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• Personal Growth

January 2003

By Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

People try to create an outwardly perfect life, but the quality of life is based on the inward.

Profile – Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
‘‘I want you to know the power, the liberation of another kind of science, the inner science, the yogic science through which you can become the master of your own destiny.’’
—Sadhguru

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a Realised Master, Yogi and one of the most profound mystics of modern times. His work is an outpouring of his blissfulness that finds expression in the form of uninhibited compassion, love and a ceaseless offering to help all beings. Belonging to no particular tradition, Sadhguru incorporates what is most valid for the modern seeker from the spiritual sciences. He offers yoga as the absolute potential to participate in the exclusive mystery of existence. The Master is a bridge to the Divine who offers humanity an opportunity and possibility to transcend the body and mind and experience the boundless divine bliss within.

Sadhguru’s teachings have transformed multitudes and his energy has helped relieve people of their physical and mental suffering. He is available to all who are willing in ways beyond our logical understanding. His life is an invitation to individual transformation.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev developed Isha Yoga as the vehicle to transmit a deep experience of Self, which rooted three lifetimes ago and flourishes today as a spiritual science for hundreds of thousands of initiates around the world. Sadhguru’s humanitarian programmers for prisoners, destitute children and world peace are an expression of his oneness with all life. Isha Foundation embraces the human effort to transcend physical reality in order to reach an inner reality, ultimate awareness, or enlightenment. This is the purpose of life itself.

With a balanced mind and balanced emotions you can create conducive atmosphere for yourself. But you cannot create joy, you cannot create love out of it. You can create a pleasant atmosphere for yourself, if you are smart, you know how to handle situations, external situations, and you will manage to create a conducive atmosphere. But you cannot create joy for yourself, you cannot create ecstasy for yourself. You will not know bliss in your life. You will only know analysis.

Many people in the world have proper or conducive social, family and financial situations. But still they are not complete people. They are empty people, still hankering. So meditation or Dhyana is something which takes you beyond the limitations of this limited mind. Meditation or Dhyana means to go beyond the limitations of the physical body and the mind. Only when you transcend the limited perspective of the body and the mind, you have a complete dimension of life within you.

When you are identified as the body, your whole thing is only survival. Your whole perspective of life will be simply survival. When you are identified as the mind your whole perspective is enslaved to the social perspective, to the religious perspective, to the family perspective. You can’t look beyond that. Only when you become free from the modifications of your own mind, only then will you know another dimension beyond.

You will always see, especially in India, that most of the sages and saints you hear about in the past—they were all kings who became sages and saints. King means peak of prosperity, peak of pleasure, peak of power. That is what a king is, isn’t it? But they renounced the world and they took a begging bowl and went. Any number of them in history, isn’t it? So king is an example to show you that these things will not complete your life. These things are needed but that is not the end of life. Or today everybody is a king. Especially if you see the Western society, everything that you are dreaming of, every average citizen has. But do you think they are fulfilled, they are blissful? Definitely not. Not at all! Nowhere near bliss.

So Dhyana is to transcend the limitations of body and mind. And you begin to experience yourself in a much deeper situation. I will not name this inner situation because the moment you say, you have to say Atma, Paramatma—all these words are badly corrupted. I don’t want to say all these words because the moment you say Atma and Paramatma, everybody has their own imagination of what it is. Things that they have not experienced, they are so certain. So I am not naming what that is. But, definitely beyond body and mind you still exist, isn’t it?

Do you want to go through this life without even experiencing what is the true quality of who you are? Is it worthwhile? Is it worthwhile living through this world and life without even experiencing what is the quality of who you are?

Yoga and Dhyana are scientific tools which help you to transcend the limitations of your body and mind and experience the true quality of who you are. Without experiencing this, just eating, sleeping, reproducing and dying, your life will not be fulfilled with these. For eating, sleeping, reproducing and dying you don’t need this kind of body, you don’t need this kind of intelligence. Every worm, every insect, every bird and every animal fulfils this, isn’t it—eating, sleeping, reproducing and dying. You can’t even do that to their extent with this body.

Now food—there are some worms which eat 1,000 times their body weight in 24 hours. If that is so, you now weigh 50 kg and you should be able to eat 50 tonnes of food in a day. That is food, isn’t it? Food means it should be like that, isn’t it? But you have the kind of body now that if you even eat little bit more than what your body can take, it is either to the doctor or to the toilet. Your body is like that now, isn’t it? Which means you cannot compete with them in eating. In eating department there can be no competition between you and any other living being. They will keep on eating all the 24 hours. You know what will happen to you if you eat for 24 hours.

