Art of Living

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History of Meditation 

Meditation is an ancient practice that has been used for thousands of years in many cultures and spiritual traditions. It is a practice of focusing the mind on a particular object or thought in order to achieve a state of mental clarity and inner peace. The history of meditation can be traced back to ancient India, where it was practiced as a way to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Throughout the centuries, meditation has been practiced in various forms and its popularity has waxed and waned. It has been used as a tool for healing, spiritual development, and even as a way to deal with stress and anxiety. In modern times, meditation has become increasingly popular as a way to cope with the stresses of modern life. Many people practice meditation as a way to relax and reduce stress, improve their mental clarity, and focus on their spiritual growth.

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The Benefits of Practicing Loving Kindness Meditation

Loving kindness meditation is an ancient practice that encourages compassion, kindness, and acceptance of yourself and others. It is a form of meditation that focuses on cultivating feelings of love and goodwill towards oneself and others. It is based on Buddhist teachings which emphasize the importance of cultivating loving-kindness and compassion in our lives. The practice of loving kindness meditation involves repeating phrases of kindness and compassion to oneself and then extending those same feelings to others. The phrases are usually short and simple, such as “May I be happy, may I be healthy, may I be safe, may I be at ease”. As you repeat these phrases, you focus on the feelings of kindness and compassion that they evoke within you. The practice of loving kindness meditation can help to increase feelings of self-love and acceptance, improve relationships, and even reduce stress and anxiety. It can also help to cultivate feelings of compassion and connection with others.

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Celebrate Navratri 2018 Festival

Navratri is the festival celebrated in most places across India to worship nine different forms of Goddess Durga. Navratri is celebrated signifying the victory of good over evil.

Navratri is endowed with a lot of significance in terms of religious, spiritual, intellectual, social, cultural and national dimensions. During navratri, many devotess fast to seek the Goddess Durga maa's blessings. The nine forms of Goddess Shakti are worshipped on the nine different days. They are,

Day 1 - Maa Shailputri Day 2 - Brahmaachaareenee   Day 3 - Chandraghanta Day 4 - Kushmaanda Day 5 - Skandmaata Day 6 - Kaatyaayeenee Day 7 - Kaalraatree Day 8 - Mahagauri Day 9 - Sidhidaatree

Read more about Significance of Navratri celebration.

Image Source : Google

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How does Yoga helps your mind?

Explore the power of yoga. Even though the yoga exercises are simple to perform but they have deep effect on our physical and subtle body.

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Yoga: Way of Life

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, “Yoga is not just exercise and asanas. It is the emotional integration and spiritual elevation with a touch of mystic element, which gives you a glimpse of something beyond all imagination.” Experience distinct combination of Yoga and pranayama. Explore a lot of topics on yoga. Know what is yoga, history, scriptures and types of yoga.

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In Ayurveda, there are mainly three types of ayurvedic body types —Vata, Pitta & Kapha.

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10 Steps To Happiness | How to be Happy

1 Reduce Your Needs & Increase Your Responsibilities If you sit and make a note of all your responsibilities and all your needs.

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Shiva is one of the three Gods of the Hindu trinity, who represent Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. Shiva is the destroyer. Not only the destroyer of creation when the time comes, but also the destroyer of ignorance and the destroyer of misery. 

In the Vedas, shiva is an aspect of the god Rudra, not a separate god. However, a joint form Rudra-Shiva appears in early household rites, making Shiva one of the most ancient Hindu gods still worshipped today. By the 2nd century BCE, Rudra's significance began to wane and Shiva rose in popularity as a separate identity. 

Mahashivaratri is a time to celebrate the Shiva Tattva.

Join the celebrations with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on this auspicious Mahashivratri on 13 Feb 2018.  

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Managing Difficult People at Office

1. Prepare yourself for the battle. Take a few minutes to remember that it is not your problem personally but it is a personnel problem. Handling office relationships properly is part of management's job. Avoid having a defensive mindset when dealing with difficult people at work which will be…

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Happiness all around

The road to truly love yourself has been challenging, and will always continue in some way. Once you have accepted who you are, you can find what is most meaningful and important in your life. Stick to what you know is working. Empower yourself and determine your path to happiness. Don’t leave this to another person. No one can make you happy. Only you can.

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Sense of Service for Betterment

The talk below is by the humanitarian leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who works across the world to bring about the spiritual awareness and strives to bring about the world peace.

One of the key aspects of Indian spirituality is the serviceor Sevice component of it. Sevice and spiritual practices go together. When a young person engages himself or herself in service, he or she is turning spiritual. The deeper one goes in spirituality; his or her urge to share increases. Youth have the required energy to service the urge. When one makes service the sole purpose in life, it eliminates fear, brings focus in the mind, purposefulness in action, and long-term joy. The service aspect of spirituality needs to be harnessed to alleviate fear and depression that bog down our youth. Sevice always brings energy and enthusiasm. It’s the most effective antidote to depression.

