Love & Blessings

CONTENTS
3
Main Article
From Deals to Devotion 4
Musings
Of Breath and Life Energy
Sadhguru on Vital Dimensions of Life 7
Drinking Choices
Sadhguru on Alcohol and Other Intoxicants 8
Amrit The Stuff of Legends
Sadhguru on the Chemistry of Ecstasy 9

In Conversation with the Mystic
The Business of Environment - part 4
Sadhguru in Conversation with Seemantinee Khot and Jacques Rocher 10
Leela Series
The path of the playful part XXXIII:
Krishna and the Women 4 Saibya - 1 12
News & Happenings
A Wave of Bliss in Houston, Texas
Almost 1000 Participated in Sadhgurus Program 15
Isha across the USA
Highlights of Sadhgurus Recent US Visit 16
Isha Enters Leadership Education 17
The First Invest in Consciousness Meet at iii 17
Sadhguru Spot
Now Flying Solo 18
Sharing Experiences
A Moving Existence
Poem by an Isha Meditator 19
Upcoming Programs and Events
Isha Yoga Program Highlights 20

Isha Recipes
This Month: Cashew Mint Pakora 21
Zen Speaks: No Self, No Others 23

July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
The following is an excerpt from a talk by Sadhguru
to ashram residents and volunteers, brahmacharis
and sanyasis, guests and visitors, in a darshan
1
at
Isha Yoga Center on 18 September 2011.
Devotion means a tool to demolish yourself, a
tool to destroy your intentions, your visions, your
dreams, so that you become not a tiny, nameless
creature in this cosmos but the very hand of the
Divine. Devotion is not a deal that you make. Too
much deal-making is happening in the name of
devotion. Whether people go to a temple, church or
mosque, they are busy making deals. Deal-makers
and devotees are two different people: one belongs
to the marketplace, the other one belongs to the
Divine. They are two different worlds altogether.
The moment you make a deal, the dharma of a deal
is that you do your best to be smarter than the other.
You do not want to make a dumb deal, do you?
When you make a deal, you want to be smarter than
the other. If you take this attitude with the Divine,
the Existence, and your Guru, you lost before you
started. You dont have to run the race; you have
anyway lost. You cannot win because the very
fundamental purpose has been defeated.
This happened in McMinnville. McMinnville is the
nearest town to the Isha ashram in Tennessee. It
is a very special town. So many people there have
daily deals going on with God, so it cannot be an
ordinary town. So on a certain day, a man from
McMinnville drove down to Atlanta, which is the
nearest metropolis around. He had a job interview
to attend. As usual, people who have deals with
God overestimate themselves and underestimate
situations. So he thought he would drive to Atlanta
in two hours, but it actually took two-and-a-half
hours. Finally, he came near the address that he
needed to go to and wanted to park his car, but there
was not a single parking space. He really needed this
job. The United States needs jobs right now, and
when you have an opportunity, you do not want to
miss it because you did not fnd a parking slot. So he
4
FroM DeaLs
to Devotion
SADHGURU
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
1
Darshan at the Isha Yoga Center is a special opportunity to be in the presence of Sadhguru
was desperately driving from place to place, trying to
fnd a parking space.
He called, Oh God, do something! Give me a
parking space. Nothing happened. Then he said,
Please, I know I have not prayed on a daily basis.
From today, every day, twice a day, I will pray. Still
no parking space. He looked desperately around;
time was running out. He said, Okay, you know
I love Irish whiskey. I will give it up. Please! Still
no parking space. He said, All right, Ill give up
smoking. Please! Like a miracle, one parked car
left and a space opened up. He looked at it, then he
looked up and said, Never mind, I found one! That
is a smart deal, you know.
Do not lose out on the tremendous power of
devotion because you have a stupid deal in your
head. What kind of deal can you make with the
creation and the Creator? Only a dumb deal, because
you do not know what possibility the cosmos holds.
You only know the little nonsense that you have
experienced in your life. If you are in touch or at
least in the presence of an energy which is the source
of creation, and you ask, I want to get a job. I want
to get married, how stupid is that? If you have
got contact, is it not best to leave it to the source
of creation and say, Do whatever you want with
me? No, no. Get me a job. I want a promotion.
Do not do that to yourself. If at any time, you fnd
yourself in the presence of something that seems to
be larger than you, do not try to make a deal. Just
shut up and be. Just see how you can receive. That
is devotion, that you understand becoming the hand
of the Divine is a far bigger possibility than making
a deal, however big the deal may seem in your head.
Someone was discussing the state of our country.
They were saying, right now, there is a whole area
in India, which is being terrorized by people who
adhere to the philosophy of Mao Tse-tung. They
are called Maoists. In China, they are getting rid of
Mao in India, he is getting popular. Not all of these
Maoists are volunteers. A lot of them are coming
from Nepal, because the Nepali Maoists lost their
jobs after the civil war there was over. They still
have the equipment but they do not know whom
to shoot in Nepal because the war there is over. So
it seems for twelve thousand rupees a month, they
come down to India, do a stint, kill a few people,
fght a few battles with the police, and go back to
their families. For twelve thousand rupees a month,
they are willing to kill, but of course, they are
fghting for a cause.
So when this was being discussed, somebody else
came and said, What is twelve thousand? In Bihar,
you can have people killed for two thousand rupees.
For two thousand, they are willing to kill. So if you
want to kill somebody or if you want to get killed,
go to Bihar with two thousand somebody will do
the job for you. If you do not know how to shoot
yourself, give somebody two thousand and he will
shoot you. Good deal, isnt it? So everywhere, with
life and death, deals are going on.
From deals to devotion is a transformation. It is
like, If I give you flth, will you give me something
fragrant and wonderful? No! If I give you flth, you
will want to give me more flth. But please see how
the creation functions. If you give this tree flth, it
will give you fowers. This is the way of the Divine.
