DHYAN FOUNDATION

Yogi Ashwini, of Dhyan Ashrmam A Yogi becomes an author to change the mass mindset about Yoga A realised soul or Yogi does not have to be an author but under exceptional circumstances. Yogi Ashwini is one such author. A rare blend of the real and ethereal, of the modern and the ancient and a personification of Vedic knowledge, he has been driven to writing by the sheer concern over the popular myths about yoga. As he looks at it, popular interpretation and misunderstanding of the subject are bad enough. But he is even more pained at the exploitation– both commercial and sexual– in the name of Yoga and the other ancient spiritual sciences of India. That this is happening in the age of information makes it rather ironical. For example, you just have to type the word, “Tantra”, on the net to get scores of thousands of websites that link this great Indian system of knowledge to sex. In reality, it is the ultimate formula for liberation from the limiting five senses ...

Vedic rishis were masters of the physical and the spiritual, super beings who controlled prakriti and all its manifestations. The physical body comprising of five mahabhutas (elements) had been completely mastered by them. From the masters of the Vedic era to the present-day doctors of modern and alternative medicine, all are engaged in finding a solution to stop, or at least, slow down the body clock. Many, on realising that they are ageing, lose their mental balance. A lot accept it as the inevitable. Some get stressed and fearful, and it is these vulnerable people who fall prey to business-minded companies selling anti-ageing creams, tonics, rejuvenating serums, which at best camouflage symptoms, addressing just the periphery while the core goes unnoticed. With time, the core emerges revealing facts, but by then precious years have been lost and the damage is by then irreversible. It is normal to age...but for normal people. Ageing is a phenomenon of dulling of the senses...

There are people who, even after years of interacting with me and getting their experiences, ask me if I could teach them a new practice, a new mantra, a little more gyan or about Ashtang Yog. I wonder, what more can I teach them? Rather, what is there to teach? You are at point A, you have to go to point B, and the path from A to B was clearly laid down by Rishi Patanjali thousands of years ago. All that is needed is for you to walk that path… yama, niyama, asan, pranayam, pratyahaar, dharna, dhyan, samadhi… and you will our destination. Yoga does not call for standing on your head or breathing abnormally; neither does it involve complicated diets and rituals—it is simply integrating the principles of Ashtang Yog in your everyday life. Let us look at just the five yamas and niyamas: satya—to always speak the truth; asteya—not to steal; aparigraha—not to collect; ahimsa—non-violence; brahmacharya—celibacy; swacchh—cleanliness and personal hygiene; santosh—satisfaction with what you...

How is it that the rishis in the Himalayas can maintain their youth till their very last breath? I have personally met some of them; even at 85 and 90 years of age, they exude a glow and radiance that is rarely seen in ordinary men even at the age of 20. Yog is a subject of gyan . No matter how many books you read, unless you have gyan, you cannot move forward. Knowledge is for the brain and the five senses. Gyan, on the other hand, is the core of what you actually are, what you are living through and what you experience. Gyan is the experience that you live. Let us understand the two with an example. We ‘know’ that soul is immortal, and yet the greatest fear among all men, as mentioned in the Patanjali Yogsutras is the fear of death. This is because we do not have the gyan of soul. The fear of death is embedded in each and every cell of our body due to our past life impressions and thus it is very difficult to overcome it. The only way out lies in the Ayurvedic concept of ...