www.lifepositive.com
` 100
YOUR PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH COMPANION
July 2020
CREATING THE NEW EARTH
(Let’s adopt an earth-friendly lifestyle)
PAGE 24
Develop the ability to discern
Can one be mindful through distractions?
Clarify your spiritual concepts
PAGE 42
PAGE 58
Guruspeak by
Sister BK Shivani
PAGE 36
Time for introspection
Dear Reader,
No matter how hard we try, we can no longer deny that the time of reckoning is upon us. Even though many curbs have been released and there is greater freedom to move about, we very well know that socialising and going about our daily business like old times is out of the question.
Gone are the days of trying to pass the time by trying out new recipes, bonding with family members, and honing a new skill or a hobby. As we try to limp back to our jobs and workplaces, we are facing new realities. Of the Universe becoming unrelenting and forcing us to face our darkest and deepest of fears, dysfunctional beliefs, and blockages. All that we had been assiduously trying to run away from is suddenly staring us in the face, and we have nowhere to hide.
Since we are at a pivotal time in history, it is an opportune moment to understand that nothing that is happening is for our detriment.
This is the time for transformation, and universal energies are at our side to help us ascend to higher states like never before. Once we have done the much-needed work of introspecting and accepting our mistakes and flaws with all humility, we will see a paradigm shift in our circumstances. Just take a close look at what is troubling or paining you the most and try and analyse as to what message it is
trying to convey to you. Connecting sincerely with the Divine will help you gain clarity about your life purpose and the learning you are supposed to undergo in this lifetime. Wishing you a happy July.
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Edit 3
July 2020 Vol. 24 Issue 04
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losZ HkoUrq lqf[ku~%] losZlUrq fujke;k%
losZ Hknzkf.k i’;Urq] ekdf’pn~nq%[kHkkd~Hkosr!
May all beings be happy, May all be healthy, May people have the well-being of all in mind, May nobody suffer in any way. — Vedic prayer
Edited by Shivi Verma. Printed and published by
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Member, Indian Newspaper Society
JULY
LEAD STORY
Back to the future
COVID-19 is asking human beings to replace their parasitic ways of living with a more harmonious and symbiotic one, says
Rishi Rathod
17
CLOSE ENCOUNTER
End suffering through sadhana
Guru Atma Nambi explains to Pradeep Krishnan how focussing on the spiritual side of life fulfils its very purpose
HEARTSPEAK
Locked in with love
Deepa Gulabani sees the current lockdown as an opportunity to bond with family and loved ones
FOOD
Go for gut-friendly goodies
Probiotic foods aid our immune system in fighting pathogens
04 LifePositive | JULY 2020
COVER STORY
42
INSIGHT
The right understanding
The author removes the layers of ignorance shrouding many spiritual concepts
50
YOUR STORY
Mom gets her home
A mother got her desire for a permanent home fulfilled
58
MIND MATTERS
Messages for mindfulness
Each distraction can be used as an opportunity to practise mindfulness
REGULAR COLUMNS
Response Mandala Guruspeak
06 08 36
Positive Focus 64 Spirit 68 Banyan tree 69
Total pages73, including the cover pages
Aha-moments 48 Journey 56 Mudra Column 62
Cover photo: Adobe Stock, Photo credit: Adobe Stock, Cover design: Sandeep Kumar
Contents 05
RESPONSE
www.lifepositive.com
YOUR PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH COMPANION
Guruspeak by
Sister BK Shivani
PAGE 37
` 100
June 2020
“WHAT STOPS
US FROM
EMBRACING
EMPATHY?”
(An in-depth
analysis)
PAGE 24
The
power of
Self-work
PAGE 48
Be mentally
healthy
PAGE 41
Great experience
Mail from our readers, online fans and subscribers
The Close Encounter story of Dr Chandrashekhar Udupa, Doctor divine, in the May 2020 issue of Life Positive was awe-inspiring. I have been a great fan of Swami Vivekananda and consider him my idol, but Dr Chandrashekhar is unparalleled in his devotion to Swamiji. When I read the description of Swamiji giving darshan to Doctorji after his deep implorations, I got goosebumps. Only the most sincere, pure, and earnest people get this kind of a blessing from God.
What’s more, Doctorji has been in constant communion with him eversince. This is a very rare phenomenon. I am sure he was connected to him in his previous birth too.
It was a delight to read this interview. Many thanks to Life Positive and Pradeep Krishnan for introducing such noble souls to the readers of Life Positive.
Sudhakar Rao via email
Being more responsible as a community
I was deeply touched to read the cover story Small sangha, big support by Shivi Verma in the April 2020 Anniversary issue. How true it is that, as a community, we believe more in others doing their bit to fit in the structure created by us, rather than focussing on how much the community can do to serve its members. We do need to rethink our idea of a community and make it more accepting and positive.
I was touched to read her personal account of benefitting from an intentional community at a time when she needed the support of empathetic people. I feel if we judge less and understand more, we can create a much healthier society.
We also need to be more mindful of what we talk about with each other while interacting. Our negative beliefs catch on fast, entrenching them in people’s minds, which often result in deep biases and prejudices about others.
Sumana Rathod via email
06 LifePositive | JULY 2020
Ample time for contemplation
Apropos of the article Conversing with Mother Earth by Shivi Verma in the May 2020 issue of Life Positive, there have never been so many opportunities as of now to converse with Nature and, in the process, ourselves. We realise the importance of being positive, creative, compassionate, and being clean physically as well as mentally. Our ‘namaste’ has become more revered and relevant now. There is a lot of time for not only such conversations with Nature but also for those with great personalities for seeking enlightenment.
It is after a long time that I have been able to read an issue of Life Positive completely. Dr TK Kundra via email
April issue inspires seva!
I enjoyed going through your April 2020 issue, which focusses on change-makers. This is real positive media activity which helps spread goodness and a positive feeling among the readers and inspires them to act on similar lines. Please make it a regular feature to cover at least one such inspiring and useful story in every issue.
It is one thing to discuss high falutin abstract spiritual ideas and it is another to know the practical aspects of spirituality,which is evident from the stories which inspire us to do something positive. It provides a much-needed respite from all the other negative news disseminated 24 hours by all the channels and newspapers. Your magazine is an exception and that’s great!
After reading the article Nourished by Naini, I feel that spreading awareness about right eating is very beneficial and essential for society as chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases, and obesity have become lifestyle issues today. They can certainly be reversed (as compared to only managed through medication) by our diet and physical activity.
I am inspired to start something similar in my city, Coimbatore. Is it possible to get the contact details of Kanchanji and Nainiji so that I can get guidance and advice from them?If your organisation can coordinate such an effort and help spread the good work, it will, in the truest sense, be a fulfilment of your magazine’s mission— to make ‘Life Positive’ through seva.
Once again, I express my deep appreciation for your organisation for their good- heartedness in continuing to publish such a quality magazine despite challenges. Please keep it up!
Manoj Kumar Tibrewal via email
Response 07
MANDALA
Bejan Daruwalla returns to his beloved Ganesha
Every shining star someday enters the black hole of time. Our shining star
of astrology, Bejan Daruwalla, departed this life on May 29,
2020 due to lung infection in Ahmedabad. For his entire 90-year life, he read, studied, and observed the stars to predict the future of people seeking his blessings.
Bejan Daruwalla was
born on July 11, 1931
in Bharuch, Gujarat, into
a Parsi family. He started as
an English teacher but, later,
astrology got the better of him. Though
he was born into a Parsi family (believers of the Zoroastrian faith), he was an ardent devotee of Lord Ganesha.
He not only declared his predictions about Mr. Narendra Modi’s huge victory in the coming elections, who was the chief minister of Gujarat back then but also predicted that he is the one who will use the energy of the world (support of the world’s nations) for the betterment of India. He not only predicted victory for the Late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh but also for several film stars and cricket stars. He predicted the death of Sanjay Gandhi in 1980, the earthquake in Gujarat 2001, and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
This is the reason for his fame in India and the world over. The accuracy level of his prediction was high. While plenty of astrologers tend to follow one or two techniques to make predictions, Bejanji was known to combine the principles of Vedic and Western astrology, I Ching, tarot, numerology, the Kabbalah, and even palmistry.
Bejan Daruwalla accurately predicted many lamdmark events in the history of modern India
The right combination of these principles enabled him to make highly accurate and relevant predictions. Moreover, naturally gifted with a spectacular intuitive prowess, he used to listen to and rely on his inner voice, and would always seek Lord Ganesha’s blessings to foresee
and predict.
He made his last prediction during the pandemic where he said, “The coronavirus has come because of the planet Saturn as the planet is associated with masses, your karma, and justice. It is also clearly associated with the common man. So, Saturn is giving this trouble because, today, the world has become greedy and is only thinking about itself. By May 2020, Saturn will move away from the horoscope of the world so the corona problem will surely end. I request all of you to stay home and stay safe.” He further added, “This year is tough for the world, but the next year is excellent for India as well as for the world. There is great hope for humanity in the coming times.”
