FF Mar 2012

CONTENTS

3March 2012FOREST FLOWER

Main Article Become an Empty Page A Method to Move from the Physical to the Source 4

Musings Does Gender Matter? Sadhguru on the Question of Priests or Priestesses 7 Of the Sun and the Moon 9 Go by the Stars or a Plan? Sadhguru on Vedic Astrology 10

Leela Series The path of the playful – Part XXX: Krishna – Blue by Nature / Krishna and the Women – 1 12

News & Happenings Isha Serpent in Action 14 Isha Arogya Center Launched in Chennai 14

Mumbai Marathon 2012 Volunteers Raise 60 Lakhs for Isha Vidhya! 15

Project Green Hands: 600,000 Saplings Planted on a Single Day 16

Tradition and Social Responsibility Sadhguru Visits the Suttur Jathra 17

Sadhguru Spot

Devi is a Living Entity / The Two-Year Anniversary of Devi 18

Upcoming Programs and Events Isha Yoga – Program Highlights 20 Isha Recipes For Healthy Living This Month: Green Dosa 21

Zen Speaks: Returning Empty-Handed 23

Every creature, however small or big, is continually in a relationship with the rest of the creation and also with the source of creation. If there is already an inevitable relationship, what is there to do? Just change the quality of the relationship. If you sit there on the fl oor, is the earth poking you or are you glad that it is letting you sit there? The way you hold the relationship makes a big difference: You can sit there either cursing this planet because it is poking you, or you can sit there blessing this planet because it gives you a piece of place to sit down upon.

A relationship can be physical, mental, emotional, or it could be of the very life force. If it is just physical, you will know certain aspects. If it is mental, you will know certain other aspects. If it is emotional, you will know different kinds of aspects. Do you see that from your birth to now, many things about your body, your mind, and your emotions have changed and are continuing to change?

When you lose your body one day, when your physicality is not manifest anymore the way it is now, when you go into a state of rarefi ed physicality where the etheric content becomes more dominant than the physical content, then you will experience life not by touch, not by taste, not by vision but only by smell. Even now, if you just reduce your mental content, if you hire a sanitation company for yourself and somebody clears out all the muck from

your head, your sense of smell will become very dominant.

In India, you have always been told that if you offer a fl ower or food to any deity, you should never smell it. Because a deity is not a physical form; a deity is a subtler form, and that subtler form experiences everything by smell. Most creatures in the forest, who do not have as many sanitation problems in their heads as you have, also know everything by smell. One of many reasons why a cobra is held sacred is because he knows things not by hearing, not by seeing, but just by the chemistry of it. A dog, a tiger, or an elephant would know by smell. A snake does not even have to smell.

If you go by smell, there is a little problem – it all depends on how you are positioned to receive the smell. But a snake is very, very sensitive to what kind of chemistry you create within your own system. If you are in a certain way and you pick him up, he is okay. If you just generate something else in your mind and touch him, he will come at you. If the king cobra that was here a few weeks ago gets to bite you, you have just about eight to twelve minutes. He will not even give you enough time to go to the hospital. In six minutes, you will be on the ground. In ten, twelve minutes, you are gone. That is pretty effi cient, isn’t it so? And you will get pre-digested. Do you know that the cobra’s venom

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BecoMe an EMpty PageA Method to Move fr om the Physical to the Source

SADHGURU

March 2012FOREST FLOWER

is actually a digestive fluid? A cobra catches his prey and holds it in his mouth for a period of time without swallowing it because he has injected the venom and is waiting for the digestion to happen in the prey itself. When he feels the prey is sufficiently digested, he will swallow it.

You are also supposed to do that. You also have a certain kind of venom which we call saliva. If you chew your food sufficiently, it is already pre-digested, or at least partially digested. Fifty percent of the digestion should happen in your mouth; only then you swallow the food, and be healthy.

A cobra is very sensitive because he is more of an etheric being than a physical being. His relationship with the ether is so strong that his ability to know is very strong too. We have talked about this before – whatever may be happening in some other part of the world, a cobra which is in this mountain clearly knows it before it happens, because a cobra is more in the ether than in the physicality.

In a way, the whole spiritual process is just this: changing your relationship with the existence from being just of body, mind, and emotion, to a subtler dimension of existence. All knowing comes just from this. I was just writing a poem about somebody. It is like this:

A scoundrel is knowledgeable A fool will know But a sage is an empty page

Because he is an empty page, just about anything can be grasped. If anything was written on a page and you wrote something else upon it, there would be confusion. Karma means just this: you are not an empty page; too much is written already. Whatever you write upon a page which is already full of stuff, it is going to be wasted.

All the sadhana is not to become knowledgeable but to become an empty page so that just about anything can be projected. If you become an empty page and remain one, you can project life upon it. This is like at the local theater, any number of movies have been played upon the screen, but that does not distort anything because light is a subtle thing. If they had used a crayon or a paint brush, those screens would have had to be discarded a long time ago.

So this is about moving your relationship with the existence from that which is physical, mental, and emotional, which will leave marks, which will never allow you to have an empty page, to an etheric state where your relationship is far deeper, much more profound but subtle in such a way that you can play any kind of cinema on it. The moment the cinema is over, there is not a trace left on the screen. If the previous movie only left a little bit of traces upon the screen, the next movie would be a disaster. That is all that is happening with you right now. The previous movies have left impressions. Now, the current movie is a disaster.