If you really become a devotee, you become the hand
of the Divine. That is how it will be. Whatever is
thrown at you is nourishing. Whatever comes your
way is wonderful for you, because whatever comes,
you know how to transform it into something
beautiful. That is devotion. A deal means, you want
to get the fowers and give the flth to somebody
else. If you make such a deal, you will get excluded
from any group of people. Ultimately, you will get
excluded from the way creation is happening. When
we say yoga, we are talking about a union. A union
means that you do not exist here as a creature by
yourself. You exist here as part of the Divine. You
exist here as part of the creation and the Creator. You
become one with everything. Union means that you
are not one little crawling creature that goes around
doing its own thing. But your whole juvenile idea of
freedom is that you want to do your own thing.
A wrong idea, a wrong attitude, a wrong emotion
can cause much more pain, damage, and destruction
than a bullet or a bomb or poison, for that matter.
This is why Asatoma Sadgamaya
2
Sadhguru,
I already said it. No, you must say it every moment
of your life. Every moment of your life, your journey
should be from untruth to truth. Otherwise, what
is not true can be made to look true in your mind.
Once you make untruth into truth in your mind,
that untruth will poison the very way you exist.
Then you wonder why suffering is coming in search
5
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
2
Invocation starting with from untruth, lead me to truth
6
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
3
A family is a tyranny ruled over by its weakest member. George Bernard Shaw
of you it is bound to. Suffering must come if you
are doing the wrong things.
Someone very carefully went up a tree, another fool
tried to run up and fell down. If nothing happens
to the one who ran up, the one who has the skill to
climb up is a fool. If for one who has paid attention,
one who has taken care to acquire the necessary skill
to do something in a proper way, and for a fool who
has not paid any attention to anything, it happens
the same way, then the man who paid attention to
all these things is a fool. So I am not really against
suffering. It is my wish that you should not suffer,
but if you are stupid and you want to do idiotic
things to yourself, you must suffer because only if
suffering comes, you will stop doing stupid things.
Suppose you have a wound which is drying up, you
want to scratch. If you scratch deep enough and it
hurts, you stop. Suppose it did not hurt, you would
pull out your intestines. If there was really no pain in
your body, as you sit in the sathsang, like you blow
chewing gum, you would blow your lungs out, to
show me what big lungs you have. Yes, you would
do that. Do not underestimate yourself. Do not
underestimate your own stupidity.
Wherever you do not know the pain you do not
know the pain of a tree, you do not know the pain
of an animal, you do not know the pain of other
things all those things, you are chopping. You
only preserve your own body. At least you know
this much. It just has to expand, thats all. Now
because you know the pain of your own body, you
are keeping it well. If you just begin to feel the pain
of the mountain, you would keep the mountain
well too. If you understand the pain of the cosmos,
you would keep everything well. That is what yoga
means union, that everything has become a part of
you. And devotion is that dimension which will very
effortlessly obliterate the boundaries between what
is you and what is not you. Otherwise, emotion is a
tool with which people constantly draw boundaries.
What is mine and what is yours is determined by
what kind of emotion you hold for this and what
kind of emotion you hold for that.
Who is your family, who is not? Family is a tyranny
3

Emotionally, you have drawn a boundary. With
this boundary, instead of becoming conscious, you
become constipated. When you become constipated,
it means you are just full of shit. Instead of being full
of Shiva, you are full of shit. If your consciousness
was wide open, you would not use your mind and
emotion to draw boundaries. You would use them to
unite everything. Your emotion is a way of making
somebody who is not a part of you right now, a part
of yourself. Is it a tool for unity, or is it a tool for
division? It is a tool for uniting. But right now, you
use it as a tool to divide.
So devotion means getting your emotion to that
level of maturity where everything unites. If you
use your emotion to divide the existence, not to
unite it, you are better without emotions. If you
are not emotional, if you are not passionate, at least
you would not act against anything. Right now,
emotion has become a destructive process that
means something nasty has happened. Emotion is a
beautiful thing, because devotion is an emotion. It is
the most beautiful emotion you can have. Bliss and
ecstasy are also emotions. If the necessary emotion
is not there, the chemistry in you will never become
ecstatic. The chemistry, the detonation You know
what an explosive is. This you must know, because
bombs are so much a part of our life today. There
are different kinds of explosives; I will not go into
the details because I do not want you to learn bomb
making. There are two aspects to an explosive: There
is an explosive material, but by itself it cannot go
off, it needs a detonator. A detonator either can be
lit like your Deepawali crackers you light it and it
goes boom, or it can be electrically charged with a
battery, or something else. But it needs a detonator,
something which sparks. Without that inside spark,
the explosive material is no use, it simply sits there
like mud. But with that little spark, it will go boom!
So emotion or devotion is that spark which can fre
human chemistry and human energy to a certain
level, where it is an explosion of ecstasy within you.
If this spark is not given, everything is there, but it
sits there like a pack of earth. Unfortunately, most
human beings are sitting there just like a lump of soil,
because nobody has set fre to them yet. So devotion
is that dimension which can bring that fre in you,
where the very dimension of who you are can be
dramatically altered within moments. Anything
else, you have to work at. Devotion is not like that.
If it gets on, it will transform you in a few moments.
There is no path which is quicker than devotion. It
delivers you right there.
7
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
OF Breath and LiFe EnerGies
Sadhguru on Vital Dimensions of Life
Questioner: Are breath and life energies the same? If
not, in which way are they related?
Sadhguru: When we say breath, in many ways,
it is life. In Tamil, we can say, Uyir poyiduchu
that means his life is gone, or we can say,
Usir poyiduchu that means his breath is gone.
In terms of usage of language, both mean the same.
So, on one level, your breath is life, but if you look
at it more closely, you can hold your breath and still
be alive. You can deny yourself breath up to three,
four, fve minutes and still you are on. If you have a
little more mastery, you can deny yourself breath for
much longer and still be on. So breath is sustaining
life, but breath is not life.
