Forest Flower April 2015.pdf

7/23/2019 Forest Flower April 2015.pdf

1/24


2/24

Dear Readers,

In February, it was 19 years since our little Forest Flower rst saw the light

of day. What began as an eight-page quarterly Tamil/English newsletter

slowly grew to the familiar 24-page format. With the April 2004 issue, it

went monthly, and in October 2007, with the launch of Isha Kattu Poo, we

shifted to English only. Still the design remained pretty much the same.

A revamp has been in the back of our minds for quite some time, and now it

nally has taken shape! We are excited to present you Isha Forest Flower in

a fresh, contemporary design and layout, starting from this edition. Please

let us know how you like the new look and feel.

Living up to its supernatural name, Yaksha 2015 treated us to sevenexpositions of classical Indian music and dance that were truly out of this

world. These artistes, who all have carved out a name for themselves in the

world of Indian classical music, seemed to naturally meet their maximum

potential in the sacred space of the Isha Yoga Center. As Pandit Rajan Misra

remarked, Its like we have greater levels of energy when we perform here.

All this was only the prelude to Mahashivarathri 2015 12 hours of

EDITORIAL


3/24

DONT STEP INTO OTHER PEOPLES KARMA MAHABHARAT

8 11

Isha Hatha Yoga

Part 16: Yogasanas More than Postures 4

Lead Article

Dont Step into Other Peoples Karma 8

CONTENT

Sadhguru on the Truth behind a Custom Part 5: The Story Unfolds


4/24

possibility. In these postures, the body will

not be a barrier but a stepping stone for your

growth and development.

Right now, when you are trying to do hathayoga, the biggest barrier is the limitations of

your body. In fact, whatever human beings

want to do, the biggest barrier is their body

and their mind. What should have been a

stepping stone has turned into an obstacle,

simply because they have not explored it

considerably.

After a profound and thorough exploration

of the human system, we arrived at these 84

postures through which you can transform

your body and your mind into a great

possibility for your ultimate wellbeing. Mostother spiritual processes talk about putting

down the body because the body is an

obstacle. If you want to sit and meditate, your

legs tell you, I need to stretch. I need to walk.

When I ask you in the morning to stretch your

body, you say, No, I want to rest. If you do

an asana and we ask you to stretch, you say,PART 16

ISHA HATHA YOGA


5/24

practitioner of yoga, no astrologer will want

to make a prediction for you, because even

he understands that you have taken charge

of your life. This is what a yogasana

means you are taking charge of your life.You are transforming your body and mind

into a possibility in your life. It is becoming a

passage, not a block.

Every posture that you assume for a period

of time induces distinct physiological,

psychological, emotional, energy, and chemical

changes in your body. Conversely, for every

emotional and psychological experience, and

for different states of consciousness that you

experience, your body naturally tends to take

a certain posture. If you are angry, you sit one

way. If you are peaceful, you sit another way.If you are in turmoil, you sit one way. If you

are tranquil, you sit another way. Similarly,

for different states of consciousness that you

experience, your body tends to take certain

postures.

The science of asanas is based on this. By

If these two dimensions are balanced within

you, naturally, the body becomes a conducive

place to live in for your being. If you mess

up the place around you, you can move

elsewhere. But if you mess up the body fromwithin, you cannot go elsewhere until you die.

As long as you live in this life, the body is the

abode of your existence.

It is important that an atmosphere is conducive

rather than being compulsive. If your home

is a very compulsive place, you will feel

suffocated. Every situation, every atmosphere

is set up for a certain purpose. Your home maybe set up for one kind of purpose. The ashram

may be set up for another kind of purpose.

An industry or a business may be set up for a

different kind of purpose. Every atmosphere

should serve the purpose that we have set it

up for.

Yogasanas are a way to transform the

body from a compulsive mode to

a conscious mode.


6/24

entities, but essentially, there are only two

you and the rest of existence because there

are only two dimensions of experience within

you. You do not know what is up and down in

this cosmos. You do not know what is forwardand backward in this cosmos. These are all

things that we have made up for convenience.

Essentially, there are only two dimensions

of experience inner experiences and outer

experiences.

