3 October 2012 FOREST FLOWER

CONTENTS
Main Article
Kshetra Sanyasa
Soaked in a Space of Grace 4
Musings
No Disasters, Just Situations
Sadhguru on How to Face Lifes Challenges 7
Navaratri
Make Use of Natures Support 10
In Conversation with the Mystic
Democracy and Integrity
Sadhguru in Conversation with Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan Part 3 12
Leela Series
The path of the playful part XXXVI:
Dharma and Karma
The Difference between Liberating and Entangling Action 15
News & Happenings
Shambhavi Mahamudra with Sadhguru in Australia 16
Sadhguru in Malaysia and Singapore 17
Sadhguru Conducts Inner Engineering in Chennai 17
Sharing Experiences
My Journey to Kailash with Sadhguru
An Isha Meditator Shares His Experience 18
Upcoming Programs and Events
Isha Yoga Program Highlights 20
Isha Recipes For Healthy Living
This Month: Sweet Black Rice Gruel 21
Zen Speaks: Master of Thy Self 23
Excerpted from Sadhgurus talk on 3 Sep 2012 on
occasion of his birthday
It has been 30 years since I realized the meaning and
purpose of who I am and what I could do. When
I look back, in my experience, 30 years ago seems
like day before yesterday because time has gone so
rapidly. The frst 12 years of my life, I barely spoke;
all kinds of things were cooking in my head. From
12, yoga became a part of my life. I became more
and more aware of the world around me, the way
it is and the way it functions. And by the day, I
became angrier and angrier.
If you are looking for justice, you will die of anger,
believe me. There is no other way because there
is no such thing in human societies unless you
believe what other people tell you. If you are able to
see how people function, what they do within the
family, in the social structure, in the nation, in the
world you will only die of anger. So, I was raging
within myself. I was so angry with the way the
world functions how much deception, how much
injustice, how many uncaring ways of functioning,
how human beings treat each other, and how
human beings treat every other creature on this
planet. Fortunately, my anger fnding expression
limited itself to attending revolutionary meetings
and sticking posters in the university. I did not go to
the extent of picking up the gun.
If the coolness of enlightenment had not happened,
I would have died of anger. There was so much
rage in me. I did not display it in my daily life but
I think my blood was not at normal temperature;
every vein and artery in my body was burning
because I saw discrimination, injustice, deception,
just in everything. It took a certain dimension
of perception to look at the other aspect of life,
not just at human beings but at the creation and
the source of creation how beautiful it is, how
compassionate it is, how absolutely incredible it
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SADHGURU
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Kshetra Sanyasa
Soaked in a Space of Grace
SADHGURU
is. If that dimension had not opened up for me,
whatever expression my anger would have found,
I can assure you one thing I would have been
effcient, and that would not have been good.
That is why the spiritual process is so vital for
our existence. Either you have to be insensitive or
spiritual otherwise, you will only be angry.
If you really look at the cosmic picture of existence,
the way human beings conduct themselves is
nothing but one big joke. It takes a certain level
of ignorance or enlightenment to manage life
on this planet. If you are absolutely ignorant, it is
quite fne. If you are enlightened, it is fantastic. In
between I have been there is not a good place
to be. So, what does it take? The spiritual process
has always been associated with renunciation
again one badly misunderstood word. People think
to renounce means to give up everything. No.
You renounced your mothers womb to become
an infant; you renounced your infancy to become
a child; you renounced your childhood to become
a youth; you renounced youth to become middle-
aged; you renounce your middle age to become
old-aged; you renounce old age to become a grave.
[Laughter] You will do that anyway. If you do it
consciously, gracefully, it is renunciation otherwise
it is entanglement. If constantly, something smaller
is falling away and something larger is becoming
apparent to you, this is renunciation. Renunciation
means you continuously give up petty things and
move on to bigger things.
So sanyas The word sanyas creates lots of negative
reactions in the society today because sanyasis
have set such a bad example. Not all of them
many of them have been fantastic but many
others chose sanyas as another way of livelihood.
Because of that, people misunderstood sanyas. I
have been mulling on this for a long time now. I
know that any human being, if he remains in the
right kind of space, can be transformed. Even a
man like Angulimala
1
, who chopped off peoples
fngers to count his achievements of murder and
hung them in a garland around his neck and
he had gathered hundreds such a man turned
around and became a sage. We know that today,
many who are trapped in the prisons have turned
into real sages in their own right. It has been an
absolutely incredible journey to constantly see
the kind of transformation in people in a matter
of seven days or three days teachers who are
teaching Isha Yoga or Inner Engineering programs
know what it means. In terms of doing something
in the world, there is no better joy than that, the
way people blossom right there in those few days.
