How to Surpass You, Sadhguru?

Dear Sadhguru. I have a doubt since I did my Inner Engineering. I have seen people who have done Inner Engineering, people who have done BSP, Samyama, Samyama Sadhana  and people who are Brahmacharis.  But how to become like you? And if possible, how to surpass you?
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Sadhguru - So, now you have seen and discarded many people – those Inner Engineering people, Bhava Spandana, Samyama, Brahmacharis – all discarded! I want you to go to the next Inner Engineering and volunteer, okay? How people are on the last day – first be like that for one whole month. Then go to Bhava Spandana. How people are at the closing of Bhava Spandana – be like that for one more month. Then try Samyama. By then, you will know what I am talking about, what transformation means. 

Transformation is not an ambition or even an aspiration. It is an evolution. If you do the right things, you will evolve. It is not because you aspire or have an ambition that you become something; you need to allow this being to grow. If this grows, it will evolve into a certain possibility. 

If you are aspiring for transformation, whatever is the highest peak you have hit, you must stay there. Keep the necessary atmosphere within you so that you can live like that. Otherwise, you would have just gone to one fanciful program, done some crazy things, and then gone home and continued the same old rubbish – that is no good. If the highest peak you have known is the level you hit with your Bhava Spandana, see how to stay there for one whole month. And then aspire for the next one. If you go up and fall down and then aspire for the same thing, it means nothing. One step forward, one step backward – this person has no intention of going anywhere.


The fundamental principles of how to stay at that peak is what the program is about. Just bring it into your life, and then aspiring for the next thing and the next thing will become a reality. Otherwise, it is an empty dream. If you want to show serious intent that you really want to go somewhere, this is what you can do, step by step. For someone who is at zero, going on talking about a million is not going to work; you have to climb.
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No Black and White in Life ~ Sadhguru

Just before the Kurukshetra war began, Krishna offered his entire army to Duryodhana. Sadhguru recounts this situation to illustrate that there is no black and white in life.

"Krishna saw that human beings are always a combination of everything. That is why you have to strive to establish dharma within yourself; otherwise, you will become adharma." ~  Sadhguru

Questioner: If Krishna came to establish dharma, why did he offer himself or his army to Duryodhana?

Sadhguru: The situation around the Kurukshetra war was such that no one could remain neutral. You had to choose one side. Being the chief of the Yadavas, Krishna also had to put his lot either with the Pandavas or the Kauravas. Personally, he did not want this war and would have preferred to remain neutral, but that was not possible. He had no hatred against Hastinapur. He did not just choose Duryodhana; Bhisma, Dronacharya, Kripacharya – many venerable leaders were on the other side. He was not against them, and they had huge respect for him too. Both with Duryodhana and with the Pandavas, there was a distant blood relationship. When a relative comes and asks your help, a “no” would be difficult according to the Kshatriya dharma.

There was Kshatra Tej, the dharma for the warrior class, and Brahma Tej for the spiritual class. Krishna tried to bring about some kind of alliance between the Kshatriyas and the Brahmins. These guidelines and rules were created for the society to function smoothly. They said, a Brahmin must sit and study the Vedas for a certain number of hours a day.  If the same dharma was enforced on a Kshatriya, he may not be competent to do it, and if he did this, he would not be a good administrator and definitely not a good warrior. The same goes for all the other classes. That is why they established different types of dharmas for different categories of people who had different duties to perform in the society. But at some point, the Kshatriyas started thinking only in terms of what is good for them and their dharma without considering all the others and their dharmas, which disturbed the harmony in the society. Krishna and Vyasamuni strived to bring Kshatra Tej and Brahma Tej closer together so they could function as a cohesive force for the benefit of all.

Since according to the Kshatra Tej, when a relative comes and asks for something, you cannot say “no,” Krishna gave them the choice between himself and his army. From a military standpoint, an army is definitely the better choice. Duryodhana believed that taking the army was sensible, though he did not get the first choice and was perturbed about that. When given the choice, the Pandavas had said to Krishna, “Whether we live or die – if we live, we want to live with you. If we die, we want to die with you. Without you, what will we do?” And that is what made the difference for them.

