Generosity: A two-way street

Apr 9, 2010, 12.00am IST
MARGUERITE THEOPHIL.

Most of us were taught that generosity is about giving freely, and putting others' needs before our own. While there is nothing wrong with this definition, it remains somewhat incomplete. To think of generosity only in terms of giving can limit us.

Being truly generous is as much about being open to receiving graciously from others. Allowing the other to 'give' to us whether it be a compliment, an act of kindness, emotional support or even material help in times of need is, interestingly, as much of an act of kindness as extending ourselves to give to others.

Correspondingly, we need to be aware of a possible 'greed of giving' that can sometimes be a thinly disguised power trip! It's time we began to understand generosity as a kind of two-way street.

With all the talk about how "selfish" we are today, it's pretty amazing to see how many people have real difficulty being able to receive.

There may be at least four reasons why people have trouble receiving. Maybe they simply haven't learned how to graciously receive a gift or assistance from another. Or it could be that they don't want to feel under obligation to the giver. It's also possible they consider receiving a weakness, and want to always come across as the strong or defining part of a relationship; to receive, for some, is to acknowledge that they have needs, or are vulnerable, and they find this very hard. Or perhaps, most sadly, they don't feel they deserve what they receive.

Unfortunately, all of these reasons quite self-centredly put the focus on the receiver, rather than on the joy of the person giving the gift. It helps to recall the joy we feel when we ourselves give ^ and to allow others opportunities for experiencing the same joy.

Ultimately it is about finding that sacred balance between not wanting too much either to only give, or to only receive.

Teachers from various Traditions have spoken of the art of receiving; that learning to receive is an important step in connecting to our Higher Self. It may not be only working hard or being a more deserving person that draws good things towards us, rather, it begins with the process of 'allowing'. Perhaps we could reflect on the strange possibility that we may be allowing into our lives less than 2 per cent of the good things that Higher Self offers.

A sermon i once heard from a Christian pastor suggested that when Jesus called us to 'become as little children' to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he meant that we should learn to receive as they do. "Children can teach us a thing or two about simple, joyful receiving," she said. "They hardly ever feel they have to earn the gift or are obliged to pay you back. They just accept. It's a form of surrender. That's how one enters the kingdom."

A Buddhist teacher in Thailand invited us to consider that in order to have a great life, you not only have to discern your needs from your greeds, but you also have to be humble enough to ask for what you need, and more importantly you also need to understand that the way you habitually receive often determines what you will receive in the future.

There's a danger of getting caught up in our own ideas of what it means to be generous and so losing sight of what this principle of generosity is really about ^ which is experiencing our interconnectedness in both the outgoing and inflowing energy of genuine reciprocity.

(The writer is a Mumbai-based consultant, personal growth coach and workshop leader.)

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A spiritual odyssey for a better tomorrow

Apr 5, 2010, 12.00am IST

What is compassion? To be compassionate is to understand. If you don't understand, no matter what you do in the name of compassion, you won't get anywhere .

You need to practise compassion but in order to do that you need to not only talk compassion but also do compassion. Going on a yatra or pilgrimage with other people, for instance, is a good opportunity to interact with others, tending to each other's needs and doing all this selflessly. More than 600 people will join the yatra , and most of them are women.

We need to integrate Buddha's thought to modern life. Which is why the spiritual padyatra that is to commence today from Manali will seek to raise public awareness on the significance of education, health care, environment and heritage and in the process, also help us on our journey towards enlightenment. Going on a pilgrimage is one way of finding the innate enlightened nature that resides within each one of us and use it to empower ourselves and serve humanity.

It is important to live in the world in an environment-friendly manner so that the future of coming generations is not compromised on account of our selfish actions. We need to be aware of other beings, too. Selfless service and being aware of all beings is integral to a spiritual outlook.

The Drukpa lineage respects both spirituality and material life. We need to bridge the two. We believe in higher philosophy and abstract metaphysics as well as practical living. It's just that mentally, you should not be dragged down, but you are on earth, so you cannot avoid it and so you cannot be indifferent to beings that are suffering as part of existence.

Walking, eating, sleeping or any other activity ought to be undertaken selflessly. Walk, sleep and eat for others. You drink water to satiate your thirst, but also be mindful of all the many bacteria in your body that are also drinking that water and benefiting from it. The interdependence becomes evident.

There is nothingness and there is everythingness. Nothingness is within everythingness and everythingness is in nothingness. It is necessary to contemplate on the practice of nothingness. Everythingness is all about practising the precept, "Live to Love" the essence of which is to act for the benefit of all. The Drukpa lineage believes in getting enlightened for the benefit of others. The goal is to enable practical application of Buddhist teachings to everyday life. If someone is suffering, it is our duty to try and alleviate that suffering. Contemplation is good, but not without offering a helping hand to those who need your help.

So the practice of everythingness is the practice of relative truth and the practice of nothingness is the practice of the ultimate truth. What we are doing now is to move more towards everythingness because it is important to be able to meet modern challenges, keeping in mind the principle of interdependence. Buddhism means progress in our mind how much you have achieved in respect of developing compassion, and how strong your understanding of wisdom has grown. How many hours you are sitting cross-legged and how many mantras you are reciting is not the main question.

Sometimes, a spiritual journey is all it takes to find the simplest solution to the greatest problem.

By H H The Gyalwang Drukpa: The XII head of the 800-year-old Drukpa lineage will lead a padyatra,`Walking on the world's rooftop', from Manali-Ladakh, May 23-July 3, with 285 nuns, 170 monks and other volunteers. He spoke to Narayani Ganesh in New Delhi.

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Is god playing games?

Apr 14, 2010, 12.00am IST
TNN.


How often have we heard someone ask: “Why is God playing cruel games with us?” It is perhaps a question that comes to mind when one fails to find a satisfactory explanation of the inexplicable. But the question itself is not a satisfactory approach to understanding.

We can give explanations, but explanations need not be answers.

What is life and what is death? You are looking at death as the opposite of life. So, our encounter with death is conditioned by our definition of death as being opposed to life. Look at it another way: Death is one more expression of life. Life scientists declare that death is the most critical defining feature of life. All and only living things die. When you die, you are making the ultimate undeniable assertion that you have been alive. In fact, death is even a precondition to life. The Holy Bible says, “Unless a seed falls into earth and dies, it cannot produce any grains”. That is, a seed has to cease to be itself in order to be a source of life to several others like it.

