Sadhana for 2011

			Sadhana			Two beliefs •        Isavasyam Idam Sarvam (All is Siva) •        Firmly believe in the law of Karma
	Meditation Goal - Meditate regularly for atleast half hour at the same time everyday preferably morning.  Read Trilogy Goal - Read Trilogy for MC everyday @ same time everyday – preferably in morning
		Yamas (restraints) Ahimsa Non injury in thought, words & actions Satya Truthful and straightforwardness Asteya Neither coveting nor stealing or entering debt Brahmacharya Controlling lust & Sexual Fantasy Kshama Overcoming intolerance and impatience with people and circumstances Dhriti Overcoming non-perseverance, indecision and changeableness Daya Showing compassion by conquering insensitive and cruel feelings Arjava Honesty, being honest under all circumstances Mitahara Moderate Appetite, controlling food intake even amongst vegetarian food Shaucha Maintaining cleanliness of body, clothing and mind

Niyamas (Observances)

Hri	Showing remorse and shame for misdeeds
Santosha	Seeking for contentment, joy and serenity in Life
Dana	Giving generously without thought of reward or anything in return
Astikya	Faith in God, Scripture and the Guru
Ishwara Pujana	Worshipping God and Guru at the home shrine through Puja/ devotional songs
Siddhanta Sravana	Scriptural Study and listening to discourses from great souls
Mati	Cognition, developing a divine will and intellect under guidance of a guru
Vrata	Taking Sacred Vows under gurus guidance and fulfilling them without fail
Japa	Chanting the names of god with concentration and meditating on sound
Tapas	Performing Hatha Yoga and Deep meditation on regular basis

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Summary of learnings over the last few months

- Dissatisfaction usually works as a catalyst for good meditation.
- The motivation thought stratum preceeds every thought.
- Have the goal "final end result" very clear even amidst confusion.
- Affirmation is believing, Believing is everything - its the key to getting things done.
- Add a new habit in life - by setting up consequences for yourself.
- When you feel empty inside (no internal dialogues) and breath regulated - you are perceiving.
- Even When perceiving only the physical plane - you are superconscious
- When there is too much to get done - use the ajna chakra - as it functions at a higher rate of consciousness
- How we breathe is how we live.
- Give up the illusion that you are the "Doer" - Master Oogway
- Regulate all the time-pass activities - so that you don't get carried away by them (Ex: 2 hrs of TV - after that no more, similarly the computer time, internet time etc)

Nice learning in meditation today

Namah sivaya,

The constant dissatisfaction of not being able to "be" in the meditative state, ironically is the motivation for deeper meditation as i understand today.

Observe that one of the bigger distractions during meditation is language, of the inner mind, which constantly tries to explain itself or what the ego is upto. This can be avoided by concentration on the external world and regulated breath.

Hush the inner voice of the mind, look at it & mke sure it stops talking in order to reach the constant perception.

Once meditation is over carry the same power in external world and beware that the abundant energy just generated inside you after meditation should be used cautiously and not lost in lower emotional nature.



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The bondage of the soul

Anava, Karma and Maya - these keep the soul in bondage - day after day, year after year, decade after decade, life after life.

Seemingly good souls going through cycles of happiness and suffering - unable to understand each other and causing suffering to everyone and more specifically themselves. This is the dance of Siva, yes it truly is His dance, but one which is played with a tear in an eye.

Is suffering really a higher state of consciousness? Is all experience nothing but a learning? Anava is the individual ego always self centered, non understanding is its nature, people bound by anava always tend to see from their own perspective. They are emotional, tend to love themselves which is reflected in their talks of self pity. Blaming others due to their own self created karma, they are baffled in the ups & downs of happiness and distress - a creation of maya (a projection of their own mind).

Thus anava, karma and maya are responsible for keeping the soul bound to the cycle of birth, disease, old age and death.

Being energy

You need no shouting when you withdraw into understanding. You need no speaking when you are seated in superconsciousness. You need no holy rites when you are inwardly detached. You need no meditation when you have reached the actionless state.

Tirumantiram 1634

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Karma - The law of the mind

Karma - The law of the mind

Thursday, November 11, 2010

10:08 AM

During Diwali weekend - experienced a rather tough experience in life which made me realize the how my energies released-forth get back to me.  The energy which powers the mind, the body - comes from the very essence of existence. The energy can be used for both constructive, creative purposes or destruction.

There are guidelines in Hindu religion which propose the best way to use this energy - these guidelines are The Yamas and Niyamas found in classical Yoga. One of the most important Yama is Ahimsa. - Non-injury - not just physically but all by thoughts, words and actions. If the energies are used against this principle (by causing harm through thoughts) - the same would return back through "channels" - which could be anyone - relatives or friends.

