DHYAN FOUNDATION

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...

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 ...

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...

Guru, a four-lettered word, has the phenomenal potential of taking you beyond; not beyond the pains and miseries of life, but beyond yourself. In other words, beyond what you know yourself as, opening the doors to the higher worlds and taking you through experiences which turn you from a normal being to a super being. A guru-shishya relationship is beyond the ambit of maya or a commercial transaction. Guru does not charge a material fee for what he gives you, for it is said that material is maya and it binds you to the physical and someone who himself is bound with the physical cannot take you beyond. In Vedic philosophy, the highest place and regard is given to the energy called Guru. Guru’s shakti (force) is not limited, as the energy is anant (endless) and akhand (expansive). The first Guru, or Adi Guru, is Lord Ardhanarishwar, Lord Shiva Himself. He is the energy responsible for the dissolution and transformation of all forms of existence. Souls who have complet...

You talk of mind pollution. What is it and how can it be removed? To understand pollution, you must first understand nature. In nature, whatever flows remains healthy and whatever stagnate leads to disease. Stagnation would lead to pollution, which is the first stage of a disease. So, stagnation of wealth, thoughts or that of the body would definitely result in disease. The disease could manifest in any part of the atmosphere as air, soil and water pollution. In the body, it may manifest in the form of diseases like cancer, which are a manifestation of emotional pollution. The simple solution for this in Sanatan Kriya is that you let yourself flow: help others, feed others, defend the weak, become the strength of the disturbed. In so doing, your resources, whether mental or physical, shall flow and keep you and your atmosphere healthy. Don’t allow any stagnation in your bodies or banks; and hence, no pollution will be there, neither mental nor manifested (physical). Yogi Ash...

We must not forget that we are all linked to each other through the five elements, through collective consciousness and through oneness of the divine. A clip from Yogiji's old interview on what is a human being? Why are we born? I get emails from people all across the world asking the reason for birth. One common denominator in all these emails is that everybody is in pain and are looking for that something more. Primarily there are two purposes to birth and they have not changed since creation began. First is to go through the experience. Experiences were created in the form of a physical body the physical creation and soul was sent to get that experience. Second is to go back to where you started from because with every new life, your experiences are getting grosser. As times progress, the experiences will get worse and the pain will increase. Only when we choose to go back and look for a guru will the pain begin to reduce. We must not forget that we are...

Pause a moment to think, what is it that brought you to this world.  All of us at some point were just a sperm competing with the millions that are produced daily in the human body. The reason why we were born is because we pushed and knocked off the rest of them to come first in the race. This is our basic nature, the reason why we are here - ‘me first’ or simply, selfishness. It is this selfishness that defines everything that we do, including our relationship with people. This is the reason why human relationships do not work out. The reason why you are with someone – be it your friends, parents or spouse is because you want something from them. You are with them only till the time you are getting that from them. As soon as that stops, you will not even look at them. You can try it sometime. The deepest and fondest of relationships come to an end as soon as that give and take is over, and all that remains is grief of what you have lost, what you could have got. Y...

The ever-powerful goddess’s presence can be traced across the globe in numerous religions, myths and texts. As per modern historians and geologists, the world as we know today was one big landmass called the ‘Pangea’ many thousand years ago. If one reads the creation story in various cultures, they talk about a flood and a saviour. So then, does it mean that all of us—geographies and cultures irrespective—have common roots, a common origin, and are governed by the same energy? As per Vedic philosophy, there are three aspects of Creation: creation, preservation and transformation, and to run these functions the Divine energy assumes the triple form of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, with the propelling forces Saraswati, Lakshmi and Durga respectively. Interestingly, these pieces of evidence are not limited to the Indian subcontinent but can be found all across the globe. In this article, we will trace the presence of Durga or Adi Shakti cross the world map. Another name f...

In the pyramid of evolution, there is plenty of space at the base but only a needlepoint space at the top. Only a few are entitled to reach the top. This entitlement is not decided by one’s looks or wealth or influence in the society, it is the result of the grace of guru which is earned by one’s karmas and one-pointed focus. This journey to the top of the pyramid is extremely easy and yet most difficult. Easy, because the guru shows you the door and also the path to the door, all you need to do is walk. Difficult because there is only space for a few, so there are energies at play that try to make the sadhaka take a turn. And these energies work at various levels and intensities. At a basic level, they manifest a desire for the sadhaka. A fraction of sadhakas are able to understand the temporariness of the pleasure and are able to keep themselves focused on the finality or the permanent, in the midst of all the pleasures. At the next level, sadhaka is endowed with ...

