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Balance Your Energies

By Nithyananda Times -
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The ancient sages and rishis of India understood that all of creation is essentially energy. Furthermore, they understood that this energy can take on different forms. One being the intellect. As a driving force in this world, the intellect can be a powerful tool. In the same manner, sex, also an energy, can be used for creation. However, many times it may feel that these two energies are at war with each other. We desire something, yet our intellect, or mind, tells us we should not have it. The ancient yogis understood that essentially, these conflicts arise out of a simple imbalance in energies. If too much of our energy is centered around sex, then our intellect suffers, and likewise, if we are too intellectual, then we become almost stale, lifeless beings.

The rishis not only understood this, but provided a solution as well, which was rooted in ancient sciences. According to yoga, a human being’s spine is like three hollow tubes, within which life energy flows. In Sanskrit, these tubes, or channels, are known as nadis. The nadis are not visible to the naked eye because they exist not in the physical body, but in the more esoteric, subtle body which may be influenced through meditation or yoga. The ancient science dictates that the energy flow within the nadis will directly affect a person’s mental, emotional, and higher spiritual states. Depending on which way the energy may be flowing at any one time, a person may be centered in the intellect or in the sexual center at the root of the spine, or even a combination of the two. An intellect-centered person will naturally be dry and rooted completely in logic. This energy, ultimately culminating in the head, flows through the ida nadi, located on the left of the center nadi (middle tube). In contrast, a sex-centered person might be materialistic, centered around desires and fantasies. This sex energy travels through the pingala nadi, located on the right of the center nadi, downwards towards the base of the spine.

With the right guidance, however, the energy flow may be “redirected” to the center, or sushumna nadi. When this happens, a person will no longer be affected by these two energy states, as they have transcended them.

If this redirection in energy happens, the energy will reach the crown center at the top of the head. Not only is this essential for balancing out the energy from the ida and pingala nadis, but, more importantly, activation of the sushumna nadi is associated with higher cognitive functions and spiritual awakening.

The human body can be compared to an instrument, and like any instrument, it works best when used properly. The vedic rishis created manuals on how to use this instrument to its full potential through yoga and meditation. By this meditation, one can transcend the first two nadis and awaken the center nadi, ultimately leading to a flowering of a higher spiritual consciousness.

The steps are as follows:

  • Before doing anything, first mentally scan the spine in order to visualize it easily during the meditation.
  • Sit straight and close your eyes.
  • With spine erect, visualize it (the spine) as a lotus thread; a small, thin, thread of light that travels from the base of the spinal cord all the way to the top of the head.
  • Keep your attention on this thread of light. Visualize the energy flowing from the root center all the way to the crown. What you are visualizing is the sushumna nadi, or center nadi. Let your whole awareness be on this nadi.
  • Do this for 21 minutes a day for at least 10 days. After 10 or 11 days the center nadi will be activated and the energy flow within all three nadis will be balanced.

This leads to awakening of intelligence, energy, and makes experiencing the ultimate possible.

Taken From Nithyananda’s Shiva Sutra Talks

NewGen Kriya for Emotional Stability

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The NewgeN Kriya is for bringing clarity and emotional stability to the youth. This kriya has been formulated by Nithyananda to remove the hormonal effects in the youth, which cause confusion and stress in them. The kriya has deep effects on the body, on the physical aspect of the problem of confusion, rather than the mental aspect. The mind and body are very closely related. When body fluids are not correctly balanced in the body, the mind cannot think rationally and is in utter confusion, which often leads one towards depression.

Kriyas given by Nithyananda work on the very energy circuits in our body which alter and heal the way the body functions. This kriya, given especially for youth, gives them clarity, making them expand consciously and experience the beauty of life.

INSTRUCTIONS

Steps to be followed:
1. Sit in Padmasana or Vajrasana

2. Nadi Shodhana
(Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Upadesha 2, Verses 7-9)

  • Use the thumbs of each hand to control the corresponding nostril (do not lock the hands together)
  • Inhale through the LEFT nostril
  • Exhale through the RIGHT nostril
  • Then inhale through the RIGHT nostril and exhale through the LEFT nostril
  • Do this for 3 minutes

3. Trishoola Kumbhaka
(Kumbhaka Paddhathi, Verse 193)

  • Inhale through both the nostrils and the mouth simultaneously
  • Hold as long as you can
  • When you cannot hold anymore, exhale as slowly as you can
  • Continue this for 7 minutes

4. Trinetra Kumbhaka
(Kumbhaka Paddhathi, Verse 192)

  • Inhale through the LEFT nostril
  • Hold your breath as long as you can
  • Then without exhalation, inhale through the RIGHT nostril
  • Hold your breath as long as you can
  • Again, without exhalation, inhale through BOTH the nostrils and hold as long as you can
  • Then slowly exhale through the LEFT nostril
  • Do this for 7 minutes continuously

Once 7 minutes are over, relax and just sit silently for a few minutes

DISCLAIMER: This technique is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical diagnosis or treatment. Individuals with any type of medical condition, the elderly, children below 14, women who are pregnant or suspect they may be pregnant are advised to seek professional medical advice before practicing this technique. Viewers who are not on two-way video conferencing are cautioned that they are practicing these techniques at their own risk.