According to his website, Ganesha Speaks, Bejanji has been rewarded by The Millennium Book of Prophecy for being an outstanding astrologer amongst the 1000 great astrologers in history. He is one of the rarest astrologers who have contributed regularly to news channels and magazines across the world.
08
LifePositive | JULY 2020
The ‘Jack’ of all fruits!
Meat consumption has always been a matter of scepticism and debate. While a lot of people support the idea of veganism and surviving without the need to consume meat of any kind, the other percentage of the population argue about how it’s an important aspect of the food chain and vital for our survival. However, with the zoonotic COVID-19 outbreak and the fact that it has spread from a certain wet market in Wuhan, China, which is one of the world’s biggest meat-selling markets, it has further triggered a fear of the same in people, who are against eating chicken, pork, and any other kind of meat nowadays.
Amidst such devastating times, Kerala’s jackfruit is stealing the show for all the right reasons and at the right time. It is being considered as the perfect alternative to meat, for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. There’s a huge demand for the superfood in the global market due to its properties which are quite similar to animal meat. The food’s texture has become its biggest selling point as, when it’s unripe, it has a pork- like fibre. Restaurants worldwide are cashing in on this, and the superfood is also becoming the first choice of many international and renowned
chefs. “Shredded jackfruit, jackfruit tacos and jackfruit koftas are some of the popular choices amongst
the people because of its
pork-like texture. “Here,
in Palo Alto, jackfruit
cutlet is the showstopper,”
says a restaurant owner in
Palo Alto, California, USA. Moreover, movements like Meat-free Monday and Vegan Worry have continued to fuel the
demand for jackfruit.
Jackfruit is not only the best substitute for meat but is also very nutritional and comes along with a lot of health benefits. “30 gm of jackfruit flour has 1gm of pectin, which is the equivalent of three apples. An apple a day keeps the doctor away because of pectin. Jackfruit can keep the hospital away!” says James Joseph, founder of Jackfruit365, an initiative to create an organised market for Indian jackfruits.
Jackfruit farmers have picked up the sudden rising demand of the superfood from around the globe. “There are a lot of enquiries coming from several countries. They have started understanding the importance of jackfruit,” says Varghese Tharakkan, a jackfruit farmer. India is the largest producer of jackfruit, and its global demand has turned out to be economically beneficial for the country.
The sheer hunger and gluttony of humans for animal meat has led to a series of disastrous events like pandemics and illegal activities like animal trafficking, which have succumbed
humanity into the darkest of pits. With jackfruit, a vegetarian alternative to meat, more and more people are turning into vegans with no regrets about missing the succulent taste of meat. A collective consciousness about leading a vegan lifestyle and discarding meat consumption is the need of the hour, which can pay off in the long run
and also save our animals.
The succulent Indian jackfruit is now the apple of all eyes.
Mandala 09
Coconut leather
Summer heat is best beaten by sweet coconut water, which has essential minerals and nutrients important for a healthy body. But did you know that it can be used to create a leather alternative? A Kerala-based start-up, Malai Biomaterials Design, has developed vegan leather from this summer thirst-quencher, which takes only 90-150 days to decompose!
Founders Zuzana Gombosova, a material researcher from Slovakia, and Susmith Suseelan, an engineer from Kerala, worked together in Mumbai before venturing out to explore the possibility of growing bacterial cellulose on water from mature coconuts that Zuzana researched on for her Masters in London. Their deep-rooted concern for the environment led them to Karnataka for a year-long research in the vicinity of a coconut- processing unit where they developed the material further. “Malai emerged as an attempt to create material based on bacterial cellulose that’s ecologically friendly and usable
for commercial products. Our criteria was to keep it as sustainable as possible,
both environmentally
and socially,” says Susmith.
Acknowledging
the declaration of climate emergency,
many organisations
and individuals
are working to find sustainable alternatives to end the madness of
irresponsible consumerism. This PETA- approved start-up produces a water-resistant bio composite material that looks like leather, made from using bacteria cellulose from coconut water, banana fibre, sisal fibre, hemp fibre, and natural gums, starch, and dyes for colour and gloss. They collect coconuts from the farmers in Kerala, which are then processed in the units to produce jelly-like cellulose after the fermentation period of a fortnight. The sheets are cast in different textures like semi- glossy, glossy, or matte through oil or water- based coatings and then crafted into utility sling bags, tote bags, laptop bags, belted bags, wallets, and more. “Our production process doesn’t harm any animals, it consumes fewer resources in terms of energy and water during manufacturing, and uses no toxic chemicals at any stage of its production cycle,” says Zuzana.
They won the Circular Design Challenge 2020 at Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai and are planning to make Malai more accessible in the Indian market as sustainability is still a niche industry and has a huge scope for growth. And as Susmith puts it, “We have to constantly remind ourselves that we are borrowing from nature and we are bound to return it to nature in a form that nature can
use.”
Zuzana and Susmith: the creators of vegan leather
10 LifePositive | JULY 2020
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THE POWER OF SMALL
14 faces driving social change in India
How smaller sanghas are unleashing a tidal wave of positive changes across the country
` 100
April 2020
OUR ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES
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HEARTSPEAK
Locked in with love
Deepa Gulabani sees the positive side to the current lockdown—a godsent opportunity to bond with her family and loved ones
12 LifePositive | JULY 2020
Looking upon this hour of helplessness as a blessing and accepting the unchangeable is a choice that we, as a family of nine, decided to execute. Each one of us started pitching in with chores never done before.
E ver since the lockdown was announced, there has been a war between emotions in my head: the excitement of being together with the family, anxiety for my space being invaded by my own people, gratitude, confusion. Ah, so much was going
on! But this settled down as soon as I got a phone call from my factory (we are in the jewellery business). It was from one of our karigars (artisans) requesting me to arrange for his visit to his family in Kolkata. What touched me was his urge and desperation to meet his family and be there for them in these uncertain times. My respect for him grew immensely when he said that family has never felt so precious before. Despite the comfort zone and the facilities given to him in Hyderabad by the company, he chose to go back to his family to make them feel emotionally protected and secured. The struggle to make ends meet would be a challenge for him in his village, and yet he made the choice. It made me really ponder over what it is like to be with your loved ones.
The way I looked at the entire situation completely changed as I hung up. There was this newfound excitement in each breath. I used to keep wondering when I would get some family time and now we were blessed with ample time together. Looking upon this hour of helplessness as a blessing and accepting the unchangeable is a choice that we, as a family of nine, decided to execute. Accepting this gift given to us in terms of time and breaking through the previous patterns of a rushed life to channelise energy in setting up new routines, which included sharing responsibilities, was a subtle way of saying “Hey there, we are on the same side of the net!” Each one of us started pitching
Heartspeak 13
Despite the gloomy appearance of the lockdown, it seems to be such a revelation regarding the magnitude of attachment to social life in the modern world.
in with chores never done before though it would get overwhelming at times because we were functioning with a skeletal staff.
Bonding over fitness, watching web series, and fun-filled evenings with innovative activities planned by each of us again made me realise how talented and competitive all of us were! There was laughter in every corner of the otherwise quiet house. Dancing, singing, discussing family business, having open communication with the kids, listening to their opinions, and small thoughtful gestures throughout the day are deepening our bond and helping us rise above the stress to create lasting positive memories. Before the lockdown, although all of us would sit in the same room just two feet apart, we would feel disconnected as all would be locked down with their ‘only connect’ called ‘the mobile phone.’
Family bonding also includes occasional ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham [an Indian movie]’ moments, basically a healthy messing with each other, because we believe laughter is
the best medicine. (Also since doctors are overworked in the present scenario, it’s a good idea to keep ourselves healthy with good doses of humour!) There has been a profound harmony and balance in coexisting together and accepting one another with our flaws and quirks. And since we live in a joint family, this is even more pronounced.
Despite the gloomy appearance of the lockdown, the lessons learnt have been phenomenal and have brought about a positive change in our existence. They have given us a chance to reset life, evaluate priorities, and realise how abundantly blessed we are to have a roof over our heads and great meals on our table.
The lockdown seems to be such a revelation regarding the magnitude of attachment to social life in the modern world. For a moment it seemed like life was going upside down but the reality is that life was going ‘outside in.’ In fact, the slower pace of life is putting things in perspective for me.
This surely is a historic moment when the world stands united to combat this pandemic against the backdrop of a massive economic setback. Questions have been raised by these testing times, and this has gifted me the habit of introspection, through which I have learnt to survive with whatever we have. Our desire and greed to accumulate more than what we need leads to imbalance. Economic considerations of what we lost have no meaning against what we have gained in terms of social awareness, a fighting spirit without a weapon, and surviving with basic needs. Also, communication and care (CommuniCare) for each other are the real values that teach us about being better human beings.
14 LifePositive | JULY 2020
Communication and care from the both sides is the key to all successful relationships
CommuniCare, as a concept, has been another revelation for both me and my company, and the way we communicate has been fuelled with care and compassion. Family has never felt so precious. Reconnecting with near and dear ones over long calls and tapping into emotional connections has taken a front seat. No matter where life takes us, what we will always need in one form or the other is FAMILY.
