DHYAN FOUNDATION

The day after holi: pink, green and blue faces, rashes everywhere, body aches, cold, cough and pains occurs - thanks to catching a chill in the wet clothes or an allergic reaction to the using chemical-laced colours and other numbers of particulates that float in during holi air. To keep away harsh chemicals dampening your spirits, all you have to do is to perform simple yogic techniques and raid your kitchen, kitchen garden or your granny’s spice rack to celebrate Holi naturally & organically. The best part, at the end of all the merriment your skin will glow. Yogic Techniques  1. JAL NETI:  (Nasal cleansing) Take 500ml bearably warm water in a neti pot, add ½ tsp black/rock salt and a pinch of turmeric. Stand evenly and bending slightly forward tilt the head at a 45degrees angle towards left. Insert the nozzle of the pot into the right nostril. While breathing normally from the mouth, tilt the pot so that the water runs into the right nostril and flo...

This is our body and all around us is the environment. This is our body and all around us is the environment. This body is also a part of the environment because everything is made of the five elements—earth, water, fire, air and ether. Actually, the body is made up of 24 tatvas.  The element that is most relevant to this discussion is ‘I’—asmita, aham, ahankar or ego. That is the most important tatva. It is also the first one to get contaminated. In order to contaminate the air in you, a few breaths of polluted air have to be inhaled. But not even a breath is required to contaminate the ego. It happens in an instant.  If you tell a beautiful girl that she is ugly, immediately she believes that she is ugly. After that even if 100 people tell her that she is pretty, she will continue to think she is ugly. The first thing to get contaminated is the ego and that is also the biggest test of a sadhak. The person whose ego is not affected by anything, no matter what ...

The Devs and Danavs are real and can be accessed through this body by doing sadhna under sanidhya of a Guru. A clear indication of whether you are moving deeper into the science or into dilutions is your experience.   Every moment in the life of a sadhak is a havan, an ahuti (sacrifice) made to the Devs — be it the act of eating food, sexual gratification, travel and leisure or even sadhna… even a sadhna has to be sacrificed after a stage. All these aspects are aspects of the physical — that which is temporary and unreal — it does not exist. The moment a sadhak associates himself with a physical aspect and tries to hold on to it, it is called a dilution in yog. On the other hand, if the sadhak makes an offering to the Devs with every physical aspect, it paves the way to evolution. The Devs and Danavs are real and can be accessed through this body by doing sadhna under sanidhya of a Guru. The subtler the energy, the more purity is called for in the sadhna to attain i...

Karmas are the unifying factor in all religions. It is a law, not a theory. Even modern science accepts that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. What you give comes backs to you manifold. Whatever you are desiring, start giving it back to creation. If you distribute food, there will never be a shortfall of food in your house. If you distribute money, you will always have enough. If you teach, there will be no dearth of gyan for you. A Dhyan Foundation volunteer feeding monkeys. #HelpAMonkey Karma is the fuel that propels you on the journey of the spirit. If you do not have the karmas, you cannot move on the path and even if you have karmas, without the focus on guru, you will not know which direction to move in and end up spending the fuel moving in various directions. Both become essential to make the journey beyond. Remember nothing is constant in creation, you either move up or go down, you can never be stationary. Presently we are living on earth, but if an...

Our entire life is linked to two energies – that of the sun (surya) and of the moon (chandra). Surya is the devta of gyan. Its shakti is Gayatri ji, the source of all other shaktis in Creation. Sanatan Kriya details the Surya sadhna, through which one experiences the energy of the sun and its true character is revealed to the practitioner. For general understanding, it is enough to know that the sun is closely linked to our lives. The importance of sun can be gauged to an extent from the role it plays in the physical creation – plants use sunlight to make food and in turn provide nourishment to all beings on earth, the water cycle, the winds, the ocean currents all are regulated by the heating effect of the sun, the planets are held in their respective orbits because of the attraction of the sun, it is sun that brings the change in day and season. Having studied the sun for many years now, I can say with certainty that Surya sadhna is a highly potent practice, which if perf...