Sleep—we have created all kinds of beds and mattresses for our sleep. We have made all kinds of beds so that we are comfortable. In spite of creating all these beds, if we have to remain for, let us say, 6 hours more than the amount we normally sleep, that bed will become hell for us, isn’t it? But there are a few worms, insects and birds which can sleep for 3 months to 6 months. If they sleep today they will probably wake up after 6 months. Even in this, sleeping department, you cannot compete.

Reproduction—to deliver one baby what fuss, it just cannot be told, that much fuss you do for delivering one child. They deliver 1000s of babies. They bring forth thousands of babies. So you are no competition even in the act of reproduction.

Dying—you have to die one day. But even there you make such a lot of fuss. You won’t die simply. Even that, they do more gracefully, they die without much fuss.

So for eating, sleeping, reproducing and dying, there is no competition between you and them. They have come with the right kind of body for this work. But you have not come with that kind of body. All those things are needed in our lives too—this eating, sleeping and reproducing, all these are needed in our lives too. But our life is not complete because of these. Even if you fulfil all these fully, your life is not complete yet. Isn’t it? This is because the quality of a human being has crossed a certain boundary of awareness. Now it is not going to be satisfied by physically fulfilling it. Physical fulfillment is needed but it is not going to be fulfilled with that. It has to seek something more; otherwise it will never be satisfied. It has to become unlimited, till then it will not be satisfied.

So Dhyana is a way of moving into the unlimited dimension of who you are – it is the ultimate freedom.

Questions from Devotees

Questioner: What is yoga?

Sadhguru: I think it is better I tell you what is not yoga. So much misinterpretation has happened that speaking about what is not yoga is more relevant. Standing on your head is not yoga; holding your breath is not yoga; twisting your body is not yoga. Yes, these are various yogic practices, but when we say yoga, we are referring to a certain state—a certain way of being. The word yoga means union. Union means that you begin to experience the universality of who you are. For example, today, modern science proves to you beyond any doubt that the whole existence is just one energy manifesting itself in various forms. If this scientific fact becomes a living reality for you, that you begin to experience everything as one, then you are in yoga.

Once you experience yourself as everything, or everything as yourself, after that, nobody has to tell you how to be in this world. If you experience all the people here as part of yourself, does anybody have to teach you morals as to how to be? Does anybody have to tell you, don’t harm this person; don’t kill this person; don’t rob this person—would it be needed for you? So when you are in yoga, you experience everything as a part of yourself, and that’s liberation; that’s mukthi; that’s ultimate freedom.

Questioner: Is yoga a religion?

Sadhguru: Yoga is a science. As there are physical sciences to create external well-being, yoga is the science for inner well-being. It is just that, because yoga—as a science—evolved and was developed in this culture, this land of Indus, this civilisation which grew on the banks of the river Indus—it was identified as Hindu. Slowly, people have started identifying yoga as Hindu. Yoga has nothing to do with any particular religion; it’s a science for inner well-being. If you call yoga Hindu, it is just like saying the theory of relativity is Jewish. So, from whatever culture or religious background a certain scientist came, you will not identify that aspect of science with that religion. Similarly, yoga need not be and should not be identified with any religion. It’s the science for inner well-being.

The sacred land of India has been witness to the lives of countless siddhas, seers and enlightened beings. The Dhyanalinga Temple situated at the foothills of Velliangiri Mountains in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, is very much a part of this glorious tradition.

Created exclusively for the purpose of meditation, Dhyanalinga has always been the dream of many enlightened beings, but the complexities involved in its creation are such that it rarely materialised. No other Dhyanalinga is known to exist in the world. The closest attempt to consecrate one, in the recent past, took place almost one thousand years ago. The process, though grand, had failed in the final stages. Though it always existed in the yogic lore, except for an obscure mention, there is no reference to the Dhyanalinga in the scriptures.

The Dome Divine

At the heart of the temple, in the Sannidhi or sanctum sanctorum, the seeker finally stands before the immense and awe-inspiring Dhyanalinga. Vibrating with the power of the primordial, casting its spell on all those who enter its enigmatic presence, the Dhyanalinga towers up to a height of 13 feet, 9 inches. It rises out of the seven-coiled receptacle, the Avudaiyar, which has been designed in such a way that every part of the Avudaiyar is 3 feet 3 inches in length and the total length of the Avudaiyar is 13 feet 9 inches, the same as the height of the Linga.

