DHYAN FOUNDATION

We do not find in any book the Great Lord Shiv, who is also called 'Mahadeva', at any point letting go of his responsibilities towards Mata Shakti or his family. So what escapism are we talking about ? "

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the world is a family, are not mere words. Our culture—by ‘our’, I mean the universal culture of the world—did not discriminate on the basis of religion, birth, caste, social status or geography. The distinction was made between the civilised and uncivilised; in Vedic parlance, between surs and asurs respectively. Those who helped creation and lived for others were termed as surs and those who lived for themselves and did nothing for creation were called asurs. Consider this. Creation emerged from the thought of Brahma. Rishi Pulastya was born of Brahma, as was Rishi Marichi. Pulastya’s son Rishi Vishrava fathered Ravana. Marichi’s son Rishi Kashyap fathered Vivasvan (Sun God). From Vivasvan came Manu, the first human being of the 7th Manvantara, who gave birth to Ikshvaku from whom began the Ikshvaku dynasty, in whose line was born Lord Rama. Thus, Rama and Ravana were distant cousins. Rama annihilated Ravana because he trod on the path of adharma, guided ...

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...

The final phase of kaliyug will witness only pain, and the process has already begun. If you look around, you will see that everyone is unhappy and in pain. The source of pain may be a physical ailment, emotional problem, financial loss or relationship problem, but we are all looking for solutions. At Dhyan Ashram , we come across so many cases of people being fooled into buying weird products and practices to solve their life problems, only to land in bigger troubles. Recently someone wrote to me reporting that she had taken diksha of some strange vidya from a gentleman to gain success in her business but after receiving the vidya, the opposite happened — she suffered a major financial setback and is now looking for someone to teach her some other vidya to get her out of her present problems. Desperate times call for desperate measures and, in such times, we tend to lock our common sense in the cupboard. Think about it; how can someone who is himself dependent on the fee you pa...

Sometime in the ancient times was born a concept that God is somebody holding a thunderbolt in his hand which he will throw down at anyone; not anyone, really, but at your enemy. Lord Shiva, they say, has got bhoots, pesaaches, devis, devtas, suras, asuras, yakshas, rakshas, manavas, danavas and jeev-jantus at his beck and call. Ergo, everything in the universe is an aspect of God. There is no such thing as the devil personified or God personified; everything is part of the One. It is said that even when you harm someone who is bad, you are harming God himself because that person is also part of God. Since you are also a product of divine energy, in a way, you are harming your own self. When you kill someone or hurt an animal, you are harming yourself and that harm has been detailed in the law of karma; while inflicting pain your consciousness level may not be evolved enough to empathise with that pain at that point of time. With the passage of time, that karma ...