Life is not always rosy, yet we have chosen to make it cosy. I believe the choices we make at this point in time will shape our being. My understanding of the lockdown is that as responsible citizens of our nation, we can use this period to introspect, love, be compassionate, make CommuniCare a part of our everyday life, and ensure that when all this ends, we will arrive on the other side as better versions of ourselves. Agree?
We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article. Mail us at [email protected]
Heartspeak 15
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End suffering through sadhana
Guru Atma Nambi explains to Pradeep Krishnan how focussing on the spiritual side of life (instead of the material) fulfils its very purpose
17 LifePositive | JULY 2020
A tma Nambi, an enlightened master and mystic, was born on March 17, 1955, to Subramanian and Mayilambal in a village near Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. As the boy had a deep spiritual quest right from his school days, he was sent to several religious teachers. Ultimately, his enlightenment happened on October 7, 1994, and then, for about two years, he was in complete silence. Afterwards, he started guiding seekers through meditation, yoga, and
kriya.
In 2008, Atmaji (as he is affectionately called) quit a top managerial post in a leading multinational pharmaceutical company and plunged deep into the dissemination of spiritual knowledge. In 2010, he established the Upanishad Ananda Mandir (UAM) in Siva Hari hills, a quiet place surrounded by hillocks of the Western Ghats, in Vazhapadi village near Salem, Tamil Nadu. Regarding the choice of name for the institution, he said, “I love the Upanishads, which teach that one’s inherent nature is ananda (bliss). I am of the view that every human being must become an Ananda Mandir (temple of bliss).” He said that in UAM, the energy of the place beautifully amalgamates with the energy of the guru, enabling the seeker’s quick transformation. Perhaps that might be the reason for seekers from all over the globe coming to Atmaji. He says that to attain realisation, one’s inner qualities and individual power have to be enhanced through different techniques.
Atmaji, a householder, lives with his wife Smt Dhanalakshmi and twin sons, Siva Sankar and Siva Kumar in a nearby house. Here are excerpts from an exclusive interview he had with Pradeep Krishnan for Life Positive:
Atmaji, please tell us about your spiritual journey?
I was born in Pazhaya Gudalur, a village in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu. My spiritual journey commenced in my childhood when my mother sent me to my first teacher, Sri Nataraja Gurukkal, a local Shiva temple priest, who initiated me into Bhakti Yoga: rituals, chanting of mantras, and performing yagnas. When I was 26, I met my second teacher, Sri Lakshmi Narayanan, who introduced me to Karma Yoga. A couple of years later, Sri Gnanapranjothi, an adept in Kundalini Yoga, gave me deeksha (initiation). Finally, I happened to learn Raja Yoga from Sri Mohan Bharati. All these teachers created the right atmosphere for my spiritual awakening. Meanwhile, during a visit to Tiruvannamalai, an unknown lady forcefully took me to the late Yogi Ramsurat Kumar, in whose presence I had the initial glimpses of bliss or experience. All my spiritual expeditions ended with the experience I had on October 7,1994, transforming me completely.
Could you please explain that eventful day’s experience?
On that day, I was in deep meditation in a place in Tiruchirappalli. Suddenly, my mind-body- knowledge disappeared. Everything around me started disappearing or, rather, I started losing everything. The experience lasted for a few hours and it felt like a tsunami or a cyclone happening within. Later, when I opened my eyes and looked around, my body and mind were intact. I touched a deep silence that I had never experienced before.
Can anyone get that experience?
Yes, it is possible for all. I was not an intense sadhak (spiritual practitioner) or a yogi; rather, I was an ordinary family man leading a normal life, earning a livelihood, and practising a little bit of meditation. At the same time, my
Close Encounter 18
preparations—the different types of sadhana (spiritual practice) I did—were contributing factors. When the homework is right, the outcome will follow naturally. For that experience to happen, one has to prepare oneself with the right kind of sadhana.
What were the changes in you after this experience?
The silence was so beautiful that I wanted to remain silent always. For almost two years, I did not interact with people and stopped all kinds of entertainment: cinema, TV, and reading. Those days, I often used to move away from the family and hide in the caves of the hillocks of Salem. One day, while in a cave, I had an intuitive feeling that I was wasting my life. Soon after, I lost all interest in mundane matters and ultimately resigned from my job. Meanwhile, people who came to me seeking guidance expressed that they felt intense peace and calm in my presence.
What actually is spiritual enlightenment?
The language and expression of enlightenment
vary from mystic to mystic. While some describe it as an explosion sensed inside, others depict it as a powerful force pulling one’s self towards light. Some have explained it as the death of the lower self. It consists of a permanent and irreversible separation of the spiritual self, which is the Divine in essence, from the mind (bundle of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and intellect).
Enlightenment, being a spontaneous happening, no one can either plan for it or fix a time limit to attain it. It may happen now or in the next birth, or it may take several lifetimes. No true guru can assure his disciple the time of enlightenment. Understand that enlightenment is the result of sadhana practised over several lifetimes. At the same time, one must always be aware of the possibility of attaining realisation in this birth itself. One has to work for it and then surrender the outcome to God. If one prepares the body and mind, and creates an internal climate, the result—the flowering–will happen on its own. For this, the sadhana that is dear to one must be practised.
Atma Jyothi installed in Upanisha Ananda Mandir
19 LifePositive | JULY 2020
The event when one’s self gets permanently disconnected from the mind and gets established in superconsciousness is known as spiritual enlightenment. This is also called ‘mano-nasa’ (annihilation of the mind) and always takes place in an instant, after a seeker attains spiritual maturity. Mano-nasa doesn’t mean ‘destruction of the mind’; rather, it changes the mechanism of its operation. This event is the culmination of all spiritual efforts or sadhana, wherein life finds its absolute fulfilment. The mind becomes free of all its cravings. In different traditions, it is variously described as moksha, nirvana, nirvikalpa samadhi, or salvation.
Could you please throw light on death, the greatest puzzle?
Death is a deep mystery. One is reluctant to explore death in depth as it is considered the end of everything. Usually, if one witnesses the death of a person closely attached to them, they experience deep grief and fear. On the other hand, if one approaches death with the mind, i.e., philosophically, they cannot go beyond certain concepts. One can understand the mystery of death only through spirituality, by the process of continuous sadhana that opens up the Anahata Chakra, giving them the experience of the timeless domain of the self. Seekers who have experienced this superconscious state would alone be able to understand death and at the time of death will be free from fears and worries.
What is your concept of God?
It is very difficult to define God, the unexplainable, inexhaustible supreme power beyond limitations that is within and without, and outside the comprehension of the logical mind. For the purpose of making people understand, in different contexts, I give
Enlightenment, being a spontaneous happening, no one can either plan for it or fix a time limit to attain it. It may happen now or in the next birth, or it may take several lifetimes.
diverse definitions and use different names such as Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Ganesh, etc. For many, only through a form can they relate and travel to God, the formless.
What ought to be one’s aim and purpose in life?
Life is made up of two components: spiritual and material, two sides of the same coin. When one focusses on the spiritual, i.e., the Creator, one’s material purposes are automatically taken care of. Unfortunately, without knowing this truth, most people spend all their energies seeking material gains. I am of the view that one can attain God also through following one’s passion: music, dance, painting, or writing. The best example is Saint Tyagaraja, the famous Carnatic musician. If one expresses one’s inherent creative gift without any motive whatsoever, one will definitely realise God.
How can one find one’s true passion or gift?
Everyone born on this planet is unique. Unfortunately, due to societal pressure from
Close Encounter 20
family, friends, and parents, many are forced to follow the dictates of society that arrest their possibility for further growth. The path one must follow should come from within. My advice to those who are confused is to mediate and introspect deeply. Like clear water emerges when the water in a pool is allowed to settle down without any disturbance, meditation helps not only to experience God but also to make the right decisions in life. Another way is to approach one’s guru or master seeking clarification. The guru, acting as a scanner, finds out what is suitable for one and guides one in the right direction.
It is often said that one’s suffering is related to one’s prarabdha karma (karma to be worked out in the present incarnation). How does one end this suffering?
Suffering indicates one’s inability to face a particular life situation. One can get the ability and the power to face life as it is, only from a powerhouse called Paramatma or God. For this, the only way is to open the account of sadhana: chanting of mantras, singing bhajans, and engaging in Karma Yoga. The fact that everyone is longing for peace and happiness indicates one’s inherent potential to pursue sadhana. When one moves with God, no suffering would touch them. Absence of sadhana denotes the presence of suffering.
The only way to get rid of any type of karma is spiritual sadhana. As karma belongs to the domain of the mind, sadhana helps one to go beyond the mind, to reach the realm of consciousness. If a person living in the karmic area of suffering starts doing sadhana,
Atmaji believes that meditation and introspection can not only help people take the right decision but also realise God 21 LifePositive | JULY 2020
his consciousness level reaches higher levels, making all sufferings vanish. The more one focusses on sadhana, the more he moves away from any kind of karma.
