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Monday, May 11, 2020

Online Breath and Meditation Workshop - 14-17 May 2020



This 4 day online program that teaches you a powerful rhythmic breathing technique called Sudarshan Kriya, Pranayamas, Yoga, Meditation, and Practical Wisdom for Everyday Living.Taught by two dynamic and experienced Teachers who have coached Youth of diverse backgrounds, the online program is a fun filled, extremely effective and proven to have long lasting effects on the mental and physical health of the participants.

About the teachers:

Vivek Barun
Vivek has been with the Art of Living Foundation from over 15 years and has been involved with diverse Social Projects. He has coached Youth leaders from diverse fields. Having completed his BE and MBA, he found his true calling in Music and Social Service. He is the founder and director of CREATIVE INSTITUTE OF MUSIC AND FINE ARTS.

Spoorti Pujar
Spoorti works as a Associate Professor at a reputed Engineering College in Bangalore. She has immense experience in dealing with issues which the Urban Youth faces. She has been working with the Art of Living foundation since 2010 and has facilitated numerous programs. 


Who does the Program Benefit?
Millions of people around the world, including universities, dozens of Fortune companies, olympic athletes, top business schools and CEOs, entrepreneurs, and homemakers have discovered the power of Sudarshan Kriya.
Managers | Entrepreneurs | Corporate Employees | Business Owners | Homemakers | Students

Interested?
Know More by Whatsapp / Call to

9663160829 / 8861606511

OR
Register directly at

https://www.artofliving.online/registration.php?event_id=465085


Saturday, January 5, 2013

Types of Prana




Dear Gurudev, you said there are different types of prana, could you please talk a little bit more about that?
Sri Sri : There are ten types of Prana (the subtle life force energy). Of these, there are five major and five minor kinds of Prana. Today let me just talk about the five major types of Prana.

The first major type of Prana is called Prana which arises from your navel upwards to the top of the head.

Then there is another type of Prana that goes downwards from the navel, and it is called Apana.
When the Prana level is too high, you cannot sleep; you can get insomnia and you feel very jittery. However, if the Apana level is too high, you feel so dull that you do not even want to get off the bed.
Have you had this experience? Sometimes you feel so heavy, gross, and dull. This is due to the imbalance of Apana.

The third type of Prana is Samana which is present as the digestive fire in the digestive system, i.e., in the stomach. It is the agni or the fire that helps digest the food.
Samana is that which helps indigestion, and it also helps other bodily systems. It helps in balancing the system.

Then there is Udana Vayu or Udana Prana which is somewhere near the heart region and is responsible for emotions.
In Sudarshan Kriya, people cry or they laugh, and you find that all these emotions well up. This is due to the Udana Vayu. So this Udana Vayu is responsible for all the emotions.

Then the fifth type of Prana called Vyana which is responsible for all the movement in the body. It is spread all over the body.
In Sudarshan Kriya, you feel some tingling, some energy all over the body. Have you all experienced this?
What happens in Sudarshan Kriya is, all the five Pranas get balanced, and that is why you cry, or you laugh, and you feel a tingling all over the body. That is the specialty of Sudarshan Kriya.
You also tend to feel very hungry after the Kriya, is it not so?

So, these five Prana in the body run our lives.
If Samana is imbalanced, then it gives rise to digestive problems, and you cannot digest the food properly, or you may experience nausea. All this happens because of an imbalance of the Samana Prana.

When Udana Prana is stuck, you feel an emotional block that also affects your thinking and your mind.

When the Vyana which is all over the body is imbalanced, then you have joint pain, or movement trouble, and either you become too jittery and restless, or you may feel like you do not want to do anything.
Moving around anywhere in such a state gives discomfort and creates restlessness in the body. All this is caused by the Vyana imbalance.

Be passionate about knowledge, be passionate about doing service, be passionate about thinking; or about anything. Some passion definitely needs to be there in life. You can have a passion for wisdom as well.

After Sudarshan Kriya, you would have noticed that all these imbalances go away. Has this not happened to all of you?
All earlier discomfort in the movements of the body, or its circulation, or some pains due to Vyana imbalance, all disappeared after Sudarshan Kriya.

