Seva

In the Indian tradition and custom, seva or service is held in high esteem. There are countless examples to illustrate how one should serve. The greatest example of seva was rendered by Anjaneya or Sri Hanuman to His Lord, Rama. Krishna illustrates the way to serve as 'Nishkama Karma' or service without desire or attachment to the benefits of the seva. In all this seva or service, two questions arise.

Who is serving and who is being served? And why is the one serving?

Often, when we serve, we extend service to the other and there is a reciprocal act of gratitude. Such service is no service. We are only serving our ego selves. if the other did not reciprocate with gratitude, we feel hurt. The one we are really serving is our ego. The end result is an inflated ego. We don't stop there. We then advertise our service with others. It just becomes more and more miserable. If no one listens to us, it becomes worse.

True service is from being the Self and to the Self. There is no other. What does this mean?

By recognising that we are one as many, the variety merges in its unity. There is then only One. The One serves itself through the many names and forms. Such service is beyond expectation and gratification. True service is serving one's Self.

To exist in seva, we need to return to our state of Love. Love unites the differentiation. Love only expands itself by loving itself in various forms.

So, it becomes important for us to love ourselves, serve ourselves and fill ourselves first before we serve others. Loving oneself does not mean sitting in front of the mirror decorating our body! That's loving our body, not our Self.

To experience the Self or Love, imagine you are standing in front of a mirror which is reflecting you. Imagine the Sun above you. With folded hands directed towards the imagined mirror, breathe in absorbing Sun's light and as you breathe out, direct Sun's light to the mirror. With this practice, you can only love yourself and enjoy yourself.

You will see the difference when you serve from love. Love can only be forever in service of the Self.

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Why children become arrogant!

Your children are very keen observers. They notice every move you make and learn very quickly and adapt to the environment they are growing in. They express little or no resistance, which makes them mould themselves quickly.

Until the age of 3, your children learn from the home environment. Learning is enhanced in play homes and kindergarten. Language, vocabulary, mannerisms, habits and traits are learnt from all places. Since these children spend more time within the four walls of your home, most of the learning comes from here.

The urge to experience life independently begins from about the age of 8. You, the parent, during these years are also stressing your children to focus more on studies and are more vigilant. Children get pulled up for their pranks more often and are scolded. All words, phrases, sentences, abuses, appreciations, you use while in conversation with anyone are picked up by your children without a filter.

As your children grow into their pre-teens, they begin to perceive their world independently. firstly, they ask you for a room for themselves. Then, they seek privacy. By now, your children have the ability to speak almost every sentence you speak. They are actually copying you. Your children begin to believe that they are now as capable as you are! And, they begin to answer you when you are pulling them up for their irresponsibility.

The belief that they are now equal to you and match up to you word for word and your children begin to argue with you. You as a parent, give in so you can maintain peace and calm in the environment and your children perceive that they have won this argument. This is what makes them arrogant.

Some parents react to their child's behaviour. You, the parent, don't have to react to their arrogance. Be patient and humble. Your children don't have a clue about your formative years. They speak from ignorance. The only way to bring them out of their arrogance is when you stop reacting and respond to them. You can speak with them, and give them some wise guidance through phrases.

We like to share some phrases we use/d with our child!

There is a difference between you sitting on our head and we parents supporting you on our heads! The difference is, when you sit on our heads, you will slip and fall. Be careful.

You are being watched at all times by someone who believes you to be the example for them. Be the best example.

In life, you can fall any way, forward, backward and side ward. But, there is only one way you can stand and that is upright and that is possible when you are honest with yourself.

Don't do any such thing that will stop you from looking into your parents' eyes with love.

Instead of crying from your experience, learn from it. Your learning will make you strong and wise. You will also save crying over a similar experience.

We are your guardians until you graduate from college. Our responsibility is to nourish you every which way, and your responsibility is to listen to us.

Live everyday is such a way that you will smile remembering your growing up years.

You don't realise the ability you have within you. Don't waste it away carelessly. Ask us if you need help to use them.

Best wishes

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Forgiveness - Beyond the Right and Wrong

Forgiveness has been an age old practice in societies and cultures across the various countries and continents of the world. Forgiveness is healing and it happens in the inner most parts of your being, at the energy and cellular states of your being.

The practice of forgiveness is simple and free of resistance. Its an inner practice. However, the way it has to be practiced has taken a twist and people are finding it difficult to forgive.