So, I know 100% that whatever kind of people
you bring, if you keep them in the right kind of
atmosphere, the right kind of energy, the right
kind of infuence, they can be transformed into
something absolutely incredible and beautiful.
Particularly in the last one-and-half years, I have
been thinking about how to bring sanyas forth to
people on a larger scale. Right now, somebody frst
has to be a brahmachari for many years, and that
is not going to happen to everybody at least your
wives, your husbands, and your life situations will
not allow it.
Sanyas does not mean that you have to go away
somewhere sanyas means you are soaked in a
constant longing to grow. If you grow, you are always
discarding or renouncing something. Only those
who are stagnant can live without renunciation;
those who are growing always renounce something.
If you do not renounce one thing, you will not have
the next this is the nature of life. So, an active
sanyas where people can participate in different
ways will open up in the next year or so. Wherever
you may be, you can be a sanyasi. You may be
married but you can still be a sanyasi because you
have taken a vow never to be stagnant.
Every day, something new should happen in your
life this vow you must take. You must renounce
something old and something new should happen
to you. If not every moment, at least every day it
must happen because if you do not soak yourself
in a certain longing, grace will go missing in your
life. If there is no longing in you, even if the most
5
1
According to Buddhist lore, a ruthless killer, who after encountering the Buddha, turned monk
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
beautiful things are around you, they
will not enter you.
To create an opportunity for people to be
constantly in a space of grace, to be soaked
with this energy, we will open up Kshetra
Sanyasa, which means you take a vow
never to leave the energy space. Three
dimensions of Kshetra Sanyasa of different
levels of intensity will be set up in the
coming year. If you sensitize yourself
by constantly being in the space, in the
presence of a certain energy, you will see
transformation is guaranteed.
66
FOREST FLOWER October 2012
Celebration is not frivolous partying
celebration means your life should
become a party. Every day, something
new should happen to you.
Birthdays are milestones to tell us
that we are mortal. Whenever you
look at the watch, it is not time that
is ticking away, it is your life that is
ticking away. Today is a milestone
for everyone because today is not
going to come back tomorrow. Either
you move to bigger possibilities
in your life or you stagnate in a
state of comfort. There is comfort
in stagnation but there is death in
stagnation, and there is also comfort
in death. There is no comfort in
being 100% alive but there is ecstasy.
Ecstasy takes away your rest but
comfort takes away your aliveness
it is your choice. But the moment
you sit in front of me, I assume that
you are not looking for comfort you
are on for life. So, I assume that and if
you do too, it will be great.
The following is an excerpt from a meditator
sathsang with Sadhguru in Australia on
9 October 2011.
Questioner: Sadhguru, I had a big disaster in my
life, several months ago. I lost my life savings
about half a million dollars and it left me destitute.
I almost thought that God had deserted me. Id like
to believe again in the Self and in the Divine. Could
you help?
Sadhguru: Whatever I say, I am not trying to
belittle your suffering, because in your experience,
all that is real. But I want you to just look at your
life carefully. When you were 10 or 12 years of age,
were you happy?
Questioner: When I was 12, I was happy.
Sadhguru: When you were 12, did you have all
these things that you recently lost?
Questioner: No.
Sadhguru: So you are capable of being happy
without all this stuff. All this stuff is just frills of life.
Hundreds of thousands of people on this planet
did not wake up to see this morning, so isnt
it a fortune that you did? You are still alive
isnt this fantastic? You could be gone the next
moment, but you are still alive, all four limbs
are intact what more? When you wake up in
the morning, dont take this lightly this is not
a simple thing. Tomorrow morning, when you
realize you are awake and you are alive, I want
you to really celebrate that moment with a big
smile, a laughter, or a scream if you want. Just
understand the signifcance of this. You are alive
isnt it phenomenal? When so many people did
not make it through this night, you made it. What
more? Just wake up with this awareness.
Sadhguru on How to Face Lifes Challenges
No Disasters, Just Situations
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
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This is not a philosophy, this is a reality. Will you
realize the value of life only when it is about to go
away? Will that be the only time? Unfortunately,
for most people on the planet, that is the only
time. All their life, they complain. When they
have to give up life, they cling to it. People who
are constantly complaining about their life, if you
point a gun to their head, they will cling; they will
be terrifed. Why? Shouldnt they be extremely
happy that all their troubles are going to go away
in one shot?
What are you complaining about? You have not
really looked at your life yet. You are just looking
at all kinds of silly things around you that is
the problem. Oh, thats okay, Sadhguru its easy
for you to say this. But my money is gone. My
partner died. My husband died. My wife died.
Yes, I know I am not saying you should not
value them. You must value them when you have
them. The moment it is over, it is over. That is
all it is.
When you have them, you complain, All my
miseries are because this man or this woman is like
this. If they fall dead, you also complain because
you have nobody else to blame for your miseries
anymore. If they are not there anymore and you
are more miserable than when they were there,
who is the problem? If you understand this, you
will fx yourself.
