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 ...

"While it’s true that you cannot change the events of your life as you are bound by prarabdha (collection of past karmas), it is possible to change the experiences or the outcome of those events. It is difficult to understand this intellectually, but it is true. You cannot escape the result of karma in the form of pleasure or pain, whatever it might be, until the grace of Guru falls upon you. Guru is the only one who can make you overcome the result of karma."

Navratri is time when one sees long queues of people outside temples waiting for their turn to make their request before God. Whenever we pray, we ask for pleasure, how many of us ask for pain? Pleasure and pain go hand in hand. Every pleasure comes with a pain and pain comes with pleasure. Usually we only indulge in pleasure, because of which pain is forced upon us in the form of disease and financial and relationship troubles. Earlier generations understood this dynamic and therefore used to inflict pain upon themselves to compensate for the pleasures they had indulged in. This pain usually comes in the form of service, charity and tapa. So, what is tapa? It is one of the five niyamas prescribed in Ashthang Yoga , where you heat the body by giving it pain. A basic purification, it is a means to throw out your negative karmas and expedite evolution. Fasting or upavaas done during the nine days of Navratri is a form of tapa. Do remember bhoga is a never-ending process; there is...

Yogi Ashwini Spirituality, as the word suggests, is a dimension which dwells into the world of the spirit, or in simpler words, the etheric world. As per Sanatan Kriya, there exists not just our physical body, but beyond it, various bodies which are composed of a force or energy which is not solid but which exists as a subtle force made up of various colour combinations. These bodies interpenetrate the physical body and could be called the “Ether”. The study of this force in its various layers, aspects and dimensions is what spirituality is. A major myth about spirituality is that it is actually a part of a religion. Religion is a code of conduct prescribed by certain highly evolved souls who had taken birth in the physical world at a time when they were needed for the benefit of the mankind. A particular group of people following a specific religion is actually following a way of life or a code of conduct and certain practices for their upliftment. No religion can be judged ...

Yogi Ashwini Mudras, a set of certain posture combinations, are practiced to channelise a particular force to a specific area of the body. By way of certain permutations and combinations, they have an effect on both the physical and the etheric layers of a being. In a healthy body, the five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether) are in a state of equilibrium. Any imbalance in these causes disease in the body. Such imbalances can be corrected simply by using our fingertips. The thumb represents fire element, the index finger represents air, middle finger, space or ether, ring finger, water and the little finger, earth. Thus, forming a particular mudra using your fingers will help control, guide and balance the flow of prana in your body. Any finger, when touched with the tip of the thumb, increases that element in the body, and touching a fingertip with the base of the thumb decreases that element. A mudra is a combination of different forces — it has the ability to c...

Yogi Ashwini The principles of yoga were laid some millions of years ago. While everything in the world meets destruction and gets lost in oblivion, this ancient system has survived eons as this was very carefully passed on from the Guru to the shishya. So perfect is the science of yog that there is not a single asana which strains the 5th and the 6th vertebrae that under strain cause spinal injuries. On the contrary, injuries to the spine can successfully be cured by correct practices of yoga. Patanjali describes asana as ‘sukham sthiram asanam’, that is, a posture in which you are comfortable and still. Stillness and slowing down is the key to longevity. Modern fitness mantras lay a great emphasis on increasing body metabolism causing faster wear and tear of cells. Asanas do just the opposite , they lower down body’s metabolic rate and increase the strength and vitality of the body. Breath is a very important part of an asana and has to be regulated during holding of a po...

Soul is a unique pranic frequency. In unmanifested form it exists as the part of Para Brahma just as salt exists in ocean. Only when it desires a certain experience or a set of experiences, it chooses to go through the cycle of karmas or birth and death. The basic reason of the soul separating from the source is ego, or recognising one’s existence as an individual. The ancients called it “asmita”, “I”. This was the first step we took when we separated ourselves from the Divine Consciousness which is sukshma-iti-sukshma, subtlest of the subtle, the unmanifested. Ego led the soul to realise that it is an individual and so came into existence the jeev-atma. Chitta is all-pervading, which resides in each one of us as buddhi. Buddhi is unlimited mind, it is the ability in us that has the potential to become unlimited. However, it remains shadowed by manas the sheath, which blurs its vision, which provides logic to the mind and fetters it with the vrittis. Together, buddhi and manas fo...

YOGI ASHWINI Om poornamidah poornamidam poornaata poornam uddachhyate Poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaava shishyate Om. The above sloka implies that infinity plus infinity is infinity, infinity minus infinity is infinity, infinity multiplied by infinity is infinity and infinity divided by infinity is also infinity. The brahmand is a complete whole. Everything has emerged from it and will go back to it. It has no boundaries; it is infinite. Our body is a poorna ansh (complete aspect) of creation. Like everything else in creation, our body too is run on the principle of balance and imbalance. When you are in a state of balance, you exude health, beauty, glow and radiance. You possess the magnetism and attraction of entire creation. However, whenever there is imbalance, disease and ageing set in. These days most schools that are teaching yog follow a piecemeal approach. You will find men claiming to be ‘yoga instructors’ selling exercises to sharpen eyes, abnormal breathing s...

YOGI ASHWINI. Isn’t it amazing to see that even teenagers today are suffering from premature graying and resorting to lacing their bodies with chemical-based cosmetics in a bid to make their face glow and hair shine? On the other hand, our rishis of yore not only had a great physique but also had glowing complexions, shiny mane and a healthy body till the very end; they did not age. What was it that they did, that was so different? Had they found the fountain of youth? In truth they simply understood the principles that govern the creation. The good news is that they have left this reservoir of gyan on anti-ageing in the form of yogic techniques like the Sanatan Kriya, the practice of which brings a being in harmony with nature. To understand the process of ageing, we must start from the cell. The body (during its inception) for the first half-an-hour is just one cell; so actually all of us in those 30 minutes are just one cell and then that one cell multiplies forming the whole body. ...

Agni, fire, is the first word of the Rig Veda. According to ayurveda, the various agnis in the body are at constant work, burning body fuel and along with it the body’s resources. For example, in the process of converting food into energy, the internal chemical processes affect the body’s internal organs. The heavier the food, the more the resources required to burn it and convert it into energy, and the more the body ages. In a similar way, fast breathing, sexual acts, anger, attachment, greed, violence, sorrow and various kinds of indulgences lead to intense processing of thoughts, which utilise the body’s resources and engage the various agnis resulting in ageing. So, is there a way to make these agnis shaant, to calm these “fires”, slowing down ageing, regaining balance and  tuning oneself to the subtler frequencies? The answer lies in performing Vedic havans, which are done on a large scale at Dhyan Ashram. Fire is an element that can never be polluted. In fact, ...

"Creation has emerged from stillness. The ultimate purpose of  yoga  is to gather that stillness because it holds Creation in it," says Yogi Ashwini, founder of the Dhyan Foundation. The yogi, who advocates yoga 'in its truest, purest form', was in  Bangalore  recently to conduct a 'dhyan' workshop. He spoke to Prithvi Manjeshwar. Excerpts from the interview... What is the significance of being in a 'still' body state while practising yoga? The stillness is the state of shunya (zero), which is neither negative nor positive. Zero comes from the Rig Veda. It is where Creation has taken place — everything is inside it yet it signifies nothing. Once you attain the state of zero, you are everywhere. What about New Age yoga? Yoga has come to us from the great rishis who documented it almost 5,000 years back. Today, everything is commercialized. Our brain functions only at 5-7% of its capacity, which is enough for us to enjoy the pleasures of the five sens...

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