Yoga is about creating a union between these

two dimensions inner and outer, you and the

rest, you and the other. When there is no you

and the other, when there is just you and

you, that is yoga. Asanas are a physical form

of approaching this ultimate union, because

the physical body is the easiest thing to workwith. If you try to come to this union with your

mind, it will play too many tricks. With the

body, at least you know whether it is doing it

right or not, whether it is cooperating or not.

If you push the mind too hard, it will make you

believe all kinds of things and dump you the

next day. The body is a more reliable factor. If

know in this universe. This is known as asana

siddhi. If you can stay in one posture stably

and comfortably for 2 1/2 hours, we say you

have attained to asana siddhi.

How is it possible to know everything that you

can know by staying in one posture? It is like

having a television at home. The television is

just a box with some electronics in it, but it

can become a world by itself, simply because

there is a receiver. If you adjust the receiver

properly, the whole world streams into this

box that we call television. If the receiver is

not set right, the same instrument cannot do

anything. This applies to human beings as

well.

An individual human being becomes whohe or she is only because of what he or she

perceives. You are who you are right now

only because of what you have perceived in

your life until now, and you will be who you

will be only because of what you will perceive

in future. The whole system of yoga is about

enhancing perception.


7/24

Excerpted from a talk by Sadhguru at the Isha Hatha Yoga School.

The Hatha Yoga Teacher Training program is an opportunity to be trained in classicalhatha yoga devised by Sadhguru. Upcoming dates: 31 July to 25 December 2015 at the

Isha Yoga Center in India.

For dates and details of hatha yoga programs, visit www.ishahathayoga.com

For more information, please send an email to [email protected]

denitely lead to ultimate union.

In the meantime, before this alignment with

the ultimate happens, by getting into the

postures, inner alignment happens, which willnaturally create a chemistry of healthfulness,

joyfulness, and blissfulness and above all

balance. Balance is something that modern

societies have ignored, and they are paying a

huge price for it. Whatever your intelligence,

whatever your competence, education,

and qualications if you do not have the

necessary balance, you will not succeed. You

will not go very far in your life.

The most important thing for people who

are seeking to be successful whether in the

corporate sector, in politics, in the military, or

any other eld is balance. Only if you havea balance that is not disturbed by external

situations, are you capable of making use of

the competence and intelligence within you.

Otherwise, even the most wonderful qualities

that one may have will go waste, simply

because of lack of balance. Hatha Yoga brings

this balance.


8/24

Dont Step into Other Peoples KarmaSadhguru on the Truth behind a Custom

Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. In our

culture, when someone is sitting or lying down,we are not supposed to step over them. Is this

just a custom, or is there some understanding

or science behind it?

Sadhguru: This actually does not only apply

to human beings but to all creatures. In India,

people would not even step over a sleeping

dog. Do not think that if you do not touch but

only step over them, it is okay.

When your experience of life is limited to

physicality, you think the boundary of a human

being is the skin. If you expand the way you

oor. Instead of your energies being all around

you, they naturally are above you. Let us sayyour energy body is one foot beyond your

skin if you lie down, it could be approximately

one and a half or two feet. Because there is no

room for it to nd expression on the side that

you lie on, it goes up to where there is space.

That is why when people are lying down, when

they are in a restful state, the energy body is

much bigger than when they are walking.

Without you knowing, some amount of

clearing up or expanding of the energy body

naturally happens. At those times, people

will keep more distance from you not out

LEAD ARTICLE


9/24

somewhat bigger. When she would pass by

again, she would be almost transparent and

energy body annamaya kosha, manomaya

kosha, pranamaya kosha. The physical body is


10/24

mind will be a magical instrument.

Whether you are sitting in a sathsang or in a

music concert, walking or doing whatever

else you can maintain a certain awarenessabout who is around you and how to be.

Different people are at different levels of

awareness as to what kind of being is passing

by or who is around them. Some are conscious

of even a slight movement of air around them

others need a cyclone. It takes some amount

of striving to consciously move upward. And

no matter who you are, do not think you have

gotten somewhere. Wherever you are, there

is a lot more. For a human being, there is no

upper limit. It is an endless possibility.