So these are the five different Pranas.
There are five other sub-ordinate Pranas as well, but that we will discuss that another time.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Miracles and Devotion



As told by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

You have heard of many Guru stories, isn't it? So now I am going to tell you a Devotee story.
In the last week of November, I was touring in some of the remote places in the state of Maharashtra. Some villages and districts that I have never been to. There were a lot of people who came to meet me.
In one village, I told my secretary, ‘Three people have lost their mobiles and they are very poor people. So put three new cell phones in my bag.'
When I went there, there were 2,000 to 2,500 volunteers and a crowd of around 200,000 people.
In the volunteers meet after the program, I said, ‘Three of you lost your mobile phones. I know about it. Those of you who have lost your mobile phones, please stand up’, and only three people stood up.
There was a lady who had stood up, and I told her, ‘Look, you were crying in front of my picture last Thursday. You did not know what to do, how to face your family because an expensive mobile phone was lost, which must have been worth two to three months of earnings. Here, take a new one.'


When I was doing this, one boy from the group came up to me and he shared his story. He was in an advanced course and his wife was at home, and he had to talk to her. There was no battery on his phone and he had forgotten the charger at home. So he put the phone in front of my picture and asked, ‘Gurudev, let the phone be charged.'
The next morning, when he woke up, the phone was fully charged.
This boy showed me his phone and said, ‘Look, for one and a half years I have thrown away my charger, and now I only keep my phone in front of your picture and it gets charged.’
He threw his charger away!
I said, 'This is really something. Even I need a charger for my phone, and my devotee charges his phone by keeping it in front of my picture.'
See how powerful devotees can be.

I thought this is a very exciting story. So I came back to Bangalore and there were about 150 people from Russia, Poland and all over Europe, and I shared this story with them, ‘Look I can’t charge my phone without a charger and see this devotee threw away his charger and he is charging his phone every day keeping it in front of my picture.'
So the 150 people there said, 'Yes, it happens for us also.'
My saying this did not surprise them at all.
One Russian said, ‘It happened to me also. One day, I too put my phone and prayed that it should get charged, and it indeed did get charged!’
Devotees from Poland and Scandinavia also shared the same experiences.
Another person shared their experience and said, ‘My car ran out of petrol and the fuel marker had come to zero showing me that the tank was empty. But I kept driving, and drove117 kilometers on an empty tank.'

How is it possible? This seems to break all apparent laws of nature.
I tell you, we should give miracles a chance to happen in life. Nobody’s life is devoid of miracles. Only we don’t believe in them.

All the cultures and philosophy in this world are based on miracles. In fact they thrive on miracles.
Just remove all the miracles from the Bible and you will feel as if the Bible does not exist.
Similarly, if you take any scripture in the world, it is full of miracles. But we think miracles are a thing of the past and not of the present. I tell you, it can happen even today, in the present.

Once, I was at Boston airport and a devotee bought food for me, and for the four others who were travelling with me. Do you know how many people were with me? A large number of around 60 to 70 people, and the food which was meant for four people was shared between 60 people. Everybody ate food.
It makes you wonder - how is this possible?!


There is a scientific explanation for this also.
The whole world is nothing but vibrations; everything is vibrations. Matter is nothing but vibrations. Matter and energy are the same, they are just vibrations.
See, when you go near an automatic glass door, immediately the glass door opens.
Just imagine if this was a phenomenon that would have happened 100 to 200 years ago. People at that time would have gone crazy. They would wonder as to how this is happening. You simply go and the door opens.
Today, we know that this is because of bio energy. There is energy emitting from our body.
Do you know, there are locks that can be opened only by one person.
You must have heard of biometric locks. If it is your energy that is embedded in that lock, then nobody else can open it. Only when you touch it, will it open.
That means that everyone is emitting energy.

When you are in a state of love and devotion, your energy is so strong, so big, that when you want a cell phone to get charged, it simply gets charged.
It is just like an intense energy of the biometric lock. When you move near the door, the door opens because of your energy is caught by that little box above the door.

Similarly, the entire universe is just made up of energy. It is all energy. So give a chance for miracles to happen.
When is all this possible? It can happen when you are hollow and empty.
When both, your heart and mind are pure and clear, then positive energy rises in you. But if your mind is full of negativity, and if you are stressed out; or if you are complaining about this and that, and grumbling and griping, then no miracle is possible. Even regular work which has to happen does not happen. Simple things do not happen because energy is low and negative.
When energy is high, what you think is impossible starts happening.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Guru Paduka Stotram - Adi Shankaracharya


What a mind one must have to come up with a work like this. I bow to thy holy sandals. Shri Adi Shankara.