There are only situations in life there are no
disasters. There are no great moments, there are
no disasters, there is no suffering there are only
situations. When you know how to handle a
situation, you think it is great. When you do not
know how to handle a situation, you think it is
horrid. These are all just things that you are doing
they are just situations.
Should new things happen to you or not? Do you
want to die of excitement or boredom? Please
decide. The worst crime you can commit in your
life is to die of boredom. My blessing to you is not
that your dreams come true my blessing is: Let
your life happen in a way that you could not even
imagine. If only your dreams come true What
is your ability to dream? If you had ten dollars
yesterday, you will dream of a million dollars and
nothing else. Your dreams are just enlarged and
exaggerated versions of what you have tasted. Is
that all you want the same rubbish in larger
proportions? Something beyond your imagination
should touch your life.
Unexpected things are happening to you. Every
situation is an opportunity. Either you can use it
for your wellbeing or you can make suffering out
of it. Let me tell you an extreme example. Maybe
I have told you this in some form earlier, but you
must listen carefully now.
This happened in 1940 or 41. There was a Jewish
family in Austria. One morning, soldiers just
walked in and vandalized the house. The two
children, a thirteen-year-old girl and an eight-
year-old boy, were taken away in one direction;
the parents and other adults were taken away in a
different direction. The children were brought to
a railway station. It was winter in Europe, cold.
For three days, they were on the railway platform,
waiting for a train to come. Children are children
the boys were kicking something around, playing
soccer. Suddenly, the train came. Soldiers came
with guns and said, Everybody get in. Everybody
rushed into the cargo train.
When the train started moving and the doors were
closed, the boy realized he had left his shoes on
the platform. No shoes in winter could mean many
things. When his sister realized that he did not
have his shoes, she got so mad with him. Anyway
the children did not know what was happening. All
they knew was their parents had been taken away
and they did not know where they themselves
were being driven. We are already in enough
trouble and now you have to leave your shoes!
She held her brother by the ear, boxed his ears,
and really scolded him. At the next station, the
boys and girls were separated.
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
9
After the war ended in 1945, this girl, then a little
over 17, came out of the camp and discovered
that her whole family had evaporated, including
this little boy. She never saw them again. When
she realized that she was never going to see her
brother again, what bothered her most was how
she treated him when they were together for the
last time, how she abused him. So she made a
commitment to herself, Whoever I meet in my
life, suppose this happens to be the last time that
I see them, I should not have to look back in
regret. Just this one simple thing transformed her
life tremendously. In 2004 or 05, she died. She
lived such an inspired life. You meet people, right
now we are here, and you do not know whether
this is the last time we see each other. Since this
could be the last time, we should not say or do
anything that we will later regret.
It does not matter what life throws at you, what
you make out of it is still yours. If you throw flth
at a mango tree, it will make sweetness out of it.
So if life throws flth at you, if you are alive to
it, you can blossom into a fragrant fower. If you
do agriculture or gardening, you will know flth
is good. Only if you have a very sanitized mind,
you think flth is bad. Believe me, flth is good. If
somebody throws flth into your house, you can
make fowers out of it.
In yoga, we always use the symbol of a lotus fower
just for this reason. A lotus grows best wherever
the slush is thick the flthier it is, the better. It
is the same flth which blossoms into a beautiful
and fragrant fower. Have you seen these symbolic
images of yogis sitting in lotus posture, sitting
upon lotuses, or with lotus fowers blossoming out
of their heads? This is to show you, a lot of flth
was thrown at them and they made fowers out of
it. Do not carry a load of flth on your head. Life
has thrown enough flth at you it is time you
learn to cure it into manure.
Do not carry the experience of life as a wound. Let
it become wisdom. This is a choice you have. Out
of every experience of life, you can make a wound
or you can make wisdom out of it. The harder life
has been upon you, the sooner you should become
wise.
29 NOVEMBER TO 2 DECEMBER 2012 ISHA YOGA CENTER, COIMBATORE, INDIA
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A LEADERSHIP PROGRAM BY TWO ACCLAIMED
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DR. RAM CHARAN AND SADHGURU
INSIGHT: THE DNA OF SUCCESS
OFFERED UNDER THE AEGIS OF ISHA EDUCATION
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Excerpted from a darshan with Sadhguru on
8 October 2010 (Navaratri) at Isha Yoga Center
This is the frst night of Navaratri. This night and
the coming days and nights are dedicated to the
feminine nature of the Divine. Durga, Laxmi,
and Saraswati are symbols of three dimensions of
the feminine. They also represent the three basic
qualities of existence tamas, rajas and satva. Tamas
means inertia. Rajas means activity, passion. Satva,
in a way, is the breaking of boundaries, dissolution,
melting and merging. Among the three celestial
objects with which the very making of our bodies
is very deeply connected the Earth, the Sun, and
the Moon Mother Earth is considered tamas. The
Sun is rajas. The Moon is satva. Those who aspire for
power, for immortality, for strength, will worship
those forms of the feminine which are referred to as
tamas, like Kali or Mother Earth. Those who aspire
for wealth, for passion, for life and various other
gifts that the material world has to offer, naturally
aspire towards that form of the feminine which is
referred to as Laxmi or the Sun. Those who aspire
for knowledge, knowing, and transcending the
limitations of the mortal body, will aspire for that
aspect of the feminine which is referred to as satva
Saraswati is the representative of that or the Moon.
