EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,
In this edition of Isha Forest Flower, Sadhguru tackles a couple of topics that have
been subject to heated public debates in recent times. We bring you an extract
of a conversation with the notoriously sharp-tongued marketing consultant and
author Suhel Seth on the question Is Banning Beef Justified? In an excerpt
from Sadhguru Spot, he shares his take on the Shani Shingnapur Controversy,
and explains the actual background why women are denied entry to this temple.
In our Lead Article How to Deal with the Past? Sadhguru contrasts the yogic
approach to the past with that of classical psychoanalysis. We have also
included a matter of physical health that is sadly becoming relevant to a steadily
increasing number of people Food Allergies. If you do not want to settle with
medication and the avoidance of allergens but get to the root cause, explore
better life style choices, and yogic remedies, this article is for you.
The standard set of yogasanas taught by Isha Hatha Yoga teachers is structured
and sequenced in such a way that the postures complement each other. In this
months Isha Hatha Yoga article, Sadhguru sets out Why Counter Postures Are
Important. Another aspect of the spiritual process that Sadhguru discusses in
this edition is What is Initiation?
Also in this issue: In our Mahabharat series, Sadhguru speaks about Krishnas
Sadhana. The Master shares an extraordinary poem of his Weaves of Grace.
He also reveals some of the mysteries of Kailash. And last but not least, we
present you another sample from Ishas new recipe book A Taste of Wellbeing
a light, crunchy, and tart Palak and Fruit Salad.
The Editorial Team

Contact the Editorial Team:

Isha Forest Flower, Isha Yoga Center, Velliangiri Foothills, Ishana Vihar Post, Coimbatore 641114
forestflower@ishafoundation.org
For subscription inquiries, please contact our Subscription Ofce:
(044) 45011137, 96770 16700 subscriptions.FF@ishafoundation.org
To change your mailing address online, visit www.ishafoundation.org/ForestFlower

2 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

March 2016

CONTENTS
HOW TO DEAL WITH THE PAST?

Sadhguru on the Yogic Approach to What

Lies Behind Us
IN CONVERSATION WITH THE MYSTIC
Is Banning Beef Justified?

MAHABHARAT

07

Krishnas Sadhana

10
04

Suhel Seth in Conversation with Sadhguru

LEAD ARTICLE
How to Deal with the Past?

07

Sadhguru on the Yogic Approach to What Lies Behind Us

ISHA HATHA YOGA

Part 26: Why Counter Postures Are Important

09

MAHABHARAT
Part 16: Krishnas Sadhana

10

MUSINGS
Kailash

12

Sadhguru on Touching the Mystical

What is Initiation?
Weaves of Grace
Poem by Sadhguru

Food Allergies
Sadhguru on Causes, Prevention, and Cure

SADHGURU SPOT
Shani Shingnapur Controversy
Discrimination or Discretion?

14
15
16

18

UPCOMING PROGRAMS & EVENTS

Isha Yoga Program Highlights

20

ISHA RECIPE
This Month: Palak and Fruit Salad

21

ZEN SPEAKS
Same Destination, Different Paths

23

March 2016

ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 3

Is Banning Beef Justied?

Suhel Seth in Conversation with Sadhguru
In this conversation, prominent marketing consultant, author, and columnist Suhel Seth
uses his encounter with Sadhguru on 9 December 2015 in Mumbai to address a few hot,
controversial, and at times provocative questions to the Master.
Suhel Seth: People say that if you subscribe
to the tenets of a certain political ideology or
religion, you must be vegetarian. Why is religion
coming on to our television sets? Why are we
labeling terrorism with religious badges, saying
it is Islamic terrorism or Hindu terrorism? We
are creating a world that is replete with hatred,
from which there will be no return. I dont believe
any religion, any faith actually prescribes hatred,
but it is used to castigate people on the basis of
religion. Do you believe that in the civilized world
we seemingly live in, private spaces should be
invaded? Should we be talking about the kind of
food, the kind of religion, the kind of drink, the
kind of life we should lead?