What led to the establishment of Upanishad Ananda Mandir?
It was not planned; rather, it happened. When people who wanted to remain in my presence started donating money, in order to channel it in a proper way and for proper accounting, a trust was formed. Those days we were holding satsangs in a small room in Salem town, and when this room became insufficient, we thought of establishing an institution in a lawful and orderly way. So, land was purchased and buildings were constructed, and Upanishad Ananda Mandir (UAM) came into existence with a mission to make people happy and peaceful. One must understand that the root of all experience—physical, mental, emotional, or intellectual—is the atman (soul). This is a place for helping people realise their source of experience.
Message to the readers?
More and more people should read Life Positive, one of the finest spiritual magazines of this country. Every month, LP comes with fresh ideas and suggestions to improve one’s life, and several realised masters have appeared in
The only way to get rid of any type of karma is spiritual sadhana. As karma belongs to the domain of the mind, sadhana helps one to go beyond the mind, to reach the realm of consciousness.
the magazine. As it not only covers spiritual aspects but also carries articles relating to body, mind, intellect, health, and healing, I consider it a complete magazine. All those who are looking for the real spiritual stuff would get guidance and grow further with LP. I am of the view that each issue of LP should be preserved and read again and again as it definitely helps one in their inner transformation. Personally, I love the magazine and sincerely wish that it should reach every house in India.
I thank you for coming all the way from Thiruvananthapuram to Salem to meet me.
We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article. Mail us at [email protected]
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LEAD STORY
Back to the future
COVID-19 appears to be the answer to the fervent prayers of non- human species to make human beings halt, contemplate, and replace their parasitic ways of living with more symbiotic ones which are not only in harmony with all living beings but also reverential towards Mother Earth, says Rishi Rathod
24
LifePositive | JULY 2020
Lead Story 25
T he visitation of COVID-19 has shaken How we grow food
up the whole world in an unprecedented
way. If one can read the signs, it is a wake-up call for humanity to step down from the conveyor belt of mindless living and consuming. By living on autopilot and going through life without putting in much thought, we have violently trespassed spaces that rightfully belong to other species.
From the way animals, birds, and aquatic beings have come close to the edge of human habitat—after we went into enforced collective hiding—it can be surmised that Mother Nature is asking us to retreat so that other species could reclaim what is rightfully theirs. It is making a clarion call to make our lifestyles symbiotic with itself and not parasitic if we want to continue to survive on Planet Earth.
Humankind appears to have been forced into quarantine to contemplate if the business of living, operating, thinking, and relating to the world can be done differently from the way we have been doing it all along.
Conscious quarantine
Now that we have arrived at a critical point in history, we can no longer afford to ignore the manner in which we create, use, and dispose of consumables and the processes involved in providing ourselves with essentials such as food, water, travel, clothing, and shelter. For unless we change our attitude towards these things, we cannot re-imagine and recreate a new habitable world for all, where there is no clash of interests between man and Nature.
Thankfully, we already have a significant body of work by eminent people who point towards a better, non-violent, symbiotic, and spiritual way of going about the business of living. All that we have to do is embrace their advice.
26 LifePositive | JULY 2020
Our agriculture is governed by seed, soil, water, and fertiliser. All of these are living organisms which, sadly, we (as a community) have failed to recognise. This failure is due to our obsession with earning profits, which makes us consider them as commodities to be exploited for personal gains. Had we been reverential towards them, we would have nurtured and replenished them instead of milking them for profits or higher yields. Diversity is one of the main features of Nature and is the very basis of ecological stability. Diverse ecosystems give rise to diverse life forms and cultures, which sustain themselves holistically and symbiotically on the basis of their natural surroundings and available resources. Communities all over the globe have derived their livelihoods from Nature’s diversity. However, it was during the time of the green revolution (between the 1950s and 1960s) that traditional methods of crop cultivation were discarded in favour of a high- yielding variety of wheat and rice. Although this helped in feeding a large number of people, it also expanded monoculture and endangered our ancient crops of millets and pseudo-cereals. In 1996, GMO (genetically modified organism) seeds were introduced by agricultural scientists, which were genetically modified to make them disease- and drought- resistant and increase their shelf life.
GMO’s curse: However, genetically modified seeds not only impact the environment negatively but also the human body. Due to heavy reliance on GMO, 70-80 per cent of local corn varieties have disappeared in Mexico. Bt cotton seeds tested on animals such as cows, mice, goats, and pigs disturb their biology and they die early. It has been found that GMO crops increase infertility and cause poor growth in the offspring of both humans and
animals. They also build antibiotic resistance in the human body, apart from depleting the soil of its nutrients.
Our ancient Vedas and Upanishads considered the soil as sacred—the Mother— supporting and nourishing all of life on earth. A healthy soil supports plant growth, has the ability to purify air and water, and safeguards animal and human health. After oceans, soil is the second-largest carbon sink on the planet. Soil plays a key role in retaining carbon, which increases soil fertility. It stores and filters water, and improves human resilience to different climatic changes like floods and droughts. Plants draw carbon from the environment, and soil helps conserve the carbon content if it is not tilled too much. This, in turn, helps reverse the effect of climate change as micro-organisms present in the soil do not let the carbon escape into the atmosphere and become a part of the greenhouse gases. But our relentless treatment of the soil with chemical fertilisers for more than three decades has destroyed its ecosystem completely. We are producing our food on dead soil. How can it nourish us? The state of Punjab has this infamous train called ‘The cancer train’ that ferries cancer-stricken farmers from Punjab to a charitable hospital in Rajasthan. This shocking condition in Punjab is being linked to the unbridled use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers by a PGIMER (Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research) study. At 380 kg per hectare, fertiliser use in Punjab is the highest in India, almost three times the national average of 131 kg/ha, as per the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research. Their pesticide use too is 923 gm/ha, which is way above the national average of 570 gm/ ha. Apart from cancer, there are scary reports of a reproductive health crisis, ranging from spontaneous abortions to premature deliveries,
Diversity is one of the main features of Nature
and is the very basis of ecological stability. Diverse ecosystems give rise to diverse life forms and cultures, which sustain themselves holistically and symbiotically on the basis of their natural surroundings
and available resources.
reduced sperm counts, and neural canal birth defects in infants. This is the cost the farmers are paying for taking on the burden of feeding the nation through the green revolution.
The alternative: Ramanjaneyulu G V, who promotes mindful farming and runs the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, says, “99 per cent of the sprayed pesticide goes into water and soil and comes back into our food. Only one per cent goes into killing the insects.” Ramanjaneyulu and others like him are making monumental efforts to establish how a mindful approach towards agriculture can heal the earth and human life. He adopted a village called Kulukula in Andhra Pradesh, which was using pesticides worth Rs 60 lakhs annually and now has become pesticide-free with his methods.
From being third in the country to now 20th in terms of pesticides used per acre, he has managed to reduce the use of pesticides by 50 per cent in the entire state of Andhra Pradesh. Not only that, cultivable land has gone upto 35 lakh acres from 2025 acres in both Telangana
Lead Story 27
and Andhra Pradesh because of his efforts. To achieve zero-pesticide farming, he advocates the use of homemade concoctions made from neem, garlic, chillies, plants, herbal extracts, cow dung, cow urine, and local resources along with various traps for pest control.
With the help of the above ingredients, he creates a type of manure which rejuvenates the soil with the required microbes. This manure also develops humus in the soil which leads to a natural increase in its water-holding capacity. This measure enables the growth of disease- free crops which are rich in nutrition.
Ramanjaneyulu advises against monoculture and suggests planting other plants and vegetables around the main crop. This action builds biodiversity and reduces the food scarcity issue. All this is accomplished through a proper training programme devised by him and his team.
Vandana Shiva is another champion of sustainability, who advocates mindful cultivation to save our biodiversity as well as indigenous seed varieties from vanishing. She suggests, “Grow locally and consume locally. Grow mixed crops to ensure that people get complete nutrition needed for the nourishment of the human body. This helps control food inflation as a diverse variety of foods are being produced. Besides, locally produced and consumed crops will minimise the huge cost of transportation and storage.”
Her NGO, Navdanya, has so far trained over 5,00,000 men and women farmers, students, government officials, and representatives of national as well as international NGOs and voluntary organisations on biodiversity conservation and organic farming. Navdanya has also trained several large groups like Yuvacharya of the Art of Living Foundation led by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The group is presently
Vandana Shiva, a champion of sustainability, advocates local cultivation of indigenous crops for diversity to survive
28 LifePositive | JULY 2020
working in about 5000 villages of India.
Navdanya has collected, saved, and conserved more than 4000 varieties of rice in the last 30 years. Forgotten food crops such as millets, pseudo-cereals, and pulses too have been conserved and promoted, which were earlier pushed out by the green revolution and expanding monocultures. According to Vandana, farmer suicide can go down to a great extent if we went back to indigenous ways of farming and growing food instead of getting multinationals like Monsanto (manufacturer of GMO) involved in it.
