I love you. Keep Calm and Hold on. (Yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism, Stoicism)

 Yogic Culture births Hinduism. Hinduism births Buddhism. And perhaps Stoicism?

In times like these, one is tempted to be sucked into the doldrums that besiege our nation- the alarming number of Covid cases has become a daily scoreboard for public sentiment. At time of writing, the numbers are at an all time high of 11,618 new cases. The higher the numbers climb, the more the hopeless masses sink into despair. Who can blame them? Their livelihoods have been severely curtailed, jobs have been wiped out, businesses have shutdown for months now. No solution is yet in sight.

How will people feed themselves or their families? How do they even survive? 

Here I distract myself from answering questions that have no plausible answers but write about spirituality because spirituality is where I seek solace and more importantly, clarity. While solace is a temporary feeling, clarity is actionable.

While I try to maintain an even keel with my life grounded in Stoicism principles outlined in my previous blog- Here- Stoicism, I am also a devotee of Hinduism, deeply rooted in the Yogic culture. 

I have come to realise there are great similarities in the two. Whether they are related or not I do not know.

I would like to highlight 5 Yogic Principles extolled numerous times by one of the most lucid and eloquent thinker and speaker on the subject of life. 

With great reverence and gratitude I would like to share practical enlightenment from Sadhguru.

1. Keep Account of Your Joy.

Everyday (Covid or no) all sorts of things and events happen to our life, most of which we have no control over. So what's important is that no matter what happens in our life situation, we must stay joyful and keep score of how many moments of Joy you have. Joy is not a goal to attain, joy is available to you at any time. Joy means you're at ease with no pain in the body or trouble in the mind. 

These are the only two kinds of human suffering- body and mind. 

Joy means life has come to ease you not mess you up. If you are at ease, your are in Joy. 

2. Eating With Gratitude.

Whatever you eat, just like whatever you do, you must do it consciously. There is life in food, as we consume it, it gives us life, keeping us alive. Therefore it is life giving material, so whatever and whenever we eat we must eat with reverence and gratitude. Especially now, when people aren't certain when they will have their next meal.

3. Connecting With The Earth.

This very earth that we walk upon has a certain power and memory. After all, all life on this planet has come out of this earth. Spend a few minutes outdoors in your garden, staying in touch with mother earth, touching the soil with our palms and our soles to connect with nature, touching the plants, the flowers and the trees. 

This is the basis of our life, this will harmonise our system. 

4. Wake Up With A Smile.

Before going to sleep each night, sit in bed for two minutes and imagine you're going to die in two minutes time. Then see how you sleep. You will see that when or if you wake up you will feel like a 'newborn'. If you are still alive, then give yourself a Big Smile. Statistics show some people may not wake up tomorrow morning. Being alive is the greatest thing happening to you. Not your possessions, not your family, not your titles or achievements. You're Alive right now. So Smile. Life is indeed very brief.

5. Resolve to get High on Life.

Your ability to live on this planet is essentially how well you can harness your body and your mind. To harness this, it's very important to keep a little space between You and your body and You and your mind. Remember whatever suffering is only experienced in the body or the mind. There is no other kind of suffering- only Physical suffering and Mental suffering. When you can keep a little distance between You and the body and mind, there is no fear of suffering. If you can do this for just a few minutes a day, you will truly get high on life. 

Only then you will explore the full depth and dimension of this life. 

All you need to resolve to do is;  Meditate.

If you'd like to do so, go to my earlier posts > Meditation #1, or Meditate #2, or Be Still  or Meditation #4 or just scroll down to the last post before this. Try it. It's highly recommended.

Stay Safe. Stay Joyful.

I love you. Feel More, Think Less.

Thoughts Vs. Feelings. 

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

At times one would think that it is impossible to stop thinking. 

We have been so used to be told what to do and what to think, that it's even unthinkable to not think!

But in the off chance when we are not thinking, we slip into a state of feeling.  

Feeling is not thinking as it doesn't happen in the mind.

It happens in all of our being- our sense perceptions. 

Thinking cannot define feelings because feelings are not conclusive. 

Feelings are fleeting, feelings are to be fully experienced in the moment. 

That feeling need not and cannot be described. 

All the mind can comprehend is that it is a 'nice' feeling.

Let's take love. How does the mind define love? It cannot.

That is why there are so many different definitions of love coming from just one person.

And no one ever said that love is evil.

Love is all there is.

Connect with love through your feelings.

Here's how to differentiate the two;

Thoughts.

1. It seeks self aggrandisement.

2. It's a past event. 

3. It's a future event. 

4. It makes you feel anxious. 

5. It makes you feel regret.

6. It makes you angry. 

Feelings. 

1. Connected to everything & everyone in the present. 

2. No resistance to what is. 

3. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching everything as they are. With no judgement. 

4. Paying attention to my interior (my body, inner space,) as well as the exterior. 

5. It makes me happy.

I love you. Be Still.

 Stillness is Meditation #3

Photo by Huper by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

Stillness is the nature of the source. 

Activity is the nature of the surface. 

Stillness is super dynamism. 

Every activity with any intensity will exhaust you. 

Stillness is building a bridge between the physical and non physical.

With super dynamic activity by being absolutely still. 

Yoga is a form of meditation and meditation is a form of yoga. 

Yoga simply means union. 

It is the union of all of our sense perceptions with the inner being or the cosmos. 

It is intense and relaxed at the same time. 

Access stillness through Meditation. 

Maintain a certain tension in body. Stare at a space then breathe slowly relaxing your breath, eyes, moving from the top of the head down to the toes for 11-21 minutes. 

Life is about enhancing perceptions. When you build a bridge from the physical with the non physical - core of who you are, you are not prejudiced with life. 

You will see everyone as an aspect of you.