FF July August 2011

CONTENTS
Main Article
Zen Speaks
Blessing or Curse Your Choice
4
23 Zen Speaks: Enlightenment of the Wave
Musings
7
July/August 2011 FOREST FLOWER 3
Sadhguru on Living Life Sensibly
This Month: Jamun Yogurt Smoothie 22
Isha Recipes - For Healthy Living
A Time for Grace
Money Means or End?
Namaskar Just a Cultural Thing?
11
19
Upcoming Programs and Events
Isha Yoga Program Highlights 21
8
10
Sadhguru on Shifting Perspective on Life Situations
Sadhguru on Monetary Matters
Shekhar Kapur in Conversation with Sadhguru
Krishna Embarks to Retrieve His Gurus Son 4
Leela Series
Special Feature
The path of the playful Part XXIII:
14
16
18
Freed from the Claws of the Serpent Women
Inner Engineering Online with Sadhguru
News & Happenings
Sharing Experiences
A Day of Devotional Chanting
Then the Whole World Shifted
The 12
th
Anniversary of the Dhyanalinga Consecration
Sadhguru at Yoga Festival in Berlin
A Mystic amongst Diehards
Isha Kriya
20
An ancient technology, now yours
Technologies for wellbeing
An Inner Engineering Online Participant Shares
SADHGURU
ost of the time, people determine the course and
nature of their lives by what they like and dislike.
I like this, so I do this. The question is not about
what you like. The question is, does everything
around you like you? You like something, you
dislike something it doesnt mean anything,
because both what you like and what you dislike
are two different kinds of bondages. Both what you
like and what you dislike distorts your perception.
If you like somebody, you will exaggerate them in
your mind. If you dislike somebody, for sure you
will exaggerate them in your mind. Exaggeration
means you are unable to see things as they are. If
you are unable to see things as they are, you can
never handle life the way it should be handled.
So liking and disliking exaggerates either in
positive or in negative ways, but it distorts life. So
what you like is not important. Have you made
yourself in such a way that not just people, but just
everything likes you, every creature around you
likes your presence, even the fowers, the plants
and the trees?
How can the plants and the trees like me? They are
extremely sensitive to who you are. They respond
accordingly. If you make yourself in such a way that
the very earth that you walk upon likes you, then
you will see, everything in your life will become
a blessing. If everything around you dislikes you,
you will see, everything that could be wellbeing,
could become a curse. Right now, there is no
curse sitting on human life. It is things that people
4
July/August 2011 FOREST FLOWER
Blessing or Curse Your Choice
Sadhguru on Living Life Sensibly
M
want, it is things that people aspire for, things that
they work for, strive to have in their lives, which
turn into curses in their lives their work, their
property, their relationships, their own body, their
own mind, which is the cancer of their life. It never
rains misery. It is just that things that you like have
become a source of misery.
So spiritual process is not about pursuing what you
like it is about striving to make yourself in such
a way that even the birds like you, the squirrels
like you, the insects like you, the mosquitoes love
you. [Laughter] Otherwise, the very water that you
drink, the air that you breathe, the food that you
eat, can turn into poison in the system. All of it
can become nectar, only if they like you. Making
yourself in such a way that the creation and the
Creator cannot help liking you, that is the striving.
It is not about fulflling your likes or destroying
your dislikes. It is about making yourself in such
a way that every atom in this existence likes you,
wants to yield to you. If existence does not yield to
you, you may do what you want, but nothing will
work in the real sense. You may do something, you
may become something, you may earn a living, but
you will just go through a cycle without anything
tremendous touching your life.
I want you to learn to stand, walk, sit, and breathe
in such a way that even the stones around you like
you. How do I know whether they like me or not?
You will know for sure. If you are sensitive about
being like that, you will also be sensitive enough to
distinctly know that. There are some plants here,
the touch-me-nots, that are clearly telling you, We
dont like you. [Laughs] Others are also telling you
whether they like you or not; you just may not be
sensitive enough to know their language. You need
to be told loudly and clearly. Dont become like that.
Do not become in such a way that everything has
to be shouted into your ears. You must become in
such a way that if you look at somebody, before
they speak, you know. For this, you need a certain
sense of receptivity. Receptivity will not happen to
you if you are too full of yourself. The less you are,
the more you receive; the more you are, the less
you receive. If you are too full of yourself, nothing
bigger than your nonsense will happen to you. If
there is no such thing as myself, if you simply sit
here, the whole existence will dance within you;
you will become an instrument of the Creator.
Otherwise, you will only be a bundle of thoughts,
emotions, prejudices, and rubbish.
This is the choice every human being has either to
exist here as a limb of the Creator, as an Ishanga, as
we call them these days, [laughs] or to exist here as
a bundle of thoughts, emotions, and nonsense that
you have gathered. This choice is available to you
every moment of your life. If this striving is there, it
will deliver you to a different place of gracefulness,
where every stone, every pebble, every rock, every
tree, every atom in the existence speaks to you
in a language that you can know. Otherwise, you
are alone in this vast existence, constantly feeling
insecure, unstable, psychologically challenged. It
is not a gift, it is a choice. If one makes the right
choice, the right things will happen; if one makes
the wrong choice, wrong things will happen. It is
a very fair and just existence, I want you to know.