The most comfortable place for you is to be is in your mother’s womb. After birth, many times you search for that same comfort. That is why in Hindu temples, the sanctum sanctorum is called garbhagudi – representing a mother’s womb. At the time of delivery, the body of the mother pushes the child out. When it is pushed out, every child goes through what is called birth trauma, experiencing a form of death. Tagore asks, “Is it death or is it life?” What do we experience? Birth, exit from the womb where life originated and was sustained for about nine months and into the world outside – is a form of death that leads to life although in different environments. Similarly, death – exit from the world – could be a door to some other form of life or life at yet another plane.

Don’t we cast off worn-out clothes in order to wear new ones? Why get so attached to physical phenomena? During the great dotcom bust of the post-millennium years, a lot of people went through depression all over the world, but especially so in California, the hub of all that dotcom activity. Let us think of what really happened. Nothing more than the fact that what had been hyped sky-high was brought down to earth. The same thing had happened in Bangalore real estate. It happens cyclically in stock markets across the globe. You build the bubble, and, when the bubble breaks, you feel depressed. Those who know that the rise is artificial make all the profit while gullible believers in the longevity of the bubble lose everything.

The value we attach to objects of speculation like stocks, shares, land, and commodities is purely psychological; they are illusory or insubstantial. Likewise, all sorrows are chiefly created by the mind. You invest 10 million rupees on a piece of land expecting to make a profit of 10 million, but the profit is only notional in the sense that it is based on your expectation that the value of your purchase will double within the time frame of your expectation. If your expectations are defeated, you start suffering. It’s all in your mind, isn’t it?


Therefore the trauma that you feel at events like accident or death is also mainly psychological, and so death is something you can overcome through spiritual discipline.

Excerpt from: “Enhancing Life: The Art of Inner Awakening. www.prasannatrust.org
(Discourse: Swami Sukhabodhananda)

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Story of Kaliya the snake

Apr 13, 2010, 12.00am IST
TNN.


Krishna overcomes Kaliya the dreaded, multi-hooded snake in the River Yamuna and begins to dance on its several hoods. When the heels of Krishna strike the hoods, some break off and then get replaced by new ones. All the while Krishna keeps playing his sweet flute.

Snake Kaliya with its numerous hoods symbolises the numerous desires we have. When one desire gets fulfilled, another arises, like the new hoods of Kaliya. The hoods keep breaking and forming, but Krishna is unperturbed. He keeps playing His flute, denoting the power of discrimination, of wisdom, of the focus on the bliss of Self. The wife of Kaliya prays to Krishna, that is, her prayer in which she desires her husband to come back whole leads to re-creation of the hoods.


Kaliya questions Krishna: “O Lord! You are the Creator. You have created venomous snakes like me; you have also created gods who drink nectar. What is my fault in this? I am poisonous because nature has made me so.” The Srimad Bhagvatam says that on hearing this, Krishna falls silent.


Krishna accepted Kaliya’s words of discrimination. Krishna is the true embodiment of wisdom. He replies: “Alright, I shall not kill you, but please leave this place. You are causing distress to many. My nature is to shower bliss and your acts are an obstruction to that.” Krishna spares Kaliya’s life. He does not kill him or snatch his venom from him, but asks him to go to another place, where perhaps he would learn to use venom only when absolutely necessary, in self-defence.


In the same way, I do not ask you to eliminate desire, anger, greed and delusion that trouble you, but to change their course. You desire to obtain something or the other. Let this yearning be turned to attain God, to obtain inner peace, to yearn for silence and solitude or if you wish to enter public life, yearn for the welfare of the people. The orientation of your yearning, when changed, can lead you to God. The yearning for kama will get sublimated to attainment of Rama. In this manner, your wisdom will be put to good use. The same applies for anger. For how long will you try to suppress it? Just re-channelise it in a different direction. If greed overpowers you, then channelise it towards greed for doing more japa, more meditation, more acts of benevolence and acquiring more divine knowledge. The same goes for other attachments and passions. Sant Tulsidas has said: “Develop attachment towards the Lord, and equanimity towards the world.”

“O Lord, I have experienced these worldly pleasures, now have mercy...” –

Such a prayer shows your discrimination. However great may be the amount of praise, pleasures and comforts you attain – how long will they last and what will remain in the end? Therefore, yearn for real joy, the bliss of Self, the Atman.


Your real Self, the Atman, is bliss personified. If there is sorrow, worry or fear, it is due to lack of discrimination. Keep awakening your power of discrimination. As you grow in discrimination, you will also grow in dispassion and gain the shat-sampatti, the six spiritual wealth of shama or mind control, dama or sense control, titiksha or forbearance, samadhan or freedom from doubt, shraddha or faith and Ishwar-pranidhan or concentration of mind on God.

Then the yearning for moksha or liberation will automatically arise. Moksha means liberation from all sorrows forever and attainment of Supreme Bliss.

www.ashram.org

(Satsang: Asaram Bapu)

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A tree as old as the hills

Apr 20, 2010, 12.00am IST
SANJAY DEV.

I am God's creation; He who created the cosmos also created me. I am one of the elements of the natural world, and so am perhaps as old as the hills, existing say, for more than 210 million years now, going by the estimates of cosmogonists.

Genesis makes mention of me as the Tree of Knowledge planted by God along with the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, embodying knowledge of good and evil. The one whose fruit was forbidden to eat and which both Adam and Eve ended up eating, succumbing to temptation. And for which transgression they were banished from the Garden of Eden, to toil and sweat for survival.


I am also the Bo Tree, the tree under whose shade Gautama attained enlightenment and became known as the Buddha. I am produced by spore or seed and thus self-perpetuate, as per phytogenesis. That's about my age, origin and evolution. I have witnessed vicissitudes of times; rise and fall of civilisations. I have survived the Apocalypse that flattened entire Creation and reduced me to a fossil or several fossils - proof of my once-being-there.


Years of survival and the struggle to live, inherent in all living beings, have conditioned me to stand the ground and acclimatise to surroundings, hostile or friendly, no matter! I first make sure that I stand on my own, and then prepare the ground for my near and dear ones. I not only create a habitat for myself but do so for others, too, who flock to my arborous arms. As a tree, one must be pliable when young. You can't shape me into a mould once I am grown up and my limbs get ossified.

I understand the language of inter-dependence. And hence have a pact with those who tend to me. I fill their lungs with life-giving oxygen and take in the discarded carbon dioxide to fill mine and nourish myself. To reward others for my upkeep, I give them wood, fruits, rubber, nectar, gum, food and medicinal substances. This constitutes the material exchange. Besides, I also give protection from sun and rain; help stabilise the ground they make their homes on; offer them green cover to counter pollution and rarify the air they inhale.