How to Forget an Ex-Boyfriend?

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Q: “How to forget ex-boyfriend?”

I tell you, unless you realize the man within, you cannot forget your ex-boyfriend. Means, unless you experience the completion inside, you can not forget him. Please understand, each man carries certain feminine principles and energy inside and each woman carries certain masculine principles and energy inside. Only when the energies are met and merged, fulfillment happens. Only then you can forget your x, y chromosomes and relax in z. Z means Zen. Till then the more you try to forget, the more you will remember.

Understand, in the world there may be 3.5 billion men and 2.5 billion youth, but till you find the man inside, changing the man externally is not going to give the solution. Changing external men or women and trying to find a solution is a Western method. Once in 3 months if you don’t change either car, house, or husband, you are not updated. How long can this go on?

I tell you, look in, go to the root of the fantasy. Unless you correct the fantasy and accept the real person in your life, you are never going to settle down. As long as the fantasy is there as it is, no matter how many persons you may change – once in 3 months, once in a month or once a week, you will not experience peace. You will only have ex’s, that’s all.

Taken from the NewgeN Webinar by Nithyananda delivered on 8th April, 2012 in Bidadi Ashram, Bangalore, India

Don’t Connect the Thoughts

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The process I am offering to you to find answers for the basic questions of life is unclutching. This word does not exist in the Oxford dictionary; it is my contribution to the English language. Unclutching is the ultimate spiritual truth. The process of unclutching can directly upgrade your consciousness, raise your inner space. When you raise your inner space you become more authentic, healthier, wealthier, intelligent, and a leader.

It is important to understand these three words in order to catch the truth of unclutching: Clutching, disclutching, and unclutching. Clutching means holding, getting attached. Disclutching means breaking, completely getting disconnected, and unclutching means moving back to clutching only when it is needed.

You are continuously clutched to your body, mind, and emotions with so many things. You clutch yourself with thousands of ideas created by your mind. You are clutched with your own idea of joy, pain, pleasure. If you practice unclutching sincerely in a very small level it will bring so much awakening to you.

When a thought rises in you, relax from it without supporting it, encouraging it, entertaining it or being entertained by it. If you start relaxing from your rising thoughts, you will experience freedom from the identity you have created. Experiencing this freedom means healing thousands of wounds you carry inside, millions of possibilities of pain and suffering inside you.

You are constantly creating shafts of thoughts of pain, joy, pleasure in your inner space. The center of each block is an independent thought. They are made of different combinations of pain, joy and pleasure. By putting all these blocks together you create a shaft. You can name that shaft as mind, ego, or identity. But unfortunately you don’t have the awareness to look at your mind as it is. Buddha says beautifully that original mind is Nirvana! Mind as it happens is already unclutched. But unfortunately you pick up from independent thoughts and create your own short view about yourself and a very narrow idea about life. You don’t look at your mind and your life as it is happening.

You try to believe that your whole life was either pain or joy. One of the biggest achievements I feel very happy and proud of is that whenever I look back at my past, I don’t have any idea about it. I neither feel it was joyful, nor I feel it was painful. I have no feeling at all. I do not feel my past as a chain of joy or pain; I just know my future is also free just like my past. But unfortunately, every human being tries to develop an idea about their past as pain or pleasure. When you tell all your stories, you continuously connect the pain memories, pain thoughts and feel your life as a pain.

One of the biggest dangers in life is when you believe something and repeat it constantly, it becomes a reality. Don’t write your biography as a long pain shaft, because you will project that same pain shaft on the future also. When you look deep you will see each pain you claimed happened in your life as an individual incident. When you connect all of them you create tremendous suffering in your life. Stop connecting and continuously creating tremendous suffering for yourself.

Unclutching is a powerful self-sufficient guide to your enlightenment, to upgrade your consciousness. It not only changes the way you perceive reality, it transforms reality itself. Unclutching is a very powerful process which touches the source where the perceiver and perceived both come out. It is the ultimate meditation technique. When your consciousness rises, you automatically become a leader of your life, you become God for yourself. – Ishvara for your life.

Taken from Nithyananda’s Webinar on ‘Unclutching’, 15th April, 2012, Bidadi Ashram

The Wonders of Pomegranate

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Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is one of the indigenous herbs, native to India mentioned in all ancient Sanskrit scriptures of Ayurveda. It has been commonly used as an edible fruit, as well as for medicinal purposes domestically. In Hinduism, the pomegranate (Bijapura: replete with seeds) symbolizes prosperity and fertility, and is associated with both Bhoomidevi (the Earth goddess) and Lord Ganesha (who is also called Bijapuraphalasakta, or the one fond of the many-seeded fruit).

Every part of the plant (root, bark, flowers, fruit, leaves) is used for medicinal purposes in Ayurveda. Next time you get a pomegranate fruit in your hand, do not discard the fruit rind. Almost all parts of this plant have great medicinal value, the fruit, the rind of the fruit, roots and the skin of roots. Pomegranate is used both, internally as well as externally. According to Ayurveda, it is one such fruit which can be consumed everyday, at anytime, by anyone, in any condition.

