YOGABHARATI

Chapter 8 Gita Concept of Aksharabrahma, the unchanging brahman In chapter 7, Sri Krishna gives the concept of Adhibhuta and talks about Moksha, the ultimate freedom. After listening to these, Arjuna as a natural enquiry ponders further on the meanings of Adibhuta, Adidaiva, Adiyagna and Adhyatma in the eighth chapter. Arjuna questions SriKrishna on all these and its relation to Karma and how would one handle death. As a general observation,   when I read this question of Arjuna and the translations on these terms like Adhibhuta, adhidaiva etc, I wonder   how these lofty philosophical terms were discussed in the battlefield. We do not think of such terms even in traffic jams. One day suddenly the thought occurred to me that these words appear as hardcore philosophical terms today, but at the time of Mahabharata these could have been common terms used and there is a possibility that these terms were very much related to the war situation. Otherwise SriKrishna...

Yoga and What is it? Each one has a point of view As I travel to various places and meet with various yoga teachers and practitioners and researchers, I beleive I am too small a person to comment on all that what I hear and see. Either they are great passers or they are trained under some great master or have read a lot. They have their own beliefs and theories. I thought of sharing my journey into yoga and my insights which might throw some light on the feel for yoga to some of you. My childhood Belonging to  a family with athletic bent of mind, I was good in in my physique right from childhood and also in many sports.  I was also as a child good in yoga postures and practices. With the enthusiasm as a person with spirit to achieve and not give up,I could do most of the complicated yoga postures, kriya and bandhas in yoga . May be because of these practices especially postures and kriyas, I used to have good health and stamina. Though I was doing all thes...

What is spiritual journey? Can it lead to joy? Does the path of spirituality lead us to joy?  What is happiness…. Am I a happy person…. These are the questions in the mind of all human beings. All of us are in search of happiness and joy. Happiness  is defined as a positive mental state characterized by wellbeing and positive emotions like elation. The school of positive psychology, says that joy can arise from positive engagement and absorption in a valued and meaningful activity. Is it that only when we are engaged in meaningful activity, one feels joy and not at other times...hmm we need to reflect on this.  Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, everything is measurable. How many steps have you walked in one day... is it good enough to burn calories. A person was commenting that he could walk only 5000 steps on one day, as he had other commitments. Normally he walks twice as much of that. He was not happy that he could walk in the open,in the fresh ai...

Session on "Communication with Compassion" by Subha Parthasarathy was an eye opener for many who have not associated  Communication and communication C & C as a combo to bring about  a change in the way we connect to others .  This session on compassion had activities where we were able to recognise the difference between an observation or an evaluation. Let me share a summary of my perspectives after hearing this session.    Q to ponder for all of us : Am I Judging while observing?  - natural inclination to combine both :) How much am I listening when the other person speaks? Am I  keen on talking or putting fwd my ideas or perspectives or strategies? This  brought a realisation that sometimes we do act as if we are listening to our kids or others but we do communicate on the spur of the moment whatever comes in our head at that moment. We do use language which can be so detrimental for our relationships. We do communicate with pre forme...