Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Forest Flower June 2017
Forest Flower June 2017
My Day is Taken
My day does not belong
to Me. Today is My day
but does not belong to Me.
Yesterday, Today and the
Next day do not belong to Me.
Yes My day is taken to
unveil the most obvious,
as most are oblivious of
the Beautiful nature of
Being Human. The
boundaries of the Body have brought
bondage to the Being.
Knowing the Being that
we are, is all there is to see.
Yes My day is taken.
Dear Readers,
In this issue, we offer you Sadhguru’s insights on a wide range of topics, from
concerns of a social nature: “Let Them Talk,” “When You Feel Let Down,” and
“The Importance of Being in the Right Company” to matters of or related to
sadhana: “Not the Body, Not the Mind,” “Creating Your Own Shrine at Home” and
the Lead Article “Transform Your Energies, Transform Your Life.”
Much has happened again in the last few weeks: Sadhguru has received the
Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest annual civilian award from President Pranab
Mukherjee; Adiyogi at the Isha Yoga Center now holds the Guinness World
record as the largest bust (sculpture); not to speak of a flurry of Isha events
and programs in India and abroad. We’ve picked some of the highlights for you.
The article “Population Matters – For a Sustainable Future” is excerpted from
the recent conversation between one of India’s most successful entrepreneurs,
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, and Sadhguru.
Also in this issue: In our Mahabharat series, Bhima enters “A Life and Death
Fight” with the die-hard Jarasandha to clear the way for the Rajasuya Yagna of
the Pandavas. “Obedience: Not a Solution” is an excerpt from Sadhguru Spot,
in which he shares his observations on obedience versus joy as the basis of
our relationships. With this month’s recipe, a tangy sweet “Malaysian Fruit and
Veggie Salad,” contributed by one of our volunteers, the diversity of Isha finds a
culinary expression.
Population Matters --
For a Sustainable Future
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in Conversation with Sadhguru
Sadhguru and Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, one of India’s most successful self-made women and the
founder-chair of the country’s leading biotechnology enterprise, Biocon, met on 22 April 2017 in
Bengaluru for an interactive conversation about some of the most pressing issues for humanity today.
In this excerpt, they discuss matters of environmental degradation, population, consumerism, and
consciousness.
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: So, how do we get a
sense of civic-mindedness in our country? Many
Where’s Our Civic Sense?
of us try to do it, but we finally give up. How do we
deal with all these issues?
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Since everyone here
is from Bangalore, I want to come to something
Sadhguru: Recently, a certain photograph has been
that really just plagues us every day, and that is
going around on WhatsApp, that on Hanuman
we’re seeing debris all over the place, we’re seeing
Jayanti, somewhere on the Mumbai-Pune road,
polluted lakes – we’ve got a lot of problems in this
someone had served a proper meal for over a
city. And everything has to do with us. We can’t keep
hundred monkeys. They’re all sitting in one row
asking the government to do everything – after all,
and eating from their banana leaves. So someone
it’s Swachh Bharat [Clean India Movement]. We all
asked me, “Sadhguru, how is this possible? Have
sort of accepted the fact that by 2020, India must
they photoshopped this?” I said, “No Photoshop.
become a clean country. And yet, three years later,
This is all it takes. If you make sure everybody is
if you look at what we are actually doing, we are
well provided for, they will get civilized.” Right now,
not changing our habits. We still keep chucking
everything is scarce. When everything is scarce,
litter all over the place; we pollute lakes. No one
people are elbowing each other and doing some
seems to have any civic sense in this country.
nonsense. A little more space is needed for human
beings. We are nice, but we are just too many.
Sadhguru: They are making the lakes look like
bathtubs...
In the beginning of the twentieth century, our
number was only 1.6 billion [world population].
There’s nothing bad about a child – we all Sadhguru: You will never ever succeed in controlling
were born that way. It’s just that we are not an human aspiration, but you can control human
endangered species. If you were a tiger, I would say population. [Applause] Right now, the United
let us have fertility clinics. But we are human, and Nations and others are making a prediction that by
we are reproducing too well. When I see the fertility 2050, we will be 9.7 billion people on the planet. I
clinics, my heart sinks, because this stems from a want you to imagine your life in Bangalore City. We
fanaticism that only what comes out of your body will have to live with forty percent less resources
can be yours. Why can’t others be yours as well? than we have right now. When I say resources, I’m
This is what being human means. This is what not talking about oil, gold, diamond, and things like
humanity means. If you are willing, you can live that. I’m talking about food, water, air. In a minute,
here without any sense of boundaries. Boundaries you are probably taking something like twelve to
are not fixed upon you by nature. You are fifteen breaths. Try to make do with ten breaths,
unconsciously, compulsively setting boundaries and see how it feels.