Now, your question is, “If Krishna is standing for dharma, how can he put his armed might on the side of adharma?” He was not a moralistic person who made black-and-white judgments about anyone. He neither believed the Pandavas were absolutely pure beings, nor that the Kauravas were absolute evil. This was not the way he looked at life. He constantly maintained a good relationship with the Kauravas. Duryodhana’s wife Banumathi was a devotee of his. He did not see the Kauravas as out and out evil – he just saw that they were causing much evil at that time and he would have liked to put an end to that. This does not mean he held any kind of hatred or anger against them, nor did he judge them as evil. He saw that human beings are always a combination of everything. That is why you have to strive to establish dharma within yourself; otherwise, you will become adharma. Any human being is capable of becoming adharma any moment of his life. There is no insurance that you will never fall into adharma. You have to strive to be aware; you have to strive to be on the righteous path, or else you will easily slip off. This goes for every human being, until you attain to such a level of consciousness where you cannot fall anymore.

In many ways, Krishna tried to encourage Duryodhana to strive for dharma. Even at that point when he gave this choice between him and his army, he still tried to avoid the war. In a way, it was a very intelligent move to give the army to Duryodhana. That way, Duryodhana felt that “Krishna is on my side,” thinking the Pandavas were fools to take one person instead of a 100,000-man-strong army. This could have been something for Duryodhana to latch on to and bring peace, but it failed.

Become That

Questioner: Sadhguru, you have been talking about three aspects – one is Krishna’s playfulness, the second is inclusiveness, and the third is love and devotion. I have three questions in this context. First, how can one be playful without losing the intensity that the practices have ignited? Second, I increasingly tend to do the minimum for friends and family. I just want to be on my own. I’m not sure what is meant by including everyone. And third, I think the mind’s constant over-activeness or judgment hampers love and devotion. So how can these three aspects be applied in day-to-day life?

Sadhguru: They cannot be applied – they can be attained. They are not some kind of policies or tricks that you apply in your life. You have to become that. You have to become inclusion. You have to become love. This is not something that you can do or make use of. It is something that you surrender to. It is something that you allow to burn you up. You are no more important.

It is because you are still on the application level, since you want to use something, that we gave you practices. I wish we could abolish the practices in the program. They are beautiful; they are definitely sustaining forces for a human being, but people evaluating the program and being there with me in terms of a takeaway is stupid. That way, they will not get anywhere. Maybe their health will improve, but they will not know anything beyond that in their lives.

There is nothing to apply. There is no take away. Don’t try to be devout; don’t try to be loving; don’t try to be inclusive. You cannot do that. You have to become that. You cannot do love. Love is much, much bigger than you. You can become a part of it. There is no method to fall in love. When you don’t make yourself important anymore, love will happen. If you are too full of yourself, there is no possibility of love in your life. You may know relationships; you may know give-and-take, but you will not know how to burn. If you don’t know how to burn, you will have no light of your own.
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" Why We Do What We Do: God is in your Genes! " ~ Sadhguru

Indian culture is incredibly complex and may resemble a chaos of mind-boggling proportions. But beneath this seeming chaos is a scientific foundation that is thousands of years old. The series “Why We Do What We Do”, will look at the basis behind the various elements of Indian culture, and explain how even the minutest detail was geared towards a human being’s immediate and ultimate wellbeing.

Question: Namaskaram Sadhguru. 

What is the significance of giving one’s name, nakshatra and gotram while doing the abhishekam at Linga Bhairavi?

Sadhguru:

"These things were very significant and relevant when deities were created in a certain way. Indian culture was created with an understanding of the phenomenal complexity of life, but today this has become one big hotchpotch because invasions in the last 1800 years have seriously disturbed the instruments and institutions which transmitted this from generation to generation. Otherwise, this is a very sophisticated science.

At one time, every temple that was set up was a live temple. It was alive, not a doll that you go and worship. A live force was created of different calibers, categories, and qualities. People did not go to every temple. There were some temples which were for general wellbeing, where everybody went. But for specific purposes, people went only to their Kuladaivam (clan deity). This was a fabulous understanding of genetics and how it functions.

Today, scientists can dig up one little bone of someone who died a hundred years ago, take it to the laboratory, check that DNA and compare it with your DNA and say, “This was your grandfather.” You can do this even for someone who died ten thousand years ago. Science gives you this access. Similarly, for thousands of years, people maintained the genetic track in their own way – never mixing it up or doing anything which will disturb the track – so that their progeny come out well. Not only that, you can create a certain energy which travels through the track. Everybody in your kula (clan) need not go to the temple. You go and do the process and everyone benefits because everyone in that kula is connected. Right now, medical science is also heading in this direction. They can find something that works for your DNA, and all the people who have that type of DNA will benefit.