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

  • The edible portion of the fruit contains glucose, fructose, maltose, starch, oxalic acid, Vitamin C, pectin, amino acids etc. The bark and the rind of the fruit contain tannins and anti-oxidants.
  • Some of the medicinal properties demonstrated by these chemical components are:
  • Appetite stimulant
  • Anti-emetic and anti-diarrhoeal
  • Vermicidal
  • Reliever of fatigue
  • Heart tonic
  • Anti-carcinogenic

PROMOTIVE AND CURATIVE RECIPES

For Diarrhoea: Pomegranate fruit rind decoction. Take one medium-sized fruit of pomegranate. Remove the fruit rind and place it in a bowl. Now wash it thoroughly and add 2 glasses of water to the vessel. Prepare the fruit rind decoction with this until it reduces to half the quantity. Drink 15-20 ml of Pomegranate fruit rind decoction 3-4 times a day to effectively control and cure diarrhea. Remember to consume good amount of buttermilk during the treatment.

For Anemia: Pomegranate fruit juice. Consume 20-30 ml of pomegranate fruit juice twice daily for a period of 2-3 months. It cures anemia, especially Iron deficiency anemia. The same regimen helps to strengthen the heart.

For Nausea and vomiting: Pomegranate fruit juice. Sip 15-20 ml of pomegranate fruit juice over the day, frequently to palliate nausea and vomiting

As a Face-pack: Prepare the fruit rind decoction as mentioned earlier. Take 3-4 tsp of this decoction, to this add a few drops of honey and 2 tsp of milk cream. Make it to a smooth paste and apply it gently over the face as a face pack. Just see the glow on your face hence! In the cosmetic arena, fruit-peel extract has been shown to stimulate a type of pro-collagen synthesis and inhibit a dermal degeneration process, thereby allowing the skin to stay young and fresh.

As a wound healer (external usage): The rind decoction heals the wounds earlier and reduces the swelling, when continuously washed with. The mouth gargles of the same, heal up the ulcers in the oral cavity and throat.

Pomegranates are hailed as a wonder fruit – and this is something Ayurveda has been aware of for centuries. This fully-packed fruit, a refreshing delicacy, well loved by those who dwell in hot regions is packed with a multitude of benefits for all mankind.

The Call for NewGen – Responsibilism

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It takes about five minutes of watching television and it becomes very clear that the world we live in today has issues, to put it mildly. From global terrorism to financial meltdown, global warming to drug wars, the list goes on. If one takes a break from the day-to-day routine of school and work, and dives into understanding the state of the world, it can be very daunting. Today’s youth are now starting to graduate from their universities and take up jobs. In a decade or so they will be positioned in various leadership positions, and will probably inherit all these world problems.

The questions that need to be answered right now are: are we prepared for our future, are we getting the education and knowledge to be able to navigate humanity to a better future? Moreover, are we getting tools to understand ourselves – our passions, our uniqueness and be able to deal with our own mental schemes and limiting tendencies? To put it bluntly, the mainstream schools, colleges and universities hardly prepare youngsters for any of these. People get education to find jobs but not job satisfaction, they learn public speaking but cannot solve personal dilemma, they know hundreds of ways to predict a tornado but do not know the tsunami that happens inside.
What is really needed now is for the youth to stand up and take responsibility for their lives, they can no longer wait for things to fix by themselves. This is the calling for the NewgeN – responsibility. It does not matter what caste or creed, what ideologies and cultural belonging, they all have the capacity to change themselves and the world. Does not matter what religion one identifies with – Hinduism, Buddhism, or Judaism; does not matter what economic structure one wants to live in – capitalism, socialism or communism.

What matters is that the newgeN follow ‘Responsibilism’. Responsibilism is not some new theory or a new philosophy, but it is prescription for the newgeN and should be a principle of life itself. If the youth of today want to live healthy, if they want to explode in the spiritual zone, they must take responsibility. If they want wealth, they must take responsibility in that direction. Take responsibility. Chisel your life with the tool called responsibility.

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The general misconception is that when someone takes up more responsibility they become tired, they can only have so much on their plate, and they may simply spread themselves too thin. This is a huge myth that mankind has blindly subscribed to. There is no such thing as a maximum capacity because as one takes more responsibility, they expand and they will see that suddenly more energy rushes into the system and they have the capacity to do more. By their very nature humans are hardwired to expand in all directions, it is only with their limited mental capacity that they feel like they can only do so much. Therefore, the newgeN need to jump before they think, because if they think before they have to jump, they will never jump.

Responsibility does not bind anyone, but rather, it is the very path to living a fulfilled life. When someone takes responsibility for their life’s purpose, their goal, their dreams, only then do they truly begin to live. So while it is possible to analyze and philosophize even this, all that is really needed is to take the jump – jump into responsibility, jump into the limitless potential, jump into life itself!

Navadhi Kriya for a Healthy Body

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Navadhi kriya is a small and simple exercise to balance the three doshas of our body. The three doshas are vata, pitta and kapha, and they aptly represent the three forces of Nature; the air, fire and earth elements. When they are in balance, the body becomes free of any illness or disease. When we bring integrity within our thinking and take ownership of our body, we remove the mental blocks that cling on to a diseased body. Just uttering the words ‘I own my body. I declare to have a healthy body’, to oneself and doing this simple kriya will help a person to create a yogic body.

