An inner technology for joyous living

An inner technology for joyous living
Monday June 30 2008 10:19 IST Swahilya for EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

It was surely an ocean of joy for the participants of the Isha Yoga programmes in Chennai held every successive week this summer. The reason was their meeting with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev who devised a combination of Pranayama, Asanas and meditation techniques to help the individual reach to a certain inner well-being. The silent revolution of self-realisation that is the motto of the Isha Foundation is all about individual transformation.

Jananam Sukhadam he began a chant in his stentorian voice before addressing special invitees recently. “A world full of love, light and laughter, its time has come,” is what he says.

Sadhguru says that experience of life happens in every individual “You see everything within yourself. Light, darkness, sound, silence, joy, misery, agony, ecstasy – every experience happens within you and never outside of this,” he says.

When the five sense organs are turned on the moment one is born, survival process happens by nature and our mind is naturally outward bound. “Just as you have to strive to read or write or do anything, you have to strive to get the inward perception too – it won’t happen otherwise.”

Though we are physically the most comfortable generation today, we are the most neurotic people too. “A research said that 43 per cent of the American population are on anti-depressants. They have to pop a pill to just keep their mind in balance. Not just the U.S. they reached there first and all of us are following very fast,” he says.

The problem is because of fixing the outside world and not taking care of the inside which is the basis of all experience. With a practical exercise along with the audience, he explained how just the position of the palms could change one’s breathing pattern and how the pattern of one’s breath is directly related to one’s experience of joy or sorrow.

The physical body and intelligence functions at its best, only when the individual is peaceful and joyful. “If there's no fear of suffering, your ability to explore will be greatly enhanced,” he says. Isha Yoga is not a teaching, philosophy or religion, but a technology to fix the inside. “Don’t wait for life to make its point!” Sadhguru exhorts highlighting the need for people to turn towards spirituality.

“There is something within you that does not like boundaries. It is longing to be boundless. The physical body and mind have boundaries and can never be boundless,” he says.

This is the only culture where God is described as bliss – Brahmananda. “You can make yourself blissful right now if you have access to that source,” he says.

This body is just a heap of food – comprised of breakfast, lunch and dinner. The mind is just a heap of impressions. Referring to the Blue Brain project that maps the human brain in Switzerland, he said that even science has come up with the finding that despite genetics, an individual’s brain can be rewired if willing. This re-wiring is a possibility with Yoga.

The Ananda Alai Isha Yoga programmes were conducted between May and June in Chennai, Tiruvannamalai, Pondicherry, Cuddalore and Villupuram in 200 batches. Around 12,000 individuals participated. For further details contact - www.ishafoundation. org or email: chennai@ishafoundation.org.