August 2012 FOREST FLOWER

3 September 2012 FOREST FLOWER

CONTENTS
Main Article
The God Particle
Sadhguru on the Science Approach to Existence 4
Musings
Payback Time
Sadhguru on How to Deal with the Mind during Sadhana 7
Black Magic
Sadhguru on the Technology and Its Potential Threat 8
In Conversation with the Mystic
No Morality, Just Humanity
Sadhguru in Conversation with Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan Part 2 9
Leela Series
The path of the playful part XXXIV:
Yagnas More than a Ritual 11
News & Happenings
Sadhguru on NDTV The Big Fight
God, Science, and the Universe 13
Ishanga 7%
Energy Form Ceremony with Sadhguru 14
Project Feature
Empower GENERATIONNEXT
Government School Adoption Program 16
Sadhguru Spot
The Back Road to Kailash 18
Upcoming Programs and Events
Devi Seva The Way of Devotion 19
Isha Yoga Program Highlights 20
Isha Recipes For Healthy Living
This Month: Vallarai Chutney 21
Zen Speaks: There Is No Substitute 23
The following is an excerpt from a talk by Sadhguru
in a darshan
1
at Isha Yoga Center on 8 July 2012.
Questioner: Sadhguru, can the discovery of the
Higgs boson or the God Particle prove the existence
of God?
Sadhguru: Calling it The God Particle is a very
clever marketing ploy scientists are becoming
market-savvy. Now people who were never ever
interested in any kind of physics are talking about
particle physics. If breaking a proton and coming
up with the boson is an achievement, needs to
be seen. But it is defnitely an achievement that
suddenly the whole world or at least the educated
part of it is interested in particle physics now.
At least people are thinking of science not just
as a way of milking existence. There is right
now no technological use but they are willing to
spend almost ten billion dollars and many years
just to know something I like that. This sounds
very spiritual to me, though usually, the spiritual
process does not cost that much.
In yoga, we see it this way: there are different
dimensions to existence sthoola, sookshma,
shoonya, and Shiva. Sthoola is the gross existence
or physicality. Everything that you can perceive
through the fve senses everything that you can
see, smell, taste, hear, and touch, is considered as
sthoola. This aspect of existence can be analyzed
with your intellect, understood, and grasped. Since
it is physical in nature, sthoola is always made
of anu
2
or atoms. An atom is a building block of
existence, and once a suffcient number of atoms are
there, we can touch something it, we can smell it,
we can taste it, and if it becomes big enough, we
can see it. If it goes beyond the perception of the
fve senses but still is physical in nature, we call
it sookshma. Though sookshma still is physical,
do what you want, you cannot grasp it through
fve senses, nor can you analyze it through your
intellect. We call the dimension through which
we approach sookshma, vishesha gnana. Gnana or
gyan means knowledge, vishesha gnana or vigyan is
extraordinary or signifcant knowledge.
4
SADHGURU
September 2012 FOREST FLOWER
THe ONLy SOLUTiON
Sadhguru on the
Science Approach to Existence
1
Darshan at the Isha Yoga Center is a special opportunity to be in the presence of Sadhguru
2
Sanskrit for atom
SADHGURU
The word vigyan is being very loosely used today,
but essentially, vigyan means to perceive those
dimensions which cannot be perceived through
fve senses. Today, science is entering those spaces
because never ever is anybody going to see a Higgs
boson. They are only going to see its footprint. Even
now, they only saw the footprint; they did not see
a Higgs boson. But because they see the footprint,
they believe it is there. It is like if we go into the
forest and see certain pugmarks, we can say that this
was a tiger, even though we have not seen the tiger
itself. Just like that, scientists saw the footprints of
the Higgs boson, so they are entering vishesh gyan.
If you go further, it will become shoonya, which
means absolute emptiness, no physicality. Where
there is no physicality, your sense organs and
intellect will become absolutely redundant. If you
go beyond shoonya, there is something that we
refer to as Shi-va. When I say Shiva, do not imagine
that calendar man from Shivakasi
3
. Shi-va means
that which is not. If you touch that which is not,
you will see it is not physical in nature. This means
it does not exist but it is opaque. How can that be?
It is not in the realm of your logical mind. Modern
science believes that the whole existence has to
oblige to human logic, which is a very limited way
of approaching life. The whole existence will not
oblige to human logic. Your head fts into existence
existence will not ft into your head. Logic can only
analyze the physicality of existence. Once you cross
the physical dimension, your logic is completely out
of its realm.
In the yogic lore, science has been expressed in the
form of stories. But we are always told not to believe
the lore till it becomes a reality in your experience
and it is the reality in my experience. When I once
told some of the top scientists of the world, how the
nature of existence is from my inner experience,
they said, Sadhguru, if you can give a mathematical
backbone to what you are saying, this is Nobel Prize
stuff. I do not want to write equations for it, but it
is true for me and it has transformed everything
that I am. Everything that I ever was changed,
simply because I touched this dimension within
me. It is a perfect theory, and we have proved
within ourselves that it is true. Scientists build a
ten billion dollar instrument under the ground to
prove what can be experientially proved within
yourself if you are willing to go into the depths
of this piece of life [yourself] because this is made
the same way as the whole universe is made. If
you go deep enough into this, you will know how
everything in the universe is made by inference;
even science is only inferring now.