Sadhguru: There are different aspects to this

question. This division, this intrinsic or endemic
hatred comes from people who are screwed up
by the scriptures, who believe that their way
is the only way, and that others must be either
made their way or be sent to heaven. People
pick it up from a book they consider as sacred
and believe it is Gods own words, so you cannot
4 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

argue with it. But this will die slowly in the next
80 to 100 years time. Until then, you will have to
go through that.
About food if you cannot digest what
someone else eats, you really have a problem.
Having said that, this entire beef debate went
in the wrong direction. First of all, we must
understand why there is such a thing about
cows in this country. The first and foremost
reason is we have been a pastoral nation for
thousands of years. Your wealth was measured
in the number of cattle you had.
When I was a child, at my grandfathers house,
they would show me one cow, which had a name,
and say, This is the cow whose milk you drink.
This is your cow mother. Every day, they gave
me a jaggery ball that I was supposed to give to
this cow because she gave me milk. There was a
strong relationship between me and her this is
not some emotional nonsense. Today, we know
from scientific studies that if you develop a deep
relationship with a cow, the chemical composition
March 2016

of her milk will be such that it nurtures you in the

best possible way. After having drunk her milk
for five to ten years, slaughtering and eating her
when she is old is unthinkable for us. She is like
a second mother.

in terms of religion. When examined closely, the

Hindu religion as we know it has no restrictions
about what to eat or not to eat. It is a cultural
emotion, because we see the cow as a second
mother, since we drink her milk.

Another aspect is, when you have a strong

relationship with a cow like people in Indian
villages who have cows in the house do if you
are going through misery, the cow will actually
shed tears. Because they have emotions like
humans, killing and eating a cow is considered
as murder and cannibalism. Apart from that,
there is scientific evidence today that most of the
heart ailments, heart attack deaths, and cancer
in America are caused by eating red meat. That
is why many doctors in the West advise against
eating red meat now. Moreover, its production is
an ecological disaster.

Suhel Seth: There is empirical evidence that

One thing that we as a nation can be proud of

is without any kind of infrastructure, without
any kind of science or technology, our farmers
have been producing food for over one billion
people, which is no mean achievement. Their
own conditions are most pitiable, but they have
produced food. If you give an MBA 10 acres
of fertile land, the best seeds, and ask him to
grow crop, he will understand how complex it
is. In this country, we have had this knowledge
of agriculture for over 8000 to 10,000 years. It
has been passed down as a samskar, not as
a technology or teaching. The land was rich
because we never killed animals. Today, India is
one of the largest exporters of beef this is not
acceptable. If someone in this country wants to
eat it, let them it is their way of life. But we
should definitely not export beef, because it
will destroy the land. At some point, we will no
longer be able to produce the food that we are
producing now.
I think the government should establish a
policy for every acre of land, there should be
a minimum of four to five animals. Otherwise,
we will kill the soil; we will kill the future of this
country. We have to look at it in that context, not
March 2016

the culling of animals beyond a certain age is

economically beneficial to farmers who would
otherwise have to support unusable cattle.
But I wont even go there. I dont eat beef, but I
primarily eat chicken and lamb, and Im glad the
world hasnt found that to be dangerous yet.
In any case, you are right the argument is
potent. The cow is a second mother for us. At
the same time, people from another religion or
article of faith, who dont believe that the cow is
the second mother, but live in this country and
have been guaranteed fundamental rights by a
Constitution that all of us have adopted what
business do we have to interfere with them, as
long as what they do is legal? To my mind, this is
also a form of intolerance. If spirituality is about
finding yourself, keeping the channels of quest
open, why do we confuse metaphors with what
people want to eat, as long as it is legal?

Sadhguru: As long as it is legal. But right now,

there is a law against it so it is illegal.

Suhel Seth: In four states, its legal to eat it.