When you use the word life energy in English
language, it is commonly to refer to what we are
calling prana. Prana is referred to as life energy.
There are ten types of prana, but fve are more
relevant. The other fve are of a different nature
they are much subtler. That dimension will only
come into ones life when somebody has delved into
his system deep enough. So for now, we are talking
about fve life energies. As far as you are concerned,
life means you are properly attached to this body.
If you get detached from your body, that is not life.
On a social level, when people say my life, they
could either mean their marriage, their love affair,
their party, their job, their money, their home, their
wealth, their car, their drink or their cigarette
it could be anything. If you tell somebody not to
smoke, he might say, Why? Cant I live my life?
This is a life right now, a puff of smoke. So in social
usage, for different people, life means different
things.
The word life can be so many things, depending
on the context. Here, we are talking about life as
life. In that context for most people, life means you
are properly embedded in the body. If you get dis-
embedded or disembodied, you do not call that life.
But that is also life. Trapped in a package is one
thing, out of the package is another thing. These
days, everybody is talking about thinking out of the
box why not living outside the box? [Laughs]
So is breath, life energy? In one context, yes. If you
are willing to look a little deeper, no. Is life energy
life? No. When we say prana, we are still referring
to the physical nature of life. You know, annamaya
kosha, manomaya kosha, pranamaya kosha are still
physical. Then there are vinganamaya kosha and
anandamaya kosha
1
.
So what is life? Is breath, life energy? No, because
breath belongs to annamaya kosha. Only because
you have a physical body, you are breathing. The
pranic body need not breathe, but we can infuence
the pranic body by breathing in a certain way. We
can touch that dimension which we call life by
following the breath, but breath is not life. Breath is
not prana. And prana is not life.
You are a piece of life. That includes breath, that
includes body, that includes being, that includes
everything. A piece of life comes with all these
aspects. It is like lets say a car the whole thing is
a car. But if a child sits with just the steering wheel,
he thinks this is a car because he does the driving,
brrr he is the engine, so the steering wheel
is enough for him. But actually, the whole thing is
a car. So this whole thing is a piece of life. If you
remove one thing, even if the rest still exists, it is
not the whole thing anymore. In terms of lifes
experience for most people, it is all one. Only if
somebody sinks very deep into himself, there are
many dimensions to it.
- Excerpted from an evening sathsang with Sadhguru
during the Samyama program in February 2012
3
The fve sheaths of the body physical body, mental body, energy body, etheric body, bliss body
88
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Questioner: I have a college-going son. When my
husband comes home after offce parties where
he has had a few drinks, my son is very upset. My
husband says, You cant avoid drinks in such places.
You will look like an alien. My son is confused. I
am worried.
Sadhguru: If the son comes home drunk, I am sure
the father will be upset. If the wife comes home
drunk, I am sure he will freak out, isnt it so?
Right now, we are creating a culture in this country
that is very consciously engineered by commercial
forces, not by peoples choices. There was a time
where if you did not smoke, you were not a man.
This is over. Now they are making you feel if you
do not drink, you are not a man. And if you are a
successful man, you must drink. So we are creating
a culture that is not towards wellbeing. This is a
culture that is being nurtured by commercial forces
who are interested in selling what they want to sell.
Commercial forces are made in such a way that if
you are willing to eat mud, they will advertise and
make you eat mud; they have no issues with it.
Whether to drink or not is your choice. The
difference between death and life is in death you
are not alert, in life you are capable of being alert.
In sleep you are not alert; in wakefulness you are
capable of being alert. Life happens to you only when
you are alert and awake. A drink is intoxication,
which is taking you away from alertness. Your
evening drink or your offce party drink seems to be
such a big relief right now because you do not know
how to make this mind into a blissful process.
If your mind is stressed, tense, and miserable,
intoxication looks like a great relief. If you give this
message to your life energies, that anything that
moves away from life is a relief, then somewhere,
the life within you understands that you want to
move towards death, and maybe it will deliver you
there very quickly.
Right now, your mind is a torturous process. Drink
is the only break you have. I can teach you a method
with which you can keep your mind in such a
way that every moment of your life, your mind is
blissful. If you become blissful by your own nature,
would you want to intoxicate yourself? You would
not want to.
DrinKinG Choices
Sadhguru on Alcohol and other Intoxicants
99 July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
An excerpt from a darshan with Sadhguru at
Isha Yoga Center on 17 March 2011
Q: Sadhguru, yogis and siddhas have spoken about
a certain amrit within the body that is supposed
to be the source of eternal youth, wellbeing, and
ecstasy. Where is it in my body?
Sadhguru: There are many people here, if they just
close their eyes, tears of ecstasy will fow. And it
is not just in their eyes; every cell in their body
oozes a certain ecstasy. Ecstasy will not happen
unless your chemistry cooperates. Without your
chemistry cooperating, no ecstasy can happen; no
experience can happen, for that matter. So it is
the chemistry of ecstasy which is being referred
to as amrit. There is substantial medical research
and evidence today that if a person is blissful or
ecstatic, his lifespan will increase, his health will
be fantastic, everything will be right with his
body and mind. If you do certain simple things,
you will generate a certain chemistry of ecstasy.
Where is it? In certain points of your body, it is
more concentrated, but it is in every cell of your
body. An allopathic doctor, who is doing various
kinds of research, using bio-resonance and
many other methods, checked me up some time
back. He put me through all kinds of tests and
concluded that my cellular age is only twenty-fve.
Everything else may be ageing, but my cellular
age is still twenty-fve. In terms of activity, I can
keep up with people who are twenty-fve years of
age; many times, they fall down. I do not exercise
regularly; physically, I am not very ft, yet my
system can take much more activity, simply
because if you are in a certain state of experience,
your very system functions in a different way.
This can be scientifcally measured today and is
established as a physiological fact.
So there are certain points, certain nadis in the
system that, if activated, will make you ecstatic.
