DHYAN FOUNDATION

The Bhagvad Gita clearly states that a society functions by following the footsteps of the prominent people—the Adarsh Purushs. There was a time when a yug was called Satyug, or the era of truthfulness. During that time, the Guru and the Ruler were the Adarsh Purushs; the ruler was guided by the Guru while the Guru was not tied to maya or personal gains, and lived for the betterment of society. Evolution of the being was the prime goal. The ruler on the instruction of the Guru worked for the people and left everything to join the Guru in the ashram. When the time for vanaprastha came, the kingdom was given to the heirs and the real journey towards reality would begin under the Guru’s guidance. The resources of the places of worship and the royal treasury were dedicated to supporting the needy. Holding the Guru’s hand, the shishya undertook the journey from the darkness of ignorance to light of gyan —“Tamso maa jyotir gamaya”. This social model was perfect and flawless. Its remnan...

How does one express spirituality? The most basic way is through one's deeds. These deeds involve being a better human being who is sensitive towards other human beings, that is, being humane. This is the guiding theme of this year's World Confluence on Humanity, Power and Spirituality. Organised by the Srei Foundation, Business Economics and the Institute of Inspiration and Self-Development, the annual World Confluence, has since the last four years, sought to bring together people from different career paths onto a common platform whose hallmark is spirituality through service. Eschewing doctrinaire and divisive interpretation of religion, the World Confluence seeks a commingling of the beliefs and practices of different faiths, which elevate and empower the mind, soul and body. The purpose is to harmonise thoughts with actions, and bring unity rather than create divisions among people of different faiths; the binding factor is the expression of spirituality through h...

New Indian Express, Chennai -   http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/191104/The-New-Sunday-Express-Magazine/01122013#page/9/2

Times of india, kolkata

Recently two severed human heads were reported found in a city dustbin. Shockingly, they were traced to a nearby hospital. Hospital waste is often labelled biohazards. In another incident not log ago, chemistry professors of Delhi University sold a radioactive gamma irradiator to a scrap dealer and were caught only after people living in the vicinity of scrap-yard were found affected by cancer. A few days back, a cow at the Dhyan Ashram Gaushala died of rabies. The authorities arrived promptly. The reason for the fast action was that they would put dead animals in crushers and the resulting matter is used for various purposes like making crystallised sugar, while other waste finds its way into animal feed. Dhyan Ashram volunteers arrange for postmortems of cows that die on the streets and have found that all had plastic in the stomach. Plastic is a known carcinogen. The long-term use of masalas reportedly causes cancer indirectly, while exposure to radiation, ingestion of pan masal...

The universe is full of various types of energies. One should learn to access these energies and realise the power within oneself, which is impossible without a guru, says Ashwini Yogi Ji. He was in Chennai recently to deliver a series of talks on yoga sadhna to the general public, which was part of the services rendered by a charitable organisation — Dhyan Foundation, a spiritual organisation that conducts free camps for the underprivileged. He said, “Everything; be it plants, animals, stones and human beings have energies and every energy has a purpose attached to it. Some people have got phenomenal energies, but they are unable to connect themselves to the supreme because of their limitations. One has to learn to attain as well as control these energies and use it in a productive way. The very realisation of this comes through yoga sadhna, which is impossible to get without the guidance of a guru.” He added that the people who reached higher levels of these energies were t...

Starting from the 13th day of krishna paksh of Kartik until the second day of shukla paksh of Ashvin, marks an extremely powerful time in the Vedic calendar. The energy of various nakshatras is focused on earth. On the amavasya of Kartik, the night of Diwali, the energy patterns are especially conducive to the manifestation of gods in general and Mahalakshmi specifically. Creation stays in balance because the various heavenly bodies are constantly engaged in the task of maintaining it. The congregation of various forces determines the energy patterns of a particular day; our patterns combined with that of the day determine the course of events in our life. Like the various heavenly bodies, each one of us is a ‘poorna ansh’—a complete part—of creation and has been assigned a specific task. There is a purpose to our birth—a specific experience based upon the soul’s desire. Various energies help us realise this purpose to realise the balance of the world. On certain days it is extreme...

The essence of Diwali lies in the verse, ‘tamso ma jyotir gamaya’, that is, ‘take me from darkness to light’, light here referring to the light of internal knowledge —the glow of which attracts the Devi (Lakshmi) home. The energy of various nakshatras is focussed on earth on the night of Diwali making it conducive for the manifestation of gods in general, and Goddess Lakshmi in particular. It is a night to request the Goddess to give us wealth but also to treat it with detachment because it is physical and temporary. Sanatan Kriya details the shodakshri mantra, ‘ka ee ai la hreem ha sa ka ha la hreem sa ka la hreem’, which when channelised by one’s Guru and chanted in front of the Devi, bestows one with physical wealth as well as gives the route to exit maya. If one looks at one’s own life one will realise that there is pain in every aspect of pleasure — the pain of losing that pleasure. This is a trait of Lakshmi (maya), yet we run after that which is temporary and is sure to leave ...