Sadhguru: In those states, people are still eating
it. This law was formed in a state of confusion.
They should make a law that prohibits beef
export from this country.

Suhel Seth: Linked to the whole beef argument

is also this seething rage resulting in a wave of
seeming intolerance. Whats your take on this
whole toleranceintolerance debate, and the
so-called public intellectual, which is almost like
partial pregnancy you never know what the hell
they mean.

Sadhguru: These intellectuals that we hear

ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 5

about on television and in the newspapers seem

to be experts about everything. They think it is
their right to comment about things that they do
not have a clue about. Can I tell you a joke?

Suhel Seth: Please.

Sadhguru: So this happened. On a certain day,
a young Indian woman was sitting on a plane at
Singapore airport, on a flight bound for Australia.
She was reading a book. A big Aussie guy came
and flopped down next to her in business class.
You know, today it has become like this men
dont see a woman as just a woman they think
she is a possibility of some kind.
He sought her attention, but she was just reading
the book. Then he said, Hey, do you know, the
journey will become shorter if you converse with

the co-passenger? She looked at him, closed

the book, and said, Okay, what do you want
to talk about? He fumbled and said, Why not
nuclear physics? Then she said, A cow, a horse,
and a goat all eat grass. A cow lays patties; a
horse drops muffins; a goat drops pellets. Why?
He did not know what to say. She said, Think
about it, and opened her book again. He spent ten
minutes in confusion and finally said, Hey, okay
tell me. I dont know. She said, Then how can
you talk about nuclear physics when you dont
know shit? [Laughter & applause] So, there is a
lot of talk about intellectuals. I think someone
who is really intelligent will understand that no
matter what kind of intellect you have, it is not
enough to grasp the nature of existence. Those
who think they have so much intellect obviously
have too little.

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6 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

March 2016

LEAD ARTICLE

How to Deal with

the Past?
Sadhguru on the Yogic Approach
to What Lies Behind Us
Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. In order to
move forward, how valuable is it to analyze ones
past and try to learn from it for the future?
Sadhguru: Do you want to become as
crazy as Freud? He was the one who started
psychoanalysis. He was a brilliant intellect but
totally crazy and paranoid himself. He tried to
cure people of all kinds of mental disorders,
manic depression, and paranoia, but he himself
was paranoid about death. He always wanted to
go to Egypt. These were the times of the great
excavations of ancient Egyptian tombs, temples,
and mummies. These things piqued his curiosity.
He badly wanted to see them, but he was so
terrified of crossing the sea and seeing a dead
body, he never made the trip.
There are so many teachings and theories on the
planet one smarter than the other. The most
important thing we have to look at in this context
is has the teaching worked for the person who
is offering it? If it has not worked for them, it is
not worth anything. If it is not good for them, how
can it be good for you? On the other hand, if you
see it has worked brilliantly well for them, then
even if you do not agree with it intellectually, just
do it, because it works. Not everything that looks
great necessarily works. By contrast, something
that does not look that great may work brilliantly.
Someone may look out of it but be brilliant.
Someone may look pretty but be out of it.
March 2016

About analyzing your past the yogic system

is about keeping a distance from the past.
The fundamental understanding is you cannot
fix the past. Can you learn from the past? The
learning has been happening in so many ways
you do not have to sift through the past again
for that. The past impressions have found
expression in the very way you sit and breathe.
If you randomly check the breath of ten people,
they are not breathing the same way. They
breathe according to the imprints within them.
In Samyama participants, you can observe that
in seven days, their breathing patterns change
dramatically not because they are consciously
trying to change it, but because they learn to
keep a distance from their past. Suddenly, there
is a certain ease in the very way the life process
is happening. Consequently, the breath changes.
Yoga does not believe in sifting through the
past. Only when we want to do a specific type
of work, and we are looking for a certain type
of individual, we sift through the past a bit to
identify that individual. You do not have to know
what happened in past lives, because you are not
able to sensibly handle your existing, conscious
memory itself. What happened a long time ago
still hurts you. When that is the case, digging up
the past is not necessary. Keeping a distance
from it is what is needed. Otherwise, you could
easily get trapped in it. How much ever you think
you arrive at an understanding about the past,
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 7

the quality of your life will not improve.

