FF Feb 2011

January 2011FOREST FLOWER

CONTENTS

Zen Speaks23Zen Speaks: For No Reason

February 2011FOREST FLOWER 3

Curry Leaf Ragi Aval 21Isha Recipes - For Healthy Living

Main Article

Absolute and for Good 4

Musings

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Sadhguru Shares His Take on Friendship

Radiate Like the SunSadhguru on the Power of Surya Namaskar

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Upcoming Programs and Events

Yaksha – A Celestial Feast of Music and Dance

Mahashivarathri 2011

Isha Yoga – Program Highlights

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Linga Bhairavi Gudi 16

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Is There Still An ‘I’ When I Die?8Shekhar Kapur in Conversation with Sadhguru

Krishna Takes Brahmacharya

Leela Series

The path of the playful – Part XIX:

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A Most Glorious Beggar

News & Happenings

An Anniversary for Two

Kayantha Sthanam 13Celebrating Devi’s and Vijji Akka’s Aradhana

Isha Foundation Starts Operation of Crematorium in Coimbatore City 14

Pongal, Isha-StyleCelebrating the Connection between Human, Animal, Earth and Sun

SADHGURU

adhguru, what is your view on friendship?

Sadhguru: What to say? [Laughs] Maybe I have a very childlike or childish expectation about friendships because when I make a friendship, I always think it’s for good and it’s absolute. Generally I have been wrong – [laughs] this has happened to me at every level, whenever I formed any friendship or relationship. I made my first friend at age 3 ½ or 4, after they sent me to school. I built such a bond with him; he’s more than anything. I still remember his name; I am sure he doesn’t. [Laughs] I am sure the moment he or I moved out of the school, for him it was over; for me it was never over. Maybe somewhere it’s still not over for me. [Laughs]

I had a wide variety of friends; hundreds of friends all over the place – that’s different. I am talking about the bonds that I built with real friends – I always thought it’s absolute. But over a period of time, with

experience of life, I realized there are very, very few people who see friendship like that. Most people see friendship as context-oriented. When you are in school, you have one kind of friends. When school is over, you just drop them and pick college friends. When college is over, professional friends, whatever else… That’s how people look at friendship. But somewhere, I’ve not been able to look at it like that. I am not disappointed or disgruntled, but it’s been a very learning experience about human nature. [Laughs]

Personally, my need for friendship is not too much, but the moment I formed a friendship, I always thought it was for good and in every way absolute, trustful and all that. I’ve found good friends here and there, but even for them, as life situations change, their need of and their focus on the friendship changes. For me it never changes.

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Sadhguru Shares His Take on Friendship

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Absolute and

for Good

February 2011FOREST FLOWER

I wouldn’t say it’s heartbreaking, but definitely it’s disappointing that most people can’t form deep relationships in their lives. They all can form relationships according to their needs; they cannot form relationships beyond their needs. A relationship just for the sake of relationship, that is not there in most people. They form a relationship when they need it; when they don’t need it, they break it. So in that way, I’ve been a little bit not-society-savvy. [Laughs] I am a little bit of a fool in those things. Even now, if I meet an old school friend, I still approach him the way I knew him at that time; but they are somewhere else. [Laughs] I am still the same way I was with that aspect of life; but they are no more the way they were. Probably they move on with life; I don’t move on with life – I always stayed a little outside of it. Somewhere I valued life that way, so I always kept it that way. I think it continues to be so even today.

One moment of trust, sharing, something that happens with me – which is happening with thousands and thousands of people these days – and I tend to believe this is for good; but people don’t think so. Actually, their need for me is much bigger, or rather, their need for me is the prime thing that is moving the relationship. I have no need for them. In spite of that, the way I hold them, they don’t hold me. I am not complaining; I am just looking at that lack of bonding in them which denies them so many things. They are denying themselves the very beauty of life because they can’t absolutely bind with anything.

I think life has been phenomenally generous to me about everything. When I say ‘generous,’ I am not talking about material things but the way life treats me wherever I go, the way it opens up for me without any effort. The life process is willing to open up all its secrets to me probably because of the bonding that I form with whatever I sit with. Even if it’s a simple inanimate thing I am in touch with, I form a certain relationship with it. For example if I look at what Mysore means to me, I have a very deep bonding with that place simply because I spent a large part of my growing-up period there. But I am not looking at it emotionally or sentimentally as normally people would look at their place of birth and growth. It is just the level of involvement I had with the land, the trees, the mountain, with

everything around. Lots of things have changed in the last 30 years, but still I can see so many places that I walked upon, how deeply I looked at things, and the billion questions that I asked at a billion different places in Mysore. It forms a very different kind of bond which brought me to a certain level of quest within myself.