I can't be faulted because I keep teaching lessons -- audible enough when it blows; visible enough when it blows and pours. I keep beckoning my arm-like branches and fluttering my wing-like leaves. What can I do if the woods and its inhabitants collectively and separately miss my lessons of peaceful coexistence, communion with nature, symbiotic relationship, self-reliance, coalescence, assimilation and absorption, virtues of charity and giving, growing closely yet apart, vertical growth rooted in horizontal development, unobtrusive communication, standing tall, yet bending with one's own weight without throwing it around -- all this and much more. But alas, it seems they miss the woods for the trees!


I have always known my place in the vast cosmos and respect its limits in the context of my existence or not. Unfortunately, those who study the vastness of the cosmos believe in invading others' space. Why don’t they just let me ne? Ought you to judge a tree by its bark? The tree is known by its fruit, sometimes. How long will I take kindly to it all? If there is no more eco-mindfulness in the world and consumerism becomes the main driver of life and living, would that not impact the entire system? What if ultimately trees lose their `treeness’?

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Power to heal and renew

Apr 12, 2010, 12.00am IST
CHRISTOPHER MENDONCA.


The Sacred Tridium of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter has its roots in the celebration of the Passover by the Israelites 12 centuries before Christ. Memorial for the Hebrew means making present in the “now” the event that took place years ago, not merely in the sense of remembering it, but believing that what happened then happens even now, in our very midst with the same intensity with which it first occurred. The ‘symbols’ of yesteryear become the ‘reality’ of today, albeit in a different setting.

Deliverance from slavery, passing over from one form of existence to another, crossing over and making it to the other side against all odds, are all a reminder of the presence of the same power that allows the event to be repeated. For Christians, these days are a celebration of deliverance from enslavement to the ego, passing over from the ‘death of the self’ to the new life of the true Self. The journey to the Promised Land that took 40 years is a symbol of the lifelong resistance we face as we make the journey in our own lives. But Easter is the assurance that we will make it to the other side.


In Hebrew thought and culture the individual and nature are meant to be in harmony in the Original Plan of God. Easter comes to us as God’s gift in the person of Jesus who exercises the fullness of Divine Power by healing at all levels – cosmic, physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Christians believe that Resurrection of Jesus makes us partakers of that very power. We are called to share this gift with each other to participate actively in this process of renewal and re-creation, first of all by healing ourselves and then making this the starting point of healing all around us.


We do not ourselves heal others. Rather we allow ourselves to become channels of the healing power of God with us and in us, enabling it to be effective at all levels. But it is given to us in freedom. The power of the Risen Lord, real as it is, does not take away our freedom to reject it.


Why are we so often unable to heal our sicknesses? Why is it that new form of diseases surface and hold to ransom large sections of the population even as we have made staggering advances in the field of medical science? Why are we so often incapable of healing broken relationships? Why does peace so often elude us? All our efforts at building a better world, of establishing a society free of violence and war, of living together in peace and justice and love will come to naught if they are not at the same time linked to our own progressive “Passing Over” from the Ego to the True Self.


The celebration of Easter is more than a Christian Festival; the Passover goes beyond the boundaries of Judaism. It is an invitation to every individual to delve deep into his own contemplative tradition and encounter there the power that raised Jesus from the dead, the power within us that is the source of healing and renewal. Precisely because of Easter, together with us ‘the whole of creation still retains the hope of being freed like us from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God’.

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Happiness is not everything

Apr 11, 2010, 12.00am IST
SWAMI BRAHMDEV.


The idea of happiness is a kind of ignorance. If your understanding is healthy, then you will never give too much importance to happiness; we do so because of our ignorance. Happiness is not the idea, purpose or aim of life; happiness is a consequence, a fruit.


Happiness is a subject of the senses; it is felt by the senses, it is an idea of the senses; it is information got from the senses. The scope of the senses is limited and the senses are completely unaware of the greatness of life. So if you are thinking for happiness or working for happiness you are just following your senses, you are indulging them. You are just living with your senses.


Understand the game of the senses, and then go beyond them. Discover that portion of life, that part of life that can give us something permanent, the highest knowledge of life, the highest clarity in life.


Nobody enters the path with full clarity, so even if you are ignorant or you lack the aspiration, somehow you will get connected. For instance you have a certain understanding of life and what you want. On the basis of what you know, your highest goal is to find happiness. As you undergo experiences in the course of life, your understanding grows wider and deeper. As your understanding develops you begin to see that happiness is not everything, that there is something beyond, that happiness comes and goes. You begin to think that perhaps satisfaction and being content is more important, no matter the kind of circumstances you are faced with. You could be content if you wished to be so.


Earlier your level of understanding prompted you to say: “How can I be content when I don’t have this, or I don’t have that?” Now your level of understanding has changed, and with that understanding you don’t miss anything, you are fully content. So it is just that in the level of our understanding something happens; if the understanding is high then you will not give too much importance to happiness, or sadness. When you aspire for something higher you will give more importance to your clarity, to your higher understanding, you will live for that; you will not give importance to whether the path is long or not, you will not give importance to the path at all, you will give importance to the target, the target is higher, aspiration is higher.


When you climb a mountain with the aim of reaching the top you have clarity. You know that you have to reach the top. That clarity helps you. The path will be very difficult, and maybe you will not be happy on the way, but when you reach the top that will give you much more than happiness, it will give you contentment. If we are only looking for happiness then we will never be able to climb high, aim high, or aspire for anything that can help us to evolve further.


What we understand by happiness lies on the surface. When you live at a deeper level, you give importance to clarity of consciousness which gives you information on the purpose of your existence; it gives you purpose. Once this is clear, everything will come to you including contentment and balance.

(As told to Sudhamahi Regunathan)

You can write to Swami Brahmdev at aurovalley@gmail.com

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Sublimate service to seva

Apr 18, 2010, 12.00am IST
TNN.


Acts of service are not uniform in the benefits they confer. When service is undertaken by power-hungry people, under compulsion or by imitative urges, it results in more harm than good.

Self-aggrandisement, competition or ostentation are motives that pollute the sacred spiritual practice of service. One who wishes to do spiritual service needs overcome ego, exhibitionism and favouritism.


Before embarking on a service project, ask yourself, is your heart full of selfless love, humility and compassion? In your head do you have an intelligent understanding and knowledge of the problem and its solution? Are your hands eager to offer the healing touch? And can you gladly spare and share time, energy and skill to help others in dire need?

These qualities take root and grow only when the idea of the ‘Reality of Unity’ is implanted in our consciousness. Think of it this way. All living beings are cells in the body of God. Their origin, continued existence, and progress are all in, by and for God. The individual is a unit in this unity. There are no other aliens. When one is ill, all suffer. When one is happy, all are partners of that happiness. Faith in this truth is the fundamental equipment the sevak or volunteer must acquire.


