Tag Archives: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on wisdom – A message to us on Guru Poornima!

14 Monday Jul 2014

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This Guru Poornima GuruDev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, changed everything I thought wisdom was and how wisdom is got through the Guru tattwa! It was eye opening and amazing. His message was clear and direct and here is a part of the message that he had for us.

Guru is present like space in life.

You just sang this song, ‘Ajo Ananthaya’. Ajo means Never Born, Ananthanya is Infinity, Nitya Shudha is Forever Pure, and Sat-chid-ananda isPure Bliss.Guru principle is like the space, and you cannot avoid space. Whether you recognize that there is space or not, is another question. You cannot escape from air. Whether you recognize there is air or not is another question. And today is the time for you recognize that there is air; there is space.It is a privilege, a good fortune to have access to knowledge.

Today is an occasion to remember, and to celebrate life with knowledge, life in knowledge, and life for knowledge.You know, air is there everywhere but when you sit near the fan, you feel it. In the same way, in the world, in the universe, the Guru principle is there. When you recognize it, you feel so great, and you feel bliss.Recognition of the existence of the Guru Principle, and the role it has played in life, is Guru Poornima.In our body, the throat chakra is for gratefulness. Above the throat chakra is the Ajna(Agya) Chakra, that is the seat of Guru. So gratefulness is a way to reach to the Guru Tattva. And then where does the Guru lead you to? Bliss(pointing to the top of the head), i.e, the Sahasrara Chakra. So, Guru is sandwiched between gratefulness and bliss.

This Guru Principle is that which removes darkness, it is that which removes all suffering.We chant, ‘Bhishaje bhava roginam’, which means, it is like the medicine for those who are stuck in small little worldly things; the disease of small mindedness. It is called a disease because the mind wants to get out of the suffering. Guru Tattva brings that absolute comfort.You know, there are some people who live without light; they don’t even know of electricity. Animals live without electricity, without light; they don’t need it. But human beings need light when it is dark. So human beings need the Guru Tattva, they need the knowledge. People living without knowledge are equivalent to animals. One without wisdom lives an animalistic life, it is not a human life. So, it is fashionable to be civilized and to have a Guru in life. If there is no Guru in life, it means life is uncivilized; like one who does not know anything of technology. It is a privilege, a good fortune to have access to knowledge. And this ancient tradition, from millenniums has preserved this beautiful knowledge, and today we feel very grateful! It is an occasion to remember and to celebrate life with knowledge, life in knowledge, and life for knowledge. It is wisdom that can eliminate misery in the world. If wisdom cannot bring happiness, nothing can bring happiness. So we have this privilege to spread happiness, wisdom, and knowledge

Guru Tattva brings that absolute comfort. Wisdom is not just information, it is a quality of consciousness; it is a quality of life. Wisdom does not come just by studying and attaining degrees, or by stuffing yourself with information. Something triggers inside and you become wise. Some Naadi (energy channel) inside, or some part of your consciousness flips over and you become wise. I think so! Wisdom is not attained just by reading a lot. You cannot just read a lot and be very wise in everything. Wisdom is a quality of consciousness, a quality of life, and this gets transferred by good company. That is what happens.

The Presence of the Guru does not bring you any information, it shifts the quality of consciousness, and that brings the wisdom to your mind. Now, should we go and sit in front of a Guru all the time to become wise? Not necessary. Wherever you are, simply can feel the presence of the Guru Tattva. Guru Tattva is in-between the eye brows. The Ajna Chakra, where the pituitary glands are situated, that is the seat of the Guru. In the science of Yoga, the Ajna Chakra or the space in-between the eyebrows is called the seat of the Guru. It is situated above the Vishuddhi Chakra(in throat region); the pure space. You enter the pure space, you enter into meditation, and you reach to the Guru. And it is the Guru who pulls you into meditation.You are stuck in the heart region where there is love, hatred and fear. If you have to get out of hatred and fear, you have to get into the inner space. And who pulls you into the inner space? The Guru Tattva. So the Guru pulls you into the inner space.When you come to the inner space, what happens to you? You become pure, i.e., Vishuddhiwhich means So Pure. The heart becomes pure, the mind becomes pure, and that connects you to bliss, which is the Sahasara Chakra. This is the science of Yoga. It’s so amazing if you go into the depth of it. Every moment it reveals even more.