It is not like a social structure where some people
can get away with wrong things. In this existence,
it doesnt matter who you are, if you jump off the
roof, the earth will break your leg no exemptions;
nobody is spared. You are high caste, you are low
caste; you are this rubbish, you are that rubbish
nobody is barred. For anybody who is willing, the
possibility is open. For everybody, the stick is also
there. You make the right choices, everything is
open; you make the wrong choices, everything will
knead you in a different way.
So if pain comes, if suffering comes, if misery
happens, it is not time to look around. This is
always the problem: If you are miserable, you
think somebody else needs to be fxed. No. If you
are miserable, this [refers to oneself] needs to be
fxed, not somebody else. No, Im miserable. Fix
the situation for me. No if you are miserable,
who should be fxed? If you are sick, who should be
given the medicine? Shall we give it to somebody
else when you are sick? If you are hungry, shall we
give the food to somebody else? No. It only works if
you give it to this [refers to oneself], isnt it so? If it is
like that with food and medicine, is it not true with
5
every other aspect as well? If you are miserable,
something else or somebody else need not be fxed,
only this one [refers to oneself] needs to be fxed.
Just to understand this simple fact, people take
lifetimes. [Laughs] They think something else has to
be fxed. It happened one day. I might have told you
this before but let me tell you again because anyway
you miss the point many times. [Laughter]
On a certain day, Shankaran Pillai went drinking
with his friends. Yogis and drunkards both are
timeless, you know. They dont know the passage
of time. He intended to go back home at 8 oclock,
but drink after drink, he became unconscious of
time. When he looked at the watch, it was 2:30 a.m.
He thought its really late, and he wanted to get
back home quickly, so he took a short cut. As he
was walking through the shortcut on his unsteady
legs, he fell into a thorny bush. His whole face got
scratched up. In this condition, he went home, and
he tried to fnd the keyhole that took another half-
an-hour. [Laughter] He fnally opened the door,
went inside, went into the bathroom and looked at
himself in the mirror; he was bleeding all over the
face. So he opened the medicine chest, fxed himself
whichever way he could, quietly crawled into bed
and slept. Morning 8 oclock, his wife took a bucket
of cold water and threw it in his face; he got up. She
said, You idiot, once again drinking? He said, No
honey, I havent touched a drop. Since I promised it
six months ago, I havent touched a drop. She held
him by the shirt, dragged him into the bathroom and
showed him, the band-aid was all over the mirror.
[Laughter/applause]
It doesnt work like that. Only somebody who is
completely unconscious will do such things. If it
is hurting here and you fx it there, it is because
you are completely unconscious or inebriated.
Whenever you are miserable, you want to fx that
one and that one and that one; no this one [refers
to oneself] needs to be fxed. If you put band-aid
on the mirror, it doesnt heal your wounds. You
have to attend to your wounds. Both your miseries
and joys are caused from inside. So it needs to
be attended here, not somewhere else. The sooner
you learn this, the more graceful and wonderful
your life will become. If you take a lifetime to
understand this, life will have its ways. Life is very
cruel to idiots. It doesnt spare anybody. Life deals
with stupidity very brutally.
Excerpted from a talk by Sadhguru
6
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his is the time of year when the Adi Yogis attention
frst fell upon the seven now celebrated disciples.
We are in the month when an ascetic and yogi, who
is completely uninvolved with what is around him,
is beginning to get involved. Slowly, the intention
of sharing his experience is beginning to blossom.
From the last full moon day to the coming one,
which is referred to as Guru Pournami
1
, Shiva could
not take his attention off the Sapta Rishis, who
prepared for 84 long years without even a moment
of attention from him. And now, his attention upon
his disciples was undivided.
This month is seen as one where even a completely
heartless ascetic could not ignore the intensity
of longing to blossom in the seven disciples and
he became compassionate. Somebody who had
hardened himself in such a way that the world
could never touch him, loosened up, became
compassionate and was compelled to become a
teacher or a Guru, for which he had no intention
at all.
So this month is seen as the best time to receive the
Grace of the Guru. This is a good time to seek Grace.
This is a good time to make yourself receptive.
What should I do? is always the question. If you
dont do anything of your own, if you are less of
yourself, that is the best way to be receptive. The
sadhana is always structured like this: it absorbs you
into activity in such a way that in the daily process
of living, you forget who you are. You forget what
you are. You forget what your life is about. You are
just absorbed into what is happening.
There is a beautiful story in the Zen system of
allowing human consciousness to grow. A disciple
goes to a Zen master and asks:
What should I do for my spiritual growth?
Sweep the foor, chop the wood, cook the food.
Thats all.
For that, why should I come here? I can do that at
home!
But if you are sweeping the foor at home, its your
own foor. You will not sweep the neighbors foor
if it is dirty you will not. Chopping the wood and
cooking would be for your own use and for those
who you consider as yours. Right now, you are
using every activity to enhance who you are instead
of using every activity to dissolve who you are.
This is all the difference between making our
activity, or our karma, either into a bondage or into
a process of liberation. Either you are acquiring
karma, or your karma is becoming yoga. Either you
aredoing your activity to enhance yourself or you
are doing your activity to dissolve yourself. That is
all the difference is.
Just sweeping the foor, cooking food and planting
a tree not on your property, not for you and your
children to sit under its shade simply planting it
so that anybody, even your enemy, may sit under
its shade and enjoy it is it okay? If you plant a
mango tree, your enemy and his children may eat
the mangoes. Now this activity becomes a process
of dissolution. Otherwise, every activity is a way of
imprisoning yourself.
