Volume 4 / Issue 05 May 2016 `15 Annual Subscription `180

Hold My Hand

Flames of fire shall burn you not

Cold climes shall freeze you not
Deep waters shall drown you not
Ceaseless chasms shall bury you not

Hold my hand and have

a taste of eternity.

I am not a scholar nor a philosopher

Nor am I a heap of wisdom
I am just an emptiness
Have a brush with THIS
you shall Dissolve

Grace & Blessings

 EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,

In this edition, we spotlight family matters. In our Lead Article, Sadhguru

shares his insight on one of the greatest long-term projects in most people’s
lives – “How to Be a Great Parent.” The article “Generations in Conflict” takes
the subject from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. In “Whose Karma Is
It Anyway,” Sadhguru addresses the question of karmic impact in close (family)
relationships.

Taking us back to the time before birth, in the short article “Three Ingredients for
a Human Being,” Sadhguru explains what it takes for a human to come into being.
In his interaction with writer Prasoon Joshi “Of Love and Oneness,” Sadhguru
points out the parallels, differences, and underlying motivation of both love and
the spiritual process.

Almost everyone who practices hatha yoga would have experienced this to
some extent – no matter how much focus and perseverance you apply, one part
of the body just does not seem to cooperate or bend too well. In the article “How
to Deal with Physical Weak Points,” Sadhguru explains why.

In this month’s Mahabharat article, “Duryodhana’s Murder Plots” against Bhima

take a new turn. In “Doors Wide Open,” Sadhguru shares his plans for the
upcoming International Day of Yoga, which will not be limited to the day itself
but the weeks leading up to it, to reach out to a large number of people of all
ages. And last but not least, we have the recipe of a super easy, kid-friendly treat
this month – an “Apple Peanut Snack,” that is both fun to prepare together and
tasty to enjoy.

The Editorial Team

Contact the Editorial Team:

Isha Forest Flower, Isha Yoga Center, Velliangiri Foothills, Ishana Vihar Post, Coimbatore – 641114
forestflower@ishafoundation.org

For subscription inquiries, please contact our Subscription Office:

(044) 45011137, 96770 16700 – subscriptions.FF@ishafoundation.org
To change your mailing address online, visit www.ishafoundation.org/ForestFlower

2 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER May 2016

CONTENTS
LEAD ARTICLE MAHABHARAT

How to Be a Great Parent 06 Duryadhana’s Murder Plots 11

IN CONVERSATION WITH THE MYSTIC
Of Love and Oneness 04
Prasoon Joshi in Conversation with Sadhguru

LEAD ARTICLE
06
How to Be a Great Parent

ISHA HATHA YOGA

09
Part 28: How to Deal with Physical Weak Points?

MAHABHARAT
11
Part 18: Duryodhana’s Murder Plots

MUSINGS
Generations in Conflict 14
Whose Karma Is It Anyway?
15
Sadhguru on Karma in Family Relationships

Three Ingredients for a Human Being 15

What is the Right Path?
16
Sadhguru on Making Fundamental Choices in Life

SHARING EXPERIENCES
On Her 19
Poem by Isha Meditator

SADHGURU SPOT
Doors Wide Open 18
Excerpted from Sadhguru Spot of 6 April 2016

UPCOMING PROGRAMS & EVENTS

Isha Yoga – Program Highlights 20

ISHA RECIPE
Apple Peanut Snack
21

ZEN SPEAKS
23
Past, Present, Future

May 2016 ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 3

Of Love and Oneness
Prasoon Joshi in Conversation with Sadhguru
On 12 January 2016, lyricist, screenwriter, and advertisement expert Prasoon Joshi met
Sadhguru in Mumbai for a free-flowing interaction about marketing, culture, love, and
many other topics. Here is the first excerpt of their conversation with Sadhguru’s insights
on love and a sense of oneness.

Prasoon Joshi: Is it possible to love a mortal
being and by doing so feel oneness with God? Or
is this just a romantic notion?
Sadhguru: If I may dissect love…. There is a
longing in every human being to be something
more than they are right now. If the only thing
that you know is your body, it will find expression
as sexuality. You may give all kinds of colors,
names, and moral structures to your sexuality,
but fundamentally, you are trying to make
something or someone that is not you a part of
you. For a moment, it may feel like that, but the
next moment, it is gone. If this same longing to
include someone or something as a part of you
finds an emotional expression, you say you are
in love with someone. If you compare how long
a physical union lasts and how long the sense
of emotional oneness with someone lasts, the
latter has a longer lifespan.
Physical union is only momentary, while on
an emotional level, you can make the sense of
oneness last for days, months, or years, if you are
willing. If you look at the many romantic stories
in lore and literature, we eulogize someone who
holds on to an emotional union for a period of
time, because when people are in love, they are
so beautiful. They look like they are floating in
the clouds. There is a certain beauty to human
emotions. Emotions are the strongest force in
most people – even in those who believe they
are intellectual. By contrast, a true intellectual
has near to no emotions in him, because he is so
fascinated with his intellect.
Since we are talking about man–woman
relationships – let us say a man and a woman
are seriously engaged with each other. But then,
one of them finds a wonderful book. Suddenly,
fictive characters, mere words printed on paper,
become more interesting and engaging than
this beautiful woman or this wonderful man who
is sitting next to them. It actually happens in