अनंत संसार समुद्र तार नौकायिताभ्यां गुरुभक्तिदाभ्यां।
वैराग्य साम्राज्यद पूजनाभ्यां नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥१॥


The crossing of this Endless ocean of samsara is enabled

by the boat that is sincere devotion to Guru
Showing me the way to the valuable dominion of renunciation,
O dear Guru, I bow to thy holy sandals.

कवित्व वाराशि निशाकराभ्यां दौर्भाग्यदावांबुदमालिक्याभ्यां।
दूरीकृतानम्र विपत्तिताभ्यां नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥२॥

Like a full moon for the ocean of the Knowledge,
Like down pour of water to put out the fire of misfortunes,
Removing the various distresses of those who surrender to them,
O dear Gurudev, I bow to thy holy sandals.


नता ययोः श्रीपतितां समीयुः कदाचिदप्याशु दरिद्रवर्याः।
मूकाश्च वाचसपतितां हि ताभ्यां नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥३॥

Those who prostrate to the blessed padukas of their Guru
become possessors of great wealth
and overcome the curse of their poverty very quickly.
To such padukas my infinite prostrations.

नाली कनी काशपदाहृताभ्यां नानाविमोहादिनिवारिकाभ्यां।
नमज्जनाभीष्टततिब्रदाभ्यां नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥४॥

Attracting us to the Lotus-like feet of our Guru,
removing all kinds of desires borne out of ignorance,
fulfilling all the desires of the disciple who bows humbly
To such padukas I humbly offer my obeisance.

नृपालिमौलि ब्रज रत्न कांति सरिद्विराज्झषकन्यकाभ्यां।
नृपत्वदाभ्यां नतलोकपंक्ते: नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥५॥

Shining like a precious stone adorning the crown of a king
They stand out like a beautiful damsel in a river infested with crocodiles
They raise the devotees to the state of sovereign emperors,
To such padukas I humbly offer my obeisance.

पापांधकारार्क परंपराभ्यां पापत्रयाहीन्द्र खगेश्वराभ्यां।
जाड्याब्धि संशोषण वाड्वाभ्यां नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥६॥

Shining radiantly like the Sun, effacing the endless darkness of the disciples sins,
Like an eagle for the snake like three-fold pains of Samsara
like a conflagration of fire whose heat dries away the
ocean of ignorance
To such supreme padukas of my Gurudev, I humbly surrender.

शमादिषट्क प्रदवैभवाभ्यां समाधि दान व्रत दीक्षिताभ्यां।
रमाधवांघ्रि स्थिरभक्तिदाभ्यां नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥७॥

They endow us with the glorious six qualities like Shama,
They vow to bless the intiated ones with the ability to go into samadhi.
Blessing the devotees with permanent devotion for the feet of Lord Vishnu(Ramaadhava)
To such divine padukas I offer my prayers.

स्वार्चा पराणामखिलेष्टदाभ्यां स्वाहासहायाक्ष धुरंधराभ्यां।
स्वान्ताच्छ भावप्रदपूजनाभ्यां नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥८॥

Fulfilling all the wishes of the disciples, 
Who are ever-available and dedicated for Sewa,
Awakening the sincere aspirants to the divine state of self realization,
Again and again prostrate to those Padukas of my Poojya Gurudev

कामादिसर्प व्रजगारुडाभ्यां विवेक वैराग्य निधि प्रदाभ्यां।
बोध प्रदाभ्यां दृत मोक्ष दाभ्यां नमो नमः श्री गुरु पादुकाभ्यां॥९॥

They are like an eagle for all the serpants of desires,
Blessing us with the valuable treasure of discrimination and renunciation,
Granting us the knowledge to get instant liberation from the shackles of the life,
My prostrations to those holy Padukas of my Guru.





Monday, November 12, 2012

Art of Living People on Twitter - Who to Follow

Well, if you are not on twitter yet. You should immediately start. You ask why?

1. Twitter is short and crisp, you get just the information you need, from just the people you like.
2. You can get immediate updates from your favorite Art of Living personalities and friends. You also get a chance to follow Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. (and get his thoughts and instructions in 1 second). What can be a better reason than that?
3. You feel like you are a close friend of Sachin Tendulkar. You can follow people who inspire you.
4. Almost all Art of Living Teachers post very frequently on Twitter. It can be a source of inspiration and a way to be in touch with the Guru. Also to be updated on the events happening.
5. There are also useless topics trending, rants of irrelevant people, hatred etc. So to spread more love and joy on the internet, it is not just a choice but a responsibility to use social network and internet to spread the knowledge. Just like talking to people face to face makes a difference, talking something worthwile on twitter also makes a difference.