So, you just have to change your relationship with the existence and with the Creator. How? You need to understand, this is not a choice relationship. Whichever way, you have a relationship; you cannot help it. Can you sit here without being connected with any aspect of creation or the Creator? You may be unaware of it, but there is no way – unless you transcend everything that is physical absolutely. If there is an absolute transcendence, then yes; otherwise, whichever way you sit, stand, or sleep, you are in a relationship. So, you don’t even have to try to hold a relationship, it is anyway there. Half of the problem solved. The other half is very simple: Don’t make too much of yourself. I am not giving you a teaching – I am only giving you a method. Do you know the distinction between the two? A teaching can be analyzed and understood. A method cannot be analyzed or understood, it has to be simply used.

It does not take much effort. Just constantly see how small a creature you are in this existence. Don’t compare yourself with somebody who is three and half feet tall. You are always doing this. You look at an idiot and think you are very smart. You look at poor people who have barely eaten and think you are well-to-do. No, no, no. Look at the mountain and see how small you are. Look at the sky and see how small you are. Look at a distance in the sky and see how poor your vision is – like this you put yourself into the right place. You don’t have to appreciate yourself; you don’t have to depreciate yourself. You don’t have to lie to yourself. Just be realistic as to who you are in this creation. Simply see what your place in the existence is and constantly keep reminding yourself, “This is all I am – a speck of nothing in nothing.”


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Who you are, what you think of yourself does not mean anything. If you disappear tomorrow morning, the whole world will still be fine. This is so for you, this is so for me, this is so for everybody. The more they do not understand this, the more idiotic their lives will be. The more they come to terms with it, the more intelligently they will live. Intelligence is not about being intellectual. There are intellectual people and there are intelligent people. Intellectuals are knowledgeable – I already told you who is knowledgeable [refers to the quoted poem]. Intelligence is not about knowledge. Too much nonsense has been fed into you. Especially if you come from western countries, they told you, “God is love.” Do you know for sure? If life is bugging you, then you will think, “God is torture.” If life is going well, you will think, “God is love.” You don’t know whether he is love or not. You don’t know whether he is compassionate or not. You don’t know all the other nonsense that people say about him. But if you look at every atom, every cell, every leaf, every tree, every creature, just about everything in this creation, one thing is clear – God is super intelligent, that is manifest. His love is not manifest.

So you don’t know about his love affair but you cannot miss his intelligence. Wherever you look, the Creator’s intelligence is manifest. With all these brains, after so many millions of years of evolution, we cannot even put one atom together. Intelligence is one single quality which is manifest in every possible way in this creation. The foremost quality of this intelligence is that it is non-discriminatory. Discrimination comes to you because of the intellect. Intelligence is non-discriminatory. You need to become non-discriminatory, in the sense, it does not matter if somebody is big, somebody is small – you look at them the same way. Somebody is a man, somebody is a woman – you look at them the same way. Somebody is God, somebody is a demon – you look at them the same way. This is a mountain, that is a molehill – you look at them the same way.

If you constantly practice this, if you see everything as the same thing, if you become a nondiscriminatory intelligence, if you bow down to whatever you see – that is devotion. To God you do the same thing; to somebody else you do the same thing; if you see a cow, you also do the same thing; if you see

a tree, you also do the same thing because devotion is a non-discriminatory intelligence. If you become a non-discriminatory intelligence, you are getting closer and closer to the Creator act. If you are a discriminatory intelligence, then you are moving further and further away from that which is the Creator and you are becoming nothing but one little fragment of creation. As just a speck of creation, you are really nothing and not worth anything. In this vast cosmos, if the whole planet disappears tomorrow, it means nothing; there will be no issue anywhere in the creation. It is that insignificant.

So once you are a discriminatory intelligence, you reduce yourself to nothing but a speck of creation – a speck which is bloated within itself, thinking it is so big. If you become a non-discriminatory intelligence, you are moving closer to that which is the source of creation. You know, there are five layers of the body – the physical body, the mental body, the energy body, the etheric body, and the bliss body. You naturally move from physical to mental, from mental to pranic, from pranic to etheric, and then to that which is the source of creation. When you come to the etheric space, your ability to know, your ability to perceive is greatly enhanced, because you are no more limited by the physical manifestations. Time and space are essentially physical manifestations. If there was no physicality, time and space would not mean anything. Only because there is physicality, there is a beginning and an ending. Because there is a beginning and an ending, in between, there are measurements of time. If there was no physical existence, there would be no such thing as big and small. If there was no such thing as big and small, there would be no such thing as space.

These two realities of time and space are what humanity experiences as life and death. Only because there is time, there is life and there is death. Only because there is space, there is something called you and me, this and that. So changing the relationship means becoming a non-discriminatory intelligence, just simply being.

– Excerpted from a talk by Sadhguru


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Q: Sadhguru, most temples in India are maintained by male priests, only very few by priestesses, like the Linga Bhairavi Temple. Why so?

Sadhguru: Why are men maintaining all the temples? Maybe the women are maintaining the men. [Laughter and applause] Traditions evolved at a certain time in history. Today, so many women are sitting here; many of you have travelled long distances. All of you are here simply because of the development of technology, not because the world has become liberal. Don’t have such silly ideas – the world has not become liberal. It is just that technology has leveled the field to some extent.

So the traditions were evolved in a certain situation and a certain context. The context of those days was definitely such that all the activities outside the home were most suitable for a man, not for a woman. There was a time when, if you had big muscles, you were a big man. Today, if you have really big muscles, people will think you look like a brute because physical strength is not of so much value in today’s world. Only because of that, today men and women are on reasonably even keel; otherwise this would not be possible.