Water misuse and crisis
Water—one of the most basic resources for humanity’s survival—is highly undervalued and abused by us. Out of all the water available on earth, only 2.5 per cent fresh water is fit for human consumption. Out of this 2.5 per cent, only a third is available for agriculture and drinking. The rest is stored in Antarctica in the form of snow. Yet we show a great deal of apathy in the way we use this precious resource.
We keep the tap water running while we brush or shave, and let the shower run for longer than we need. As per the National Water Academy portal, most people use about 50 litres of water for a bath, i.e., two buckets of water approximately. While a low-flow shower-head (normally used at homes across India) enables 35 litres for a 10-minute shower, a standard shower-head enables 50 litres of water for 10 minutes. Having said that, we can either use one bucket of water or shower for five-six minutes. This way, we can save 750 litres of water a month and 9,125 litres of water per person each year. Just by turning off the tap while we brush our teeth in the morning and before bedtime, we can save up to 30 litres of
water! That adds up to more than 750 litres a month!
S. Vishwanath writes in his report on the news portal of The Hindu that experience has shown that high-income households tend to consume 250 litres (per head and above) and sometimes as high as 600 litres. Many homes, on the other hand, make do with as little as 40 litres per person per day.
Wasting water is one thing and polluting it with industrial effluents and sewage discharge is another. Up until the lockdown, our rivers— from the Ganga to the Yamuna to hundreds of lakes—were all dangerously contaminated. Unfortunately, they will go back to the same state if we continue with our old ways after the lockdown ends. According to the government, up to 70 per cent of India’s water supply is contaminated with iron, arsenic, and uranium. Moreover, the relentless boring of groundwater for daily use has dried up this precious resource in the urban milieu. Almost all the cities have reached an alarmingly low level of groundwater reserves. As per the government prediction, at least 21 cities will face severe water crisis by 2021. Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru have already started feeling the pinch. From 400 feet, the water has reached 1000 feet in the last five years in Bengaluru alone. Apart from this, arsenic and other contaminants cause two lakh deaths every year.
Dr Rajendra Singh, the water man of India, says, “Since everybody needs water, each one of us would have to come together to save it. We don’t value water because it is almost free—four rupees for 1000 litres. The value of water is not in money but in how many lives it saves and nourishes. Every drop is precious; every drop holds life.”
Lead Story 29
30 LifePositive | JULY 2020
A little mindfulness while using water can go a long way in preserving this precious resource
“Since everybody needs water, each one of us would have to come together to save it. We don’t value water because it is almost free— four rupees for 1000 litres. The value of water is not in money but in how many lives it saves and nourishes. Every drop is precious; every drop holds life.”
The solution: Dr Singh has used indigenous methods to revive 15 rivers in the dry region of Rajasthan. He has eliminated water problems in about 1500 villages of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. His methods, rooted in traditional Indian wisdom, have almost been forgotten. They involve building waterbodies around fractures on the land mass, which will hold water, penetrating slowly to recharge the fractured ground underneath. “Wherever there are steep slopes, build convex dams, and where you see natural depression in landmass and lines, build concave dams. When we align the crop pattern with the rain pattern,
everything falls into place—less water is used for cultivation and there is no soil erosion,” says Dr Singh.
There are many water warriors who are assiduously trying to save this precious resource from drying up. One of them is Professor Vikram Soni, who has been doing research and observing the water crisis in Delhi. He has found that the floodplains of numerous rivers could provide solutions which haven’t been tried anywhere else in the world. These floodplains, with an average of a 100-metre depth in the sand, run into thousands of kilometres. Looking closely, he discovered that more than a third of this entire volume is water—water that is clean and can be consumed with little filtration. With the help of this technique, over a million people are getting clean water from the Yamuna river floodplains today.
Professor Soni says, “I am confident that this clean water can last forever. This non-invasive method of extraction of clean water can be implemented in many countries facing a severe water crisis.”
Sustainable housing development
According to WEO 2018 (World Energy Outlook), an international energy agency, in 2017, the emissions from steel, cement, and buildings (7.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide) outpaced that from cars and trucks (5.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide). The current housing development progress is geared and motivated only by gains, without any consideration for its ecological impact.
Anupama Kundoo, renowned architect and author, says in an interview, “People are building without thinking, and that is really scary.”
India is set to urbanise rapidly in the next few decades. But we are building our cities in a manner that is unsustainable and rooted in outdated and obsolete ideas, which will result in severe resource and energy shortages in the country.
To minimise the negative environmental impact of construction, engineers and construction firms have come up with two types of solutions: one works with design and the other, with construction materials. These modern design firms are creating building designs that allow the efficient use of energy, water, and other resources, reducing waste pollution and environmental degradation, thereby safeguarding the ecology and the occupant’s health.
Also, new innovative construction materials have been developed in the past few years
We don’t value water because it is almost free—four rupees for 1000 litres. The value of water is not in money but in how many lives it saves and nourishes. Every drop is precious; every drop holds life.
to help us build sustainable future projects. These materials are being engineered to be smarter, stronger, self-sustaining, sleeker, and easier on the environment.
These are a few of them:
Translucent wood: Translucent wood is one of the innovative construction materials that hold the potential to lift the construction sector to a whole new level. Not only is it environmentally friendly but also a great alternative to plastic and glass. It is produced by treating and compressing wood strips. In the production process, lignin is replaced by polymers to make the wood translucent. Finally, translucent wood could be utilised in home construction to bring more light into the house, consequently reducing the need for artificial lighting which can consume a lot of power. The other benefits are that it is biodegradable and environmentally friendly as regular wood. It has all the strength of opaque lumber and is lighter in weight.
Hydroceramic bricks: Hydroceramic is a new material that is made of clay and hydrogel to
Lead Story 31
bring about a cooling effect to the building interiors, which reduces the indoor temperature by six degree Celsius. Hydrogel absorbs up to 500 times its volume in water, which reduces the temperature during summer.
Modern developers are using this on the outer side of the building as a cooling system that helps to reduce the air conditioning bills by 28 per cent and the carbon footprint too as a consequence.
Breathe bricks or air cleaning bricks: Breathe bricks can gulp the contaminated particles in the air and filter the incoming air. This brick is designed to be a part of the building’s ventilation system. It has a two-layered façade that has bricks on the outside and installation on the inside. Breathe bricks can filter 30 per cent of the fine particles and 100 per cent of the dust particles, and is becoming popular as a building material to ensure a better quality of life for the occupants.
Illuminating cement: This cement has minuscule glass balls which trap the light from the sun during the day and releases it in the night, creating a glowing surface that
There is a close connection between the energy we consume and Mother Earth’s climate. Two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70 per cent of all greenhouse gases.
will illuminate roads, parks, and building complexes in the coming years. Illuminating cement is more durable than conventional cement and lasts longer— more than 30 years. It can also be used in swimming pools and parking lots due to its ability to absorb and irradiate light.
From materials that generate their own energy to those that provide greater structural protection, the future of construction is evolving. All the innovations in the building materials are geared to safeguard or at least minimise the harm to the environment and the occupants. The process has already begun, and the development of such alternatives is promising.
Energy consumption and conservation
There is a close connection between the energy we consume and Mother Earth’s climate. People use energy for heating, transportation, lighting, manufacturing, communicating, and for growing, harvesting, and cooking food. The most common way to produce and consume energy today is to burn fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. Burning them releases energy and also waste gases into the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone which are called greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases trap heat rather than letting it escape into the outer space, thus causing global warming.
Urban areas across the world use almost two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70 per cent of all greenhouse gases. Greenhouse emissions raise the overall temperature of the planet. This causes the ice sheets and glaciers floating in the seas to melt, which increases the volume of the world’s oceans. In the coming three decades, many Indian cities are projected to face annual floods
32 LifePositive | JULY 2020
due to the rise in sea level, especially those of West Bengal and coastal Odisha, currently home to some 36 million people. As per NASA, the past five years have been the warmest in the modern record.
Issues such as extreme heat and heavy rainfall too are a result of this global warming. In addition to direct health impacts like heat exhaustion and heat stroke, conditions like asthma and cardiovascular diseases, particularly amongst the elderly, too will increase because of it.
Because surfaces like streets and buildings absorb the sun’s heat more readily than trees and grasses, cities typically become ‘urban heat islands.’ It is estimated that this phenomenon can increase the overnight temperatures in the cities by as much as 22°F. More than 70 per cent of the planet’s surface is water, and as the world warms, more water evaporates from
oceans, lakes, and soils. Every 1°F rise in the temperature allows the atmosphere to hold four per cent more water vapour. This causes extreme downpours which have devastated communities around the world. In the past, three-four states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, and even cities like Chennai and Mumbai were inundated with floodwaters. We have lost infrastructure and crops worth crores, not to mention the loss of lives.
The forces accelerating the issue emerge from a consumerist lifestyle that 20 per cent of the world population has and 80 per cent wants. This lifestyle is prevalent mostly in developed countries, but if they continue with it, then the future is bleak. One way to tackle this issue is to re-think and contemplate over the need for excessive consumption in the pursuit of temporary highs. We can, instead, ask a very simple spiritual question to ourselves as to
Renewable sources of energy should be given preference over conventionally used fossil fuels that cause greenhouse emissions
Lead Story 33
what really constitutes a good life and how we can achieve it in a more simple way.