This kriya is practiced in many Ayurveda hospitals as a part of the initial cleansing procedures before actual treatment. The kriya involves inducing vomiting by massaging the innermost part of the throat. The mechanism of action is that excess kapha from the throat, vata from the chest and pitta from liver, all three are expelled out, thus balancing them. It is strongly recommended for the initiated Niraahaaris (initiated disciples don’t eat solid food) to do this kriya regularly, at least once a week. Ayurveda teaches that regular vomiting of the pitta clears the intestines and removes the excess belly fat. The dis-balanced pitta of the body gets removed from the system through the oral route.

Ayurvedic scientists also claim that this kriya can heal even cancer, since cancer is nothing but an imbalance of the three doshas.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Clip your nails and clean the thumb well before proceeding.
  2. Apply a pinch of Haritaki powder on your fingertip. Applying Haritaki powder will help get rid of ulcers, if any, and remove bad breath.
  3. Massage the upper palate in a circular manner. Allow vomiting to happen.
  4. Lie down and rest the body for approx. 45 min, to allow the body to settle down.

Mind is An Action

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‘Tada Drastuh Svarupe Vasthanam’
(Patanjali Yoga Sutra, Sutra 3 – Verse I)

Unclutching is the essence of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. The ancient Indian sage Patanjali, who was the founder of the ancient yogic sciences, condensed the truth, explanations of which would occupy volumes, into this one short verse. According to him, unclutching or the cessation of the mind and all its thoughts, can be achieved by understanding a few simple concepts.

The first concept to imbibe is that your mind is not an object, it is an action. We always feel that the mind is bigger than our brain. We always say that the brain is only physical, but the mind is subtle, so it holds a greater power over the brain. However, one of my masters once told me a very beautiful statement – One action of your brain is called mind. We can do many things with our legs, like walking and running. In the same way, the mind or thinking is just another action of your brain. Cognizing this truth will make you realize that you can relax from it at any time.

The moment you realize that you are responsible for your thinking, you will stop. Only when you don’t want to take the responsibility for it, will you go on postponing and your mind will continue to enslave you. This is the essence of this verse – to take responsibility for your subtle actions called the “mind”. Do you ever ask yourself why you stopped or started doing a particular action? No! You simply know why, and that’s why you performed the action in the first place. In the same way, you can start, stop and restart your own mind – if you take the responsibility and do it. Taking responsibility for each and every action, and having the awareness that all situations around us and within us are a reflection of our own inner space is the only way to live authentically. This includes taking responsibility for our own minds.

The second concept is acceptance. In Zen philosophy, there is a small story: There was a great enlightened master who had an enlightened disciple called Suzuki. When Suzuki’s master died, he began to cry. All of the master’s other disciples came and asked Suzuki why he was crying, because after all, an enlightened being cannot cry! Suzuki retorted that if that holds true, then he was no longer interested in enlightenment. He could not be so insensitive, because he knew how much he will miss the master’s physical presence. Then, another disciple asked him, “What about acceptance? Have you been teaching it to us all these years without experiencing it yourself?”. In response to this, Suzuki beautifully explained that there are two levels of acceptance. The first is acceptance of the outer situation – whatever is happening around a person. That is surrendering to the now, the present moment. Experiencing certain emotions in response to the outer world situation and accepting those emotions, is the second level of acceptance. That is accepting the inner world situation – accepting that certain outer world situations will bring about certain inner world changes in you. Suzuki was accepting his master’s death and also accepting the pain he felt in response to it. He was completely in acceptance.

If you accept only the outer world and try to be calm and collected all the time without accepting the anger or pain in you, you cannot be established in your true nature. When you are in complete acceptance, suddenly you will see that you are established in your nature, that you are no more in the chaos that your mind creates, but simply pure consciousness. Being established in this state is known as ‘unclutching’. When thoughts disappear and cessation happens, it results in relaxation into your own true nature.

The very idea of complete acceptance is a technique in itself. There is no need to practice any additional meditation in order to live this. The concept of complete acceptance, if understood and practiced, will establish you in the state of unclutching. Unless you are able to completely accept situations, you cannot unclutch. After acceptance, you will realize that your mind is just an action and you must take the responsibility to stop it. Just internalizing these two truths will become a technique in itself and you will be unclutched.

Anger as a Meditation

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This meditation technique, taken from the Shiva Sutras delivered by Mahadeva (Shiva) Himself to Devi, gives solution for all problems – all psychological problems being faced in relationships and otherwise. But the purpose of the technique is not only to solve the psychological problems. Meditation is not a mere replacement for medication or psychological solutions. It has got more sanctity associated with it. One small side effect of meditation is having physical and mental health. That is not the main or only effect of meditation, it is something much more than physical and mental solutions.

This meditation can directly deliver the enlightenment experience. Mahadeva takes us to a deeper level of our inner space. He explains how to work on ourselves when a mood against someone or for someone arises within. He says, ’Let you be centered on you. Let you go to the source of the emotion from where it arose.’