That is one aspect. There are other dimensions to it. In this country, there was no home without a little shrine, and these private shrines were always maintained by women. Only the public temples were maintained by men because they were more suitable to manage the public. So in that sense, more

temples were managed and maintained by women than by men, and it is still so.

Another aspect is what type of shrine it is. There are certain shrines where we would definitely not want women to be there. There are certain other shrines where we would not want men to be there. It depends upon how the shrines are consecrated and for what purpose. Based on this, certain traditions were created. Is it factually wrong that men and women are different? They are definitely different. But the problem with human beings is, every difference is made into a discriminatory process. Every society invents different levels of discrimination based on color, gender, caste, creed, or whatever. Based on all kinds of nonsense, people always find ways to make themselves superior and somebody else inferior.

The question who maintains a temple is not about superiority and inferiority – it is a question of suitability. For different kinds of jobs, different kinds of people are suitable; accordingly it is done. Dhyanalinga could be maintained by anybody because he does not need any maintenance. All you are doing is gate-keeping. You are only managing the people; it does not involve anything else. Anybody who is a good manager – man, woman, or neuter – could manage the Dhyanalinga Temple. But the Devi is different; she needs maintenance. If you don’t pay attention to her, she will be different. We don’t want to see her angry because when she is angry, I would not want to be there. She will not

Does Gender Matter?Sadhguru on the Question

of Priests or Priestesses


88

get angry in the next few hundred years. But after that, if somebody does not treat her well, she may get angry. So I am in the process of creating certain safety mechanisms right now, just in case after hundred, two hundred, or three hundred years, some idiot does not treat her well and she gets angry. We don’t want her to go around and do destruction.

So another mechanism is being created. This is the problem with life. You have heard the story of a sanyasi – because there was no food, he got himself a cow. Now somebody told him, “How will you do this? Throughout the day, you are taking care of the cow. You cannot meditate. Get married.” So he got married; children came. Because children came, he had to buy land to grow food. Because he bought the land, he needed money and he started a small business on the side and then... you know the whole business. So, once you bring her [Devi], you have to create all the other things for her. He [Dhyanalinga] is not like that; we could have just left him. Keep the place clean, sit and meditate; there is nothing to do. After thousand years, he will still be the same.

Because the Devi is of a certain nature, it is best that this temple is managed by women, but not necessarily so. It is possible to produce men who can manage it better than the women. It is not the gender, it is the quality. Certain qualities come much more easily to women; certain other qualities come much more easily to men. But this is not a fi xed ratio. There may be some women who are very good at things that usually a man can do well. There are some men who are very good at certain things that are usually considered feminine. Right now, we are bringing up boys and girls without any distinction, but if I get a bicycle here, give them a spanner set and tell them, “Dismantle this bicycle and put it together,” probably a boy will do it quicker and better than a girl, but not necessarily. But if I give them a pile of fl owers and ask them to make a garland, most probably, the girls will do it quicker and better than the boys – not necessarily but probably.

When you work with the world, you are not working with certainties; you are always working with probabilities. All traditions and cultures were created based on the larger probability, not on

certainties. So when we say, “Let men do this; let women do that,” it is not a certainty, it is a probability that if you give this kind of work to men, they will do it better; if you give that kind of work to women, they will do it better. It is only a small tilt; it is not an absolute factor. But that little tilt makes a lot of difference. If the planet was spinning straight on its axis all the time, throughout the year, it would be the same season. Because of a little tilt, how many things are happening! So when we say men and women, we are talking about that little tilt; to make use of that tilt because life is always working with probabilities, not with certainties.

If I look at somebody and I see certain qualities, I may say, “There is a spiritual possibility in this person. Let’s do something. Doing this may produce results with this person.” This is not a certainty, it is a probability. If we see a mango seed and say, “This can produce a lot of sweetness. Let’s plant it,” it is a probability, not a certainty. There are no certainties in your physical existence. Everything is only a probability. If you are skillful, you can make what is probable into a reality. So, the Linga Bhairavi Temple is right now best managed by women, but we can easily train men to do that. Probably they will need a little more training than women, but that is not true for all men. I have already identifi ed a few men who would do the job better than the women, but we thought it is nice that the Devi is in the company of women, and I also get good marks from all of you... [Laughter] The energy, the very design of the temple, everything is feminine, so we thought, it is best to keep it all feminine. If I choose one man today and put him there, tomorrow, another man may come who may stick out because he is too masculine. So just to avoid that, we thought since the whole ambience is feminine, it is best that those who take care of her are also feminine.



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Of the sun and the moon, who is more

important? “Of course the sun” says reason,

but the moon-faced dreamer ponders and sings

praise of the moon. What a contest between the

fiery source of light and the waxing and waning

nightly delight. Thus arises the grosser question,

“Who is superior, the man or the woman?”

Then a mind lost in logical barrenness would

come up with this question that is senseless

upon assumed elevation of religious loft, “Of

creation and Creator, which is paramount?”

In this ‘either/or,’ you can know neither this

nor that. The Creator chose to make everything

the way it is – everything absolutely in embrace

with everything else. A mind which has chosen

to fragment, a mind which has chosen to break

the Creator’s will, a mind which attempts to

break this unity of existence, this mind is the

only wall between ignorance and enlightenment.

– Sadhguru

Of the Sun and the Moon


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Go by the Stars or a Plan?

Sadhguru on Vedic Astrology

Questioner: I have studied Vedic astrology and I am wondering, are we defined by the stars, or by intention and mind, or by the self?

Sadhguru: How did you come from Down Under? Did you come riding a star, a kangaroo or did you take a plane?