The common practice guideline urges you to forgive one another. Many people I meet have resented forgiveness only because it brings the scene alive once more and they are unable to bring themselves to forgive. The tormentation or feeling of abuse multiplies within them and they find themselves even more helpless than before.

My work with people has taught me that forgiveness is an inner practice and not with one another. Its rather a practice with "no other". There is no one else to forgive. Intrigued? Read on...

Forgiveness is a pratice of working with your memory. All the people you are seemingly working with, are not physical personalities, but just parts of your memory. Memory resides in your body, in the cells. So, when you harbour unforgiveness in the form of anger, resentment, jealousy, hatred, sorrow, grief, fear, greed and so on, you are allowing your cells to fall from their place graceful action. They become sluggish and diseased.

Hence, the practice is to release these emotions from your memory. Emotions give life to your memory. The memory you harbour is feeding on your very life-force energy. Forgiveness is a process of releasing emotions and stop the process of depletion of your life-force energy.

There are various ways to practice forgiveness. For the ones who are habituated to articulating their feelings, there is a way with words. And, for the ones who like it plain and simple, there is a way without words. Rememeber, your language is not a barrier to your forgiving.

Priciple in the practice

When I was in kindergarten, my parents bought me a colouring book. In this book were dots with numbers. I was taught numbers, then I learnt how to join these numbered dots which formed a picture and finally learnt, how to colour the picture.

Our lives are very much like the dots in the first image. Our lives mean nothing to begin with and we are also happy being who we are, caring two hoots about who thinks what of us. As we shape our experiences, which is connecting the dots, and with judgments we shape our memories, much like the bear in colour.

So, forgiveness is simply the reverse process. Its not a ctrl-z on your keyboard! Its just another process of releasing our judgments about others. Forgiveness is a process of risng above the right and wrongs.

The Practice

Sit comfortably with feet uncrossed. For a start, don't choose your worst experience. You have given it too much power and so it will not stop bothering you right away. So, choose a relatively less intense memory.

Observe the memory you are carrying which is hurtful. Spend time with the memory observing it so it becomes real in your present moment. Don't resent your memory. Remember, you are not working with the people you interacted with, you are working with your memory. Bring this into your realisation before you begin the practice. When you feel the memory is real, raise your hand in blessing. Bless your memory sending it all your love and watch your memory melt away. If you resisted sharing love with your memory, you will have to revisit the same memory and repeat the practice until all of the emotions have been released.

You will have to repeat this practice with every experience you have carried in your memory. I practiced this technique for 6 years and I stopped reacting to people and their way of treating me.

Love melts away all the emotions and leaves your memory just as dots, just the way it all started. You will be free once again... Just the way you came.

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Are Schooling and Education the same?

Parents send their children to school to get educated. Every year, these growing children go to school in the morning and come back tired and hungry and their mother or care-giver feeds them meals. Year after year, children are gaining more and more. What they are gaining is the question!

While parents send their children to get educated, the children come back home with loads of information that they have to memorise and much more than that to reproduce with homework and project work.

Education happens, in the present moment alone. What education are these children deriving? School is fun, difficult or boring, depends on the response mechanism the child is experiencing. Learning the different subjects is such fun, boring or difficult, again depends on the quality of teaching and receptivity the child experiences. The ability to reproduce can be fun, difficult or even impossible. Yet again, depends on the whether the child is attentive, willing and feeling connected or challenged with the entire process of listening, understanding, and memorising.

All of the above create a structured way of thinking and processing information. And this structure is created by a group of educationists, appointed by the Government of the State, who want thinking and processing to happen in a way that benefits them. This leads us to a question... How does this way of gathering information help the child?

To answer this question, the Government has created a barter system. You gather information the way we want you to. After you go through a process called Graduation, which we state as adequate, which in certain circumstances, may also mean a post-graduation, you must prove yourself capable and then you will be positioned in a Government or private enterprise. You will be given new information, just the way you gathered all the information in your schooling years and colleges. When you use the information you gathered the way we want it to be used, we will give you what it takes to live amidst us. These are namely; a new identity of who you are now. You may not be called by your name anymore. You may have a prefix such as Mr., or Ms., Dr., Prof., etc., and money to buy your food, clothing and comforts.

This seems adequate, isn't it?

Quite not the way to look at it!

Well, what about you? Are you getting educated at all? Or is education defined for you? What are you passionate about? How are you living your passion? Are you waiting to live your passion only because you have a system that stifles you with too much remembering and reproducing and that you don't find time and space to live your passion?