Today is the day of Durga or Kali. Tomorrow is the
day of Laxmi. The day after is the day of Saraswati.
This is arranged in this way because after all, it is
from the Earth that we arise. And we could live an
active life which is rajas the second nature of Devi.
The third nature of Devi may or may not come your
way if you want to bring her down into you, you
will have to strive. Kali is on the ground. Laxmi is
sitting on a fower. Saraswati is riding a peacock. So
these are three dimensions of the Divine Feminine.
Linga Bhairavi has been consecrated with three
basic chakras to represent these three dimensions
of tamas, rajas and satva. Tamas is the nature of
the Earth, and she is the one who gives birth. The
gestation period that we spend in the womb is tamas;
it is a state which is almost like hibernation but we
are growing. So tamas is the nature of the Earth and
of your birth. The moment you come out, you start
activity rajas begins. And if you are aware enough
or fortunate enough, satva will touch you.
To approach these nine days, and every other aspect
of life in a celebratory way is most important. If you
approach everything in a celebratory way, you learn
to be non-serious about life but absolutely involved.
The problem with most human beings right now
is if they think something is important, they will
become dead serious about it. If they think it is not
so important, they will become lax about it they
dont show the necessary involvement. The secret
of life is in seeing everything with a non-serious eye
but absolutely involved, like a game.
10 10
FOREST FLOWER
Navaratri
Make Use of Natures Support
October 2012
11 11
Now you are sitting on the earth; you must learn
to simply be one with her. You are anyway a part
of her. Only when she wishes, she throws you out;
when she wishes, she sucks you back in. So what was
absolute inertia [earth] has become dynamic rajas
[a human being] and may transcend, or may again
go back to the same thing [inertia or earth]. Durga,
Laxmi; Durga, Laxmi; Durga, Laxmi Saraswati
never happened. That means you are in the cycle,
in the trap of life and death transcendence is yet
to come.
These two aspects of tamas or inertia and rajas or
activity will anyway happen. What is in a state of
inertia will get into a state of activity, again fall back
and become inertia for a certain period of time, and
again get back into activity. This is happening to
you as an individual, this is happening to the planet,
this is happening to the galaxy, this is happening to
the whole cosmos it goes into a state of inertia and
then becomes dynamic and again goes back into a
state of inertia. But the important thing is, this one
[a human being] has the capability to break the
cycle and transcend.
These three dimensions of Devi are enshrined in the
form of Linga Bhairavi. On these three days, you
must draw upon these three dimensions of existence
and sustenance for yourself because you need
all these three. The frst two are needed for your
survival and well-being. The third is an aspiration
to go beyond.
Navaratri not only starts off with this fabulous
symbolism, it is also true energy-wise. But not just
once in a year every month, the frst three days
after amavasya
1
have these qualities. Amavasya is a
state of inertia where the fve elements are going
through a certain integration within themselves.
The next day is in a placid, inertia state; on the
following day, energy-wise, it gets active; on the
third day, there is room for transcendence. The
third days moon is held as very important because
the possibility of transcendence opens up. What was
in a state of inertia and then in a state of activity
and entanglement, now opens up a possibility of
transcendence. This happens every month, but in
this particular month, it is a little more pronounced
because this amavasya is more pronounced than the
rest of the amavasyas. Of all the twelve or sometimes
thirteen amavasyas in a year, this particular one,
being close to the equinox, is the strongest one.
On Navaratri, there are certain things happening in
the Linga Bhairavi Temple. Enjoy the Navaratri and
spend some time with Devi. It is good to make use
of the support that nature offers.
Navaratri will be celebrated at the
Linga Bhairavi Temple from
1523 October 2012 with Devi
processions, cultural program, free
prasadam, and elaborate abhishekam.
Among the various rituals available
to receive Devis Grace is a special
Vilakku Seva, an offering of 1008
ghee lamps.
For more information and
registration for offerings and rituals,
please contact: 94438 35000 or
94433 65631.