The yogis have many ways of doing it. You do
not want to do enough sadhana to get there;
you want to be there instantaneously. We can
get you there instantaneously, but you staying
there is a problem; sustainability is the problem
everywhere. You may have had big experiences,
but you are not able to sustain them. If you want
to know how your system functions, you must
get a scorpion sting the whole nervous system
will pulsate. Particularly the brown-colored
scorpion in the mountains if it stings you, it hits
the parasympathetic nerves and you will clearly
feel, your body is like a network of wires. Yogis
learn to master the pain, and after that, it becomes
ecstatic.
The siddhas in this part of the country always
mastered this because they saw the fipside of life.
In Tamil Nadu, navapashana, a deadly combination
of nine different types of poison, is considered as
the greatest medicine. Mercury is considered as
poison in the western world. Here, we are using
mercury and it works very well because there is a
fipside to everything. If you know how to handle
the fipside, what is death for somebody else will
become life for you. What is poison for somebody
else will become ambrosia for you. You are not
ready for the scorpion sting, so tomorrow morning
05:30, you must be in the Sadhana Hall. Either you
must be ready for drastic methods, or you must
slowly work on it. If you do not do either, you will
be like a sack of potatoes nothing more. You may
do many things, but still nothing will really go
deep enough to bring tears of ecstasy into your life;
you will just be on the surface. There is nothing
wrong with the surface, but it is not good enough
for a human being, thats all.
AMrit The StuFF oF LeGends
Sadhguru on the Chemist of Ecstasy
1
Lord Murugan, a son of Shiva
10
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Excerpted from a recent edition of the
In Conversation with the Mystic series, the following
is the third part of the episode The Business of
Environment, where Sadhguru, Seemantinee
Khot of Suzlon, a global wind power company, and
Jacques Rocher of Yves Rocher Group, a worldwide
cosmetics and beauty brand, discuss the question of
how to prevent the looming environmental disaster.
Sadhguru: The problem is not small. In a resigned
way, some people say, Its okay, nature will correct
it. Yes, for sure nature will correct it. The correction
will be reducing human populations. And whenever
human populations are reduced, you do not see it as
a solution; you see it as a disaster. A natural disaster
means, Mother Earth is not even supposed to fex
her muscles. She is not even allowed to stretch her
hands or legs. If she does such a thing, a hundred
thousand people will die because human beings are
just everywhere, where they are not supposed to be.
She cannot even sneeze. If a volcano erupts, right
there, they have built towns around a live volcano!
We are wonderful, but we are too many. We need to
reduce our wonderfulness. [Laughs]
If all the countries in the world take this up, that
they will aim to reduce their populations, that itself
will be a great solution. In forty years time, you
can bring down the human population at least by
twenty-fve percent if only the necessary laws are
made. Reducing the human population is very much
achievable. The Chinese have done it. Everybody
comments about it people think making politics
out of it is a great solution. But one of the biggest
impediments to bringing such laws and to enforcing
them in order to make sure human populations come
down are the religions of the world. They want
more people for their congregations and they want
to produce more deprived people who will get up
early in the morning and come to the congregation.
[Laughter and applause] So the religions of the
world have to be controlled by laws. They have no
business to talk about things for which they have
no solutions. They must restrain themselves to
whatever their expertise is.
So, human numbers are the biggest problem. And
if you look at it that way, it is a simple arithmetic
problem. You have to subtract; you should not
multiply. Is it so diffcult to get this? One thing is by
awareness; another thing is by making the necessary
laws. We have to bring down human population;
there is no other way. In India today, per capita we
have only twenty percent of the potable water that
we had in 1947. By 2025, we will have only seven
percent of that! Right now, you are drinking water
from the bottle. By 2025, in Chennai and Mumbai,
your morning bath will be with a single bottle. It
will not be with buckets of water.
These are not some doomsayers predictions. These
are realistic calculations, and facts. It is heading
that way rapidly. For the necessary laws to come,
the frst thing is, the businesses have to ease the
throttle on the law-makers a bit. They should not
be constantly looking at proft alone. If businesses
have to exist, people have to live. And if people
have to live, ecology has to be good. All this looks
like empty philosophy, so the immediate solution is
large-scale planting of trees. We should get many
corporates who have the necessary money to do it.
And we must involve the local people in making it
happen.
The planet is for all of us and we cannot exist here
by ourselves. Our existence here is not because of
our economic activity. We are living here because of
the natural process that is happening, not because of
economic activity. Right now we are made to believe
that you will live well because of the percentages of
growth in this country. No. We will live well here if
everything is green, beautiful, water is fowing, and
the air is pure. This idea has to go into every human
beings mind, into every citizens mind, into every
childs mind. And we should not have so many
youth in this country. We have been breeding too
much. We are very proud to say we have the largest
number of youth. Yes, we have them. We have to
train them and make sure that they build a better
world tomorrow that is a different thing. But there
is nothing to be proud of. We should not continue to
think we must always have lots of young people. It is
very important that we get these things in the right
perspective. So, people in responsible positions need
to be made to understand Just about everywhere in
the world, people holding very responsible positions
The Business of Environment Part 4
have no clue about any ecological matters, not even
the simple statistics that are in the newspaper. It is
shocking that many lawmakers and business people
have never even bothered to acquaint themselves
with these facts because they are busy with
something else. It is very important that it sinks into
everybody. Awareness campaigns are as important
as action-oriented campaigns. Action seems to be a
solution, but it is not as long as the reverse action is
happening if Jacques plants ffty million trees in
fve years, we will take another ten years to make
them grow, and someone else will remove them in
three days. So awareness is as important as action.
Jacques: I have a question. At the beginning of the
last century, twenty percent of the population lived
in the city. Now worldwide, ffty percent of the
population lives in the city. I have the feeling that
people who live in the city are disconnected from
nature. Nature has become like a concept for them,
like a TV show, you know
Sadhguru: Defnitely, it is true. At the same time,
on an intellectual level, people who are living in
the cities are probably far more aware of ecological
concerns than people who are living in the village.