I have vowed to use these energies of mine in a creative and constructive way - and vowed to follow ahimsa in Life after this experience from this great University of Life.

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Learnings from USA trip - Part 2

While attending the tech review meetings - I happened to meet a colleague whom i had only spoken on phone and seen photograph but never seen directly. His name was Dan E, we happened to be in the same team during the tech brainstorming sessions. I had heard about him from my manager - he was one of the smartest software engineers in the company.

During the architecure - sequence diagram brainstorming - we all were kind off stuck in one placve due to too many engineers giving too many opinions. And it was hard to figure of which was the right way. Every one involved were in confusion and we werent going anywhere for 2 - 3 hours. Thats when Dan sprang into action. he calmly opened his laptop - didnt pay attention to anyone around - just kept on jotting down his thoughts in a sequence diagram. His design was so good and so easy that people wondered why they didnt think about it before.

i observed that Dan had the ability to think and "see" clearly even amidst confusion. He was very good in memory and reasoning faculties (the muladhara and svadhistana chakras). He also served the US Navy for 6 years due to which his willpower was extremely good. If you observe people who have come from the army they dont have the word impossible / difficult in their dictionary. They just come up with solutions and strategies. Dan was one of them. I realized how well Dan was functioning in the higher chakras - firing all cylinders. He had very clear vision of the goal when discussing design - never lost sight of it. He had even implemented one of the trickiest modules in an earlier project - he had written the code which would do the replacement of Tactical softwares Serial IP Ethernet. He was designing the next gen product using SilverLight Technology. He was the best architect i had ever seen for a long time. We became very good friends from aquaintances and he told me all his army stories.

The key to the functioning of Manipura chakra is never losing the sight of the Goal - and then using other faculties of reasoning and memory to shoot like an arrow towards the goal.

Learnings from USA trip - Part 1

This month has been a lot of travel – which also means a lot of learning's. Travelled from Bangalore –> Mumbai –> Frankfurt –> Chicago –> Wauwatosa, USA.

My Very first Observation

I’m sitting in the Mumbai Airport inside the Indian Airlines Flight to Frankfurt – at the moment Sharath is next to me and i realize that i have forgotten my jacket back in the waiting area. the flight is almost full and getting ready for closing doors. At this moment my mind started speaking that there is no way i can make it back outside and get the jacket. Sharath calmly advised – You may not make it but you should at least try. His comment reminded me of the basic structure of the mind – it likes to believe what it already believes. In other words i was so much actually believing that i would NOT make it back and get the jacket – that i was seeing ways why i would not make it (such as a long queue of people trying to put cabin baggage up which would prevent my exit). At that moment i wanted to challenge my mind – I reversed my belief and told myself – yes, I'm going to go to Frankfurt with that Jacket – come what may !

When i reversed on my belief and meditated on it for a few seconds – I was now looking for solutions on why I can make it - found an alternate route out of the plane and jumped into action. I made it to the exit – then a cop asked me why I’m going out. i informed him that i missed my jacket – he accompanied me to the waiting area and I found my jacket lying there – Thankfully nobody had taken it away. I got it and i made it back into the aircraft and the doors closed after i entered.

This experience explained me the way the mind works – You simply have to believe if you want something. Belief will lead to positive thoughts on how to attain the goal – this in turn will make a person happy in life.

 

Overcoming Non-persistence

 

There is a famous saying - “Persistence is what makes it sound like that the Impossible is possible, possible – likely and likely definite”

A river cuts through rock – not because of its softness but because of its persistence.

The slogan “Press On” has and always will solve the problems of the human race.

I was concerned about my being Non-persistent in my important goals of life. I observe that I am persistent in some small jobs of life – such as “brushing teeth”, “getting ready & going on time to office” etc. But was not able to apply the same in my spiritual and personal goals.

The search continued on how to attain consistency. That’s when I found this beautiful article through the help of a friend.

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/athletics-physical-education-and-recreation/pe-550-designing-your-life-spring-2009/lecture-notes/MITPE_550iap09_s09_lec01.pdf

Its is from Massachusetts institute of Technology and it really helped me beat inconsistency. I’m able to beat the odds using this approach.

Goal 1 - Daily Meditation for at-least 1/2 hr.

Consequence (of not doing it) – Walking 2 km to Ganesh Temple

Goal 2 – Read Master Course lessons from Gurudeva’s Trilogy

Consequence (of not doing it) – Give 200 bucks to Wife.