This was understood and genetic lines were maintained so strictly and an energy source was established for that particular DNA and genetic trend. When someone goes to the temple, they are not telling some God up there about their kula. They are just registering, “This is me, I belong to this line, this is my gotra, this is my nakshatra, this is my kula.” They are saying, “This is my DNA, do something for me.” It is the most scientific way of handling it. It is a wonderful understanding of life."
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" Why We Do What We Do: Sleeping Right " ~ Sadhguru

In today’s episode of Why We Do What We Do, we explore the superstitions surrounding sleep, through Sadhguru’s words.

"Indian culture is incredibly complex and resembles a chaos of mind-boggling proportions. But beneath this seeming chaos is a scientific foundation that is thousands of years old. Often, the practices that we label today as blind superstition have very logical explanations behind them. The series “Why We Do What We Do” looks at the basis behind the various elements of Indian culture and explains how even the minutest detail was geared towards a human being’s immediate and ultimate wellbeing."

Sadhguru:

In India, you were told that you should not place your head to the north while sleeping. Why? First, let’s look at the way your body is engineered. Your heart is not located half-way down, it is placed three-fourths of the way up because pumping blood up against gravity is more difficult than pumping it down. The blood vessels which go upward are a finer arrangement compared to those going down. As they go up into the brain, they are almost hair-like, to such a point that they cannot even take one extra drop. If one extra drop is pumped in, something will burst and you will have a hemorrhage.

Most people have hemorrhages in their brain. This does not incapacitate you in any major way, but small damages happen. You may become duller, which people are becoming. Your level of intelligence after the age of 35 drops in many ways unless you take enormous care to keep it up. You are managing because of your memory, not because of your intelligence.

When you put your head to the north, what happens? If you have any kind of blood-related problem, let’s say anemia, what would a doctor prescribe? Iron. It is an important ingredient in your blood. You have heard of the magnetic fields on the planet. In many ways, the earth is engineered because of its magnetism. That’s how powerful the magnetic forces are on the planet.

When the body is positioned horizontally, you can immediately make out that your pulse rate drops. The body makes this adjustment because if blood is pumped at the same level, too much will go into your head, causing damage. Now, if you place your head to the north and stay that way for 5 to 6 hours, the magnetic pull will cause pressure on your brain. If you are beyond a certain age and your blood vessels are weak, you could have hemorrhages and paralytic strokes. Or, if your system is sturdy and these things don’t happen to you, you could get up agitated because there is more circulation in the brain than there should be when you are sleeping.

This is true as long as you are in the northern hemisphere – sleeping with your head towards any side except north is okay. In the southern hemisphere, don’t put your head to the south.

The Right and Wrong Side of the Bed!

Your heart is an important aspect of your physiology. The station that pumps life across the body – if this one thing doesn’t happen, nothing happens – starts from your left side. In India, the culture has always said that when you wake up, you must roll to your right side and then get out of bed. When your body is in a certain state of relaxation, its metabolic activity is low. When you get up, there is a certain surge of activity. So you need to roll over to your right side and get up because at a lower level of metabolic activity, if you suddenly roll to your left, you will put pressure upon your cardiac system.

The First Thing You See

In the tradition, they also told you that before you get up in the morning, you must rub your hands together and place your palms upon your eyes. They said that if you do this, you will see God. It is not about seeing God.

There is a heavy concentration of nerve endings in your hands. If you rub your palms together, all the nerve endings are activated and the system comes awake immediately. When you wake up in the morning and still feel sleepy and drowsy, just do this and see, everything comes awake. Instantly, a whole range of nerves connected with your eyes and other aspects of your senses come awake. Before you move your body, your body and brain should be active. You shouldn’t get up dumb, that’s the idea.

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"Creating and Manifesting What You Want" ~ Sadhguru

Your mind can be in five different states. It can be inert. That means it is not activated at all -- it is in a rudimentary state. If you energize an inert mind, the mind becomes active but scattered. If you energize it further, it is no longer scattered, but oscillating. If you energize it even further, it becomes one-pointed. If you energize it still further, it will become conscious. If your mind is conscious, it is magic. It is a miracle; it is the bridge to the beyond. 