Modern science has admitted that this is an
endless universe in yogic terms, we say it is ever-
expanding. If it is an endless universe, trying to travel
across it and fnding out its nature is simply out of
question. The only way you could know the nature
of the universe, the nature of the creation, and the
source of creation is by going inward because the
source of creation is within you. Whatever you ate
a few hours ago, whether it was an idli, a dosa, or a
banana, has been transformed into a human being
by now. Nothing else can do this except the source
of creation. So the source of creation is right here
within you. If you want to know anything about
creation, is the source of creation not the best place
to consult? If it is right here, why do you not consult
it? Simply because you are too enamored with your
own thought. Thinking you can capture the whole
universe with your thoughts is a foolish approach.
The only reason why science has survived is because
of technology. If no technologies were coming out
of science, if scientists were only talking about all
the things, people would have beaten them down
for the money that they spent. Science has its
value in terms of utility, but science cannot open
up existence for human experience. It can never do
that because they go with intellect. The only way
intellect can approach anything is by breaking it up
and looking at it. If you ask a scientist to fnd out
something about a fower, he will break it up into
pieces. If you break it up, you may know different
parts of it, you may know the structure of it, you may
know the chemistry of it, but you will not know the
beauty of it. You will not know the completeness
of it. A fower is an expression of a plant fnding its
fulfllment. It is the highest happening in a plants
life it is the fowering of that life. If you break it
5
FOREST FLOWER September 2012
3
Town in Tamil Nadu with a large amount of frework industry and printing industry (calendars etc.)
up, you will not see the hand of the Creator in it. But
if you are willing to pay absolute attention to it as a
whole; if, in your approach, you make this fower
more important than yourself and keep your focus
on it, you will see the whole universe in it. If you
break it up, you will only have parts of the fower.
You will come to vulgar conclusions and see how to
make use of it.
Unfortunately, the approach of science has become,
How to use everything in the universe for our
beneft? They will not even leave an invisible
boson. People already talk about in how many ways
it could be used. They could make a boson bomb.
If instead of shooting you dead, they make all the
protons in your body collide with each other, you
will just vanish. They do not even have to deal with
your dead bodies because you will cease to exist, just
like the boson [in the Large Hadron Collider]. Do
you want this technology? But they will tell you
that there could be medical and other uses to it. I
know all that, but not being able to look at anything
without thinking in what way we can make use of
it, is a very gross way to exist. With this approach
to existence, you will have everything and you
will have nothing. This is modern life like never
before, people have everything, and yet they got
nothing in their lives, nothing that would be of any
worth. People who have everything and cannot feel
life in any signifcant way, will, when the moment
of death comes, see that they spent all these years
without living a moment. The thought what can
I get is a sure way not to live. From what you get,
you can only make a living it is only by what you
give that you make a life. Giving does not mean
giving money or something else. It is just like if you
look at this tree, how totally you can give yourself
to this tree is how intensely you know life. If you sit
here and calculate what you can get out of this tree,
life will evade you.
The kind of science which denies you life should be
restricted. A science that is driven just by what can
I get out of it needs to be controlled. Otherwise,
human beings will have everything and they will
have nothing. When that is your experience of
life, you will destroy everything. Today the planet
is being destroyed because of unbridled use of
technology, nothing else. Technology could have
been used for our wellbeing but it is working against
us because we have not worked on other dimensions
of life; we are just going by this What can I get? If
you go by this, there will be no planet left after some
time. Even if we rope in another ten planets, still it
will not be enough. We will have everything but
still have nothing.
This is my experience when I go to these high profle
business meetings I am meeting billionaires who
are beggars. I have seen so many of them, who got
billions of dollars in their bank or wherever, but in
their attitude, in their experience of life, they are just
beggars. This is a wasteful life, and unfortunately, in
many ways, science has set the pitch for it. Science
should have been just a longing and quest to know,
not to exploit the creation. Human longing to know
wants to fnd expression in every possible way.
Physical science is one of the ways, but if businesses
sponsor it, they are looking for proft from it; if
nations sponsor it, they are looking for how to make
more powerful weapons out of it. Cutting-edge
science always frst becomes cutting-edge military
technology; only after that, it comes down to other
uses. How many lives has it taken how many more
do we want to take?
So one good thing about the God Particle is, the
whole world is thinking particle physics. Do you
know the boson is named after Satyendra Nath
Bose
4
, a self-taught Indian mathematician and
physicist? The fundamentals of mathematics came
from the East, but the ethos of this culture has
always been not to do anything that is exploitative
to nature because nature was seen as Mother
Nature. You do not rape Mother Nature. You
take only what you need nothing more. Because
of this attitude, science was not converted into
technology here, and that is the wisest way to
handle science just as a quest, a tool, a way
to know, and nothing beyond that. The unbridled
usage of technology needs to be checked; otherwise,
it will be our nemesis.
66
FOREST FLOWER
1
A contemporary of Albert Einstein; his work on quantum mechanics provided the foundation for the BoseEinstein statistics and the
theory of the BoseEinstein condensate
September 2012
Questioner: When I am doing my Shambhavi
Mahamudra practice, I cant stop my mind and Im
kind of confused before, after, and while doing the
practice. What to do?
Sadhguru: If you are confused before, after, and
during the practice, it means you are confused all
the time this has nothing to do with the practice.
Shambhavi Mahamudra is not an initiation we just
use that word because it is common usage. We can
initiate you into Shoonya meditation we cannot
initiate you into Shambhavi. Shambhavi is more
like consecrating your system the practice is only
a cleanup. Shoonya meditation, Shakti Chalana
Kriya, Samyama these are initiations. Shambhavi
is a consecration. The job has already been done all
you have to do is try to make it available for yourself.
It is like the temple has been built you just have
to go and sit there. Whatever had to be done has
already been done you just have to beneft from it,
on a daily basis.