1
New moon day
Sadhguru in Conversation with Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan Part 3
Democracy and Integrity
In the most recent episode of the In Conversation with the Mystic series, which took place
on 16 June 2012 in Hyderabad, Sadhguru and Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan discuss subjects from
morality to politics and corruption, to nation and society, to the spiritual and temporal. The
following is the third part of their conversation.
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Sadhguru, as a parochial
aside, I wish Isha Foundation was in Andhra Pradesh
so that we would have got the beneft of the tree
planting. I hope these seeds will truly spread. That
brings me to the question of ensuring how the moral
conduct is actually upheld. While spiritual gurus,
religion itself and society norms have a value, they
dont seem to be suffcient. In India, whenever the
subject of corruption or of some other misconduct
in public life or private life comes up, we just talk of
morality and values rather than enforcing a certain
code of conduct. That is something that troubles
people like me.
If values can indeed be internalized without any
external compulsion and guide the behavior of
every single human being, they probably also guide
the behavior of a large majority of people. If there
is peace in this country, if all of us are going to
go back home after this session with a reasonable
degree of certainty that there will not be any
victims of violence, it is because the society has
these norms and values. But there is always deviant
behavior in society. Unless the laws of the land and
the enforcement mechanism are strong enough to
enforce a certain code of conduct and prove that
there is punishment for bad behavior and reward for
good behavior, I am afraid values by themselves will
not sustain us for long.
Sadhguru: Not at all.
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Overemphasis on values
may sometimes actually become an excuse for doing
nothing to build institutions. It is a bit like the water
in this glass. The water is obviously the one that is
giving life; without it, we cannot quench our thirst.
But without the glass, without the container, the
water is not useable. The institutions are what make
the values useable. So my appeal to you is, give us
your views. And if you broadly think that this is the
right approach, what institutional mechanisms do
we need in your opinion to build higher levels of
public integrity, higher levels of civic conduct?
Sadhguru: One important thing that India
needs to do is to simplify the laws in a way that
everybody understands them. Right now, they are
so complex and so ambiguous that nobody really
knows what the law is. And because there is so
much ambiguity, it creates so many grey areas,
which breed corruption endlessly. If there was no
ambiguity, nobody could just come and ask money
out of you so that some work gets done. But there
is so much ambiguity. These laws were largely
created by the British, who wanted ambiguity
so that they could interpret the laws whichever
way they wanted. If they wanted to pick you up
tomorrow morning, there would have been a good
enough reason. We have still kept the same laws
and even today it is so we may not have done
anything, but the authorities can just come and
pick you or me up now and they can produce
some criminal procedure code or whatever that
we are not aware of and they can say we did
12
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
13
this because the law is so ambiguous. This may be
good to control foreign nations that you occupy,
but not good for our nation to move ahead. To
give an example, in real estate in Tamil Nadu, it
normally takes 12 to 14 months to get approval
for a building. Many things may have changed in
14 months time by then, you may not even be
interested anymore in building it.
You have to go through some 16 departments and
you have to get people to follow the fle every
day, and of course there is a fxed fee beyond
the offcial fee. If you do all that, still it takes
14 months. In the end, you have spent so much
money and time, that with a vengeance, you will
break the law. If he said 10,000 sq. ft., you will
want to build 15,000 sq. ft. Anyway I paid you,
so what is the big deal? It comes to that. So, all
laws are fouted without any problem.
In the United States, we are currently building a big
center. There, they have a building code book. Your
architect anyway has to be certifed; he must know
the codes. Apart from that, a code book of about
250 pages is given to you. You better read it. No
approvals you build whatever you want, but before
occupation, someone will come for an inspection.
If the building is by the code, it is fne. If it is not
by the code, your building goes down and you go
in simple. That way, the amount of government
machinery that is needed to sanction a building is
cut down to a few people rather than these various
departments that we have here.
If I am a citizen of this country, why do they assume
I am naturally a criminal? Why this approval of what
I should do and what I should not do? Just tell me
the way to build in this country and I will build that
way. If I dont, bring the building down. This is just
one example you can see a million examples like
this in the country, where laws are unnecessarily
complicated and ambiguous, which is a breeding
ground for corruption.
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Sadhguru, the saying
in Andhra Pradesh is that in Tamil Nadu, you
give a bribe and your work gets done. In Andhra
Pradesh, you give a bribe and still you are being
harassed. Before we go into the issue of politics
and corruption because all of us love to hate
politicians
Sadhguru: I wouldnt allow that because it has
become a fashion and almost a compulsion that
wherever you go, from a tea shop to an offce or
wherever else, people are talking about how horrible
the politicians are whether these people really
know something about it or not. Democracy means,
it is the peoples government. These politicians did
not land from the sky. They are one among you who
stood up to do something. Now for whatever reasons,
they have become the way they have become. You
do not know how many have become like that, how
many have not. We are generalizing because we
have a certain pleasure in painting everything very
bleak and black. If your nation is important to you,
and if you believe that you have handed over your
nation to a bunch of crooks, and you are just sitting
there and it is entertainment for you, I think it is
you who needs to be punished.