Whether we are suppressing or expressing any emotion, for example anger, the other becomes important. Even when we suppress an emotion, in our inner space the other will be constantly remembered, and will be important. Here Shiva is not teaching us to show compassion or to suppress the emotion. No! He is simply teaching us to turn the whole direction and handle anger as an energy, without bothering about the reason or the person. He asks us to drop both and handle the anger as an energy, not as an emotion. When we look at anger as an emotion, we will try to look for the reason and convert it into compassion. If we look at it from the angle of the other person, we will try to suppress it, to prevent pouring it on the other person. Shiva is asking us to drop both. He asks us to go to the source of the emotion within, making us centered on ourselves, without being moved by any emotion, thoughts and engraved memories.

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Close your eyes. Sit with any tension and irritation you already have. Remember your most intimate enemy, the person or people who create anger in you. Remember the people, the objects or situations that create deep anger in you. Allow yourself to create the intense anger.

Step 2. Now, forget the object. Forget the person and the situations that created the anger in you. Just go to the source of the energy, from where the emotion is arising. Go to the source of the heat and the irritation. Go to the source of the anger. Allow yourself to reach the deepest level of meditation.

Step 3. Relax, open your eyes.

This meditation technique needs to be practiced when anger happens in real life situations. Only then the anger will be authentic and then the meditation will be a deep experience.

The Science of Astrology

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From time immemorial, despite the disbelief in the subject, astrology still holds its power and influence on human beings due to the amazing science behind it. A report says that in India, 93% of the people read or study their horoscopes regularly before taking any big decisions, including marital decisions. Usually, any concept which expands beyond a certain limit loses its originality and starts getting diluted. The science of astrology is not an exception. However, this does not imply that the science itself is a lie. There is one example, which when understood, will enable a person to connect with the science of astrology.

For one moment, when the shutter of the camera opens, the outside image gets imprinted on the film. Then the film can be developed to become a photograph. The same film cannot be used for the second time, since it will have the image captured at the first shot. In the same way, the moment a person’s consciousness enters into their body, the energy level of the cosmos gets printed in that consciousness. One’s inner space gets the print of the cosmic energy level based on the time of the birth and the position of the nine major energy centers.

One more understanding that needs to be internalized is that the astronomical planets are not astrological planet energies. Although the number is the same, the astrological planets are energies. In a temple, nine astrological energies or grahas are worshiped as deities. For example, Shani graha (an astrological planet) is not exactly Saturn. A particular energy of pull and push always exists between the different grahas (astrological planets). Not all the energy that comes from Saturn will influence the planet Earth. Due to energy clash there will be an addition or deletion of energy. For example, if 100 units of push energy comes from Saturn and 20 units of pull energy comes from Buddha, it will be neutralized to become 80. If Shukra adds 30 units to the energy, it will become 110 units. By the time it reaches the planet Earth, it may get deviated and change its value to some extent. The net energy that finally reaches the planet Earth is called as Shani.

This is a very subtle science. The same planet Saturn will not have same influence over planet Earth continuously. If Saturn moves, the total calculation of the pull or push will differ. If the astronomical planets and astrological planets were the same, the energy difference would not be there; but it is not the same. It is the totality of the energy that reaches the planet Earth that is called as “Shani”. The major influence in this energy will be Saturn, but it is not decided by the planetary position of Saturn alone and the value is continuously changing. Similarly, when we say Buddha energy, it is not only the planet Buddha that is radiating that energy. By the time the energy of the planet reaches the planet earth, it goes through almost five alterations, many other energies get added or deleted.

The different energy positions clearly decide the cosmic energy level during the time of birth. Based on that, the course of one’s life can be predicted easily, although not the exact incidents. Incidents are too minute details and if minute happenings could also be predicted, one wouldn’t have any freedom. Having an idea about one’s horoscope gives the intelligence to take decisions in life, as well as the intelligence to have acceptance about inevitable situations.

In India, in the olden days, every family had a family astrologer who knew the family completely and could interpret the energy flow of the family members and guide them accordingly. It will be beneficial for a seeker to read books on horoscope and astrology, to have an opening and glimpse of this science. The astrological sutras encourage one’s visualization and the power to connect incidents, which really helps a person grow.

Adapted from Nithyananda’s Discourse on the Shiva Sutras on 3rd December, 2007 delivered in Mont Clair, California, USA

Saptapadi, the Sacred Vows of Marriage

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Saptapadi or ‘seven steps’ is a very important rite in a Vedic marriage ceremony. At the time of marriage, the couple sit in front of the sacred fire and take seven vows in the presence of the Guru or God that they will both live a blissful married life. These vows in the Vedic marriage have a very deep meaning and are designed to help the couple to evolve together in a holistic way. They pertain not only to the worldly pursuits of the couple together, but also their mental, emotional, social, ecological, and spiritual attitudes. If followed with authenticity they lead to enlightenment itself.

The following are the Saptapadi mantras and their interpretation:

1st sacred vow: Concept of sharing
ekamiñe viñëustvä anvetu |
Let us both create, secure and enjoy all the things and comforts related to the physical body like food, clothing, shelter and other wealth needed for the physical body. This very vow hits at the dowry system. The dowry system asks for wealth and other things from the girl’s family. This vow clearly states that the couple will create wealth and sustain it together.’

2nd sacred vow: Mental and spiritual strength, work towards enlightenment
dve ürje viñëustvä anvetu |
Let us join together without ego, to do all that is needed to increase the Shakti (energy) inside our body and thus enhance our intellectual strength by meditation, yoga etc.