In order to deserve the sacred name Seva, the activity must be freed from all attachment to the individual self and based on firm faith in the Divine resident in every being. Seva has to be considered as worshipping the form that God has assumed to give volunteers the chance of worship.


When a hungry nara or man is served a hearty meal, what is being done is Narayana Seva -- serving the Supreme Lord, for nara is only ‘a form and a name’ projected by maya or human ignorance. Do not allow your service activities to turn into shops which concentrate on window dressing, in order to attract attention and patronage.

Before attempting to advise people who are less fortunate than you are, you must endeavour to advise yourself ; before venturing to reform them, reform yourself. Avoid boasting before them about your superiority; it will hurt them and keep them away. Do not indulge in lectures. Action alone can inspire action. Example alone can instruct. Tall talk is a barren exercise.

An illiterate person need not be an ignorant person. He might be well aware of the ideals propounded by scriptures, saints and sages perhaps through oral tradition.

Today, we are confronted everywhere with statistics parading quantities and reports in glowing terms. Do not bother about adding to the number or achieving a target; value quality, not quantity. Genuine and intensive devoted service offered in a few places is more fruitful than superficial service offered to a large number.

Life cannot continue for long without others serving you, and you serving others. Master-servant, ruler-ruled, guru-disciple, employer-employee, parents-children, all these are bound by mutual service. Every one is a sevak or servant.


Remember that the body, with its senses-mind-brain complex has been gifted to you to be used for helping the helpless. Seva is the highest path of devotion which wins the Grace of God. It promotes mental purity, diminishes egoism and enables one to experience, through sympathetic understanding, the unity of mankind.

November 21, 1986

(Discourse: Sri Sathya Sai Baba)

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Going on a pilgrimage

Apr 9, 2010, 12.00am IST
TNN.


In mystic traditions, particularly in India, life is regarded as a journey. A pilgrimage is merely an external projection of an inward journey. Before you can determine who is a pilgrim, you need to be clear about some aspects of pilgrimage.

A place of pilgrimage is one where a manifestation of divinity appeared for a particular purpose, where a sage performed austerities or meditated for a long period, or where someone got direct experience of God. One or more specific areas within the holy place get marked as a sanctum sanctorum, due to a still palpable divine power, like a vortex of energy. I have personally experienced this vortex in many places, particularly while taking a dip in the Ganga with my Guru at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.

A pilgrimage is undertaken with many spiritual goals in mind. It may be an act of acknowledging to oneself one’s failures and misdeeds. You may aspire for freedom from this burden of misdeeds through prayaschitta, an act of atonement and purification. It could be in the form of renouncing a habit, addiction or worldly pleasure after the pilgrimage is complete.

It is not a myth that if a pilgrim is one who fulfils all the requirements, he may be granted the rare darshan of a sage who left the body thousands of years ago, but still dwells there as a light being.

You will feel the energy to the degree your mind is attuned. If you blanket your mind with the elements of the unsettled, the non-sacred, the mundane, and carry your anger and impatience with you, the energy plays hide and seek, and you return without being recharged.

While a pilgrimage is not the highest endeavour, it is far more conducive to self-enquiry and enrichment than a holiday. Rather than attending a lecture on silence, it is better to practise silence. Go on an internal journey rather than an external one.

If done earnestly the right way, it cleanses the mind, unburdens the heart, and you become confident in your capacity to explore your inner world. You then renounce pleasures you are addicted to and come to realise that you have the spiritual strength to live without them.

Begin a pilgrimage with an inner resolve or sankalpa, abandoning comforts, renouncing pleasures, remaining silent and still, practising celibacy, practising restraint in matters of food, accepting whatever the stations in the journey have to offer, controlling speech and all the senses and withdrawing from desires and from memories thereof.

Many spiritual seekers share Kabir’s view: “If taking a dip in a river would grant me liberation then the fish would have been liberated long ago.” Hence the internal journey is far more important than the external one.

A holy place is called tirtha, a point of crossing over. Let a pilgrimage be a point of crossing over, a transition to a higher level of thought, action and existence. Go with the resolve: “After the pilgrimage, I shall be a higher self, purer, brighter, more stilled, more akin to my own interior divinity.”


After the pilgrimage, be not what you were before. Let your life become a journey to your internal sanctum sanctorum. Until that final realisation happens, you will continue to remain a pilgrim. Thereafter, you become a guide to other pilgrims who might follow you, seeking to grasp the vessel of God’s elixir of immortality, the Aquarian fullness, the essence of enlightenment.

(Talk: Swami Veda Bharati)

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Reiki’s healing energy

Apr 8, 2010, 12.00am IST
Sangeeta Mittal.


No object in world is eternal. We read, we know, we understand, but how many of us believe this simple truth, that nothing and everything that exits in the cosmos are present in space but in different forms? Space, the God-force is one dimension which holds our past, present, and future. Everything is in place.


In the universe there are many galaxies - we are also in one of them, the Milky Way - made up of energy in the form of matter consisting of vibrating atoms, electrons, protons, subatomic particles and then the space between the atoms, which is emptiness. The energy which vibrates and pulsates between the emptiness at different frequencies is the God-force which comes directly from the cosmos to give them different structures.


We may seem like a solid body made up of cells, molecules and atoms. All these are, however, components in emptiness. Space, the emptiness between the atoms is bridged by energy which is flowing all over the body through 72,000 channels and throughout the universe. As blood flows through nerves, energy flows through nadis, channels, and the meridians. Energy is called variously as the God-force, kundalini, shakti or reiki, the vibrational energy.


Intellectually, it is difficult to study empty space, the field of kundalini shakti flowing between the atoms in the body, so to speak. However if we are able to withdraw our five senses from the outer world and train our minds to undertake a different kind of experience, we can journey inside, following the inner radar of the five koshas. The five koshas are annamaya or food sheath, pranamaya or vital sheath, manomaya or mental sheath, vijnanmaya or intellect sheath and anandmaya kosha or bliss sheath.


Anything which we see through our physical eyes or inner eyes begins with a thought; it may be a seed thought put into action. Thoughts are constructed by pure consciousness which exists between the nothingness of space. Why is it difficult to see objects in reality which we construct through our thoughts? Our thoughts are subatomic energy and they turn inward. They look back and keep changing and reconstructing themselves to form new shapes all the time with the perception of our five sense. This way, the subtlest energy in nature manifests what we actually wish. We have to invoke awareness of our own self to know the purity and solidity of that seed thought by reading the map to journey inward towards the self.