Wisdom comes by that shift; that is why it is called Grace.Grace (or Good luck) means what? That which you cannot explain. If you could explain how you got something then it is not luck.When do you call something your luck? When you cannot explain the cause of it. Of course, same for bad luck also. If you have bad luck, you say you can’t explain it. So it’s the gratefulness which leads you to Guru Tattva and the bliss further on, and vice versa, because when you find that solace, then you feel more grateful.

So, what is wisdom? It is a quality of consciousness; like alertness.What is alertness? (Sri Sri snaps his fingers) Your presence in now! You know when you suddenly become alert, your mind shifts (sort of, opens), and suddenly you are all alive. Words cannot describe what alertness is! In the same way, words cannot describe what wisdom is.Everyone in their life, sometime or other, have experienced a little bit of wisdom. Whether one has maintained it or not is another question.It is wisdom that holds the key to happiness. No wisdom, no happiness. So people seeking happiness will have to go come to the Guru. People seeking knowledge will have to come to Guru. People seeking a better quality of life have to come to the Guru; they have to acknowledge the Guru principle in their life.One of the saints of the middle ages, a great yogi said, ‘Who drinks the nectar? One who has a Guru. One who doesn’t have a Guru in their life, he goes thirsty, he has no juice in his life; he does not know true joy. But one who has a Guru drinks the nectar; again and again he drinks the nectar’.There is plenty of nectar in the inner realm of our being. One who has a Guru drinks it in abundance. One without a Guru goes thirsty all his life.He is describing our own physiology, which means, in this (pointing to the head or Sahasara Chakra) there is bliss, there is nectar. When there is Guru in life, then you get access to it, otherwise life becomes meaningless.Wherever you are, simply can feel the presence of the Guru Tattva.

There are a lot of beautiful poems written on this. I’ve not read them all, only heard a little bit here and there. But the essence is how the quality of consciousness gets shifted, and the shift is a gift (wisdom is a gift).The company of the wise brings that shift in the consciousness, or its given to you as gift, and so you feel thankful. It is not something that you earned in your life. You cannot earn it but it is being bestowed on you, and that is the key. Many people think wisdom means reading a lot of books. Wisdom has nothing to do with books. Wisdom has nothing to do with gathering information. It is just the quality of consciousness that shifts in the mind, and that is bestowed by the Guru Principle, by acknowledging the Guru in life. One has to acknowledge from one’s side. The Guru does not accept or reject anyone. It is the student, the disciple, who accepts (a Guru) as his Guru.

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3 levels of spiritual practice by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

10 Thursday Jul 2014

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I have this question time and again. Not only me but a lot of others too.

“There are so many spiritual practices. Some you have to do – pranayamas, breathing, kriya. Some you do not have to do anything – meditate, concentration. And some where the experience just comes to you. Are they all different?”

I came across this knowledge talk sheet given by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar which talks exactly about this. The different levels of spiritual practices. He clearly says how we start with one level and it takes us to the other levels. Really good read!

There are three levels of spiritual practices.

The first one is called Anva Upaya. The second is Shakta Upaya, . and the third one is Shambava Upaya. Shiva, Shakti and Anva. All practices in the world can be categorized into these three categories. So, Anva is the lowest; means the very beginning. All the japa, mantras, poojas, yogasanas, breath control, everything comes under Anva Upaya. They are called Upayas, which means remedies. Above this is Shakta. Shakta is only mental, i.e., inside. There is no outer thing, no mantras in it. It is the effect of the meditative state, that is Shakta Upaya.

When you sing, meditate,  do pranayam and Sudarshan Kriya (Kriya begins with Anva Upaya but then), it leads to Shakta Upaya, when you are just energy. Here there is no effort, there is no doing. Just a little bit effortless effort is there.

Then the Shambava or Shiv Upaya is just pure awareness. Just a state of awareness. Shambava Upaya means that there is no means (way) to do it, it is just a happening, it will just happen. Even then it is still called an Upaya.