4 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER May 2016

relationships that one partner becomes jealous
of the other one’s books. Once the intellect is fired
up in a certain way, emotions recede. Intellect is
dry, but it has a different kind of sparkle. It makes
the world transparent.
Emotions are the strongest force in most
people – even in those who believe they are
intellectual.
If you use your intellect properly, it will give
you access to things that you never thought
possible. Because of this, the intellect has
more fascination. Emotions have more beauty
and color. But if they turn negative, they are the
ugliest things. When people are emotional, you
can see the most wonderful side of them, or
you can see the ugliest side of them. That is the
nature of emotions. At the same time, the way
you think is the way you feel. You cannot think
one way and feel another way. If, for example,
you think, “She’s so wonderful,” your emotions
for her will be sweet.
Prasoon Joshi: That may happen sporadically,
or is what we think in our control? Are thoughts
just sprouting in our heads or can we direct our
thoughts?
Sadhguru: It depends on what you have done
with yourself. Your thoughts should be directed
by you – only then they are sensible. Thoughts
do not spring up out of nowhere. They arise
from the data that you have gathered. You can
only produce permutations and combinations
of the existing information. How exquisitely and
dexterously you do that depends on the kind of
mind you have. This does not mean you have
access to anything other than the gathered data.
But back to your question – can your love affair
make you touch another dimension?
Essentially, it all comes down to a longing to
include something that is not you as a part of
May 2016
yourself. This means there are boundaries – the
boundaries of your sensations. You consider what
is within the boundaries of your sensation to be
“you” and what is outside the boundaries of your
sensation not to be you. Whatever body weight
you have now, all these kilograms were food that
was somewhere outside of you at some point.
You have slowly gathered this body by ingestion.
Once the food that you eat gets integrated within
the boundaries of your sensation, you consider
it as yourself. But suppose you lose weight, you
will not go searching for these few kilograms as
if you lost a part of yourself, because once they
are outside the boundaries of your sensation,
they have got nothing to do with you.
Essentially, it all comes down to a longing to
include something that is not you as a part of
yourself.
So, whether it is sexuality, a love affair, ambition,
greed, conquest, spirituality, or devotion –
essentially, you attempt to break the limitations
of your sensory body and be able to experience
something else or someone else as a part of
yourself. In one way or the other, you do this
every day. For instance, when you drink water, it
becomes a part of you. If you use your intellect,
your emotion, your body, or your energies, you
splice through your sensory body and experience
something else or someone else as a part of you.
That means you are in a state of yoga. If you do
it through your body, we call it karma yoga. If
you do it through your intellect, we call it gnana
yoga. If you do it through your emotions, we call
it bhakti yoga. If you do it through your energies,
we call it kriya yoga. These are all the ways in
which you can achieve a state of yoga.
Prasoon Joshi: Brilliant, fantastic! I think this is
a great explanation.
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 5
 LEAD ARTICLE
How to Be a Great
Parent
Questioner: Sadhguru, what makes good
parenting?
Sadhguru: The concept of parenting is actually
relatively new. The word “parenting” came into
use only about sixty years ago. A few hundred
years earlier, John Wilmot, the Second Earl of
Rochester, said something significant in this
context: “Before I got married, I had six theories
about bringing up children. Now I have six
children and no theories.” So what should you
do in terms of parenting? Look back at yourself
when you were a child, what kind of parents
would have been the best? Remember what it
was like to be a child, and you will clearly know.
Unfortunately, people have been made to believe
that children are all born improper and we have
to correct them, which is not true. If you look at
parents and children, generally, at least children
below ten years of age are definitely more joyful.
Then who should be the consultant for life –
those who are more joyful, or those who are
falling apart within themselves because they do
not know how to handle their offspring? If you
set an example as someone worth looking up to,
you do not have to do much parenting. Anyway,
children want to emulate what you do.
Before you decide to have a child, you must
evaluate yourself in every aspect – the way you
sit, stand, speak, and react to situations. Ask
yourself, if you were a five-year-old, would you
like and look up to this person? Another thing
you could do is volunteer in Isha Samskriti, Isha
Home School, or Isha Vidhya. Spend sufficient
6 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER
time with children to see if children like you, and
if you like them. That way, a lot of wisdom would
blossom, and fertility clinics would close down.
If you already have a child, creating a loving,
supportive, and invigorating atmosphere is all
you have to do. There is nothing to teach, really.
You came here a few years earlier than the
child. What you know about life that the child
does not know are just a few tricks of the world,
how to survive, and how to make a living. But
you do not know a deeper dimension of life.
These tricks need not be taught to children too
early. They will learn them later on. Right now,
when a child enters your life, it is time to learn,
not to teach. Children may not know what is
dangerous, what is nice, and things like that.
But hopefully you have a certain wisdom about
life around you, which children may not have. If
they are moving towards danger, exercise your
wisdom. Otherwise, children are able to conduct
life more joyfully than you. Learn those aspects
from them.
Do not teach them commandments that have not
worked for you, and that you yourself could never
follow. In every society, there are some kinds of
commandments. If everyone practiced them, the
world would be very different. Obviously, no one
practiced them, but still these commandments
survived because they teach them to their
children. If you want your children to be better
than you, the first thing you have to do is to
establish integrity, because wherever they go,
this will sustain them. If you try to teach your
children things that you are not able to follow
May 2016
yourself, obviously, they will see through that
after some time.
Your words and your behavior should match.
If you create a loving and vibrant atmosphere,
they will be fine. You have to physically nourish
them, and mentally ignite them about things.
The simplest way is to take them out into nature,
where, everything, from an insect to a flower, is
exciting. No buying toys or Toys ‘R’ Us. When
your entire life is about how to use everyone,
it means “toys are us.” Billions of dollars are
spent every year on toys for a minority of twenty
to thirty percent of the children one the planet,
while the remaining seventy percent never get a
toy in their lives.
Those who buy and get these toys are the ones
who will suffer most, on a mental and emotional
level. The others may suffer because of lack of
nutrition and other basic requirements. But the
affluent ones are going through inner turmoil,
not because of the toys but because of their
attitude to life. If instead, you take the trouble
of taking your children out, making them climb
a tree, walking somewhere with them, taking a
swim, or some such thing, the child will grow
up physically and mentally healthy. But most
parents today want to buy some stuff, throw it in
the children’s room, lock it, everything is padded
so that they cannot hurt themselves, and the
parents can go to a party. That is not parenting.
Once you have a child, it is a twenty-year project.
Twenty years if they do well. If they do not do
well, it is a lifelong project. If you are not ready
for that, you should not get into it. “So what
should I do with my child?” A child is closer to life
than you are, so it is time to learn. Unfortunately,
many couples think that for their marriage to
survive, they have to have a child. When this
bundle of joy arrives, suddenly they laugh, they
sing some stupid song, and they crawl under the
table, which they never did before. They run, they
dance, they do something silly to make the child
eat, to make him laugh, or whatever.
A child is not a personalized project. We are
May 2016
creating the next generation. In some way, the
next generation should be at least one step
ahead of where we are. If we do not aspire and
work towards that, we should not have children.
What is the point if the next generation is going
to be just like us, nothing more? And above all,
humanity is not on the verge of extinction – there
is no need for everyone to reproduce. It almost
looks like we are trying to compete with the
insect population in terms of numbers. It is time
we slow down in many respects.
Those who decide to have children must have
dedicated time for them, because this is about
making the next generation better than who we
are. There is nothing special to be done for that.
You do not have to buy a single toy. You just
have to spend time, expose them to nature and
various forms of creation. If you just walk in a
simple, natural place, there are a million things
that will absorb children. But instead, you buy
them an iPad when they are five – not out of
love. This is a strategy to get rid of them. This