An enlightened person undertakes a journey that takes him towards the Self. Through meditation one can raise the vibrations of consciousness. This is followed by outer activity, living in the material physical world. Even 20 minutes of giving Reiki or God-force energy to your self will raise and vibrate your energy level and establish inner silence that may see you through more than 12 hours of activity. To maintain the purity of vibrations don’t allow it to fade; get recharged practicing regularly energy healing the Reiki way.


As you continue through months of following this practice you will overcome the trappings of the external world that threaten to overshadow your pure consciousness. You would then be able to reach the highest state of consciousness that is known as the sat chit ananda. Once you get there, you can truly enjoy the bliss.

(The writer is a Reiki master)

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Taste the sweetness of life

Apr 7, 2010, 08.59am IST
DISCOURSE: SADHGURU.

When you exist here as body or mind, your suffering is inevitable. Your body and mind are always subject to the forces of duality, so circumstantial aspects will rule.


As long as this is so, you being happy or unhappy, peaceful or not, is not in your control – the way you are right now depends on the situations you are in. Meditation means to transcend limitations of physical body and mind so that you exist in a state where body and mind are not deciding the quality of who you are. During meditation you are in touch with the source, the basis of your body and mind. The basis of all creation is what you are referring to as God. Body and mind are something that you gathered from outside. They are not the basis of life, they are only the surface.


The physical reality of existence is only the peel of the fruit. Only as a protective layer for the fruit, the peel has some value; not by itself. You have to feed your body, clothe it, decorate it, and pamper it in so many ways. This seems very important right now. But if that something which is the basis of your body and mind, that which you have never experienced so far, leaves this body, nobody is interested in this body anymore. The fruit is gone. Nobody is interested in the peel alone. Only because the fruit is inside, we value the peel. But right now, you have gotten so deeply involved with the peel that you have forgotten about the fruit. If you are eating the peel of life, how can life be? It has to be bitter. But the problem with the peel is, it has spots of sweetness in it. Right now, your whole life is about searching for these spots of sweetness. These spots of sweetness have come only because of the fruit. If you transcend the peel, if you go beyond the peel and taste the fruit, your life will become completely different. Physical existence is just the peel of life.


Right now, your whole experience of life is limited to the physical existence because you experience life only through your five senses. Sense organs can only experience that which is physical. They cannot experience anything beyond that.


If you want to experience something beyond the physical existence, you need to go beyond the five senses. Right now, you can only talk about God; you cannot experience God. But if you can experience the fruit beyond the peel and access that which is the source of creation, there is a possibility for you to live every moment of your life in the company of the Divine – an intelligence and competence that will make your life magical and blissful. If you do not utilise this possibility, why exist here as a human being? If we have just come here to eat, sleep, reproduce and die one day, we don’t need this kind of intelligence; we don’t need this kind of body. Once you have come here as a human being, you have come with the capability of knowing and experiencing life beyond the physical dimension. That is what meditation means – to know life beyond the limitations of the five senses; to know life beyond the sphere of that which is physical; to know and experience life at the source, not the surface. To live, and to live totally.

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So many roles to play

Apr 7, 2010, 12.00am IST
JAHNAVI SHANDILYA.


Among the fundamental questions we tend to ask ourselves at some point in our lives is: “Who Am I?” Ramana Maharshi asked the seeker to constantly question himself as a way of exploring deeper truths and to come to a better understanding of them.

Who are you? Jiddu Krishnamurti answered thus: “When you call yourself an Indian, a Muslim, a Christian, a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, religion, political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

While discussing what J Krishnamurti had to say on the subject of identities, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a satsang held recently in Rishikesh, offered the following insight: The process of evolution is moving from somebody to nobody and from nobody to everybody, realising one’s true identity, Brahmn, the all-inclusive and all-pervasive. Masters all along, even after achieving the highest, have chosen to play limited identities well. Rama was called Maryada Purushottam, Krishna was Yogeshwar, and Dwarkadheesh , and Buddha as a bhikshu meticulously followed the sanyas dharma.

An individual cares for his immediate family and as part of society shares love and affection with neighbours. For a master, the family is the whole world. An avatar, a sadhguru, skillfully fulfills individual as well as universal roles, without any conflict. Playing a limited role is in no way in conflict with the universal role. Though Krishna was a Yadava, he also was Devakinandan. Arjuna tells Krishna in Chapter XI: “He Krishna, He Yadava, He Sakha.” Krishna fulfilled the role of a son, a Yadava leader, sakha to Arjuna and guru to Udhava.

A master is unattached to any identity but still presents an expression appropriate to desh, kal and patra or space, time and situation. For example, a Times of India marketing person may be reading every newspaper in the house, but while doing his job promoting his paper, he has to claim Times of India is the best. If he says every paper is the same then will he be doing justice to his job? When Arjuna wanted to let go off his kshatriya identity and live in the forest, it was Krishna who insisted that he has to keep his kshatriya identity.


Remaining universal inside and assuming identities and roles outside relevant to the situation is the skill of a gyani which each one of us has to cultivate. An incarnation or avatar is remembered by the role played. That is also how the ten incarnations of Vishnu, the Dashavatar, have been beautifully portrayed. Janak performs a limited role as a king externally but internally, nurses a thirst for the unlimited, which makes him a grand seeker before Ashtavakra. A disciple like Janak is rare indeed. A guru's job is to bring everybody to play Janak’s role -- skillful in performing their duties and having a yearning for the highest knowledge. A sadhguru is totally detached, established in Advait, universal in being, at the same time his expression is based on desh, kal and patra -- place, time and situation. Universal in being, nischay, and yet effortlessly fulfilling different roles in the world (vyavhara) is the skill of a Master.

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Staying with the question

Apr 22, 2010, 12.00am IST
MARGUERITE THEOPHIL.


While we are always encouraged to go in search of answers, we are not taught the higher-order skill of asking the right kind of questions.

When solving problems, we are more likely to find relevant, wise answers if we learn first to ask “rich and juicy questions” These, we learn, almost always start with ‘what’ or ‘how’ and are crafted around creating a desired outcome, rather than being framed as the kind of ‘why’ questions that are mostly focused on examining what went wrong.

Accepting unquestioningly all that ‘consensus reality’ offers us, we may live relatively safe lives, being fed our answers; never mind whether or not these answers are wholesome, just or humane. So, if the answers teach us that ‘the other’ -- anyone different in terms of religion, culture, community, gender, or whatever - is to be feared, suspected or even hated, we avoid questions like “Am I/are we really that different?” and “When have I/we also thought or acted in a similar way?” and “How can I learn to see beyond my biases?”

These questions are scary to ask, because on the way to the answers, we might need to accept that our previous ‘givens’ were not all they were made out to be, no matter where or whom they came from.