If your interest is in life not in a particular
subject that may earn you a PhD somewhere
there is no need to sift through the past. What
you have to learn, you have to learn from the
present, not from the past. Especially trying to
uncover subconscious or unconscious layers of
memory is a serious mistake, because you will
rouse devils that you cannot handle. The very
fact that you are digging into the past shows that
your current life is not beautiful and exuberant
enough. Because you are not able to sufficiently
experience what is here now, you think you will
find something there in the past and improve
your life. Life can always be improved on an
activity level, but if your life needs to be improved
experientially, it means you are not doing well.
So, please do not analyze your past. What is
needed is to make yourself intense right now.
If you burn with intensity, no matter what your
past has been, it will not bother you. If there
is no intensity, the past will crowd you from
inside. If you are insipid, the past overlaps your
presence and your future. There is no need to
dig up and cultivate the past. It is important
that you are full on right now. Your body is a
product of memory, and so is your mind. To give
an example if two different creatures eat the
same food, their bodies will make it into their
specific kinds of bodies, simply because of the
memory that they carry.

Isha after Sadhguru

Questioner: Sadhguru, what will become of Isha
and this consecrated space after Sadhguru?
Sadhguru: We are not just building buildings
of brick and stone here. I have said this
many times we could actually remove the
Dhyanalinga [granite form]; the energy form
would still be there. We only keep the stone
8 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

There is evolutionary and genetic memory in

your body. Otherwise, how can the same food
be converted into the bodies of different kinds
of creatures? It simply depends upon the type
of memory that you carry within you. The same
applies to your mind. Whatever I give you, you
tend to make your own thing out of it. But there
is something called life beyond your body
and mind which is just like a flame. If you let
it burn with a certain intensity, then whatever
memory your body carries, whatever memory
your mind carries, all fire, all light goes in the
same direction. Life will move in the direction
that you are aspiring to. But if you go by the bank
of memory that you have, it will not let you move
where you have to. Whatever you do, it will take
you around in circles.
Memory is like a treadmill it gives you a lot of
exercise, but never takes you anywhere. If you
want to get off the treadmill and walk on the
earth, then the life within you has to burn. It is
time to intensify your very way of being. In every
cell of the body, there is memory. Your DNA is
memory, your chromosomes are memory
everything is memory. You cannot shake it off,
but if life burns intensely enough so intensely
that your body and mind cannot catch up with
it then a distance will arise. Once there is a
distance between you and your memory, there
is a clear distance between you and your body,
between you and your mind. Then you are getting
somewhere not by sifting through the past.

because people need something visual to focus

on otherwise, their eyes will wander around.
Isha and the Dhyanalinga are not about bricks
and stones. The brick and mud will vanish at
some point, but the energy structure will remain.
In terms of energy, there is no such thing as
after Sadhguru here. It will be the same,
because the energy structure is way bigger and
much more consolidated than the stones that
you see. The energy structure is the basis. The
stones are only added as a decoration.
March 2016

PART 26

Spinal Health
Why Counter Postures
Are Important

Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. What is

the significance of the spinal twisting postures
that we do after the sarvangasana series?

Sadhguru:

Imaging cutting your body

horizontally in the middle you will see the
lower part of the body weighs much more than
the upper part. The largest muscles and biggest
bones are in the lower body. And the spine is
designed to support a certain amount of weight.
Even a slight overload of the spine will create
problems, because it is a subtle thing, made of
33 pieces of bone.
You could compare the spine to the suspension
of a car. If you drive certain luxury cars in India,
they will be in the garage half the time, simply
because they have multi-link suspensions, while
our roads are made for one-link suspensions. If
you go a little faster and hit a road hump, multilink suspensions may go out of alignment, and
you go straight to the garage. They are not made
for such a level of stress. You can still drive, but
it will drag. The idea of a multi-link suspension is
enhanced maneuverability. Similarly, your spine
is a 33-link suspension.