BEFORE I adopted this strategy – my Success statistics were 2/8 (2 days out of 8 i was able to work consistently on my Goals)

AFTER I adopted this strategy – my Success Stats are 10/12 (10 days able to work on Goals consistency on 12 days) which is not Bad. Of course I had to walk 2 km on 2 days and also lost 400 bucks to wife :-)

As mentioned in the article – the consequence is not meant as a punishment but meant as a means to enforce integrity within myself. Now i can confidently say “Yes I can, I am able”

Aum Nama Sivaya

Staying Sub-Superconscious

My guru explains how to remain in this state in a simple way.

 

- Observe the objects which are showing up around you & look around. You are now aware in the conscious mind.

- Now be aware of the thoughts and feelings which are in your mind, simply be aware of them, You are now aware in the sub-conscious mind.

- Sit Straight with head balanced & feel the energies within the body, the source of them being the spine. Be aware of this energy & identify yourself with that energy by separating the feeling of energy. You are now aware in the super-conscious mind.

- Now open your eyes & simultaneously be aware of the things that you see in conscious mind, the thoughts in the subconscious mind, and the energy in the spine of the superconscious mind. Be aware that you are aware of the totality of your mind. You are now aware in the Sub-superconscious state of mind.

 

Great Vistas of Creativity are available to those who keep their awareness open in the subsuperconscious mind. Music, Art, Dance and such other Fine Arts come naturally to them. Intuition becomes of second nature. Its very easy to attain this state for short periods of time, more difficult to remain in the state for longer periods of time. There are many individuals who are creatively living in these higher states of consciousness everyday and doing their part to mankind.

Powerful Meditation

Last night there was a power cut at home & hence me and my wife went upstairs on the terrace for a walk. After some walk, she started listening to Music on her MP3 player while I sat cross legged on the terrace floor for a meditation.

- Took some 5 minutes for my mental and physical systems to cool down

- After that awareness was just in the present completely, the sound of the neighbourhood, the feel of the breeze, the honks of distant vehicles in the city, the sound of my own breath, walking sound of my wife, sound of the leaves, and there was no me, just perception. This might have continues for 10 minutes or so though I was not aware of the time.

- Then mind entered contemplation – to observe the observer of all the perceptions that were happening. This was when I observed the breath had come to standstill, i.e. the incoming and outgoing breath was neutralized to a very short in-out breath which almost became standstill. Was in this state for the next 5 minutes.

- The next moment I observe I was feeling my spine, I was feeling myself as in the observer, in the infinite super-conscious state. There was a mild light at the top of my head and also sound. Together there was a heaviness feeling in my head – as if all the activity was only in head and the body awareness was lost. I was just the head and spine – that how I felt. It was a beautiful state. Don’t know how long it lasted but i dont remember anything on the material plane during this state. No more sound of external world disturbed me or even came to my notice.

- Then my guru appeared in my meditation vision & he was cross-legged just like me. Then we spoke a few things which happened very fast. Next thing I remember is my wife calling me for dinner as power was back. I stayed in the same state for 5 mintes feeling completely refreshed, rejuvinated and full of energy.

Thanks to my guru for guiding me into such a wonderful meditation.

Unfinished business

Unattained goals continue to bother me as time flies day after day ... My focus after marriage has been my family completely .... All the prana is invested in family during weekends & work/intellect during weekdays. Yes, this is necessary as I need to learn to live with Siva before I can merge with Him.

And the concern over the non-attaining of career & material goals & hence their delaying is on the increase everyday.


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How we breathe is how we live

Off late I'm experiencing a state occasionally where I'm observing that the objects present themselves in their fullness, it just comes, when this happens there are only the objects showing up and no me (ego). A moment later contemplation jumps in & I observe that the objects do not exist for me if I wasn't there. In other words the life energy in me is responsible for the powering of my eyes, Ears, nose, skin etc which makes these objects appear and present themselves. If I were to withdraw this energy from my body, the objects really do not exist. So the whole world is just a projection of my own self. Would I see it If the energy didn't power my senses? No. To summarize light & sound constitutes all form and is a creation of the mind. The mind is nothing but form, creation, preserving, destroying forms & the cycles continue.

Also learning this beautiful lesson from tantra that How we breathe is how we live in life ... Breath has a direct connection to thought patterns. There must be a math equation to prove it, someone will surely prove it in future.

There are some more updates which must come shortly to this blog post.

The Triple Filter Test

My Gurudeva often mentioned that we should always speak what is Kind, Useful & Necessary. Recently got an email which mentions the same in a nice way.


In ancient Greece , Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?" 

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."  

"Triple filter?" 

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test." 

"The first filter is TRUTH. Have you made absolutely sure that what you  are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..." 

'All right," said Socrates . "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of GOODNESS. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?" 

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but  you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of USEFULNESS. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?" 

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates , "if what you want to tell me is neither true  nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?" 

USE this triple filter each time you hear loose talk about any of your near & dear friends.

