DHYAN FOUNDATION

I was fortunate to have managed to take an early morning dip at the Kumbh the last time it took place in Haridwar. A group of Italian journalists had come to cover the event and were staying at my hotel. They were excited to meet people who had achieved or were on the path of salvation. When the group returned to the hotel in the evening, I noticed that some of them had bandages on their heads, one had a swollen eye, another a plastered arm. I knew what had happened, but out of politeness, I asked them. One of them said, “A sadhu hit me. Why would he do that?” I inquired if he had met a specific kind of man and was told not to click his picture, but he still did. His reply was a yes.  I explained to him that real sadhus do not meet or talk about their experiences to people, least of all to journalists. It is only wannabes (people like me, at that time) who want to show off their half-baked knowledge or the ones who have no idea about yog but want to sell their disto...

Back in 1993, the spread of the mad cow disease took a toll of many across the globe. As a result, many stopped consuming beef products. However, not eating beef does not guarantee an escape from the disease and infection that comes with abusing the cow. Cattle by-products today find their way into almost everything around us. Gelatine  is made by treating the bones of a cow with acid and finds its way into gel capsules, food products such as jellybeans, marshmallows and instant gelatine; as a setting agent for ice-creams and cheesecakes; as a coat on tablets and even to bind photo film. Fat from the dead cow is used in making soap, toothpaste as well as automobile tyres and also in asphalt. Glycerin derived from cow fat is used in manufacturing cosmetics. In war time, it’s used in the explosive nitroglycerine. Its hooves and horns adorn our shirts as buttons and also make up the foam of fire extinguishers. Its blood goes into making plywood and fertilisers. Its hide becomes le...

Yogi Ashwini Being a yoga guru and having students from all walks of life and all over the world, it would seem like my life is very comfortable with an overflowing bank account. But to disappoint all the gurus in the making (who aim to have overflowing bank accounts by getting into the selling of yoga) and to scare those who are already doing it, I would like to highlight the reality. To embark on this beautiful journey called yog, you come in contact with various aspects of divinity and a one-to-one connection is developed with them. The siddhis detailed in Patanjali Ashtang Yog are accessed easily. Be it wealth, it is at your beck and call without having to sell any complicated asanas and kriyas. Even the opposite sex is drawn to you like bees to nectar. Even the manifestation of thoughts becomes so fast that you have to only think and the thought materializes. But, to disappoint you all, the situation at this point of time is like ‘water, water everywhere, but not a dro...

When we read ancient texts like the Puranas, we come across human beings with supernatural abilities and phenomenal strength. We hear of women with amazing beauty and radiance, which used to attract even the gods. When we compare these beings with today’s humans, they seem like unbelievable stories and myths. People call all this mythology, because it is not possible for the average mind in the present age to believe such facts to be true. If we carefully reflect on the lives and times of our grandfathers, we would see that they had stronger and healthier bodies than ours. Our grandmothers had beautiful skins even till the late years of their lives. Modern science now tells us that the human brain and body have shrunk over time. So if we project ourselves backwards, we would observe that the mythologies were realities and if we project ourselves forward the image that will emerge would be scary. What is the reason? Being a student of yoga, I am convinced that the answer lies in the f...

The sun rises every morning and sets every evening; water evaporates and comes back to us as rain. If you look at creation around you, everything to do with it is a cycle. Nothing is permanent and there is no such thing as destruction. Einstein retold us what the Vedas have been saying for thousands of years — that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it only changes form. Just because the day is over and the sun has set does not mean that the day will not come again. The darkest of nights leads to the brightest of days. Creation consists of opposites, to make a whole. When these opposites diverge it is called destruction and when they converge it is called birth.  The night of Shivratri is a night of birth. It is a night of merger, a night of creation, a night of manifestation and a night of thought fulfillment. The word shiva consists of shav, which is a dead body and i, which is shakti — the force which runs creation. This force needs a vehicle or a body to manife...

Nature has its way of preserving balance in Creation. For every aspect, there exists an equal and opposite one. Darkness is nothing but the absence of light. Silence is nothing but the absence of sound. It is only the duality in nature, the coexistence of positive and negative that gives meaning to the existence of the whole. What if at any given time, there exists simultaneously the entire positive and negative? Then the two will balance each other out completely, the net result being shunya or zero. So, there would be everything yet nothing. The only form that could fit such a description is the formless—Nirakaar, Para Brahma. This is the swaroop of Lord Shiv. In the words of Adi Shankaracharya, ‘Na Punyam Na Paapam Na Saukhyam Na Dukham, Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham.’ What then is the dancing male form, the form of half-man and half-woman, or the sadhu clad in a loincloth with his body smeared in bhasma? Are Natraj, Ardhnareshwar and Neelkanth myths? Let us dwell up...