Dhyanyatra with Isha Foundation

Sadhguru about Tantra

It Takes A Living Master To Bring Alive Sutras

A spiritual practice by itself is nothing. You have to breathe life into it; otherwise, it will not
become alive. This is why traditionally, there is much reverence for a live guru. Doing yoga without a living guru is like
stillbirth. If you are looking for exercise, i would say go play tennis, take a swim, take a walk or
climb a mountain. The yogic system was not created as an exercise form. It is a subtle manipulation of your
system to allow it to rise to a different level.Yoga means ‘union’. Every asana, everymudra, every way of
breathing — is focused towards ultimate union. If it has to become alive, you have to breathe life
into it. This is why yoga was given in the form of sutras.The word sutra literally means ‘thread’. Without a thread, there
is no garland, but you never wear a garland for its thread. You wear it for the fragrant flowers that it
holds. But without a thread, there is no garland. When Patanjali gave the sutras, he only gave the thread.It has been
for each master to put together the flowers,beads,pearls,or diamonds, or whatever else he likes. But
Patanjali gave the thread; you cannot change the thread, nobody can because it is a live thread. This is not something that somebody
thought up;this is not an idea.This is a very deep observation of life. So you cannot change that because that is how life is made. But what
kind of garland one makes out of this thread is left to each master or guru who comes along the way.
To make a garland out of this thread, he has to have some stuff of his own; otherwise, it is not possible to do this.
This cannot be done in a yoga studio.This will not happen because you have a certificate in yoga. Some subjectivity has to happen,
which needs sadhana. You must hold it above your life, not as your profession, not as your hobby, not
as something that you do on the side. This must be more important than your life,only then we let you teach; because without subjectivity, you
cannot breathe life into it. There are many ways to breathe life into the spiritual process. The most rudimentary way is through
sacrifice. The simple technology of this is to take a life which is young, a life which is vibrant.
When you break that life,it releases a certain amount of energy. There is a whole technology of using
that energy to convert it into another form.
Many idols are consecrated by this means. Once you have a consecrated idol, every day you must make the necessary offerings
depending upon how that particular energy form is created. Because it is not a toy to play with, it
is not a toy for you to work out your emotions. It is not a psychological tool. If you do not keep it up all the
time, it will die. Or it will become a receding energy.When it becomes a receding energy, it causes more harm than well-being.
So, constantly sacrifices were done. That is very rudimentary technology. There are more sophisticated ways of doing the
same by using one’s own energy system. This needs a certain level of mastery and development of the energy system.
If you were not restricted by the limitations of logic, if all of you were simply open, i would not waste your time and my
time talking. Everything that needs to happen, will happen, just by the presence. My work is not about changing your
attitude but to touch you at your core. A touch that will leave you transformed. Not changed but transformed.

By Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4305268.cms

Sadhguru on Yoga

Sadhguru, I have heard you say that yoga is the Ultimate Expression.. what is that?

When we say "yoga," probably for many of you it means some physical postures: twisting yourself into some impossible postures. That is not what we are referring to as yoga.

Yoga means to be in perfect tune. Your body, mind and spirit and the existence are in absolute harmony. When you fine-tune yourself to such a point where everything functions so beautifully within you, naturally the best of your abilities will just flow out of you. When you’re happy, your energies always function better. Do you see that when you’re happy you have endless energy? Even if you don’t eat, if you don’t sleep, it doesn’t matter; you can go on and on. Have you noticed this? So just a little happiness is liberating you from your normal limitations of energy and capability.

Now, yoga is the science of activating your inner energies in such a way that your body, mind and emotions function at their highest peak. When your body and mind function in a completely different state of relaxation and a certain level of blissfulness, you can be released from so many things that most people are suffering from. Right now, you come and sit in your office, and you have a nagging headache. Your headache isn’t a major disease, but it takes away your whole capability for that day. Just that throbbing takes away everything. With the practice of yoga, your body and mind will be kept at their highest possible peak.

There are also other dimensions to yoga. When you activate your energies, you can function in a different way. As you are sitting here right now, you consider yourself to be a person. You are identified with many things, but what you call as "myself" is just a certain amount of energy. Do you know, modern science is telling you that the whole existence is just energy manifesting itself in different ways? If this is so, then you’re also just a little bit of energy functioning in a particular way. As far as science is concerned, this same energy which you call as "myself" can be here as a rock, lie there as mud, stand up as a tree, bark as a dog, or sit here as you. Everything is the same energy, but functioning at different levels of capability.

Similarly among human beings, though we’re all made of the same energy, we still don’t function at the same level of capability. What you call capability or talent, what you call your ability to do things in the world, your creativity, is just a certain way your energy functions. This energy, in one plant it functions to create rose flowers, in another plant it functions to create jasmine, but it’s all the same energy manifesting itself. If you gain a little bit of mastery over your own energies, you will see, things that you never imagined possible, you will do simply and naturally. This is the experience of any number of people who have started doing these practices. It is the inner technology of creating situations the way you want them.