Inert minds are not a problem. Someone who is very simple-minded and whose intellect is still not effervescent has no trouble. He eats well, he sleeps well. It is only people who think that cannot sleep. Simple-minded people perform all the activities of the body far better than the so-called intellectual people because it needs some intelligence to cause disturbance and chaos. But an inert mind is closer to animal nature than the possibility of what it means to be human. 

The moment you pump some energy into an inert mind, it becomes active, but it could be scattered. For some people with inert minds, after they begin certain yogic practices, they become much more disturbed than before. They were sleeping and eating better before they came to yoga. Now their mind is thinking all kinds of things. They were never troubled by such things before, because the mind was inert.

Those who had a very scattered mind will come to a place where the mind is not so scattered, but it is oscillating -- one day this way, another day that way. This is a huge improvement over being scattered moment to moment. If the mind was already oscillating and you energize it further, it slowly becomes one-pointed -- that is far better. But the most important thing is the mind should become a conscious process. The most miraculous thing in this existence is the human mind. In terms of instruments, it is not the computer, car or spacecraft that is the most miraculous thing, but the human mind. It is the most miraculous thing, if only you could use it consciously.

The reason why success comes so easy and naturally for one person and is a struggle for another is because one person thinks the way he wants to think and another person thinks against himself. There is a beautiful story in the yogic lore.

A man went for a walk and accidentally walked into paradise. After the long walk, he felt a little tired and thought, "I wish I could rest somewhere." He saw a beautiful tree, beneath which was wonderful, soft grass. So he went and slept on the grass. After a few hours, he woke up well-rested. Then he thought, "Oh! I am hungry. I wish I had something to eat." He thought of all the nice things he wanted to eat and all of them just appeared in front of him.

After he had the sumptuous food, the man thought, "Oh! I wish I had something to drink." He thought of all the drinks he wanted and all of them appeared in front of him. In yoga, the human mind is referred to as "markata," or monkey, because of its nature. The word "monkey" has also become synonymous with imitation. If you say you are monkeying somebody, it means you are imitating someone -- this is the full-time job of your mind. So, an un-established mind is referred to as a monkey.

When this "monkey" became active in the man who went to paradise, he thought, "What the hell is happening here? I asked for food, food came. I asked for drink, drink came. Maybe there are ghosts around." He looked and there were ghosts. The moment he saw them he got terrified, he said, "Oh there are ghosts around here, maybe they will torture me." And the ghosts started torturing him, and he started screaming and yelling in pain. He said, "Oh these ghosts are torturing me, they are going to kill me." And he died.

The problem was, he was sitting under a wishing tree, or a Kalpavriksha. Whatever he asked for became a reality. A well-established human mind is referred to as a "Kalpavriksha." In this mind, whatever you ask for becomes a reality. In life, you are also constantly sitting under a Kalpavriksha, so you need to develop the mind to a point where it becomes a Kalpavriksha, not a source of madness.

Once your mind gets organized, the way you think is the way you feel -- so your emotion will also get organized. Once your thought and emotion are organized, your energies will get organized in the same direction. Once your thought, emotion and energies are organized, your very body will also get organized. Once all these four are organized in one direction, your ability to create and manifest what you want is phenomenal.
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Sadhguru - A Mystic & A Yogi

 Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev  

                             -A Mystic, A Yogi, A Humanitarian,  A Visionary and A Poet

 Equally at home trekking barefoot through the Himalayas as riding a motorcycle on the expressway, meeting with world leaders or speaking with farmers in rural communities, Sadhguru J. Vasudev is a contemporary mystic rooted as strongly in worldly and pragmatic matters as he is in inner experience and wisdom. He posts articles covering such topics as health and well-being, cultivating meaningful relationships, living joyfully, enhancing human consciousness and how to make this planet a better place to live.

Named one of India’s 50 most influential people, he has addressed prominent global forums on issues as diverse as socio-economic development, leadership and spirituality. He has served as delegate to the United Nations Millennium Peace Summit and the World Peace Congress and has been a special invitee to the World Economic Forum (2006-2009), the Australian Leadership Retreat (2006) and TED (2009).