iPad can occupy them endlessly, so you can go
about doing what you want to do.
I do not think it is necessary for such people to
have children. Unless you are willing to spend
dedicated time, it would be a crime. And above
all, you must fix yourself. You must be a kind of
a person the child will look up to and love to be
with. Then, even time can be adjusted. If they are
really looking up to you, five minutes of contact
can be worth five days.
This is a serious problem: these days, when
someone asks a three-year-old child what they
want to become, they will probably say a pilot
or commando, at least the boys. Because that is
the kind of games they are playing. When they
are cutting off people’s heads on the screen,
they may become Jihadi Johns at some point,
because right from childhood, with so much
practice, one day, they may want to get real.
Every parent needs to think about what they want
to expose their children to. What will stick with
them for life is the exposure that they have had,
not a moral teaching. You must expose them to
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 7
all the positive, wonderful things in life. Positive
things do not mean right versus wrong – simply
life the way it is.
This may sound extreme, but I think if people
want to have children, they should be ready to
withdraw with them to a natural space for at least
two months in a year, rather than living in city
burrows or bird nests of apartments. Even if you
have to live in a tent somewhere, children need to
be in nature if you want them to be physically and
mentally healthy and balanced, which is the most
important thing. The number of people going
crazy today is too large. In Europe for example,
which has enjoyed economic wellbeing for much
of the last two centuries, thirty-eight percent of
the population has psychological problems.
This is mainly because they grew up in
conditions where they were uncared for. There
is emotional insecurity in them. There was
emotional insecurity even about their parents.
They did not know if their mother or father would
leave them at some point. Now as adults, there is
serious emotional insecurity about their spouses
and partners. That man or that woman may
leave you anytime. When there is no emotional
security, human beings become psychologically
imbalanced. If you want a generation of people to
be productive, they either must be conscious, or
they must have emotional security – otherwise,
they will go crazy. We have destroyed all these
things, and then we wonder why we are not living
well, why our children are acting crazy, why
our children are shooting someone or shooting
themselves. This is so because right from
childhood, there is no emotional security.
I would say emotions make up at least eighty
percent of You they are. Being such a big power,
if you do not harness your emotions, if you do
not make them into a positive force in your life,
then they can smother and destroy you. Today,
being emotional is equated with having negative
emotions. When we say someone became very
emotional, it means he went a little crazy. We
have to change this concept in the world. Why do
we not acknowledge that joy, bliss, love, devotion,
8 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER
and ecstasy are emotions? Emotional security is
absolutely important, because emotions are still
the largest dimension of most human beings. If
one becomes really conscious, then emotions
do not matter. But until then, emotions play a
significant role. So, if we want to bring up our
children well, one thing is give them emotional
security. There should be a loving atmosphere
around them all the time – not just at home, but
also in school and on the street.
There is a lot of talk about sexual exploitation
of children today. Unfortunately, it is on the rise,
and we have to take action against it. But if you
tell little children to be wary of whoever looks
at them, and that people may sexually exploit
them, it means you cannot even go and talk to
children anymore, or just hug them lovingly. You
will destroy the world with this kind of attitude.
The paranoia about wrong things will make you
prevent all the right things from happening.
Wherever children go, they should experience a
sense of love and welcoming. This has been there
in every culture. If children come somewhere,
someone will always say something nice to
them; someone will welcome them. And it should
be that way. If you make a child look at the world
in terms of who is a child molester, you will kill
this. They will become sick before they grow
up. Unfortunately, too many wrong things have
happened. But if instead of creating room for the
right things to happen, we insulate children in
cocoons, and say that wrong things will happen
to them, right from childhood, you will produce
sick people.
The responsibility of having a child requires
involvement. Suppose you made the mistake
of having a child without being able to offer the
necessary involvement, please hand over the
child to someone who is loving, caring, and joyful,
someone who is able to give his or her life to the
child. Maybe you can at least provide financial
support. Whether they are the biological parents
or not – the child does not care. Whoever is most
loving, most joyful, is the one who children would
like to hang around with.
May 2016
PART 28
How to Deal with Physical Weak Points?
Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. There
is a part of my head where there seems to be
some kind of blockage. This impedes my ability
to focus and be totally involved. I can feel the
rest of the body much more vividly. What can I
do about this?
Sadhguru: In yoga, we do not make a distinction
between body and mind. Everything is body,
including the brain. Hatha yoga is a way of paying
attention to the various layers of the body –
Annamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Pranamaya
Kosha, Vignanamaya Kosha, and Anandamaya
Kosha – physical body, mental body, energy body,
transitory body between the physical and the
non-physical dimension, and the non-physical
bliss body. Even on the level of the physical body,
in different asanas, you may notice that certain
parts of your body do not bend or respond. But if
you take an MRI, everything looks okay. The body
has taken shape in a particular way based on the
karmic information that you have.
There are different levels of information or
memory in this context. There is evolutionary
memory, there is genetic memory, and there
is karmic memory. In a way, the evolutionary
memory and the genetic memory are also a
karmic process. Depending upon the nature of
your karmic memory, certain parts of the body
will behave in a certain way. No matter what
you do, they do not cooperate, even though, if
May 2016
you check them out with your doctor, they seem
perfectly fine. If you pay close attention to the
body, you will see, in certain parts of the body,
there is no experience, no sensation. There are
blocks or gaps in the sensory process because
of your karmic structure.
Do not pay attention to such gaps. You cannot
consciously fix them. If you try very hard to do
so, they may even increase in size and intensity.
Just keep doing your sadhana. Sadhana is about
generally creating a conducive atmosphere. It
should never be focused on a specific benefit.
There are certain aspects of you that can never
be changed with conscious effort. This does not
mean they cannot be changed at all, but that
is not within the realm of your conscious will.
Your effort should just be to create a conducive
atmosphere within you. When you have done
everything that you can do, just wait, without
counting the time.
If you do not know how to wait, your entire life
will be limited to the physical, because you
will always be thinking about how to get from
one point to another. When you want to go
somewhere, you want to cover a distance, which
means it is within the physical realm. In a way,
time is also a physical quantity. You can describe
a geographical distance either in units of length
or units of time. For your daily activities, you may
have to fix a time. But for your own growth, never
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 9
fix a time. If, let us say, you start counting how
many asanas you can do in a particular time,
yoga becomes circus. The important thing is to
melt into it. Every asana is a way of becoming
fluid and a part of it.
We are using the physical to transcend the
physical, not to strengthen it. But we know, we
understand, and we respect that the physical has
a right to be, and that it has a power of its own.
If we do not keep it at absolute ease, it will be in
our way. If your body is not in a good shape, it will
take your entire attention. Only when it is really
well, can you completely ignore it. We are keeping
it well so that it does not become an obstacle.
There is a difference in the fundamental ethos
of yoga and exercise. We are not doing yoga to
For dates and details of Hatha Yoga programs, visit www.ishahathayoga.com.
10 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER
build, look at, and present our muscles. Hatha
yoga is about making the body so strong and so
subtle that you do not even know if it is there. If
it sits here, it just sits here, without even asking
for water, food, going to the toilet, and things
like that. This means it is very low maintenance.
That is the quality of a good machine, and that
is the quality of a good body too, that it does not
seek your attention. But the world has turned
this upside down – for most people, a good body
means it is seeking attention all the time.
Do not worry if a certain part of your body does
not cooperate. Use the remaining part of it
well, do your sadhana, and create a conducive
atmosphere within yourself. Then a little push,
and things will clear up.
May 2016