Utilizing the Ajna Chakra

Over the past few days, I have started learning the power of Ajna Chakra (the command centre) also known as the third eye. Was able to visualize a complex problem in meditation and solve the same. The solution came in just a few seconds in meditation, but translating to the the physical solution after I came out from Meditation and started working on the solution – took approximately 4 –5 hours.

The Visualization using the third eye functions at a higher rate that the conscious mind, hence the difference in timing. Complex solutions can come in an intuitive flash in seconds, but the same may take many hours of work when translated to actual work which of-course requires again channelizing the willpower on the specified work (without getting affected if distractions do come and bother).

Need to continue the use of the Ajna chakra more often for contributing to mankind in a better way ever day ! Thanks to my Gurudeva for teaching me its existence & use.

Zen

1. Learning a lot of things from my Italian friend - I myself get to learn lot of things while we communicate. Thanks Mirko.

2. Thanks to Mitti for casually introducing me to zen meditation. I am able to get more contemplative by practicing their koans (koan is a question - which can't be solved by the intellect and may not make sense but can be only answered through intuition) - example: what's the sound of left hand? Who am I now? To whom is this thought? Who is the non thinker? Etc

When in zen state - "now" is experienced. I'm not planning anything - the Objects are just showing up in their fullness. Its possible for me to easily be in that state for short durations - but being there for longer durations is a challenge - or that's what my mind opines. Daily i observe that i don't take my own mind and its opinions seriously anymore. Dear mind, you are losing hold of me. I'm getting free and one day u will just be my tool who will come only when i will.

Shifu in kungfu panda says - give up the illusion that you are the doer. I applied this at work and was amazed by the results. Mind is no more in an urgency or fear of failure. There is just pure persistence and i was able to solve a really complex problem at work. Thanks shifu. Yes, all are teachers in this life. Some teach what to do, some teach what not to do.

Anbe siva mayam satyame parasivam

Insights from Europe

Im currently enjoying my stay in Peaceful Florence, Italy in Europe.

"Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny."
-- Tyron Edwards


Many time I observe the things happening to me. I have no choice but agree the laws of karma are very very strong, deliberate, intense and loving. Their job is simple - return to you what you set forth. Its a flow of pranic energy basically which makes up karma. The odic energy (intense feelings and hurt emotions) get back to u in a super overdose had u been trying to escape from it from a long time. Similarly the good things in the form of actinic energies also come along which give you respect, charisma, timing and delivery in work and career. Sometimes i see things taking care of themselves without any effort which i initially was so tensed of. Its like thinking about going to doctor and pain disappearing.

When i'm in a situation - lets say bad situation - i throw my awareness for a moment to the great people in Europe who are leading wonderful, affluent, happy lifestyles. They have everything - education, money, career, intellect and the calm spiritual side which you can ever dream of. May be this entire life and future life times u have wished to live the life they are living NOW. But before you start getting agitated and depressed that you are not so - also remember that a fruit cannot mature and fall before its time. This is the truth and only truth - All of us have come from Siva, live in Siva and unknowingly or knowingly going back to Siva. So live life with Lot of Love to fellow men seeing Him in all. Thats the purpose of life. Everything becomes pale in the light of love.

"Anbee Sivamayam Satyame Parasivam"

Translation : Siva is immanent love and absolute reality

Learnings from Kung Fu Panda - awesome movie :)

Master Oogway

• One often finds his destiny in the path he takes to avoid it.
• There are no accidents.
• Quit. Don't quit. Noodles. Don't noodles. You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There's a saying. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift that is why it is called the "present".

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shifu: I... I... have... It's a... It's a very bad news.
Oogway: Aah, Shifu. There's just news.There's no good or bad.
Shifu: Master, your vision... Your vision was right. Tai Lung has broken out of prison. He's on his way.
Oogway: That is bad news... if you do not believe that the Dragon Warrior can stop him
Shifu: Panda? Master, that Panda is not the Dragon Warrior. He wasn't even meant to be here. It was an accident.
Oogway: There are no accidents.
Shifu: Yes, I know. You said that already...twice.
Oogway: Well, that's not an accident either.
Shifu: Thrice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oogway: My friend, the panda will never fulfill his destiny, nor you yours until you let go of the illusion of control.
Shifu: Illusion?
Oogway: Yes.
[points at peach tree]
Oogway: Look at this tree, Shifu: I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time.
Shifu: But there are things we *can* control: I can control when the fruit will fall, I can control where to plant the seed: that is no illusion, Master!
Oogway: Ah, yes. But no matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Shifu: But a peach cannot defeat Tai Lung!
Oogway: Maybe it can, if you are willing to guide, to nurture it, to believe in it.
Shifu: But how? How? I need your help, master.
Oogway: No, you just need to believe. Promise me, Shifu, promise me you will believe.

