
Unfulfilled desire -> Suffering
Ekadashi fasting awakens our power of Pratyahara.
Eat one meal a day. Celebrate food, create a ritual around your meal. Praying, looking at food, slowly chewing, no screen time, no talking. Relish slowly.
Eating 3 meals a day, we take food for granted.
Be a giver, not a glutton
There are 3 kinds of people in this world:
1. Who only learn from their own mistakes, using them as experiences
2. Who also learn from other people's mistakes, using them as examples
3. Who never learn no matter what number of experiences or examples they cross
Lust and hunger are two of strongest Samskaras every biological being grapples with. As spiritual aspirants it is important we let it remain Samskaras (subconscious proclivity) and not turn them into Vritti (conscious contemplation). Answer them like you would the urge to pee.
Breath connects voluntary to autonomic nervous system. To gain control over involuntary start controlling the voluntary.
Practice holding breath periodically/repeatedly multiple times a day, so much so that breath holding Kumbhak becomes as effortless/natural as breathing itself.
Patience, courage and austerity help you grow.
Boredom, security and pleasures help you decay.
Good thing is everyday we get to choose who we want to hang out with:
Company of our friend or company of an enemy.
Rich is the man who has prepared well for his time of death by regret minimization.
In living life fully, we prepare for death.
Not in the mad pursuit of paying 30 year house mortgage, not in earning fame and wealth because these create regrets of commission.
Astrology is not a pseudo science. It is a science that most have not studied deep enough to understand.
A lot of things are abstruse/difficult to understand: Internet, block chain, time dilation, theory of relativity.
That has not impeded mankind from harnessing its benefits.
When a spiritual "guru" makes daily Youtube videos, makes extensive worldwide tours, is found more readily available to elite people than ordinary or is selling online courses to enlighten you, run away.
You have to work hard to find a real yogi, fake ones are readily available.
Goal of Prtyahara (austerities) is to reduce desires to residual cravings; the strong conscious temptations sink into weak subconscious fleeting Samskaras which will gradually erode away. We should die with less desires than we had when we were born. Cut back clutter!
Buddha/Mahavira/Neem Karoli Baba left wife and child, Ramana left his mother to lead an ascetic life in search of truth.
All did deep contemplative Dhyana for several years before becoming enlightened.
Leaving family shows intention to find truth was stronger than attachment.
For a spiritual seeker, first step involves avoiding distractions ie. things not to do: Each of these objects/activities tends to waste your time while you are actively seeking a way out of roadblocks of life.
A lot of distractions are overcome by avoiding wrong goals/company.
A woman is the embodiment of Prana/Shakti: Rhythmicity, Frequency and Vibration bringing unmanifest (embroyo) into manifestation (babies).
She has a lot of tolerance, doesn't mean you should test it everyday.
If the dam breaks, everyone drowns.
Irony of Time, Health and Wealth in Human Life Cycle:
1. In Childhood: Have Health and Time buy no Wealth
2. In Adulthood: Have Wealth and Health but no Time
3. In Old age: Have Wealth and Time but no Health
Since real joy is Health and Time and not wealth, kids are happiest.
Mind needs Dhyana like computer needs Antivirus software, because in both cases you want to protect the Memory Files from getting infected/corrupted by Malwares!
The subconscious is a repository of all interactions between senses and their complementary objects whether those interactions were by feee choice, imposition or by default. That is why our thoughts appear incoherent or wild sometimes.
Thinner than air, subtler than ether, our consciousness is present everywhere and it pervades everything. Yet, Maya manages to convert the witnesser into enjoyer to trap in biological bodies to fulfill desires in a never ending cycle called Life. What was sublime now sediments.
Confidence is belief that does not seek external validation. When what others think of you matters little you, are no longer incarcerated by the wisdom of the herd. You are free, you matter most.
Whatever we are absorbed in day in and day out in this life, is where we will end up in afterlife, when our daylight goes off.
Sugar, Sex or Shiva: the choice is ours.
Save your daylight, revel in His delight.
You might "fall" in love with a human, but you will only "rise" in love with the lord.
Bhakti is loving the highest, unadulterated impartial version of you, within you.
पुरुष: प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुङक्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान् |
कारणं गुणसङ्गोऽस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु ||BG 13.22||
Desire to experience Gunas leads to birth in superior and inferior species. Desire springs from boredom in soul. Boredom is the enemy of the soul.
Money and status is what we work for most of our lives, yet this is not carried forward after death.
As we grow older we need to focus on things that go in our savings for next life (kindness, humility, charity) rather than accumulating more of the same things that dont matter.