In the village, they are connected to the land in a
certain way, but if you talk
to them about ecology, they
have no clue what it is. It does
not matter to them; chopping
a tree means to them making
agriculture happen. Because
of the media, because of the
internet, people in the cities are
aware of it, intellectually. They
may not know what a tree is,
but they know we need a tree.
[Laughter, applause]
12
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Saiby a was another woman who played a very
important role in Krishnas life. She is interesting
because she hated Krishna. She wanted to kill
him. Any number of times, she approached him
with a knife hidden in the folds of her sari, just
waiting for an opportunity to stab him. Saibya
was the niece of Srigala Vasudeva, the king of
Karavirapur. Srigala Vasudeva was a stupidly
pompous man. Probably to play a joke on him,
they told him, You are God himself. Because
he had the same second name as Krishna, they
said, You are the Vasudeva that the prophecies
have talked about. So he started believing that
he really was God. Because there was no other
quality in him that would make him divine, he
started dressing up like God or whatever people
believe God is dressed up like you know, like the
calendar gods. [Laughter] And because the sages,
seers, and learned men of the country did not
approve of this, he caught hold of all of them, put
them in dungeons and prisons, and closed down
their ashrams. And he announced to everybody,
I am God. Here I am, Vasudeva.
Right from her childhood, Saibya got brainwashed
to believe that her uncle was really God. She was
a spirited woman, dark and exquisitely beautiful.
She totally believed that her uncle was God, so
anybody who said anything against his godhood
would just disappear, of course into the lap of
God. [Laughter] Srigala Vasudeva happened to
be a Yadava, that is the same community and
tribe as Krishna, so when Krishna had to escape
from Mathura, people told him, Go to Srigala
Vasudeva. Hell give you refuge. But on the way,
he happened to meet Parashurama, the great
warrior sage. Parashurama said, Srigala Vasudeva
is a pompous man. He has no sense. He may just
sell you off for any reason. And for that matter,
any king may sell you off for any reason. Kings
and rulers of nations are not reliable. They are
only thinking of what is advantageous to them.
They may just sell you and have you dead. So
dont go there. And he took Krishna and his
people to the Gomantak where the Garuda tribe
lived who served Krishna till the end of his life.
Vainateya, this cripple boy whose ability to walk
Krishna restored, stood by him till his last breath.
So Krishna did not go to Karavirapur at that time.
But later on, he went, because Srigala Vasudeva
was making an alliance with Jarasandha, the
tyrant emperor who had imperial ambitions of
brutally conquering everybody. When Krishna
arrived and sent a messenger saying he wished to
talk to him, Srigala Vasudeva responded, How
dare he come here? I am the god. Is he coming to
claim his godhood now? He was a pompous fool,
but somehow Saibya, a very spirited and sensible
girl, was trapped in this belief that he is God and
worshipped him. And in many ways, she was the
brain behind enhancing his power.
So when Kri shna sent a messenger, Srigala
Vasudeva discarded the message, imprisoned the
messenger, and said, Im going to go and teach him
a lesson, and he got into his fanciful chariot with
four wheels. Generally, the battle chariots always
had two wheels that were small and maneuverable.
They were not made for comfort; they were made
for speed and dexterity. But Srigala Vasudeva had
a huge, four-wheeled, golden chariot in which he
expected to fght because he had never fought a
battle in his life. His chariot was too heavy; it was
only good for going around in the town, showing
off his godhood. So he took this chariot and
LeeLa Series
The path of the playful Part XXXIII
Krishna and the Women 4
Saibya 1
13 July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
charged outside his fort. Where is that Krishna?
Im going to put him to death. He believed that
he had divine powers and that they would come
to him when he needed them. Krishna saw Srigala
coming and thought he had come to welcome and
meet him, so Krishna started coming towards him
in his chariot. Srigala loaded his bow and started
shooting. There was no danger because the man
could not shoot straight. His arrows were fying
all over. Krishna was trying to indicate to him,
Lets talk. What is there to fght? I have not come
for your kingdom. Ive just come to talk to you
about the wrong alliances that youre making.
Srigala went on shooting and both were coming
closer to each other.
Krishna made his horses rear and just dashed
against Srigalas horses. Srigalas big chariot spun
out of control. When Srigala came up to him
again, Krishna said, Dont. But Srigala shot. The
arrow came and knocked off Krishnas diadem.
Krishna did not like it. He fancied these peacock
feathers and all these things. [Laughter] He did
not mind people abusing him or even harming his
body, but he did not like somebody touching these
things. [Laughter] So he being an expert with the
discus, he just threw his discus and Srigala was
dismembered in a moment. People who believed
Srigala was God were broken. They could not
believe that a god was being dismembered like
this without any effort, without much fanfare,
just one throw of the discus and he was done.
Then Krishna came into the town and people
thought that since he killed the king, he was going
to claim the kingdom. But instead of that, he
established Srigalas son Sahadeva as the king. He
stayed there for a while to make sure the young
boy got hold of the kingdom. In the meantime,
Saibya had enough time to express her hatred and
her intention of putting an end to Krishna, who
was very amused by her fre.
Svetaketu, a close friend of Krishna who studied
with him when he was with his guru Sandipani,
was the teacher of martial arts in Srigala
Vasudevas kingdom. Svetaketu was madly in love
with Saibya, but she was such a fery woman, he
never dared to express it to her. And now Udhava,
Krishnas close aide and assistant who was with
him all the time, saw Saibya and fell in love with
her too. He was mad about her. He would neither
eat nor sleep because he was in love with this
woman. He wanted to abduct her and take her as
his bride, which was a chivalrous thing to do for a
Kshatriya man. But he knew his close friend was
in love with this woman too, so he was struggling
within himself. He wanted the woman but he did
not want to hurt his friend.