Experience Karma by Observation

 

My Gurudeva often says than much Karma can be gone through without actually going through a physical experience. One of the way to experience the Karmic learning’s is to go through it in meditation. Using the Ajna chakra or the third eye one can see ones own karma of past live or of future happenings and, single out the seed for it, and ‘throw it’ – in gurudeva’s words !

We ourselves are the creators of karma in the lower states and we ourselves have the capability to destroy it in the higher states of consciousness.

I recently experience this phenomenon during my stay at Germany, was observing how i was able to either pick up ‘new’ or ‘existing’ karmas or drop them off through observation and focus of awareness over it.

I plan to implement this aspect of focussed observation of my own karmas, most importantly the ones which make me react. I will observe them, I will find out the root cause of them (i already know theoretically that I myself have sent out this karmic energy in this or a prior life time), And I'm going to bury them forever by Sivas Grace.

I already have a list of things which make me react in office and at home when im alone with myself. I'm going to give myself to Servicing to myself in my meditation :-)

Love you Gurudeva

Movies with a message

As life and religion become more experiential everyday than theoretical I begin to see learning's & only learning's everywhere.

Saw 3 idiots & shawshawnk redemption movies again for the second time recently. Loved the messages it had.

3 idiots: don't strive for success or money, strive for excellence. Do what u are passionate about. Make ur hobby ur work. Then there won't be difference between work and joy or play.

Shawshank redemption: get busy living or get busy dying.

This movie shows the power of so many things such as hope, persistence, steadiness, patience, commitment, friendships, timing, practice, etc

Dufrense crawled in many yards of stinking gutter and are out clean on the other side.

Give and you shall be given. There is something in you that can never be taken no matter how much ever anyone tries. that's the power of will.

--
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Impossible is nothing

 

Germany trip

This trip gave me lot of important learnings. Basically learned the power of love and how it relates to happiness of one and all.

Martin just said "i like to spend a lot of time with family and kids" ... It kind of summarized the whole thing for me. This experience triggered a change in me with respect to how I deal with circumstances @ family or at work.

Love is Siva, Siva Is love. This is what all the nayanars stressed. This is wat is stressed repeatedly in all scriptures. Simply love one and all, whether its your family it your customer and understand what makes them happy and simply provide their needs. Your problems will then take care of themselves. And like charity loving and caring begins @ home.

--

Karmic Playground

 

Met some new Anava margis who happen to stumble upon your path in life ? I'm not sure if the experience was pleasant for you, its definitely not for me.

One thing to understand from these I, Me and myself types is that there is no way to convince or make them understand because selfishness rules first in them. They are going through their evolutionary patterns creating new karmas as a result.

My complete surrender to the law of karma has produced some miracles off late in my life. The way I escaped from losing the appointment at Chennai consulate. The way i beat the odds in coming out with a solution at work for the Waveform Gap issue, The way I again beat the odds by getting the Difficult 3G pre to post conversion with International Roaming in a day beating all the process overheads – all prove the same thing – If it were not your karma you wouldn't be in that situation in the first place.

Next week I'm in Germany – meeting many new souls having different evolutionary processes but those who spend mostly time in the intellect. Let me see how it goes and what karma has in store for me – I'm still clueless where ill stay when i land in Freiburg on Saturday night as my bookings are done only from Sunday. Its this uncertainty that makes life exciting and I'm all IN for it !

Update: On the last day another miracle, I got a flight rescheduled at the last moment with no extra cost ! And thereby spend Sunday night comfortably at Hotel. Yes now I truly believe that i love uncertainty and karma. Welcome guys, I'm game !

Nice learning today !

 

Learnt quite a bit from my neighbor uncle Mr.. Ram about planning in life. At the moment my life is proceeding in an undisciplined manner like a drunk monkey out at large in a neighborhood.

His thoughts which struck me were – about how his brothers love and respect for his parents led him to live a fulfilling life. The insignificance of money when compared to relationships and its temporary nature. The power to understand the other people and do the right thing at difficult circumstances when the feeling is uncomfortable. ABOUT HOW EVERYTHING IN LIFE CAN BE PLANNED STARTING FROM SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS GIVING TIME TO PEOPLE OR SOMETHING AS BIG AS MAKING FAMILY MEMBERS HAPPY and DRAWING A BALANCE BETWEEN WORK LIFE AND PERSONAL LIFE.

The last part had to be underlined because that’s where I’m not faring well. Its high time I plan the way I live my life starting from morning to night and weekends and long term and short term plans. 