When you do any kind of upside-down posture,

there is an exceptionally high amount of
weight on the spine. Because of that, after
doing any inverted asana, you have to take the
time to flex the spine back to its natural state.
Therefore, after sarvangasana and halasana,
you do ardhamatsyasana, which means
bending backwards, in the opposite direction.
Why do these postures in the first place? It is
very important that the spine is exercised
Excerpted from a talk by Sadhguru at the
Isha Hatha Yoga School.
March 2016

otherwise it will become rigid and useless. If you

do not exercise it, your ability to experience life
decreases dramatically.
Not everyone experiences life with the same level
of sensitivity. Going back to the car analogy, not
every suspension experiences the road with
the same sensitivity. The sensitivity of your
suspension determines the maneuverability. If
it is super sensitive, it maneuvers well, but one
pothole, and it gets misaligned. You can make
your body like that of a WWE wrestler, which
means, by eating in a certain way and building
that kind of body, you may be strong, you may
be able to crush someones head with your bare
hands, but you cannot experience life in its full
depth and dimension.
It is important to keep the spine sensitive,
flexible, well-aligned, and mobile. All the yoga
you do is in some way aimed towards that. So,
after sarvangasana, which reverses the load
upon the spine, it is extremely important that
you stretch the spine back to its normal self. I
call it a self, because without the spine, you
would not experience most of the things that
you experience as a human being. It is designed
to do things you would not imagine possible.
Keeping the spine well-protected, strong, and
sensitive is important for a yogi because you
want to experience the whole universe as a part
of yourself.
For dates and details of Hatha Yoga
programs, visit www.ishahathayoga.com
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 9

MAHABHARAT
SERIES

PART 16

Mahabharat
Krishnas Sadhana
Participant:

Namaskaram,
Sadhguru.
Did Krishna do any sadhana before his
enlightenment? What brought him to such a
state in this life and who was he actually?

Nara and Naryana

Sadhguru: Those who grew up in a traditional
Indian atmosphere would have definitely heard
of NaraNarayana, the two sages whose beings
were tied together and who partnered in many
births. Their adventures went on for thousands
of lifetimes. Not all of it is preserved here
and there, there are snatches of what they did
in different lifetimes. Here again we are going
ahead of the story now Krishna and Arjuna are
recognized as NaraNarayana. Arjuna is Nara
Krishna is Narayana.
Krishna went to unreasonable lengths to keep
Arjunas friendship, because they are bound up
as beings. Many times, the prince that Arjuna
was did not understand why he should do a
certain thing or take a certain course. Arjuna
took a lofty stance, saying that a human being
can attain by being compassionate, loving, and
generous. Krishna said, That is not why we
are here. We have a certain thing to do. Arjuna
replied, But compassion, love, and generosity
are my dharma. Krishna said, Nothing doing
we have to do what we have to do. We were born
for this, and we will do only this. This is one
dimension of the question.

10 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

Simply Joyful and Loving

About Krishnas sadhana for a human being to
just live in joy and love every day, from the moment
he wakes up in the morning till he falls asleep
at night, is a tremendous sadhana. People are
smiling when someone is around, but if you look
at them when they are alone and feel unobserved,
what kind of a depressed face they make says
everything about them. A great percentage of
people are quite horrible by themselves. If you
cannot be alone, that obviously means you are
in bad company. If you were good company, it
would be great to be alone.
It is more like a festival to mix with people, but
being is always in aloneness. If you make yourself
into a beautiful being, just to sit here is fantastic.
Therefore, to be joyful and loving every moment
of your life itself is a tremendous sadhana. That
is what being a mother to the world means to
be loving every moment of your life not only if
a certain situation occurs, or if you see a certain
person. If you are simply loving, indiscriminately,
your intelligence blossoms in a completely
different way. Now, in making choices, it gets
crippled. To be loving is not a gift to someone
else it is a beautiful thing for yourself. It is a
pleasantness of your system your emotion,
your mind, and your body naturally become
pleasant. And there is substantial scientific
evidence to prove today that only when your
system is pleasant, your intelligence functions
at its best.