3rd sacred vow: Living independently dependent
tréëi vratäya viñëustvä anvetu |
I will not force myself upon the other at the physical or mental level when the other does not prefer it.

4th sacred vow: Transcend maya by teamwork
catväri mäyo bhaväya viñëustvä anvetu |
I (the man) will help the woman overcome the illusions she holds in the form of her fear and insecurity. I (the woman) will help the man overcome the illusions he holds in the form of lust.

5th sacred vow: Social and eco-friendly responsibilities
païca paçubhyaù viñëustvä anvetu |
Let us look after our ancestors and elders who are alive, our Guru, Devatas and all animals that support us, like cattle or pets, and the entire nature like trees, hills, rivers etc.

paisley

6th sacred vow: Support each other without suffocating
ñaòåtubhyaù viñëustvä anvetu |
Let us support and strengthen each other in all moods and in all seasons, in all situations, at all times and spaces, not only when one of us is weak or in low mood, but let us share when we feel strong or when we are in high mood as well.

7th sacred vow: Comply with promises and live as friends
saptasaptabhyaù hoträbhyaù viñëustvä anvetu ||
We promise to follow all that is covered here and all that is not covered here as well. There could be many things that may not have been included in the previous promises. So this promise covers all those that have not been covered in any of the previous promises.

After the seven steps are over the husband has to call his wife “sakhe” meaning “Oh my friend”.
sakhäyau saptapadä bhabhüva

By making these seven promises, we both have become friends. I have got your friendship and you have mine. We shall not let this be lost. We shall live forever as compatible companions. By taking these vows the couple agree to be friendly to each other. By chanting these mantras, the union between the husband and wife is solemnized in the presence of the Guru or God. They are united in their thinking and in the way they act. They pray that they may have pure love towards each other. By this mantra they vow to become people who are like-minded in opinion and thus enjoy being together.

Kriya to Banish Depression!

By Nithyananda Times -
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Depression or Clinical depression is characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Clinical depression is a disabling condition that adversely affects a person’s family, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. Depressed individuals have shorter life expectancies than those without depression, in part because of greater susceptibility to medical illnesses and suicide. Depressed people may be preoccupied with, or ruminate over, thoughts and feelings of worthlessness, inappropriate guilt or regret, helplessness, hopelessness, and self-hatred. In severe cases, depressed people may have symptoms of psychosis.

Instructions for Kriya:

  1. PADMASANA
    Place the right foot on the left thigh and similarly the left one on the right.
    Cross the hands behind the back and firmly catch hold of the great toes of the feet so crossed.
    Place the chin on the chest and fix the gaze on the tip of the nose.

  2. SHEETALI PRANAYAMA
    Continue to sit in Padmasana.
    Close the eyes and relax the whole body.
    Extend the tongue outside the mouth and roll the sides of the tongue up so that it forms a tube.
    Inhale slowly through the tongue.
    At the end of inhalation, roll the tongue in, close the mouth and exhale slowly through the nose.
    Do this 21 times.2.

  3. BHASTRIKA
    Continue to Sit in Padmasana
    Inhale slowly through the nostrils and fill the abdomen completely.
    Exhale quickly and forcefully through the nose by contracting the abdominal muscles towards the spine.
    Do this 21 times.

Kriya given by Nithyananda in his Daily Morning Discourse, on 31st October, 2011 at the Bidadi Ashram, India

For more kriyas visit: http://www.nithyananda.org/nithya-kriyas

DISCLAIMER: This technique is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical diagnosis or treatment. Individuals with any type of medical condition, the elderly, children below 14, women who are pregnant or suspect they may be pregnant are advised to seek professional medical advice before practicing this technique. Viewers who are not on two-way video conferencing are cautioned that they are practicing these techniques at their own risk.  

Sadhana, to Unclutch from Depression

By Nithyananda Times -
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Whenever you are caught up with depression, unclutching or separation from being absorbed into suffering or from that depression, is called as feeling connection or bhakti . This has to be practiced with a conviction that does not pull you down. Please do not disconnect yourself from this bhakti and sadhana (spiritual practice). Let it become a survival need within you rather than a choice. One of the biggest mistakes made by my devotees is that they keep thinking – why do I need to practice it, Nithyananda is in my heart. But if you do not do sadhana, the bhakti you have towards me will be destroyed because it is only by sadhana that the bhakti is strengthened and grows. In the absence of regular sadhana, the layers and layers of suffering increases until suddenly one day you are completely disconnected and not able to relate with me at all. Even the strong remembrance of me will not be able to put you into the joy and ecstasy of bhakti. It will make you think that you lost your spiritual strength thus you end up succumbing into your suffering and falling into depression.

Everyday, hundreds of people lose the ability to unclutch from suffering, nor are they able to retain the bhakti just because they did not do their sadhana regularly. Bhagwan Sri Krishna (Incarnation worshiped as a Hindu God now) reiterates this in the Bhagavad Gita (Hindu religious book with universal significance) that you should be the friend of your Self through continuous practice, if not your own Self will be the enemy. Practice the presence of God continuously to unclutch from suffering and the other things that pull you down.