Another youthful and vibrant aspect of Indian spirituality is the quest for knowledge. The spiritual journey always begins with a desire to know and youth have a spirit of enquiry that manifests as questioning everything.  Spirituality is also about love and beauty.  Have you ever meet any youth not interested in love and beauty?

Anything that enhances the spirit in us is spirituality. Spirit signifies joy, enthusiasm, peace, happiness, compassion, and beauty. All that the spirit signifies is also very close to the heart of youths of today.

Spirituality is not just sitting and doing some yogic practice; spirituality is a value system – a way of life that is exciting and enriching! True spirituality is an experiential understanding of the mind and spirit; it is an understanding of life, and presents useful and practical solutions to most of the challenges faced by youth today.

Youth these days complain of lack of concentration. When does one need to concentrate? One requires concentration for something that he or she doesn’t like! If one loves everything he or she does, there the problem of lapse in concentration will never arise. Spirituality trains the mind to love everything and turn all endeavors into a joyful process of exploration and expression.

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Yoga Vasistha

 yoga Vasishta is the pioneering Vedantic wisdom on the nature of existence and reality and veritably the forerunner of the Bhagavad Gita in its convergence of the paths of jnana and karma. This precious knowledge was imparted to Prince Rama at a moment of confusion and crisis when the young prince was beginning to feel a surge of vairagya at a tender age.

While extolling the vairagya state, Vasishta initiates Rama into the deeper aspects of existence especially the nature of the mind. He makes a metaphorical comparison of peace, discrimination, contentment and company of sages, to the four sentinels guarding the gate of moksha. Vasishta advises Rama that the world of phenomena is nothing but a jugglery of the Mind. It can be discerned only through self-introspection. The mind engrossed in its own nature forgets the Eternal Spirit and must return again to this world, never attaining spiritual felicity. As a sadhak, one needs to cultivate the aforementioned four traits to prevent the mind from getting distracted

In one of his many anecdotes, Sage Vasishta narrates how Sukracharya in meditation got distracted by a celestial nymph, and slipped into a reverie that led him to attachments, a series of births, till he was rescued from the twilight state and shown his true nature as the meditating Sukra. Through an elaborate understanding of the mind as the seat of illusion, Sage Vasishta exhorts Rama to adopt the path of karma, dissuading him from renunciation.

Equally, an honest man dwells amongst thieves only so long as he does not know them as such. No sooner does he come to know them than he is sure to shun their company and flee from the spot. So too the mind dwells amongst unreal dualities as long as it is ignorant of the transcendent One. But when it becomes aware of True Unity, it is sure to be united with it.

Some of the most profound moments are when we listen to these words of Vasishta: “O Rama, maya is such that it brings delight through its own destruction; its nature is inscrutable; it ceases to exist even while it is being observed. Just as a tree consisting of fruits, leaves, creepers, flowers, branches, twigs and roots, exists in the seed of the tree, even so this manifest world exists in Brahman.

Just as the dream becomes unreal in the waking state and the waking state in the dream, so also death becomes unreal in birth and birth in death. It is little surprise that this pioneering wisdom has already inspired series of Hollywood blockbusters in the past decade. For years now we have been keen to grasp teachings but could not progress beyond a few pages of the book. Now we have the ten CD audio pack from the VVKI Publications offering the listener a whole new experience that is soothing and meditative even as higher spiritual knowledge is narrated. We have commenced weekend sessions for each CD to help more satsangees deliberate on the knowledge.

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The Aerial  view of our home

The Art of Living International Center, Bangalore is home to some of the finest architectural marvels in Asia. Apart from being a popular spiritual retreat, the Ashram also attracts tourists due to its designs that have simple yet elegant structures. This aerial view of the Ashram showcases a couple of magnificent 

The art of living international ashram with a pleasant and cool nature of climate Its like one in the world never ever expert the people who are in botheration s in their life this is the place one which it gives energy to them to become a warriors in their life to achieve their Goals.

Become a Good person want to visit our .Do you want reach goals, Think ones come ones become like anything in this place learn to live like a brave human being

Make life always pleasant and cool .Enjoy every moment in life with joy and presence of nature 

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Live Naturally

Q: Guruji, I understand that I am God but I do not experience it. Why is it so?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Unless you have experienced it, you cannot understand it.

You simply have heard someone say it.

But that is okay. Keep it at the back of your mind and just live simply and naturally. Know that the highest flowering in life is being in love and acting through love.

You may not feel love all the time and everywhere. Many times we try to feel love as an emotion. Love is not an emotion, it is our very existence.