Democracy cannot be a spectator sport, it
is a participatory process. But most peoples
understanding of participatory is that they vote
once in fve years and their responsibility is over.
No democracy has various mechanisms through
which you can participate on a daily basis in the
governance of your country, your state, your city,
and your street. Oh, I dont know. Why do you
not know? You have not educated yourself to know
because you do not care, because the idea of the
nation has not gone deep enough in this country.
Still our identifcations with our religion, our caste,
our creed, and our family are more predominant
than the identifcation with the nation. This is the
reason why these things are happening.
Once I was traveling with a lady who comes from
a political family in Andhra Pradesh. I saw the way
things were going in the family and I just joked, If
you are given a choice, probably your father will
break the country into four pieces and give it to
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
his four children. This person actually, genuinely
said, What is wrong with that? Our father loves
us. [Laughter] I was amazed and shocked I didnt
know what to say.
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Its my birthright.
[Laughs]
Sadhguru: Yes. What we need to understand is, we
as a nation are moving from a feudalistic existence to
a democratic existence. The system has changed, but
our minds have not changed we are still feudalistic.
I have been interacting with people on all levels and
I know a lot of them are not really complaining
about corruption. Their complaint is only that they
did not get the chance to be corrupt. It is just they
have to pay and others are taking. They would like
to be on the other side.
If you want to test it out, remove all the police
from the city and see how many people will stop at
the red light if there is no policeman. I would say
90% wont stop. Only some fools like me will stop.
When I am driving in Coimbatore or wherever else,
I stop at the red light, and everybody is going next
to me and they are looking at me like, Who is this
fool who is blocking the traffc? No police whats
wrong with you?
So essentially, our integrity has gone down. It
is not even a question of integrity, it is just
that within ourselves, we are still very feudalistic
but we are trying to be democratic. Democracy
in India still needs a lot more evolution. Not
enough has been done to educate people as to
what democracy is. It has not been brought into
our education systems. Social organizations, the
government itself should have taken it up in a big
way to educate people about why democracy.
The moment we vote for our religion, or caste
or creed or even family, there is no democracy
anymore. There is only feudalism. [Applause]
Democracy will be functional only when you go and
vote and you dont know whom your wife votes for,
whom your husband votes for, and you dont want
to know. Only if you have this kind of integrity,
democracy will work. If you tell your whole family
to vote for a particular person, this is not democracy.
The following is an excerpt from a Q & A with
Sadhguru during Leela, the path of the playful,
a unique exploration into the mystical realm of
Krishna that took place at Isha Yoga Center in
September 2005.
Participant: Sadhguru, my question is about verse
47 in chapter 2. It is considered to be the most
quoted verse and a central teaching of the Gita. It is
about action without expectation of its result.
Sadhguru: Having acquired the state of a warrior,
you are now eligible to act in whatever way the
stature of a warrior demands out of you. But you
are not entitled to any benefts resulting from your
actions. At the same time, you are not entitled to
a state of not acting at all. Thus you should act
according to your stature without any hope of
enjoying the fruits of your action.
Action is inevitable. Even if you wish, you are not
in a state to withdraw from action. Action is not
just physical action. You act physically, you act
mentally, you act emotionally, and you can act on
the level of your energy too. All the time, you are
doing physical, mental, and emotional activity.
Are you capable of inaction? Whether you wish it
or not, you are anyway performing action. Most of
the action that people perform in 24 hours time
is driven by an enormous desire for a result they
may get out of it. Generally, a large part of peoples
mental activity is just about what they can get out of
those little actions that they are doing. So Krishna
is saying in this verse that it is wasteful to live like
that because when you are concerned about the
result of your action, it becomes karma. When your
action is not for a beneft that you get, if you are just
doing it because it is needed, it becomes dharma.
Dharma has been translated here as duty. It is not
necessarily duty. The word duty is too limited.
Dharma encompasses much more than duty.
The difference between dharma and karma is just
this: dharma is a liberating force karma is an
entangling force. So action is inevitable. Anyway
you have to perform action. Even when you are
physically resting, still you are performing action in
your mind or your emotion. So, are you performing
action to entangle yourself or are you performing
action to liberate yourself?
So here, Krishna just gives you a simple tool to use
action as a process of liberation. The reason why
it is the most quoted verse may be because this is
the greatest affiction in the world people cannot
be still for a moment. People are ill only because
they do not know how to be still. If you can just
make yourself absolutely still, there will be no such
thing as illness. But stillness is out of question
activity is inevitably happening every moment of
your life. Awake or asleep, still activity is going on.