You are saying that your mind is working. You dont
want it to work? Somehow, this idea has spread big-
time in the world that if you meditate, your mind
should not work. When you are doing Shambhavi
Mahamudra, you want your heart to beat, you want
your blood to move but you want your brain to
stop. Why are you so prejudiced against the brain?
The liver functions, the kidneys function, even your
spleen is working, everything is working when you
are meditating let your brain also work. What is
your problem as long as you are not involved in it?
Do not try to meditate just follow the instructions.
You will see whatever is happening bothers you no
more if you just take these steps. You are struggling
now because you have this idea that if you sit with
your eyes closed, your mind should stop. Please drop
this idea about meditating. You must understand
this I invested my life on you, so you have to
pay me 21 minutes of your life every day. This is
Sadhgurus time sit, no matter what happens. Do
not worry about meditation, do not worry about
benefts you are just paying back. If you are paying
back your debt to somebody, do you bother if the
currency is soiled? Let him take it and go, what is
your problem? Let him clean it up if he wants. Leave
it to me. You just sit there, follow the instructions
thats all. What has to happen will happen. The issue
is simply that you have wrong inputs about what
meditation is.
Excerpted from a Q & A session with Sadhguru
during an Inner Engineering Intensive in
February 2011 in Century City, Los Angeles, USA
Payback Time
Sadhguru on How to Deal with the Mind during Practice
7
FOREST FLOWER September 2012
Questioner: Sadhguru, a few years back, things
were not going well for me. I was told somebody did
black magic on me. How can we prevent such things
happening?
Sadhguru: The blackest types of magic are in your
mind. What others can do is little. What you can
do to yourself is too much, both ways. So, if you
make your mind into white magic, you can ignore
other peoples black magic. But if your mind itself
is black magic and somebody else fuels it a little bit,
it is enough to destroy you. We cannot control the
intentions of all the people around us, but we can
control what happens within us that we can make
100% the way we want it. What intentions people
out there have, you do not know. They may come
and sit in a sathsang but may actually want to kill
you. It is very much possible.
Even though you cannot completely control what
intentions other people have for you, you can
nurture their intentions to some extent. You can
nurture the situation in such a way that millions of
people love you. In that sense, you are controlling
their intention, but it is never 100%. Even your
own family can suddenly turn against you this is
happening to people every day. So instead of being
concerned about what other peoples intentions
towards you are, frst of all you need to see that your
own mind has the capability to do horrible things
to you. If you fx that, you will see, other peoples
magic, black or white, will not work much on you.
It may have a mild infuence, but it will not change
the direction of your life.
The science of black magic is largely lost in the
world today. This is actually not a good thing; it
could have been used positively. It is a technology
of employing ones own energies or external
energies to do certain things. But unfortunately,
people misused it. The black kind of magic is more
commercially viable than the white kind. So based
on popular demand, more people took to practicing
it in a darker way than in a good way. It is not that
a certain capability is bad by itself. It is the hands
that use it, which make it good or bad. Every
capability can be either used for wellbeing or for
destroying people. Modern science and technology
is a phenomenal representation of that. Sometimes,
things are done with negative intentions, and
sometimes, the most negative things are done with
very positive intentions, which is what we see in
the world today. Science and technology is one of
the greatest boons that humanity has received, but
unfortunately, within hundred years of its use, we
have turned it against ourselves in such a big way
that it threatens not just the life of humanity but the
planet itself.
Do you want to call all the technological wonders
white magic or black magic? You can call it anything
you want. Maybe, it all started with good intentions.
Similarly, what you call black magic began with
good intentions, but then people started using it in
so many different ways. But the number of people
who can do that today is very less, so you do not have
to worry about that. Who are you that they should
waste their time and their energy doing something
to you? If you were a king, you would have to
worry that somebody wants to do something. Or if
you were sitting on a gold mine, you might have to
worry about these things because somebody might
want to get hold of it. What are you sitting on?
Nothing much. So do not worry nobody is going
to waste their time, energies, and money, trying to
do black or white magic to you. You better do your
own magic.
Excerpted from a Q&A during a darshan with
Sadhguru at Isha Yoga Center on 27 June 2012
88
BLack MaGic
Sadhguru on the Technology and Its Potential Threat
FOREST FLOWER September 2012
99 FOREST FLOWER
Sadhguru in Conversation with Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan Part 1
No Morality, Just Humanity
In the most recent episode of the In Conversation with the Mystic series, which took
place on 16 June 2012 in Hyderabad, Sadhguru and Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan discuss subjects
from morality to politics and corruption, to nation and society, to the spiritual and temporal.
An excerpt of Sadhgurus statement in the
previous part of the conversation: Once you
start a debate as to what is good and what is bad,
this debate can actually go on forever without
coming to a conclusion. [] instead of looking
at right and wrong, we need to look at what is
appropriate. [] if you look at appropriateness
of action, then we can arrive at what is the
appropriate thing to do in our society, for our
conditions, with our limitations.
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Now Sadhguru, I hear
you saying that in terms of appropriateness, a) the
cultural ambience in which you live matters and b) it
changes from time to time, generation to generation.
But we need some kind of a yardstick, something
measureable and somewhat universal in guiding our
behavior and dealing with the society at large, or
perhaps even with nature. How are we going to give
people a yardstick other than religious edicts? That
is the challenge for many agnostics because we cant
go by the Ten Commandments merely because God
gave us those; we cant go by the Gita because Lord
Vishnu told us so. We need a temporal yardstick,
we need an institutional mechanism to be able to
measure and say, This is right this is wrong.
Sadhguru: Trying to fx human life with morality
has never worked. Even the Ten Commandments
have never worked. It is only carved on the stone.