Scores of students, discover at the end of their graduation, a path which has nothing to do with what they studied. The degree only stands as a qualification to get a ECNR stamp on your passport and possibly a barter overseas, if you are ready to go to some more college to gather information as stipulated by the Government of the overseas State.

In the olden days, the Gurukul identified qualities in students and taught them what they were innately passionate in and what they needed to learn and groomed their natural abilities. These students will then grow up to be experts in what they are enabled in and also get introduced to other aspects of life. There were Acharyas who practiced what they shared and not teachers of today who profess, subjects and not life skills.

There are no more gurukuls these days. The international schools which have a curriculum like the old age gurukuls, don't have Acharyas. However, they are better off than the conventional school. The down side is that they are high on price tag and cater to the neo-rich class.

What are our options given the present conditions?

I leave this topic open to the reader to fill...

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy  

The Purpose for Meditation

There is a debate in the world spiritual fraternity, from both seekers and masters alike, on the purpose for meditation. Many argue that there must be no purpose for meditation and that if there is one, then its no meditation.

I believe, there is a purpose for meditation. There is only one purpose. And this purpose is not only for me! Its for all who have come into being on this planet ever.

And the purpose is - To cross-over into eternity.... to go beyond death without dying. Behind the veil lies the truth. The answers to eternal existence.

Call it a purpose or call it anything, it can only happen when you habitually sit in meditation with unending regularity until your existence becomes a meditation.

Death is unending, silent and vibrant, empty as well as full. You can cross-over into this realm, into eternity, only when you sit in meditation everyday.

How?

With the practice of sitting in meditation, a silence envelops you. This silence is also heard in your inner ear. Every other sounds no longer bother you. As you progress further into meditation, silence gets deeper and louder. In meditation, silence becomes your friend, your partner, the leader as well as the follower. 

Befriend this silence.

Death is infinite times amplified silence. At the doorstep of death of the body, the silence you've known and befriended, begins to grow louder, many times louder, infinite times louder. And when you've known this silence, you cross-over the loop of life and death being in silence. Silence will lead you from life to death or afterlife. Everything you ever were, when alive, your name, fame, money, family, children, assets, everything is wiped out in this infinite silence.

The awareness of yourself as the Self and not the body is Self-Realisation. This realisation dawns in meditation and will help you surge forward to go deeper into each moment in meditation. During this journey called meditation, you will come to realise your potentialities and also that of Consciousness which you can invoke within you. All this is a part of the journey. Through all these phases, you will come to realise that you are the seeker, you are the seeking and you are that which is sought. I am God, is realised and with it, the purpose ends, but the journey continues.

It is silence that takes you past all the phases. Silence alone is required and will suffice to end the seemingly never ending cycle. With this awareness of being the Self, you as Consciousness, will cross-over from the form to the formless. Meditation continues, but without a purpose.

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Can Meditation Heal Illnesses?

Many masters have placed claims that meditation can heal illnesses. To several scientists and doctors, this seems absurd. Several hospitals have provided meditation halls for the care givers of patients and not patients themselves.

So! What is the truth? The only way for me to know the truth is by putting myself into the experience. And so I did.

For at least 30 years, I had an allergy. When winter set in, the cold breeze and any exercise like cycling or running will cause my skin to go into a terrible itch and then my skin would swell forming rashes. I consulted several doctors and none of them had any cure or suggestion, except one doctor who advised me to place my hands in hot water. I tried, but that reduced itch on the hand when at home. What about the rest of the body?

I tried giving up various food types including certain vegetables, curds, milk, and even certain prepared dishes. Nothing seemed to work. Finally, I tried meditation.

Believe me, it was so easy. In my previous blog, I have written that meditation is to be in a witness state and that is all I did. This is how it happened. 

Three years ago, one winter morning, I was cycling. As my body warmed against the cool breeze, my skin reacted and burst into a terrible itch. I would always scratch myself all over and the skin would then break into a terrible rash. This time, instead of scratching myself all over, I observed. I became a witness to the allergy. It lasted for about 30 minutes. The itch died down and there was no rash. I had cracked it.

The 2012-2013 winter passed and 2014-2015 winter is in the passing. And I have no allergy or rash what so ever. I cycled this morning too. I am healed.