Just like you cannot suddenly start bench pressing 300 pounds when you are out of shape, you cannot sit to meditate and enlighten immediately. You build up to it and wait for divine grace. You start with fasting, then chanting, then reciting mantras, and then enter solitude.
Speaking less and listening more are great virtues for one aspiring to achieve greatness in professional and spiritual life. You create self scarcity and raise public demand.
When you do say something, what you say matters more. People listen with respect.
Go Vipassana!
Watching your thoughts so that they do not deteriorate into addictive desires or superiority ego is tiring but rewarding work.
Just like Parmatma monitors Atman, the intellect needs to monitor the mind.
Mastery over mental realm precedes perfection in vocal and physical realm.
Real food has high Prana (healing properties). Increase Chitta (consciousness). Real food is fruits and vegetables. Shelf life is less than 24 hours. Fake foods are processed to have high shelf life but are killing us slowly. They kill both our Chitta and Prana.
Dreams represent subconsious past samskaras that have not fructified.
It is just one way of cleaning up past Karmas.
The more one dreams the more their past Samskaras.
In path of Triyog (Bhakti/Karm/Dhyan) dreams die as Triyog is a more efficient path of burning Karma Bandhan.
यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् |
तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावित: ||
Bhagwad Gita || 8.6||
What you desire/resent all your life is what enters your thought at time of death.
You yourself become the content of this predominant contemplation in your next life.
Keep chanting/playing Hanuman Chalisa in the background all day everyday, till those loops start playing repeatedly in the back of your mind spontaneously and effortlessly even when music is not on. You are a Sadhak.
Don't surrender to petty emotions, don't let them derail you.
If someone repeatedly annoys, agitates, frustrates or upsets you, don’t take the bait and engage in heated arguments with them. Don’t trade your peace of mind for these meaningless arguments that create more regrets and resentments. We all need to grow more, forgive more.
Bhakti yog is easiest of the three Yog.
Bhakti allows you to be reckless and irresponsible in love.
Surrender, sit back and enjoy the music of chanting.
Any music, any mantra, any lyric will do.
In Bhakti, Bhaav (Emotion) is more important than the lyric and rhythm.
To make intellect focussed in meditation we have make sure the lower compositions namely body, senses and mind are at peace.
If there are diseases in body, cravings in senses or temptation/thought/emotion storm in mind, then the mind cannot even do Kumbhak, let alone Dhyan.
If you are still getting annoyed at coworkers and family members all the time, constantly thinking about what you should have said or done during heated conversations, you have plethora of emotions that need to be neutralised. Increase Kumbhak in Bramhamuhurat. Increase chanting.
Pure 5 Mahabhuts create purest 5 sense perceptions:
Smell of Earth
Taste of Water
Vision of Fire
Touch of Air
Sound of Silence
These Satvic pleasures are free of Tamasic addictions.
Always keep a picture of Manikarnika Ghat funeral pyre close to you.
Whenever you are consumed by vices of pleasure and desire (such as lust, anger, greed) it will extinguish it immediately, reminding you of the death of ego.
When sun burns, candles are put out of commission.
One easy and effortless way of purifying Mind is using power of chanting.
Even if you are unable to memorize/recite Mantras, just let them play for several hours on Youtube/ITunes in your work/home environment.
You will notice your thoughts/speech/actions cleanse spontaneously.
Unlearning is way harder than learning. That is why Samskaras of the past often over ride the Sankalp of the present. That is why starting addictions is easy but ending addictions is extremely difficult.
A true observer cannot desire, cannot identify with the observations.
If you don't desire, you cannot suffer.
Rules of Maya do not apply to you.
Uninterrupted peace pervades your consciousness.
Peace of mind (POM) is our most prized possession.
Not wealth, anger, greed, excitement, anxiety, expectation, attention, validation.
Any of the above can rob it especially when POM is new/gradually forming. Once it settles and cements no emotion can waver it. Shiva has set in.
Gita tells us Atman (Soul) is superior to Buddhi
(Intellect). Soul is impartial observer of unfolding activities (no ego). Buddhi is the implementor of Dharma, deciding between right and wrong as those activities unfold.
We gain more wisdom from observing than pontificating.
Vata Dosha and seasonal viruses can be counteracted by Steam inhalation and exposure to help overcome seasonal/perennial allergies and inflammation.
Fasting and Kumbhak destroy all Doshas.
Man proclaims to be a social animal, having tribal instincts, living in communities, trusting his friends and families. Yet, death ensures his exit is extremely personalized and individual. Start loving solitude before it devours you. All good things take time to be realized.
The strength of an addiction is directly proportional to the frequency of exposure/involvement. Any reduction in the frequency overtime leads to eventual eradication. Until then keep fighting the Samskaras.