Renewable energy solutions: Environmental scientists recommend moving towards a zero- carbon-emission economy to save the planet and its inhabitants from imminent danger. They advocate generating renewable energy and increasing our dependence on it. Often referred to as clean energy, renewable energy comes from natural sources or processes that are constantly replenished, e.g., the sun or the wind, which keep shining and blowing respectively, even though their availability depends on time and the weather. Increasingly, more and more countries are using wind and solar energy to fulfil their power needs. The expansion of these renewable energies is also happening on large and small scales, from rooftop solar panels on homes to smaller manufacturing units. Some rural communities rely solely on renewable energy for heating and lighting.
The question to ask is “Can 100 per cent of a city’s electricity come from renewable energy?”
The answer is yes; it is possible to do so. In fact, some cities in the developed countries have already started experimenting successfully. According to the world economic forum portal, Vancouver (Canada) gets 98 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources. Similarly, Auckland is sourcing 80 per cent. More than 80 UK towns and cities have now committed to switching to 100 per cent clean energy by 2050. This is a hugely important trend given that cities are responsible for 70 per cent of energy- related carbon dioxide emissions.
India, too, is moving fast in this direction. We have already built Cochin International Airport that is the first fully solar-powered
airport in the world. The plant which was set up in 2015 under the green power project started by CIAL (Cochin International Airport Limited) will not result in any carbon dioxide emissions over the next 25 years. It will produce a clean source of energy equivalent to the energy produced by coal-fired power plants burning more than three lakh metric tonnes of coal. . Not only that it also provides a carbon offset equivalent to planting 30 lakh trees.
There are simple yet effective ways to reduce the impact of global warming:
34 LifePositive | JULY 2020
• Adding vegetation in cities
lessen the ‘heat island’ effect. Researchers estimate that shaded surfaces can be 20- 45°F cooler than the peak temperatures of unshaded materials, which means lower air-conditioning costs and relief for those working in the heat.
• Water can be economised while washing, bathing, doing laundry, and gardening, and efforts made to reduce its industrial contamination.
•Energy can be used more efficiently for heating, cooling, cooking, lighting, and running appliances. Private motor vehicles can be replaced by public transport, bicycles, or walking whenever possible to reduce carbon emissions and fuel consumption.
• Food offers many choices: Choose organically and locally grown vegetarian food full of nutrition over fast food, meat, and pesticide-, hormone-, and antibiotic-laden genetically modified foods.
• Clothing can be made of natural fibres, with possible agricultural impacts, rather than synthetic fibres that are persistent and made
can help
from non-renewable petrochemicals.
• In our role as consumers, we can choose to purchase from socially responsible manufacturers, change styles, or use things until they wear out, instead of making choices based on brand names and fashion.
• Housing can be looked at from the angles of location, materials, health impact, and energy efficiency.
As we move forward, for the next stage in the advancement of our societies, we, the people, as well as the leaders, need to re-examine our attitudes and assumptions regarding social and economic development. We will have to rethink how we utilise resources and form relevant and practical policies to safeguard the environment. This unprecedented economic crisis clubbed with the lockdown has helped human beings reflect upon the fundamental error in perceiving human nature itself. In the face of world events, our concerns are tiny, limited only to the self and family. We have to realise that unless we, as a society, find a purpose beyond material development and shift into the spiritual dimension of life, we will keep making the same mistakes again and again. The spiritual dimension demands that we question the nature of the Self, our relationships with each other, the Earth, and the beyond as well as our ways of life and our beliefs.
Our false belief that there is no limit to Nature’s capacity to fulfil any demand made by human beings stands exposed. A society, civilisation, or culture that promotes and attaches absolute value to expansion, acquisition, and the fulfilment of people’s desires is being compelled to see that such goals are neither sustainable nor realistic.
We’ll have to change our concepts of prosperity and well-being to include our impact on each other and the planet. This will help us in reducing our consumption of valuable resources and prevent further degradation of the environment. A life that is more aware of the impact of human actions on the rest of the world, and treads lightly upon Mother Earth, would definitely be more fulfilling than a life focussed on consuming more and more.
The Shrimad Bhagavatam says the Lord visits difficulties on those he loves the most so that they become disenchanted by the mundane world and seek the source of all truth, consciousness, and bliss existing within their spiritual hearts. The Lord has been called Vishnu, the one who permeates all existence, the Jagat Pita or the Father of the world, who nourishes the lords as well as the locusts. May this crisis make us honour the all-pervading one by honouring all creatures that live on Bhoodevi or Mother Earth, Vishnu’s spouse.
It is our hearts that will guide us.
We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article. Mail us at [email protected]
Lead Story 35
GURUSPEAK
Rekindle your relationships
Sister Shivani shares the secret of living in harmony with people in your life: Shift the focus from the other to yourself
communication. They reach the • Shift from holding on to
Do you cherish that friend who gave you strength and support
to tide over a difficult time? Are you grateful to a colleague who worked overtime to help you meet a tight deadline?
Enriching relationships are nutrition for the soul. But today, emotional comfort and care are often replaced by ego, conflicts, tension, expectations, and hurt. But the good news is that we are creators of our relationships, and it takes only one person—not two—to harmonise a struggling connection.
If we turn our attention away from others to focus on ourselves, we can bring about a shift in our consciousness—a shift that will let unconditional love and respect flourish. Let’s explore the different forms this shift can take:
• Shift from speaking well to thinking well: A relationship transcends words and behaviour. Our thoughts are the first level of
other person as vibrations and trigger similar feelings in them about us. So, if our thoughts about them are judgmental, then relationship would be fragile. It hardly matters that our words were polite and our behaviour, courteous.
• Shift from blame to personal responsibility: Often, we say “They were rude, so obviously, I got angry.” No one can make you happy or sad. How you respond to someone’s behaviour is always your choice. Shift from an automated way of reacting, to an aware way of responding—with stability, compassion, and love.
• Shift from expectations to acceptance: Expectation is inner programming that says, “I want people to be my way. Only then will I be happy.” Our expectations are based on our perspectives, capacity, and nature. They differ from those of others because we all have been on a long journey spanning lifetimes and situations. Accept people as they are. Acceptance means you do not get disturbed by their behaviour since you understand their journey. But
letting go: Soon after a conflict, do you go into long periods of negative silence? You feel let down and refuse to talk to the other person for hours, days, or months. You believe it helps to make your point, to heal yourself, or to punish them. But the communication breakdown reopens past emotional wounds and triggers toxic thoughts. Return to normal behaviour immediately, as if nothing has happened. Save the relationship, prioritising harmony over ego.
• Shift from seeking to giving: It is likely that all discords in your relationships are because of unfulfilled ‘wants’ which either of you had. Often, we start as givers but gradually shift to becoming seekers. Relationships cannot thrive on a give-and- take formula. Re-enter your relationships by consciously giving, not wanting. If you want love, give love. Shift from “Accept me, trust me, understand me” to “I accept, trust, and understand you.”
Sister Shivani is a teacher at the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University and a senior Rajyoga teacher living in Gurugram. She is known for the popular programme ‘Awakening with Brahma Kumaris’ which started in 2007.
you can instruct, advise, or We welcome your comments and suggestions on
discipline them with dignity.
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This book is a dialogue every man’s soul wants to have with him.
Eighteen years into an adrenaline-filled career in advertising, Suzy quit her job to focus on her passion and spiritual calling to help heal the personal and collective consciousness. Soon after, she encountered a terrible car crash that caused her near death experience, further accelerating this deep desire. As a therapist and healer, Suzy has extensive clinical
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Angels Speak is the irst Indian Oracle book of divine messages, A afirmations and ifteen Archangels channeled illustrations, all infused
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Wisdom, knowledge and above all - love, pour out of this book and is ready to low into the lives of all who read and experience it. This book is a powerful source of daily divine guidance, as well as an oracle book of guidance for speciic situations of life that may need to be transcended. Angels Speak will help you heal and ind joy, peace and love within and with everyone and everything around you. It awakens you to not just stay positive, but attract positive energies into your life, just as Roshani's channelled prayers, messages and afirmations have done to all who bear testimony in the book.
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"This is the irst book on Oracles that I have seen from India and each word resonates with a sense of strength and divinity. Treat it as good as divine guidance on a daily basis. A must read for every person who is desirous of positive transformations in their life and making it your permanent partner."
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is an insight. Before the insight is a seeking. Beyond the seeking is a struggle. But in the deep dark origins of human pain, perhaps an illness, a helplessness, a self-destructive
despondency, is the singularly unique path forg
own original compassionate energies to help us transcend our most debilitating weaknesses. Further down this path of letting go of our fundamental darkness, we become the lighter beings of light we were always meant to be.
Suma Varughese’s long awaited second volume of life’s insights chronicles a universally human journey into the light. In a world of spiritual hares and tortoises, no one is left behind and the nishing line is an ever-shifting beckoning to rise
to our own incredible potential.