His interviews are featured in The New York Times, BBC, Bloomberg, CNNI and CNBC. He is the author of over 50 books, the subject of four books and co-author of the Amazon bestseller “Midnights with the Mystic.” His public talks frequently draw crowds of over 300,000 people.

A yogi and visionary humanitarian of our times, Sadhguru works tirelessly towards the physical, mental and inner well-being of all. He was recently honored with the Indira Gandhi Award, India’s highest award for environmental work in recognition of his Project GreenHands initiative.

Sadhguru’s life and work serve as a reminder that the inner sciences are not esoteric philosophies from an outdated past but a contemporary science vitally relevant to our times.

Sadhguru developed Isha Yoga as an invigorating process to transform oneself. For over 25 years, Isha Yoga programs have touched and transformed the lives of millions of people around the world.

Isha Yoga programs are based on tested, scientific principles. They offer tools for optimal health, emotional well-being and professional excellence.

Inner Engineering, the flagship program, is conducted regularly in major cities around the world. This program includes a powerful process that purifies the system and allows one to explore higher dimensions of life. Inner Engineering is now available online at www.InnerEngineering.com.

Isha Yoga programs involve simple postures, meditation and powerful methods of self-transformation. They do not require physical agility or any previous knowledge of yoga.
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What is Truth?

“What is truth, and what is its nature,” was the question Arjuna asked Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Sadhguru explains Krishna’s answer, and elaborates on the “ultimate nectar of life.”

"If the divine has to enter you and manifest itself within you, you need empty space."

Sadhguru:

"When Arjuna asked Krishna, “What is the nature of this truth that you are talking about? I am not able to grasp it,” Krishna said, “The nature of the truth is such that if you drink what looks like amritam (nectar), it will become visham (poison). If you drink what looks like visham, it will become amritam.”

The one thing that you don’t want in your life is emptiness. All the trouble that you take on in your life in terms of education, family, profession, money and problems, is because somehow, you want to ensure that your life is not empty. That’s all you are trying to do, at any cost. But if you become empty consciously, that is the ultimate nectar of life. And yet, in your normal perception, it is absolute poison. Nobody wants it. But if you drink it, it becomes your nectar.

At the same time, all the other things that you thought of as nectar – whether it was knowledge, money, power, love or whatever – you ran after them, but what is it that has happened to you? Little pleasures have come to you but ultimately, by the time you look around, your life is gone. In trying to run after the so-called nectar, you are robbed of life. And all the bitterness and suffering on this planet is only because people are running after these things, isn’t it? But if you go for that which looks like poison, your life will become nectar. That is the nature of the truth.

If the divine has to enter you and manifest itself within you, you need empty space. Otherwise, all that is there is just the devil of your mind. Only if emptiness happens, divine-ness will happen to you. You have known love, joy and peace only in moments of emptiness – all the beautiful things have happened to you only in moments of emptiness. But logically and mentally, you think emptiness is the one thing that you don’t want. It looks like poison, but it is nectar.

Hitting the Goldmine

If you run after fulfillment, it will be an endless run. You will never be fulfilled. There are three ways in which you try to fulfill yourself. You want your pocket to be full with wealth. You want your head to be full – you want to know everything. You want your heart to be full – you want to love and you want people to love you. These are the only three ways through which you are attempting fulfillment. Now suppose I give you all the money in the planet, will your pocket become full or can it take some more? It can take some more, isn’t it? So in the very nature of things, your pocket cannot become full. If I grind all the libraries on this planet and pour it into your head, will your head become full? No, it can take some more. So in the very nature of things, your head cannot become full. If you include the whole population as a part of yourself and love them, will your heart become full or can you include a newborn child also? You can, so this also cannot become full. So if you run after fulfillment, you will be on an endless run.

But emptiness is always full. That which is empty is absolutely empty. It is never half empty. There is no such thing as incomplete emptiness. To see this, it takes awareness, and only then you recognize the nectar of life. Otherwise, you mistake the poison as nectar and waste your life running after that. This is the fundamental of spiritual life. People think that someone on the spiritual path has given up everything. They have not given up anything. They have hit a goldmine. No problems, no nonsense."

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The Privilege of Verbal War

"I am not saying you must abuse each other. 

I am saying at least if you speak, write, debate – you won’t explode a bomb!"