Nobody has ever really stuck to it. People who said,
Thou shall not kill are the ones who are killing
constantly. It is just that it happens in a different
garb; in a different way. So trying to fx the human
societies with morality will only bring more and
more deception. And above all, it kills life in so
many different ways. Why are we trying to fx
life with morality? Essentially because we have
never bothered to stir up humanity. If you stir up
that dimension within you that we call humanity,
when you are feeling very human, you do not need
morality. You will be fne the way you are. But
instead of being just a human being, people become
a Christian or a Hindu or a Muslim or an Indian or
a Pakistani, or caste, creed, and many, many things.
Instead of a human identity, you take on a different
identity. Then you can do the most horrible things
with great pride. You can kill not one but thousands
and feel really good about it, because you did it for
the nation, you did it for your religion; you did it for
your caste, creed, or whatever else.
Shifting your identity from your fundamental
identity to make-believe identities may serve only
a limited purpose. We are a nation because we have
to politically manage ourselves. It is not some divine
dictum that this is a nation. We are the people who
drew the lines; now we believe that this is how it
is. For certain functional reasons, we draw lines,
but that is not the reality. A human being should
essentially be identifed as a human being not by
his religion, not by his race, not by his caste, creed,
or nationality. If he sits here as a human being, you
September 2012
10
FOREST FLOWER
will see he does not need morality. He will be fne.
And that is what is needed in the society to stir up
humanity, not morality. [Applause]
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Thats a terrifc message,
Sadhguru. Essentially, what you are advocating is,
Go beyond the individual, go beyond the sect and
the creed and embrace humanity itself, and you will
not go wrong in actions
Sadhguru: Im not saying, Embrace humanity.
Im saying, You are human. I dont have to teach
you to be human; you are human. The problem
is, somebody else has taught you that you are
something else. Somebody else has told you, you are
Indian. Somebody else has told you, you are Hindu.
Somebody else has told you, you are Muslim. But the
reality is, you are human. If you go a little deeper,
you are just a piece of life. If you sit here and throb
as a piece of life do you have any problem with any
piece of life in the existence? Essentially, we are just
a throbbing piece of life. The rest is all made up by
us. This is the reality of existence.
If you sit here just as a piece of life, you will
instantly know that there is nothing in the existence
with which you are not connected. But if you sit
here as an Indian and the person sitting next to you
is P [Pakistani], there is a problem. If you sit here
as a Hindu and the next person is M [Muslim]
problem. Like this, it goes on, into further and
further divisions. So an essential dimension of
spiritual process is that you dis-identify yourself
from all the false identities you have taken on and
learn to sit here just as a piece of life.
This happened a few years ago. When we started
Project GreenHands and I said that we need to plant
114 million trees to get Tamil Nadu to 33% green
cover, people said, Sadhguru, 114 million? Is it
possible for any human being to plant this many?
I told them, The population of Tamil Nadu is
62 million people. If all of us plant one tree, take
care of it for two years and plant one more tree, you
got it. So it is not diffcult. Even a beggar is capable
of planting one tree. The problem is that they must
feel for it. So I went out village to village, called
Farmers Associations together, and told them one
simple thing, Where do you want to sit in the sun
or under the tree? You know what the choice is?
Everybody wants to sit under the tree. Then I said,
Are you breathing? I want you to understand, what
you are exhaling, the tree is inhaling. What the tree
is exhaling, you are inhaling. Just sit here and feel
it. One half of your lungs is hanging out there; your
breathing equipment is not completely here [in the
body]. Just see the tree and breathe. It just caught
like a fre. We have not yet planted 114 million trees
but 17 million trees so far. [Applause] Tamil Nadus
green cover has offcially gone up by 7.2 percent,
and we did not give up our lives to do this. This is
just one aspect of our activity. If everybody gets
involved, it is such a small job. Why are they not
getting involved? Because they are identifed with
something. If they sat here just as a piece of life,
nobody would have to tell them. They would have
anyway done it by themselves.
So, it is because of these wrong identifcations that
we are doing all these crazy things. If you are trying
to fx it with morality, it is not going to work. It has
not worked for thousands of years. So the frst step
is to stir up your humanity. If that is done, the next
thing is to see that you are just a piece of life. Even
being human is your idea.
The theory of evolution is telling you that just some
time ago, you were a monkey. Your DNA is only
1.3% different from that of a chimpanzee. Not a big
difference, isnt it? Experiencing life as life is more
important than we making up something which
is not true. This is what has happened to human
society; this is what has happened to human psyche.
They are not sitting here as life; they are sitting here
as so many things which they are not. They realize
this only when they are about to die.
To be continued
September 2012
FOREST FLOWER
Yagnas
More than a Ritual
The following is an excerpt from a Q&A with
Sadhguru during Leela, the path of the playful,
a unique exploration into the mystical realm of
Krishna that took place at Isha Yoga Center in
September 2005.
Participant: In the Gita, Krishna often talks about
sacrifce for example in Chapter 3.
Sadhguru: We will read starting from Verse 7. Oh
Arjuna, great is the man who can use his mind to
control his senses and do his karma without any
attachment. It is better to do your duty than to
remain without doing anything. Action is important
because we cannot even maintain our own body
without it. Except the sacrifce, every kind of action
done in this world is binding. Hence perform action
like it were a sacrifce that you are doing in the
name of gods. Do it without any attachment, O son
of Kunti.
The word yagna has been translated as sacrifce.
The English word sacrifce is always understood as
giving up something to get something else. Giving
up something to get something else is commerce.