Questioner: I took a plane.

Sadhguru: That’s good. Don’t ride the stars, okay? Even a kangaroo is more reliable.

So, Vedic astrology… You need to understand, India is not just about the Vedas or Vedic culture. In fact, in this part of the country [South India], they don’t ascribe to the Vedas. The person who compiled the four Vedas, a sage named Vyasa – his father was an Aryan and his mother was a Dravidian – turned out very dark and stocky. In spite of that, in this part of the country, people don’t like the Vedas because of the Aryan invasion that started eight thousand years ago and lasted for over two to three thousand years.

So even though it was a few thousand years ago, we have not forgotten – you know the Indian memory is long. We still see them as invaders – they came and conquered us, they beat us down, they sent us out of our lands. It has not been forgotten because

this is not a culture which lives by the written word. It is a culture which lives by the spoken word. So from generation to generation, they made sure the next generation hears about the stories. Only now we have shifted from the spoken word to the written word. Probably by the next generation, nobody will know that we were invaded by Aryans eight thousand years ago, unless they pick up ancient history and read it, which they may not because these days, people are not capable of reading more than forty characters. They cannot read ancient history. It has too many words.

Dravidian culture never went for astrology by looking at the stars; they made predictions by looking at people. Here we have what is called Nadi Joshyam. But the Aryan culture came with astrology. Astrology is an interpretation of astronomy. If you try to interpret something, invariably you miss a lot of points. So it is a mis-interpretation. Because you missed a lot of things.

The reason why the Aryan culture looked at the stars so much is, they were nomadic. They were always travelling. Since there were no roads, they needed to figure out which is north, which is south, which is east, which is west. When the sun was up, they knew. Once the sun set, there was really


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nothing except fire and stars. So the Aryan culture revolved around fire and the stars. Even today, if people in India want to get married or do anything auspicious, they go around fire. Because nomadic cultures lived by fire and stars. Fire gave you light, heat, and protection from wild animals. The stars told you approximately which way to go. Slowly, observing the stars, they figured which way to travel. They kept looking up and their knowledge of the stars increased. Interpretations started, and they developed a certain mastery and knowledge about the stars.

The indigenous people of this land did not look up. They always saw the earth as their mother and paid attention to her. Because they looked at the earth, they developed agriculture. Before anybody on the planet could think of agriculture, this part of the world already had agriculture. That means, they had food growing in one place. They did not have to chase anything. They did not have to go around picking something. They knew how to reap from the earth. Once they knew how to reap from the earth, they stayed in the same place. They were not travelling. Because they were not travelling, they started building homes; because they started building homes, they started singing; because they built homes and they had to count how many bags of corn, how many bags of rice they had grown, they started arithmetic. Mathematics, music, aesthetics, agriculture, and the spiritual process developed in this culture because they paid attention to the earth. These are two different kinds of cultures, even in today’s world: One is always looking up, not at the stars anymore, but at the one and only God up there. The other one is look down. The looking-down cultures live more sensibly because they consider the Mother Earth as God, so they walk a little more gently on the planet.

Anyway, the choice is this: Either you try to live your life by predictions, or you have the capability to make a plan and fulfill the plan. All those minds which are incapable of a plan will look for a prediction. The stars that you see in the sky are far away, so very far away that they have nothing to do with you. Just one star has a big influence upon you – the Sun. And its satellite, the Moon, also has

some influence upon you. This planet [Earth] has an even greater influence upon you. But above all, what is within you has the biggest influence upon you. All those who are incapable of committing themselves to a plan and fulfilling it, want a prediction. The advantage with predictions is, you can keep changing them. But if a plan has to work, you have to pay enormous attention in creating one; then you have to stick to it. Prediction means, you can keep shifting.

For all the scattered brains, prediction always comes in very handy because they can shift. You must read the daily star sign prediction in the newspaper. I read all the twelve [laughter], because they are shuffling it. What was mine yesterday will be yours tomorrow. They know there are a bunch of idiots who will buy a newspaper just for this purpose. The whole deal is quite smart. And people just need that. If three lines in the newspaper say, “Today, you are going to meet somebody nice,” whoever you meet, you will think, “Oh, maybe this is the nice person; maybe that is the nice person.” Yes, they are. You have been missing it, and invariably you will end up with a not so nice person. When you live by prediction, if it works, you will be bewildered. If it does not work, you will be depressed. Whichever way, you will suffer. If we make a prediction by looking at a human being, it is not really a prediction. It is a calculation. It is not absolute, but arithmetically, it will be correct. And if you are just one more number on the planet, it will be absolutely correct. If you are more than a number, then we cannot predict what will happen.

I only hope all predictions go wrong for you. That means your life is happening wonderfully. Otherwise you are going by the script that was written by some fool. In India, for twenty-five rupees, or fifty cents, they will write your life. Let your life not be so bad. It does not matter what the hell happens. Let something other than the prediction happen to you. Is that okay? May your predictions and dreams not come true. [Laughter] Because a prediction is just a compromised dream.



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Krishna – Blue by Nature

Q: Why is Krishna always depicted as blue?

Sadhguru: Why blue? In your visual perception, three colors are most dominant – red, green, and blue. There are so many other colors which human beings normally do not see because the color cones in your eyes mainly recognize red, blue, and green. Different religions in the world have chosen different colors – some have chosen green, some have chosen orange or red, and some blue.