MAHABHARAT
SERIES
PART 18
Mahabharat
Duryodhana’s Murder Plots
Duryodhana went to his father Dhritarashtra and
complained, “I have made so many attempts
to murder Bhima, but somehow, he is always
getting away.” Dhritarashtra gasped – within the
palace, his son was trying to kill his cousin. Both
were just sixteen years of age. One day, Shakuni
advised Duryodhana, “It won’t work like this. It is
better we set up the assassination outside the
palace where there is more freedom to do what
we want to do. Inside the palace, you have to do
it subtly, but your cousin is too much of a bull
to kill him like that.” He continued by saying,
“Speech is not to express your heart – speech
is to hide what is on your mind. Befriend Bhima.
Love him. Don’t wrestle with him – hug him.
Don’t scowl at him – smile at him. He’s a fool –
he will fall for it.”
This is how Duryodhana, a brave, fearless, no-
two-ways kind of man, became deceitful. He
had always been filled with jealousy, hatred, and
rage, but it was Shakuni who taught him the art
of deceit. So Duryodhana befriended the five
brothers, particularly Bhima. They all thought
Duryodhana really had a change of heart, and
that he loved them. Only Sahadeva, the wisest
of the lot, did not fall for it and kept his distance.
This is how he acquired his wisdom: One day,
while sitting in the forest at the campfire, their
father Pandu told the boys, “These sixteen years,
I have not only stayed away from your mothers,
I have done the sadhana of brahmacharya,
which has given me enormous inner power and
a tremendous amount of insight, vision, and
wisdom. But I am not a teacher. I do not know
how to transmit all this to you. But the day I die,
all you have to do is take a piece of my flesh and
May 2016
eat it. If you make my flesh a part of your flesh,
you will have the wisdom that I have gathered
without having to work for it.”
When Pandu died and his cremation was
happening, overcome by emotions, almost
everyone completely forgot about this. Only
Sahadeva, the brooding youngest of the lot, when
seeing an ant carrying a small piece of Pandu’s
flesh, remembered what his father had said. He
grabbed this little piece of flesh from the ant and
ate it. His wisdom and strength grew. He could
have become a sage among kings, but Krishna
saw that this wisdom would stop the flow of
destiny. That is why he intervened and told
Sahadeva at some point, “This is my command:
never express your wisdom. If someone asks you
a question, always answer them with another
question.”
From then on, Sahadeva always answered
questions with questions that very few had the
wisdom to understand. Those who understood
saw how wise he was. Those who did not
understand thought he was only trying to create
ambiguity about everything. A whole shastra,
called “Sahadeva’s Wisdom,” accrued from that.
Even today, in South India, if someone is acting
too wise, they say, “He is acting like Sahadeva.”
This is because people thought he was trying to
act wise by answering in questions. But in reality,
he was following Krishna’s command to never
reveal his wisdom and always answer questions
with questions, so that they did not understand
that he was answering them, unless they had the
wisdom to grasp what he meant.
Only Sahadeva was able to look into
Duryodhana’s heart, and he saw pure poison.
The other four brothers were too enamored with
him. Duryodhana showered gifts on them. The
one gift that Bhima really cared for was food.
Duryodhana fed him as much as he wanted.
Bhima’s gluttony was such that the moment food
was served to him, he forgot everything else.
Whoever gave him food was his friend. He was
eternally hungry, so he ate and ate and became
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 11
bigger and bigger. And one day, Duryodhana
suggested a picnic. Shakuni carefully worked
out the plan. They arranged a pavilion on the
riverbank in a place called Pramankoti. All of
them went there, and food was served in excess.
Duryodhana played the host to the hilt. He came
to every Pandava and fed them by hand. Bhima
was served a similar quantum of food as all the
others together. Everyone splurged. The fools
were smitten – only Sahadeva sat in a corner
and watched.
When it was time for the dessert, Bhima was
served a full plate of it. It was poisoned with a
particular type of venom that would slowly take
effect. Bhima ate the whole plate. Then they all
went to the river. They swam and played around.
At some point, Bhima came out of the water and
lay down on the river bank. Everyone else went
back to the pavilion to continue the fun and tell
stories. After some time, Duryodhana went back
to the river and found Bhima semi-conscious. He
tied up Bhima’s hands and legs and rolled him
into the river. Bhima sank down to a place that
was full of venomous snakes.
The snakes bit him hundreds of times. Their
venom acted as an antidote to the venom that
he had already consumed. This is common
knowledge in South Indian Siddha Vaidya, where
venom is treated with venom, which is also how
vaccines work in modern medicine. When the
antidote started to work, it slowly revived him.
When the snakes saw that, they accepted him as
one of them. The king of the Nagas took this boy,
who was the son of Vayu, aside and said to him,
“See, you have been poisoned. Fortunately, they
rolled you into the river. Had they left you on the
riverbank, you would be dead now.”
This is the way of deceit – it will try to overdo
things. They could have just left him at the
riverbank to die, but they did not want to take a
chance, so Duryodhana rolled him into the river
and achieved just the opposite of what he had
intended. The Nagas said to Bhima, “We will
give you an elixir that no one else knows, except
in this part of the world,” and they prepared a
12 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER
combination of various types of venoms, mercury,
and certain types of herbs. It is known as Nava
Pashana or nine deadly poisons in South India
today, and is used as medicine.
Preparing Nava Pashana takes extraordinary
care – one drop too much of one thing or one
drop less of something else could kill a man. They
carefully prepared the elixir and gave it to Bhima.
After consuming it, his strength rose to almost
superhuman levels. In the meantime, the other
four brothers noticed that Bhima was missing
and got distraught. They realized that they had
been conned, but they could not openly express it
because Duryodhana seemed to be heartbroken.
He was running around, pretending to look for
Bhima, and crying, “Where is my beloved brother,
my only companion?” Sahadeva said, “They have
done him in.” With the awareness that they had
been taken in by gifts and food, and now lost
their brother because of that, the four brothers
went back home in utter shame. They told their
mother Kunti what had happened.
Kunti sat down and sank into meditation for three
days. Then she said, “My son Bhima is not dead.