Giving up something for nothing is sacrifce. A
yagna need not necessarily be a sacrifce. A yagna
is a combination of an offering, an oblation, and
a sacrifce. In this verse, Krishna is talking about
a yagna as a ritual through which you can please
certain forces in existence. In this context, he refers
to gods, not God. In this tradition, various kinds of
beings were identifed according to their quality.
There are humans, animals, and everything that
you can see around you. And there are different
categories of beings that you cannot see, such as
Buthas, Pretas, Yakshas, Gandharvas, and Devas.
It is the Devas that are referred to as gods here.
Krishna is not talking about the ultimate supreme
possibility [God] he is talking about gods.
There are tree gods, monkey gods, elephant gods
for everything, there is a god. This is not a fgment of
imagination. Everything in existence is happening
because of certain forces. In this tradition, these
forces were identifed, personifed, and methods to
access them were created. Yagnas are processes to
access certain forces in existence and achieve much
more than you would by your normal strength
and capabilities. Even today, people use yagas
1
and
yagnas. For a lot of people, it may not work because
it is not properly conducted. But there are many
people who have hugely benefted, who achieved
what they wanted in the material world, by using
certain yagas and yagnas. It does not matter how
educated they are, but even today, 95% of the
Indians will do yagas and yagnas before they move
into a new home.
A yagna is a means to access a dimension which
is otherwise not accessible for you. Yagnas are
of different kinds. One is a ritualistic yagna an
expert in the feld does something for you that
you can beneft of. Or you have made your very
life process into a yagna. If you are at a certain
level of consciousness and energy, everything that
you do is a yagna. Then you do not have to do a
separate ritual the very way you live is a yagna.
Doing your Shakti Chalana Kriya or Shambavi
Mahamudra is an internal yagna. Without a sense
Leela Series
The path of the playful
Part XXXV
1
Another word for offering/sacrifce
September 2012 11
12
of offering, you will never know the essence of
the practice. If you make this a process, it is a
very powerful yagna through which things will
happen beautifully not just for yourself, even
around you.
If 1% of the worlds population becomes meditative,
the remaining 99% will beneft from it. If 1% of
the people really make every moment of their lives
into a yagna, the remaining 99% will also reap the
beneft without doing anything for it. If one person
plants a mango tree, a hundred people can eat from
it. Similarly, if you have made your life process
itself into a yagna, an offering, thousands of people
can beneft from it. What is happening here at the
ashram right now, if you look at the volunteers, the
brahmacharis and sannyasis their very existence
is a yagna. Everything that is being done here is
being done as an offering. The very place [Isha Yoga
Center] is a yagna bhumi [place of offering].
Today, this is slowly going away, but otherwise in
this culture, starting with every simple thing that we
do in our childhood, the family constantly reminds
us that what you get is not important what you
give is important. This is not a teaching; it is simply
there in every aspect of our lives, starting from very
little things. Especially the women in India are true
tyagis [givers]. Everybody in the family should have
eaten, only then they will eat. Todays women may
look at it logically and think this is nonsense. Why
should the man eat frst? Why cant I eat frst and
let him eat later? But it is not a question of who
eats frst. The one who eats frst does not get better.
Being a host is always a bigger experience than being
a guest the sense of fulfllment is so much more.
Simple women just made their lives into a total
sacrifce for people who lived around them. They
just cooked, they served, they never thought about
themselves. The question, What about me?
never occurred to them. They were sage-like by
themselves. My mother was a living example of
this. She was educated enough to do something
else, but her whole life was just about serving her
husband and her children. Before she would have
her morning breakfast, everybody in the family
should have eaten, then she would take a part of
her breakfast and go to the backyard, look for nests
of ants, feed the ants, and then only she would eat.
Today, people may think, Feeding ants? What
nonsense! Spray insecticide. If they came into the
house, if they bit her children, she also did that, but
somewhere she felt the ants had as much right to
live on this planet as she had. And not just that little
offering, everything was a sacrifce, everything was
a yagna. For such a person, there is no need to do
any ritual sacrifce.
What is referred to as sacrifce in this verse is
actually a yagna. It involves various processes. There
is a science to it. There is a sense of offering and
sacrifce to it. The Guru Pooja that we do is a yagna
by itself. People witnessed certain Guru Poojas
that we performed in certain initiations, where
explosions of energies happened, where different
kinds of beings descended and did remarkable
things for people. Yagnas are a way of accessing
those beings and beneftting from that. Different
beings have been identifed as having different types
of qualities. Accordingly, you call for a particular
being to achieve a particular kind of beneft.
FOREST FLOWER September 2012
FOREST FLOWER August 2012 13
SaDHGURU ON NDTV THe BiG FiGHT
God, Science, and the Universe
News channel NDTV recently invited Sadhguru to
be part of a varied panel of theoretical physicists,
microbiologists, social scientists and religious
leaders on their popular program The Big Fight,
aired on 7 July 2012.
In a gripping debate about the newly discovered God
particle, Sadhguru talked about how the term God
particle is a catchy misnomer. He pointed out that
science has begun to go beyond ordinary knowledge
and started touching the realm of extraordinary
knowledge, known in the yogic science as vigyan,
which cannot be grasped by the intellect. He then
went on to explain the limitations of the intellect
and talked about human capability being beyond
intellect. The main focus of science has become how
to use everything for our beneft, which Sadhguru
said is a gross way of looking at life. When the lively
debate touched the question of science and religion,
Sadhguru defned the difference between the two as
follows: Science starts with assumptions but battles
its own assumptions and tries to disprove them.
Religion also starts with assumptions but does not
allow any kind of question about the assumptions.
That is the big difference. Talking about the
purpose of creation, he emphasized that the yogic
lore has always depicted creation as purposeless, as
a Leela or play.