for yourself. That means you have not explored the
dimension of being human. You are still trying to That’s how you will be feeling in 2050, unless
operate like any other creature on the planet. we consciously control the population growth. If
we fail to do that, nature will do it to us in a cruel
If you explore the dimension of what it means to manner, and maybe fix it. But is it not an insult
be human, you will see inclusion does not mean to our humanity and our intelligence if we do not
biology – inclusion means consciousness. take corrective action, if we allow nature to do a
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June 2017
cruel correction rather than we doing a conscious to do. They will not do it because it’s compulsive.
correction? Right now, if they want to be happy, they have to do
so many things.
Above all, in order to fix this, one thing that’s very
important is – though people think these two You have to bring the human being to an inner
things are not linked – if you become meditative by state of wellbeing where if he or she sits here, life
your own nature, if you sit here, if you feel complete is complete. Right now, all of us are sitting here
by yourself, outside you will do only what is needed in the same hall, breathing the same air, probably
– nothing more, nothing less. Right now, you are we eat the same kind of food. But how I am within
in a compulsive state. In this state, you can’t stop myself in this moment, I will not exchange this with
the consumerism. When I go to California and I anything in the universe. If you offer me the entire
am staying in some house, of course they have a world, I will say “no deal.” If you were like this,
Tesla. So, when we go to the program, I am driving would we have to talk to you about consumerism?
a Tesla. Nice electric car. You would do what’s needed. You would never do
what’s not needed.
When you come back and park the car, you will
see a line of garages. All these beasts are sitting I want all of you to go and check at home. How
there – [Hummer] H1s, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis. many things in your house have you not used in
Then what about the Tesla? This is just to go to the last one year? Most probably, you will never use
the office and make a statement. When no one most of it again, but it will be there. Someone will
sees it, you start a twelve-cylinder car. So, don’t have the trouble of disposing this off after you’re
try to control human aspiration. Otherwise, people dead. Please give it away. All those things that you
will become more and more devious. If we control have not used for one year, just give them away.
human population and make people joyful by their [Applause]
own nature, then they will do what they really want
Whatever you do in life, how your body, your mind, direct different aspects of the human mechanism.
and your whole system function is ultimately Through yogic practices like the Shakti Chalana
determined by your vital energy or prana. Prana is Kriya, you can to take charge of the pancha vayus. If
an intelligent energy. Since prana has the karmic you gain mastery over these five vayus, you will be
memory of the individual imprinted on it, it functions free from most ailments, particularly psychological
in each person in a unique manner. By contrast, ones. This is something that the world needs today.
electricity does not have memory or intelligence. Unless we act now, in the next fifty years, the
It can light up a light bulb, run a camera, and do a number of people who are psychologically
million other things, not because of its intelligence imbalanced, disturbed, or deranged will increase
but because of the particular device that it powers. many times over, due to various factors in our
In the future, there may be smart electricity too. lifestyles. We are handling many aspects of our
If you manage to imprint energy with a certain lives in a grossly negligent way, for which we are
memory, you can make it behave in a certain way. going to pay the price.
Questioner: How do we deal with it, when a person As you mature, you need to learn to keep your
who we thought would never let us down does let thoughts and emotions sweet by your own nature.
us down? If your thoughts and emotions are pleasant, you
can share them with other people. But if without
Sadhguru: The problem is wrong assumptions. the other person, your thoughts and emotions
You are making assumptions about others, about will get bitter and terrible, if someone has to offer
yourself, and about creation. You got a little too life support every day, they will get tired. If others
romantic and thought the relationship happens constantly have to keep you happy and loving, it is
by itself. Relationships need to be managed. The a burden on them, and they may run away at some
question is, are you a good manager or not? Still, point. When they escape, you think it is betrayal.
however good a manager you are, things can Again, these are all your emotions. In the larger
happen. About someone letting you down…You context of existence, you are just a piece of life.
may have unrealistic expectations about people.
I know the question is coming from a certain
experience, and I am not trying to belittle the pain. I
know what it means to you as an individual. But at If you get carried away by your own
the same time, you need to understand you came thoughts and emotions, you forget about
alone into this world, and you will go alone. You the fundamentals of the relationship, and
entered the relationship because you needed it.
you forget to manage it well.