It is activity which is entangling people. Human
ability to do things, unfortunately, is being used to
imprison oneself. Human intelligence is being used
to cause misery to oneself. Once you start doing
this, you will unknowingly become an enemy of
any kind of capability. That is a bad position to take.
If you are against all capability and intelligence,
you are asking for regression. You are not asking
for progress. You are not asking to evolve. You are
asking to regress into a lesser kind of life.
So this is the month of Grace. Grace is like manure
for growth. With Grace, a human being can catapult
himself to another dimension of existence, capability
and possibility. To make use of Grace, what should
we do? There is nothing to do.The less you do of
what you consider as me and myself, the more
available you become to Grace.
A Time for Grace
Excerpted from Darshan
3 July 2011
7

1
The full moon day in the month of Adi (July/August) according to the Tamil calendar
T
8
Interviewer: Sadhguru, nowadays, everybody wants
to have money. How do you see the role of money
in our lives?
Sadhguru: Nobody is aspiring for money. When I
say this, it looks ridiculous but what I mean is, it is
not the money that they want. It is just that money
has become the means for what they consider as a
better life or a good life or whatever. Actually, it is
not about the money. Everybody wants their lives
to be pleasant. When we say pleasant, pleasantness
happens in fve different ways if your body becomes
pleasant, we call it health; if your body becomes very
pleasant, we call it pleasure. If your mind becomes
pleasant, we call it peace; if it becomes very pleasant,
we call it joy. If your emotions become pleasant, we
call it love; if they become very pleasant, we call it
compassion. If your life energies become pleasant,
we call it bliss; if they become very pleasant, we call
it ecstasy. If your surroundings become pleasant,
you say, it is success. These things are all you want,
isnt it so? No, no I want to go to heaven. Why?
Because the advertisements have always said, It is a
very pleasant place. So all you want is pleasantness.
Right now, you believe that in this world, money
can buy you pleasantness, because economy is the
only thing on the planet. So you tend to think, If I
get that, my life will be pleasant which is partially
correct.
So, people are actually looking for pleasantness,
not for money. How much pleasantness comes
to you through money depends on what kind of
atmospheres you exist in. If you carry ten lakh
rupees in your pocket and walk around Isha, you
wont get any more pleasantness than you anyway
get. Maa
1
has nothing in her pockets; she will get
more in Isha than you will get with ten lakhs. So
here, the currency has changed.
But in a lot of places, how much pleasantness you
can have is determined by the money; money has
become a means for that. But money can only
create external pleasantness; it cannot create inner
pleasantness. It cannot make your body pleasant; it
cannot make your mind pleasant; it cannot make
your emotions or your energies pleasant. It can only
make your surroundings pleasant. If you have a lot of
money, you can stay in a fve-star hotel. If you have
no money, you sleep under a tree. Now, if you are
staying in a fve-star hotel and the other four things
are not pleasant within you your body, mind,
emotions, and energy do you enjoy your fve-star
hotel? No. If all these four are very pleasant, are you
capable of enjoying being under a tree? Very much,
Money
Means or End?
8
Sadhguru on
Monetary Matters

1
Refers to a brahmacharini
99
isnt it so? So does it mean to say you should not
have money? No. But what is the priority? Which
should come frst? If these four things are very
pleasant within you, and if you also have money,
you can make the outside also pleasant.
There is nothing right or wrong about money it
is a certain means. If you just have your priorities
right, what is the problem with money? It is just
a tool for you; one more aspect of your life. Right
now, I dont have any personal money with me.
Not having personal money but having created a
situation where it is there, is actually much more
comfortable than carrying bundles of money in your
pocket. We handled life like this in the past. People
lived in a joint family with 300 to 400 people. Most
of them never handled money, but everybody had
everything. But those things only worked when
there was a certain sense of inclusiveness in people,
when you did not see others as different from
yourself.
So, money is just a tool that we created; otherwise
we would be dealing with barter system. Now we
have a more effective mechanism, but money is on
the way out, because credit cards and debit cards are
doing the job.
Interviewer: You know, there are people who start
making money early in their lives. By twenty to
twenty-one, they are earning one lakh rupees or
something in big companies. Then, after some time,
they feel that something is lacking in their lives;
there is an empty feeling. There are many people
like this nowadays.
Sadhguru: What usually happened to a lot of people
when they were sixty, is happening to them when
they are twenty-fve. They must be glad. [Laughter]
Realization is coming soon; otherwise they would
have wasted their whole life and only then
realized it, isnt it so? The reason why the previous
generations did not realize that was, by the time
they were eighteen or nineteen, they were married;
by the time they were twenty-four, they had four
children. The whole life was just struggle, if you had
four children, getting them educated, getting them
married. Then grandchildren came. And before you
realized what happened, they put mud on you; it
was your funeral. Now, you are twenty-fve, and
you are still not married. You got the money, you
have seen the world and you know it doesnt mean
anything. It is a good thing that people are realizing
it early, isnt it so?
Interviewer: So at that point of time, what do they
have to do? What path to take?
Sadhguru: What path? There are no two paths;
there is only life. If you feel life is superfcial, it
means you are living superfcially, isnt it so? You
just have to go a little deeper into life. Is there some
other way? No, I want to die. To be or not to be.