Also understood how the intellect can be used to avoid many situations and can be used to steer the mind in the right direction. Off late I'm living my life by analyzing everything that happens as a result of karma. I’ve been out and through dangerous situations in this life time and i attribute the escapades to karma as well. Time to strengthen the will and do some serious planning now. Then comes execution. Coz a Goal without a plan IS JUST A WISH.

The Flow of Karmic Energies

Thoughts are quicker than words. But the mind likes to verbalise the thoughts in order to get a sense of satisfaction.

Off late, I'm beginning to observe the flow of karmic energies between myself and people around me. I observe that many a times, the karmic reaction that a person has to receive ends up happening through me. And sometimes the karmic reaction that I need to receive happens through them.

I'm beginning to understand how it can be very important at times to stay aloof and unattached to people, places, things and circumstances.

Also have begun to realise that if I'm surrounded by negative people who are pessimistic and complaining all the time, their attitudes are not to be blamed for this, they're going through their evolutionary cycle.

And somehow knowingly or unknowingly I myself have invited the circumstances and association with such people. Dealing with them and going through the experiences they offer is a part of my karma. Hence it has to be faced positively.

Reacting to them will only cause more karma to get accumulated in the sanchita karma bucket. This in turn will cause more associations with such people in a future life as well.

Face all karma cheerfully and at the same time be unattached to people place circumstances gadgets career intellect, material possessions etc.

Do not unnecessarily get into conversations , no matter how tempting it is with known or unknown people unless required. This will open up less possibilities for karma to use you to deliver its energies. Affectionate detachment is the key word that gurudeva uses to explain the attitude to be sought.

Chennai Visit

It was a wonderful meeting with Bodhinatha gurudeva at Chennai at the GRT Grand Hotel. Some of the key takeaways from that appointment are

• See and Love Siva in everyone, remember that each has that potential of Sivaness yet to be realized.
• Pay full attention without any internal chanting when in a conversation, this will make sure others don't feel that you are pre-occupied.
• Pay attention to the few crucial problems / complaints from the many if they are thrown at you.
• Perfection in Willpower automatically leads to direct cognition. And willpower cultivation means – finishing what you start and making sure you do things to the best of your abilities, putting more effort in every step possible. It doesn't matter if the work being done is trivial like washing a vessel, cutting a vegetable or advanced as developing software or designing a complex algorithm. Willpower can be applied equally in both.

I am also reading a book called “Effortless Meditation”. The wonderful thing I realized about it is that if a thought is coming spontaneously in your mind and if you perceive it that it came (without getting into the thinking aspects of it) then you are in stillness and in effortless meditation. The idea is to be in Effortless meditation all of the time.

Life with Shum is good!

It takes a while to understand that the past or the future really doesn't exist. I was working on solving a complex problem today and at the same time practising Shum in my mind. I observe that the awareness moves into the various strata of mind such as vumtyeudi and there is a lot of intellectual aggression towards solving the problem. Then awareness briefly moved into la and lam states. Then into the uuu state and a lot of thoughts and concepts are interrelated. I wasn't able to solve the problem. Then it was lunchtime, and consciously took awareness into the laf state while gobbling rotis. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere, I intuitively found a solution for the problem which had kept my mind boggling for hours. When we are involved with the world and its ramifications it's easy to forget simple solutions to complex problems and there is a tendency to get carried away. Consciously bringing mind into focus into the laf state is the key to get solutions for those problems.

The more I practice Shum language the more I understand the importance of practising it. When things don't work your way awareness quickly switches to the future, which can be quickly detected through Shum.

Designing your life

Ever wondered how our own belief systems design our life and how it can be changed? MIT has the answer

click below

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Athletics--Physical-Education-and-Recreation/PE-550Spring-2009/LectureNotes/index.htm

or

http://bit.ly/cJPEMV

Summary: Everything that we are facing in the present is a direct result of our belief systems (or theories) which have gone in our subconscious mind in the past. We can change the future anytime by changing our current beliefs & theories we have about oneself, others & towards the world.

