Life is Management !!!!

Just stumbled on this great person (Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev), a mystic from Tamil Nadu - South India. He runs the ISHA FOUNDATION. Below is a 4 min video where he has explained beautifully how life is nothing but just management. Enjoy!!!



I will like to end by one of the poems he wrote long ago 
"I was born like you, 
I eat like you,  sleep like you 
and will die like you. 
But the limited has not limited me, 
life's bondages have not bound me. 
As the dance of life progresses, 
this unboundedness has become unbearably sweet. 
Become love, reach out, become me"!!!!

I do not know what is so magnetic about these mystics.......

Ways to experiences Samadhi......

Here are some of the methods to get a glimpse of Samadhi. Each one has its own merits and de merits.
These are:
1. Drugs (Psychedelics)
2. Mantra ( a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of "creating      transformation").
3. Performing Austerities.


I will write about each of them someday. But as of now I will change gears and post some other stuff. This post I will complete later.


Anu

The Last/8th Limb - Samadhi -

When the subject disappears in the object, when the object disappears in the subject, when there is nothing to look at and there is no looker-on, when simply the duality is not there, that is SAMADHI. In other words, SAMADHI is made from the combination of 2 words – SAMA (Equanimity) and Buddhi (Intellect). Thus, when the intellect becomes equanimous i.e. when it looses the discriminatory dimension and just becomes perception; one experiences Samadhi.

Remember, this is the possibility for all of human beings. But the tricky part is when we experience the world we get smeared with the events so much that we forget about the ultimate human potential. In collecting pebbles and shells on the seashore one may miss the utterly blissful treasure of the ocean. This does not mean we do not enjoy the world!!! But the skill is not to get lost in it. Enjoy everything, but don't make it your very life then one will miss it. And remember, wherever we pay our attention that becomes the reality of life. If you pay your attention to pebbles, they become diamonds -- because wherever is your attention, there is your treasure. Sometimes the attention can be focused on the unreal and we start believing it to be real.

So make sure that real has to be sought. And the only way to reach it is, first, drop too many objects, let there be one object: second, drop all distractions. Let consciousness fall on that object in an uninterrupted. And the third (Samadhi) happens by itself. In that stillness, one can attain to the goal of life.

Bye

A

The 7th Limb - Dhyana - Contemplation

DHYAN, CONTEMPLATION, is the uninterrupted flow of the mind to the object. This will happen after dharana. So the 1^st step i.e. 6^th limb - concentration when we have dropped the crowd of objects and chose one object. Once this is done now a person can retain one object in consciousness. Now the second step uninterrupted flow of consciousness towards the object. As if light is falling from a bulb, uninterrupted.

Dhyan, contemplation, mean the consciousness falling on the object in continuity, with no break -- because each break means a distraction. If you can attain the first, the second is not difficult. Remember 1^st step is concentration, then comes contemplation so essentially if you cannot attain the first, the second is impossible. Once you drop objects, you choose one object, then you drop all loopholes in your consciousness, all distractions in your consciousness, you simply pour yourself on one object.

Both steps are essential to any work we do. But remember, this is not the end. There is one last step, which is SAMADHI.

The 6th Limb - Dharana - Concentration

Then comes dharana. After pratyahar, when a person has started coming back nearer home, coming nearer the innermost core. Pratyahar brings us near the gate; pranayam is the bridge from the out to the in. And then is the possibility of dharana, concentration. Now we can become capable of bringing the mind to one object. Note the logical flow of events here 1st, we gave direction to the body; then, direction to life energy -- now we give direction to our consciousness. Now the consciousness cannot be allowed to go anywhere and everywhere. Now it has to be brought to a goal. This goal is concentration, dharana: you fix your consciousness on one point it can be anything – your dream job, graduation, getting into medical school etc.

When consciousness is fixed on one point thoughts cease, because thoughts are possible only when your consciousness goes on wavering -- from here to there, from there to somewhere else. When the consciousness is continuously jumping like a monkey, then there are many thoughts and the whole mind is just filled with crowds -- a marketplace.

Dharana means the capacity to contain. Concentration is part of it. If you can remain with one idea for long, you become capable of the higher possibility of remaining one and the same for a long period -- because if you cannot remain one and the same for a long period, you will be distracted by the objects. A mind, which can remain in deep patience, can remain unmoving, only that mind can come to know one's own divinity. Plz note that it does not mean you become lazy…-:).

Bottom-line is – “ Successful people have one intention for a long period of time and people who are not successful have many intentions for short period of time”. Choose wisely…

A

The 5th Limb - Pratyahara - Withdrawal of Senses

After pranayam, breath regulation is pratyahar, abstraction. Pratyahar is returning back, coming back -- coming in, turning inwards, returning home. Pratyahar works as a bridge between the four, the yoga of the outside, and the last three, the yoga of the inside. The process of return is when the energy is no longer moving outwardly. It is turning inwards. Ordinarily, the energy is moving outward. We waste so much of precious energy in useless things like gossip, worry, random thoughts etc. Now in pratyahar the energy is to be conserved and build up as we will need it in the last 3 limbs. Energy is sapped because we have given the senses too much power over mind. Do not waste the precious energy in senseless situations at any cost,  as in the end you will regret it.

This has to be deeply understood: that senses by themselves are impotent -- unless you cooperate. That's the whole art of yoga. If you don't cooperate senses close. If you don't cooperate conversion starts. If you don't cooperate pratyahar comes in. That's what people who are sitting silently for hours, for years, are doing -- they are trying to drop the cooperation between themselves and their senses. When the energy is not obsessed to see, to hear, to touch; the energy starts moving inwards. That is pratyahar: movement towards the source, movement towards the place from where you have come, movement to the center. Now you are no longer moving to the periphery.

C ya

A

The 4th Limb - Pranayama - Regulated Breathing

Regulated breathing -- is pranayam. Breath is a very important tool all of us have but it is the most under utilized of all. Every rhythm of the breath has a corresponding emotion in the mind when we are angry there is a diff rhythm, when anxious the pattern is different etc. And the opposite is true too. That is, whenever the mind changes, the rhythm of the breath immediately changes. Therefore, if -- if you change that rhythm of the breath -- the mind has to change immediately.

It is always a nice idea to learn the technique properly as incorrect method may be harmful for the body. Pranayam is one of the greatest discoveries that has ever happened. Pranayam is an inner journey. And pranayam is the fourth step on the yogic path -- and there are only eight steps. Half the journey is completed on pranayam. Pranayam never means breath control. It simply means the expansion of the vital energy. Prana-ayam: prana means the vital energy hidden in breathe, and ayam means infinite expansion.