So, ‘God is love’ should not be taken as being more emotional.

You have just heard somebody saying you are God, okay let it be! Just go through your experience. You are nobody, you are an expanded awareness; know that much.

First understand what you are not then what you are comes to you spontaneously.

Q. Can you explain the meaning of accidents and illness in our life? What does it mean when they keep happening to us, even when we do actions to take care of ourselves, like coming to this course?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, whether you come to the course or go shopping, it is the same. If you don’t stop at a red light or stop at a green light, someone will hit you. They don’t see you. When you falter with the traffic rules, or someone else falters, then you are in trouble. You are not in isolation; you are in connection with many other factors in life.

Q: It is said in the Bhagavad Gita, do your duty and don’t expect for the result. How to live this knowledge in normal life? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Live naturally. All Art of Living points are from life’s experience. There is no effort in it. Do some meditation, yoga you will see how life has transformed effortlessly and automatically. 

Q. Please explain about the Chidambara rahasya.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Chidambaram is the place of Shiva symbolizing the akash tattva (the principle of space). Space is formless. In the sanctum sanctorium of this temple, there is a veil. Beyond the veil there is nothing, empty space. We can only know the secret of Shiv tattva by going within.

There are three types of space that is described. Bhutakash – the physical body, Chittakash – thoughts and emotions and Chidakash – the vast, Supreme Consciousness. The life-force energy is awakened in the Chidakash. The secret of the Chidambara can only be experienced through self-effort on the spiritual path. 

Q. What does the symbol of Natraja signify?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Natraja is a very beautiful symbol of the union of nature and the Divine. Natraja holds fire in one hand, representing the fire element. A damru* in his other hand depicts the space element. Many forces in the universe are represented by a shape similar to that of a damru, like a chromosome, or shapes of galaxies and so on. Time also is said to have a conical representation. 8 is the symbol (shape of the damru) which represents infinity.

Shiva’s hair is open and flying representing the air element. One foot on ground symbolizing prthvi (earth element), another in the air. One hand is the symbolic abhaya hasta offering protection and the other points to his feet symbolizing surrender. With one foot already in the air, he has already taken a step towards the devotee. He says “You are dear to me” even before beginning.

Even in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna - “You are very dear to me”. When you know that you are dear to someone, there is trust and love arises in the heart.

Shiva is dancing. Life should be like this. If both feet are stuck in the ground then you cannot dance. Even to walk you need to take one foot up.

The entire creation is full of bliss

The entire creation is dancing in bliss

The entire creation is longing for bliss

Natraja represents the Ananda Tattva ( bliss) that the whole world is longing for. Every atom in the world is filled with the potential for action yet it is at peace. Shiva, the principle of infinite peace and bliss is not inert. It is peaceful, yet dancing.

Underneath his feet, there is Apasmaar**. He is standing with his foot on top of desires. If desire eats us up then we are in trouble. Only when we rise above desires and we are dancing on it, then it is a dance of joy and bliss. This is not just imagination. This is the truth. This energy awakens within us and we rise in dance. This is true. The Divine energy pervading the entire creation is eternally dancing.

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Master’s Message on Guru Purnima

Among the 12 to 13 full moons in a year the Vaishakha Full Moon is dedicated to Buddha (his birth and enlightenment), Jyeshtha Full Moon to mother earth and the Ashadha Full Moon is dedicated to the memory of masters. This is Guru Purnima.

It is the day when the disciple wakes up in his fullness and in the wakefulness he can’t be but grateful. This gratitude is not of dwaita (you and me), but of advaita. It is not a river moving from somewhere to somewhere, but is the ocean moving within itself. So, gratefulness on Guru Purnima symbolizes that fullness.

The purpose of the Guru Purnima celebration is to turn back and review and see in this last one year how much one has progressed in life. For a seeker, Guru Purnima is a day of significance, is a day of New Year. It is the day to review one’s progress on the spiritual path and renew one’s determination and focus on the goal, and to resolve what one wants to do in the coming year. As the full moon rises and sets, tears of gratitude arise and repose into the vastness of one’s own self.”

You know, our body has millions of cells, and each cell has its own life. Many cells are being born every day and many are dying. So, you are a moving town. So many cities are on the planet Earth and planet Earth is revolving and moving around the Sun. Same way, there are so many cells and so many living beings inside you and you are moving around. You are a moving township. Like in a beehive, there are so many bees which come and sit, but there is one queen bee. If the queen bee goes away, every other bee goes away. In the same way, there is an atom in our body, the queen bee. If that is not there, everything else goes away. Locate in that, in that tiniest of the tiny atom, the atma or the self. It is everywhere yet nowhere. That is the queen bee and that is what you are. That is what the Divine is, and that is the Guru principle. Like there is fatherhood, motherhood, there is Guruhood also. You all have to play Guruhood at least to somebody. You do play, you keep giving advices and guiding people consciously or unconsciously, and give them love and care. Butdo it with 100 percent without expecting anything in return. That is living the Guruhood, living the self. There is no difference between the Divine, you and the Guru Principle. It is all coming to one thing, the queen bee.