Like your energy structure, your mental

structure also hangs around you. And as most

of it is unconscious, it is quite a mess. People

who are conscious do not want to trip over your

mental body or your energy body. Your energy

body too carries information. What form it

takes depends upon what type of information

is there within you. The information on the

Whether it is good or bad we do not want

to take it away from you. When your Guru has

evolved a strategy for your specic karma,

you should not mix it up with all kinds of

people. Otherwise, it becomes unnecessarilycomplicated. From a simple thing like not

stepping over somebody who is lying down to

sleeping with somebody as a brahmachari,

you avoid all this because you do not want to

trip over anyones karma.

If you take in too much input from everywhere,

the karmic process becomes very complicated.

And whatever strategy for your karma you

evolve will not work if you keep mixing it up

with someone elses karma all the time. Why

some who are in serious sadhana withdraw

into a solitary cave or the like is because

they do not want to complicate things. They

understood the complexity of their own karma

and do not want to complicate it any more.

All this comes from a fundamental

understanding about life. No matter what you

were doing you were running a business, you


11/24

Vyasa, Compiler of the Vedas

Krishna Dwaipayana, the great sage who is

also known as Vyasa, not only authored the

Mahabharat but also compiled the Vedas.

The Vedas are considered to be over 100,000

years old. They were transmitted orally from

generation to generation. People understood

the signicance and impact of sound, so they

refused to write it down Of all the thingsth t th btl t f f h i lit

In the fth part of our Mahabharat series,

Sadhguru speaks about Vyasa, the compiler of

the Vedas and author of the Mahabharat, anddelves into the greatest epic of all times.

MahabharatMahabharat

PART 5

The Story Unfolds

Veda, Sama Veda, and Yajur Veda. This is the

traditional order, not the one people use today.

Even today, these four Vedas are considered

to be among the greatest documents that

humanity has ever created.

The next thing he wanted to do was to

compile a great, eternal story that could be

relevant to people forever and ever. He told

it to two people one was Vaishampayana,

his disciple ho listened in a e B t disciples

MAHABHARATSERIES


12/24

a fragment of what Vyasa had spoken. Out of

these 100,000, I will speak about less than 8%.

Embrace the Characters to Understand the

StoryYou need to be absolutely involved, not

looking at it like a piece of his-story but as

your story, being a part of it. We want to walk

through the story, not hear someone elses

story. As I already mentioned, it would be

completely unfair to judge people from 5000

years ago by your values, your morals, yourethics, or whatever else. I want you to think

like them, be like them, experience it the way

they did not the way you think today. These

were times when transactions between the

planet Earth and other forms of life were very

frequent.

There are various aspects of the Mahabharat

that you will nd simply unbelievable, but you

should not disbelieve anything. Because we

are in the 21stcentury, we value dissection more

than an embrace. But right now, I want you

to embrace this story and these characters

in greater purity, than any other part of the

country. It is completely, horribly corrupted

up north where the story happened. Middle

India has kept it up to some extent, but not

with profound understanding of it. The worstyou will nd in Tibet, where original Hindu

rituals are distorted very badly.

Unfortunately, Gautama Buddha is being

tortured with rituals. His life was to free

humanity from ritual, because he was at the

cusp between Kali Yuga and Dwapara Yuga.He knew that in the previous Dwapara Yuga,

people were extremely ritualistic, and he

wanted to relieve humanity of ritual. That is

why he insisted on meditation alone. But

today, the Buddhist cultures have become far

more ritualistic than any Hindu cultures.

Brihaspati and His Wife Tara

Brihaspati, who was the main priest of Indra,

the king of devas, had a wife by the name of

Tara. Brihaspati represents the planet Jupiter.

Tara means star. In ancient India, the womans

place in rituals was as important as the mans


13/24

privileges they used to have. Today women

have reasonably equal rights I am saying

reasonably because maybe by law they are

equal, but in terms of enforcement, it is still

only reasonable.