Each of us embodies an emotional baggage of sanskars (personality traits) and karmic accounts not only of this lifetime, but of many births. These are deep rooted rejections, doubts, low self-esteem, insecurities, which we will carry forward with us into our next birth, unless we let go now. Suma’s wisdom and personal experiences touch the soul and help us to start unpacking. She inspires us to start loving ourselves and then letting go becomes easy. Travelling Lighter, in our hands as a book today, will very soon become our natural way of being and living.
sister bk shivani RajyogaMeditationteacherandpresenter of the television programme, Awakening with Brahmakumaris
Suma’s columns are a seeker’s personal diary. The lofty becomes routine. The universal becomes particular. The in nite comes home. Jargon dissolves and a very lived wisdom emerges.
devdutt pattanaik ChiefBeliefO cerofFutureGroupand bestselling author of several books
Your Daily Dose of Divine Love
Roshani
(Shenazz Nadirshah)
The irst Indian Book of Divine Oracle Messages and Afirmations
Foreword by Ruzbeh Bharucha, Author of ‘The Fakir’ Trilogy and many other bestsellers
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Have you ever wondered why your life has turned out the way it has? Is there a reason you keep attracting the same patterns repeatedly? Are you struggling with challenges at work and in your relationships? Do negative emotions, stress, exhaustion and loneliness plague you?
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FOOD
Go for
gut-friendly
goodies
Naini Setalvad recommends the use of probiotic food to aid our immune system in fighting pathogens
D id you know that close to 100 trillion bacteria colonise your body, with the largest number found in your intestine? I don’t want you to be alarmed as these bacteria are actually harmless and aid in body functions such
as digestion. They are called ‘gut flora’ and are present in the digestive system. Let me reassure you that they are body-friendly micro-organisms which suppress the growth of harmful bacteria, reduce toxins (poisonous substances), and thus keep our digestive system healthy. The gut flora also plays an important role in boosting immunity, which is nothing but our body’s ability to fight diseases. So, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, when it is of utmost importance to keep our immunity up, we need to include foods such as probiotics that will aid in doing so.
38
LifePositive | JULY 2020
Food 39
Antibiotics destroy both harmful disease-causing bacteria as well as beneficial bacteria and disturb their balance in the intestine. Probiotics, on the other hand, restore the balance by increasing the number of beneficial bacteria.
Two types of immunities
Immunity is of two types: Innate immunity, which we are born with, and acquired immunity, which is developed through vaccinations. It is the innate immunity that decides how strong we are and how well we can fight infections. Natural killer cells (NK cells) are part of the innate immune system and are responsible for keeping infections at bay. Maintaining a high activity of NK cells will ensure more effective immunity, preventing illness, and thereby reducing the need for medicines and antibiotics. NK cells are often negatively influenced by stress, ageing, poor nutrition, and pollution.
I want you to realise how important it is for probiotics to be part of our lives to improve immunity and mood, and prevent, retard, and reverse diseases. When we fall sick, we take antibiotics to treat diseases. Probiotic foods are consumed to maintain health and prevent diseases.
Thus, I can safely tell you that probiotics
are beneficial bacteria that aid the body in improving overall health and maintaining it. They are the friendly bacteria that reach the intestine alive in large numbers. To get the health benefit, they have to be consumed regularly. Human beings absorb nutrients through their intestine. Our gut is our natural defence force exposed not only to food but also to external foes like harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites. It helps in abortion, assimilation, and digestion of nutrients. It aids the production of important vitamins such as Vitamin B and K.
The rich probiotic tradition of India
In India, it is quite important to consume probiotics regularly, as, besides COVID-19, we have many waterborne diseases like malaria, dengue, typhoid, and gastroenteritis. I want you to fret not, as luckily, India’s tradition of consuming fermented foods goes back to the ages of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Foods fermented by lactic acid bacteria such as curd, buttermilk, pickles, idli, dosa, bhatura, bananas, onions, oats, and honey help support
40 LifePositive | JULY 2020
probiotic growth in our body. Please have your curd at room temperature since having it chilled may affect your throat.
A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Japan and learn about their diet culture, which includes probiotic foods in limited quantities. In 1921, a Japanese scientist, Dr Minoru Shirota, worked towards improving the health of people in Japan who were suffering from various diseases. He discovered the Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota and added it to Japanese diet via products like Yakult. It was important to do so as the Japanese did not eat many fermented foods as we Indians do on a regular basis. Thus, this addition aided in increasing NK cells which defend our body by killing viruses, harmful bacteria, and infections that attack us.
Common sense suggests that we stay away from outside foods, cold food, drink boiled water throughout the day, and avoid raw foods right now. I hope now you know that the best preventive medicine is our body’s gut flora as it protects us and saves us from dreaded diseases. To this, add laughter, regular exercise, maintain body temperature, eat a balanced diet, get seven to eight hours of sleep, and you have a stronger immune system.
RECIPE FOR ONION RAITA
INGREDIENTS:
200 ml curd at room temperature 1 medium-size onion
1-2 green chilli
2 tsp roasted cumin powder
rock salt, to taste
METHOD:
• Chop the onion and green chilli finely.
• Take the curd in a bowl and add the chopped onions and chilli to this. • Mix well.
• Add roasted cumin powder and rock salt to taste.
• Serve fresh along with meals.
We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article. Mail us at [email protected]
Food 41
INSIGHT
The right understanding
In the absence of the right understanding, many spiritual concepts either get misunderstood or misused by both the New Age gurus as well as the seekers. Badal Suchak removes the layers of ignorance shrouding these concepts and brings to light their true meaning
42
LifePositive | JULY 2020
I t is a delight to see that nowadays, a him unwholesome advice inspiring him to
lot of people, especially youngsters, are
drawn towards exploring spirituality. They invest precious time, money, and energy to attend spiritual talks, workshops, and retreats. However, like in every field, one faces challenges on the spiritual path as well.
One of the challenges that I have faced is that at times, teachings get misinterpreted. I have struggled with getting the right understanding of vital teachings. The reasons for this could be varied, but primarily, it happens because words are mere approximations of spiritual experiences, and therefore, no matter how much a teacher with good intention teaches, he is unable to perfectly communicate his experience in words correctly. At times, the seeker has to pay a heavy price for such misinterpretations. Therefore, it is important to share your experience in order to generate awareness and initiate an inner dialogue leading to clarity.
Listen to your heart, not your head
Every teacher, from ancient mystical traditions to New Age gurus and even Sufi poets, says this vehemently: “Listen to your heart, not your head.”
It sounds so romantic! Young seekers love this teaching. They dance in abandonment at spiritual music festivals believing that they are following their hearts. They probably do not have much awareness or a deeper understanding of what is being sung.
What has God made the head for? Everyone keeps saying listen to the heart! I keep wondering. Why should thinking be shunned and only feelings heeded?
Raavan had ten heads, and they kept giving
commit wrong deeds. He also had a wicked heart which made him desire and abduct another man’s wife. Neither such a head nor such a heart must be heeded.
Ram, on the other hand, embodied higher values and principles. His mind inspired him to take actions which were challenging but righteous. His heart was filled with love and compassion. His actions were wholesome. Such a head as well as a heart must be heeded.
Having clarity
Head and heart, both have higher as well as lower states. One could categorise them into sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic tendencies. One must listen to one’s higher Self, which inspires wholesome actions, and not the lower self, which tries to pull you down. Introspect and ask yourself: What makes you want to eat ice- cream, junk food, colas? Is it the head or the heart? Find out for yourself.
The human mind is so smart that it will cleverly justify whatever it wants to do. It can even justify a heinous deed like murder in the name of religion and make one believe that one has listened to one’s heart in doing so. It is the lower mind which, out of ignorance, wants to indulge in unwholesome actions, the permission to which is given by the lower feelings.
When a spiritual teacher asks you to listen to your heart and not your head, the underlying reason is that a novice’s head keeps generating options, whereas the heart is the psychic centre which intuitively knows the right path. How many of us are able to listen to our psychic intuitive self and chose the right path? Many a time, when we believe that we are listening to our intuition, we are actually listening to our
Insight 43
Sincere spiritual practice helps us in achieving the heart-mind balance
fears or desires clouding our hearts and minds. A consistent and sincere spiritual practice calms and purifies both the head and the heart. It brings about a balance in one’s being. It is best to avoid taking decisions when there is a conflict between the head and the heart. Wholesome decisions and actions are generated by a calm mind and a pure heart. Then there is no conflict—only clarity of thought and joy in action.
I’ve concluded that one must listen to a wise, mature heart filled with peace and purity.
Live in the present moment
Our minds generally tend to dwell on the past or the future. Dwelling on past mistakes generates guilt, whereas dwelling on past glories generates nostalgia. Dreaming of a positive
future generates craving, whereas conjuring up a negative future generates fear. Neither of these states of mind: guilt, nostalgia, craving, or fear are wholesome in nature. Therefore, spiritual teachers recommend living in the present moment. This well-meaning teaching gets gravely misinterpreted.
