Impressions and expressions

“The day you take up the policy of giving love instead of demanding it - that day you will have rewritten your entire future destiny - Swami Chinmayananda” Today (May 8th) is Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati 's 100th birth anniversary. This beautiful doodle created by Chinmaya Mission as a mark of devotion towards him has the words "Chinmaya Sadgurave Namaha" - Chinmayananda, widely hailed as the second Vivekananda, has done a tremendous contribution to spread the real essence of Sanatana Dharma among Hindus. He used English as the main language to communicate his message to the English speaking educated class who were increasingly becoming averse to Hinduism due to their misconceptions. He wrote excellent commentaries on several Hindu scriptures including Bhagavadgita and Upanishads. His vision of making the "family" as a member of the mission and not just the individual, is perhaps his master-stroke. Chinmaya Mission is unique in having t...

When we have a Guru who strikes a chord with people, there will be always be Guru-haters too who keep spreading lies to damage and discredit the Guru. So it is not surprising that Sadhguru (of Isha Foundation) has his fair share of critics who call him a fraud and his spiritual movement a “cult”. I addressed some of these “cult concerns” in my earlier article . Most of this so-called “criticism” is not worth considering because it is devoid of facts and is full of hate-filled propaganda. But we must keep listening to the critics because they may sometimes dig out a fact that deserves some attention. This article focuses on one such fact. The allegation An allegation I heard long back about Sadhguru is that he got trained under one Rishi Prabhakar of Siddha Samadhi Yoga (SSY), learnt all the yoga techniques from him, left him and started his own organization (Isha Foundation). I discarded this allegation as “silly propaganda” and never really paid much attention to it. But...

People say it is difficult to understand Jiddu Krishnamurti’s philosophy. I agree. But if you think you have to understand Krishnamurti’s philosophy, you are already on the wrong path. For there is nothing called Krishnamurti’s philosophy. There is only one thing - understanding yourself. Krishnamurti is just a mirror for you to look into yourself. Looking into yourself requires infinite patience and tremendous courage. It is not an easy thing to do. No wonder people never understood Krishnamurti. I first heard of Krishnamurti when I was reading a Telugu magazine article on “overcoming your fears”. It had a side-note on Krishnamurti who said - “ Fear is created by thought - t hought which is the operation of past memory, past experience and past knowledge ”. I thought it was an interesting way of looking at fear and remembered his name. So years later when I found Krishnamurti book stall at the popular Vijayawada annual book festival, I immediately stepped inside to explore his w...

It was during my B.Tech final year (2001) that I participated in a debate that discussed Osho. The topic was - "Who is the most influential personality of India?". One guy spoke of Mother Theresa, I spoke of Vivekananda and another guy chose Osho. He obviously read many Osho's works. There was a lot of sincerity and reverence in his voice when he was explaining the greatness of Osho. I had very little knowledge of Osho. From all the information I gathered, he looked like a "fake Guru". Earlier I read one article on the web which was very detailed and well-written. It kind of concluded that "although Osho is enlightened, he is corrupt  and misused his role as a Spiritual Guru". So I argued that Osho can never be a great man with all his lapses. Most of the participants in the debate agreed. I felt glad. When I think of it now, I realize my ignorance. I always had an interest in spiritual personalities. During my school days, I read a lot of works of...

I never thought you were interested in going to US! This is the reaction I heard from a couple of my friends & family members when I announced to them that I am moving to the US. I worked for Qualcomm, Hyderabad and got an opportunity to work in Qualcomm, San Diego. Like many opportunities, this one is a result of some good-luck and some personal effort. I decided to grab it and that surprised some people, including me! What is the motivation to go to the US? Typically - money, life-style and growth opportunities. Among friends and colleagues, it is common to hear someone expressing their desire to go abroad. I never did. Added to that, I had the image of a "Swadesi guy" in the family. Hence the reactions. Some 6 years back, I visited San Diego for 2 months on a business trip. I liked the place and the country but did not particularly feel any "pull" towards it. I like getting more money, but strangely money does not motivate me to do anything. Yes, the ...

The Bhava Spandana Program (BSP) offered by Isha Foundation is described in their website as "an opportunity to experience higher levels of consciousness". It is an "experiential" program and this has drawn me to it, as I consider myself to be an "always thinking" person. Also this program involves stay at the ashram for 3 days and I thought it would be a nice experience, much like a vacation. Isha does not reveal the agenda of their programs to the participants. So there is always a surprise element in their programs and BSP is no different. In fact, it is nothing like I imagined. Thus my assumed "vacation" turned out to be a "revelation" of sorts. For some of the participants, it was even a transforming experience. The way the program is designed shows the thinking and innovation that went behind it. It is almost like watching a movie with twists, turns and suspense and only in the end you can connect all the dots. I am not sure if...

Sometime back I was casually browsing the net and found one interesting article which claimed that Jaggi Vasudev (founder of Isha foundation, revered as Sadguru ) is a fraud.  The article is very informative  and well written. You must read it even if you are a big Isha fan. The author claims that he was once an Isha devotee and that he had stayed in the ashram for some time. So the implication is that he is speaking from direct experience and  not just imagining things. This chap wrote another article which argues that "Isha  is a cult".  My current article is not a response to these articles. I am not interested to prove or disprove anything. I just want to share some thoughts on these "cult" accusations. First of all, what is a cult? I don’t know, so I googled to find out. I still don’t fully understand what characterizes a cult, but apparently a religious/spiritual  cult has some typical characteristics like A charismatic Guru who can ...

I am one guy whom many would consider non-religious or even atheistic. I do not particularly enjoy doing Pujas or following religious traditions or visiting temples. But I consider myself to be spiritual. I was actually very religious during my childhood days. Later I became more logical and got interested towards philosophy. Swami Vivekananda had a great influence on me and after reading his works I became more convinced with "formless God" ( niraakaara Brahma). Then during my engineering days I read Jiddu Krishnamurti and really liked the "jargon-less" approach. So here I am, a guy who started in religion and ended in philosophy. They say "Knowledge is power" but knowledge is not just information as most of us think. So reading books might make you more informed but not necessarily knowledgeable. I read many personality development books and at the end of it I lacked the will-power to exercise daily. Believe me or not, I tried many approaches from the p...