Mysore means for me a billion questions and at the same time an incredible answer too. For me, friendships also meant the same thing. Those few moments that I shared with someone, not just necessarily in terms of emotion – I was really not emotional about anybody in that sense – but somehow knowingly or unknowingly, moments of sharing were moments of uniting and becoming one in some way. I never saw sharing as giving and taking; I always saw sharing as two lives overlapping each other. I did not see friendship as an advantageous or useful thing, something that will help you to live better, or whatever else.

Even now when I travel around the world and meet all the top-level people, I don’t network with them, I don’t keep their phone numbers, I don’t try to make contact with them, but I share something very deep with them those few moments of being together, and many of them do share that with me too. But my sense of that sharing is a permanent process while I see that for most people, it’s a passing process.

Probably my idea of friendship is too old-fashioned, or I don’t know if it was ever in fashion. [Laughs] Maybe it’s a little silly, maybe it’s not socially savvy, but in terms of life, I think my ability to bond with anything or anybody deeply – whether it’s a tree, a place that I sat on, a piece of land or a rock or people – has in many ways been the key which has opened up many dimensions of life and nature to me.

So for me friendship is not an advantageous transaction or give-and-take; for me friendship is a certain overlapping of life.

– Excerpted from a Talk by Sadhguru

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Absolute and

for Good


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Radiate Like the SunSadhguru on the Power of Surya Namaskar

Sadhguru, you said we shouldn’t look at Surya Namaskar as a physical exercise. What’s its purpose then?

Sadhguru: The purpose is to generate your prana1 in such a way that it radiates like the sun. The sun has no intention of either roasting you in the summer season, or giving you solar energy, or making your plants grow. The sun just burns; this burning radiates and we all benefit from that. This is the nature of the existence. And this is how a human being should be too – but he’s unwilling to be that way. He doesn’t radiate anything – he thinks he has to do. Petty human beings are just living on intentions which they think are lofty, which make them feel great. This is a poor way to exist. They find a little bit of fulfillment through their intentions, not by their way of being; they haven’t attained to such grandeur.

Surya Namaskar is designed in such a way that it makes your energies radiate. Then you don’t have to have good intentions; you don’t have to have any intentions. If you simply sit here, your presence is beautiful and beneficial. Nobody needs to think we

should make use of such a person’s presence; anyway it is beneficial, whether others are aware of it or not. To what extent you radiate depends on whether you are willing to face the sun or whether you sit under a concrete block. So if you are radiating, what will happen? What does it mean?

Radiation means who you are is spreading in a subtle way. If I sit here like a cold block of meat, I’m just here. If I am radiating, in a subtle way, I’m all over the place. The more I am able to experience the existence, the more the existence is able to benefit from me – both ways it works; it’s a transaction.

So if I radiate, my being radiates in a big way. It is like a large umbrella that people can experience. And above all, I can experience the existence because who I am is not a piece of meat anymore, it’s radiating. If it radiates, prana will come in touch with akasha2. You are doing Surya Namaskar because you want to become like the sun. Becoming like the sun does not mean you will burn up tomorrow morning. It simply means you will be in akasha. Right now you are just stuck to

1 Life energy2 Space – one of the five elements or pancha bhuta

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the planet, but if you become like the sun, you are in akasha; you are in the vast expanse of creation; you are not stuck to a limited space anymore.

So, does the akasha have influence upon us? First of all, it is always holding us in place. Your understanding may be that earth’s gravity is holding you in place, but that’s not how it is. The idea that the earth is like a magnet, holding all of us down, is a simplistic way of looking at things. What is holding the earth in place? To think that sun’s gravity is holding you is a very childish, infantile conclusion. The sun doesn’t even have a solid substance. What is holding the whole solar system in place? Why is it not falling off? That’s because of akasha. You want to be held in the embrace of akasha because that way, your experience of life becomes purely existential and universal in possibility; it is no more limited to the physical.

Maladihalli Swami, who first taught me yoga, used to do 4008 Surya Namaskars per day. Just like me he got into yoga for the wrong reasons. Right from his infancy, he had been a chronic asthmatic. He was just wheezing day and night. In those days, there was no proper medicine or treatment, and even if there had been, his parents would not have been able to afford it. They did whatever they could, but the boy was just wasting away.