Finally, Sadhguru revealed the basis of creation
as depicted in the yogic lore and from his own
experience as a yogi and mystic (an excerpt):
There is the gross creation, which is physical. Then
there is a second, subtler dimension of existence,
which cannot be derived through intellect. The
third dimension of existence is called Shoonya,
which is total emptiness, and the next one is referred
to as Shi-va, which means that which is not. In the
yogic lore, they say Shiva is a cosmic man lying down
across the cosmos and he is not physical matter
he is nothing, but he is opaque. Then, Shakti came
and danced around, that means a certain level of
energy danced around. Today, modern science is
saying that there are virtual protons and neutrons
in vacuum spaces, and whenever electromagnetic
forces are applied, they organize themselves into
elliptical order. So when Shakti danced around, he
got irritated and he woke up. Anybody who gets
woken up out of deep slumber will get angry. He
got angry and roared, so we say, he is Rudra
Rudra means roarer.
I met Paul Steinhardt the scientist who wrote the
book Endless Universe in Davos [at the World
Economic Forum]. When he simulated the Big Bang
on the computer, I asked him, Are you sure its only
one bang? He said, Theres no guarantee there
could have been many. So if there are many bangs,
if bangs happen together, could you call it a roar?
You take an automobile engine, it is only going
bang, bang but if you throttle up, its a roar.
So Shiva roared. The yogic lore says, when he roared,
he spat out galaxies which are not reality they are
non-material galaxies. Then Shakti touched Shiva.
Till then, she had been ecstatic and uncontrollable.
She did not have mass till then. But when she
touched him, she gathered mass and she gathered
inertia. So she became more stable, which is what
the creation is today. This is the yogic lore which
has been around for 15000 years.
FOREST FLOWER September 2012 13
14
Recently, Sadhguru created a particular energy
form, exclusively for those who participate in
Ishanga 7%. The Nanmai Uruvam is designed
to reverberate a certain energy and create an
atmosphere of wellbeing in its surroundings.
In a special ceremony with Sadhguru on
14 July 2012, the frst 1400 Ishangas received
their Nanmai Uruvam. The powerful process that
Sadhguru initiated them into includes particular
chants and sadhana.
FOREST FLOWER
This is a very simple device to breech the
boundaries of who you are, so that something
far bigger than you becomes a part of you
and your life.
Sadhguru
Ishanga literally means limb of Isha.
Ishanga 7% is a partnership with
Sadhguru an opportunity to be part of his
vision while allowing Grace to function
in your life and lead you towards your
Ultimate Wellbeing.
7%
September 2012
Energy Form Ceremony with Sadhguru
An excerpt of Sadhgurus talk during the
ceremony:
Now you have become my partners. I want you to
know who you are dealing with, so Im telling you
the story. A long time ago, he [Shiva, the Adiyogi]
came to create a partnership with me. I said, Fifty-
ffty. He said, Okay. Then I decided, No take
100%, including me. So he took 100%, including
me. Now I ride on his shoulders.
There is a beautiful story in the yogic lore. On
a certain day, a man was walking through the
Himalayas. Today you can drive through the
Himalayas in an automobile, but those days, he was
walking a very hard journey. Anybody would seek
help. So he said, Oh Shiva, I cant do this. Come,
help me. At least hold my hand; take me along.
Shiva appeared and said, You walk; Ill walk with
you. How do I know that you are walking with
me? He said, Look out for the footprints. You have
only two legs. If there are four footprints, that means
I am walking with you. So every few minutes, the
man checked there was one more pair of footprints
coming along with him.
After a few days, the man looked back again
there was just one pair of footprints. He said, Oh,
you have forsaken me again. Shiva said, It is very
wet and slippery. Look at your feet, they are dry.
That is why there was only one pair of footprints
the fool was riding on his shoulders!
This is not about me taking your 7%. Do I look so
incompetent that I have to sit and collect 7% tax
from you? I am not made like that. If I want, I will
make what I want. It is just that if you reduce the
question What is me, what is mine? within you at
least by 7%, we can do something else with you. This
is a very simple device to breech the boundaries of
who you are, so that something far bigger than you
becomes a part of you and your life. Now we will
have to do a lot of work for you. At some moment
I uttered it, so I am not able to go back on it. You
give 7% I give 93%. What kind of deal is this? It
is a stupid deal. I have always been stupid, that is the
problem with me, and that is why it has worked out
wonderfully well for me, because I never used my
smartness I just rode on his shoulders. He has been
more than wonderful. I hope your lives become like
that too. If you allow this to happen, if you breech
this barrier of What is me, what is mine, what is
not mine, I will ensure that your lives also become
as wonderful as they can be. It is my wish and my
blessing that you should get there soon.
For more information about Ishanga 7%,
please contact 94425 04672 / 0422 2515378 or
7percent@ishafoundation.org
16
FOREST FLOWER
75% of children in India study in government
schools. Unfortunately, many of these schools lack
even the basic requirements to equip these children
with the necessary education and skills to fulfll
their dreams.
A study conducted by Isha pertaining to certain
skills and health parameters of 9
th
Standard
government school students revealed that:
35% cannot read or write in their frst language
60% cannot even perform addition or subtraction
65% suffer from anemia
Isha Outreach adopts government schools to bridge
this gap and improve the quality of education by
inducting qualifed teachers, providing remedial
classes and running extracurricular activities such
as yoga, sports, arts, and music. We also conduct
health camps in the schools and promote hygiene to
ensure the overall wellbeing of the children. Above
all, we strive to induce a spirit of enthusiasm and joy
in each child.
In 2012-2013,
~
28000 students from 31 schools in
Dharmapuri, Salem, and Coimbatore will beneft
from this initiative.