Meditation is relaxing and reposing in that atom. So, think of all the things that you could be grateful for, and ask what you want. And bless everybody. Wereceive, but not just receiving is enough, we should give and bless those who are in need.

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YOGA IN ISLAM : A FORM OF IBAADAT (PRAYER)

Meditation.

Rajaque Rahman, a Practising Muslim talks about how blinkered interpretation of what’s permitted and forbidden in Islam is making the Muslim world hesitant to take advantage of universal healers like yoga and meditation.

Even as I was persuading a group of Muslim elders in Itanagar — the capital city of eastern-most Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh — to give yoga, pranayama and similar ancient Indian techniques a try for ahealthy and happy living, the group went serene with the azan for the Jumah (Friday congregational prayer ) from the neighbourhood mosque. As I followed them to the mosque, I noticed the gentleman who was the most vocal and orthodox during the discussion was heading in the opposite direction. When I queried why he wasn’t coming to the prayer, I was flabbergasted by his innocent but distorted logic. “I can’t go to the mosque as I have to pass through shops that slaughter and sell meat of swine to reach there. You know, Islam strictly prohibits swine meat. I would rather miss the prayer than commit haram by going near swine meat,” he reasoned.

Though I knew Islam prohibits eating swine meat, I never imagined somebody would ever interpret that prohibition in such a myopic way. When I pondered over it, I realised this type of blinkered interpretation of what’s permitted and forbidden in Islam is what is making the Muslim world hesitant to take advantage of universal healers like yoga and meditation.

People from war zones in an Art of Living meditation

Like the old man, orthodox Muslims fear the practice of yoga will erode their faith in Allah and Islam. As the Quran and Hadith (Prophet Muhammad’s teachings) have nothing specific that will make practise of yoga haram (forbidden), they based their judgement on their own concocted fear that supposedly ‘Hindu’ elements of yoga would destroy the faith of a Muslim.

As a Muslim who has been practising yoga for over a decade and has experienced the depth of yoga at the physical and spiritual levels, I felt the best way to allay the fear is to look at the Hindu philosophy on yoga and see how and where it contradicts the tenets of Islam. For this, I wouldn’t settle for anything less authentic than Maharishi Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living has given an extensive and lucid commentary on the yoga sutras.

Yoga simply means uniting with the Self. The Yoga Sutras starts by calling itself an enunciation in union. And a self-imposed discipline to attain that union is yoga. Is striving for such a union with the Self against Islam? Definitely not, for Prophet Mohammed has said, “He who knows his own Self knows his Lord.” So anything done in pursuit of knowing the Lord cannot be termed as forbidden in Islam. Instead, it will count as a meritorious act of honouring and following the Prophet. So yoga as a spiritual pursuit is very much permissible in Islam. Dara Shikoh, eldest son of the Mughal Emperor of India, Shah Jahan is known for his Persian translations of the Yoga Vashishta and the Bhagavad Gita.

The best explanation of why yoga is not just a permissible, but also a desirable act for Muslims is to be found in the second sutra of the Yoga Sutras. “Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodhah.” It means yoga is stopping all the modulations of the mind. Ceasing all the outward activities of the mind and reposing in Allah is the ultimate goal of Islam. So any act done to reach such a state cannot be un-Islamic.

Iraqis get solace in yoga and meditation

In fact, it represents the highest form of ibaadat (prayer). Prophet Mohammed said, “I have a time with God to which even Gabriel, who is pure spirit, is not admitted.” Hence, the soul of prayer is a complete absorption, a state without room for any outward thoughts which is also the ultimate purpose of yoga. So doing yoga asanas with the sole intention of attaining a thoughtless state so that one can connect with Allah wouldn’t make one a bad Muslim. This leaves only one ground for orthodox mullahs to frown at yoga: that yoga stems from polytheist beliefs of Hinduism. But when yoga means union, how can it be linked to polytheist beliefs? In fact, yoga takes one away from polytheism and leads to Advaita, which is in perfect agreement with the Islamic doctrine oftauhid (oneness of God).

Just because something has its roots in Hinduism, it doesn’t become forbidden for Muslims. If it were so, many arts, languages, foods and cultural practices with roots in other religions, would also be forbidden to Muslims. So, when we can accept foods and music from other cultures, why not the wisdom to unite with the Self?