In terms of one’s evolution, there are various hues that one’s aura can take. When people who are sensitive to such things saw me about 12, 13 years ago [1993 or 1994], they always talked about me being orange or on the verge of magenta. But these days [at the time of the Leela program in 2006], people always speak about me being blue. These are two different basic dimensions that one can take on by choice. If we make the Ajna1 very important in our sadhana, then orange will be the dominant color. That is the color of renunciation, the color of austerity, asceticism, kriya. Blue is the color of all-inclusiveness. You will see that in the existence, anything that is vast and beyond your perception generally tends to be blue, whether it is the ocean or the sky. Anything which is larger than your perception tends to be blue because blue is the basis of all-inclusiveness.

You know, Krishna is supposed to be blue-bodied. This blueness need not necessarily mean his skin color was blue. Maybe he was dark-skinned, but people who were aware saw the blueness of his energy, so they described him as blue. In all descriptions about Krishna’s nature, blue is a common feature, because his all-inclusiveness

is one thing that nobody could deny. There are many disputes about who he was and what he was, but nobody could deny that his nature was all-inclusive.

Because his energy or the outermost ring of his aura was blue, he was simply irresistibly attractive, not because of the shape of the nose or the eyes or whatever. There are any number of people with good noses, good eyes, and good bodies but they do not exude the same level of attraction. It is the blueness of one’s aura which suddenly makes a person irresistibly attractive. They say Krishna was visibly blue, but that is 3000 years of lore.

This blueness, this sense of all-inclusiveness in him was such that even people who were sworn enemies of his sat with him and unwittingly gave in to him. He was able to effortlessly turn around even people who abused him and plotted to kill him any number of times. There are various other aspects to him but this blue nature constantly assisted him in everything that he did; he just became irresistible. Whether man or woman, people shamelessly fell in love with him and could not take their eyes off of him. Of course, women went a step further… Men have this unfortunate problem that it is very diffi cult for them to express their love. A man has to work up his whole system to say one word. Krishna was not made like that, he freely expressed whatever, nor do I have any problem. [Laughter] But generally, the nature of the masculine is such, if the emotion of love arises within him, he will do funny, stupid things. When the emotion of love arises in the feminine, a woman becomes most beautiful. But the masculine becomes awkward and uncomfortable with love. He is good with action. He does not want to love, he wants to make love. [Laughter]

Leela Series

The path of the playful – Part XXX

1 The sixth primary chakra or energy center in the human system, located between the eyebrows


Krishna and the Women – 1

There were many women in Krishna’s life. All of them were head over heels with him. We cannot go into all that, so we will just look at a few magnifi cent ones, a few woman devotees, but they did not call themselves devotees. They were his lovers, starting with Yashodha, his foster mother. She was deeply in love with the boy not just as her son – much more than that. Even when he was just an infant, it was all about the beautiful child that she had. But he grew too rapidly; his growth was phenomenal. No mother can adjust her motherhood to that kind of growth, so her motherhood disappeared somewhere by the time he was fi ve or six. After that, she could not really be his mother, she became more like his lover; she just loved him.

Yashodha’s relationship with Krishna grew in such a way that she also became one of the Gopis 2. She was also part of the Ras 3. She did not like Radhe because she thought this girl was too forward, whatever that meant. Radhe did not have the normal demeanor that was expected of a village girl. She was a little too outgoing. Yashodha felt this girl was hij acking her wonderful son, but she could not help joining the Ras conducted by Radhe after Krishna left.

Krishna never went back, not even to see his mother. Many times, he was right across the river in Mathura, but he did not go back to Vrindavan because they had seen him as an absolutely carefree cowherd boy and he did not want to destroy their dream. He did not want to go there as the missionary that he had become. Now that he had the role of bringing dharma to the world, he had to do many things that would have left them heartbroken, had they seen him like that. They were happy and fi ne the way they were. So Yashodha also became a Gopi along with Radhe because Krishna was no more her son. The blue did its magic with her too.

Putana, who had been sent by Kamsa to kill all the children born in that month, had ruthlessly gone

about murdering many just born infants. Once she located Krishna, she transformed herself with her magical powers into an extremely attractive woman. When she walked into the house with a royal bearing, people were simply amazed at her. She told them she wanted to take the child in her arms. She took the child, walked away, and sat outside. She had smeared her breasts with poison and was going to pretend that she wanted to feed the child. In those times in this country, any woman who could nurse the child could do so, not necessarily only the biological mother. It was considered as a great offering to the child. Since there was no contraception, most young woman were in a position to do that. Feeding each other’s children was not a big taboo like it is today where the child has to drink only its biological mother’s milk.

So Putana had come to kill Krishna with her poisoned breast. But when she looked at him, the blue magic got her. She was so deeply drawn to the child that suddenly her maternal instincts rose within her. She did not want to poison the child anymore – she really wanted to give herself to the child. She said within herself, “I have come to fulfi ll Kamsa’s orders to kill you. My breast is poisoned but my heart is longing for you to take not just my milk but my life too. It is my fortune that I can feed you.” So with extreme love but still with a poisoned breast, she fed the child. Krishna just sucked the life out of her. Right there, she fell dead with a big smile on her face. The last thought on her mind was, “My life is being sucked away by the Lord himself. What more do I want?”

So the assassin who had come to kill Krishna got entangled in the blue magic and fell in love with him within a few minutes of being with him. This was the impact that he had on people.

