Newsletter #3 - "Titiksha" By Prasad
Rangnekar
Dear Ones,
Hope you have been well and the winter chill hasn’t
troubled you much. Here in India the winter ( nothing
compared to what you all have in Canada ) is already
fading into sweaty heat. How beautifully the world
creates its own rhythm of merging from one season to
another.
Speaking about seasons and temperatures I am reminded of
how Yoga scriptures always emphasize on “adaptability”
to opposites. Our world is full of duality, which
manifests through all variables of our life. Many times
this “duality” creates a lot of confusion in our mind,
and contributes towards useless expenditure of energy
that can lead to exhaustion, fatigue and stress.
That’s why time and again the ancient Indian wisdom of
the Vedas talks about something called as “Titiksha” or
forbearance, tolerance and endurance at the physical,
mental and verbal levels. It means expanding our
capacity to face every situation and circumstance that
life brings.
In today’s age coping with the world requires endurance
and forbearance. The science of Yoga prepares us to “Be
Ready” for anything in life, because anything can
happen. The body has enormous capacities – it is simply
a matter of unfolding them. It tells us not to allow
ourselves to become dependent on external objects. It is
important to live a comfortable life and to have a
regular schedule. But not to let comfort make you lazy,
and regularity lapse into rigidity. Maintaining a degree
of flexibility is also a part of discipline. Learning to
endure the discomfort brought about by heat, cold,
hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleepiness and also spiritual
and practical is part of the practice of “titiksha”.
Hope you all reflect on the above and empower yourself.
Love always
Your’s Yogily
Prasad
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Newsletter #2 - Happy New Year Wishes from Prasad-Ji
Dear All,
Wish you all a very happy New Year. Seems like I have
missed a month but better late than never? I had a great
time during the end of last year and beginning of this
year. I was in isolation and in silence, something that
I love to do. Silence for me is the most powerful tool
to look inwards and access my inner core. It’s like a
vortex for me, which immediately transfers me to a
totally silent area, where there are no vibrations of
emotions or feelings, where there is no “This” and
“That”, where there is no reason and conclusion, just
“Beingness” prevails. Later on in my silence time I
visited a holy place by the name Alandi, it’s the land
of Saints and many holy Saints have meditated and worked
towards social reforms from this town. It was a
beautiful way of beginning my New year, I prayed for all
of you and wish you all success, happiness and peace.
Coming back to the topic of silence, the silence that
Yoga talks about is both internal and external. Sitting
in a sound proof chamber doesn’t guarantee silence if
the mind is over burdened with thoughts. Therefore a
true yogi always works on regulating, directing and
reducing the thought waves.
What we need to work upon is gradually directing our
thoughts from negative to positive and then from
positive to dispassionate.
So let us all resolve this year to think positively.
This positive attitude overflows in our day to day life
by generating motivation towards reaching our goals,
compassion towards others and lasting generating peace
in whatever we do.
The regulation of thoughts can happen by a diligent
practice of meditation, meditation is an effective way
of reducing the unwanted thoughts, a meditator always
thinks clearly and this clarity leads to efficiency in
practical life.
When a fine balance of thought regulation and direction
takes place the thought process will automatically
reduce to powerful thoughts. This is because the whole
thought process becomes efficient, leading to reduction
of “useless” thoughts and the remaining thoughts that
are allowed are positive and full of potential energy to
be directed towards the desired goal.
Hope you all are practicing Yoga in your own way and
staying healthy and positive. Once again wishing you all
are great New Year ahead.
Regards and Love
Prasad
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Newsletter #1 - Discovery of Truth
The other day I was browsing through a book written by
Richard Bach – one of the verses said
If the child – we – were asked us today for the best
we’ve learned from living, what would we tell, and what
would we discover in return?
I was particularly touched by this verse as it sent me
in the past for a while, a time when I used to wonder
about this process of life, process of crawling from
womb to grave without even being aware of it. I used to
marvel at our lonely world of confusion and chaos, with
us snuggly inside the amber of menial existence just
like an archaic fossil, rotating round and round with
the wheel of time. Many sleepless nights were spent
tossing and turning cushioned by nothing else but these
thoughts, day after day night after night
When will the end begin? Or are we just chasing a
distant dream and playing Dice with Destiny?
Majority of this humanity lurks in the darkness of
ignorance, the reason being, lack of belief in THAT
inner voice, THAT God inside us which talks to us even
though we don’t pray to the mute idols, THAT force which
is the source of wonderment.
But every one of us who has been preoccupied with the
external world has to one day sit up and take note of
THAT Inner calling and then project our efforts towards
refining ourselves.
This refinement is something that takes serious effort,
dedication, patience and trust.
It’s about trying to make a Life, which is as mixed up
as an Irish stew as simple as possible. Upon that we
have life ingredients like past conditionings, fears,
false beliefs, insecurities spicing up this stew even
more.
Experimenting and experiences are the best teachers on
this path. To experiment we need a strong fearless
attitude. Fearlessness to objectively examine our self
in black and white and to ascertain what lies deep
beneath. It is important to find out what forces are at
work in the mind. What is it that’s clouding the windows
of the soul and restricting the light of wisdom from
lightening up the heart? Once these forces are
discovered a gradual and systematic operation of
annihilating them should be undertaken.
When this cleaning operation begins, out come a number
of characteristics, which we have ignored or just
brushed under the carpet of superficial living.
Prejudices, biases, foolish hopes, unjust attitudes,
illusions come forth each trying to resist hard to stay
back as we work on brushing them away.
This process of experimenting with the possibilities of
mind and body is painful in temporary sense but comes
with an assurance of long-term peace and stability. It’s
a steep uphill of trials, tribulations, temptations and
troubles but with patient determination we can reach the
peak of peace.
As Buddha says “Sheer Effort” is required in this
exercise. The belief that the mind can be trained just
like the muscle is a fact that needs to be borne in
mind. Yoga is one of the paths that offer training
methodologies and systems. These are tried and tested
methods used since thousands of years in the East.
Nobody has really failed unless he/she has given up.
This is a hard battle, confrontation is heavy, therefore
hold on to your ground of discipline and faith for this
will shield you through.
Lets take this quest of exploring the Truth with
enduring determination and perseverance. Come what may,
we will walk the journey till our mind is at peace and
heart is in Bliss.
As Mr.Brunton says “The real struggle in Life is the
struggle of man against himself.” We need to relearn
what we have learned, erase the moods of the mind and
sense with the heart.
Wake up now for now is the time to raise our guard. Let
us not wallow contentedly in muck of dejection,
discontent and dissatisfaction. Every one of us is a
divine flower waiting to blossom. Each one of us is a
magic box of marvels waiting to be opened. Let us answer
the “Child-we-were” that’s asking us that very question
every moment of our life.
Nothing great can be obtained by mere wanting, only
actions deliver result.
As Milton says “ They are not served those who only
stand and wait.”
All the Best
Love always
Prasad
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