Death is also a part of your life, isnt it so? There is
nothing else you can do here except life. The only
choice you have is either to do it superfcially or in
a profound manner. Choose. [Laughs] What other
choice is there?
Interviewer: But here comes another question: How
to choose the right Guru? A lot of people dont know
whom to believe.
Sadhguru: Dont believe anybody. Now you
have come here; Ill give you something simple.
Work with it. If it works, take the next step. Or if
something explodes, then I dont have to tell you
anything; anyway you will do what you have to do.
Till then, you just go one step at a time. If something
happens, you stay on and take many more steps. If
nothing happens to you, you go.
Do you see you are living with certain limitations?
So the only goal is to become free from that, isnt it
so? What you do on the way is according to your
capability. Maybe you will sweep the foor or manage
something or run a nation or whatever thats just
on the way. This is the signifcance of being in India:
Whether you are a king or an illiterate peasant or a
great scholar, all of us are aspiring only for the same
goal mukti. So, someone is not superior because he
is a king; I am also going there; you are also going
there we are all going to the same place. Who goes
there quicker is the only question.
Excerpted from an interview with Sadhguru
10
Shekhar Kapur: The gesture
1
you just did, is it just a
cultural thing or is there more to it?
Sadhguru: There are many aspects to this.
This Namaste or Namaskar is the greeting in India.
The reason why you do this when you see a person,
is because If I look at your body, I may like you
or dislike you; if I look at your mind, again I may
like you or dislike you; if I look at your emotional
structure, I may like you or dislike you. When I meet
a person, I do not want to get entangled with these
likes and dislikes. I do not want to get entangled
with that being. The only intention of meeting a
human being is, either you can enhance his life or
he can enhance your life. Or both of us can enhance
each others lives.
If you can enhance another human beings life or
beneft from another human beings life in some
way, it is worth meeting. Otherwise, it is better
people are by themselves. They dont need to meet.
And that is how the spiritual structures are. When
you are an ascetic, you dont want to meet anybody
because you are into certain kinds of things
yourself. If you feel you can beneft by being with
somebody or they can beneft by being with you,
you allow this; otherwise, dont bother. You are
not in compulsive need of company. Only people
who feel terribly lonely when they are alone, are
in a compulsive need of company. If you feel lonely
when you are alone, if you dont enjoy your own
company, obviously you are in bad company
isnt it so? That is why you are looking for a better
company. [Laughs]
Another aspect to this gesture is, today we know
that there are lots of nerve endings in your palms.
Actually, your hands speak more than your tongue
and your voice. So, there is a whole science of
mudras in yoga. Just by holding your hand in certain
ways, you can make your whole system function in
different ways.
So, this is a certain mudra. The moment you place
your hands together like this, your dualities, your
likes and dislikes, your cravings and aversions,
all these things are leveled out. There is a certain
oneness to the expression of who you are. When
you do this, the energies are functioning as one.
Namaskar
Just a
Cultural Thing?
Shekhar Kapur in Conversation
with Sadhguru

1
Palms touching in front of the chest or head, fngers pointing upward
11
Freed from the Claws
of the Serpent Women
Krishna Embarks to Retrieve His Gurus Son 4
hat happened so far: Krishna embarks on the
endeavor to bring back Punardatta, the son of his
Guru Sandipani. Punardatta had been captured and
sold by pirates. Krishna and his brother get onto the
pirate ship, and fnally reach the destination where
they hope to fnd Punardatta.
They approached the island where a completely
different kind of culture existed. It was a matriarchal
tribe where a woman inherited the kingdom and
ruled absolutely. The queen was an occult person
who had tremendous power over people around
her. She was revered as the Mother Goddess and
used to get into a state where the Mother of the
Universe got into her. She could see and do things
that other people could not understand and had a
way of knowing things before time. So they came
near the island and anchored their ship. Krishna
sent his brother with a few gifts to the offcers of
the port to announce their arrival to the queen and
get her permission to disembark.
In the meantime, the situation on the ship had
changed completely. Krishna went through the
whole ship and found large amounts of stolen
treasure. He took charge of it, classifed it, and kept
it under lock. He released a very generous quota of
food to all the crew. He even gave them new sets
of loin cloths. All the punishments were abolished.
Hullu and Hukku became the guards of the ship,
minus the whips. The whole crew was eager to work
for him. They never had had such a kind master.
So Krishnas brother went to the island, offered his
presents and said, Krishna, the son of Vasudeva,
has come. He needs permission to land. After some
time, he came back with a middle-aged woman
who looked like she was of some prominence.
Dressed only with a small golden girdle to cover
her nakedness and lots of necklaces and bangles, she
came, boarded the ship and invited Krishna to come
and enter their city. Krishna and a few others got
into a boat and followed her. When they landed,
Leela Series
The path of the playful
Part XXIII
W
12
they met the crown princess, Larika, her sister
Asika, and a fne young man who was the prince.
On the way, Krishna had been warned, When you
go there, offer your respects only to the woman.
She is the one who matters. The normal greetings
and things happened. The crown princess was an
exquisitely built woman, and her sister was more
slender and equally beautiful. Most of the armed
soldiers who were guarding the place were also
women. There were also men soldiers who stood
much further behind. There was a jetty with a few
fshing boats; it was tied to the shore. Krishna took
note of all the arrangements including security and
everything because people had told him that those
who get off on the island never come back again.