To be continued…

2 Cowherd girls2 Legendary ecstatic nightly dance of the young Krishna with the Gopis of Vrindawan


14

Isha Serpent in ActionIsha Serpent is a service-oriented branch of Isha Foundation, which was launched with Sadhguru’s blessings after the Adiyogi Alayam consecration. Having been involved in rescuing snakes for many years, Isha residents saw the need to establish a formal branch to deal with the requests. With the constant expansion of human habitation, contact between snakes and humans has seen a steady increase in the last few years. Apart from bringing

the snakes to safety, Isha Serpent also conducts awareness drives to educate people on how to deal with snakes. Typically shy of humans, most snakes are non-poisonous and are no threat to humans, but are many times killed by people out of fear. Even poisonous snakes do not pose a danger if one knows a few guidelines about how to handle them. With this goal in mind, our snake enthusiasts have been making headway towards solving this problem, which is especially common in rural areas.

Just before New Year’s Day, Isha Serpent got its first big job – to rescue a 13-foot long king cobra! Spotted at a farm near the Kerala border, it triggered a great deal of panic in the area. People tried to scare the snake away, which then hid in a rat hole. A local NGO called B. Nirmal from Isha Serpent, who went to handle the matter. By widening the hole where the snake was hiding, Nirmal and other volunteers were able to remove the snake without harming it. The whole operation took over three hours, after which the king cobra was transported to a more ideal habitat in a reserve forest. The incident was covered in the local section of all major newspapers.

Isha Arogya Center Launched in Chennai

In a promising start to a healthy new year, Isha Arogya’s center for holistic health care at Adambakkam, Chennai, was inaugurated in the presence of music director and singer Gangai Amaran and other prominent guests on 1 January 2012. The center offers complete healthcare services utilizing a combination of allopathic, Siddha, Ayurveda, and Yoga & Naturopathy health systems. A team of two doctors, one for Siddha and one for allopathic medicine, are available for free consultation. The facilities and features of the center include a well-stocked pharmacy, two therapy rooms for Ayurvedic massages and treatments, as well as specialty services for various chronic ailments.

The center in Chennai is the second Isha Arogya center following the first one in Salem that was inaugurated on 2 October 2011. Additional centers

have been planned for Trichy and Coimbatore. Isha Arogya seeks to integrate the wisdom of traditional Indian medical systems with modern medicine and its technology to introduce a holistic approach to health care that capitalizes on the strengths of both systems.

Isha Arogya Holistic Health Center 48A, Medavakkam Main Road; Adambakkam,

Chennai; Tel. +91-9442590099


It was a cool Sunday morning in Mumbai. While much of the city was still asleep, over 200 Isha volunteers warmed up for their run for Isha Vidhya at this year’s Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on 15 January 2012. For the fourth consecutive year, Isha volunteers in Mumbai ran to raise funds for the establishment and maintenance of Isha Vidhya’s rural schools. Over a period of six months leading to the event, a determined bunch of volunteers had been working towards raising funds not only within their circle of friends, relatives, and colleagues, but also approached corporate sponsors, while at the same time training for the event. Some of them had registered for the 6-km ‘Dream Run,’ some for the 21-km half-marathon, and others attempted the demanding 42-km full marathon.

After the hugely positive response last year, Sounds of Isha were again invited to cheer the close to 40,000 runners at Marine Drive – and they did. Public and volunteers gathered to dance and sing along to their tunes, and even marathon participants could be seen pausing for a little while to joyfully dance in front of the stage!

Since its inception in 2004, the Mumbai Marathon has been a platform for NGOs across India to raise awareness and funds. A total of Rs. 12 crores (USD 2.5 million) was raised by NGOs in 2011. Last year, Isha Education was ranked among the top 3 NGOs, based on the number of pledges raised. And this year was no different: Thanks to many generous donations, volunteers were able to raise over Rs. 60 lakhs (USD 120,000) for Isha Vidhya!

We would like to acknowledge all the individuals and companies that lent their support this year, including the six teams who ran for Isha Vidhya from IBM, HP, MyIris, Alok Industries, Mahendra Brothers, and Uni-Design. Thank you for making the 2012 Run for Isha Vidhya at the Mumbai Marathon a great success!

MuMbai Marathon 2012 Volunteers Raise 60 Lakhs for Isha Vidhya!


16 November 2011FOREST FLOWER

While world leaders are stalled over the climate crisis, Isha’s Project GreenHands (PGH) is enabling school children to take the future into their own hands. In August 2010, PGH in collaboration with the department of education in Tamil Nadu launched the Green School Movement as a pilot program in Erode district. The project mission is to create ‘green consciousness’ among school children by involving them in sapling production and planting. Environmental conservation is delivered as an experience that gets deeply imprinted in each child’s mind.

Nearly 1,200 school children from 300 schools joined hands with us to produce 2,000 saplings per school, which adds up to a total of 600,000 saplings! The required seeds, covers, and technical assistance were provided by PGH. One NGC (National Green Corps) coordinator and two students from each school underwent a training program at the PGH nursery in Gobichettipalayam. At the end of the training program, the children were given 2,000 seeds and covers to raise saplings in their school.

For the past five months, school children have been involved in nursery activities from sowing seeds, filling pockets, transplanting, watering, weeding, to the distribution of saplings. R. Priyanka, a student of Government High School, Pattimaniarampatti, shares, “My friends and I are members of the NGC club in our school. As per the instructions given during the training program, we filled the pockets

with sand, soil, and manure, and placed the seeds. We continued to water the pockets for 10 days but nothing happened. At that point, we grew scared and started wondering if we had made a mistake. But just two days later, the seeds started sprouting into tiny seedlings. It was so thrilling – like magic! My teacher says we are all magicians. I want to be part of the project next year too and grow more saplings.”

18 January 2012 marked the culmination of the Erode Green School Movement where 600,000 saplings were planted by the school children. This initiative has given an opportunity for PGH to take the message of environmental conservation to schools in some of the most remote villages in Erode.