With the same mud that we build such huge buildings, initially people were building little huts. They thought that’s all they could do with it. With the same earth, haven’t we built computers? What you call a computer is dug out of the earth. We thought we could only dig mud and make pots or bricks out of it. Now we dig the earth and make computers, cars, and even spacecrafts out of it. It is the same energy; we have just started using it for higher and higher possibilities. Similarly, our inner energies are like that. There is a whole technology as to how to use this energy for higher possibilities. Every human being must explore and know this. Otherwise, life becomes very limited and accidental; you get to do only what you’re exposed to. Once you start activating your inner energies, your capabilities happen in a different sphere altogether.

Yoga is a tool to find ultimate expression to life.

Extracted from the book ‘Mystics Musings’ - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Source: http://www.ishafoundation.org/QandA/Sadhguru-I-have-heard-you-say-that-yoga-is-the-Ultimate-Expression..-what-is-that.isa

Midnights with the Mystic

http://www.midnightswiththemystic.com/

Dhyanalinga

Sadhguru on the Dhyanalinga

Question: In what way is the Dhyanalinga unique? What's so different about it, Sadhguru?

Sadhguru: The uniqueness of the Dhyanalinga is that all the sevenchakras are established. Lingadhanda, a copper tube with solidified mercury in it, has all the seven chakras established in their full flow, further complemented by copper rings on the outer periphery of the Dhyanalinga. Do you know what chakras are? Within your physical body, there are various centers, there are seven basic centersrepresenting the seven dimensions of life, or seven dimensions of the experience of life. These seven chakras are: the Muladhara, which is located at the perineum, between the anal outlet and the genital organs; Swadhistana is just above the genital organs; Manipuraka is just below the navel; Anahata is the soft spot beneath the point where the ribcage meets; Vishuddhi is at the pit of the throat; Ajna is between the eyebrows and Sahasrar is at the top of the head.

What do these seven dimensions represent? If your energy is dominant in Muladhara, then food and sleep will be the most dominant factors in your life. If it is dominant in Swadhistana, pleasure will be the most dominant in your life. You will seek pleasure and enjoy the physical reality. If your energy is dominant inManipuraka, you are a doer - you will do many things in the world. If it is dominant in Anahata, you are a very creative person. If your energy is dominant in Vishuddhi, you become a very powerful person. If your energy is dominant in Ajna, you become peaceful. If you attain to Ajna, then you're realized intellectually. You're not realized experientially, but a certain peace and stability arises within you irrespective of what is happening outside of you. If your energy moves into Sahasrar, you will explode into unexplained ecstasy. Whatever experience happens within you, it's just a certain expression of your life energies. Anger, misery, peace, joy, ecstasy. all are different levels of expression for the same energy. These are the seven dimensions through which one can find expression.

In my previous life as Sadhguru Shri Bhramha, I was known asChakreshwara. For those of you from the state of Tamil Nadu, maybe you have heard of this. It means somebody who has complete mastery over all the hundred and fourteen chakras. It is because of that mastery that now we can have people blowing up everywhere like explosions. He was known as Chakreshwara because he exhibited certain qualities of his total mastery over the chakras. A phenomenally rare thing he did was, when he left his body, he left through all the seven chakras. Generally, when yogis leave their body, they leave through one particular chakra - whichever they have particular mastery over, through that they leave. Otherwise, depending upon their tendencies, they leave accordingly, but Sadhguru left his body through all the seven chakras. As a preparation for the consecration of the Dhyanalinga, he left his body through all the seven chakras. So this is from the horse's mouth (laughs).

So the uniqueness of the Dhyanalinga is that it has all the sevenchakras energized at their peak. It's the highest possible manifestation, in the sense that if you take energy and push it up to very high levels of intensity, it can hold form only to a certain point. Beyond that, it cannot hold any form; it becomes formless. If it becomes formless, people are incapable of experiencing it. Pushing the energy to the highest point beyond which there will be no form, and crystallizing it at that point, it has been taken and consecrated. It took three and a half years of a very intense process of consecration. The kinds of situations that people witnessed during the consecration are too unbelievable. Many yogis and siddhas¹ have attempted to create a Dhyanalinga, but for various reasons, all the required ingredients never fell together. There were three fully consecrated Lingas in the present state of Bihar, but their physical forms are gone now. They have been totally razed to the ground and homes have been built over their locations, but the energy forms are still there. We know where they are; I have located them. All the other Lingas were never completed. I have found dozens of places where they attempted to create a Dhyanalinga, but for some reason, they were never completed.