This came to Krishnas notice. He was thoroughly
enjoying the whole drama that was going on
between Svetaketu, Udhava, and Saibya. Saibyas
hatred for him, her murderous intent, and these
two men eating their hearts out he thoroughly
enjoyed and fueled it. Then Udhava came and
poured his heart out, You are having fun but I
am just dying This longing for this woman is
so strong, I dont know what I will do next, but
I know my close friend, my brother is in love
with this woman too. I dont want to destroy his
life. What shall I do? The only way is to end my
life; I cannot live with this, nor can I forget this
woman. Krishna said, Shall I tell you what I do
with woman? Any woman who matters to me in
some way, frst thing is, I build an altar of love
for her. If she is a raging fre, it is one way. If she
is in a different mode, it is another way. So she
could become my mother, my sister, my wife,
my lover she could become anything; it is her
choice. I leave to her what she becomes to me. Do
that too. Build an altar for Saibya. Let Svetaketu
also build an altar for her. Let another thousand
men build altars for her. Leave it to her in what
way she wants to relate to you.
Udhava said, That is very hard. And if I do that,
I may not get her. So Krishna said, That is the
problem with you. You want to get her. She is
not a thing. She is not something that you can
possess. If you forcefully take her, maybe you
can take her body, but you will never know the
joy of being with another being. You will miss
the whole point. If you are just treating her as a
wayside fre to warm yourself for a few days, it
is adharma, unrighteousness. This is not the way.
You are my aide in establishing this dharma; let
it percolate into every aspect of your life. It is not
about talking dharma to other kings and we doing
14
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
what we want with our lives. Let dharma come
into our lives. I have told Svetaketu the same
thing, to build an altar for her and wait. Lets see
which way she goes. Once you have built an altar
for her, she is your sacred fre. She will always
warm you in some way; because she is precious to
you, in some way, she will be nice to you.
What you are saying is so hard, Udhava said.
Krishna replied, Yes, to live by the dharma is
hard. It is not an easy life, but it is very, very
fulflling to live like this. And above all, if you live
like this, you can have many fres in your life that
will always keep you warm. You can enjoy life
in all dimensions. If you try to possess her, you
will know only the physicality of her and nothing
else. But Udhava wanted an easy solution. Pick
her up and go that is the solution he wanted.
Talking to Udhava through the night, Krishna
slowly turned him around and Udhava promised
to wait. To avoid Saibya, he wanted to take Sanyas.
He said, I am going to Badri in the Himalayas. I
cant get this woman off my mind. And I dont
want to hurt my friend, so I will go away. I dont
want this materialistic life. I dont want to look
at another woman. Krishna said, Not everybody
can stay away from a woman and still live a
vigorous life. If you can, theres nothing better
than that. But most people, if they stay away
from the opposite sex, will be dead while alive.
They only manage to avoid life. They will never
manage to live life. If one can live life totally
without the opposite sex, he is an established
yogi, a true brahmachari. But if one stays away
from the woman and avoids life, he is no good.
He has missed both the worlds. If you go to Badri,
Saibya will not leave your mind. She will haunt
you day and night. You must handle it here. There
is no point running away. Finally, Udhava took a
vow: I will build an altar and wait. Whatever she
wishes, let it happen. Right now, in my passion
for this woman, I want to stick a knife into my
friend, but I will see that I maintain a loving and
close relationship with him. And I will stay away
from this woman, but I will wait.
Saibya and her uncle, the pompous fool Srigala
Vasudeva, had treated Padmavati, the actual
queen, very badly for a few years. Now that
Srigala was dead and his son Sahadeva had
become the king, Padmavati regained her power.
Krishna saw that if he leaves Saibya there, she
will get it. She would really have a bad time
because Padmavati was going to take vengeance.
So he advised Saibya, Come with me to Mathura
as my sister. You lost your parents very young. I
will convince my mother Devaki and my father
Vasudeva to be your true parents. When Krishna
spoke to her, she was a torrent of abuse. She called
him a fake, a fraud, a murderer and every possible
name. Krishna smiled and continued to taunt her
and talk to her. The more coolly he approached
her, the more fery and uncontrollable she
became. She went into peaks of anger and depths
of depression. She was constantly going through
anger and crying because she had built her
life around Srigala and the idea that he is God
himself and now this god was dead. She just
did not know what to do with her life. And she
knew she had no future in Karavirapur. Her life
was under threat. She had been a princess all her
life, now she had nowhere to go, so she was going
through this turmoil.
So Krishna took her along. All along the way,
she gave him the choicest of words. She abused
him in every possible way. People around him
felt that he was taking too much of this nonsense.
They started resenting the way this woman was
spewing venom on Krishna. What right does she
have to speak like this endlessly? But Krishna
was not perturbed for a moment. He told them, I
have taken her as my sister. Whatever she does,
she is my kid sister. It is okay what she does. Till I
hand her over to her parents, who are mine, dont
bother. And he took her there and handed her
over to his mother, Devaki, and said, She must be
treated as the daughter of the house, because she
has nobody and she is a wonderful girl. Right now,
she hates the world that is the only problem.
Otherwise, this is really a wonderful girl.
To be continued
15 July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
A Wave of Bliss in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas is known globally for its energy
industry particularly oil and gas but from
4 to 6 May, energy of a different kind made waves in
the city as Sadhguru conducted an Inner Engineering
program at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
With almost one thousand participants, it was the
largest such program in the US so far.
After Sadhguru had announced last year that he
wanted to start a wave of bliss in the U.S. and
personally conduct three-day Inner Engineering
programs for thousands of people, volunteers from
different parts of the country fercely competed to
have the program in their area. But once Houston
was selected, its comparatively small but intense
volunteer base, teachers, iii residents, and volunteers
from all over the United States joined together to
make his visit a great success.