“A thought to aid Creation”, that’s how Yogi Ashwini of Dhyan Ashram, defines the not-for-profit organisation that brings together service-minded individuals, groups and organisations willing to help others across domains. Members of team DF, who come together with no membership or registration, contribute in cash, kind or service to the cause as per individual capacity without any remuneration and any form hierarchy. “Everyone’s a volunteer as we never believe in building assets. All that comes for charity, 100 per cent, is directed towards the cause,” Team DF elaborates. #WarmthForAll | Blanket distribution drive Insisting on karma or immediate action, this NGO believes that helping one another is equivalent to helping oneself. “Be it giving a blanket to a man sitting outside the house in cold or feeding a dog dying of hunger 2,000 miles away, the entire energy of Dhyan Foundation is focussed on action – no tall claims, no selling or advertising, no name or fame, ju...

The Paanch Maha Prana are the etheric forces, which combine together in a human form to provide basic life force to a human body. Prana vayu is the upward rising force in the region between the diaphragm and the shoulders. Salutations are paid to this by touching the tips of the middle finger and the ring finger to the tip of the thumb. This is called prana vayu mudra. Apana vayu is the downward moving force, from the navel towards the pelvis. Salutations are paid to this by touching the tips of the ring and little finger to the tip of your thumb. This is the apana vayu mudra. Samaan vayu is the balancing force between prana vayu and apana vayu. It is the outward and sideways moving force in the region between the diaphragm and the navel. Salutations are paid to this by touching the tips of index and middle finger to the tip of your thumb. This is called the samana vayu mudra. Udana vayu rises upwards from the pit of the throat. Salutations are paid to this by t...

Have you wondered why we like being with some people and why we want to stay away from some? The reason is simple, anyone who is calm and at peace, or shant creates a serenity around and people feel good in such a person’s company and those who are disturbed, stressed, anxious or ashant create the same disturbance around them thereby giving signals to people to stay away. The difference is the difference in positive and negative vibrations. The frequency of the waves that a person radiates directly affect his immediate environment, and the Creation at large and as an equal and opposite reaction the state of the person also gets affected by his/her immediate environment. Thus, a person who is troubled, stressed, anxious would spread disturbances into his surroundings, and as its effect, he would, in turn, get more and more disturbed; a vicious circle… and all this would have a chaotic and cumulative effect on the whole environment. The above clearly tells us as to why the p...

#HappyNewYear…What’s New? Ever wondered? You have been here before – in a similar body, among similar people, with similar desires, goals and aspirations and the same set of five problems (which were discussed in a previous article). The change is that your body is weaker, relationships more temporary, jobs less satisfying, the surroundings more polluted, the tastes and pleasures grosser than before. And this change too is not new, the trend has been with every birth and in the present birth, with every passing year, month, day and hour… The Garbha Upanishad, which is a treatise on conception and birth of a child as documented by Sage Pippalada, details the continuity of life and how the fetus in the ninth month of pregnancy remembers its previous births and lives and makes a promise that this birth will be different. But the moment it comes in contact with the outside world, it forgets its promise. This happens, every time the soul takes a body…it is this forgotten ...

The word Shiv 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 manifest into, so shav becomes Shiv and a child is born. The night of Shivratri has the power to give birth to your thoughts. It is a night of birth, a night of merger; a night of creation, a night of manifestation and a night of thought fulfilment and the one who can give you this experience of Shiv is your Guru. Being born in the land of Bharat, I have grown up hearing stories of Shiv and Shakti; I was told that Shivratri is a night of marriage of Shiv to Shakti, an auspicious and potent night. I would see elders in the family keeping a fast, making offerings, singing prayers to Shivji…for me Shivratri meant a holiday from school. I could not see the sense in celebrating an event that occurred centuries and maybe millennia ago. For me, Shiv and Shakti were protagonists of a puranic story, I was ob...

Most people will say yes to that. Desires leave us tangled in the world outside and disturbed in the world inside. The ancient sages gave us a technique to free ourselves from desires. Try it and feel the difference, says Yogi Ashwini of Dhyan Ashram. At any point in time, any one of your senses is always at work, all the time running after objects of desire. The doorways to these desires in the human body are our sense organs. Shanmukhi Mudra is the technique to shut these doors to Maya to be able to experience the real world, which lies within. Sit in Siddha Asana, keeping your back absolutely straight. Now, slowly raise your hands towards the face, keeping the elbows at shoulder level. Put the thumbs inside the ear holes, blocking any external sound. Then, close your eyes and gently press your eyelids with the index finger. Ensure that no light enters. Then, slowly press the nasal passage with tip of your middle finger. Keep the pressure soft and release the pressure o...

