Forest Flower

24 Pages·2013·13.33 MB·English

CONTENTS
Lead Article
A Sense of Wonder
Sadhguru on a Fresh Approach to Life 4
Musings
How to Make This Your Last Lifetime?
Sadhguru on How to Create a Supportive Situation for Growth 7
Information Overrides All Else
Sadhguru on the Thread That Runs from One Lifetime to the Next 9
Leela Series
The path of the playful – part XLVI:
Bhima and the Aghori 11
In Conversation with the Mystic
Youth and Education in India
Sadhguru in Conversation with Actor Siddharth 13
News & Happenings
Sadhguru at the Aditya Birla Financial Services Group 14
First 21-Day Isha Hata Yoga Program Concluded 15

Fourteen Years of Dhyanalinga 16
Isha Kriya Meditation Camp for Sanitation Workers 17
Sadhguru Spot
The Human Calamity in Uttarakhand 18
Upcoming Programs and Events
Isha Yoga – Program Highlights 20
Isha Recipes For Healthy Living
Kofta Curry 21
Zen Speaks: A Water Buffalo through a Window 23
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SADHGURU
A Sense of Wonder
Sadhguru on a Fresh Approach to Life
The following is an excerpt from a talk
by Sadhguru during a 3 ½ Sathsang
for meditators at the iii, McMinnville,
Tennessee, on 25 April 2013.
You should see how men in rural India
squat. One thing is, if you are sitting out in
nature, there are ants, bugs, ticks, snakes,
and other crawling creatures. Any bite
will get more serious when it goes beyond
the limbs. Another thing is, he just sits and
wonders about everything. I would like
you to try this. Just sit outside at sunset and
wonder. Forget about all these things they
told you, that the Earth rotates and that is
why the Sun disappears below the horizon,
what the distance between the Earth and the
Sun is and all that. They say it is 93 million
miles to the Sun. This is just a number. Had
they said it is just a few thousand miles to the
Sun, still you could not have gone there; still
you would have believed it. Whether it is a
few million miles or a few thousand miles
does not make any experiential life impact
on you.
If you just sit there, wondering about
everything, it becomes so apparent that
something beyond you is functioning. Right
now, with all these lights on, music playing
FOREST FLOWER August 2013
in your ears and the phone screen in front of you a conspiracy to bullshit you? I am not saying it is
all the time, you think you are the universe. You so – suppose it is so.
are moving away from reality and exploration –
everything is set. If you simply sat there, who could Modern science exists only for the last few hundred
not wonder what this is all about? Where does it years, but religion as you know it is at least 2000
come from? How does it happen? Even a half-brain years old. With the advent of science, what people
would wonder about it. believed for over 1500 years suddenly sounded
ridiculous. What is the guarantee for you that what
When people wonder and wonder, when they strive you celebrate right now as science will not look
to know, a few of them break through. Everyone ridiculous in a few hundred years? “Science has
looks, but these two eyes show you only that produced technology; we can do so many things.”
which is physical, and not even that just the way People who used to believe what you think is
it is. These two eyes are largely functioning based ridiculous right now also did a lot of things.
on the memory that you have gathered. If you
wipe out your memory, your ability to see will be The Third Eye is significant because it is a thoughtless
considerably reduced. Let’s say you go out on the eye, not glazed by the past. Only an eye that is not
street, a thousand people are standing there and glazed by the past can perceive the present and
among them, there is someone you know well; you conjure up the future without delusions. You can
will see that one person’s face more clearly than the never grapple with the realities of existence with
rest of the faces. That is because there is memory. these two eyes. It is because of this that when people
looked and looked, and they saw these two eyes are
To at least 30–40%, your vision depends on your insufficient, they strived inward to evolve another
memory. In that sense, it is a cultivated vision. dimension of seeing.
Thought and emotion are constantly playing
Wherever that dimension evolved, tools were
through it. People say, and it is true, your eyes are
created that led people to knowing. Wherever that
a window to your thoughts and emotions. If you
dimension did not evolve, wherever only muscle
want to size up people, you have to look into their
evolved, force was the way. There, they insisted
eyes. If you hate them, you have to look into their
that you must believe what they say; to wonder was
eyes. If you fall in love, you must look into their
a crime. If you wonder, you will question. If you
eyes. Especially if you think you are falling in love
question, someone must have an answer. If someone
with them, you definitely want to know what is
asks a question and the other one doesn’t have an
happening with the other person. You want to see
answer, the questioner – though the question
their thoughts and emotions, so you look into their
is coming from ignorance – seems to be more
eyes because to some extent, these are the windows
intelligent than the one who cannot answer it.
to their thoughts and emotions.
