Be observant, attentive and tune in. You will be surprised how much you will hear and see. I walk in a park and where there are cats, birds, and squirrels. It is interesting to watch as there is a pecking order in the animals and birds. They are respectful of each other and are not pushing and shoving each other. I started bringing biscuits for them. Continue reading
Category Archives: Prana Yoga Shastra
474 – Interruptions
What happens when we are engaged in a task and we are interrupted? Do we get upset, angry, enraged? We are victim to all these feelings and some of us get so disturbed that our thought process is involved with the disturbance and our day is shot to pieces. Our system succumbs to the fight-flight-fright response and the quality of our task is affected. Continue reading
473 – How do we interpret Awareness?
Is it possible to become aware by the daily practice of Asanas and pranayama? When we have finished our sadhana, do we rush off into our daily life activities? Do we snap at our children, dogs, partner and our colleagues? Do we feel empathy for someone who is not able to perform a task properly? There are so many daily issues and how do we react to them? Continue reading
472 – A rainbow in the sky
Taittiriya Upanishad says,
Matru devo bhava, Pitru devo bhava, Acharya devo bhava. Let you be the one, who worships mother, father, teacher, and guests as God.
What if we cannot revere our parents? Continue reading
471 – Love’s doors are always open
Proverbs about love are universal.
Love understands all languages. – Romanian
Love has to be shown by deeds, not words. – Swahili
The heart that loves is always young. – Greek
The course of true love never did run smooth. – William Shakespeare.
In the Gita, Krishna said there are various paths for spiritual progress—karma yoga, jnana yoga, dhyana yoga and bhakti yoga. He also mentions throughout his discourses that there is a secret message; a secret that only a heart filled with love can fathom. (Bhagavad Gita 4.3)
The Gita is essentially a revelation of divinity’s love for humanity as well as a love call for humanity’s love for reciprocal love for divinity. Let us tread the path of love as revealed by Krishna. Let us love and be loved. – Swami Prabhupada.
For those who have conquered the mind, it is their friend. For those who have failed to do so, the mind works like an enemy. – Bhagavad Gita 6.6
My dear ones, attend to your mind, liberate it by banishing anger, hate and fears. Open the doors of love.
Aim Hrim Klim
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
470 – Round cakes
Have you ever thought as to why cakes are round? I personally prefer square cakes as they are easier to cut. Raising twin sons and baking cakes all the time, I found baking a square cake was so practical. There was no wastage and no quarrels as to who got the largest slice. It is also more economical. Continue reading
469 – Individual or collective consciousness
What is consciousness? Consciousness is your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensation and of the environment. The complete meaning of consciousness is your awareness of yourself and the world around you. Continue reading
468 – An open and free mind
A story about a Buddhist Nun.
Pattachara was born in a well to do family. She fell in love with a servant and ran away with him. She became pregnant and she wished to return home to have her baby. She could not reach her home and she delivered her child on the roadside. When she became pregnant a second time, she wished to make her way home. Continue reading
467 – The rules of disengagement
The world is such a beautiful place. The sky is blue, the sun is shining, the flowers are fragrant and dazzling with their colors, the fragrance is enveloping us and the taste of a fruit lingers in our mouth. The sound of the rustling of the leaves and the brushing of the breeze on our face. All our senses are tuned to these wondrous gifts of responses from mother earth. What happens our senses are very seductive; they ensnare us and we become their willing victims. Continue reading
466 – Hang out your laundry
And bid 2022 farewell.
Visualize all your thoughts, feelings, doubts and fears hanging on a clothesline. Let them become bleached and pure. There is no burden on you. You have ceased to be a donkey with such an overload. Your mind is like a field with bright sunshine and you have aired all these emotions, reactions and sentiments. Continue reading
465 – Prana, our subtle breath
Having controlled the Prana and Apana, during Kumbhaka (breath retention), with the gaze fixed steadily at the tip of the nose, performing shanmukh mudra with the fingers of both hands, the mind merge itself in the sound of pranava, Aum. – Upanishads.
Shanmukh mudra is practiced when one closes the ears with the thumbs, the eyes with the index fingers, the nostrils with middle fingers, and place the little finger below the lips. Release the pressure of the middle fingers and open the nostrils. Inhale slowly and deeply using full yogic breathing. At the end of the inhalation, close the nostrils with the middle fingers and practice Kumbhaka (holding breath). Hold breath for as long as possible. Release the pressure of the middle finger and slowly exhale.
What are the Upanishads saying?
Through one’s breath awareness, one is able to control inhalation and exhalation. When this is accomplished, one is able to rid oneself of negativity, doubts and fears. The outcome is one’s thoughts are no longer the rulers of one’s mind.
The mind, when it is free from thoughts, desire and motion, merges in the supreme Brahman. This state is Samadhi. – Upanishads.
The year is ending and what is the resolution one can make? Balance one’s prana and to do that practice Samvrit Pranayama. Inhale to the count of five, hold the breath to the count of five, exhale to the count of five and hold the breath outside to the count of five. Practice 27 times with the mantra So Ham, Aum or your personal mantra. Remain on the spiritual path.
Aim Hrim Klim
464 – The flame of the lamp
Is it steady or is it wavering? When one meditates with a lighted lamp, it plays a lot of games with one. Sometimes the light whooshes and wavers from side to side, or it consumes the wick. Often one keeps lighting it and it does not light. Continue reading
463 – Goodbye Angst, Hallo Love
Welcome your thoughts of sharing, kindness, and love. Look around you and smile. Express your feelings. Use the word like, enjoy and believe. See the difference in your face with these expressions. Continue reading
462 – Pure love
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is what you give of yourself that you truly give. – Khalil Gibran
It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out. The value of man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving. – Albert Einstein
No one has ever become poorer by giving. – Anne Frank
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. – Pablo Picasso
Love, serve, give. – Swami Sivananda
461 – Apply the colors of Christmas in your life
Red, green, gold, purple, white, and blue have very potent associations. The attributes of the colors are very powerful. Red is associated with love, green with regeneration, gold with energy, purple with spirituality, blue with the heart, and white with purity. Continue reading