It only takes Rs. 600/- per year to
transform a childs life.
Donate online at giveisha.org or make monthly
contributions through ECS.
Send a cheque / DD in favor of
IshaOutreach to Fund Raising Department,
Vault Office 1, Isha Yoga Center, Velliangiri
Foothills, Semmedu P.O., Coimbatore 641 114.
For any queries, please contact
+91 94425 04720 / +91 94425 90065
or giveisha@ishafoundation.org
Learn more at Giveisha.org/govtschool
A nation is essentially its people. If we can have
one billion people who are healthy, truly
rejuvenated, inspired and focused, what they can
achieve, no technology can achieve.
Sadhguru
Government School Adoption Program
Empower GenerationNext
September 2012
Questioner: Sadhguru, what is your vision for Ishas
government school adaption program, and in what
way could we play a role in this?
Sadhguru: Almost one crore [10 million] children
are studying in the government schools of Tamil
Nadu, largely in rural areas. A lot of rural families
are in an economic and social pit. Many of these
children are the frst generation who is going to
school. When they go to school, they are not
going to pick up the traditional skills of their
forefathers. They go sit in the school and learn
almost nothing. If they were just farmers, at least
they would have earned their livelihood; there
would have been some joy of creating something,
of being with the land all that is taken away.
Now they have the attitude of the educated but
not the skills of the educated. A percentage of
them drop out and just hang around, which is
a dangerous thing. We are building a whole lot
of youth without any purpose, without any skill,
without any focus, without any enthusiasm.
So we thought we should intervene. We got a
government order to put our teachers in government
schools, as supplementary teachers. These Isha
teachers are inspired and fred up, trying to make a
difference. We are identifying all the slow learners
and work like a tutorial within the school. It has
produced phenomenal results.
The intervention approximately costs us about 3 to
4 lakhs per school per year. Today we have taken
31 schools. There are 6300 government schools in
Tamil Nadu. If you take at least the 3000 schools that
are in remote areas, it would make a huge difference.
But right now, we are at 31 because money is always
the stopper, in so many ways. What can you do?
You must decide. You can contribute fnancially or
you can come and work there.
When I come into the villages, I see little kids
with bright, star-like eyes. But by the time they
are fourteen, ffteen, all the sparkle has gone, and a
certain hopelessness has set in. This can be changed
with very little intervention. We dont have to
give up our lives. You dont have to give away your
property. With a little bit of involvement, a lot
can be done. You can see how many children you
can take on, or how many people you can enroll
to sponsor a child. It will make a difference. With
what you get, you only make a living. Only with
what you give, you make a life.
Excerpted from a Q&A with Sadhguru at an
Inner Engineering program in Hyderabad on
17 June 2012
18
FOREST FLOWER
It has been an incredible week. I am not articulate
enough to describe the terrain, its forms, shapes and
colors too many for anyone to even grasp.
Last two days, we have had the fortune of being
ensconced on the banks of a tributary of the Indus
River, pretty close to the Pakistani border, a few
kilometers from the Geke Town, which is in the
upper region of the Indus Valley Civilization.
This land still trembles with the footprint of Shiva.
Camping at the edge of the river surrounded by
mountains that change color by the hour. Beauty
is one thing but the sheer power of this place is
transcendent. A day of quietness and sadhana have
left me in a new state of invigoration and freshness.
Left Geke at 9 a.m., here at Manasarovar at 7 p.m.,
driving through harshest terrain with no roads.
Pushing the Toyota through rivers and deserts has
been exhilarating. None of the other cars have
arrived yet; that is, at 8:30 p.m. Here I am penning
the Spot and there is a Sathsang at 9 p.m. for the
other group who has arrived, taking a shorter route
from Saga, going on a bus upon a well-laid highway.
After nearly 500 km of rough terrain, I am feeling
like it is still early morning. In His fathomless
company, I do not know fatigue.
Tomorrow we will be trekking to Kailash. This is
the 7
th
year in a row but I am more than excited.
May all know the power and ecstasy of Kailash
Sadhguru Spot
Musings from the Master
THe Back ROaD TO KaiLaSH
Excerted fom Sadhguru Spot of 1 August 2012
Visit: Sadhguru.org/spot for weekly updated
Musings from the Master
Love & Grace
September 2012
19
FOREST FLOWER
Devi Seva
The Way of Devotion
If you want to know the dimension of
Devi, you need devotion in your heart.
Devotion is a crazy thing. Devotion is that
which is devoid of you. A devotee has the
sweetest experience of life.
Sadhguru
Sadhguru has created a special opportunity for male
Isha meditators to be in the Presence of Devi and
do seva for her from Amavasya (new moon) to
Pournami (full moon) at the Linga Bhairavi Temple
near Isha Yoga Center. This also includes three days
of sadhana in silence.
Prerequisites: Completion of an introductory
program (Inner Engineering, Isha Yoga, Shambhavi
Mahamudra, or Wholeness). For male Isha
meditators only.
An Isha meditator shares his experience of the Devi
Seva (an excerpt):
What I went through during my time in close
proximity to Devi was truly the most transformative
experience of my life. After three days of silence,
I soon became increasingly aware of the space that
can be created inside oneself, by simply realizing
how immensely small you actually are. I found
myself surrendering to her Grace, especially in
tough situations.
To all those who made this possible, Sadhguru
especially, the wonderful Bhairagini Maas and to all
the volunteers, who were all the time full of energy
and whom I would need years of Olympic training
to keep up with, I am sincerely grateful.