A question is not knowledge – a question is an
An eye that is not glazed by a sheath of memory,
admittance of ignorance. But one who does not
a thoughtless eye – simply able to look at things
admit “I do not know” is unwilling to admit that he
without memory – is what is being referred to as
is ignorant, which establishes him in his ignorance.
the “Third Eye.” People who look with these two
One who questions is ignorant but he has the
eyes alone become fearful of existence, because
possibility of moving out of it. One who refuses
whichever way they look, they cannot figure out a
to acknowledge his ignorance is investing in his
thing. I want you to try this – look as hard as you
ignorance, and he will get a lot of dividend.
want with these two eyes – you cannot figure out a
thing. What you read in the science textbook is not Shankaran Pillai and his wife moved to the United
the point. You still do not know whether it is true States and set up their home. His wife is excited
or not. How do you know if the whole science is not about being in America. She wants to throw away
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everything old and buy everything new. She is of creation, is most important; otherwise, life is
trying to be American. How can you be a citizen of cyclical. There is nothing wrong with that; it is just
the United States if you don’t shop at least twice a a trap. What’s wrong with a trap? Actually, traps are
week? Even the government encourages everyone much safer. If you trap a coon or a coot, he is much
to shop, because otherwise the economy will go safer than if he crosses the highway. The highway
down. So she takes to this policy and wants to spend. is not the only thing that could kill him; there are
Coming from a traditional Indian background, so many predators. If he steps out into the jungle,
Shankaran Pillai wants to save. In India, we always he may not last the night. If you trap him and keep
look at our savings; here you look at your credit him here, he is definitely safer. But give him all the
rating. So Shankaran Pillai says, “No, this is not the food that he wants, still the first opportunity he gets,
way to go. This is it; you cannot spend anymore. he wants to chew through your cage and get away,
You have shopped enough.” She flared up and said, no matter if he puts himself to risk. The coots and
“You don’t even have the courage of the bureaucrats the coons have this much intelligence – what’s the
and the politicians.” problem with you?
Once you are infected by memory, you are a slave Only human beings with so-called evolved
of karma. This is what karma means – that the past intelligence prefer the trap. This evolved intelligence
is glazing your eyes. You cannot see the present the is like a womb that just aborts. There is no purpose
way it is. It doesn’t matter how smart you think you to it. Human intelligence has been aborted by many
are, once your eyes are glazed with memory, once things. One is rigid dogmas; another one is – in
they are influenced by the past, when you conjure reaction to these dogmas – distrust about everything.
up the future, you invariably become delusional. If you want to touch dimensions that are not yet in
This delusion leads to what the sages called samsara. your experience, just sit and wonder.
Samsara means your life has become cyclical. When
you are going in circles, you are not going anywhere.
Something goes on, but nothing purposeful.
The Third Eye, which is not a window to your
thoughts and emotions but a window to the source
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HHooww ttoo MMaakkee TThhiiss YYoouurr LLaasstt LLiiffeettiimmee??
SSaaddhhgguurruu oonn CCrreeaattiinngg aa SSuuppppoorrttiivvee SSiittuuaattiioonn ffoorr GGrroowwtthh
The following is an excerpt from a Q&A session with Now he got confused. From a frayed coat and worn
Sadhguru during a 3 ½ Sathsang for meditators at out shoes to an Armani suit and a Ferrari. Not
the iii, McMinnville, Tennessee, on 27 April 2013. knowing what to do, he went to his rabbi and
said, “I went to my accountant; this is what he told
Meditator: Sadhguru, you said that if we have a me. I went to my lawyer; this is what he told me.
certain seeking within us, we do not necessarily I just don’t know how to go now.” The rabbi said,
have to come to the ashram. How far does your “Listen to me. There was a nice Catholic girl. Her
connection with seekers like us go? And how to name was Mary. Mary was getting married and
make sure that this is our last birth? her mother advised her that for the wedding night,
she must buy a nighty that is all buttoned up,
Sadhguru: So the question is, “Will you guarantee full sleeved, puffs on the shoulder, well below the
my liberation?” ankle; because she must present herself as a good
wife to her new husband. But her school time
This brings me to a very nasty joke. A man got a
friend came and gave her a red-colored negligee.
1
notice from the IRS that he has to come to the
That means it is negligible; the kind of thing where
office for some enquiry. IRS agents are trained to the neckline is below the navel. Mary got confused
turn your brain inside out; it is like an inquisition. and came to me.”