An interesting questioning process is ‘The Work’ of Byron Katie, author of Loving What Is. This is a way to identify and question the thoughts that are the basis of our suffering. Part of this approach is a process of inquiry that includes ‘The Four Questions’, that pull you progressively deeper into your unquestioned assumptions and really make you look closely at your habitual reactions: Is this true? Can you absolutely know that it’s true? How do you react, what happens to you, when you believe that thought? And most interestingly - who would you be without the thought?


On another level, Sam Keen suggests that what shapes our lives are not just the questions we ask, but those we refuse to ask, or never think of asking. The questions we ask determine whether we will be superficial or profound, accepters of the status quo or seekers.


There are lower-order questions, and higher-order questions. Strangely, the lower-order ones give us answers more readily; but we really should be suspicious when our answers reveal how good, right or righteous, or wronged by others we are, and how wrong, misguided, cruel the other one is or other ones are. Typically, we ask: “Why me?”


Higher order questions often give us more churning, greater discomfort, or even a further lot of questions. But staying with them often gives us life-enhancing insights.


Tough questions we grapple with include: What would I no longer be doing if my life were perfect in every respect? How do I become the unique self I am meant to be? How do I contribute to Life? What should I do to reduce the quantity of hate around? What will make me stronger? Which ‘rules’ must I obey; which ones are healthy to disobey? What gives me true joy and peace? What are the first steps I must take to translate understanding into action?


To become a questioner is to make a commitment to search for wisdom rather than certainty. Many of these questions may not give us very clear-cut answers, but that is precisely the point; it’s the act of asking them that works to shift one’s consciousness.

Email: weave@vsnl.net

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How to bond with the best

Apr 13, 2010, 12.00am IST
M P K Kutty.


It does seem that pain and misery don’t fit in this beautiful earth. Then why is it that many of those who set out in life with a heart of gold, take up noble causes, and stand for the good of fellow beings often come to grief?


One source of trouble is human relationships. So if there is any one to be blamed, it is perhaps we, not nature, the earth or God. Conflicts abound within families, among neighbours, colleagues and friends. Even the very best of individuals commit unintended mistakes, breaking up relationships. Living in isolation is no alternative because we are interdependent and need one another.


Why should inter personal relationships pose such a challenge? The root of the trouble lies in human nature. As the Bible puts it succinctly, “What comes out of a man defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts ... ” (Mark 7: 21) These defile the man. These elements colour our reactions to peoples and events. It is not the events or circumstances themselves that matters, but our reactions to them. To recognize this is wisdom indeed.
To rid these evil propensities, we need the love of God and fellow beings to take hold of us. The Spirit of God works within man to produce a love that does not keep a record of wrongs. A love that is unconditional and unfettered.


Ordinary people of faith have a sense of their dependence on the Eternal. They no longer consider themselves as indispensable masters of their own destiny. As the saying goes, the graves are full of indispensable people. That brings in certain humility in one’s conduct and conversation; teaches one to be less selfish and more considerate towards others.


The best formula for good interpersonal relationships is the Golden Rule: ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you!’ This rule articulated in the Bible by Jesus is enshrined in most faiths. If you wish to be loved, appreciated and respected by others, you need to be the same mind towards them. If you hope to be forgiven, it is necessary to forgive those who have wronged you.


A forgiving spirit is essential for the maintenance of relationships because we are by nature imperfect. Good conduct demands that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. Anger and revenge do not promote righteousness and in fact blind us to the reality. ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ makes the whole world blind.


Our conversation, proceeding from an enlightened heart—enlightened by the Spirit of God—will promote love and understanding. Love is the perfect material that bonds humans in good relationships. A contrary spirit will engender prejudices and hatred.


Theologian Cuyler considered how the good Lord moulds and shapes us through circumstances and situations. He penned the ideal prayer that should create the ideal inner environment for good inter-personal relationships. ‘Oh how often our all wise Master put us into a deep pit of trial, to subdue our pride or to tame our passions, or to break our stubborn will. Blessed is he who can look up unto the countenance of Jesus and say: ‘Master, my rebellious self is dead, that thou may live in me and I may live for Thee and Thee alone!’

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Why we are the way we are

Apr 4, 2010, 12.00am IST
SADHGURU.

Whichever way you have ‘become’, you have only created and cultivated a small part of it consciously.

A large part of you is unconscious because most of what you perceive is not in your awareness. Sense perception is like that – everything that goes in through your sense organs gets established in your system to be remembered forever. This is karma. Every impression that the five sense organs take in is stored. This is not against you; this information is useful. If you clean up all this information, you will not know how to handle even the simplest aspects of life.


It is only because the information is coming in such torrents, it is so complex, and most of it goes into you without your consciousness so it has become a problem. How you became the way you are is just a tendency that you developed because of the information you gathered. This tendency is traditionally called vasana. It is like a smell. Whatever is there in maximum quantity is the kind of smell you experience. Because you produce this kind of smell, a certain type of life moves towards you, and you also tend to move in that direction.


Now, you use perfume to cover the smell. In the first meeting, people may get deceived. The moment they notice the stink, they are going to run away. Is that the way to live?


So it doesn’t matter what impressions you have gathered, what you make of it is in your hands. An unpleasant experience is carried by most like a badge, always talking about it. “This happened; somebody did this to me, that’s why i’m like this.” They try to cover all their unpleasantness with this one badge.

One basic symbolism in yoga and Indian spirituality has always been a lotus. This is essentially because a lotus grows best wherever there is dirt. Either you can resist the dirt; you can become the dirt, or transform it into a wonderful blossom. It’s your choice.


If unpleasant things have happened to you, it is all the more important that you turn wiser and more beautiful as quick as possible, because you know the pain of unpleasantness. If unpleasant things have happened, all you have to do is see how such things do not happen again to you or to those around you. Whatever you are right now is your own creation, perhaps an unconscious one. Unconscious processing of your impressions has landed you where you are now. If you consciously process the impressions, you could turn them into something else.


To drop your vasanas, and get released from these tendencies is an endless work because in the process you may end up creating more karma. So, instead of trying to erase the smell, you need to distance yourself from the source.
Whatever the nature of karma, the recording mechanisms are only two – your body and mind. If you create little space between you and your physical body and mental structure, then whatever the karma, or vasanas, they have no impact on you. Then, they just die.
The choice is yours – you could be a victim, a spectator, or the master of your life.

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Overcome ego, be happy

Apr 10, 2010, 12.00am IST
SATYA NARAYAN.