No matter how much drama you create around
it and what assumptions you make about the
relationship, it is about trying to fulfill your needs. You are making deals and relationships with
Whatever relationships you have formed in your people for various purposes. This not only applies
life, you have done so to fulfill your needs, be they to the relationship between husband and wife, but
physical, psychological, emotional, financial, social, also relationships with business partners, friends,
or whatever else. If you keep that in mind, you will children, parents, and so on. Always remember you
approach your relationships with a certain humility. have entered the relationship to fulfill your needs.
If you get carried away by your own thoughts and They may have entered the relationship for their
emotions, you forget about the fundamentals of needs, but that is not your business. Your business
the relationship, and you forget to manage it well. is to understand that they are valuable to your life.
That is when things can go wrong. They are adding value to who you are. When you
are aware of that, you will manage the relationship
If you are disillusioned with something or someone, in one way. If you think you are of great value to
it means you come to reality. This may sound cruel, someone, you will manage the relationship in
but this is how life is. All people that we hold dear another way, which may not allow it to last long. Or
will go, or we will go. Even if you hold hands and you may be doing all the right things and still it may
die together, you will still go separately. These are go wrong. Whichever way it is, it is your business to
your emotions. When you form a relationship with make yourself into a pleasant and wonderful piece
someone, it is an agreement between the two of of life. With or without someone, please make it
you to help each other experience some sweetness happen.
of emotion.
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are yourself. Even if you go into little deeper layers will come, then a flag, then an emblem, then you
of the body, still you are yourself. will become a nation of your own. And then you will
have a national bird!”
Do not use “I am not the body, I am not the mind”
as a slogan – it will not work like that. This was “I am not the body, I am not the mind” should
given to you as an aid to bring awareness to the happen in a very subtle way to bring the breath into
koorma nadi or the breath. Shouting slogans is your awareness. With that thought, you are simply
a way of manipulating crowds on the street. You adding a little fragrance to your breath, so that
cannot do anything inside with that. When I go to you can notice it. It is like lighting incense to see
new places in northern India, it is very common that where the air is moving. If it’s moving gently, you
people want to shout, “Sadhguru maharaj ki jai!” otherwise wouldn’t know. Just like that.
I immediately stop them and say, “First, a slogan
Kriya
A Powerful Guided Meditation
Rooted in the timeless wisdom of the yogic sciences, Isha Kriya is a simple yet potent
process created by Sadhguru. Available for free as a guided meditation with an instructional
video and downloadable instructions, or through one of the free immersive workshops
conducted globally, it has the potential to transform the life of anyone who is willing to
invest just 12 minutes a day.
For more information, visit isha.sadhguru.org/ishakriya, download the Isha Kriya app on
Google Play or iTunes, or watch the Isha Kriya video on YouTube.
Darshan
Questioner: Sadhguru, I share an apartment with
other people, and whenever I’m away for longer
Most human beings are – knowingly or unknowingly
– shaped by the company that they keep. They just
periods of time, I sublet my room. All kinds of may not realize to what extent. It is not only your
people are staying there – once a girl who turned family and friends who have an impact on you but
into a drug addict, and different couples too. I’m your social exposure in general. I would say your
wondering to what extent this could affect me. social exposure has shaped almost ninety percent
What’s your take on that? of your personality. Choosing your company is
not about being discriminatory but about being
Sadhguru: Do not underestimate the influence of discretionary as to where you want to be and with
the company that you keep. Even if you do not whom you want to be. It is definitely not ideal to
drink and do drugs like they do, just being in their be among people who are so compulsive in nature
company impacts you on a completely different that you can consider them as addicts, no matter
level. Gautama the Buddha described the ultimate what they are addicted to.
truth, the one who transmits truth, and the sangha
or the kind of company you keep, as equally Your whole effort is to move from compulsiveness
important. He is socially correct but existentially to consciousness. Being among people who are
wrong. Actually, the first priority should be the very compulsive is not supportive. You have not
sangha or the company that you keep, then the yet reached a place where you can be among the
Buddha or the one who transmits truth, then the most compulsive people and still be absolutely
dhamma or the ultimate truth. conscious and unaffected on the level of your
On this Spot, Sadhguru shares his observations on obedience versus joy as the basis of our lives, our
family relationships, and society as a whole. He says, “There should be no compulsion to break the rules
of the past, nor should there be a compulsion to do things the way they were done in the past.”