When he was about 11 or 12 years of age, a yogi came by and the parents asked him to heal the boy. The yogi said, “Anyway this boy is not going to be of any use to you. If you keep him with you, he will die. Give him to me; I will take him with me.” He didn’t belong to the kind of people who are recruiting disciples. He wanted to walk alone; generally, he didn’t take anybody. But he took compassion upon this boy because he had his mission. This yogi was Palani Swamy – that’s my Guru too. So he took this young boy and trained him in the ways of yoga. The boy not only grew out of his ailment, he grew into a physically almost superhuman person – and he came and reminded me of yoga. [Laughs]

So if you radiate substantially, akasha is not only something that your planet is held in, it is something that you also swim in on a daily basis. Then your life is very different.

My sadhana is very, very limited. I neither have the time nor the inclination to do any physical part of the sadhana. Now this is going to make your eyes red. [Laughter] I do only one Surya Namaskar every day. Wherever I am, I just do one, and I can do even without that. I can just sit and mentally do it – even then, it still works. This is because even though you do have a body and you are limited to the physical laws, if you are in touch with what is known as akasha, that which is holding the whole system up, will also hold you up.

Life has left everything open for you; the existence has not blocked anything for you. If you are willing, you can access the whole universe. Somebody said, “Knock, and it shall be opened.” You don’t even have to knock because there is no door – it’s open. You just have to walk through it, that’s all. But because your instinct of self-preservation keeps on telling you, “Unless you build a wall, you’re not safe,” unconsciously, you go on building walls all the time.

So what you are battling with is neither creation’s nor the Creator’s unwillingness to open up the possibility. What you are struggling with is just the concrete walls that you have built. That is why the yogic system does not talk about God, the Ultimate Being, or the Creator – it only talks about karma – because we are interested in what blocks you. We are not interested in talking about the Ultimate. If we talk about the Ultimate, you will go into fanciful imagination. We are only talking about what is blocking you because that is what needs to be attended to.

God doesn’t need your attention. There is nothing to do about the Ultimate; that which binds you has to be broken, that’s all, and that bondage is 100% your making. That is why we are only talking karma. You have no work with the Existence. You have work only with the existence that you have created.



Shekhar Kapur: I’m going to ask you a silly question, please bear with me, but it’s something that always comes up…

Sadhguru: No, I’m used to silly questions.

Shekhar Kapur: Alright. [Sadhguru laughs] What happens to one’s life energy once the body is gone? Do I still exist as ‘I?’ Do I have a soul? Is there reincarnation? Or is it just my ego that is saying, “Even when I let my body go, there is an ‘I’ that still exists?” Is there individuality after the end of the body, or does this ‘I’ lose its identity and become part of the larger universe? This is a question I can’t answer. Would you answer it for me so I can tell people that I’m quite wise now?

Sadhguru: [Laughs] I know what you’ll do with this. [Both laugh] So, essentially, you’re saying, you want to know what happens after death.

Shekhar Kapur: Yeah. I’m just playing a more intellectual argument about it, that’s all; but the fundamental question is that. [Laughs]

Sadhguru: What I would say is, some things you know best only by experience. [Both laugh] Are you ready?

Shekhar Kapur: Yeah.

Sadhguru: You’re not ready for the experience. You just want to know for entertainment; maybe to make a movie on it, or just to talk at the next party that you’re in.

Shekhar Kapur: So, humor me, and let’s talk about it a little bit.

Sadhguru: Okay. [Laughs] See, right now you’re looking at me, through the window of your eyes…

Shekhar Kapur: Yes.

Sadhguru: If you close the window, do you still exist?

Shekhar Kapur: I still exist.

Sadhguru: So, you are clearly saying you are much more than the body, isn’t it?

Shekhar Kapur: Yes.

Sadhguru: And you also know, very clearly, that you slowly accumulated this body.

Shekhar Kapur: Yes.

Sadhguru: Or in other words, what you call as ‘my body’ is just a bit of loan that you have taken from Mother Earth, just a piece of the planet. She’s pretty generous with the loan; but when the time comes, she wants to collect it

Is There Still An ‘I’ When I Die?

Shekhar Kapur in Conversation with Sadhguru

8 February 2011FOREST FLOWER

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atom by atom. What is being perceived as death is just this.

But most people who have taken a loan, unless there was a law to compel them, they wouldn’t want to pay back the loan. It’s a general tendency in the world.

Shekhar Kapur: I like that transactional analysis. [Both laugh]

Sadhguru: So, you took a loan from the planet. But when the time comes that this body is going to be taken from you, you are terrorized because you think you are being taken away. You are not being taken away. What Mother Earth is asking back is only the piece of planet that you gathered in the form of this body. If only you were constantly aware – not just intellectually – that “I am not this body, this is just mine, this is just a gathering; I’ve accumulated this, I’ll use it, and when it’s necessary, I’ll drop it” – if this awareness was there all the time in your life, death would be just like changing clothes.