Reserve few hours every week to spend time all by yourself, preferably out in nature.
Evaluate/Remind yourself the real purpose of your existence.
Otherwise you will grow old being "pseudo busy" all day pleasing people who don't matter, doing mundane things that erode awareness.
Don't try to control your spouse, kids or friends. Instead control your breath in Kumbhak: slow influx of air followed by long retention and slow exhalation. The more they annoy you the longer you practice Kumbhak. You could be the Siddhartha slowly turning into Buddha.
I am never afraid of being alone because I am never alone. Halo of Hanuman follows me wherever I go.
Hard to find a better company.
Halo may fade/intensify depending upon my Karma/Sadhna, but it never gives up on me.
Grace always keeps an eye on me like a mother on her toddler.
When we don’t exercise power of Sankalp aka free will, we let the karmic algorithms determine and dictate the blueprint of our life which we call destiny. Intention/freewill helps you rewrite the algos. Destiny is set in stone until it is not. Don’t pass on this opportunity.
When we yearn for Food/Sex/Money we remain beggars.
When we yearn for the unmanifest identity/awareness/wisdom we become seekers.
We have remained beggars all our lives, try becoming seekers for a change.
The day we realize the most valuable asset we have is time (not money) is the day all miseries of our mind will vanish.
Chasing money at expense of time is insulting the gift of biological life.
Atman had come in world of Prana to witness and enjoy, not to hoard paper money.
No matter how busy you are set your smart phones to beep alarm at dawn and dusk.
When alarm goes off, move to a secluded room and do Dhyana and Kumbhak Kriya for 5 minutes.
Checkin with your intellect/soul to reflect on last 12 hours and to keep track of your long term goals.
Dopamine is an excitatory molecule, excitation cannot be persistent. If you run on dopamine, you cannot run very far. Excitement is transient, peace is persistent.
Shiva to Jiva: Hey Atman, No harm in experiencing Prana. No harm in incarnating in the world of Prakriti to experience vibrancy and transformation.
Harm lies in getting so engrossed/engaged in illusory Maya that you forget your true identity and think yourself to be Prana.
Am = Identity (Ego)
Want = Desire (Mind)
Thing =Object of desire (Senses)
"I am nothing" destroys Ego identification.
"I want nothing" destroys excess mental and sensual pursuits.
Has it ever occurred to you: "What if I am already enlightened and not aware about it"?
Rest assured, you are not alone.
Just like drinking and driving don't mix, ignorance and awareness do not mix.
When enlightenment happens all doubts, questions and speculation cease to exist.
Hanuman is my dagger, Hanuman is my shield.
When in doubt ask: What Would Hanuman Do?
Model, Mirror and Match Hanuman every day in and out till you Merge in Hanuman one day.
Your belief is what you eventually become.
Combine the heaviest with the lightest Mahabhut to get profound effects in your Sadhana: Power of chanting with intermittent fasting.
Ether gives rise to sound. Earth gives rise to food. Invoke your Ishtadev while curtailing food and watch tears rolls down your eyes. You win!
The world would be a much better place if love replaced sex universally.
Love is generous, giving and forgiving.
Sex is selfish, extracting, manipulating, instant gratification.
Asking one engrossed in frequent sex to increase awareness is like asking maneater lion to eat grass.
Ego is dynamic Rajas.
It keeps moving down/devolving or up/evolving through our Chakras all the time.
Use Tri-Yog and Panch-Pratyahara to evolve your Ego to elevate and perpetually lock it at the upper Chakras: Anahad/Vishuddha/Ajna.
Lock it, don't let it leak to lower Chakras
Some of us have realized through conscious and subconscious struggles/sufferings, that a trip with flamboyant Prana while a fun rollercoaster ride is not worth it, given all the downturns and distress.
When we say no to further engagements with Samsara, we are ready for Shiva!
Resting heart rate is a good indicator of our anxiety levels whether we are aware or unaware of our baseline anxiety.
Yogis (like Yogananda Paramhansa) were able to lower their heart rate very low. Similarly athletes have resting bradycardia.
Both Yog and Exercise kill anxiety.
Most of us will run out of time to do things we look forward to, things we enjoy and goals we set for us.
Most of us will still have money in our bank deposits when we leave the world, probably more than we do today, yet everyday we have one less day than we had the day before.
Sex can be a lot of things. Sex can be alluring, boring, demanding, disrupting, controlling, consuming, condescending, compelling, craving, complicating, attention seeking, attention giving, succumbing, exhilarating. However sex is not liberating, awakening or enlightening.
Why are people with laser focus purpose extremely successful, happy and peaceful?