Look for him.” The four brothers and their friends
ranged the forest, dived into the river – they
searched everywhere, but they could not find
him anywhere. Eventually, they gave up. Kunti
began to doubt her vision that he is still alive,
and they prepared for the fourteenth day death
ritual for Bhima. Duryodhana arranged for a big
ceremony in memory of Bhima. He hired cooks
and prepared a huge meal to break the mourning
on the fourteenth day, as was the tradition. In his
heart, he was celebrating – on the outside, he
was mourning.
Then Bhima came back to the palace, to the joy
of his brothers and his mother. Duryodhana and
his brothers could not believe it, and Shakuni was
in terror. He did not know if Bhima was alive or if
he was a ghost. Bhima was just about to go on
a rampage when Vidura came and advised them,
“This is not the time to bring your enmity out in
the open. Right now, they are still trying to do it
May 2016
undercover, which means you still have some
safe space. If you show enmity, they will outright
kill you in the palace. You are just five. They are
one hundred plus a whole army of soldiers.”
Bhima and his brothers contained their rage.
After fourteen days in the Naga Loka, the elixir
had made him strong but it had also made him
enormously hungry. When he saw that they
had been in the process of preparing a big
meal but then abandoned the task when he, the
presumably dead, had come back, he put all the
cut vegetables that were there in a cauldron
and made a dish. In the Aryan culture, it is the
norm that certain vegetables are not mixed, but
he put everything together and made a dish out
of it, which even today is one of the favorites in
certain parts of South India, where it is called
aviyal, which means mixture.
The enmity between the two parties grew. The five
brothers were on guard and started building their
own defenses, bringing their own people into the
palace. Until then, they had not understood the
intrigues of the palace – they had behaved like
May 2016
boys. But now, they entered a serious fight for
a kingdom. In the meantime, Drona, the son and
disciple of Bharadwaja, was conceived and born
in a drona vessel – that is why he was called
Drona. It was said that no one could kill him as
long as he (Drona) had his eyes open. He learnt
the art of archery and other martial arts from his
father Bharadwaja.
Then Drona went to Parashurama, the great,
angry sage, who had earlier vowed to take
vengeance on the Kshatriyas for what they had
done to his clan, and who ended up killing many
hundreds of them. When Parashurama became
old, he wanted to give away all his astras – special
arms that were charged with occult powers.
Every astra had a corresponding mantra. At this
age, Parashurama had given up fighting, and he
was looking for someone suitable to pass on the
astras to. When Drona heard about that, he went
to him and grabbed all the astras he could get.
To be continued
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 13
 MUSING
Generations in Conflict
Sadhguru on Cause and Solutions
Questioner: Sadhguru, the older generation and
the younger generation seem at odds today. How
do we make sure that the experience of age and
the energy of youth work together?
Sadhguru: They have always been at odds, not
just today. The whole problem is this: the older
generation does not think they are old – the
younger generation thinks they are old enough
for everything. Someone is occupying the space
that you want to occupy. This happens not
only among human beings. Especially among
elephants, you can see suddenly, a young bull
elephant goes on a rampage, angry, pulling out
everything around, because he has a feud with
the bigger male elephant in the herd who is not
vacating the space. The younger one does not
have the strength to fight him yet, so he freaks
out – adolescence.
This is why, in this country, we created
varnashrama dharma. That means, from zero to
twelve is balavastha, childhood – just play; body
and brain should grow. Twelve to twenty-four
is brahmacharya – time to bring discipline into
your body and mind, to develop your energies
to become a powerful being, and to acquire
knowledge. At age twenty-four, you can choose
what you want to do. If you are able to see
through life, you become a sanyasi. Otherwise,
you get married and become a householder. If
you get married at twenty-four, after two solar
cycles, when you are forty-eight, your children
are somewhere between eighteen and twenty-
three. They are like the young bulls – they want
you to go, but they cannot say it.
In earlier times, because livelihood was based
on agriculture, the children could not go away
and make a living elsewhere, because their land
and their animals were here. So at forty-eight,
the old couple took sanyas. They parted ways
and worked on their spiritual sadhana for the
14 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER
next twelve years. At age sixty, they once again
got married. When you get married for the first
time, there may be compulsions of the body
and emotions. At age sixty, after twelve years of
sadhana, all those things are over, and you come
together in a completely different way. You go
into vanaprastha and live the last part of your life
in the jungle. So there was space. Today, parents
are not going away – they want their children
to go. If the children have learnt to stand on
their own two feet, they will go even before the
parents want them to. If they have not learnt to
stand on their own two feet, every day, there will
be clashes between the two generations.
Because of the emotions involved, you believe it is
an issue between parents and children. But when
it comes down to life, it is just like a young bull
and a big bull clashing for space and dominance.
Men and women do it in different ways, but the
fundamental problem is the same: you want your
space – they are not vacating the space. Clashes
happen not because there is something wrong
with you or them. You need space and they need
space. When both are in the same space, conflict
occurs – unless the parents have made their
children become old before their time. But if both
of you are well and strong, you must give each
other space.
This is not a new problem. I am sure even in the
Stone Age, the same conflict existed between the
young caveman and the old one. How to handle
this? The old should learn to step back so that
the young can occupy that space. If the old have
earned a certain level of wisdom and insight into
life, which the young are yet to earn, they will
look up to the old. Then you can be in the same
space to a certain extent. Leave the ground floor
to the young, and the old can be on the first floor.
If there is nothing to look up to in the old, if they
have exposed themselves with their problems
and nonsense, then vanaprastha is the solution.
May 2016
Whose Karma Is It Anyway?
Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. Are people