E. Anand, the Operational Head of Project GreenHands, shares about the upcoming plans for the project: “Through the Green School Movement, we have been able to motivate children in Erode and Coimbatore districts to produce nearly 1 million saplings. This is just the start; the scope of the project keeps expanding. We’re looking at taking the project to 10 districts of Tamil Nadu next year and planting 6 million saplings.”

Our thanks to all the students, teachers, government officials, and volunteers who made this project a success. We look forward to an even bigger Green School Movement in the course of this year!

Project GreenHands: 600,000 Saplings

Planted on a Single Day!

The Suttur Jathra is a village fair, amplifi ed at least a hundred times over and completely organized and funded by Suttur Math1. Or in other words, it is a fi ve-day mega party thrown by Jagadguru Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamij i, Suttur Swamij i for short, the 23rd generation pontiff, in honor of their founder Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Shivayogi Mahaswamij i, who lived close to 1000 years ago. Large structures are erected to house tens of thousands of people; large temporary kitchens to feed 1.5–2 lakh people thrice a day run round the clock. There is festivity all around, all night long until 5:00 in the morning. Several hundred thousand people visit the festival and many stay there for the entire duration.

Sadhguru came to the Suttur Jathra as the Chief Guest of a mass marriage ceremony on 20 January 2012 where 162 couples got married. All expenses, dresses and gifts were sponsored by the Suttur Math. An additional assistance of Rs. 10,000 per couple was provided by the government of Karnataka. Shri Sadananda Gowda, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri Jagadish Shettar, former speaker of the Vidhana Sabha, and the present rural development minister, Mrs. Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni, former MP, and granddaughter of Mahatma

Gandhi, and Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami, Editor-in-Chief, Hinduism Today, were some of the other guests. Having arrived early to the event, Sadhguru was taken around the place – he visited the gaddige (samadhis), the temple, the massive kitchen, and the Agri Exhibition, where close to 70 crops were grown in careful calculation and synchronization to bear full yield during the Jathra.

Shri Jagadish Shettar pointed out that the couples who were getting married on that day were extremely fortunate because they were receiving the blessing of not one, but four spiritual Gurus, a Chief Minister, and several dignitaries. Mrs. Sumitra Gandhi said she did not know why she was invited as a guest for the event, but she hoped she and her husband qualifi ed to be there because it was their 50th year of marriage! Chief Minister Gowda who had come along with his wife exchanged garlands with her as a symbolic gesture. Later, Sadhguru along with Suttur Swamij i and Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami walked around the mandap to bless each of the 162 newly wed couples.

Tradition and Social ResponsibilitySadhguru Visits the Sutt ur Jathra

17

1 A multi-dimensional institution of the Veerashaiva community headquartered in Suttur, about 20 km from Mysore, Karnataka


Sadhguru Spot

18

Sadhguru SpotMusings from the Master

Devi is a Living EntityExcerpted from Sadhguru Spot of 25 January 2012

We are nearing the completion of two years since Devi. Since we started off with the Bhairavi consecration in January 2010, there has been no looking back. It has been a roller coaster of excitement and Devi has touched the lives of a countless number of people. Already four full-fledged Bhairavi temples have been confirmed, and many small ones are coming up. So, She is going places.

The reason why many people are able to feel the Devi temple much more than the Dhyanalinga temple is simply because She is physically manifest. Dhyanalinga is subtle; it takes a certain receptivity to feel it. It is of a completely different dimension. Devi is physically manifest – She can do pleasant things, but She can even slap you in the face. Fifty fingers may be left on your face. So, is Devi manifest? She very much is. Is She physically manifest? Very much. As far as I am concerned, She is a living entity for me and for many people.

So, “What should I do to experience Devi?” You don’t have to do anything. If there is not much of you, you will feel the presence of what is not you. If there is too much of you, you won’t feel anything anywhere. Not just here, anywhere. Devi is difficult to miss. But most people are like this – they have not felt their heartbeat, they have not felt their own breath, they cannot see the full moon. If you don’t notice a mosquito biting you, your heart beating,

your breathing, if you don’t notice how food behaves within you, how will you notice Devi? There are a few things which have manifested in some people’s lives with Bhairavi which are very strange and, probably, they would not want to talk about it, so I will leave that alone, but things have happened. But the problem with most people is – they are already imagining something.

Don’t imagine anything. Imagination is not good for experience. If you think imagination is a substitute for your experience, it is a stupid way to live. Imagination will feel pleasant for some time – if it goes out of control, you will go nuts. With imagination, you can go to heaven in two minutes and come back and you are in the same place – a little depressed because you are back. Experience is different. Experience transforms life. I am talking about real life experience. Physically manifest experience. It is very much possible.

So…devotion. It is not because you are singing for Devi or loving Her that She will appear. She is always there. She doesn’t care whether you are devoted or not. Your devotion has nothing to do with Her. Your devotion has something to do with you. If you are absolutely in devotion, nothing of you will be left. If nothing of you is left, She will be as strong and real as the morning sunlight. The only thing is, for you to feel it, you must be empty. How empty you are, that strongly you will feel it.


