The Visshudhi chakra is the chakra for communication. I am discussing the visshudhi chakra in isolation for a specific reason. The visshudhi chakra is purple and it is associated with Aakash (ether). The udana prana rules this chakra and the function of this prana is to purify our body of toxic substances, while exhaling. Purification occurs at all levels, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Continue reading
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, my Guru and founder of the Bihar School of Yoga, spent twelve years in Swami Sivananda’s ashram. In that period, he found that many persons wrote to Swami Sivananda, asking for help and treatment for their health problems. He would suggest that they practice Yoga. Continue reading
Rage is an intense emotional state of displeasure with someone or something. Tranquility is a state of freedom from storm or disturbance. How does one keep a balance? There is only one way, which is being aware of one’s breath. What does this do for one? Does it banish one’s rage, one’s turmoil in one’s mind? It does. Continue reading
We all have this image of Shiva meditating and we wish we could go into this wonderful state. However, the path to reach a meditative state is full of pebbles and sharp stones. Our conscious, subconscious and unconscious thoughts are the thorns, which are in the way. Continue reading
The mind is like the wind. You’re trying to stop the wind, dressed as a kite. How are you going to do it? – Mooji
If I can control my kite, I can control my thoughts through my Prana.
Close your eyes. Become aware of the breath, flowing in and out of the nostrils. Become aware of the Prana, the life force in your breath. Start counting backwards from 54 to 0. Make no mistakes. Be centered on the Prana, visualize it as a light going in and out of the nostrils.
Whisper your intentions into the Prana when you exhale, releasing them to the universe. You can also tie small pieces of paper with your wishes to a tree and let the wind carry them away. When your wish is fulfilled, you can open any paper.
Hanuman is the Lord of Prana and he is the son of the Pawan, the God of Wind. When our Prana is purified, our mind becomes steady and free from thoughts. We pray to Hanuman for steadfastness and dedication.
Aim Hrim Klim
In Fengshui there are four colors which are regarded as powerful. They attract wealth and abundance, and they are purple, deep blues, gold and dark greens.
Purple is associated with spirituality and one’s interior life. It is also associated with material possessions. It is believed that if we feel complete, we will send that energy out into the world and riches will begin to find their way to us. Continue reading
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that: Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. – Martin Luther King Jr.
Sleep is an essential part of our life. When we sleep, we are rejuvenated. Why is that? It is because our mind is not operational and our pranas are resting. They are in harmony and have put us to bed.
It is now becoming a source of anxiety that children are not sleeping enough. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends this: Continue reading
How careful we must be to use words? There are words and words. It is like a bag of jelly beans and you can choose a word yourself. Words can comfort or hurt. Be careful in your choice. Continue reading
The ancient sages believed that life is nothing but an expression of consciousness and energy. Mind and matter are the expressions of consciousness and energy. Consciousness and energy manifest as life in the form of spirit, mind, senses, intellect and ego. Both are present in every aspect of creation in the form of Astha prakriti, the eight-fold aspect of manifest nature. Continue reading
How do we perceive ourselves? We have forgotten that we went through 84,000 births to be a human. So why do we think that we are not perfect. I know one must be humble but one must not feel rejected. I came across jokes on dating sites in the New Yorker magazine. Now New Yorker magazine is read by cerebral persons and it is an amazing magazine. I love its articles, stories, jokes and poems. If one is published in this magazine, then one is recognized. Coming back to my original thought, I found the jokes funny but humiliating. They had a mean barb in it. They could lead to further undermining of one’s self esteem. Continue reading
Quotes from Tulsidas.
Vipado naiv viadah naiv sampadah
Vipado vismaranam Vishnu sampadah Narayan smritti.
Forgetting God is the greatest calamity in life and the greatest prosperity lies in remembering him. Continue reading
Goddess Baglamukhi is the eighth Dasa (ten) Mahavidya (Goddesses of Wisdom). Her name means one who has control of the tongue and of the mind. She provides control over one’s emotions and misbehavior (anger, jealousy, etc.). Continue reading
Sarva-dvarani sanyamya mano hridi nirudhya cha
Murdhnyadhayatmanah pranam asthito yoga-dharanam.
All the gates of the body restrained, the mind confined within the heart, one’s life force fixed in the head, established in concentration by Yoga. Continue reading
Nature’s beauty is an act of God
Let us feel the touch of God’s invisible hands.
In everything beautiful
By the first touch of his hand,
Rivers throb and ripple
When He smiles the sun shines,
The moon glimmers, the stars twinkle,
The flowers bloom
By the first ray of the rising sun
The universe is stirred,
The shining gold is sprinkled
On the smiling buds of rose;
The fragrant air is filled
With sweet melodies
Of singing birds.
The Dawn is the dream of
God’s creative fancy.
Chandogya Upanishad 1.10 & 1.11