who are close to me contributing to my karma? If
yes, how do I deal with this?
Sadhguru: Who knows who is suffering whose
karma. Maybe your family would say something
else. Do not think they need to be cleaned up.
From day one, when you came to the Inner
Engineering program, this is one fundamental
thing that we wanted to establish. Whatever
happens in your life is your responsibility. That
means it is your karma, your doing. If you feel
your family is bad – they may have become like
that, but they may not stay that way. They have
phases like the moon. They have pleasant faces
and unpleasant ones. This happens because
there is a lot of proximity in a family.
When you are on the spiritual path, and you
utter the word “karma,” it should always refer
to yourself. Do not judge someone who is going
through something nasty, thinking that is his
karma. That would be the completely wrong
approach. It is your karma that you have to
witness something unpleasant happening to
another human being. Someone else’s karma is
never ever your business. So do not think about
your family’s karma. If you got a bad set of
people around you, it is your karma.
Three Ingredients for a Human Being
Questioner: Sadhguru, you once said there are
actually three forces involved to produce a child,
and that the third force is not acknowledged. Can
you explain this further?
Sadhguru: When a man and a woman come
together, they can only produce a body – they
cannot produce a life. Both of them together
provide a container – the content is from
elsewhere. They only produce a body, so that a
life can occupy it in some way. Now you are a
May 2016
Never think about someone else’s karma. If you
see someone suffering and think maybe it is his
or her karma, you will lose your fundamental
humanity. The moment you refer to someone
else’s karma, you will become an evil force. Evil
does not always mean by intent. Evil means
you are such that no matter what you do, it will
turn out negatively for people around you. The
moment you start thinking about someone else’s
karma, you are moving in that direction. This is
what we have been trying to fix all along, that you
realize that no matter what happens, it is you. It
happens in your life, so it is your karma.
Do not worry about karma that comes from your
family – there is no such thing. Family is only in
your mind. If you did not have a mind, the concept
of family would not exist for you. These ideas of
who is your family and who is not, who is dear to
you and who is not are entirely manufactured in
your mind. That means they are your doing, your
karma. Whether you are suffering or enjoying
people around you, it is your karma. You need to
realize that whatever happens in your life, it is
you. Once you are aware of that, you become an
individual. Otherwise, you remain scattered. Only
an individual can attain.
grown up individual. Whether your relationship
with your parents is good or bad, you know one
thing – you are an individual by your own right.
You may be grateful for whatever they have done
for you. You may love them. But they are they –
you are you. If this has not occurred to you, you
have not grown up, unfortunately.
To sum it up: there are your two parents who
provided the body, there is you, and there is a
fundamental force that is making all this happen.
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 15
What is the Right Path?
Sadhguru on Making Fundamental Choices in Life
Questioner: Namaskaram Sadhguru. My
question is, of all the paths of life that you offer
in Isha, like the teacher trainings for Isha Hatha
Yoga, Inner Engineering, or Bhava Spandana, or
brahmacharya – how do I decide which one is
best for me? I don’t have the necessary clarity to
make the decision which path to follow for the
rest of my life. I want to dedicate the rest of my
life to one of these paths but I just do not know
what is best. And I offer that choice to you. What
is your advice on making that decision?
Sadhguru: There are people who are married for
twenty-five years and are still wondering if they
made the right decision. The biggest mistake
that people make is that they want to choose that
which is best. But there is no such thing as the
best. Whether it is your career, marriage, spiritual
choices, ultimate choices – there is no best thing
to do in your life. If you put your everything into
what you choose to do, it becomes a great thing.
You should have something great going, not the
best, because the best is in comparison with
something else. Right now, I am feeling great, not
because this is the best day or the best place in
the universe. There is no such thing. But if you
put yourself into it, it is a great place.
Drop this idea of choosing the best thing, or
finding the best person for you in your life. There
is no such person in the universe. If you put
your everything into something, it is great. But
the moment you compare and ask if this is the
best one, or if something else would be better,
you will always be confused. Even when you are
being buried, you will wonder if you are in the
best coffin. What if you wanted a mahogany
coffin but they chose something else. Even
there, you will twist and turn, because you have
lived life in comparison.
16 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER
When it comes to the spiritual process, if you
place it in my hands, I take care of the decision
as to what works best for you right now. If you
choose, you will choose what is most comfortable
for you. It may not necessarily produce results,
or it may be an unnecessarily long route. I am not
interested in your comfort. I want you to get there,
because your time and energy are limited. If you
do not put it on an express mode, you will wander
around and get lost. But you have to decide if you
want to go with your judgment when it comes to
choices for the spiritual process, or if you think it
is better to leave it to me.
Drop this idea of choosing the best thing, or
finding the best person for you in your life.
Only if you leave the decision to me, I will tell
you what will work best for you. Otherwise, I will
never impose my judgment on anyone and tell
them what they should do in their lives. Only if
you are one hundred percent sure that even if I
ask you to go to hell, you will, and at the same
time, you have the trust that I definitely do not
want you to go to hell, will I make the decision
for you. But if there is a possibility that halfway
down, you start having doubts, I will not take up
the decision for you.
If you prefer wandering around, that is up to you.
I am not someone who is planning lifetimes. I
want things to happen to people in this life. If you
are thinking about making it in many lifetimes,
you can go elsewhere, where they teach you
ways to evolve slowly. There is nothing wrong
with that, but I am not that patient, because this
is my final round – that is for sure.
May 2016
 SHARING
On Her EXPERIENCES