If you happen to take a flight at night, and get a window seat, please look out of the window when you take off. You will see thousands of tiny dots of light coming from thousands of houses that lie below and if you could peep inside any of them, you will find people not very different from one another, going through similar life experiences; stressed, disturbed by the same set of problems  such as health, finances, relationships and/or emotions. These stresses weigh an individual down all through life keeping him or her entangled in the daily struggle of existence; and before one knows, the hair has turned grey, the spine is bent, the skin shrivelled, the eyesight dim, the body is host to a plethora of diseases, and the stress… it only increases, never subsides, causing the body to deteriorate further and faster. Psychological stress is the prime factor that expedites physical ageing. Medically, this stress is associated with the shortening of the telomere length in the DNA...

Dussehra is the last day of Navratri; and commemorates the victory of good over evil. The legend has it that on this day Lord Rama defeated the demon Ravana, Goddess Durga demolished the buffalo demon Mahishasura. These are just two. There are countless accounts of why we celebrate Dussehra — every region, every group, every faith has its own version. What then is the relevance of marking these dates? The answer is simple — energy. For those seeking the higher truths in life, these stories are cues mere to trace the underlying patterns of Creation and to harness the energies that lie therein. For spiritual aspirants it is the day for relieving oneself of the physical, emotional and financial imbalances to realize the divinity within. Spiritual practises and various mantra chantings on this day as detailed by your Guru can have a more pronounced effect of removing negativity within. —Yogi Ashwini is an adept at Sanatan Kriya

By now we have understood that Prana is the energy we breathe, the energy we see, think, feel, hear, imagine and perceive in different forms.  Prana is everything.  It is entire Creation. It is the gyan we receive. At the physical level, it is the energy that gets translated through various layers (koshas) and manifests as the physical. Manik , a NASA scientist, carried out an experiment, staying without solid food for nearly 120 days, only on prana from sunlight minimally aided by small quantities of liquids. It becomes important to note that human life continues to exist as long as it can retain prana of a certain frequency even in the absence of food. Our bodies absorb prana and utilise it for vital functions. Used-up prana is given back to the environment and is further used as life force by beings lower in the evolutionary ladder. This process continues till it reaches the lowest form of Creation. Different pranic frequencies have different colours, part of a sp...

On one of my expeditions to Himalayas, I met a  tapasvi . He had a mystical calmness about himself. We had a long conversation after which I  thought  of leaving something for his expenses. I slipped my hand beneath the  asan  on which he was sitting to leave some money behind. As I did so, something pricked me. I lifted the cloth to find iron nails below… One of the 5  niyams  in  ashthang yog  is  ‘tapa’ , that is, to heat the  body  by giving it pain. It is a very basic purification, a means to cancel out your negative  karmas , a tool to aid progress and evolution. Fasting/  Upavaas  is one way of putting yourself through pain.  Upavaas  has a much greater connotation than what it is generally misunderstood as - mere holding back from eating certain foods. At Dhyan Ashram,  sadhaks  observe  Upavaas  in its aunthentic sense, that is, giving up pleasure to observe austerities...

Few days back a certain spiritual guru was ca ught up in a sex-scandal, a little before that some other was accused of deceiving people by offering impractical solutions, yet another was seen fleeing away in the guise of a woman from a political rally, the same gentleman was found in a hospital getting treated for dengue after having sold treatments to all kinds of diseases to the world. Another person having failed in his business grew a beard and started teaching spirituality (now he is flourishing). There is a spiritual organisation that has roped in an MBA to give lectures on television, the lady earned them a lot of following but on the subject of spirituality she calls atma as at-ma and shanti as shanty.... (Dhwani is the basis of spiritual sciences. Every sound is a vibration and corresponds to a specific energy. If you change the frequency of that vibration, then the energy changes, as does its effect.) If someone takes upon the role of a spiritual guide and adulterates th...

The soul incarnates into a physical body, which is made up of the five elements in various permutations and combinations. Reincarnating birth after birth depending on the kind of karmas , which one does in a lifetime. There are certain souls who dont reincarnate, either because they are finished with their karmic cycle of bhu lok (the prithvi lok ) or because they are stuck in a different dimension of existence and are unable to manifest in the human body, as their karmic balance is not sufficient to entitle them for a human birth, these souls either remain suspended as energies and are called ghosts and spirits or they go to a different dimension of existence called the pitr lok or the lok of the ancestors. Whatever dimension or level of existence that they are in, unless they have been freed from the cycle of birth and death they need energy from their offsprings to offset their karmic balance to enable them to reincarnate again. Shradhs are an important part of the Hin...

More often than not, answers to all our questions lie in things around us; all we need is an observant eye. Let us observe the sun. Ever wondered what gives it the magnificent glow and attraction? What is so magnetic about it that all the planets revolve around it? Modern science identifies the sun as the ultimate source of energy. How can a single entity be able to channelize such enormous amounts of energy? It is amazing how we are oblivious to this phenomenal presence of sun most of the times. And yet it rises and sets everyday, immune to our ungratefulness, lighting up the lives of millions. That's the nature of sun. Alternately we may say sun is in tune with nature. Quite simply put, sun is in Yog . Yoga is not about complicated twists and turns of the body. A yogi is not bound by age, diet, lifestyles or rituals. Yoga sets you free. The purpose of Yoga is to still the thoughts from desires,  chitt vritti nirodh , through certain purifications as prescribed in the Sanatan Kr...