This shift towards equal rights has happened

only because modern technology sort of

levels the eld and not because of a true

transformation of humanity. Many women

are here in the program today; many have

travelled long distances; many have comefrom overseas. Suppose we announced the

Mahabharat program 2000 years ago, and

you got the news how many of you would

swim across the Atlantic or get onto a ship

or sailboat, sail for six months, and come

to Mahabharat? Maybe a few men would

make it, but women would probably avoid it

completely. Today it is possible only because

of technology.

In Brihaspatis time, the social norms or

what was referred to as dharma ensured

that a woman could not be used abused or

would not be able to enter Devaloka, the

gods world, anymore. He called Indra and

said, I want my wife back. You have to get

her back otherwise, I will not perform your

rituals. Indra interfered and compelled Tarato come back. This was the rst time that

someone was compelled to stick to a certain

family structure. When Indra said, You have

to come back, Tara answered, No, my love

is up there. He said, Your emotions do not

matter. Your dharma is to be with Brihaspati,

because unless you stay with him, my ritualswill go bad. So she was brought back.

Taras and Chandras Child

Tara was pregnant. Brihaspati wanted to know

whose child it was. Tara refused to speak.

People gathered. She still refused to speak.

Then from inside the womb, the unborn child

asked the question, Whose child am I really?

In appreciation of the intelligence of this child,

who, while still in the womb, wanted to know

what seed he was made of, people said, You

may refuse to tell your husband; you may

refuse to tell the gods but you cannot refuse


14/24

YAKSHA 2015Celebrating the

Magnicence of Indian

Classical Music andDance

News & Events

For the sixth year in

a row, Yaksha, Ishas

annual celebration of

music and dance in

the week leading up to

Mahashivarathri, brought

us an exquisite line-up of artistes. Here

are the highlights of seven scintillatingevening performances.

Padmashri Geeta Chandran

(Bharatanatyam Dance) Day 1

Yaksha 2015 opened with a Bharatanatyam

performance by the accomplished dancer andchoreographer Padmashri Geeta Chandran.

Much to the delight of her audience, she had

put together a repertoire that celebrates

Shiva in all his magnicence. Her recital

included Chokkanathar Kauthuvam, an

item that depicts Shiva in various forms;

i t t ti f Adi Sh k Shi

was created by Pandit Majumdars musical

guru, being a combination of two existing

ragas, seemed apt for the time we found

l i b t i t d i


15/24

Padmashri Geeta Chandran

Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar

Vidushi

Bombay Jayashri RamnathUstad Sayeeduddin Dagar

Ganesh and Kumaresh


16/24

auspicious evening raga, the brothers seemed

to put the listeners into a deeply meditative

state. Their repertoire featured a number of

beautiful bandishes, such as Shankar Bhole

Maheshwar; Guru bin gyan na pave in ragaMarwa; a rendition of the Bhagawati Stotram

composed by Sage Vyasa; a laudatory pad

to Shiva; and, as the concluding item, the

wonderfully appropriate bhajan, Sadho aisa

hi guru bhave in praise of the Guru.

Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar(Hindustani Vocal) Day 5

Day 5 of Yaksha 2015 offered a special treat in

the form of dhrupad, one of the oldest genres of

music, which is thought to trace back to Vedic

times. Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar upholds this

cultural treasure, which has been passed on

from generation to generation in his family, in

its greatest purity. After an opening Ganesh

shloka, he delved into a highly devotional

composition in the relatively rare evening

raga Jaitshree, a favorite, he revealed, of

Ustad Tansen Pandes (his father and musical

guru) Ustadji was accompanied by the much-

riff-lled, fusion-style piece with freewheeling

solos, and followed it up with more

structured renditions to the accompaniment

of percussion. Shri Ganesh then briey put

aside the violin to sing Pirava varam tharum,the Papanasam Sivan composition in raga

Latangi, which they then elaborated on with

nesse. The artistes ended the concert with

a haunting fusion-meets-ragamalika piece,

which combined phrases set in several ragas

into a novel blend. The concluding piece also

had Shri Ganesh singing the compositionwas Patanjalis Nataraja Stotram.