March 2016

In Perfect Tune
If your heart beats 60 times per minute in
restfulness, when you sit there, you are in tune
with the planet. In activity, it can go up and down,
but if you are above 60 in restfulness, you are
a little lost. If you have even a slight infection,
you may hit 85 or 90. If you are healthy and well,
many of you will be at around 65 to 75. If you
really do your sadhana, even simple things like
Surya Namaskar and Shambhavi for 1 1/2 years,
for sure it will be 60 you will be in tune. When
you are in tune, being loving, being joyful, being
like a flower is natural, because that is how the
being is made. This being is not made to be
depressed, sick, or anything like that it is made
to flourish.
This is Krishnas sadhana he is in perfect tune
with life around him. No matter what kind of
games he played as a child, he was in fabulous
tune. The fact that though he stole butter from
peoples homes and pulled all kinds of pranks on
them, still everyone loved him means somehow
he got them in tune with himself. Only when you
feel in tune with someone, you will feel pleasant
in their presence. If you do not feel in tune with
someone, if you just look at them, you will feel
unpleasant. This can even happen with the
same person. When you are in tune with that
person and you look at him or her, there will be
pleasantness. At times when you are not in tune
with that person and you look at him or her, there
will be unpleasantness they dont have to do
anything wrong for that to happen.

Reminder of His Mission

Until the age of 16, Krishnas sadhana was to
be in tune with life around him. Then his Guru
Sandipani came and reminded him that his life
was not just about playing around, that there
was a bigger purpose to it. Krishna struggled
a bit with that. He loved the village he lived in,
and everyone loved him. He was totally involved
with everyone and everything around him man,
woman, animal, and child. He said, I dont need
any great purpose. I just like to be in this village.
I like the cows, the cowherds, the gopis. I want to
March 2016

dance and sing with them. I dont want any great

purpose in my life. But Sandipani said, You
have to stand up because this is the purpose for
which you were born. This needs to happen.
Krishna went and stood on a small hill that is
known as Govardhan Hill. When he came down,
he was not the boy he used to be. He went up the
hill as a playful village boy and came down with a
different gravity about himself. People looked at
him in shock. They knew something phenomenal
had happened, but however phenomenal it was,
they knew they were going to lose him. When
they looked at him, he still looked back at them
smiling, but there was no love in his eyes there
was vision. He saw things that they could not
even imagine.

Megha
(Poem by Sadhguru)
The dark mystic of the ages
arrives not with a bundle of messages
But with mischief that enamors kings and sages
Determined to have his way with a smile
he did commit ravish deceit and slaughter even
Life does not absolve him of taint
but could not bind him even a moment
Hes no saint or sage
but glowed with wisdom for all ages
After Sandipani reminded him of this, the first
exploit for Krishna was to kill his uncle Kamsa
and end his tyranny over the Yadavas. Then he
withdrew into the ashram of his Guru Sandipani,
along with his brother Balarama and his cousin
Uddhava, and lived the life of an ascetic, a
brahmachari, for the next seven years. Until he
was 22, he did intense spiritual sadhana. He also
did weapon training and became a great wrestler.
In spite of that, he did not become all muscle, like
Arjuna and Bhima.