So the purpose of Anva and Shakta Upaya is to go to Shambava Upaya wherein you become one with Shiva (the fourth state of consciousness). There is no two, there is no doer, you are Shiva, and that is Shambava Upaya.

Usually people who have experienced some degree of Shambava Upaya, they simply discard the other levels. If you read, some people have said that there is no point in doing pranayama, or, there is no point in chanting mantras, or there is no point in doing Pooja. They are all talking from the level of Shambava Upaya, but all these practices have their own place too. See, for example, if you go to the Prime Minister of a country, the Mayor doesn’t matter much. But suppose the Mayor has a say as well, then even if you go to the Prime Minister the mayor of this town can put some hurdles, isn’t it? The beaurocrats can put some hurdles.

So the ancient system is attending to everybody and giving everyone their rightful place. And that is how all this, Anva Upaya, Shakta Upaya, everything is maintained because they have some purpose.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

23 Monday Jun 2014

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26 June is observed as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse. The Art of Living Foundation conducted a satsang with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at the Bangalore Ashram to discuss this issue. Below is the excerpt of the talk by him

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Sri Sri: The nature of mind is to seek joy, seek ecstasy. Know that it cannot be found in the area of the five senses: taste, touch.
The craving continues to exist because it wants the highest. Mind belongs to the highest peace. In search of the higher ecstasy and satisfaction, one has gone into the trap of drugs.

If you look at the drug addicts. They will not exhibit any of these qualities: peace, contentment, joy. When you are addicted to drugs you look worn out and sick. This very well denotes that drugs only give an empty promise and they do not deliver.
There is a small story.There is a gentleman who prayed and asked God for a conch. Whatever you ask, Gods will give you. The gentleman’s neighbor got so jealous, he also went in search of a similar conch. He found one that will double whatever you ask for it. He feels that this conch is better that his neighbor’s conch.

He brought the conch home. He asked the conch for a bungalow. The conch said, “Why one, take two bungalows?” It would simply double whatever he asked for, but not deliver. All addictions of this planet promise joy, but they never deliver. Let’s take the simple addiction of smoking. Smoking does not bring any joy, but not smoking gives you pain, suffering, and problem. How to get over it?

There are three things that you do to get over addictions:
1. Fear of disease: If doctor says, if you take one more peg of alcohol you will be dead.
2. Greed. If someone tempts you for something bigger. If you stop your addiction for a month you will get a million rupees.
3. Love for something higher. I would prefer love over fear and greed. Love can elevate your body-mind complex and stop the craving.
4. Having a bigger addiction. Something that can intoxicate you. This is love for the creator, love for God. A higher ecstasy that you can find through meditation, pranayama, devotional dance.

They can all give you such an ecstasy which can snap you out of addictions. Sudarshan Kriya and Shakti Kriya are techniques that can help people find the happiness that they are seeking. We are seeking happiness here and there. But the source of happiness is right here: within. This can help people find what they have been looking for all their life. We need to be more aggressive in our approach to make people understand and get people out of their addictions. Once people do this, they know. I could get the peace. That is here in a permanent basis. The benefits of meditation are many: health is at its optimum and your mind is calm and serene, you r heart is full of love for everyone. You exuberate all this. We become self-reliant and we become strong. That inspires many around you. It is that conch that really delivers and not just promises you. We need to take the techniques of yoga and mediation to every house. Spirituality, though it may appear to be a little strenuous, but on a permanent basis delivers what you have been looking for in addictions all your life.

Q: The family of drug users goes through a very difficult period. What is your message for them? 
Sri Sri: I would tell them that you should take a pledge from the kids and put them on the spiritual track. For example, in homes where they have vegetarian food, they bring that feeling against consuming non-veg food. If kids have already started consuming drugs, we have to bring them back. We have to deal with patience and with sensitivity and take them to de-addiction camps again and again. The company that the child keeps also matters. Today, drugs has become a business. You need to work not just with your kids but all the kids in your neighborhood.