He was very nervous. He went to his accountant and
asked, “What do you think, how should I go?” The The man said, “Why are you telling me about this
accountant advised him, “Go to the Salvation Army Catholic girl? I have to go to the IRS; I am not
counter, buy a really old suit that is frayed at the getting married.” “Just listen. So I told Mary, ‘It
doesn’t matter what the hell you wear; on day one,
collar and crumpled, to make you look poor. Also
anyway you are going to get the works.’” So if you
get a pair of old shoes with different colored laces.
go to the IRS, anyway you will get the works, no
Don’t take your Mercedes; take a taxi; then walk up.
matter what you wear; whether you drive a Ferrari
When they see you so poor, they will for sure know
or you go there walking.
that you are not a rich guy dodging taxes, and let
you go.” He got the frayed suit. He got old shoes and
Liberation does not require physical proximity; it
changed the laces. He prepared everything.
can be done in so many ways. Physical proximity
is for constant guidance to go deeper. This does
Still he was nervous. So he went to his lawyer and
not mean I am sitting with the ashram residents
said, “My accountant gave me this advice. Do you
every day and guiding them to do this or that.
think this is the appropriate way for me to go?”
Why people live in a certain energy space is,
The lawyer said, “If you listen to that guy, you are
what they cannot get with their minds, they want
finished. Get yourself the most expensive suit, and
their epithelial cells to get. Right now, if I ask
see that the brand, Armani or something, is visible.
you what the temperature is, you will open your
Rent a Ferrari; park it in style, and go there. Only
phone and check. But your epithelial cells know
money begets money, and if you show that you are
what the temperature is and they are doing what is
really well to do, the wealthiest are the ones who
necessary for that; even just the surface cells may
are freed from taxes. This is the way of the world. be a little more intelligent than you. The cells that
Just do that.” are deeper down know too many things.
1 Internal Revenue Service: U.S. government agency responsible for tax collection and tax law enforcement
FOREST FLOWER August 2013 7
People who live in such energy spaces are trying to society is structured based on the familiar. If there is
mature into a situation where they don’t have to be anything unfamiliar, they want to shoot it.
anxious about what will happen, because that is not
the way to approach it. Even if the end is assured, In that context, living in a space that supports you
don’t you want the journey to be beautiful and is good. But you do not necessarily have to go to a
miraculous? If you want the journey to be magical, certain place; you can create such a space in your
you have to be in a certain space that allows magic – home. You can be a little unreasonable. You can
in terms of social structures, energy structures, and create a situation in your home that is not based on
people around. Unfortunately, most places were not the familiar, where people need not be the way you
created for something beyond the logical to happen. expect them to be. They can be whichever way, but
If you do something which is not logical, you will you go about your way. If anyone in my home –
have flashing lights and sirens in front of your house – either my parents or later on my wife and my
this is generally the situation in today’s world. But daughter – had expected the familiar, they would
if you go to places like Nepal, Bali, or Kashi, the have gone bonkers. I could be completely different
whole space is geared for the magical. If you walk from moment to moment, from day to day. It is very
in Bhaktapur, every two steps, there is a temple; difficult to live with a person who is wonderful at
every two steps, there is a deity reminding you of one moment; next moment, you don’t even know
something of the beyond. who the hell he is. But if they had tried to restrict
the unfamiliar, I wouldn’t have been there – as
Today, people are walking around there like tourists, simple as that. It is simply not possible for me to be
but there was a time where for every step, there just one way.
was a mantra; there was a certain kind of worship;
there was a certain attitude. In India, inside a temple It is not that intentionally, you are being
complex, apart from the main temple, there will be unreasonable. It is like the weather. It depends on
ten other temples. When people go to the main what I am doing within myself on that day. It is
deity – let’s say it is Shiva – they will be one way. not that I ever announce, “Today, I am in silence.
Outside, there is Ganapati; they will be in a different Today, I am doing mantra. Today, I am preparing
way. Their mantra is different; their attitude is for something. Today, I am working something up
different; their emotions are different. When they within me.” There are days when I am extremely
move on, there is Devi, and for her again, everything talkative; we talk, we discuss, we do things, we play,
is different. It is incredible to see how these simple we dance, we sing. Next day, you may expect the
people come and change from place to place, from same thing, but that is not going to happen. Not that
god to god. How they approach them is so inbuilt I am trying to freak you out. If I am doing something
into their systems that it simply happens. else within myself, I may not utter a word for the
next three days. I may not look at you. I may not
This malleability is needed within a human being. be interested in you. I may not even recognize your
This is the reason why all these things were existence. Hats off to my wife who managed all this.
created – so that you become a completely different Without that support, either I would have walked
person from place to place. When you are able to out, or I should have given up what I was doing,
consciously become a different person within a which was simply not possible.
few minutes, when everything is changing within
you for a particular purpose, when you can alter So create a home where the familiar is not the basis
from this to that, from that to this, you become of your family. Create a home where people can be
emotionally very stable. When your emotions are the way they want to be and it is not considered
stable, you are always looking for the magical, the wrong. Just try and see. It’s a challenge.
unfamiliar. Magical means unfamiliar. But now
you are only looking for the logical, because the
8 FOREST FLOWER August 2013
IInnffoorrmmaattiioonn OOvveerrrriiddeess AAllll EEllssee
SSaaddhhgguurruu oonn tthhee TThhrreeaadd TThhaatt RRuunnss ffrroomm OOnnee LLiiffeettiimmee ttoo tthhee NNeexxtt
The following is an excerpt from a Q&A session with in small intricacies, but you know it’s generally the
Sadhguru during a 3 ½ Sathsang for meditators at same thing. You would like to see what’s next.
the iii, McMinnville, Tennessee, on 27 April 2013.