In January 2009, I had written this post on the Future of Twitter. http://www.vivekbarunrai.blogspot.in/2009/01/blog-post.html . Fortunately, I am proven correct.



So, assuming now you have registered with Twitter.com , you can follow these Awesome people:

The list is just in a random order (except number 1 :) )

       WHO                                             TWITTER HANDLE

  1. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar                                          https://twitter.com/SriSriSpeaks
  2. Bhanu Didi                                                        https://twitter.com/Bhanujgd
  3. Khurshed Batliwala (Bawa)                               https://twitter.com/khurshed
  4. Dinesh Godke                                                   https://twitter.com/DineshGhodke
  5. Dr. Manikantan Menon                                     https://twitter.com/sundaranana
  6. Swami Sadyojathah                                          https://twitter.com/AOLSwamiji
  7. Swami Purnachaitanya                                       https://twitter.com/purnachaitanya
  8. Darshak Hathi                                                   https://twitter.com/DarshakHathi
  9. Maheish Girri                                                    https://twitter.com/MaheishGirri
  10. Rajesh Jagasia                                                  https://twitter.com/rajeshjagasia
  11. Yezdi Batliwala                                                 https://twitter.com/BatliwalaYezdi
  12. Rajesh Krishnamurthy                                       https://twitter.com/rajeshmyla
  13. Brijit Dighe                                                       https://twitter.com/Brijitdighe
  14. Hetal Mehta                                                     https://twitter.com/hetal202
  15. Swami Paramtej                                               https://twitter.com/Swamiparamtej
  16. Avinash Tiku                                                    https://twitter.com/avinashtikujgd
  17. Kamlesh Barwal                                               https://twitter.com/KamleshBarwal
  18. Sahil Jagtiani                                                    https://twitter.com/sahiljagtiani
  19. Anand Rajendran                                             https://twitter.com/AOLAnand
  20. Swami Vaishampayan                                      https://twitter.com/swamianandv
  21. Swami Vishnupad                                            https://twitter.com/vishnupad
  22. Akash Bhaiya                                                  https://twitter.com/aakashavani
  23. Jaina Desai                                                      https://twitter.com/jainajgd
  24. Arvind Varchaswi                                           https://twitter.com/arvindvarchaswi
  25. Swami Sukhchaitanya                                     https://twitter.com/Swamijee108
  26. Jigishji                                                            https://twitter.com/jigishji
  27. Girin Govind                                                   https://twitter.com/GirinGovind
  28. Vishwas Mulki                                               https://twitter.com/VISHWASMULKI
  29. Jayesh Daulatjada                                          https://twitter.com/daulatjada
  30. Dinesh kashikar                                             https://twitter.com/dkashikar
  31. Rashmin Pulekar                                            https://twitter.com/rashminp
  32. Saleel Pulekar                                               https://twitter.com/saleelpu
  33. Dushyant Savadia                                          https://twitter.com/Dushyant108
  34. Srividya                                                         https://twitter.com/AOLSrividya
  35. Ramnik bansal                                               https://twitter.com/ramnikbansal
  36. Sri Sri Panchakarma                                      https://twitter.com/SSpanchakarma
  37. Swami Madhusudan                                      https://twitter.com/SwamiMadhusudan
  38. Prashan S Nair                                             https://twitter.com/Nairsaab888
  39. Ashok Prasad                                               https://twitter.com/ashokaprasad
  40. Shreya Chugh                                               https://twitter.com/ShreyaChugh1
  41. Harish Ramachandran                                   https://twitter.com/Harishjgd
  42. Tanuja Limaye                                              https://twitter.com/tanujalimaye
  43. Devang Vora                                                https://twitter.com/Devang_Vora
  44. VVKI India                                                  https://twitter.com/VVKIndia
  45. Atika di                                                        https://twitter.com/privywitatika
  46. Vasanti Iyer                                                  https://twitter.com/vasantiiyer108
  47. Rishi NityaPragya                                         https://twitter.com/Rishiji
  48. Rishi Milind                                                  https://twitter.com/rishimilind
  49. Rishimukh - Art of Living magazine               https://twitter.com/Rishimukh
  50. Francois Gautier                                           https://twitter.com/fgautier26
You could also follow me at  https://twitter.com/a1vivek

This list is not exhaustive and I know that I have missed many. But I wanted to get things started. If you know someone awesome who should be included in the list, please mention their name and twitter handle in the comments below. Make sure that their twitter handle is authentic.
Next week will publish another list ( 51 to 100 ).