Fallen flat
Joy obscures
Stifled desires
Yet she allures
Violent air
Broken panes
Beaten hope
Yet she sustains
Dying grass
Melting mountains
Ash in air
Yet she fountains
Mould on heart
Dust on lenses
Paint on pores
Yet she cleanses
With red in her head
And gold in her nose
In film of yellow
She is aglow
And you plunge
Without a thought
Into her eyes
To seek the sought
And you leave no crumbs
For someone to trace
And settle in the fold
Of her safe embrace
Your lips now move
To the shape of her name
Your breath now stills
To the move of her game
Oh Devi, Ye Devi!
You release her sound
Into this silence
You have newly found
And as you sleep
She will softly lace
The rims of your being
With her abundant grace Poem by Isha meditator

May 2016 ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 17

SADHGURU SPOT

Doors Wide Open

Excerpted from Sadhguru Spot of 6 April 2016

In the last one year, the reach of Isha Yoga has grown exponentially, both in India and outside the
country. I have been trying to put my foot on the brakes and reduce this insane amount of travel,
but it looks like all the three pedals are throttles. And in the coming weeks, it is getting busier than
ever before. Normally, at my age, people retire. For me, it looks like a whole new life is beginning. But
better to die of exhaustion than of sloth and boredom.

The world is beginning to realize the immensity and the impact of what we have to transmit. Today,
doors are wide open for us around the world and in various fields – whether it is business, politics,
academia, or whatever else. I don’t care about doors being open for me personally. What is fantastic
is that doors are open for the spiritual process – fantastic for those who receive it and for the world
as a whole. If we can transform the lives of at least a few million people in a powerful way, even after
we die, these few million people will multiply the seed of transformation. This seed that I received
from my Guru is a very potent one. And the soil seems to be super ready, wherever we go. There is
going to be a great harvest soon.

International Day of Yoga is a great platform to make this available to large numbers of people. This
year, we want to reach out to the most important segment of human population – the children. My
initial plan was to touch at least ten thousand schools across India. On an average, there are about
eight hundred to nine hundred children in every school. That means we could reach about eight to
nine million children.

After going on a forty-eight hour, five-state tour last week, meeting the respective Chief Ministers,
and receiving very positive responses, it looks like it will be well over ten thousand schools. They are
all very open to this idea and willing to support it in every possible way. We are going to roll out the
project in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, six districts of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and
probably also Maharashtra and Gujarat. On the face of it, touching more than 10,000 schools may
seem like an impossible task, but we have the methodology to make it happen.

18 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER May 2016

In recent years, the number of children committing suicide has risen drastically. If children are
committing suicide, there is something fundamentally wrong in a society. One of the main reasons
is they are not able to take the pressure of education and examinations. In one particular district,
Kota in Rajasthan, the suicide rate among students is extremely high. Around one hundred fifty
thousand students from all over North India are studying there in coaching institutions to prepare
for competitive exams.
These children are under so much pressure that some of them break and commit suicide. We have
established contacts with all of these institutions, and our teachers have started teaching Upa-yoga
and Isha Kriya there. We will make sure that in the next one-and-a-half months, these one hundred
fifty thousand students are getting equipped with at least a simple form of yoga.

So our main focus for this year’s Yoga Day events is children. Apart from that, we are going to conduct
many other events in and outside the country. We are also going to touch various corporations, public
sector undertakings, and Indian embassies abroad. On Yoga Day itself, 21st of June, I will speak at
the United Nations. Moreover, as a part of the International Yoga Day events, we will conduct a
twenty-one day program at the Isha Yoga Center for those who want to learn some serious hatha
yoga. And those who do not have twenty-one days but still want to experience hatha yoga in its
classical form can come from 26th May to 2nd of June.

This eight-day event will be a great opportunity for you to learn different aspects of hatha yoga that
you can fit into any kind of lifestyle and benefit from it. Otherwise, as you get older and you see
how people who are doing yoga float around in spite of their age, you will wish you had done some
hatha yoga. This event now is a chance for you to fulfill that wish before it is too late and you look
back at life in regret. It is better to do it when you are still well and can prepare yourself for a life of
possibilities.

If you do not knead your body well enough, accessing deeper dimensions of meditativeness, exploring
other aspects of the spiritual process, and realizing mystical possibilities is out of question. I would
say at least ninety-five percent of the people on this planet cannot sit in meditation for long periods
of time unless they prepare their body with hatha yoga. Only three to five percent are able to settle
into meditativeness without preparation, because of their karma.