In every Indian household, there is one deity which holds the most prominent place on the pedestal, without paying reverence to whom, no puja, ritual, auspicious work can even begin. It is Lord Ganesh. According to the puranic legends, Mother Parvati found a young boy, in the absence of Lord Shiva, in the sweat of her body while bathing, and gave him the responsibility of guarding the entrance of her abode, forbidding anyone from entering the place. On returning Lord Shiva was denied entry to the place by this boy, for whom mother's word was foremost. The story goes on to say how Lord Shiva beheads the boy with his famous trishul, pinaka for this misdemeanour but on the insistence of Mother Parvati brings Him back to life for He had committed no crime but only obeyed His mother. Only an elephant head is restored in place of a human head. The story from puranas, through symbolism, allegories and depictions convey a larger message than entertainment. The uninitiated shoul...

All those who try to quit smoking experience at least one or more of these symptoms: cravings to smoke, difficulty concentrating, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, anxiety, cognitive impairment, increased appetite and, eventually, weight gain. So much so that it becomes a constant struggle to overcome this addiction. Many times, people shift their addiction from one substance to another. A tried and tested way to reduce all these symptoms is to practice Sanatan Kriya. The habitual use of tobacco in any form constricts the arteries to such an extent that the blood flow gets affected. To unclog the arteries, you need to ensure that the prana (life force) is appropriately distributed in your body. For this, you need to learn yogic breathing. So, first sit in vajrasana. As you inhale, you fill your breath in the abdominal region, move it to your thoracic and then to your clavicular region. Your exhalation takes place first from your clavicular, the thoracic and then ...

Environmentalists across the world have been expressing concern over global warming, soil erosion, oil spills, deforestation, hole in the ozone, depleting groundwater reserves, endangered species etc. While there have been campaigns to check pollution of air, water and earth, many environmentalists have ignored the pollution of space. Space or ether is contaminated by thoughts. Just like air, water, earth and fire need space to come into contact and form physical objects, in the same way, the thoughts are the breeding ground for other contaminants to foster and cause pollution. In fact, any phenomenon manifests first in thought and later indeed. The atom bomb was first a thought that later translated into the destruction of mankind. In this sense, if we check pollution at the level of thoughts, the need for conservation will never arise. Our physical body, too, is the five elements. Thus, the root cause of all bodily ills, too, is just a thought. Every time a thought is...

‘Don’t waste pearls before swines’ traces its origin back to the gyan of Geeta. Yog is a practice which requires a very strict discipline and a Guru. If either is missing, there can be no Yog. Let me explain why. The Gyan should not be wasted in front of people who don’t value it. It should not be imparted to those who come to listen to the discourse with the sole purpose of defying it or arguing about it or showing disrespect. These people are not searching, they are only looking to prove to the world how great they are and much they know, they are ruled by their egos. A lot of energy is lost in initiating a person on the path of Sadhna by way of shaktipath and if this energy is channelised towards initiating the disinterested or people who are bound to leave it in between, then this energy gets wasted. Today it is surprising to see how people go about introducing the Yogic practices without proper instructions and without analysing the individual’s capacity. Through t...

The body and the soul Recently, I received a mail from a lady who lost her young son in an accident. When she went to adopt another child, she felt as if her son came to her and told her, “Why do you need somebody else when I am already there?” At times, when she gets up at night, she feels as if her son is sleeping next to her. Friends and people around say that it is psychological and caused by the trauma and pain of losing her child, that it is in her mind. Even the psychologists say so. But no, it is not in the mind. Another one of my readers recently died of a heart attack, all of a sudden. His family wrote to me saying that they can feel him in the house. They feel he is crying and asking for food. They asked me if it was their mind playing tricks on them. Again, it is not the mind. If you think it is the mind, then you can try this experiment. Just think of somebody you do not know and who has gone and try to develop closeness with that person and try getti...

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