He had also been told, Even before you arrived, the
queen had divined that you would come here. She
is able to see the future. She knows your name, your
details, where you come from and on which day
you would come. She has the power of our sages.
He was therefore a little wary of dealing with this
woman.
Krishna went to pay his respects and was taken to
the queen. When he entered the palace and went
into the inner parts of the court, a very dignifed
looking man who was introduced as the king came
and took them along to the queen. There was a
fre burning. When they went and stood there
near the fre, suddenly the fames grew taller than
a mans height and the queen emerged from there
and welcomed them. Krishna did not understand
their language, nor did they understand the Aryan
language that Krishna spoke. But the prince was
translating everything with perfect understanding
of both the languages. Krishna announced to the
king and the prince that, I have come here as a
representative of my Guru Sandipani. And he
watched. Suddenly, there was fear on the princes
face; he seemed disturbed. Krishna immediately
knew that this was the boy they were looking for.
So Krishna set up his plans to somehow get him out
of this place.
Krishna and his brother were taken to their
quarters. The younger princess, Asika, immediately
got deeply attracted to Krishna and nuzzled him.
She just hung onto him, and within two days,
she was deeply in love with him. Krishna had
a hard time keeping her off because these were
Nagakanyas, serpent women. All these women just
wore a simple golden girdle around their waist to
cover their nakedness, and either ruby or sapphire
carved cobra hoods on their heads to indicate their
status. They were of a different nature altogether.
They were bred and brought up in such a way that
from their childhood, they had been taught about
the pleasures of the fesh, how a woman should be.
This was a way of enslaving people who came there.
Plus they had other tricks for which people had no
answers at all. Krishna was very wary of this girl
and tried to keep her away.
He got Punardatta, his Gurus son, who had become
the prince of this place, aside and told him, I have
come here to take you home. Your father has not
spent a single day without thinking about you.
He is eating his heart out. You must come back.
Punardatta said, I was living in the comfort that
my father would have forgotten me by now. Now
you have come and disturbed me. But there is no
way I can come back. If I make an attempt, I will be
dead. Krishna said, Dont worry about that just
come with me. I will see to it that you are taken out
of this place. Then Punardatta said, It is not only
that I cannot leave this place. I do not want to leave
this place. Krishna asked, Why? Punardatta said,
You do not know the ways of the Nagakanyas, in
how many ways they enslave a man. I am so deeply
enslaved that there is no way I can leave. At the
same time, I constantly live with the mortal fear
of being killed because the tradition of this place is
that if a new man comes, they will have a festival
of choice. Festival of choice means, the prince has
to fght the new man who has come to the island. If
he wins, he continues to be the princesss husband
and the prince. If he dies, the new man will become
the husband and prince. This has been happening
continuously. Till now, I have killed three men who
had come on the island. Poor, innocent men who
did not know anything about fghting such men I
killed. I have to live with that too. And I always fear
that somebody may come who is a better fghter
than me and he may put an end to me. This is a
threat that I constantly live with. And the Mother
Goddess, the Queen Mother who is capable of taking
13
the Mother of the Universe into herself at certain
moments, is very powerful. Just by her thought, she
rules us. There is no way I can leave this place.
Krishna tried to remind him of his father, of his
commitment to his culture and his dharma and
duties to be fulflled back home. Punardatta wept
but said, I cannot come. In the meantime, this
girl was in many ways trying to get Krishna. She
wouldnt leave him for a moment. After a few days,
a mandate was passed that Krishna should marry the
girl. He was just seeing how to use this situation to
escape with Punardatta. But when the mother saw
that Krishna was planning to take away Punardatta,
she passed a new mandate. She said, Krishna
will not marry Asika; he has to marry Larika who
already has Punardatta as her husband. So he has to
fght Punardatta. One of them should die. Krishna
called Punardatta and said, I cannot fght you. You
are my Gurus son. You are my spiritual brother. I
am not going to kill you. Nor can you kill me. This
is the time to break away from this. Enough. But
there was no way to get Punardatta out of it; he was
in a kind of hypnotized state.
So Punardatta and Krishna actually had to fght and
one of them would have to die. The one who would
survive would have to take the crown princess as
a wife and live there to face the next man who
would come. Before the fght, Krishna made certain
arrangements. He placed Hukku and Hullu, the big
men who were used to whipping people, at strategic
points. He had a few other men from the ship placed
at certain other places to cut the jetty and let it foat
into the ocean when the time came.
Punardatta and Krishna got into the arena. A
whole drama was created and the whole town had
gathered to see this. The Queen Mother came and
ordered that the fght should begin. They started a
sword fght. Punardatta was no match for Krishna,
so Krishna played the game only to the extent
necessary to keep the odds even not winning, not
losing. They just went on creating sparks with the
swords. Initially, people enjoyed it, thinking it was
equally matched. After some time, they saw it was
very stale and that it was not getting anywhere, so
they started booing and asking for blood.
Krishna knew that he could not continue this game
forever, so he hit Punardattas sword in such a way
that it fell off his hand. He also dropped his, as if by
the shock of the stroke, his sword had also fallen
out of his hand, and they got into bahuyuddha or
body combat. Again they wrestled and wrestled,
both of them throwing each other down and up,
but nobody was getting anywhere. Again the crowd
started booing and asked for blood. Then, while
wrestling, Krishna took Punardatta to the edge of
the ring, picked him up and threw him out of the
ring. Hukku and Hullu were waiting there. They
just grabbed Punardatta, ran with him to the jetty
and threw him into the boat.