It’s actually simpler than that. [Laughs] The question is only if you are willing or unwilling – but whichever way, the loan will be collected. If you are a yogi, you will pay it back gracefully. If you are an ignorant person, they will confiscate your property [laughs] because you are illegally holding it beyond a certain time. So, what happens after? Your physical body has to go to the earth because it belongs to the earth. But there is a subtler body which is like a scaffolding. Only because the subtle body is there as a scaffolding, you can build this gross body. You eat a banana, a piece of bread or brinjal, and it becomes body because there is a subtler scaffolding. The physical body is gathering around the subtler body. When the physical body falls, the subtle or etheric body is still on. It still has some information.

Suppose you became old, the energies became feeble and you left, this kind of life energies would rest for some time without too much activity. But suppose there was still a substantial amount of information or karma stored, if the energies were still intense and you broke the body, either by accident or otherwise, and you

left, then it would take a long time for the energies to become feeble. If you had a physical body and a discriminatory mind, let us say, you would have worked out your karma in the next 10 years and made the energies feeble. But without a physical body and discriminatory mind, these 10 years may telescope into 1,000 years.

This is the reason they always told you, “You should never die of suicide, murder or accident.” Then, your limbo situation is very, very long because you have no discriminatory mind and we don’t know where your tendencies will lead you to. Plus the chances of finding another womb are very little because unless you come to the right level of intensity, you are not suitable to take on a new body. So, if you died of old age, everything was fine with your body but the energies became feeble, you went to bed and never woke up again, you may get back into another womb within 48 hours. But a person who died by breaking his body may take much longer, depending upon the level of intensity of life energies and how much of information or karma is still there to be worked out.

We are going into areas which need much more elaboration to be properly understood. That’s why we usually just joke about it and skip it. We usually don’t talk about it because it might lead to all kinds of imaginations – which is not needed. And you can make horror movies because lots of people have a wild imagination anyway.

Shekhar Kapur: Or a movie on tendencies…

Sadhguru: [Laughs] No, they’re anyway all existing by tendencies. When we talk spirituality, we’re essentially talking about moving from functioning through tendencies to functioning through discriminatory process, or from compulsiveness to consciousness. That is the key from bondage to freedom.


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Leela Series The path of the playful –

Part XIX

A Most Glorious BeggarKrishna Takes Brahmacharya t age 16, after beheading Kamsa, Krishna came to be regarded as a leader. Nevertheless, his Guru Gargacharya said to him, “Now, for what you are destined to be, you need education. You have everything else but you have to go through a certain discipline. Become the student of Sandipani1.” And so Krishna did. When he was about to get initiated into brahmacharya, Balarama and a few other princes who had come with him laughed and said, “You have lived such a playful life, a very promiscuous life – how can you become a brahmachari?” Krishna said, “In certain situations I did what I did; but I’ve always been a brahmachari.

Now you will see I will take this vow and fulfill it absolutely.”

For six years, Krishna lived as a brahmachari under the guidance and grace of Sandipani who trained him in various arts and other types of education. He learnt to use every kind of arms and developed particular expertise in discus throw… You know what’s a discus? Just think of something like the Sudarshana Chakra2 or the Frisbee… [All laugh] A discus is a metal disc that can be a deadly weapon if properly used. Krishna took it to a different dimension altogether.

1 A rishi (seer) from Ujjain

2 Lord Vishnu’s legendary disk-like super weapon


During that time, Krishna went out on the streets begging for food like any other brahmachari – “biksham dehi3.” When you go out begging, you don’t choose your food. Whether the food that they put in your bowl is good or rotten or whichever way, you simply eat it with devotion. A brahmachari should never look at the nature of the food that is being served to him. He shouldn’t make choices about what to eat, what not to eat. When you say you are a brahmachari, you are on the path of the Divine. Food is needed, but your nourishment is not in food alone.

So Krishna became a perfect brahmachari. This dandy who had always been well-dressed with a diadem, peacock feathers and silk clothes, was suddenly in just a strip of deerskin, 100% dedicated to his new sadhana. Never before the world had witnessed a more glorious beggar. People were amazed, just looking at his beauty, his way of being, with how much grace, dedication, and focus he walked the streets for a little food that he had to gather for the day. He could have chosen to become an emperor anytime, but he went on the streets begging for six years of his life.