Fate versus Karma

A friend tries hard to succeed by taking a big risk in his career by quitting his current job and trying to win a better job, at the end all his plans are foiled and he loses the job he was seeking for to someone else, along with the earlier semi-stable job. Meets his friends and relatives and shares his agony with them – about how unfortunate he is and how fate is playing a big role in his life – and something doesn’t allow him to move past a particular point in life. He also loses faith in all the temples and gods he visited and the numerous Guruji’s & prophets who had promised him success. I have seen many people start hating God and denying that there is no such thing called god existing.
In the past - I have encountered similar situations in my own life – I try hard to correct a problem – it backfires or just doesn’t work no matter what I try. On some days it seems like a very smooth sail, on other days no matter how hard I work the storm just keeps getting worse.
Here is the answer for such questions from my gurudeva: Consistency is the key to the conquest of Karma. Whatever happens to us in life is not due to fate. There is no such thing called fate. Whatever happens to us – good or bad is a result of ones own making – ones own beliefs, lifestyles, past grooming, the way one lived life since childhood, past lives etc. We alone are responsible for the good or bad decisions as well which we make as we sail through the river of life.
I heard Vivekananda’s saying once which says : Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached. Another guy called Randy Pausch – a very famous professor from the Carnegie Mellon University - said the same thing. The stumbling blocks that come to stop you from reaching the goal come for a reason. They want to know how badly you want your goal ! They are there to stop the others who don’t want the goal as badly as you want ! The famous Japanese guru (Pai Mei) from the movie “Kill Bill” screams at Uma Thurman -- during the Kung-Fu training when she cries in pain while hitting the wooden blocks with her bare fist - ‘Hit  it harder, The wood should be afraid of your fist !”
To summarize – consistency and willpower are the keys to the conquest of karma. There is nothing called fate. We make our own fate through setting positive or negative patterns in life.
This inspiring story of Abraham Lincoln portrays one such example:
A common list of the failures of Abraham Lincoln (along with a few successes) is:

• 1831 - Lost his job
• 1832 - Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature
• 1833 - Failed in business
• 1834 - Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)
• 1835 - Sweetheart died
• 1836 - Had nervous breakdown
• 1838 - Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
• 1843 - Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
• 1846 - Elected to Congress (success)
• 1848 - Lost re-nomination
• 1849 - Rejected for land officer position
• 1854 - Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
• 1856 - Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President
• 1858 - Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate
• 1860 - Elected President of the United States (success)

Here is the famous Pai Mei training scene from Kill Bill

Beautiful Language – Shum

Learning this beautiful Shum  language. Helps me figure out where exactly my awareness is at any point of time. Right now it is at “La” which is the vibration associated with the second dimension of mind.
When I’m thinking I’m in “lam”. Its all emotions, thoughts, ideas, beliefs, concepts, partial concepts, things which we think again and again and give it a sense of permanency.
Then I feel this beautiful “simshumbisi” , the sound of ‘eee’ sound which is actually heard when the thread of awareness moves (“nimf”) from  “kaif” to “iikaif”.
“lam” state is always not a good place to be in, especially the thoughts are so many and the mind in this state adds to itself, full of ramification. We are we only are responsible for giving any thought a sense of permanence. We can goof up things as if its the end of the world – or live in the present – go with the flow – and treat it just as an experience.
Observing objects with pure perception (no thoughts) is the “niif” state. “kalibasa” is the area of the mind where breath is perfectly under control. (pranayama) With inbreath of 9 counts and outbreath of 9 counts.and a hold of 1 count each.

Have received requests on how to learn this language: below are some tips:

1. Make a start here 

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/html/livespiritually/become-student/materials/shum_18colors.pdf

2. Use Anki Droid App for memorizing the colors associated with Shum

I have created a shared deck for interested students, this deck can be imported into AnkiDroid

https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1341912134

3. There is also a Master Course group in Facebook, you can learn more from how others are learning it. Below is the link for the group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mastercourse/?ref=bookmarks


Hope this should help get started

Beautiful Movie

Forrest Gump, what a wonderful movie ! Tom Hanks plays the lead role. Very good performance. When he is a kid, school refuses to take him in because his IQ is well below average (<80) and is autistic. He gets in though only to find that His schoolmates treat him like an animal. He is treated as the “unwanted one”. Nobody likes to sit next to him in the school bus and is treated like dirt. Except for one girl – Jenny who offers him a seat.

I was discussing about this movie with Mitti in office bus and he rightly summarized it – It shows the power of human spirit !

An untalented, low IQ young boy is taught by his mom only one thing – “Don’t allow others to say that you cant do anything.”

This movie opened my eyes in some aspects

The Insignificance of Money

• Forrest puts all his money earned from Ping Pong endorsement to buying a shrimp boat because he had promised his dead friend Bubba that he would start a shrimp business along with him.
• Once becoming a millionaire in shrimp business Forrest donates more than half his fortune to Bubba’s family and building a medical centre and then starts working on cutting grass for free.

“Forrest Gump: And cause I was a gazillionaire, and I liked doin it so much, I cut that grass for free.”

[When he doesnt get a single shrimp from sea he says the below]

“Forrest Gump: [dejected] No shrimp.
Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: Where the Hell is this God of yours?
Forrest Gump: [narrating] It's funny Lieutenant Dan said that, 'cause right then, God showed up”

The Impermanence of Relationships

“Forrest Gump: You died on a Saturday morning. And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't. Little Forrest, he's doing just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping-pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud of him. I am. He, uh, wrote a letter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there's anything you need, I won't be far away.”