My experience with meditation came true. Meditation does heal. You too can try. Unlike other marketing fine print, there is no disclaimer here. I know it worked for me and I am sure it will work for you too. May you and your loved ones be healed in the highest and best way. And so be it.

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Truth About Meditation

Several teachers have been teaching meditation techniques. Each one of them have been describing meditation processes and end results in their own lingo but with one commonality... silencing the mind.

Well, if we can really silence the mind, then we are all blessed. But that is not quite the way it seems to be! Further, the challenges people with restless minds face is something to take into account. How are these people supposed to meditate given their condition?

The answers are always simple and straight. Start the practice.. in due course, your mind will go silent. People with restless and anxious minds are not able to draw inspiration from these words.

So, how is a person with a restless and anxious mind supposed to practice? Here is something you can work on, if you are finding meditation a challenge!

Meditation means to witness. To witness everything happening within. When I close my eyes, I see thoughts. They come as images, as videos. I see all of them. They come from my past and may be some futuristic thoughts as well! To witness them, means to only see, not to dive into them. Just watch them, holding yourself back. It takes practice to just watch and not dive. This is where you must restrain yourself. This is indeed the practice and you will see, the power in the thoughts, to grasp you, will reduce and die down.

You can never silence the mind. You can definitely separate yourself from the mind. And that is what Meditation is all about!

The practice of witnessing your thoughts is just the beginning. As you progress in meditation, include besides the thoughts, the sense organs. Listen, see, feel, smell and touch objects as a witness. Don't challenge any of them. You will lose if you do so. Just go with the flow. Your power of being a witness will steadily increase. There is no timeframe to it! Its all about intent and intensity. You will know when you are ready, and then, include all of it... the inside and the outside, and be the witness of all.

The goal is to be the absolute witness. Absolute means the whole, where everything is in you and you are in everything. Nothing is separate from anything. Everything is perfect and in order. God is an absolute witness. The phrase "Tat Twam Asi" actually means, "I am that absolute".

May you blossom to realise the truth of being the absolute witness.

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Conscious and Sub-conscious Memory

Memory is the storehouse of information. It relates to our past, the past which we have lived in. Most of us are able to recall our childhood, teenage and adultlife memories. And then, we have important and unimportant, necessary and unnecessary, happy, sad, fearful and anger producing memories. We have all kinds of memories.

Memories do not age. They have no age at all. Even if you recall them after 50 years, they will seem as fresh as ever. Imagine a time of your life when you felt free, no responsibility, no botherations. Firstly, you are able to recall such a memory, secondly, you feel as if you are living that memory now, meaning, you feel as if you are of that age and in that time. Sometimes, you don't want to come back to this present life of responsibility, family life, with children crying aloud asking you to buy them a certain toy, or crying for milk or food. 

Memories are also very powerful. They can control you. Have you seen people day dreaming? They keep looking at a white wall or at the sky. They are lost in their memories. You call them and they won't respond. They are stuck in their memories.

The mind creates memories. The mind is connected to your sense organs. Everything you perceive with your sense organs form a part of your memory. Which means, everything you touch, feel, smell, see and hear is added to your memory. Right from the time we are conceived in our mother's womb and from the time our sense organs were connected to the mind, we began perceiving. This happened even before we were physically born. There are two categories of memories. One is sub-conscious memory and the other is conscious memory.

What is the difference between the two? Its very simple. Passive use of our sense organs creates sub-conscious memory. For a moment, go back to your memory. Access your memory of driving a car, a two-wheeler or a bicycle on a road curving to the left. Now, ask yourself, where did you drive on such a road? Your mind will throw up so many such memories. Do you remember all the locations where the road curves to a left? Not quite, yet you recognise that these are roads you travelled on, because you are able to recollect these scenes from your memory in your mind. Similarly, ask any question to your mind and it will throw up scenes from your memory. The mind can only throw up scenes from your memory, not from another person's memory. This memory which is recorded through your senses all of the time is your sub-conscious memory. Every day, every moment is recorded in your sub-conscious and any part of it can be recalled by you, but it will take some effort because sub-conscious memory is stored unconsciously.

Conscious memory is different. I am storing this moment consciously. Let us for a moment believe that you come to meet me. From the moment you arrive, I will begin to record everything in the present. I will record the time by looking at the needles of the clock, I will record the clothes you are wearing and also the clothes I am wearing. I will record the gadgets you are wearing like your wrist watch, your mobile and so on and the ones that I am wearing. I will record the place we are meeting in and its environment. I will record the chairs we are sitting on and also the seating arrangement and the number of chairs. Like this, I will record every detail in my memory consciously. When I record any scene or event in my memory consciously, I can recall it in a moment. All I have to do is to go to that moment in my memory and everything I recorded is played back to me. Only that which I recorded is played back to me. This is important.