Everything else is on and off, but your activity is
24 hours. So defnitely, more attention has been paid
to this verse. And it is appropriate to pay attention
to this because it is something that is on all the time
and constantly entangling.
People entangle themselves by the very way they
think and feel. They do not have to do any great
actions like Krishna did. They do not have to go and
fght battles or try to make and break kingdoms.
They can just sit at home and wind themselves up
into nonsense. Whatever action you perform can
either liberate you or entangle you.
Leela Series
The path of the playful
Part XXXVI
Dharma and Karma
The Difference between Liberating
and Entangling Action
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER 15
16
A much-awaited weekend with Sadhguru happened
on 11 and 12 August in Melbourne, Australia.
The 233 participants had completed the Inner
Engineering Online and were now awaiting the
initiation into Shambhavi Mahamudra, which was
to be the frst one on this continent. After all these
days of seeing Sadhguru on the computer screen,
they were eagerly looking forward to seeing him
in person. There were participants as young as 14
and as old as 80, with people coming from various
cultures, professional backgrounds, and countries
including such faraway countries as Norway and
Uganda!
Participants opened up and received
everything that Sadhguru was offering
them during the day with a great sense
of attention. After they were initiated
into Shambhavi Mahadmudra, we could
distinctly see the change by the joy in their
eyes and the very way they conducted
themselves. After the initiation, they
shared a delightful lunch with Sadhguru
before moving on to a Q & A session. Some
of the participants burning questions
included karma and realization. Sadhguru
said that self-realization is not a goal,
but rather a homecoming and that it is
possible right now, in this moment. In response
to a question about what we could learn from the
Australian aboriginal culture, Sadhguru also noted
that their way of life ensured that the planet was left
unaffected by their presence.
Participants were moved to tears as Sadhguru closed
the session, unwilling to believe that the weekend
with Sadhguru had drawn to a close. They appeared
to carry everything Sadhguru had offered with a
promise to treasure it and deepen the seeking for the
rest of their life.
Shambhavi Mahamudra with Sadhguru
in Australia
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
During his recent Malaysia and Singapore visit
between 16 and 18 August, Sadhguru gave a public
talk and conducted a meditator sathsang in Malaysia,
followed by a meditator sathsang in Singapore.
For the public talk in Malaysia titled An Evening
with Sadhguru, over 2500 people focked into
the hall. The evening started off with acclaimed
Odissi dancer Ramli Ibrahim giving a short surprise
performance as a loving offering to Sadhguru, who
then took to the dais. His blend of wit, fact, precision,
and clarity simply took over those present. When
Sadhguru offered the Isha Kriya to the audience,
you could have heard a pin drop.
A volunteer from Malaysia said about their precious
time with Sadhguru: I trust this could very well
be the winds of change here, and I have no doubts
that it has set into motion a certain urgency and
restlessness amongst the volunteers a longing
to spread the word of Isha to every corner of our
beautiful country. No matter what we strive for, it
still seems a minuscule offering, compared to what
Sadhguru has gifted us.
About the meditator sathsang in Singapore, a local
volunteer shares: The entire sathsang was a very
enlightening one as Sadhguru spoke about the
body, what it is made of, what it can do and the
immense possibility we have whilst we reside in this
body. He taught us the importance of taking care
of it and how we can take care of it. He also spoke
about evolution and how we can support our loved
ones in their spiritual journey. He emphasized the
importance of taking time out for oneself because
when people take time out to be by themselves, they
work on themselves which will in turn beneft the
people around them.
Sadhguru ConduCts Inner
Engineering in Chennai
A three-day Inner Engineering program with
Sadhguru, particularly aimed at decision-makers,
was held from 24 to 26 August in Chennai at the
ITC Grand Chola. Some of the 401 participants
even few in from as far as Malaysia, Singapore,
and China to be part of the program. The tools
offered by Sadhguru, which enhance ones effcacy
and cognizance of life and living, were appreciated
and recognized as extremely valuable by the
participants, many of whom are in prominent
leadership positions. Chennai has been blessed with
some fantastic rains lately in more ways than one.
Sadhguru in Malaysia and SingaPore
17 October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
18
Some wishes take many lifetimes to fructify. You
instinctively know those moments when they
happen. Going to Kailash and being with Sadhguru
was one such wish. But why even go to Kailash?
What can we get there that we cant get sitting in
our house? The honest answer is that I dont know. I
dont directly understand Kailash. It is way beyond
my perceptive abilities. On the other hand, many
yogis and enlightened beings, whose perception is
far beyond physical limitations, have highly revered
Kailash. Sadhguru says about Kailash, When I bow
down to Kailash I bow down to it the same way I
would bow down to my Guru. Never before have I
done that in my whole life. If people with such an
elevated sense of perception have bowed to it with
very deep respect, then it is important that I let my
being be introduced to its energy, I felt.