The queens husband, the king, was known as the
Lord of Death. Any execution that the queen ordered
was always conducted by the king as a ritual process.
When the queen saw what happened, she ordered,
Execute the man. So the king came with his sword
and Krishna picked up his sword too. As they were
fghting, Krishna pretended to be pushed back and
slowly went towards the jetty. His men cut the jetty
and they were just foating away on it. At that time,
the younger girl came running and hugged Krishna.
So Krishna decided to take her too. They all got into
the boat and started rowing away to the ship.
Some of the soldiers, both men and women, tried
to swim to the boat. Whoever came near the boat,
met his fate. They got onto the ship and when they
were just about to set the sails, the Queen Mother
came and stood near where the jetty had been. She
just looked towards the boat and said, Asika, come
back. Suddenly, this girl who had been all in love
with Krishna went into a trance-like situation and
just jumped overboard and started swimming back
to the island. Krishnas brother said, You could
have stopped the girl. Krishna said, You cant
take a Nagakanya away from here. She would be
completely out of place where we would take her.
Let her go back to her land.
So Krishna fnally caught hold of Punardatta, his
Gurus son, and came back and presented him to
Sandipani as his gurudakshina. End of story.
14
A Day of Devotional Chanting
s the suns rays peeked through the clouds at
dawn, the baritone chants of Aum Namah Shivaya
from a small band of Brahmacharis pervaded the
crisp morning air, heralding the 12
th
anniversary
of the Dhyanalinga consecration. Their chanting
served as an invitation to one and all to gather in
the Dhyanalinga Temple on this momentous day.
While the temple resounded from within with
the intensity of the chant, the love and devotion
of everyone in the ashram was markedly felt. The
residents had beautifully decorated the temple
premises with intricately designed malas and
fowers.
A seemingly endless stream of guests fowed
into the temple all through the day, many of
them sitting for long periods, clearly touched by
what they were witnessing. From Aum Namah
Sivaya to mesmerizing suf chants, traditional
Christian hymns, and Buddhist chants by residents,
Brahmacharis, and Samskriti children, to Islamic
songs, Sikh kirtans, and Hindu chants by invited
guests, the offerings in song were manifold in
expression, but united in their devotion. As the sun
bid its customary farewell, a Guru Pooja closed the
anniversary celebrations within the temple.
After dinner, the evening program around the
Nandi in front of the Dhyanalinga Temple began
with a rendition by the Samskriti children. This was
followed by a video with rare footage of the ashrams
early days, the temple construction, and Sadhguru
consecrating the Dhyanalinga. The day concluded
befttingly with a musical offering by Padma Shri
Vikku Vinayakram on the ghatam
1
and his son
Mahesh who won the hearts of the audience with
their sincere devotion, playfulness, and virtuosity.
The accomplished musicians even joined Sounds
of Isha for a grand fnale that brought everyone to
their feet, clapping and dancing.
The temple remained open until 1:00 a.m. for
everyone to make use of this sacred space and
conclude the day in silence.
As the spiritual longing and thirst arises in
human beings, wherever they may be, irrespective
of time and space, the energies of Dhyanalinga will
become available to them as a spiritual ignition, as
a spiritual guidance, and a spiritual force which
will lead them on. It is not essential that all of them
have to come here and sit in the temple.
Sadhguru
We invite you to experience the bounty and Grace
of the Dhyanalinga.
The 12
th
Anniversary of the Dhyanalinga Consecration

1
A classical Carnatic percussion instrument in the form of an earthenware pot
A
15 July/August 2011 FOREST FLOWER
16

1
Refers to an incident where Sadhguru was rearing silkworms until one day, all the mulberry trees burnt to ashes
25 June 2011 it was a bright and clear day at
Berlins annual Yoga Festival. A charming old stone
manor with a spectacular view over the wide green
banks of river Havel, surrounded by meadows and
wild woodland, was hosting a rather unusual event.
Tents and booths had been set up around the house,
turning the area into a lively festival space.
Right in the middle of this, quiet excitement and
joyful anticipation was building up among the group
of Isha volunteers, meditators and friends around
the Isha stalls. We were happy to inform everyone
that indeed tonight, a Mystic would come, a Master,
a Guru, a living possibility.
The main tent was flled to the brim when Sadhguru
fnally took the stage. His presence was engulfng,
his voice charming, his storytelling captivating, as
he took us on a journey from the mystical origins of
Yoga in the upper regions of the Himalayas to the
timeless being inside all of us.
In response to a question from the audience,
Sadhguru introduced the Isha Kriya. As he guided
us through the process, even the children, who
had been shouting and screaming around the tent
throughout his talk, fell silent, or so it seemed.
When Sadhguru closed the event with an invitation
for all to come and visit the Isha Yoga Center, many
of us were left dazzled, inspired, and eager for more.
Deven, a volunteer from Germany, shares: My
heart exploded when I saw him standing there [on
the stage], his arms wide open like a large old tree
spreading his loving presence over everybody, his
feet rooted on this planet. He is soooo big, here and
now. I closed my eyes; I couldnt believe I am part of
this, part of him. Everyone in the tent must have felt
his greatness. Tears were running down my cheeks,
overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounded me.