Who doesn’t wish for happiness? Can money buy happiness? Do great achievements bring true happiness? Riches, success and achievements may bring name, fame and pride, but they do not always bring happiness.

If lack of money and success creates sorrow and suffering, their possession does not give happiness either. The question then is how can you be peaceful and happy, irrespective of whether you are a success or failure in life?

Krishna says in the Bhagvad Gita: “There is neither intellect nor bhavna (feeling for God) for the ayukta or the one who is not united, and to one devoid of bhavna , there is no peace. To the one without peace, how can there be happiness?” Krishna says, clearly, that unless a person is tuned into God he cannot have peace and without peace, he cannot be happy. Krishna also says that an un-united person does not have intellect.

So if you want happiness, unite with God. For this, you don’t have to abandon the pursuit of riches, success and achievements. God is self-knowledge and wisdom of sameness towards all beings because all are God. An egocentric person remains alienated from wisdom that is God. If you are free from ego, you look at all beings as God and so are united to the wisdom that is God. You will be free of sorrow and will attain peace and happiness.


Krishna says that we do not have right to the fruits of action and, therefore, we should perform actions, leaving the fruits to God. How can you avoid worrying about the fruit while performing actions? When a person regards the fruits of action (success or failure) as ‘mine’ and performs focused on the object, he is automatically worrying about the fruit.
Moreover, in doing so, he fails to abide the law of God, which says that one does not have right to the fruits. What you have to really do is to steady your intellect with the thought that the fruits of actions are of God. And when the fruit accrue in the form of success or failure, joy or sorrow, you have to mentally renounce the fruit to God. Since you do not contemplate the objects, you will not be attached to them. You will break the chain that starts with attachment and gives rise to desire, anger, delusion, confusion of memory, loss of intellect and death. Your intellect will become steady.
Krishna calls the wisdom of steadying your intellect by renouncing the fruits of action to God as Buddhi-yog or discipline of intellect. In this state you can be freed from constant births in different bodies. If you don’t, you are bound by actions. You lose your intellect due to attachment, desire and anger and perish, only to take another birth in a new body.


To steady our intellect we have to bring change in our thoughts. We have to remain engaged in usual actions and enjoyments as earlier but with a steady intellect fixed on the thought that all fruits of action are of God. This will free us from desire and ego, and gain eternal peace and happiness.


The same wisdom that will give peace and happiness to us will also give us Self-realisation and make us immortal. It will lead our world to a new age where we will live in peace, happiness and oneness, realising that we are in union with God.

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Winning hearts and minds

Apr 12, 2010, 12.00am IST
Maulana Wahiddudin Khan.

Some people have inherent special qualities that enable them to master all situations. Such individuals can, when they come to a gathering, win the hearts and minds of people simply by making an appearance there. It is said of them: “They came, they saw, they conquered.”


This kind of ability to win love is not the monopoly of extraordinary people. Any ordinary person also can win the hearts and minds of people, provided he knows the law of nature and can avail of it by the power known as the power of spirituality.


According to the Creation Plan of God, all human beings have two different qualities: ego and conscience. The ego symbolises arrogance, and the conscience, modesty. For instance, there could be a difference of opinion between two individuals, A and B. A might enter into a heated exchange, refusing to give B due respect and honour. This kind of behaviour is bound to provoke B, who might try to teach A a lesson. A psychologist offers this analysis: “When one’s ego is touched, it turns into super ego and the result is breakdown.”


In this case A presented a challenge to B and B’s ego gained the upper hand due to arrogance. On the other hand, if, instead of getting provoked and acting out of ego, had B had opted for a compromise, or if A had restrained himself from provoking B in the first place, there would be no conflict.


In all likelihood, greater understanding would enable better relations between A and B; they would no longer be rivals bent on outdoing the other. There is scope for friendship now where earlier, there was only ill feeling. When one’s conscience is touched, it turns into super conscience and the result is complete surrender.


This formula is within our reach, and can be used quite successfully. However there are certain risks involved.


There is every possibility that in a sensitive situation where the ego is involved, the other person becomes even more arrogant. He will react more aggressively. He will be more dangerous than before. But that is only if you allow the ego to become your master. The ego is a bad master but a good servant. Fear of a situation arising in which one is completely directed by the ego is unfounded, because when the ego gains predominance it is because of ignorance of the power of nature, or more precisely, the power of spirituality. So all one needs to do is to try and be less ignorant; to learn how to think positive and keep one’s ego under control.

According to nature if you challenge someone’s ego, your success is doubtful but when you challenge someone’s conscience, then your success is guaranteed by nature.
People generally know the power of fighting but a wise man will tell you that the power of spirituality is greater than the power of either ego or conscience. At the time of a controversy, if you choose to fight, you will need arms but when you opt for the spiritual method, you don’t need any arms. The power of positive behaviour can triumph over the power of negativity, while the power of negativity cannot win anything -- it can only lead to destruction.

The choice is ours: To opt for positive, peaceful methods to create better understanding and oneness, thereby contributing to universal togetherness with compassion and surrender or to take a combative stand, giving the ego a free hand, causing unhappiness all around.

www.cpsglobal.org

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Quantity and quality of time

Apr 1, 2010, 12.00am IST
MARGUERITE THEOPHIL.


In English we have only one word for time, but the ancient Greeks used two distinct words for this concept: ‘chronos’ and ‘kairos’. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, time as before and after, the latter signifies a time in-between, or a moment of undetermined period of time in which something special happens.

We understand chronos as quantitative; a deliberate march from one thing to the next. Time in this sense is dimensional, measurable; it can be ‘‘accounted for’’. Kairos, less driven – though it may be purposeful in its own way – is significant rather than dimensional, and so it is qualitative. In chronos-time you might ask: ‘‘What time is it?’’ but in kairos-time you ask: ‘‘What is time for?’’


Chronos, the time of clock and calendar, is associated with words like early, late, on time, right away. So it is no surprise that Chronos was portrayed as a minor god, gaunt and ravenous, wild-eyed with hunger.


While measurement is one of the distinguishing characteristics of chronos, a key reason that kairos-time cannot be measured is because it is always a ‘now’. How can one measure ‘now’, or count the ‘nows’ in a lifetime or even a day? Kairos is time as a gift, time we often do not recognise while we are experiencing it, but only afterwards.

Kairos was therefore portrayed as the god of the fleeting moment. Such a precious moment must be grasped when it presents itself – and so the representation of this ‘god’ had a tuft of hair on the forehead for one to do just this, otherwise the moment is gone and cannot be grasped, and this is shown graphically by the back of head being bald!