To put it simply: you know you are alive right now
Meditator: I’ve been hearing people say things like, and you are going to die one day. Essentially, the
“I want this to be my last lifetime.” Can you explain body is something that you gathered. Though you
the concept of lifetimes? have eaten food from American soil, you still look
African. If I eat American food for 50 years, I will
Sadhguru: This is an Indian problem. They have
still look Indian. Why?
all been around for 100,000 years. [Laughter] They
talk about having lived for many lifetimes without Meditator: Genetics?
having any experience of it. We are seeing if we
can get them into the experience, because at least Sadhguru: That’s just a word. I want you to look at
psychologically, they are a little prepared. Where do it in a more fundamental way. If I build a building
you come from? from local material, it will look in a certain way. But
if I build different human bodies with the same local
Meditator: New York.
material, they will still look Indian or African or
whatever else. By eating American soil, slowly, we
Sadhguru: Do you want one more life in New York
should become like Native Americans, but we don’t.
City? If you live this life fully, would you like to
If you live here for hundreds of years and don’t mix,
see what’s beyond it, or would you like to walk the
people who come out of you will still look the same.
New York streets once again? If you have lived a
Look at it mechanically. Why is it that if you put the
complete life, you have seen everything; there is
same material into different human bodies, each one
nothing more to see. You can go on getting involved
of them will continue to look in a particular way?
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It is a certain type of memory structure. Food and it is very obvious – we can see what kind of skin
all other inputs may come from New York City, you have, what kind of nose you have and things
but your skin, your nose, your eyes, and your like that. The other information is not so obvious,
body are still African. There is a certain element but it is definitely there. Even in a just born child,
of information in you before you are born. That you can see from one child to another, they carry
information determines how you look, how you different information that makes them behave
think, how you walk, how you move – everything. differently. Mothers who have more than one child
Do you think there is only information that is clearly know their children don’t behave the same
connected with the body, no other information? way, though the genetics are the same.
If you go into a maternity hospital and look at the
just born, each one of them behaves differently. The From the day they were born, even children of
information is not just about the body; there is other the same parents display completely different
information that goes beyond that. characteristics. Obviously, they are carrying
information that is beyond what you transmitted in
Don’t believe all this talk about lifetimes, but the form of body. Genetic information is being passed
this much is very clear: you gathered your body on in the form of body, but the other information is
from American soil, but the information is from way bigger than that. To realize that takes a little
somewhere else. You build this kind of body more attention. To understand the nature of it, how
because the information is overriding the material it is stacked up, what we can do with it, is a different
that you gather. aspect altogether.
This body is an accumulation of the food that you Spiritual process is interested in this information
have eaten. If the food is grown in Tennessee and because if it has such an overriding power, you better
eaten by you, you are in some way consuming the look at it. It has the power to override whatever
Tennessee soil. This area used to be Cherokee land. atmosphere you live in. It may be overriding all
The Cherokees lived here for thousands of years; your intentions. You are sitting here and trying to
they ate from this land and looked a particular way. meditate, but it may be doing its own thing. It is.
People who lived in Africa for many thousands If you do not look at how to in some way loosen
of years looked a certain way. Before people this information, if you do not look at how to keep
could travel, intermingle, and mix, people looked this information aside, if you do not look at how to
distinctly different in different parts of the world. transcend this information, transformation is just
It is an anthropological fact that the weather, the empty talk. It is not going to happen because this
land, the atmosphere – everything shaped people information will override everything. Unless you
in a particular way. Now, even if I shift from India distance yourself from that information, do what
to Tennessee and eat as much Tennessee food as I you want, it keeps on making you do the same things
want, I will still not resemble a Native American over and over again. In the yogic system, everything
person. The information that I carry within me is that we do is towards cultivating a body, cultivating
overriding the material. a mind, cultivating an emotional system that will
slowly distance itself from this information.
This information that overrides everything else here
right now is not the memory that I have gathered in
this lifetime, but the information that comes from
before my birth. This is what we are referring to
as karma. There is a huge volume of information.
The information that you carry right now is not
concerned with the physical body alone. There are
other dimensions of information. With the physical,
1100 FOREST FLOWER August 2013