It was my deepest wish to be with a being like
Sadhguru in Kailash. Through the journey, my
oxygen levels had fallen at a lot of places but I have
learnt to manage my body and mind somehow.
I decided to walk the path to Kailash without a
porter. It was not just the weight that was the issue,
but also other things. For example, my waterproof
jacket failed when it poured on the way, as did my
waterproof shoes. I was wet to my thermals and
tired from carrying all the weight during the walk.
I got into my last change of clothes and walked
downstairs for a cup of tea. Sadhguru came out of his
room and people gathered around him. I was tired,
wet, and cold but this moment was enormous for
me. I fnally was in front of my Guru with Kailash on
the other side clearly visible. I just fell at Sadhgurus
feet and started sobbing. The world had stopped for
me. I could only sense Sadhguru and me there. After
some time, I got up and stood a few feet away in
pouring rain; tears kept fowing. He was joking with
people, laughing, but I could just see his face and
then his feet and then his face again. I was the only
one whose presence he didnt even acknowledge.
Except in his silence. I cant explain it and however
I put it, it seems very trite, but I know he IS Shiva
himself.
In school, I had read a verse by Kabir

?
;

(My Guru and God, both are standing. Whose feet
should I fall at? Blessed is my Guru [and his feet will
I fall at], for he is the one who can introduce me to
the God)
Intellectually, it was not tough to understand this
couplet. But it took me being with Sadhguru in
Kailash to really realize what Kabir was saying.
When I look back at my visit, Kailash was breaking
me down, yet holding the essence of me up.
An Isha meditator
My Journey to Kailash with Sadhguru
An Isha Meditator Shares His Experience
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
20
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
4 - 7 Oct 2012
Bhava Spandana
(Gents)
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishayoga.org
4 - 7 Oct 2012
Bhava Spandana
(Ladies)
Residential Programm
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishayoga.org
12 - 14 Oct 2012
Inner Engineering
with Sadhguru
Detroit, Michigan,
USA
1-313-451-4742
detroit@ishafoundation.org
13 Oct 2012 Pancha Bhuta Aradhana
Dhyanalinga
Yogic Temple,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515426
pba@ishafoundation.org
18 - 21 Oct 2012
Bhava Spandana
program
with Sadhguru
Residential Program
Isha Institute of
Inner-sciences,
McMinnville,
Tennessee, USA
+1-931-668-1900
registration.iii@ishafoundation.
org
25 - 28 Oct 2012
Inner Engineering
Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515421
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
8 - 11 Nov 2012
Guru Pooja Training
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishayoga.org
29 Nov - 2 Dec 2012
INSIGHT: The DNA
of Success with Sadhguru
and Dr. Ram Charan
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
www.ishainsight.org
+91 94430 09000
leadership@ishainsight.org
21 - 22 Dec 2012
Theerthakund
Consecration
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
Send an email to
theerthakundconsecration@
ishafoundation.org and you will be
contacted once registration is open
18 - 20 Jan 2013
Inner Engineering
with Sadhguru
Thyagaraj Sports
Complex, INA,
New Delhi, India
98186 46666
delhi@ishayoga.org
24 Feb - 3 Mar 2013
Samyama
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishayoga.org
October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
21 April 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Isha Recipes For Healthy Living
SWEET BLACK RICE GRUEL
PREPARATION METHOD
Wash and soak the rice overnight in 2 cups of water.
Drain off the water and place the rice in a pan with 3 cups of fresh water. Cook it till it is done.
Meanwhile, heat the ghee in a small pan and lightly saut the cashew nuts and raisins and set
them aside.
Cool the boiled rice and grind it to a coarse paste. Transfer the paste into a pan and add the
milk, coconut milk, and sugar to taste. Simmer the mix on low heat for 1 to 2 minutes without
allowing it to come to a boil.
Now add the cardamom powder and sauted dry fruits. Mix well and serve.
INGREDIENTS
cup Black rice (Kavuni Arisi)
2 teaspoons Ghee (clarifed butter)
10 Cashew nuts
5 Raisins
1 cup Milk
cup Coconut milk
Sugar to taste
2 pinches Green cardamom powder
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Kavuni Arisi is an heirloom variety of black rice grown in the Chettinad
region of southern Tamil Nadu. Black rice is high in nutritional value and
contains many amino acids, iron, zinc, copper, carotene, and several important
vitamins. The grain is high in fber and has a mild, nutty taste. Black rice is
considered to be anti-infammatory and a great source of antioxidants.
21 October 2012 FOREST FLOWER
22
April 2012 FOREST FLOWER
22 22
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