19

The Two-Year Anniversary of DeviExcerpted from Sadhguru Spot of 8 February 2012

Yesterday’s pournami [7 February 2012] was a celebration in grand style. It was the 15th anniversary of Vijji’s Aradhana, the two-year anniversary of the Linga Bhairavi consecration, and Thaipusam1. And we are offering a new sadhana for women which is being taught all over Tamil Nadu, in towns and villages. For a certain period of time, someone can take up this sadhana, and for a certain number of days, chant the Stuthi2 and do the Devi Dandam3. Then a handful of grains can be kept aside for Devi each day, and on this full moon day, these grains can be offered at the temple. It was beautiful to see so many come and make their offerings. The amount of devotion overflowing from all those who took part was absolutely incredible. Definitely, Devi is manifesting in miraculous ways.

So this sadhana is something we want to offer to everybody because devotion is the sweetest way to exist. It is the most intelligent way to live. What this means is, it is not about devotion to Devi or how many Devi Dandams you can do, it is about using devotion as a way to dissolve. Once you dissolve, once you empty yourself, Devi has no choice but to be with you. And if Devi is with you, I also have no choice.

Love and Grace,

Your devotion is not about Devi; your devotion is about dissolving yourself. But without Her, you cannot be devout. You need something, you need somebody to be devout, so you can use Her. Right now, everything that you see as the world is your interpretation, it is your reflection. In this condition, there can be no devotion, there can be no perception. What you see is not the world, not the creation, not the Creator. To demolish this ‘me’ that has become so big, I see Bhairavi everywhere. Now, after some time, everything is like that. If you see a leaf, “Oh, it looks like Bhairavi.” If you see a flower, “It looks like Bhairavi.” Don’t say this to anybody, just do this within yourself. This is a fantastic device

to lower the sense of who you are. Who you are will just disappear over a period of time.

So, is this not stupid? An idea that works, do you call it stupid or smart? It works, that’s all. All devices are to be used, not to be analyzed. It is not for analysis, it is for use. If you use it, it works. If you analyze, what is there in it? If I analyze you, what the hell is there within you? There is really nothing. Isn’t it?

Love and Grace,

1 Full moon day in the Tamil month of Thai; a day when many wonderful beings, yogis and siddhas have chosen to attain 2 A chant with 33 auspicious names of Devi 3 A certain prostration to make yourself receptive to the Devi’s Grace

Visit: Sadhguru.org/spot


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

7 - 13 March 2012 Inner Engineering Ernakulam, Cochin, India

+ 91 99958 21721

8 - 11 March 2012 Inner Engineering Retreat Residential Program

Isha Yoga Center Coimbatore, India

0422-2515421 [email protected]

10 - 13 Mar 2012Bhava Spandana Program (Gents)

Residential Program

Knowledge Excellence Centre,

Thane Dist, Mumbai, India

9820135722, 7738116291 [email protected]

11 Mar 2012

Inner Engineering Technologies for

WellbeingTalk by Sadhguru

Troxy, London, UK

+44-7720318350 [email protected]

11 Mar 2012 Sathsang with SadhguruTroxy,

London, UK+44-7788761764

[email protected]

14 Mar 2012

Inner Engineering Technologies for

Wellbeing Talk by Sadhguru

Indira Gandhi Centre for Indian Culture (IGCIC),

Phoenix, Mauritius

+230-2514668, +230-9736535 [email protected]

14 - 20 Mar 2012 Inner Engineering

Trinity Tower Party Hall,

Gurgaon, Delhi, India

96500 92102, 96500 92103 [email protected]

15 - 18 Mar 2012Bhava Spandana Program (Ladies)

Residential Program

Knowledge Excellence Centre,

Thane Dist, Mumbai, India

9820135722, 7738116291 [email protected]

22 - 25 Mar 2012 Inner Engineering Retreat Residential Program

Isha Yoga Center Coimbatore, India

0422-2515421 [email protected]

23 - 25 Mar 2012 Inner Engineering Conducted by Sadhguru

The Chancery Pavilion,

Bangalore, India

9243410136, 9886036647 [email protected]

31 Mar - 1 Apr 2012

Shambhavi MahamudraConducted by Sadhguru

Singapore+65-96660197

[email protected]

20 March 2012FOREST FLOWER

Isha Recipes For Healthy Living

GREEN DOSA

Black gram has been cultivated in India from ancient times. The bean is boiled and eaten whole or, after splitting, made into dal. The product sold as “black lentil” is usually the whole urad bean or urad dal, while “white lentil” is the same lentil with the black skin removed. The “white lentil,” ground into fl our or paste, is extensively used in South Indian culinary preparations, such as dosa, idli, or vada.

Black gram is nutritious, is a good source of protein and is recommended for diabetics, as are other pulses. It is also used in traditional Indian medicine (Ayurveda). Extracts of black gram have been shown to have immune-stimulatory effects.

Note: Instead of rice, you can use sprouted green gram (mung beans).

Urad Dal

METHOD OF PREPARATION

1. Wash rice and pulses and soak with fenugreek seeds in 5 to 6 cups of water for 2 hours.

2. Meanwhile, wash, trim and chop the mint, coriander, ginger and chilies and grind to a smooth paste, adding a little salt.

3. Drain the water from the rice and pulses and grind them to a smooth paste.

4. Add the herb and spice paste and sufficient water to make a dosa batter. Add salt to taste.

5. Heat tava (flat frying pan) and make thin dosas from this batter, using butter to make them tasty and crispy.

INGREDIENTS QUANTITY

Parboiled rice 2 cupsDe-husked split black gram (dhuli urad dal) ¼ cupSplit Bengal gram (chana dal) 1 teaspoonSplit pigeon peas (toor dal) 1 teaspoonFenugreek seeds ½ teaspoonFresh mint leaves 1 bunchFresh coriander leaves 1 bunchGinger 1 inch pieceGreen chilies 4Salt To tasteButter ½ cup


22

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