Surrounding the Linga is the Jalaseema, a water body that has a cooling effect on the Linga and gives the impression that the Dhyanalinga is floating on water.

How to be inside the Temple

To experience and benefit from the Dhyanalinga, one does not need any belief system, or believe in anything. One need not pray, worship or make any effort to concentrate on anything. Just being willing to sit there, one can experience this. Dhyanalinga has been created as a very powerful presence of energy so that the deeper core of a person is transformed in the process of being there. The spiritual body of a person is touched when he just sits in the sphere of the Dhyanalinga.

Prayer and worship are not necessary in the Dhyanalinga Temple. To get the best of the temple is to be there as an offering—to make an offering of oneself.

Qualities of the Dhyanalinga

The basic thrust of the energies of the Dhyanalinga is to foster spiritual growth and evolution of a person. However, the Dhyanalinga will radiate seven different qualities of life on the seven days of the week by which one may derive various benefits.

The Care of a Temple

The care of a temple and the deity, has with very few exceptions, always been entrusted to the male priests. At the Dhyanalinga Temple, however, this privilege is bestowed equally upon men and women. The Dhyanalinga is cared for by a Bhramhacharini from the Amavasya to the Pournami of every month and a Bhramhachari takes care of the Dhyanalinga for the other half of the month.

A large number of volunteers work incessantly to keep the premises clean, provide assistance to the visitors at the Temple, in the preparation and distribution of prasadam and participate in the Linga snana (bathing of the Dhyanalinga). People who wish to avail of this unique opportunity to serve may contact the Centre.

Maha ShivarathriIsha Yoga Centre, 1st March 2003 Timing: 6 pm – 6 am (next morning)

Maha Shivarathri is a very special event at Isha. The day before the Amavasya or new moon of each month is called Shivarathri. The Shivarathri falling in Feb-March each year, called the Maha Shivarathri, is considered more auspicious than the rest. Scientifically, on this day, in the Northern Hemisphere of the planet, the planetary positions are such that it is very beneficial for a person to keep his spine erect through the night. Spiritual practices performed on this night are known to be extremely beneficial, hence the tradition that one should stay awake through the night, not falling into a horizontal posture.

Besides, in the yogic tradition, Shiva is considered not as a God but as the Aadi Guru—the first Guru. So on this night of the Aadi Guru, Sadhguru makes use of this opportunity to initiate the masses into meditation. This dusk-to-dawn night of the Divine starts with the Guru Pooja at the Dhyanalinga Temple performed by Sadhguru followed by a series of cultural programmes interspersed with explosive meditations with the Master including the Maha Mantra meditation at midnight. Anna Dana is served to all the devotees on this night.

Over 1,00,000 people arrive from various parts of the country and world to participate in this unique nightlong sathsang. An extraordinary event to witness and a blessing to participate in, Maha Shivarathri is an invitation to bask in the glory of the Divine. We invite you to spend this night with us along with family and friends.

How to Get There

Dhyanalinga Temple is situated 30 km west of Coimbatore at the foothills of Velliangiri Mountains, part of the Nilgiris Biosphere. Coimbatore, a major industrial city in South India, is well connected by air, rail and road. All major airlines operate regular flights to Coimbatore from Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Train services are available from all the major cities in India. Regular bus and taxi services are also available from Coimbatore to Dhyanalinga Temple.

Limited accommodation is available and visitors may contact Isha Yoga Centre for availability.

Isha – Sacred space for self-transformation Isha Yoga Centre, a spiritual Sthana set up by Sadhguru on a 50-acre campus at the foothills of the sacred Velliangiri Mountains 30 km from Coimbatore offers all the four paths of yoga—Bhakthi, Jnana, Karma and Kriya under one roof.
Isha Foundation will be conducting upcoming programmes at the following centres: Maha Sathsang at Serani Arangam , Chennai (open to public) Jan 19, 2003, Ph: 044-24333185, Mumbai – January 21 – 28, Contact Revathi 022-24304693 or Ph: 09820120707, New Delhi – March 20 – 23, Contact Sheba 09810062432 or Leena 09810301379. For worldwide programme information, contact: Isha Yoga Centre, Velliangiri Foothills, Coimbatore – 641 114. Tel: (0422) 2319654-5, 2651298, 2651141. website: www.ishafoundation.org, email: yogacentre@ishafoundation.org.