A young person hardly has any burden of the past or worries about the future. So they say, “Live in the present. You only live once! Do what you want. Listen to your heart.” With hormones pumping and abundant physical energy, it is exciting to ‘listen to the heart and live in the present’ rather than plan for the future. So, they tend to indulge in hedonistic and irresponsible behaviour, unmindful of the consequences they will face of their current lifestyle in the future.
44 LifePositive | JULY 2020
The misinterpretation of this teaching is not just limited to youngsters. Since the teaching is very subtle, even mature spiritual practitioners tend to falter. At a luxury spiritual retreat, a wealthy middle-aged lady dressed in designer yoga gear, wearing solitaires, and carrying an expensive handbag excitedly declared, “I always live in the present!” Her ‘present’ is definitely very cushy and so easy to live in as back home someone else is toiling to pay for her luxurious lifestyle. She was trying to comfort and advise another participant at the retreat who was having a difficult marriage and found it difficult to ‘live in the present’ as guided by the retreat facilitator.
In the current spiritual market, the demand for educated charismatic retreat facilitators is very high and the New Age gurus who are ambitious about scaling up their activities are quick to entice such students into the roles of retreat facilitators. Such facilitators, often do not know the depth of the spiritual teachings they mouth as they have only theoretically grasped them and not practically lived them deeply. They are merely trained to be charismatic and impressive.
The misunderstanding
In both the above-mentioned cases, seekers misinterpreted the subtle teaching of ‘living in the present’ and the facilitator was probably not equipped to give clarity. Truly, this teaching does not propound either living hedonistically, irresponsibly, or in a dreamy present. Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power of Now is a spiritual classic on this subject offering valuable insights.
There can be challenges in the present moment and one has to deal with them by being fully present and not running away from them. By being fully present in the here and now, one is
It is exciting to ‘listen
to the heart and live in the present’ rather than plan for the future. So, people tend to indulge in hedonistic and irresponsible behaviour, unmindful of the consequences they will face of their current lifestyle in the future.
able to see with a wise heart and take the right actions. By not escaping from facing a painful situation or not indulging in a pleasurable situation, one refrains from creating new karma and sets oneself free. Therefore, being present as a witness to what is happening is important.
I’ve concluded that the right understanding of this teaching is to be fully present in the here and now with witness consciousness. The difference is subtle in the use of words, but the impact has a major energy shift.
It is not always easy to observe one’s feelings with equanimity and be present. It is relatively easier to observe one’s breath or bodily sensations arising in the present moment and develop equanimity as taught at Vipassana meditation retreats.
Have an abundance mindset
This is primarily a pitfall for the New Agers and not the serious spiritual seekers following
Insight 45
a classical school of spirituality. Several young charismatic New Age gurus have sprung up in the past couple of decades, offering to teach one the secret of success and prosperity by changing one’s mindset. They have smartly marketed programmes which claim to help you create an abundance mindset.
Now, the good thing about them is that they help you get in touch with your inner calling, your Ikigai, the career path you must follow in order to be successful. These New Age gurus have clearly defined systems and processes to help you set goals, visualise successful outcomes, create a plan, define timelines, take actions, be consistent, and follow through until success is achieved. This is wonderful!
They teach you to visualise, emotionalise, and actualise a successful outcome. This is good in terms of bridging spirituality and the boardroom. They build a good bridge between spiritual knowledge and material manifestation.
However, from the perspective of a matured spiritual seeker, it is merely the manipulation of universal energy. In classical terms, it is developing ‘siddhi’ or spiritual powers of manifestation.
The glitch in the theory
These New Age gurus propound developing an abundance mindset saying that Nature has everything in abundance and you need to be open to it. It is correct from one perspective. One must surely not have a small mindset. One can achieve whatever one wants. So the New Agers visualise a super successful career, being globetrotters, living in luxury villas, vacationing in exotic locales, and all of that. Such videos are made and bombarded in the media to advertise workshops of ‘The
‘Shuddhi’ is more important than ‘siddhi.’ A pure mind and heart are more important than the capability to manipulate energy for one’s personal benefit.
abundance mindset.’ And it is commendable that some are even able to achieve it through their hard work.
From another perspective, this could be a ‘greed mindset’ rather than an ‘abundance mindset.’ It is true that everything in Nature is in abundance. However, someone has rightly said that Nature has enough for everyone’s needs but not enough for everyone’s greed. We have witnessed what human greed has done to Nature. It has destroyed forests, mined minerals excessively, polluted oceans, tortured animals, brought about global warming, and created pandemics.
This leads to a ‘guilt mindset’ in some and then the super-rich decide to go for philanthropy. Many a time, their philanthropic activities have hidden agendas of personal gains. Wouldn’t it have been better for them to respect Nature and care about the quality of life of their employees in the first place? Their ambition, fuelled by a misinterpretation of ‘the abundance mindset,’ drives their employees to overwork and the balance of Nature to be destroyed.
46 LifePositive | JULY 2020
Living in the present means that one has to be fully present in the moment without running away from challenges
The classical teaching of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ invites the seeker to develop an expansive state of mind and an inclusive heart. I think it gets gravely misinterpreted by New Agers as an ‘abundance mindset.’
Shuddhi over siddhi
As Morari Bapu teaches, ‘shuddhi’ is more important than ‘siddhi.’ A pure mind and heart are more important than the capability to manipulate energy for one’s personal benefit.
It is much easier to manipulate energy than to understand it deeply and live a wholesome life. It is also very attractive to the novice seeker as it helps them create the life of their dreams and is lucrative for New Age gurus offering workshops to this end.
For a genuine spiritual seeker, siddhis are just a stage in one’s path. Classical gurus recommend not getting caught in them and moving ahead toward the higher goal of Self-realisation.
I’ve concluded that instead of developing a misinterpreted ‘abundance mindset,’ it is more important to have a pure magnanimous heart.
My journey is still on, and I keep encountering new and old challenges which are not fully integrated and which I need to heal by developing a deeper understanding of them. It is important to tread this path with awareness and with the support of fellow travellers by sharing one’s understanding with them.
We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article. Mail us at [email protected]
Insight 47
AHA-MOMENTS
Just Being
T ime has changed its Time. I had fought for it. I had If there is one thing this entire
Of late, Megha Bajaj feels that time is no longer measured by the fleeting days and weeks but has shrunk into the pres- ent moment—to be cherished
meaning for me.
Earlier it used to come, dressed snappy and sharp, as days of the week.
Mondays? Those days that look like mini New Years—where all the resolutions are made. The decisions to change. To get into this habit and get out of that one. Armed with self-determination, putting that chin up, going into the Monday, feeling like a warrior on a border and not another girl revving the car to work.
And then comes that Thursday. Like a flower, that has had its day of blooming and is ready to curl up and sleep, waiting for Friday. The fun Friday evenings where the mind counts 1 – 2 – ah, there’s time. Those twilights of unwinding to a tall glass of juice, some cheese and crackers, and definitely, the conversations. Not to mention the music.
Time has changed its meaning for me.
If you ask me what day it is, I will need to think. Connect something to another thing in my mind: “On Wednesday I had that talk, and one day has gone so today must be Friday.”
begged for it. I had craved for it. And suddenly, now that I have more of it than I can imagine, I find myself watching it with my mouth agape.
Time has changed its meaning for me.
It’s strange, but I also find myself slipping into the past more often in this period. Not the recent past, just before the pandemic, but the distant past. From decades ago. Memories of me twirling around in a small frock as my mother went about her work keep coming. As does lying under the stars on that rusted water tank on my terrace. Or that trip to the highest peak of snow where we stomped our feet and giggled to keep ourselves warm.
I also find myself daydreaming of the future. Though I must admit, it’s undefined. Blurry. “The world has changed,” says everyone, and through the mask, I am only able to see bits and pieces of the face of the future. I am not afraid. Things look uncertain—unknown—but not impeding. A change, but strangely, a welcome one.
Time has changed its meaning for me.
I am no longer counting time by months. Or weeks. Or even days and hours.
Time seems to have shrunk into a walnut in the palm of my hand. It’s become a moment. This one, right
phase has taught me, it is to be here.
To be present.
To breathe in, breathe out.
To watch the play of thoughts, to listen to the night skies.
To chew what I bite.
To look into the eyes of the person I am speaking to.
To be aware of the sensations in my body: from that niggling ache in the left knee to the flow of subtle energy around me.
Time no longer seems to be my boss.
Or a threat.
It’s simply sitting, allowing me to be.
And I am.
Being, that is.
And strangely, Just Being seems to be one of the best uses of time indeed.
Time has changed its meaning for me.
An award-winning author, film- script writer and poet, Megha is an eternal seeker at heart. She also empowers people to write and get published through her online writing workshop. You can read more on www. WonderofWords.org.
We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article. Mail us at [email protected]
Time seems to be stretching
out before me—unclothed. Uncluttered. Filled with possibilities. It seems to be
asking me: “Here I am. At
your service. Tell me, what
are you going to do with me?” here.
48 LifePositive | JULY 2020
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