As their efforts came to fruition and 964 participants
sat in front of Sadhguru, he began by asking the
participants to introduce themselves and share
why they were there. The participants reasons for
attending the program varied from loving Sadhgurus
jokes, to knowing people who have been positively
impacted by Ishas programs, to wanting to look at
the world in a different way. Sadhguru reduced their
responses to a common denominator desire, and
spoke about its role in our lives: When something
you want doesnt happen, it makes you miserable,
isnt it so? Desire seems to be the source of misery. At
the same time, if you compromise the desire, in some
way, you compromise your life process. Why is it
like this? It seems to be the basis of your life and the
basis of your misery, so some conclude: life is misery.
Life is not misery, nor is it joy. Life is simply there.
Either you can experience it joyfully or miserably.
The second day of the program took place on
Buddha Pournima, which commemorates the birth,
enlightenment, and ultimate liberation of Gautama
the Buddha. As Sadhguru had mentioned the day
before, this had not been planned but was a pleasant
coincidence. Day two was marked by discussions
and an introduction to Shambhavi Mahamudra.
It was amazing to see these 1000 future meditators
moving together towards a new dimension of
experience. Sadhguru answered their questions with
wit and candor. A couple of quotes: The problem
is not with the content of your life. You have
simply missed the context of your life. Intuition
is a different dimension of computing and not a
different dimension of perception. That evening,
many participants, volunteers, and guests stayed for
a Buddha Pournima celebration, where Sadhguru
spoke about the life and the dedication of Gautama
Buddha in his search for truth.
The last day of the program began with a lively
morning session and culminated in the event that
all had been eagerly waiting for the initiation into
Shambhavi Mahamudra. The space was vibrating with
intensity as this powerful process was transmitted to
them and a tremendous inner possibility opened up
in their lives.
Sadhguru about the mega program (excerpted from
Sadhguru Spot): A wonderful group of people and
an outstanding level of organization; hats off to
our teachers and volunteers. This effort to conduct
Mega Programs is a serious attempt to ignite a
silent revolution of self-realization. Raising human
consciousness is the most important action that the
world needs. This must be done now before it is
too late. Isha-USA will go into an overdrive in the
coming year Buckle up.
The next mega program in the USA will take place in
Detroit this October.
Almost 1000 Participated in Sadhgurus Program
Sadhgurus mega program in Houston, Texas, was
accompanied by a number of other events across the
USA. A day before the program, on 3 May, during
an evening event with Sadhguru, Houstons Mayor
Annise Parker proclaimed the day as Sadhguru
Jaggi Vasudev Day. The event, which included
a discourse by Sadhguru as well as a moonlight
dinner, was hosted by several local organizations
and attended by around 200 community leaders
from different walks of life.
The Inner Engineering mega program in
Houston from 4 to 6 May was followed by a series
of meetings and yantra consecrations in different
parts of the country.
On 12 May, from the Isha Institute of Inner Sciences
(iii), Sadhguru delivered a live video address to all
of the sathsangs (monthly gatherings of meditators)
across the country. Volunteers and visitors gathered
in Mahima and Sadhguru interacted live through
video conferencing with meditators in Detroit,
the city that will be hosting the next Sadhguru-led
Inner Engineering 3-day program in October.
During the sathsang, Sadhguru spoke about
experiencing ones life as a song:
When I say a song People have always thought
that only if you sing a lyric, it is a song. No, if you
listen carefully enough, if you are willing to put
all of you everything that you are into your
listening, and if there is nothing left in you, if
your listening becomes everything, you will see
everything is a song. Not because youre listening,
simply because you have put yourself out
everything becomes a song.
So if one has to know the song of the divine if one
has to hear the divine, if one has to feel the divine,
above all if one has to become the divine, what is
needed is do something, just about anything,
which is not about you, and do it in such a way like
this is the last moment of action. Do it in such a way
that you throw your everything into what youre
doing. You will see, life will become a song. What
is toil for somebody will become divine melody for
you if only youre willing to put everything that you
are into whatever youre doing right now.
Dont miss Sadhgurus corresponding poem on the
front cover!
16
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Isha across the USA
Highlights of Sadhgurus Recent US Visit
17 July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
A team of Isha meditators, comprised of both
resident volunteers and senior CEOs, got together
on 28 May 2012 for a very exciting and frst-of-its-
kind brain-storming session at the Isha Yoga Center.
One of the worlds foremost authorities on leadership
and management, Professor Dr. Ram Charan, was
leading the session. The professor spent long hours
with the team, structuring the four-day Leadership
Seminar and Workshop scheduled this November
called Insight DNA of Success. First in a series,
this workshop is aimed at two hundred ambitious
and committed entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.
Some of Indias most celebrated business leaders
and top CEOs have enthusiastically signed up as
resource persons for the event.
The Isha team was amazed at the rich experience and
leadership lessons that emerged in the brainstorming
sessions. Above all, the level of detail that went into
designing each aspect of the workshop was truly
impressive. Though the days started early and many
of the participants had fown halfway across the
globe to be there, their energy and fervor kept the
team going through multiple sessions till it was time
to catch the fight back home.
Isha is moving forward with major strides in the
exciting feld of Leadership Education. Sadhgurus
global vision for the event combined with the rich
experience of the guides and the hungry minds of
the participants is a sure recipe for success.
Stay tuned for more as we forge ahead!
Isha Enters Leadership Education
On 29 May 2012, a group of 75 business
owners, entrepreneurs, investors
and managers with a wide variety of
skills and talents came together at iii,
McMinnville, Tennessee, to explore
new methods of supporting Ishas
mission to raise human consciousness.
Key projects were discussed that would
support Ishas objectives while also
allowing the entrepreneur, investor
and business professional to achieve
appropriate returns for their effort
and investment. These included
core projects that dealt directly with
the dissemination of the tools for
wellbeing created by Sadhguru, as
well as supporting projects that would
enhance the variety and exuberance
of Ishas presence across the USA.
The attendees were excited to look at
the possibilities in which they could
participate in Ishas work while being
able to meet their fnancial obligations.