In the imagery of archery, kairos refers to an imaginary narrow aperture through which the archer’s arrow must pass. In the art of weaving it relates to the ‘critical time’, when the weaver must draw the yarn through a gap that momentarily opens in the warp. So one might understand kairos to refer to a brief instant when an opening appears which must be availed of.

In certain religious circles, kairos is considered “God’s time”, involving a period of challenge, of disruption, where old rules, methods, traditions, habits, ways of thinking and doing business do not seem to work any more. In such cases, a chronos attitude would immediately suggest we ‘do more’ or ‘work harder’. A kairos approach, on the other hand, requires from us an attuning to mystery, to resonance, to inspiration; it involves a period of reflection, of surrender or letting go.


It is not that we need to choose one over the other, but that we need to become aware of and address the imbalance in our lives, where these days, we are more and more driven to favour Chronos. Purely chronos-time activities usually leave us exhausted, and kairos-time pursuits can bring in happiness and peace.

Madeline L’Engle, who wrote that childhood favorite A Wrinkle In Time, tells us that the saint in contemplation, lost to self in the mind of God is in kairos, as is the artist at work or the child at play, “totally thrown outside herself in the game ... ” In kairos we become what we are called to be as human beings – co-creating with God, touching on the wonder of creation.

While Chronos admittedly offers the promise of satisfaction after accomplishment, and we do need that in our lives, Kairos fulfils us when we do what we love, what is meaningful – and we need that even more.

weave@vsnl.net

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Here today, gone tomorrow

Apr 28, 2010, 12.00am IST
SHAH RUKH KIRMANI.


Nothing in life is as certain as death. Everything living is bound to die one day. We appear on the world scene only to disappear after a short span of time. This is the cycle of terrestrial life.

Finally a time will come when even the earth would cease to exist. Indeed, nothing physical can escape the march of time and remain fixed in its place without decay, death or transformation. This is settled by Nature.

The transient and ephemeral nature of life is a universally known existential reality. Yet we are hardly bothered about it, and we continue to live as though we are here forever. We try to ‘make hay while the sun shines.’

We spend our lives as we please. The world is all the time with us. We tend to give free rein to desires and ambitions so much so that they sometimes extend out even beyond the confines of death encircling us. Plans and programmes are laid out years in advance when no one is sure of what is going to happen tomorrow. We construct huge buildings and palatial homes that outlive us by many, many years.


While we are running after everything temporal and transient, it is ironical that we should be oblivious of what is most certain and which is going to terminate all our activities and connections with things we have been in love with. A life without a vision of mortality is incomplete and flawed because it could create a lot of remorse.

The way we hanker after life is the central weakness of our life. It is because of this that we are so afraid of death, of what is predestined and so inevitable. It keeps us always restless. It prevents us not only from acting decisively during critical moments but also from enjoying the pleasure and excitement of undertaking bold adventures in life. It is the root cause of many of our setbacks due to ego, greed, pride, hatred, dishonesty, ostentatious living as against simple living. All these things cause problems and misunderstandings. They tie us down to the earthly plane; it does not allow our imagination to soar high above to catch a glimpse of sublime truths and beauty at higher planes. It is, therefore, a major of obstacle in the way of great artistic creations. It is because we have staked every thing on life that we are so incapable of living.

If we believe in the universal truths advocated by most religions, a belief that starts with self-realisation, death is not an end but the beginning of a new life. It is rather a point of transformation. The world we enter upon death is different with an altogether different set of requirements and standards. It is eternal and exists in both space and time. It is not discernible to us as the world we now live in was nowhere in sight when we were in our mother’s womb, protected and secure. What are the norms and requirements by which the dead are going to be judged? This is a question we ask ourselves time and again. We must find out the answers and transform our lives in the light of their revelations, if we are not to jeopardise our chances in the life hereafter.

The wise man, as the prophets say, is the one who remembers death and keeps himself in a state of preparedness to face this eventuality. Death might then be an occasion for rejoicing rather than one of sorrow and repentance.

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Nirvana on the golf course

Apr 15, 2010, 12.00am IST
DILIP NADKARNI.


When a golfer is in the Zone, irrelevant thoughts just disappear. The desired result just 'happens' rather than made to happen... And that can be described as nirvana.

I was standing on a cliff with the Atlantic on my left, a deep valley in front of me and the thick woods to my right. I was on the Tee box of the signature par 3, 15th hole at the Vale do Lobo ocean golf course in Algarve, Portugal. The putting green was a little over 200 yards ahead and one had to hit a long straight shot over the valley, avoiding the water and the woods. I teed up the ball, breathed in the sea-laden breeze and shifted my focus towards the target. I took a swing.

What happened next, happens once in a while to golfers of my level. However, when it happens, it can be described as nirvana. The ball took flight, carried all the hazards and landed on the putting surface. The pleasurable sensation of hitting the sweet spot, the melodious clunk and the ball trajectory had consumed me and did not realise that my buddies were clapping. Where was I? I was in the ‘Zone’, in the Tao, in the flow of golf, completely lost in the moment.


The zone continued for the next few holes. I was at peace with myself. The shots were happening through me rather than by me. My opponent’s banter and ribbing did not bother me. There was no pressure, no expectations, just awareness of pure bliss. What I did on the other holes, please don’t ask. I had some atrocious shots, some forgettable shots and a few good ones, but the zone had happened on the 15th hole.

Players like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus are known to have played several rounds in the zone, rewriting history. When a golfer is in the Zone, irrelevant thoughts just disappear. The desired result just ‘happens’ rather than made to happen. The mind and body work harmoniously to create a swing free from tensions and distractions. Some golfers say they experience a sense of euphoria, others say they are totally calm and in control when zoned in. There is ease and effortlessness in swing. Moments like these make the game of golf attractive. The bad shots are forgotten and the memory of the zone moment brings you back to the course.

Apart from the zone, golf can be made meditative in many more ways. Walking with awareness on green can be an enriching experience. Most golf courses provide beautiful sights with manicured grass, landscaped fairways and strategically placed water bodies. Birds, butterflies, flowers, and trees add to the visual delight. Audio pleasures include the wind whistling between the trees or the plop of the opponent’s ball in water!

Meditation and golf are interlinked. Just as golf is recognised as a form of meditation, several meditation techniques help the golfer tremendously, by slowing down thoughts and facilitating an easy, smooth swing.


For me golf personifies Calm Sutra even before I have reached the first tee. I tee off in my mind, as I am packing my bag and making my way to the course. Yes in the personal theatre of my mind, creative visualisation of the forthcoming golf shots is a great preliminary ritual I relish. The pleasure of golf continues even after the round on the 19th hole in the clubhouse.

From the Calm Sutra, the Art of Relaxation , published by Times Group Books .

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