~ Sadhguru

"We try to establish systems in the world where we use violence verbally and never pull anybody’s hair. This is what we call a “democratic process” – where it is a constant war of words. Don’t be offended by the words because if you take away the privilege of verbal war, it will translate into physical war. That is why it is very important that you train everyone to be capable of tongue-lashing. People should learn to effectively tongue-lash each other because when they do not have the capability to articulate their anger, dissatisfaction and frustration, they will use their hands. Until you bring humanity to such a space where everybody is Sadashiva, nothing inside, tongue-lashing is an art. It is not the best solution but it is an interim solution.

If the tools of violence that we have today are used without this tongue-lashing capability in the parliaments and in the debates in the United Nations – Oh! You would destroy the world many times over! That is not happening because modern societies have learnt to tongue-lash; we can say nasty things about each other in a civilized way. These days, if you do not even have the courage to say it in front of the other person, you can blog. Sitting in your home, you can say the nastiest things possible. It does not matter if it is true, whether somebody is going to read it or not, whether it makes sense or it does not make sense. Simply say something.

I am not saying you must abuse each other. I am saying at least if you speak, write, debate – you won’t explode a bomb! You explode a bomb because you do not know how to make your point. The bombs that are exploding, at least now in India, are attempts at making a statement. “Boom! Sixteen people dead, 100 people injured – a statement has been made. After all, we killed only 16 – we could have set up a truck bomb instead of a car bomb or a bicycle bomb and killed 2,000.” This argument is there. We should at least educate them to be able to make a strong enough verbal statement so that they do not have to make a bicycle bomb. Whatever their statement is, let them blurt it out. You don’t have to kill 16 people.

Every society has to constantly strive to keep violence down to whatever extent possible. Keeping it at the minimum is the best we can do until a day comes, a possibility comes, where we can enlighten the whole world. I am not a pessimist, but I am not stupid enough to think it is going to happen in my lifetime. I am just thinking even if a few hundred people blossom – fantastic, because they will multiply it further. Our prospects are good, very good actually. Right now, Samyama is on, we are definitely manufacturing people who will be devoid of violence."

~ Sadhguru

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'You can't "Develop" Gratitude' ~ Sadhguru

In Sadhguru’s words:

“Gratitude is not an attitude; it is something that flows out of you. If it is just a cultivated attitude, it is not of much significance. People have always told you that the magic words are “thank you,” but gratitude cannot be cultivated; it happens when you are overwhelmed by something or somebody.”

It isn’t necessary – or even possible – to develop gratitude, because this idea implies that gratitude is something that isn’t already within you.  To understand why exactly this is the case, consider the idea of gratitude from the following perspective:

Many factors support your life .......

No matter who you are – whether you’re rich or poor, one race or another – you’re supported by an infinite number of processes that make life possible.

Certainly, it’s easy to see how the special people in your life support you.  Your parents provided you with the food, shelter and teachings that have enabled you to turn into a productive adult.  Your school teachers have given you the knowledge you need to pursue a career, and your boss gives you a paycheck in exchange for your time that allows you to pay your bills and live your life.

However, this is only a surface-level view of the factors that support your life.

Take a second to look down at the shirt you’re wearing.  How many hands have touched your shirt in order to bring it into your life – from the farmers who harvested the cotton to the workers who sewed it together, and from the delivery driver who took it to your local store to the merchant who eventually sold it to you.  Take this analysis a step further and think about the cotton plant, rich soil and sunlight that were all necessary to bring the shirt that now clothes you into being.

True gratitude stems from recognizing this support ........

Looking at all of these factors in turn, how can you not be grateful for everything you’ve been blessed with?
Truly, the only way to be ungrateful in this situation is to ignore the role that other factors play in supporting your life.  If you move through this world as if you were the king or as if your situation is solely of your own making, you’ll find it difficult – if not impossible – to experience gratitude, no matter how many self-help manuals you purchase!

Instead, by recognizing the support that other factors play in your life, you’ll begin to feel overwhelmed by how fortunate you are to be a part of something so much larger than yourself.  Gratitude stems from this feeling of being carried, leaving you with the powerful sense of satisfaction that comes from recognizing the myriad factors that make you the person you are today.

Yoga can make you more receptive to the process of receiving

The practice of yoga can open you up to the receptive state that’s necessary to experience gratitude on a deeper level than ever before.