Q: Rajindra Kumar from Punjab: Will we, addicts, remain a question or will we ever be solved? 
Sri Sri: You have not come as a question. Know that you have received the answer.

Q: There are many celebrities who are addicted to drugs.
Sri Sri: The so-called celebrities are such bad role models to follow. In fact, they are not role models at all. They may be successful in acting, but they are failures in life. And people need to realize this. You can only watch them on the screen. If you know them personally, you will know what kind of people they are. They do not know about spirituality; they never got connected to the life that is there in them. But I would tell the celebrities to acknowledge their weakness and warn the population not to emulate them and let people know that they are suffering. We welcome all those who are under the influence these intoxicants. Keep your profession aside and come here to meditate. I am not pointing fingers at you. I understand your situation. There are millions out there who adore you. Be a true role model to all of them. Money and fame is not everything. A pure heart is.

Q: Dr. Navjot Sidhu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, Punjab asks, ” How can we encourage people to offer employment benefits to de-addicted youth?” 
Sri Sri: We have to talk to people and convince them. Don’t be prejudiced against them (drug addicts). We must help to remove the prejudice in the society.

Q: Are there any specific yoga asanas for de-addiction? 
Sri Sri: All these asanas are good. It depends on the age and flexibility (of the person). Pranayama is a must. Kriya is a must.

 

Q: Dr Anju Dhawan, Professor at the National Drug Dependence Treatment Center, AIIMS: There are sudden factors that can protect people from going towards drug abuse, building the inner strength through meditative practices can play a very important role. What can Art of Living do in this regard? 
Sri Sri: We will ask teachers to go to their doorstep. Usually we teach meditation to those who want to learn. Here we have to walk that extra mile and make them sit and meditate. It is a big task. It is like trying to feed a child who does not want to eat. But a good mother does it. A teacher plays the role of a mother. With a little bit of insistence you should be successful.

Q: Satyavir Nowlakka, Delhi Police, Crime Branch: Many people in the police department are addicts and they do not realize that they are in a mess. How do we talk to them and help them come out of their addictions? 
Sri Sri: I say that they should be teetotalers. Because it is good for the health. The Armed Forces and Police, their health is the most important and you are supplying them something that is not good for their health.

Q: People who take drugs often struggle with craving and repeated relapse in spite of treatment efforts. Guruji, please guide how should they handle this difficult situation?
Sri Sri: There should be constant touch for a few years at least. They should come for follow-up.

3 Types of Dhrutis by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

29 Thursday May 2014

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This is a question that was asked in the satsang with Sri Sri in the Bangalore ashram. Enjoy!

Q: What are the three types of dhrutis that Lord Krishna mentions in the 18th chapter of Gita?

Sri Sri: Dhruti means that which upholds or sustains life. For many people, the mind goes hay wire, They cannot even sustain or tolerate a small insult. A little bit of imperfection they cannot tolerate. Sattvic dhruti is that which sustains the mind, life energy, and activities of the senses. That which helps you to be steadfast in your yoga. Not like one day you do yoga and next you go for bhoga. Not like that. That which upholds your senses, your life is sattvic dhruti. Rajasic dhruti is of the type when I get results then I will deliver. This sort of mindset where your enthusiasm is related to some little reward is rajasic dhruti. It could be related to Dharma or it may not be related. Any work that is taken with the intention of getting results, such as fasting to achieve some results. What is God going to get is you fast? 
Tamasic dhruti is one who sleeps a lot. That is most important for them. Nothing else. Very fearful. You look at their face, they are always down, depressed.
If you cannot get married, you are upset. You get married, you are upset. This is tamasic dhruti. Always regretful. That should not have happened. I should have had like that. After 40 years of marriage, they think they should have married someone else. And arrogance. And one is unable to get of this negativity in the mind. Some people try to get out of it, but they are not able to get out of it. Lazy people, who can sleep anywhere, any time. In Kerela, I heard about a person that he can sleep at the dining table while he eats. Once I stayed at such a person’s home. That person’s servant, told me that my Master falls asleep while talking! Doctor said lets do a scan. A few years ago, the CT Scan was a new machine. He went for the scan. The doctors were wondering why is the machine making so much noise. He slept in the scanning machine and was snoring!
This happens when you do not have any aim in life. Often Ashrams are the base for lazy people. But we do not have this issue. In Ashrams, there is a issue about how to keep people busy. If you keep doing some activity, then you will not get lazy. 
One who is lazy, gets scared easily. Then behind fear, comes negative thoughts such as who will cremate me when I die, who will take care of me when I grow old. Some one will complete the cremation rights. Man is mad. If you do not want to leave the madness, then be mad for that which has made all these things not for the things made by Him. Then after this comes vishaad: they think about what happened many years ago and get upset. People will reach Mumbai from Bangalore, and then they will continue to say we should have booked another ticket. Vishaad has become a habit. A person who is enthusiastic and happy, they will not go into vishaad.