Jason Cutler, Isha meditator, USA
Upcoming dates:
11 29 September 2012
11 29 October 2012
9 28 November 2012
9 28 December 2012
For inquiries and registration:
+ 91 94890 00333
September 2012
20
FOREST FLOWER
Program Highlights
These programs are conducted in English, unless indicated otherwise. Current at the time of print, however subject to
change. For full program schedules and updates, please visit our website: www.ishafoundation.org.
Date Program Place Contact
5 - 11 Sep 2012 Inner Engineering
Indiranagar,
Bangalore - India
98450 66812
bangalore@ishayoga.org
6 - 9 Sep 2012
Inner Engineering
Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
12 - 18 Sep 2012 Inner Engineering
Basaveshwaranagar,
Bangalore - India
99162 30533
bangalore@ishayoga.org
12 - 18 Sep 2012 Inner Engineering Mangalore - India 98867 12715
12 - 18 Sep 2012 Inner Engineering Trivandrum - India
98479 11447
trivandrum@ishafoundation.org
13 - 16 Sep 2012
Inner Engineering
Retreat
Residential Program
Isha Yoga Center,
Coimbatore, India
0422-2515300
maa.karpoori@ishafoundation.org
14 Sep 2012 Pancha Bhuta Aradhana
Dhyanalinga
Yogic Temple,
Coimbatore - India
422-2515426
pba@ishafoundation.org
12 - 14 Oct 2012
Inner Engineering
with Sadhguru
Detroit, Michigan -
USA
1-313-451-4742
detroit@ishafoundation.org
18 - 21 Oct 2012
Bhava Spandana
program
with Sadhguru
Residential Program
Isha Institute of
Inner-sciences,
McMinnville,
Tennessee - USA
+1-931-668-1900
registration.iii@ishafoundation.org
29 Nov - 2 Dec 2012
INSIGHT: The DNA
of Success with Sadhguru
and Dr. Ram Charan
Yoga Center,
Velliangiri Foot-
hills,
Coimbatore - India
www.ishainsight.org
+91 9443009000
leadership@ishainsight.org
18 - 20 Jan 2013
Inner Engineering
with Sadhguru
Tyagaragaj Sports
Complex, INA,
New Delhi - India
98186 46666
delhi@ishayoga.org
September 2012
21 April 2012 FOREST FLOWER
Isha Recipes For Healthy Living
VALLARAI CHUTNEY
METHOD OF PREPARATION
Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan. Add the dals and red chilies. Chop the tomatoes.
When the chilies change color, add the tomatoes.
Saut till the raw smell disappears. Remove from heat and cool.
Put in the jar of a mixer with the tamarind, salt and jaggery.
Heat the remaining oil in the pan and saut the Vallarai leaves.
When the leaves become soft, remove from heat and cool. Add to the jar of mixer.
Grind everything together to a paste. Serve.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Vallarai (Mandukarparni/Centella asiatica) leaves
2 teaspoons Oil
2 teaspoons Skinless split black gram (dhuli urad dal)
2 teaspoons Split Bengal gram (chana dal; Indian chickpeas)
6 Red chilies
3 medium Tomatoes
1 small ball Tamarind
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon Jaggery (unrefned whole cane sugar)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Vallarai
Mandukarparni (Sanskrit), Centella asiatica (scientifc name) or Vallarai
(Tamil) is a small annual plant that is grown naturally around ponds, streams,
felds, and gardens. The leaves of the plant, which are slightly bitter in taste,
are mainly used as a tonic and diuretic. According to Ayurveda, Vallarai helps
in maintaining youthful vigor and strength. It also improves the receptivity
of the mind, memory, voice, physical stamina, complexion, and digestive
capacity. It is also good for diabetics and people suffering from anemia.
21 FOREST FLOWER September 2012
22
April 2012 FOREST FLOWER
22 22
Forest Flower
Insightful Inspiring Informative
S
u
b
s
c
r
i
b
e

N
o
w
!
I would like to
Subscribe for myself Renew my subscription
Change the mailing address Subscribe as a gift
FF CODE (Forest Flower subscription No.):
One year 12 issues (within India by regular mail) Rs.180
Name*
Address*
City*
State*
Please complete in BLOCK LETTERS
Phone ..................................(Mobile)*...........................................(Home)*........................................(Work)*
Email* ...........................................................................................................................................................
Enclosed DD / Cheque / MO No. ................................................................................... dated .................................
drawn on ...................................................................... (bank), payable at Coimbatore for Rs. ................................
in favor of Isha Foundation.
For payments by cheque, please add Rs. 50/- to the subscription amount towards clearing charges.
Please mail the completed subscription form
along with your payment to:
For further inquiries, please contact:
& (044) 45011137, 96770 16700
subscriptions.FF@ishafoundation.org
Date:
PIN*
PIN*
Isha Forest Flower
F-4, Sri Balaji Apartments, 2
nd
Floor
New No.4, old No.6, Rajambal Street
T. Nagar, Chennai - 600017
One year 12 issues (within India by courier) Rs. 480
(payment by cheque Rs. 50 extra)
Mode of Payment: Cash Cheque Demand Draft Money Order
Receipt Details
Receipt No.: Receipt Date:
Amount received: Received by: Remarks:
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
For online subscriptions and renewals, visit www.ishafoundation.org/ForestFlower
Subscriber Signature:
Phone: ..................................(Mobile)*............................................(Home)*........................................(Work)*
Email* .............................................................................................................................................................
Name*
Address*
City*
State*
8
*These felds are mandatory
S
U
B
S
C
R
I
B
E
R
S
E
N
D

G
I
F
T

T
O
A
u
g
u
s
t

2
0
1
2
F
O
R
E
S
T

F
L
O
W
E
R