Obedience, particularly to elders, is often projected a society and culture to become stagnant and
as a traditional value. I would say unquestioned decline over a period of time. Only if the young
obedience is the downfall of a society and culture. generation does something that the parents never
Obedience means there is an authority. It may be imagined possible, can a society evolve.
a parent, a priest, God, or a scripture. Obedience
is based on the assumption that whatever the
authority says is right. If you make authority the
Love, affection, and respect must be earned.
truth, it destroys human intelligence. Truth should
be the only authority. The next generation should
do something that we could not imagine possible. Now, should we follow the precepts of the past or
We produce a next generation because we think do something new? There should be no compulsion
it is a new possibility. If it is not a new possibility to break the rules of the past, nor should there be
but only takes instructions from us on all levels a compulsion to do things the way they were done
and only does what we want, it is no good as a in the past. It is important that every generation
new generation. There is nothing “next” about it. looks at what is really needed and what is not.
It is just a graveyard of the past popping up in the If you do not discard the garbage that builds up
future, which is a waste of life. at home, after some time, your whole house will
be a garbage bin. Every day, you must throw out
Those who, because of their authoritarian nature, the garbage – only then will the house be clean.
are not able to earn the necessary love and affection Similarly, in our lives, we must throw things that
from their children demand obedience. Love, don’t work, on a daily basis. If we as individuals and
affection, and respect must be earned. Especially as a society don’t do that, we become stagnant,
in a parent-child relationship, this is important. stuck, and nothing works.
The moment you demand obedience, you claim
authority. If you claim authority, you will always be Breaking the mold need not come as a big upheaval
resented. If there is resentment in a relationship, it in society. The revolution can be in the way we
becomes ugly. An authoritarian approach causes think. We need to constantly look for better ways of
If you truthfully look for the best way to do If you are joyful, you can see things the way they
something, you will arrive at a science. Otherwise, are and come up with better solutions every day. If
you may try to weave a philosophy around it. The your perception is clouded by prejudiced opinions,
philosophies of the past may have made sense at how will you find a solution? When you are joyful,
one time. Over a period of time, what used to be you find solutions. In joyfulness, there is flexibility.
a philosophy turned into a precept, a law, a belief Solutions evolve out of flexibility.
system, and ultimately, a religion. Instead of that,
we should come to our senses about everything. Love & Grace,
But, will we arrive at an ultimate answer for
everything? Maybe not. Realities are changing.
One fundamental way to approach life is this: there
is substantial scientific and medical evidence that
MAHABHARAT
PART 31 Mahabharat SERIES
Adiyogi – Guinness
World Record
The 112-feet tall face of
Adiyogi at the Isha Yoga
Center in Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu, India, now
officially holds the
Guinness World Record
for world’s largest bust
(sculpture)! The record
was verified by Guinness
World Record officials on
11 March 2017.
I have finally grasped, I can choose to In every rock, the sky and the sea
shower that immense love inside of
In every beaming eye and
me anytime to anyone.
In every beating heart
Almost two years passed. I had almost forgotten There is me
the freedom that feeling had given me. But now,
when I participated in the Inner Engineering Bound by the love of this moment
program, those very feelings swarmed back.
Sadhguru made me realize once again that I can Calmness of this moment is eternity
be a mother to all. What a beautiful realization. I
have finally grasped, I can choose to shower that I am grateful to everyone in my entire life who has
immense love inside of me anytime to anyone. I do intentionally, unintentionally led me to join Inner
not have to wait for another earthquake to bring it Engineering and experience this.
to me. I feel that power of choice, to be happy and
loving at all times. I feel a deep sense of calmness – Yatra Sharma, Community Architect and Inner
inside of me. Engineering participant, Kathmandu, Nepal
Current at the time of print, however subject to change. For full program schedules and updates, please visit our
website: www.ishafoundation.org.
MALAYSIAN FRUIT
AND VEGGIE SALAD
(Serves 6–8)
INGREDIENTS METHOD
Salad: 1. Chop all the fruits and vegetables into large,
1 Pineapple (peeled) wedge-shaped chunks, approx. 2–3 cm in size.
2 medium unripe Papayas
10 small Rose/wax apples 2. For the dressing: In a small pan, add soy sauce
3 Green apples and palm sugar. Cook over low flame, stirring
1 Turnip (sweet turnip, Chinese turnip, Mexican continuously, until a thick syrup is formed. Remove
turnip)
from heat. Add chili powder (optional), tamarind
2 Cucumbers
paste, grated ginger, and lemon zest. Whisk
2 raw Mangoes
together.
Dressing:
6 Tbsps. Soy sauce 3. Spoon the dressing over the salad and gently
80g Palm sugar (grated) toss until evenly coated. Garnish with grated
2–4 tsps. Chili powder (optional) groundnuts and sesame seeds.
6 Tbsps. Tamarind paste
2 tsps. Ginger (grated)
2 tsps. Lime zest (sliced thinly)
Salt to taste
Garnish:
4-5 Tbsps. each of toasted sesame seeds and
grated, roasted groundnuts
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