Then comes ego. People are in vishaad, often walk with arrogance. Have you seen the people who lost the elections? A wrestler falls and then he says there is no mud on my mustache, where have I fallen? One who cannot come out from a negative mindset. 
Now we have to see what type of dhruti we have: sattvic, rajasic, tamasic.

How to get out of this? 
Do seva, sadhana, satsang. 
Tamas gets converted to Rajasic and then to Sattva. 
If you are surrounded by Tamasic people then you will have more of that type of dhruti. Often kids say, throughout my life, no one has done anything for me. The way you behave in front of kids affects kids also. If you are in Tamo guna or rajas guna, then kids catch on to it very fast. Similarly, when four people get together, and one person says something negative and everyone else contributes negativity, then after half an hour when people go home they are so tired.

How to transform from Tamasic dhruti?

This path: Seva, Sadhana, satsang, right company.
Like dhrutis, doers are also of three types. Sattvic doer is happy whether work happens or not. 
Rajasic doer is happy if work gets done and unhappy when the work does not get done.
Tamasic doer is one who does not know what they have to do. And they are in vishaad.

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Devotion and GuruHood by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

13 Tuesday May 2014

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Q: Tell us about devotion to Guru.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There are three types of people who come to the Master, the student, the disciple and the devotee. A student goes to a teacher and learns something, gets some information and then he walks out of the School. There is no more information, just like looking at a guidebook, like a tourist guide. Then there is the disciple, the disciple follows the example of the Master. But a disciple is with the Master for the sake of learning wisdom, for the sake of improving his life, for the sake of attaining enlightenment. He has a purpose, a cause, so he is not just collecting information, but he goes a little deeper. He is trying to bring a transformation in his life. He wants to make sense out of his life. That is a disciple.And then there is devotee. A devotee is not there even for wisdom. He is simply rejoicing in love. He has fallen in deep love with the Master, with the Infinity, with the God. He doesn’t care as to whether he gets enlightened or not. He doesn’t care as to whether he acquires a lot of knowledge or wisdom or not. But that very moment, and every moment, he is immersed in divine love that is enough for him or her. A devotee is very rare to find.

Students are in abundance, disciples are a few, but the devotees are rare.

It is nothing great to become God or be God. Whether you want or not, all are already Gods. A stone is also a God. Where the devotion has flowered totally, the flower has blossomed, that is a devotee. Attraction is everywhere, love is somewhere, but devotion is again rare. Devotion is very beautiful. A student comes to a Master, Teacher, and Guru with tears in his eyes. There are so many problems, and when he leaves, he is carrying the same tears, but the quality of the tears is different, it is of gratitude. Still tears flow, but those are of gratitude, of love; it is so beautiful to cry in love.

One, who has cried even once in love, knows the taste of it, of surrender and of devotion and the entire creation rejoices it. The entire creation is longing for only one thing, the transformed tears, from salty tears to sweet tears.

One of Buddha’s disciples named Sariputra got enlightened. When he got enlightened, Buddha told him, “Now you go ahead, go into the world and preach, teach and do the same work I do, carry on my work.” Now Sariputra left Buddha, but he was crying and crying and people asked him, “Why are you crying when you are enlightened?” He said, “Who cares about this enlightenment, it could have waited, I would have waited. I didn’t even bother about it or asked for it because the joy of being at the feet of Buddha was so great. Being a devotee was so great, now I am missing this, I would have preferred that to this enlightenment.”