There was another equally beautiful brahmachari, named Krishna Dvaipayana. Krishna Dvaipayana, who later on came to be known as Vyasa4, became a brahmachari at the age of six. On the first day of his brahmacharya, this little boy with a shaven head and clothes made of wood bark went out to beg for food, saying “biksham dehi” in his childish piping voice. When people saw this cute little boy, they gave him an enormous amount of food, the best things that they could give because they recognized his strength, how he was walking the streets alone, begging food for himself and his Guru. He got more than he could carry. As he walked on, he saw many children on the street who had not eaten well, as he could tell by looking at their faces. So he gave away all the food and came back with an empty bowl. Parashara, his Guru and father, looked at him and asked, “What happened? You did not beg? Or did nobody give you anything? Why have you come

back with an empty bowl?” Krishna Dvaipayana said, “They gave me food. But I saw these little children who had not eaten; so I gave away all the food.” Parashara looked at him and said, “Fine.” That meant no food for them.

This went on day after day; the boy never ate. When Parashara saw this six-year-old going for three, four days without food and still continuing all his duties and study, he realized the tremendous possibility in this boy and poured himself out to him. What he would have taught somebody else in 100 years, he poured out to him in a very short time.

Many traditions, many systems have devised many ways to open up a human being for a higher possibility. Brahmacharya is one way. Leela is a different way. Leela is about using everything to be seduced out of your body, out of your mind, out of everything that you consider as ‘myself.’ Whether you chant, dance, eat, sing, or whatever you do, simply give yourself and surrender to it. You must be feminine.

The very nature of the feminine is to surrender, to merge, to receive. The moon has no quality of its own; it is just reflecting the sun – and see how beautiful it has become. If the moon did something of its own, it wouldn’t be like that. The sun is life-giving and sustaining – that’s different. But in terms of opening you up to something ethereal, in terms of inspiring some poetry or love in you, the moon is playing a much bigger role than the sun, isn’t it so? Because it has no quality of its own – it is just reflecting.

If you want to know the Divine, the only way is that you have no quality of your own; you just become a reflection. If you become a reflection, what will you reflect? Only the Ultimate.


4 Central and revered figure of many Hindu traditions; believed to have compiled the Vedas (a body of ancient Hindu scriptures) and split them into four; also considered as author of the Mahabharat and the Puranas

3 Sanskrit for “give alms/food,” a phrase traditionally used by monks to beg

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n the four consecutive days starting from 14 January, Ishas came together in various places across Tamil Nadu to revive and revel in the traditional celebration of Pongal. Pongal not only marks the auspicious beginning of Uttarayana, the northward journey of the Sun in relation to the Earth, but also the end of the harvest season. This festival is celebrated as an expression of deep gratitude towards the three mainstays of a farmer’s prosperity: the Sun, the Earth and the cattle.

At the Isha Yoga Center, over 2500 people gathered on 16 January to enjoy the festivities with ever-popular games, a traditional pooja for the cattle, and of course the open-fire cooking of the sweet-dish which gave the festival its name – pongal (which in Tamil means “boiling over / “spilling over” – an image of abundance). Sadhguru opened the cultural program with a few words on the significance of Pongal: “When we eat food, the sense that there is connectivity between us, farmers, agriculture and the earth is being lost today. This kind of harvest festival was created just to

keep that alive. It is only as long as this connectivity exists, that there is life.” The junior “Sounds of Isha,” a band of Isha Home School children also known as “Ishana” or “Urban Folk,” gave samples of their extraordinary talent. Other Isha Home School and Samskriti children, all dressed up in the most colorful festive clothes, gracefully twirled across the stage as they performed traditional dances to the cheers of the audience. The celebrations concluded with a Linga Bhairavi procession and Aarti that set the night alight.

Pongal festivities were no less buoyant outside the ashram. For many years now, Isha’s Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR) has been celebrating Pongal at hundreds of villages to rekindle a sense of joy and abundance in rural people’s hearts. This year, Pongal festivities were conducted at ARR’s Rural Health Clinics, Mobile Health Clinics and the Community Care Center for people living with HIV/AIDS.

All in all, Pongal at Isha was not just a time to harvest crops but also a time to harvest inner wellbeing.

Pongal, Isha-StyleCelebrating the Connection between Human, Animal, Earth and Sun

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An Anniversary for TwoCelebrating Devi’s and Vijji’s Aradhana

Thaipusam1, the Pournami2 in the Tamil month of Thai3 is held highly significant for spiritual seekers; in Isha even more so because “we have two women to celebrate,” as Sadhguru put it affectionately: Vijji, Sadhguru’s wife, left her body to attain mahasamadhi4 on a Thaipusam 14 years ago, while the Devi Linga Bhairavi got fully consecrated or “birthed” by Sadhguru on this very auspicious day last year.

At the dawn of 20 January 2011, celebrations began with a befitting musical overture at the Devi Temple – Sounds of Isha offered vibrant songs for the Goddess.