It is very unfortunate that you enjoy the suffering because it gives the feeling that you can always put the blame on somebody else. However when that same suffering is repeated again and again until it becomes a pattern in you, your life is destroyed. Gaudapada, a great spiritual master who was Adi Shankara’s paramaguru, another great spiritual Master from ancient India, beautifully describes the power of continuous sadhana when he said that just as the ocean can be emptied with the help of the tip of the blade which can hold just a drop, so also can the control of the mind be brought about by the absence of depression. Hence it is very much possible. Do NOT stop your practice of unclutching from suffering. Do NOT let anything disturb your bhakti because a broken spiritual practice signifies that you are allowing your mental patterns to pull you down.  By practice anything is possible.  You can even empty the ocean with a kusha grass with continuous effort for years. Same way, why not conquer the mind by the absence of depression? It is possible. And sadhana is the way.

Taken from Nithyananda’s  Daily Morning Discourse on 23th September, 2012 in Thiruvannamalai Ashram, India

Walk Out of Depression

By Nithyananda Times -
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What is Depression?

Depression is nothing but the mood of the mind which does not flow with life. It is nothing but the energy of your being not being able to cope up with the reality. You have two things – the imaginary life and the real life. Whenever your being does not meet the real life you fall into depression. The conflict between the real life and your being, the reality and your imagination is depression. Most of the time our attachments to the concepts, to the ideologies, to the philosophies, makes us not to move ahead. When society becomes sophisticated, affluent, depression is a luxury. You can have it only when you have other things and not if you don’t have basic needs.

Two Types of Depression

Depression has two types:
1) The depression supported by your ego
2) The depression that makes you feel total inability.

The depression that makes you feel total inability is better. You will understand that you need help from outside. The depression that is supported by your ego will be interested only in the solutions which you feel are solutions. So you may expect some teacher who will support your solution which you already have, which you strongly believe in, even in depression. Depression is not wrong, but depression supported by your ego is something seriously wrong. Even if you have depression, there is every possibility you can be saved if your ego is not supporting your depression. If your ego is supporting your depression you will not listen to the master’s teachings. You will listen only to the teacher who is ready to support your depression, your understanding, your ambition, your ideas, your thoughts. Even if the teacher is trying to move a little away from your conclusions you will shout at them. The worst thing that can happen to a jeeva (soul), the worst mess he can create for himself is supporting his depression by his ego. Depression itself is not wrong. But while you expect your own solution and expect the master to support your solution, you are in a big soup. You can’t be saved. Naturally you will start searching for a teacher who will support your ego. By fulfilling ego you can never walk out of depression.

The Science of Depression

Human being is a great potential bound by distracting, deluding kind of a net, prison. Every single cell of you is having a kind of a covering. That covering constantly represents mortality, delusion. Your cell is constantly struggling to experience immortality. Every single cell in your body, which is the smallest unit in the physical body and thought – the smallest unit in the mental body and the pure light in your conscious body – all put together constitute as the cell. All your smallest units are directly connected. All your smallest units are covered by delusion. In each level your smallest unit is struggling to break from that delusion. At body level that struggle is to get rid of disease and death. At the mental level that struggle is to get rid of depression and disorders. At the conscious level that struggle is to get rid of the delusion and achieve enlightenment. So the point to be understood here is that all your struggles are nothing but struggles to achieve enlightenment. Start struggling directly, you will not waste your time and energy in diluted, diverted attention or direction or decisions. Your struggle to get out of depression is rooted in the same unit where your struggle for enlightenment also happens.

The Only Way Out is In

Even when you have the small struggles, look into the smallest unit where that struggle is happening – that cell, where that struggle is happening. Whenever all the struggles in you are aligned, immediately you are out of delusion. Delusion is nothing but thinking or believing that all these struggles are independent of each other.

Don’t Resist!

Your being needs its own space. Your being needs a little bit of aloneness. But your resistance to give aloneness, your resistance to give space for your being only creates depression. Depression is like a black hole. If you don’t resist and enter into it, it can create a big bang. As long as you resist, depression is a death. When you allow it to happen, it just rejuvenates you totally. When you live totally you will know how to leave totally. If you know how to get depressed totally, you will know how to express yourself totally. The very word depression has a condemnation to it. You do not want to get depressed. You resist continuously with the depression. You resist the black hole. That is why you never let the big bang happen.

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From Depression to Expression

Depression has become our nature now. Using the depression as a method is the only way to reach the divine, the way to reach the deep state of expression. As long as you resist the depression, except some more problems, nothing else can be achieved. No medication can help depression. As long as you fight your depression, there is no way to come out of it. It is like fighting with your own shadow. Depression is the seed of expression and expression is the way to depression. They are just cycles of life and death. They are nothing but peak and valley of your being. Peak of your being is expression. Peak of your valley is depression. If you know how to go deep with the depression, how to travel with the depression, then even depression cannot depress you. The very idea of depression will be lost. You can label any experience as a depression or as an expression. It is just your label which makes something as depression or something as expression.