His presence was a great reminder for me to keep
up my sadhana wholeheartedly. Since then, I am
refreshed and loaded with energy and love.
And Sadhgurus impressions of the event? Here is
what he shared in the 29 June Spot: In Berlin to
address a yoga festival A band of diehards trying
to keep the spiritual traditions of India alive at the
risk of being labeled hippies. My heart is with these
people.
A Mystic amongst Diehards
Sadhguru at Yoga Festival Berlin
18
Isha Kriya
An ancient technology, now yours
The new Isha Kriya website has been launched!
It is Sadhgurus wish and vision that every human being on this planet should have at least
one drop of spirituality in their lives. Through Isha Kriya, we have the opportunity to offer the
ancient science of yoga to large numbers of people.
Q: What exactly does this meditation do?
Sadhguru: This kriya will create a certain space between you and your body, between you
and your mind. If at all there is any struggle in your life, it is because you identify yourself
with these limited aspects of yourself. So the essence of meditation is that it creates a space, a
distance between you and what you refer to as your mind. All the suffering you go through is
manufactured in your mind. If you distance yourself from the mind, can there be suffering in
you? This is the end of suffering.
Now while you are meditating, there is a distance between you and your mind, and you do feel
peaceful. The problem is that the moment you open your eyes, you are again stuck with your
mind. If you meditate every day, a day will come when you open your eyes, and you can still
experience that the mind is there and you are here. When you are no longer identifed with your
body and mind, you will be in touch with the source of creation within you. Once this happens,
Grace happens.
That means your whole karmic bag your past or unconscious mind
has been kept aside. It cannot have any infuence over you. Once the past
has no infuence over you, life becomes a huge potential. Every breath
becomes such a tremendous possibility in your life, because the past is
not playing any role in your existence here now. If you sit here, you are
absolute life. Life becomes effortless.
This will be the most important thing that we as a
generation of people can do to have the privilege to
do something large-scale for human consciousness.
Sadhguru
Visit www.ishakriya.com and ofer this simple but powerful
tool for inner transformation to your friends, family, colleagues,
and everyone else you know and care for!
19
nner Engineering Online (IEO), Isha Yogas frst
online program which was launched in August/
September 2010, has been extremely well received.
Participants from 35 different countries, aged 15-
80 have completed IEO so far. IEO is comprised of
seven 90-minute online classes that offer the same
practical wisdom immediately relevant to your life
as presented in the in-person Inner Engineering
programs, except that these are received in the
comfort of your home, one-on-one with Sadhguru,
via the internet. With IEO, Inner Engineering is now
offered as a two-part process: IEO and an optional
1-or-2-day in-person Shambhavi Mahamudra
Program, wherein the 21-minute Shambhavi
Mahamudra practice is imparted.
As volunteers, teachers, and even Sadhguru himself
have observed, participants who arrive for the
Shambhavi Mahamudra Program after completing
IEO, come with a particularly deep level of interest,
commitment and receptivity. Participants relate
that the online classes felt like an intimate dialogue
with Sadhguru, and that they shed inexplicable
tears, or found themselves smiling throughout the
classes. Upon arrival to the Shambhavi Mahamudra
Program, many share that they have fallen in
love with Sadhguru! People from all age groups
and backgrounds sat enraptured and engaged
throughout. Tears of joy and love washed the faces
of the participants and volunteers as the program
ended with the local Sounds of Ishas music
resounding in the hall.

Since the launch of IEO, Isha teachers have
conducted several Shambhavi Mahamudra Programs
in the US, and Sadhguru conducted two large-scale
programs in San Francisco and Atlanta in April/May
2011. All of these participants have been touched by
the power of Sadhgurus energies and equipped with
a powerful 21-minute practice to support their total
wellbeing. Many expressed that they are already
beginning to experience the inner transformation
that was initiated within them.
Inner Engineering works. Whether online or
in-person, it powerfully impacts, benefts and
transforms the lives of those it touches. Sadhguru
has often said that he wants everyone to have at
least one drop of spirituality within them. The fact
that IEO is accessible to anyone at any time is a huge
possibility to bring spirituality to the world, right
into peoples homes.
You can become a part of this endeavor by
sharing Inner Engineering Online (http://www.
innerengineering.com) with your family, friends
and community. Lets make it happen, together!
Ways to Share Inner Engineering Online:
Visit, Like and Post on the Inner Engineering
Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/InnerEngineering
Take IEO and experience it yourself, so you
can more easily share the benefts
Schedule Intro Talks in your home,
community or work place
Join the IEO Volunteer Googlegroup to assist
with IEO promotions;
email: iii-ieo@googlegroups.com
Share your personal Inner Engineering story
and benefts on personal-growth- and yoga-
related blogs
Send us your tips on interesting or unique
ways of promoting IEO
IEO is accredited as CME for physicians and
other medical professionals, 10.5 AMA PRA
Category 1 Credits, so share it with your
local health practitioners (for US)
I
20
could never have imagined that my life would
change in such a way that I couldnt fnd words
to describe the experience. It all began when
I typed yoga into my Google search engine.
Ive always been the person that aspired to the
saying, When the student is ready, the teacher
will appear. Mysteriously, the Indian Mystic,
Sadhguru, and his online Inner Engineering
program came to my attention.