Traditionally in Tamil Nadu, the days before Thaipusam mark the end of the harvest season, a time for festivity. In that spirit, Sadhguru introduced a new offering at the Linga Bhairavi Temple, Dhanya Arpana, where one can offer farm produce to the Devi, and receive her abundant blessings – an opportunity that many visitors and devotees gladly made use of.

Another ritual introduced on the Devi’s anniversary was Godaan, the giving of a cow, which is considered one of the most sacred offerings in the

Indian culture. After honoring the Devi, visitors and residents gathered at Vijji Akka’s Samadhi area to listen to bhajans5 and to chant “Shiva Shambho,” the powerful mantra into which Vijji dissolved. For many, bathing in the warm presence of her Samadhi on this special day was a magical and heartening experience in remembrance of a woman who attained to the Ultimate solely out of love.

Later, lady residents at the ashram offered 1,008 sarees and photos of Linga Bhairavi to impoverished women from surrounding villages. Thereafter, brahmacharis and residents served Annadhanam (offering of food) to 3,000 visitors and laborers.

A total of over 7,500 visitors came to the Isha Yoga Center to celebrate the day.

As the sun set and the full moon rose, evening songs near the Linga Bhairavi Temple complemented this enchanting scene, as if to accentuate the receptive and reflective nature of the Feminine that had been the focus throughout that day.

1 A south Indian festival 5 Indian devotional songs

2 Full moon

3 Mid - January to mid-February of the Gregorian Calendar4 The act of consciously and intentionally leaving one’s body to attain ultimate liberation; the end of the cycle of birth and death


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Kayantha SthanamIsha Foundation Starts Operation of Crematorium in Coimbatore City

On 28 January, Isha Foundation inaugurated its operations at Kayantha Sthanam, a crematorium in Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore City.

In addition to offering cremation services at a nominal fee, Isha Foundation will revive certain ancient traditions and rituals pertaining to the journey beyond. Now-a-days, such rituals have become more a means of commerce, which may be disturbing to the family of the deceased. At the Kayantha Sthanam, cremation and rituals will be performed with sensitivity and awareness, in the spirit of a service rather than as a commercial venture.

An Isha Resident shares her Experience of the Inauguration:

I didn’t know what to expect on my way to the crematorium. I was quietly surprised to find what seemed like a miniature park beckoning a stroll on its neatly bricked pathways. I strode with curious excitement towards the only building that lay ahead - deceptive in its simplicity.

Two enormous black furnaces gravely stood within. I couldn’t help but be struck with the austere way their womblike openings, one with ashes in it, patiently waiting for what is to come. I remained with the blackness of the furnaces and the ashes within rather than joining the hushed chattering as each nut and bolt was inspected.

The Tamil Nadu Minister for Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry made a brief appearance at dusk, officially opening the crematorium, after which a quiet stream of guests entered, this time for an official tour. In the background, Nirvana Shatakam filled the twilight air, courtesy of our Samskriti children.

Evidently, each furnace had a black stretcher upon which a corpse will be manually rolled in, to be

set ablaze using bio-gas as fuel. I recall Swami pointing at a purifier that would purify black smoke into a non-polluting white smoke. Frankly speaking, I was too absorbed within myself to learn much about the cremation process. Soon enough, ‘Chidanandaroopa, Shivoham, Shivoham…’ drew close. The children were coming in for a tour; ours was over. I turned to leave.

Just a small pile of ashes this body would be. I keep on missing the point as I continue to live. Nevertheless, if this is how this body will part, I trust that all my joys and sorrows, my laughter and tears will dance with the white smoke above, hopefully on a gloriously sunny day.

On the way out, a smiling brahmacharini handed out black sesame prasadams to each one of us. I smiled into her eyes, stood still for a moment, and walked out into the night .

– Ruth, Project Volunteer, Isha Yoga Center


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O’ the games I play!Or am I being played on?

I seek the highest, yet choose the profane.

What a shame.

Straddling the fence, I have glimpsed the majesty of divine effulgence Only to turn back down, time and again, the side of mediocrity and

indulgence

What is it in me that has the mendacity to reject the reverentialFor the momentary pleasures of the inconsequential?

Caught in this web, I am senselessOnly you can make me sense-less

But you say it is I who is responsible

Help me make sense of this that seems impossible

– Parthiv N. Parekh, Isha meditator, Atlanta, USA

Senseless!


Linga Bhairavi Gudi

“One who earns the Grace of Bhairavi neither has to live in concern or fear of life or death, of poverty, or of failure. All that a human being considers as wellbeing will be his if only he earns the Grace of Bhairavi.”