There once was a Zen Master who always thought that he was enlightened. He went around saying, “I am enlightened”. He happened to meet one of his Masters who gave him a puzzle, called ’koan’. The ‘koan’ was “the statue has eyes, the tears roll down silently”. Hearing this Zen Master was shaken and he said, “There is some depth in it”.

Like fatherhood and motherhood, there is Guru-hood. We all have to play Guru-hood at least to somebody. We do play! Consciously or unconsciously you are all Guru to somebody. You keep giving advices and guiding people, giving them loving care! You all do this, but do it 100%, without expecting anything in return: that is living the Guru principle. There is no difference between the divine, the Self and the Guru. They are all one. Meditation is relaxing and reposing. Think of all the things to be grateful for and ask what you want for the future and bless everyone. We receive so many blessings and we should also bless all those who are in need.

Entropy levels at Art of Living Ashram

17 Thursday Apr 2014

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A Friend of mine forwarded this about the entropy levels at the Art of Living ashram or any spiritual place in general. I have heard of entropy only in thermodynamics. Never expected it to be used to determine the level of disorder in the universe! That is interesting. In simple words, the level of entropy simple tells the level of disorder or confusion or chaos that is there in the energy system. The higher the level of entropy the more the chaos is and lower the entropy the more harmonious it is. So here is a question that is asked by a devotee during satsang (gathering together to uplift each other spiritually by singing, dancing, listening to knowledge, etc) to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and his answer is amazing.

Q: Gurudev, for the first time, scientists have been able to capture and record sounds from the depths of the Universe. Those sounds resemble that of the birds chirping at dawn, and they are mixed with the sounds from the Sun. It all seems very astonishing and fascinating. Please tell us what secret this is. 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Nature is a gold mine of such secrets. So many kinds of secrets lay hidden in the lap of Mother Nature.

A great scientist had visited the Ashram(Art of Living’s International Ashram in Bangalore) just day before yesterday. He brought a titanium radar along with him to measure the energy of the Ashram. He told me that the readings in the city were around 3.5 for the entropy (a scientific term signifying the degree of disorder or random movement of particles or objects in space). When he came to the Ashram, the reading fell to 0.5 (indicating a peaceful and stable environment). He also found that at the time of Satsang and the Purnaahuti (the peak moment of final offering to the sacrificial fire of a ritual), the reading fell to zero for a few moments! A zero reading means coming into contact, or being completely in the presence of God!

He told me that he had never witnessed such a thing before in his whole life. He said that the radar showed Zero entropy at those times. He was very fascinated with this. He conducted a thorough scientific study with the titanium radar for one whole hour. He said that the atmosphere of the Ashram is so peaceful and has such positive vibrations. He said that there is so much harmony here because the entropy readings are so low (higher entropy values correspond to more chaos and disorderly wave vibrations in the environment). He said that where the entropy is less, there is more orderliness and harmony. He said that in the city, the entropy value is 3.5.

In the same way, scientists today are able to determine where there is a greater presence of Divinity (positive vibrations and harmony). We anyway experience this when we are here. I have heard many people tell me that the moment they step foot in the Ashram, their entire state of mind becomes so positive. How many people have had this experience? (Many in the audience raise hands)

So, Nature is very mysterious!

So the next time you want to be more peaceful, calmer and more harmonious with your self and nature – you know where to go!

Handling Mistakes by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

06 Sunday Apr 2014

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There are three different ways how people handle mistakes

1. Seeing one’s own mistake as small while others mistakes are big

2. Better than that is seeing one’s mistake as big as much as other’s mistake

3. The best way is seeing a mistake as a mistake alone. It is neither his nor mine.

– Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Prana and Food

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

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Prana – one of the most misconstrued and misunderstood word in spirituality. A simple google search on prana comes back with its meaning as “breath, considered as a life-giving force”. Breath is only one aspect of prana and it makes sense for beings which breath. How about inanimate objects which dont breath? Do they have prana? Yogis have proved that one can stop breathing for long periods of time and yet continue to live.