The Power of Selfless Will

Forrest Gump: I gotta save Bubba!

Mrs. Gump: You have to do the best with what God gave you.

The Power of Love & Understanding

Forrest Gump: You know it's funny what a young man recollects? 'Cause I don't remember bein' born. I don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don't know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But I do remember the first time I heard the sweetest voice in the wide world.

Jenny Curran: Were you scared in Vietnam?
Forrest Gump: Yes. Well, I-I don't know. Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out... and then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou. There was always a million sparkles on the water... like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It's so beautiful.
Jenny Curran: I wish I could've been there with you.
Forrest Gump: You were.

I got quite emotional on seeing the movie, it kind of made me feel how insignificant we are when we try and judge or criticize other people who are playing mere roles as designed by the cosmos.

PERSISTENCE

The movie also shows the power of persistence over everything else. A guy who has no vision or expectation from life – who does things just for the sake of doing, repeatedly on seemingly stupid projects – attains all the success in life.

DEDICATION

Another characteristic which led him to his success was his Absolute dedication to Mentors/guru and Love for peers.

Thank and bless those who make you react

We might come across individuals in life who can irritate the hell out of you. They’ll make you angry, sad, depressed, jealous, inferior by behavior as if they are superior.

Naturally the instinctive nervous system feels like giving back to them at the first chance it gets. The trained intellect may intervene and show some toleration. But the ego continues with the reacting within.

I must thank these individuals who make me react this way, because they are providing me knowledge about myself, things i didn't know about myself. If the tendency to react is there in me, then it clearly means that this particular experience was not handled properly in a prior life – which is why life is testing / re-testing me with these experiences now. The individuals who cause it are mere players of the cosmic dance. But they deserve a mental “thanks” for they are bringing out the hidden samskaras or reactionary patterns buried deep within the muladhara chakra.

Life is meant for solving such day to day problems and reactionary experiences – and slowly give up the instinctive life. Then the soul begins to merge with the physical body gurudeva says. These so called problem creating individuals are helping me in my own evolution, so I'm really grateful to them.

Aum Namah Sivaya

Working using the Ajna chakra

Using the Ajna chakra while doing day to day activities helps me in many ways

1. it helps me protect inner life by living 2/3rd within
2. helps me prioritize work – which should be done first – first things first
3. provides me relaxation while working and during the planning phases
4. makes working strategy very efficient
5. able to take help from the gods so that the timing in life for experiences becomes perfect – things are available and show up - just in time
6. helps me not get carried away by anything be it work or personal life with family
7. makes/keeps me aware of the spine so that i don't talk unnecessarily or excessively
8. makes me aware when I'm about to react/ about to get emotional – and thereby making me aware of unresolved learning's in the mind for which action – such as VDT (Vasana Daha Tantra) can be taken.

Upcoming Experiences

Had a super conscious experience few nights back during sleep. Every time it happens; it awakens me from sleep and I'm fully conscious of my body especially inside the head region.

A high frequency sound is heard as I enter it, and I enter it almost naturally without any effort. And then comes a light inside the head somewhere above the eyebrows (from the inside). The light keeps changing it color from white to blue. And awareness stays there sometime until slowly the energy wanes back from the head back to the spine.

After that experience a lot of things got smoothened out on the material plane. Lot of unpleasant karma got smoothened out. Gurudeva mentions the high ‘eee’ sound as one of the preliminary siddhis. I’m glad to see this being realized in real.

Small Awakenings

 

I know I am super conscious right now, all i have to do i observe and stop the subconscious thoughts & the voice of the little ego and shut down the conscious mind by closing the eyes. That’s all there is to reach it, but more difficult to sustain it.

The ego searches for constant improved life, improved relationships, improved conversations, its always in the doer mode instead of being the be’er mode. shutting up the ego avoids a lot of conflicts and allows us to cheerfully bear the karma and move on to the next experience rather than repeating the same old experiences.

Off late I'm realize the dire need to wake up early or at least wake up once awake and depolarize the body and not leave it half polarized in half sleep, the outcome – awareness going into the unexpected area – the sub of the subconscious mind. trust me, its not a nice area to be in.

Meditation and the energy released from it makes the memory patterns come out swiftly from the Muladhara chakra and magnify the latent karmas, that’s why experiences become intense for a beginner in meditation.

The newest learning I had is when advising somebody a solution one should look back at the experiential pattern where I myself (oneself) wiggled out of the same situation in a prior experience – maybe which happened in this or past lifetime and explain that rather than use the intellect. Experiential Knowledge is always the best than bookish or intellectual knowledge.

The current objective for me is often try to be the observer of the little ego instead of being the little ego constantly trying to improve itself from its cocoon of self created experiences.

Aum Nama Sivaya