Purpose obliterates distractions, temptations and unnecessary choices they would be making otherwise in their idle time.
When there is no idle time, there is not much harm you can do to yourself.
We might fail at extinguishing existing desires this lifetime. We might still generate new desires again in this lifetime.
At the very least, we know the consequences of desires and how they block Nirvana.
Identifying and accepting your weakness is first step in overcoming it.
When I go to Shiva and he doesn’t listen, I go to Hanuman. When Hanuman doesn’t answer, I go Krishna. When Krishna doesn’t care, I go to Saraswati. When Saraswati ignores me, I cycle back to Shiva. I have nowhere else to Hide. If my Bhaav dies am I even alive?
Behave like ordinary people, and you get ordinary results.
Whether intellectual, financial or spiritual pursuits, the stoic leader always behaves 2 standard deviations above the mean (crowd).
Crowds normalise insanity but standard behavior determines integrity.
Be the standard.
When you habitually follow compulsive patters day after day, without questioning the meaning of life you become part of Prakriti.
When you deeply ruminate and interrogate this organized madness of the crowds following rules of Prakriti without questioning, you become Purusha.
You will value something in life when:
1. You never had it but always wanted it.
2. You had it but then you lost it.
2 is more painful than 1.
Gratitude is the virtue to value something while you have it.
Your gratitude is your armor against your arrogance.
Truth does not care about consensus opinion of the majority.
Siddhartha thought the world was crazy for bearing miseries/suffering all their life.
The World thought Siddhartha was crazy for abandoning his kingdom and family.
Then Siddhartha became Buddha, the Enlightened one.
Death does not terrify me..
I have been there before even if conscious mind does not remember it.
Not living life to the fullest terrifies/embarrasses me more.
I will have no answer to tell my Dad why I wasted this beauty he gifted me:
To see my soul in the mirror of the mind..
When you desire nothing,
When you regret nothing,
When you are neither flattered nor bewildered by success,
When you are neither insulted nor offended by failures,
When Purusha in you is larger than what Prakriti can contain,
Time for this Purusha to submerge in Parmatma is near!
Confession:
I am guilty of abusing power of Hanuman Chalisa (HC) on a daily basis.
At home, at work, during runs, I play various versions of HC, even when not feeling deeply devotional.
Hanuman still bails me out of trouble, every single time, even if I am being a slacker.
Don't fight your greatness, you cannot overcome it.
You cannot contain the container.
Talent is the content, greatness is the container, both are expanding like the infinite entropy of this universe.
If you think you can put a lid to this container you are fooling yourself.
OK to be NOT NORMAL, but be the STANDARD.
If 90% of people commit cruelty/corruption/crimes that may be normal for that society.
However, this behavior is not the standard for human society.
You might be alone, but not lonely.
You are in company of Shiva, be a one man army.
Peace is goal of life, not happiness.
Happiness is by product of a life lived with contentment and peace.
A shallow pot fills to contentment with lesser water than a whirlpool which keeps sucking in everything around it.
Peace is practicing Dharma, not inflaming fiery Artha/Kama.
I am not asking you to not enjoy life, to not do things which are exciting and emotional.
Just asking you to divert these activities to sync with ways to link to your Ishta Dev in Bhakti.
Think of Ista Dev when singing a love song, eating healthy food and chatting with friends.
Old age is a brutal reminder that perfect functioning of the five senses in youth should not be taken for granted. Reciprocate gratitude for nature’s generosity: the gift of life.
Intermittent fasting is a gentle reminder that Purusha living in Prakriti can still control it. Our attachment to food can be overcome by the free will of consciousness to be free of dependency to what it enjoys.
The lesser the brain clutter, the more free is that individual. Slowly those "remaining thoughts" need to be converted into actionable intentions. Intentions then need to be exercised as Nishkama Karma.
Now Nirvana awaits you!
Dopamine never made anyone live happily ever after, it did create compulsive, habitual patterned behaviors which enslave the free mind that was living peacefully otherwise.
Compulsions are a report card of our past desires.
Excitement is the enemy of Peace.
Desire is enemy of Liberation.
Boredom is enemy of the Senses, Mind and Soul.
Ego is enemy of the Intellect.
Excitement leads to addiction. Be careful of what cannot be sustained.
I don’t have instagram because I am already a beautiful person. I don’t need someone’s validation or approval to reinforce my view of myself. Nor do I need reminders of their attachments.I don’t seek attention, and definitely not giving mine.
Goal in life it to be joyful by chasing peace, not excitement. It is possible to remain peaceful 90% of the time by choosing your environment/company.
It is not possible to remain excited 90% of the time no matter who you marry or where you live.
Excitement decays, peace stays.