Samasthiti

न मे द्वेष रागौ न मे लोभ मोहौ मदो नैव मे नैव मात्सर्यभा- व: न धर्मो न चार्थो न कामो ना मोक्ष: चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् Literal Translation: Neither have I desire ( raago ) or hatred ( dvesha ) for anything Neither greed ( lobha ) nor delusion ( moha ) Nor pride ( mada ) nor feelings of jealousy ( matsarya ) Neither am i bound by the path of righteousness ( dharma ) Nor am i attracted to the pursuit of material wellness ( artha ), Neither am I drawn to desire fulfilment ( kamo ) nor liberation from birth & death  ( moksha ) I am Consciousness, Knowledge and Bliss. In Hindu philosophy there are six passions ( Arishadvargas)   or enemies ( Shad Ripus ) of the mind , they are called the : kama krodha lobha moha mada matsarya After describing how the Atman can not be restricted to a gross or a subtle body, Adi Shankracharya goes on to explain the feelings, passions, and goals of a Jiva and how the Divine does not i...

(picture courtesy Pallavi Tallavajhala) In my previous post, I spoke about the five kinds of vayus or winds. Each of these five Vayus are related to a particular quality of movement that are responsible for various functions within the body. It is not visible or felt, but they flow through all our internal organs and the mind as well. How they affect these organs in turn affects on how we are feeling in our mind as well. Where they are located in the body, or rather where they are concentrated, affect those particular regions. However, they are powerful enough to bring about change all over. Below I try to explain each of these vayus from everything I've learnt from my teachers and through my own reading, you can find a variety of explanations which differs depending on which school or teacher you are connected to.  At the end of the day, you really have to rely on your own practice and experience to feel and understand these very subtle sources of energy. Prana Vayu ...

Continuing where we left off, the second verse of the Nirvana Shatakam continues like the first one to describe how the Atman is far removed from the gross material body and all the elements that make all else that exists in the world, including the Jiva or the individual Soul - can not be used to define the eternal soul or the Atman or the Brahman or Shiva. न   च   प्राणसंज्ञो   न   वै   पञ्चवायुः न   वा   सप्तधातुः   न   वा   पञ्चकोशः  । न   वाक्पाणिपादं   न   चोपस्थपायु चिदानन्दरूपः   शिवोऽहम्   शिवोऽहम् Literal translation :  I am not the essential Prana, n or the five vital breaths  Not the core material elements that make the body,  Nor the five sheaths that every Jiva is made of I am not the organs of actions not the  object of the senses  I am Shiva, the supreme consciousness and pure bliss / joy In this verse, the author goes one step further to call out a...

I first heard the Nirvana Shatakam at my yoga class in Pure Yoga Singapore. My teacher - Mani always played shlokas during his classes and this was always the one he started with or ended with. Most people assume that Indians know Sanskrit, sadly that is not true. Sanskrit is a complex language and while I was taught to speak, read and write Sanskrit at school, I definitely can not interpret the vedas or the meaning of the shlokas only by listening to what's being sung or narrated. The beauty however is that it is all very close to Hindi, some of the root words are the same and you can roughly judge what the verses are talking about. While that interpretation might be right sometimes, it can also be either very wrong or convey a very small essence of the entire verse. So, while I loved the melody of what was played in class and did kind of guess what is being spoken about, I knew I wasn't completely understanding it. Since it was played in the beginning of the class or at...