– Sadhguru

or those who desire to have the Devi’s Presence and Grace in their own private living and office spaces, there are now Linga Bhairavi yantras and miniature temples available. The powerfully consecrated yantras and the miniature Devi temples are living representations of Linga Bhairavi through which you can constantly connect to and benefit from her Grace.

Traditionally, yantras are certain forms designed and created to reap particular benefits. However, the Linga Bhairavi yantras and miniature Devi temples are very unique and the scope of their benefits manifold.

The Linga Bhairavi Gudi, a miniature Devi temple designed by Sadhguru, allows devotees to behold and connect with the Devi, wherever they may be. It serves as a foundation for enhancing one’s devotion to the Devi.

She may be small, but nevertheless mighty. For the Linga Bhairavi Gudi, the Devi has taken on the form of a solidified mercury linga that displays the same characteristics associated with her larger form: the penetrating eyes, the whimsical and compassionate expression, and an enormous Presence.

The Devi has taken residence in an artistically crafted copper shrine, with her trishul (trident) by the entrance. Spiral ornaments on the sides of her abode symbolize the Devi’s creative energy and power. The top of her miniature shrine carries the Devi Yantra. The light of a small oil/ghee lamp mounted in front of the Gudi entrance suffuses the inside of the shrine, bathing the Devi in a mystical glow.

Measuring 8 cm x 8 cm x 8 cm, the Linga Bhairavi Gudi fits into the smallest spaces – in your home or workplace, and even your vehicle.

The Linga Bhairavi Gudi can be seen as a deity to worship, an energy form through which you can cultivate devotion. The Linga Bhairavi Gudi does not require any particular offerings or rituals; you are free to express your bhakti or devotion to the Devi in whichever way you wish. Bhakti sadhana is more than just an act; it is a way to make devotion your very quality.

F

16 FOREST FLOWER February 2011

Sharings

“Devotion is a different level of intelligence. The world may not understand, but a devotee has the sweetest experience of life, compared to anybody else on this planet.”

– Sadhguru

The Linga Bhairavi Gudi is creating a feeling of sacredness in our home, an atmosphere that protects and nurtures.

–Anjani, Homemaker, Chennai, India

My connection to Linga Bhairavi is something that I cannot express in words. Any time I need support, I just have to close my eyes and utter her name, and she is right there with me; she knows what I need. When the Linga Bhairavi Gudi was made available, I knew I had to have her at home. With her presence, I feel like my home turned into a temple.

– Rama Devi, HR Consultant, Atlanta, USA

With the Linga Bhairavi Gudi, the Devi has brought such a wonderful loving energy to our home and especially the yoga space. We have definitely been experiencing our practices in a more powerful way.

– Neelu, Photographer, Augusta, USA

I have a Linga Bhairavi Gudi on my work table. The simple act of lighting the lamp (diya) in front of it brings a lot of beauty, serenity, and peace to my mornings. Through the presence of the Devi, I am able to get in touch with my feminine side (the gentle, emotional, sharing, and giving side).

– Sandeep, Project Volunteer, Isha Yoga Center, India

For more information on the Linga Bhairavi Gudi and on how to receive one, please contact us:

Tel.: +91-98840 70361 (English & Tamil), +91-94425 04672 (English & Hindi)

Email: [email protected]

17February 2011FOREST FLOWER

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Presents:

A 7-day festival at the pristine foothills of Velliangiri, featuring some of the most exuberant and renowned talent of music and dance.

Artistic presentations that, in their subtlety and vibrancy, evoke a realm of transcendental beauty.

An endeavor to preserve and promote the uniqueness, purity and diversity of the country’s performing arts.

Experience the finest expressions of India’s unequaled cultural identity.

Entry free. Passes available in major Isha Centers in India

24 February – 2 March 2011

6:50 pm – 8:30 pm (Please be seated by 6:40 pm.)

Isha Yoga Center, Velliangiri Foothills, Coimbatore

A Celestial Feast of Music and Dance

The Program:

YAKSHA

Pandit Jasraj (Hindustani Vocal) Thursday, 2 March

Parveen Sultana (Hindustani Vocal) Sunday, 27 February

T. V. Sankarnarayanan (Carnatic Vocal) Saturday, 26 February

Dr. Sonal Mansingh (Odissi Dance) Friday, 25 February

Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (Sitar) Thursday, 24 February

Anil Srinivasan / Sikkil Gurucharan (Piano / Carnatic Vocal) Monday, 28 February

Ronu Majumdar (Hindustani Flute) Tuesday, 1 March

Contact Us Delhi ................. 098106 55004

Chennai ............ 094425 15557

Mumbai ............ 099871 42142

Coimbatore ....... 094434 94434

Bangalore ........ 098451 45515

Madurai ............ 0452-2342916

Hyderabad ....... 099491 19606

Trichy ............... 094435 69529

Kolkata ............. 093310 17011For More Information: & 097890 97995+ [email protected] ý www.yaksha.info