I have always been attracted to India and all her
wonderful spiritual diversity. It has always amazed
me that so many different viewpoints of spirituality
can exist in one place and have such respect for one
another. We cannot even master that in America, in
my opinion. We have a tendency to have to be right
over the others in our society if it doesnt sound
like Christianity, and that has never sat right with
me. Out of my respect for India and her history to
expand, I decided to investigate Sadhgurus vision
for humanitys expansion in the area of Inner
Engineering through the path of yoga.
In my investigation through taking the online
program, I was amazed at the discoveries I was
making within my own self. Sadhguru invited me
metaphorically to get on the bus to enjoy the view
from his perspective. I have to say that for me that
was a challenge because I had to discern that he was
asking me to give up my drivers seat. That had
been the test in every religion I had investigated in
this country led by men; soooo, was this going to be
one more disappointment for me from my favored
country, India? I decided not to pass a judgment
until I looked upon his request with fresh eyes and
experienced what he was saying. After taking a ride
on this bus for a moment through the program, Im
beginning to relinquish my drivers seat long enough
to see things from different viewpoints; however,
the drivers seat is the best advantage point from my
experience to see the Big Picture.
After the online program with Sadhguru, I decided
to go to the Isha Institute of Inner Sciences in
McMinnville, Tennessee. There was another
program offered that I wanted to take at Isha. When
I arrived on this beautiful mountain top of the
spectacular Cumberland Plateau with its setting of
1200 acres of beautiful forest land, I had to take a
step back to catch my breath. It was unbelievable
that my whole life had come to this point...on this
mountain top. From this point, everything takes
on a different perspective. To come to a different
perspective would not come from this trip; this was
only the beginning. This was just my initiation into
yoga and to learn that it was much more than an
exercise, which is what I got from the American
perspective. It was not until my next visit at Isha in
Tennessee on 23 January 2011, when I personally
saw Sadhguru at Darshan, that I realized just how
much keeping it real has always meant to me.
Sadhguru truly must have found me out of my own
desires to meet a teacher that would keep it real.
I have to say that after seeing Sadhguru on Ishas
campus doing the work that needs to be done to
bring his vision to fruition and receiving Darshan
that evening with him... the whole world shifted!
Brenda Williams, Isha meditator, USA
Then the Whole World Shifted
An Inner Engineering Online Participant Shares
I
Program Highlights
These programs are conducted in English, unless indicated otherwise. Current at the time of
print, however subject to change. For full program schedules and updates, please visit our
website www.ishafoundation.org.
Date Program Place Contact
2 - 21 Aug 2011
(Three 15-day
batches)
Kailash Manasarovar
Sojourn
Nepal, Tibet
9488 111 777
info@ishakailash.com
3 - 9 Aug 2011
Inner Engineering
the peak of wellbeing
Begumpet,
Hyderabad, India
9948875588, 040-64583753
hyderabad@ishafoundation.org
11 - 14 Aug 2011
Inner Engineering
Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515421
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
16 - 18 Aug 2011
Hata Yoga
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishafoundation.org
17 - 23 Aug 2011
Inner Engineering
Visakhapatnam,
India
99856 72092, 94402 78683
vizag@ishafoundation.org
18 - 21 Aug 2011
Inner Engineering
Retreat
Residential Program
IIIS, USA
+1-248-739-2934
IERetreat@ishafoundation.org
20 - 23 Aug 2011
Shoonya Intensive
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishafoundation.org
24 - 30 Aug 2011
Inner Engineering
Kukatpally,
Hyderabad, India
9948875588, 040-64583753
hyderabad@ishafoundation.org
25 - 28 Aug 2011
Inner Engineering
Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515421
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
15 Sep - 3 Oct 2011
(Two travel plans)
Himalayan Dhyan Yatra Indian Himalayas
9488 111 777
info@ishakailash.com
11 - 18 Feb 2011
Mahabharat
Residential Program
conducted by Sadhguru
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
94449 02058
mahabharat@ishafoundation.org
22
Isha Recipes
For Healthy Living
Ingredients:
1 cup Jamun / Jambul / Naval fruit
2 cups Yogurt (curd)
cup Natural (unrefned) brown sugar
A pinch of salt
JAMUN YOGURT SMOOTHIE
Method:
Cut the jamuns, discarding the seeds.
Put the cut fruit into the jar of a mixer, add the brown sugar and blend well.
Add the yogurt and the salt to this blend and mix till smooth.
Pour into glasses and serve chilled.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Tip:
Diabetics can skip the sugar.
For additional favor, add a spoon of honey, or a pinch of chili or pepper powder and
teaspoon roasted cumin powder.
Jamun is the fruit of a tall and sturdy, evergreen tree that is indigenous to India. The fruit has a
unique, aromatic favor that is slightly sweet, sour and astringent at the same time. Jamun fruits
are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and also have a cooling post-digestive effect.
From an ayurvedic perspective, the jamun fruit reduces pitta
1
and kapha
2
. The powdered seeds
of jamun are used in traditional healing methods for the treatment of diabetes, bringing about
control by a gradual reduction in the blood sugar levels.

Jamun fruits are highly perishable. At ambient temperature, they can be stored only up
to two days.

1
One of the three doshas or bodily humors in Ayurveda; represents fre and water within the human system

2
Dosha that represents the elements of earth and water in the human body

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