New ideas and ventures were proposed. As they were breaking into smaller groups
within Mahima, Sadhguru came and joined in the discussion. He answered questions,
provided clarity, and helped people to see ways to get involved. With the resolve to
come up with detailed plans on the various projects, the meeting concluded.
The First Invest in Consciousness Meet at iii
With what you get, you can make a living.
Only with what you give, you can make a life.

Sadhguru
18
July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Visit: Sadhguru.org/spot for weekly updated
Musings from the Master
After Houston, its been a blitz of activity including
Bhava Spandana, Sathsang in Atlanta and of course
the Federal Aviation Authority certifcation that
included cross-country tests and a check ride. Well,
now I can fy by myself without an instructor at
least in the USA. There are a few more hurdles to be
crossed in India. There was also a meet for investing
in consciousness, an opportunity for meditators
to invest in businesses complementary to Ishas
work to create an opportunity to contribute and at
the same time beneft. The world has reached a point
where consciousness can no more be something that
you entertain yourself with part-time. Millions of
people have to strive full-time to make this happen
as raising human consciousness is the missing
link that has made us that is, this generation of
people the most privileged in terms of comfort and
convenience, at the same time, humanity seems to
be at a crossroads like never before. Unconsciously,
we as a generation have bitten into the planet like
no other generation ever, to a point where future
generations may have only leftovers of the planetary
pie. We refer to her as Mother Earth but we have
treated her as a commodity or a goody shop.
Here I am upon a perch looking down at Central
Park in New York City, a rectangular patch of life
surrounded by our fascination for concrete. Our
ability to create comfort has not translated into
wellbeing. This level of comfort has not worked to
enable humanity to new possibilities but has crippled
us to a generation with the weakest bodies ever. The
body is not just fesh and bone but brain too, and
an abode to a larger possibility. This body will not
regain its natural strength on a treadmill or in the
air-conditioned gym. This body is an elemental soup,
a piece of this planet, and only when in contact and
communion with the elements and the earth will it
know the full glory and the ecstasy of life.
We have everything in place for the frst time. There
is resource, there is technology and there is capability
to address all issues upon the planet, the only missing
ingredient is an enhanced consciousness. One must
know that boundaries are meaningful for physical
entities or bodies. Unfortunately it has extended
into human mindspace and crippled that miracle. It
is only when touched by consciousness that humans
will break boundaries and become truly inclusive. In
this inclusiveness lies the solution for all problems
that torment the human creature. If you want to see
a blissful humanity, we need to invest.
Lets make it happen.
Love & Grace
Sadhguru
Spot
Musings from the Master
NoW FLYinG SoLo
Excerted fom
Sadhguru Spot of 6 June 2012
A MovinG EXistence
These connections,
This intimacy,
This compassion,
And this learning.
When I feel I know,
I dont really know,
When I see myself close,
I am still behind,
And in this distance,
I see your existence.
I run after you sometimes,
I stop at a safe distance,
I fear the proximity,
But desire an embrace,
I try to refect the words stuck in my throat,
Trying to consume the moment in my eyes,
When I try to look back at it,
I see in the haze;
My Passion,
My Actions,
My Words,
My Thoughts,
All but Nothing,
A moving Existence.
Malavika Reddy, Isha meditator, Hyderabad
Sharing
Exeriences
July 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
12 - 15 Jul 2012
Inner Engineering Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515421
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
15 - 21 Jul 2012
Isha Summer Program
for Children
Isha Institute of
Inner Sciences, USA
+1-931-570-4438
childrenscamp.iii@ishafoundation.org
17 Jul 2012 Pancha Bhuta Aradhana
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515426, 94878 95878
pba@ishafoundation.org
26 - 29 Jul 2012
Inner Engineering Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515421
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
2 - 5 Aug 2012
Bhava Spandana
Program (Ladies)
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishayoga.org
7 - 9 Aug 2012
Hata Yoga
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishayoga.org
9 - 12 Aug 2012
Inner Engineering Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515421
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
11 - 14 Aug 2012
Shoonya Intensive
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
programinfo@ishayoga.org
11 - 12 Aug 2012
Shambhavi Mahamudra
Program
Conducted by Sadhguru
Melbourne,
Australia
+61-433643215
australia@ishayoga.org
16 Aug 2012 Sathsang with Sadhguru
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
+60-164602719
malaysia@ishayoga.org
18 Aug 2012 Sathsang with Sadhguru Singapore
+65-96660197
singapore@ishayoga.org
23 - 26 Aug 2012
Inner Engineering Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515421
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
21 July 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Isha Recipes For Healthy Living
Gram four, also known as besan, is made from raw or roasted chickpeas. It
is a staple ingredient in South Asian cuisines. The roasted variety is more
favorful, while the raw variety has a slightly bitter taste.
Gram four is very nutritious as it contains a high proportion of carbohydrates
(over 50%) and protein (over 20%). Gram four is also loaded with vitamins
and minerals, particularly folate (vitamin B9), thiamin (vitamin B1), vitamin
B6, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, copper, manganese, vitamin
K, and zinc.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups Cashew nuts
cup Fresh mint leaves
1 cups Gram four
1 teaspoon Ginger paste
1 teaspoon Red chili paste
1 teaspoon Fennel seeds
Salt to taste
Oil to deep-fry
METHOD OF PREPARATION
1. Chop the mint fne.
2. Put gram four in a deep bowl and add the cashew nuts, mint, ginger paste,
red chili paste, fennel seeds, and salt to taste. Add water, a little at a time,
until the mixture is bound together.
3. Heat suffcient oil in a kadai
1
/wok and add small portions of mixture with
the hand or using a spoon. Fry till golden brown.
4. Remove fritters using a slotted spoon and drain on tissue paper so that
excess oil is absorbed.
5. Serve hot.
Cashew Mint Pakora
1
Traditional South Indian cooking pot
Forest Flower
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