Knowledge Weapons to Combat Depression

Truth from shaastra – shashtras (knowledge weapon) can create ecstasy in the inner space and energy to expand in outer space. Unless you have the courage to go near the truth, the real healing will never happen. When you fall into depression the thoughts which bring you out of the depression, the clarity which brings you out of the depression are the self-healing thoughts which are actually created by shaastra-shastras. Whenever depression attacks you, life brings different scenes in front of you, during which the shaastra-shastras (knowledge weapons) can be used so powerfully that you can just come out of the depression. The more and more you accumulate the self-healing thoughts inside your system, you will see that depression will have fear to come near you. If you want the truth to do the process of healing in you, it has to be digested, internalized. When these truths are added in to you, you will completely re-think, you will re-design your whole life. When the load is taken out of your inner space, there is nothing but healing.

Power of a Feeling Connection With the Divine

Feeling connection to something which is higher than you, either God or Guru, nullifies things from the constant harassment you go through from your body and mind. Feeling connection is the ground where, if the seeds of truth are sown, they become the reality of experience, the tree of experience. There are problems which may not be solved by unclutching, which will be solved by a feeling connection. The pains which you can’t heal, the problems which you can’t get out by unclutching, can be solved only by a feeling connection with something higher than you. A lot of things with which your ignorance survives, a lot of things with which your mind thrives, a lot of things on which your suffering is built, will be taken away from you. Feeling connection with the divinity is the capacity to convert the wisdom into lifestyle with expression, not depression.

Taken from the collected talks of Nithyananda on the subject of “Depression”

Arise & Awake to Life’s Purpose!

By Nithyananda Times -
0

Swami Vivekananda’s words “Arise, Awake!” still thunder and inspire millions of people around the world. These two words carry a call for the whole humanity to realize and wake up to their potential. This is not just a teaching from a renowned world teacher but a clarion call for future of humanity. Too many youngsters today face the confusion of trying to find what they really want to do in their life. Technology has brought the whole world together but also, it has brought exposure to too many options and distractions so that one loses their true calling, their uniqueness, their individual self. A child is naturally drawn to what he or she really feels authentic and joy, creativity and spontaneity effortlessly shine through. So how is it that they lose this natural capacity? How is it that the youngsters are so connected with the information about the world out there but so disconnected from their own wisdom?

Knowing one’s life purpose is about discovering one’s innate wisdom. This cannot be achieved through thinking, rationalizing or analyzing. Wisdom is not information! Humanity has seen the shift from hunting and gathering age to agricultural age 5000 years ago to industrial revolution few hundred years ago to information age few decades ago. The next step in this evolution invariably leads to the Age of Wisdom. Wisdom, not philosophy, that one can subscribe to that is preached by a religion, culture or creed but wisdom that is innate in everyone. Just like joy, creativity, and love has no religion, has no cast, similarly wisdom has no ethnocentric or socio-centric values or agenda. But how does one really discover this wisdom?

The answer is in silence or rather answer IS silence!

It is only in a deep silence that wisdom awakens. Only when the clouded sky clears up, the sun can shine through. Only when the mind subsides, wisdom can express itself. Easier said than done, one might say, but there is a good news to all of this. By the very nature of the mind, it stops after every thought – there is a gap between two thoughts. The famous phrase, “god is in the gap” is an apt one because in this gap lies answers to humanity’s confusions. It is this space that is the doorway to finding one’s life purpose. The good news is that this space is available right here, right now. Awareness is the key! One has to be aware of this gap and that is all that is needed to experience this unclutched space.

People spend thousands of dollars in stress relieving workshops, hire coaches and psychologists to try to understand what is it that they want to do in life. So it is understandable that it is hard for many people to believe that the answer can be so simple. But it is that simple! Stress is nothing but the friction with life which happens when one is not performing day to day activities with an alignment with his or her life purpose. Awareness of this space brings about a total psychological revolution, alters brain synapses and opens a new way of experiencing the world and self. So the answer may be simple but it has the potential to totally transform lives and bring about a major shift in one’s modus operandi. A key may look small but it can open big doors!

This is what is needed now, for each individual to find that key! Humanity does not need a new political system or a new economic system or a philosophy, humanity needs humans to embark on a journey of self-discovery. This journey of self-discovery awakens ruthless authenticity. Although upon hearing ruthless authenticity, one might visualize a great deal of force or struggle that goes into being authentic, but that is not the case. Ruthless authenticity is a dimension of wisdom. Every single rose bud has ruthless authenticity – it does not want to flower into anything else other than a rose – it simply cannot! It does not compare itself with a lotus or a lily or a sunflower, and does not think that there are so many other roses, how does it matter that one more rose flower will make any difference? No! It simply flowers! Because that is the whole point of its existence – to flower! That is the whole point of life – for that ruthless authenticity to flower into one’s life’s purpose and when one’s life purpose flowers it paves the way for clarity, actions, behaviors, and relationships that are out of pure ecstasy. Out of this comes an unshakable confidence and a fierce will to live life to its fullest.

When one discovers the purpose of their life, then no longer can they possess that life’s purpose, but rather, that purpose possess them! It is this extraordinary life that is each individual’s birth right. So arise and awake because life begins only after the discovery of life’s purpose. Life begins with this one resolution to embark upon a journey of self-discovery. Life begins right here and right now.

Adapted from Nithyananda’s Daily Talks on the Bhagavad Gita in 2011, Bidadi Ashram, India

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