Prana is much more than breath. It is the that universal energy or force present behind any thing. The blink of our eye, splitting of the atoms or splitting of meteors. Thousands of years ago the rishis fathomed the inherent quality of creation in this existence and they called it prana. Even a stone has a subtle level of prana in it for it to exist. Every object is floating in this vast sea of prana and receiving everything from it. (It is very easy to correlate prana to the higgs boson but I am not sure if they are the same. Maybe yes.) The yogis have been working with prana in their body to attain higher level consciousness. Everyone is born with a certain quantum of prana, but the quantity and quality change continuously, as one goes through life. There are 49 types of prana in the human body out of which 10 are considered important. Out of the 10, 5 of them are more important and more pervasive than all(more on them later). Positive thoughts, higher feelings and yogic practices generate higher levels of prana. The quantum of prana is influenced by the quality of the elements to which one is exposed and which one ingests in the course of life. Food and state of mind are two most important factors that affect the prana levels.

Food determines the quality of prana in a big way. The Bhagavad Gita refers to the quality of prana in different foods by categorizing them as sattwic, rajasic and tamasic. What type of food one eats determines his state of mind for the next few days. There was a very interesting experiment that was conducted by André Simonéton in France for establishing the pranic value of food. He used a simple pendulum on a piece of string, similar to that used by water diviners for dowsing, for this purpose. The subtle radiations emitted by organic matter affect the motion of a pendulum, causing it to swing and spin. By measuring the distance of a pendulum’s arc, and the speed of its spin, Simoneton was able to measure specific wavelengths, which indicate the intrinsic vitality and relative freshness of different foods. He published his research in Radiation des Ailments, Ondes Humaines, et Santé. 

On the basis of his findings, Simonéton divided food into four general classes. On a scale of zero to 10,000 angstroms, he found the basic human wavelength to be about 6.5 thousand. Foods that have wavelengths between this and 10,000 angstroms, he regarded as those of the highest quality.

  1. In this first class are fruits, fresh vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, ocean fish and shellfish. He found that food with a vital radiance of 8,000 to 10,000 angstroms caused the pendulum to rotate at the amazing speed of 4-500 revolutions per minute over a radius of 80 millimetres. Those between 6,000 and 8,000 angstroms spin at 3-400 revolutions per minute over a radius of 60 millimetre.

  2. In the next class, with radiations 6.5 thousand to 3,000 angstroms are eggs, peanut oil, wine, boiled vegetables, cane sugar and cooked fish.

  3. The third category, with very weak radiations below 3,000 angstroms, is comprised of cooked meats, sausages, coffee, tea, chocolate, jams, processed cheeses and white bread.

  4. The fourth category exhibits practically no life force and includes margarine, conserves, alcoholic spirits, refined white sugar and bleached flour. Meats, pasteurized milk and overcooked vegetables, which have a value of less than 2,000, are too low in energy to cause the pendulum to revolve at all.

We can see that meat and most of non veg food come under the fourth category where they had lesser than 2000 angstroms. That is why a vegetarian diet is considered to be better than a non-veg diet due to the amount of prana in them. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says

Your food is not just food: it is you. What you eat, you become.

There was this knowledge sheet on food by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar saying that the meat of the animal still carries the impressions and habits of the animal in it. When we eat it many of our attitudes are affected by it and if we are sensitive then we can notice the changes. Because of the heaviness of non-veg food, it take longer to digest it and introduces many toxins into our system by staying in the body for longer periods of time. It also becomes difficult to meditate since the food is heavier. Just eating right will have most of out ailments and diseases go away. Changing the way we eat will go a long way towards living right.

With Genetically Modified food coming out now, even the vegetarian food is becoming polluted. They are causing many serious situations and bad impact on the environment. It has caused many bad things from spoiling the soil of the lands to the suicide of so many farmers in India. So please avoid GM foods and share this message with your friends too.

Hope this post gave you information on prana and how eating the right food rises your prana levels. Maybe also gave you a reason to turn vegetarian :).

PS . Look out for my posts on more about prana and its differnet types and functions soon!