We offer hatha yoga in its classical form, as a powerful science of knowing your system. What will
make this eight-day hatha yoga event unique is that I will personally conduct a session and answer
questions. What’s more, I have devised a special sadhana that you can do while being in these
consecrated spaces to make yourself available to receive this cascade of Grace. We will also provide
a certain level of theory to give you a deeper understanding of your own system, how it works, and
how to enhance it. This knowledge is most important for any human being to live a sensible and
fulfilling life.

Love & Grace,

May 2016 ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 19

 UPCOMING PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

Date Program Place Contact

Isha Yoga Center,

9–29 May 0422-2515464 / 94890 45084
Yoga Marga Velliangiri Foothills,
2016 isharejuvenation@ishafoundation.org
Coimbatore – India

Isha Yoga Center,

12–15 May Inner Engineering 94890 45164 / 0422-2515300
Velliangiri Foothills,
2016 Retreat ieretreat@ishayoga.org
Coimbatore – India

Nature Awareness
Isha Yoga Center,
13–17 May Program 94443 10771
Velliangiri Foothills,
2016 (Age limit: 9–12 natureawareness@ishayoga.org
Coimbatore – India
years)

Isha Yoga Center,

17–20 May 83000 93555 / 0422-2515300
Guru Pooja Training Velliangiri Foothills,
2016 iycprograms@ishayoga.org
Coimbatore – India

Nature Awareness
Isha Yoga Center,
19–23 May Program 94443 10771
Velliangiri Foothills,
2016 (Age limit: 9–12 natureawareness@ishayoga.org
Coimbatore – India
years)

Isha Yoga Center,

26–29 May Inner Engineering 94890 45164 / 0422-2515300
Velliangiri Foothills,
2016 Retreat ieretreat@ishayoga.org
Coimbatore – India

Isha Yoga Center,

26 May – 21-Day Hatha Yoga 83000 11111
Velliangiri Foothills,
15 Jun 2016 Program iycprograms@ishayoga.org
Coimbatore – India

Isha Yoga Center,

26 May – 8-Day Hatha Yoga 83000 11111
Velliangiri Foothills,
15 Jun 2016 Program iycprograms@ishayoga.org
Coimbatore – India

Current at the time of print, however subject to change. For full program schedules and updates,
please visit our website: www.ishafoundation.org.

20 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER May 2016

 ISHA RECIPE

APPLE PEANUT BUTTER SNACK

Homemade Peanut Butter Apple Peanut Butter Snack

(Makes 1 ½ cups) (Makes about 12 pieces)

INGREDIENTS INGREDIENTS
2 cups raw, shelled peanuts 2 apples
1–2 Tbsps. honey (optional) 4–5 Tbsps. Homemade Peanut Butter
1–2 Tbsps. peanut oil or other oil (optional, for Cashews, walnuts, or other nuts of your choice
creamier peanut butter) Raisins, dried apricots, or other dry fruits of your
Salt to taste choice

METHOD Granola or muesli of your choice

1. Roast the peanuts in the oven or in a pan until
golden brown.
2. Place the roasted peanuts in a food processor,
grinder, or blender. Let it run for 4–5 minutes. The
peanut butter will gradually become grainy, then
begin to clump together, then become smoother.
Blend in the oil, honey, and salt, if you want.
Optional (for garnish): honey, cinnamon powder,
or cardamom powder
METHOD
1. Slice the apples horizontally into rounds of
about 1 cm thickness (or less). Carefully remove
any seeds.
2. Spread peanut butter over the apple rounds.
3. Top with nuts and dry fruits of your choice.
Optionally garnish with cinnamon or cardamom
powder, and/or drizzle with honey.

May 2016 ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 21

 SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Insightful – Inspiring – Informative

I would like to Subscribe for myself Renew my subscription Change the mailing address Subscribe as a gift

One year – 12 issues (within India by regular mail) – `180 Payment By Cheque
One year – 12 issues (within India by courier) – `480 `50 Extra

Mode of Payment: Cash Demand Draft Money Order Cheque

FF CODE (Forest Flower subscription No.):

Name*
Please complete in BLOCK LETTERS

Address*
SUBSCRIBER

City*

State* PIN*

Phone: (Mobile)*............................... (Home)*............................... (Work)*..........................

Email* .....................................................................................................................

Name*
Please complete in BLOCK LETTERS

* These fields are mandatory

Address*
SEND GIFT TO

City*

State* PIN*

Phone: (Mobile)*............................... (Home)*............................... (Work)*..........................

Email* .....................................................................................................................

Enclosed DD/Cheque/MO No. ............................................................. dated ...............................

drawn on ...................................................................... (bank), payable at Coimbatore for `...........

in favor of Isha Foundation.
For payments by cheque, please add `50/- to the subscription amount towards clearing charges.

Please mail the completed subscription form along with your payment to: ISHA FOREST FLOWER
nd
F-4, Sri Balaji Apartments, 2 Floor, New No.4, old No.6, Rajambal Street, T. Nagar, Chennai - 600017
For further inquiries, please contact:  (044) 45011137, 96770 16700 8 subscriptions.FF@ishafoundation.org

Date: Subscriber Signature:

RECEIPT DETAILS (For Office Use Only)

Receipt No.:........................ Receipt Date:........................

Amount received:........................Received by:........................Remarks:........................

FOR ONLINE SUBSCRIPTIONS AND RENEWALS, visit www.ishafoundation.org/ForestFlower

22 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER May 2016

 ZEN SPEAKS

Published by: B. RAJESH CHANDER on behalf of ISHA FOUNDATION

Published from 117/50, Luz Church Road, Mylapore, Chennai – 600 004, TAMILNADU

Printed by: S. PRAKASH; at FINE DOTS, No.15, Boo Begum 3rd Street,
Anna Salai, Chennai – 600 002, TAMILNADU. Editor: K. SEKAR

May 2016 ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 23

 May 2016
Not of will but willingness
Shall make the stones melt. Turn walls into grand
Doorways. Gods emerged from stones you see.

24 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No. TNENG/2013/53333 WPP license no : TN/PMG (CCR)/WPP- 446/2015 - 2016
Registered with Patrika Channel Egmore RMS under Registration No. TN/CH(C)/492/14 –16. Published on 2nd of every month – May 2016