Vidushi Bombay Jayashri Ramnath

(Carnatic Vocal) Day 7

On the last day of Yaksha 2015, we had

an extremely versatile artiste, someone

whose music is as accomplished as it is

accessible Carnatic vocalist Kalaimamani

Bombay Jayashri Ramnath. She began her

concert with an invocation to Ganapathi

Vakratunda mahakaya before segueing

into Jaya Tunga Tarange Gange, a lovely

compositionby Sadashiva Brahmendra in raga


17/24

Mahashivarathri 2015 was the crowning

culmination of a week of festivity, which

was heralded by Yaksha Ishas annualfestival of Indian classical music and dance.

Now for the 21st year, Mahashivarathri

traditionally the greatest event of the year

in Isha brought us 12 hours exuberance,

celebration, and profundity. Here is a brief

recap of an unforgettable night.

the Isha Yoga Center, a 21-feet Adiyogi. His

presence you must know.

Upbeat Opening with Sadhguru

As Sadhguru made his grand entrance at the

festival grounds, brahmacharis chanted the

1000-year-old Nirvana Shatakam that was

composed by Adi Shankaracharya. Sadhguru

then walked through the audience chanting

Y i h f l h t th t i k

Night of Nameless Ecstasy

Mahashivarathri 2015


18/24

do the mantra in such a way that it consumes

ones little self (ones personality) for ones

glorious self to nd expression.

Discourse by SadhguruAfter the meditation session and the Yoga

Yoga Yogishwaraya chant that Sadhguru

had devised as a preparatory sadhana for

Mahashivarathri this year, he explained the

meaning and signicance of its different

aspects: Yogishwaraya the boundless one,

Bhuteshwarya the one who has masteryover the elements, Kaleshwaraya the one

who has mastery over time, Shiva that which

is not, Sarveshwarya, and Shambho the key

to ultimate liberation. To a question about

what the just-unveiled Adiyogi represents,

Sadhguru said he is there to remind us that

only by turning inward, one can know true

wellbeing. When asked about the different

forms of Shiva, he pointed out that there are

innumerable forms of Shiva; in every piece

of creation, there is the source of creation or

nothingness.

Let this night, in some way, be a turning point

for you to move towards your awakening.

However intelligent, capable or strong we are,

without an element of Grace in our lives, there

will be no success. Genuine success will happenonly when there is Grace. Otherwise, you will

Adiyogi Sculpture


19/24

Zila Khan

i


20/24

Linga Bhairavi feminine, powerful, compassionate all that and much more. Her Grace is not

only a possibility for health, prosperity and wellbeing but a pathway to the Ultimate.

Receive a uniquely personalized Linga Bhairavi or Linga Bhairavi Avighna Yantra in an intimate

ceremony with Sadhguru. Connect with the Grace of Devi through a powerful initiation,

happening on 2 June 2015 at the Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore.

For Registrations: +919442504720 / 9489045132 [email protected]

Upcoming Programs

and Events YANTRA CEREMONYWITHSADHGURU

The Linga Bhairavi Yantras are designed to powerfully impact your system,

the space in which you live, and the direction and destiny of your life.

Sadhguru


21/24

INGREDIENTS

For the Dressing:

1 Red Capsicum

50 g Cashews

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 cm piece Ginger

Isha Recipes

FRESH POTPOURRI SALAD(Serves 4)

For the Salad:

1 Broccoli head

1 Cucumber

1 Yellow Capsicum

2 T t


22/24

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Insightful Inspiring Informative

I would like to Subscribe for myself Change the mailing address Subscribe as a giftRenew my subscription

Payment By Cheque

`50 Extra

One year 12 issues (within India by regular mail) `180

One year 12 issues (within India by courier) `480

FF CODE (Forest Flower subscription No.):

Mode of Payment: Cash ChequeDemand Draft Money Order

Pleasecomp

leteinBLOCKLETTERS

datory

SU

BSCRIBER

TO CK

LETTERS

Phone: (Mobile)*............................... (Home)*............................... (Work)*..........................

Email* .....................................................................................................................

Name*

Address*

City*

State* PIN*

Name*

Address*


23/24

ZEN SPEAKS


24/24

Documents

Forest Flower April 2015.pdf