When you use your mind to record consciously, you are in the moment completely. Your memory is like a tape which has only those songs you want to listen to. You don't have everything in it. If you did not choose what you recorded, or were not fully conscious in the moment, then you will end up accumulating more than what you want. Then, you will have to carry the burden of your unwanted memories.

Be it studies, meeting friends, parents, relatives or while eating food, choose to be conscious. Then, you will not bother about what others are doing. You will choose to record in your memory only that which is important to you. This way, you will lessen your burden of memories. You cannot live without memories. You cannot forget your parents or your brothers and sisters. What will people say if you did not recognise your own parents? They will think you have lost your mind.

Some people record too many unwanted scenes in their memory and feel like running away from their own memories. Such people become mentally ill. Such people are not able to recall the names of their own sons and daughters. 

You have time now. Relieve yourself of the burden of hoarding unwanted memories. More importantly, stop accumulating unwanted memories from this very moment. Be conscious, be present, be alert, be aware.

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Forced Evidence in Modern Medicine

Modern Medicine is evidenced based medicine. The need for evidence has pushed modern medicine into a new plateau. 

Scientific evidence is one thing to go by, but forced evidence is another ball game altogether.

What is forced evidence?

Since modern medicine is evidenced based medicine, there is a protocol the doctor must follow or conform to and arrive at a diagnosis. This process can become elaborate and time consuming. The patient-doctor ratio is high forcing the doctor to force a conclusion, often terming symptom as the cause and proceed with treatment. Such conclusion is not safe and can cause more side effects in patients and may  prolong treatment.

Examples of forced evidence in modern medicine

Some of the treatments started due to forced evidence are mentioned below. You will be surprised at the cases and how they are treated.

1. Depression - In my experience, 80% of patients medicated for depression are not even depressed. When I counselled these patients, I found them to hold back guilt, fear or even anger, let alone being depressed. The doctors who have medicated them have not spent enough time with the patients to understand the cause of their condition and have instead concluded the case to be that of depression and have medicated them inappropriately.

2. Parkinson's Disease - Emotional trauma causes muscle and nerve weakness and the patient at times becomes unstable. When the doctor asks them to stand up and lean forward and backward. The instability forces the doctor to conclude Parkinson's instead of conducting further investigations and the patient is mercilessly medicated.

3. Diabetes - Untimely and unhealthy food habits and stressful lifestyle habits cause the liver to turn fatty. Then follows the Spleen where the lymphatic drain gets clogged and these two organs result in driving fasting blood sugars high. This symptom is becoming more prevalent and patients are termed diabetic and medication is suggested. Instead, suggesting healthy food habits and healthy lifestyle habits can reverse the symptom and restoring health.

4. Fevers - There are several reasons for fevers to occur. Fever is a symptom the body produces to correct an anomaly. Some of these anomalies may be indigestion (which is most common), food-poisoning, physical exertion or fatigue, dehydration, and infections. Each type of fever needs to be medicated differently. Forced evidence of fever results in the doctors medicating the patients with powerful antibiotics. This kind of treatment does not always restore health. The body can become weaker over time with immune suppressant medications.

There are scores of other conditions which are treated with forced evidence a few of which are indicated below;

- Respiratory disorders are treated as Asthma and treated with anti-histamine and steroids

- Sneezing (cause can be in the gut, chest) but treated with anti-histamine

The number of doctors who are joining the list of forced evidence is alarming. Fear to enter a hospital in increasing because of forced evidence. Management malpractices pertaining to unethical ICU admissions and unwarranted tests is another side of the coin.

Medical practice is several hospitals is stooping to a new low? Like the white collar slave from the software industry, an alarming number of doctors are becoming pharma company slaves selling drugs in the name of treating patients.

The options and opportunities then weight towards preventive medicine and appropriate home care. Promoting positive mental, emotional and physical health is now ever more valuable than a checkup for a hospital visit. The practice of Yoga, Pranayama and grandmother recipes are the way to go.

In a way, its truly looking homeward into my motherland and her wealth of yoga and ayurveda. This is where you will find answers to all your challenges. Welcome home.

-- Mahesh Krishnamurthy