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A rapturous night with the DivineMahashivarathriThursday, 3 March 2011

From 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on the following dayIsha Yoga Center, Velliangiri Foothills, Coimbatore

Guru Pooja Powerful Meditations AnnadanamNightlong Sathsang

2:15 a.m.* Question & Answers with the Master

9 p.m.* Discourse by Sadhguru

Musical Performances

Pioneer Extraordinaire in World Fusion Musicz Prem Joshua & Band

Sufi/Qawwali Vocalistsz Wadali Brothers

Tabla/Fusion Virtuosoz Bickram Ghosh

Experience the Grace and grandeur of Mahashivarathri

with Sadhguru at Isha Yoga Center.

For seating and parking facilities, please call +91 97890 97995 or

email: [email protected]

At Isha Yoga Center, each year, Mahashivarathri is celebrated as a nightlong Sathsang with Sadhguru. Sadhguru’s discourses and powerful meditations, interspersed with music performances by top artists, open up the possibility of a deep spiritual experience.

Simultaneously, Mahashivarathri celebrations will happen in 48 Isha centers across Tamil Nadu as well as other major centers around the world. For more

information, please contact your local coordinator.

We invite you along with your family and friends to join us in celebration of this rapturous night with the Divine.

Nightlong telecast on Aastha TV and live webcast on our website www.ishafoundation.org

*Timings subject to change


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Program Highlights

These programs are conducted in English, unless indicated otherwise. Current at the time of print, however subject to change. For full program schedules and updates, please visit our website www.ishafoundation.org.

Date Program Place Contact

24 Feb - 2 Mar 2011Yaksha 2011

A Celestial Feast of Music and Dance

Isha Yoga Center,Coimbatore, India

0422-2515470 [email protected]

3 Mar 2011 MahashivarathriIsha Yoga Center,Coimbatore, India


10 - 13 Mar 2011Inner Engineering

RetreatResidential Program



20 - 22 Mar 2011 Hata Yoga Residential Program


[email protected]

24 - 27 Mar 2011Inner Engineering




24 - 27 Mar 2011Bhava Spandana

(Ladies) Residential Program


[email protected]

7 - 10 Apr 2011Inner Engineering




15- 17 Apr 2011Inner Engineering

RetreatConducted by Sadhguru

Mysore, India 98804 83842 [email protected]

21 - 24 Apr 2011Guru Pooja Training Residential Program


[email protected]

17 Jun - 1 Jul 2011 Himalayan Dhyan Yatra Indian Himalayas +91 9488 111 777

17 Sep - 1 Oct 2011 Himalayan Dhyan Yatra Indian Himalayas +91 9488 111 777

8 Jul - 26 Aug 2011 (In eleven 15-day

batches)

Kailash Manasarovar Sojourn

Nepal, Tibet+91 9488 111 777

[email protected]

5 - 12 Dec 2011Mahabharat

Residential Programconducted by Sadhguru


9444902058 [email protected]


21

Isha RecipesFor Healthy Living

Ingredients:2 cups Ragi aval/poha (flattened finger millet) 1 cup Grated coconut Juice of 1 lemon1 teaspoon Salt

For the Powder:½ teaspoon Oil1 cup Curry leaves3 Red chilies

Additional Seasoning:1 teaspoon Oil1 teaspoon Mustard seeds2 teaspoons Split, husked black gram (urad dal)1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (jeera)

CuRRy LEaF RagI avaL

Method:

Sprinkle a little water over the ragi aval and set aside till soft but not mushy.

Pour ½ teaspoon of oil in a saucepan or wok, roast the red chilies brown and sauté the curry leaves. Set aside, allow to cool and blend the roasted curry leaves and chilies into a powder.

In the same saucepan or wok, pour 1 teaspoon of oil and splutter the mustard seeds. Add cumin seeds and black gram and roast until brown.

Add the slightly moist ragi aval and sauté. Add salt.

Finally add the grated coconut and the curry leaves / chili powder.

Switch off the flame and add the lemon juice.

Mix thoroughly and serve.

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Curry Leaves

The aromatic and slightly bitter curry leaves are an indispensible ingredient in many south Indian dishes. The leaves also have various medicinal properties – they are said to aid digestion, help avert diabetes, soothe burns, bruises and skin eruptions, ward off eye trouble, promote hair growth, and prevent premature graying.

Tasty Tip: Garnish with grated coconut


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