When you make the regular practice of yoga a part of your life, you’ll become more open and more attuned to the process of receiving.  According to Sadhguru, “The very process of life is a constant phenomenon of receiving.”  Learning to receive should be the focus of any spiritual journey – though this is difficult, as making receiving a priority is difficult for people who are far more comfortable giving.

In this life, though, there is nothing that is truly yours to give.  Instead, you must learn to receive the blessings of life gratefully and share these gifts with others in order to experience the beautiful phenomenon of gratitude.
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"Why Mahashivarathri?" ~ Sadhguru

Sadhguru: Mahashivarathri is a day of many possibilities, or rather a night of many possibilities.

The 14th day of every lunar month, the day before the Amavasya or new moon, is referred to as Shivarathri. On this night, people on the spiritual path usually perform sadhanas (spiritual practice) of special significance. Of the twelve Shivarathris that occur in a calendar year, the one that occurs in February-March, in the lunar month of Magha, is called Mahashivarathri because it is the most powerful of the twelve Shivarathris.

On this day, there is a huge assistance from nature itself. The planetary positions are such that it is most conducive for a person to seek his spiritual nature and raise his energy to its peak. Because of this natural upsurge of energy, there are many benefits if a person is awake with his spine in a vertical posture throughout the night. Sages, seers and many others in the history of this land have made use of this upsurge and attained to their ultimate. Even at Isha, this day is particularly significant to us for this reason.

On Spiritual Evolution:

From being just a biological entity to becoming spiritual, what is needed is an upward movement of energy. When we exist here, catering to a certain aspect of nature which is our body, we become just survival and procreation. The physical dimension of existence really has no other purpose. If you look at every creature on this planet, you will see that everything is constantly aspiring to survive and to procreate so that life just goes on. But once you have become a human being, once you have your spine erect, you know that life merely “going on” is not sufficient anymore.

Biologists have pointed out that one of the biggest steps in the evolutionary process for an animal is to move from a horizontal to a vertical spine. It is only after this step that your intelligence flowers. So, by making use of this natural upsurge of energies on the nightlong festival of Mahashivarathri, with the right kind of mantras and meditations, we can move one step closer to the Divine. The raising of energies takes place even if there is no sadhana in a person’s life, but especially for those people who are into some kind of yogic sadhana, keeping the body in a vertical position, or in other words, not sleeping on this night is very important.

On Shiva, the Adiyogi:

Mahashivarathri is very significant for people who are on the spiritual path, and also for people with ambitions in the world and in family situations. For people living in family situations, Mahashivarathri is worshiped as Shiva’s wedding anniversary. The ambitious see it as the day Shiva conquered all his enemies. But in the yogic tradition, we do not consider Shiva as a god, but as the first guru or Adi Guru – the one who started the yogic process. The word “Shiva” means “that which is not.” If you can keep yourself in such a state that you are not yourself, and allow Shiva to be, then the possibility of opening up a new vision into life and looking at life with total clarity is possible.

On Mahashivarathri at the Isha Yoga Center:

What we refer to as Shiva is nothing but the very embodiment of ultimate perception. It is in this context that Isha Yoga Center celebrates Mahashivarathri. In many ways, in the Yoga Center, the whole year is a way of looking forward to the Mahashivarathri day. It is an opportunity and a possibility for all to raise their perception by at least one notch. It is an opportunity to not be embroiled in thoughts, emotions, or conclusions that you have drawn about life. This is what Shiva is about and this is what yoga is about.

May this Mahashivarathri night not just be a night of wakefulness, but let this also become a night of intense aliveness and awareness for you. It is our wish and blessing that you make use of this wonderful gift that nature offers us on this day. I hope all of you ride this upsurge and know the beauty and ecstasy of what it means when we say “Shiva.”

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For many years now, the day of Mahashivarathri has been celebrated with splendour at the Isha Yoga Center. In the powerful presence of the Dhyanalinga and under Sadhguru’s guidance, thousands of people gather each year to celebrate a night of music, dance and meditation. 

Join us for the Mahashivarathri celebrations on March 10 at the Isha Yoga Center, or watch the free webstream at http://mahashivarathri.org. The nightlong celebrations will also be telecast live in India on Astha, JayaPlus, UTv & Polimer TV and on Radio channel Suryan FM (only in Coimbatore, TN, India) 

Source: blog.ishafoundation

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