Do you want to achieve the finality or supreme reality? If yes, then read on.  Let's do a small experiment. Go to a field or any open space. Mark any one spot as A, which is your start point. A kilometre away from it mark a point B, the destination you want to reach. Now start walking from A to B keeping your mind free of thoughts. The minute you get a thought take a turn. Every thought, a turn. Write to me how long it took for you to travel the distance. Yoga is the journey from A to B. A, is where you are, B is the finality. Guru is someone, who has already walked that path and has the experience of finality. So he is able to show you the path. But to walk it or to take turns or stop, is the choice of the sadhak. Traits of a Guru by Yogi Ashwini The key to success is the path of least resistance. The various desires, thoughts, sceneries, people and pleasures that one intercepts on the path, act as resistances, that prevent the sadhak from moving ahead. This i...

Fulfilment of desires is not evolution. It is sadhana which involves changes within and leads to ultimate freedom. Ayurveda says that the body is composed of three doshas—Vat, Pitt and Kapha. The term ‘dosha’ translates as a defect or an impurity. That is, the body is inherently impure. There is no such thing as negative or positive because everything around that is physical, is bound by time. It is bound to end, and the time for it to end is decided the moment you get it, irrespective of whether that thing is good or bad.  The biggest pain is not in losing something but in getting something which is dear to you. The dearer a thing is to you, the more expensive it proves to be, as that much more pain it will cause to you when it leaves you. The day you get something, that day itself the pain that comes with it is also decided. Similarly the day you take the body, the doshas that come along with it are also determined because the meaning of the body is that which is...

Creation is cyclical in nature. There is an upward curve followed by a downward curve. We are presently on the downward curve of creation, the peak of Kalyug. If you look around, everything is on a decline or fast deteriorating. Let us take the health of humans as an example, if you compare your body and level of activity to that of your grandparents when they were your age, you would find, they had fitter and stronger bodies and were able to too much more work than yourself. Then if you go back a few hundred years and compare their bodies to those of their forefathers, a similar trend would be observed. In fact, there is a modern research which confirms that the brain size of humans is shrinking with time. Dog shelters by Dhyan Foundation Not just health, the quality of food, air, water and environment are all on a downturn. Forests are fast disappearing, foods are laden with toxins, water is contaminated, air is unbreathable, wildlife is thinning out. In general, ne...

A yogi never falls ill, he never faces abhaav of anything, he does not have any kasht. The biggest pain is not in losing something but in getting something which is dear to you. As per Ayurveda, the body is made of three doshas. “Dosha” translates as a defect or an impurity. That is, the body itself is impure. There is no negative or positive because everything around you, everything physical, is bound by time. It is bound to end, and the time for it to end is decided the moment you get it, irrespective of whether that thing is good or bad. The biggest pain is not in losing something but in getting something which is dear to you. The dearer a thing is to you, the more expensive it proves to be, as that much more pain it will cause to you. The day you get something, that day itself the pain that comes with it is also decided. Similarly, the day you take the body, the doshas that come along with it are also determined because the meaning of body is that which is doosh...

There are so many things in our lives. We prioritise various things/aspects as per their relative importance. Whatever you give first preference in life, gives you first preference in return. For example, while with a group of friends, you bump into an old childhood friend and instead of greeting you first, he decides to greet the rest of the group. How would you feel? Will you still give preference to that person? No, he will no longer be your priority; instead, you will wait for the time when you can do the same to him. This holds true for everything, including the subject of yog. There are some students who stay up all night, a day before the exam to prepare for it and there are those who start months before. In fact, at times, they cut down on their television, outings, etc, and immerse themselves in studies... and it shows in their results.   Yog is the ultimate subject, there is nothing beyond it. It is the subject that will eventually not just te...

While environmental solutions may not happen quickly, here are a few asanas suggested by Yogi Ashwini to help you through. Delhi went breathless recently with increased pollution levels. Blame it on fireworks, automobiles or industries, the smog can take a toll on your body especially the lungs, opening gates for a plethora of ailments. Here’re 3 techniques from Sanatan Kriya to keep your lungs strong, and your system humming and free from toxins. Nadi Shodhnam Pranayama It is a fairly simple breathing exercise that can be done anytime, anywhere. Sit in vajra asana (sitting on the heels with legs folded). You can do it even while sitting straight on a chair. Place the middle finger of the right hand at the center of the eyebrows. The thumb rests on the right nose while the ring finger is used to control the left. The left-hand rests on the thigh. Keeping your eyes shut, inhale from the right nostril, and exhale from the left. Next, inhale from the left nost...

Lord Vishnu, the energy responsible for running creation, ensures that one is amply warned and reminded of his/her karma at various stages. Creation, and life, as a part of creation, is governed by karmas. Karmas decide what you are and where you are headed. Life runs in a spiral, the physical life is a downward moving spiral and spiritual life is an upward spiral. Physical life pertains to the gratification of five senses — a life of selfishness. Such a life paves way to entry to lower dimensions and lower levels of existence and more painful births. Spiritual life starts when one can feel the pain of others and works to reduce that pain — a move towards selflessness. Under the influence of maya, the glue that binds us to the physical, one forgets the path of karma and is driven into the whirlpool of destruction by living for just self. Lord Vishnu, the energy responsible for running creation, ensures that one is amply warned and reminded of his/her karma at variou...