Sadhana of a Different Nature

Krishna remained gentle and tender because
his sadhana was of a different dimension and
nature. Sandipani designed it in such a way that
it was largely internal. Since Krishna did not
ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 11

belong to Dwapara Yuga he lived and acted like

he belonged to Sat Yuga everything happened
on a mental level for him. Sandipani did not need
to open his mouth to give an instruction. All was
conveyed mentally; all was grasped mentally; all
was attained mentally.
When they came out of their sadhana, there
was a distinct difference between Krishna and
his brother. While Balarama became huge and
muscular, Krishna physically remained the way
he was. Balarama used to taunt him, Maybe

you did nothing. I have been working hard. I

have become a great warrior. How come you
still look like this? Still, in the wrestling ring
or in an archery contest, no one could take on
Krishna. As a swordsman, very few people
could come anywhere near him. But he did not
become muscular because his sadhana was
purely mental, and he displayed that in a million
different ways as the story goes along.

Kailash
MUSING

Sadhguru on Touching
the Mystical

Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. I went to

Kailash in 2012, and you did an initiation process
there with each one of us. To this day, this has
been one of the most significant experiences
in my life. Could you please explain a little bit
about it?

Sadhguru: Normally, an initiation process

is towards a particular purpose. If we initiate
you into Shoonya, it is so that you can become
meditative, have enough energy, and become
conscious enough to be able to separate yourself
from your psychological process. Likewise, for
different purposes, there are different types of
initiations. In contrast, what we generally do
when we are at Kailash is not to bring about a
particular experience but for you to become
open to the immense possibility that is there
that is the most important thing. An initiation
like that is to open the door and see how much
you can absorb because the entire space is such
a tremendous phenomenon. Each one of you
will experience this initiation differently. If you
are willing and open, you may find something
phenomenal opening up for you.

Kailash as a mystical library. Where exactly is all

this information stored? In a particular element,
maybe akash, or is it in the entire mountain?

Sadhguru: In terms of storing knowledge,

akash is important, but if information is only
stored in the akashic aspect of elemental nature,
it would be fragile. The whole physical mass,
including all the five elements, is made use of
to store the information. And more than that,
a dimension that is non-physical, an energy
that has nothing to do with the five elements,
is used as a permanent storage Kailash is
largely that. Because of that, the elements
are also reverberating in a certain way. The
elements are at their peak there because of this
non-physical dimension.

Questioner: Sadhguru, you have described In the modern world and in modern science,
12 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

March 2016

what is considered as knowledge is a bundle

of conclusions that are drawn by observation
of a certain dimension or aspect of nature. By
contrast, the knowledge here is not a bundle of
conclusions it is like a powerful stimulant. If
you touch it, it opens up dimensions within you
and around you. It is not a conclusive knowledge
but a stimulating one. If you touch it, you will be
on fire within you, and it is for you to read it.

Questioner: You said yogis who have the

privilege and the burden of carrying a dimension
that is not in the experience of common people
have deposited their knowing in the Himalayas.
Is that why you travel to Kailash each year?

Sadhguru: You do not go to Kailash to leave

your signature. That is the last thing I would
do. You go to Kailash because it is something
so immense that if you spent a lifetime there, it
will still draw you. This is the tenth episode of
Kailash for me now, though I am generally not
the pilgrimage-going kind. One thing is, if I close
my eyes, wherever I am, I am fine I do not
have to go anywhere. I am not going there out of
restlessness. I am not going there to find Shiva.

I am not going there to find myself. But the sheer

immensity of Kailash draws me there. No matter
how many times and in how many ways you look
at it, still there are endless other ways to look
at it. The only reason not to go there anymore
should be the legs and the lungs.
Definitely, there are imprints of yogis in many
places, such as Velliangiri hills, Kailash, and
many parts of the Himalayas. Though much
has happened since then in terms of time and
events, but still certain imprints are distinctly
there. The imprint of those who worked not
with their body, not with their mind, but with
their innermost core, is for always. Anyway, the
imprint will be preserved, but it is important to
preserve an atmosphere that will allow other
people to experience it. That is the responsibility
of people who are around today. Let us say you
set up a marketplace at the Dhyanalinga, the
latter will still reverberate, but people will not
be able to experience it. Maintaining a certain
atmosphere is important for Kailash and any
other place like this.

Kailash Manasarovar
Starting from 5thAug 2016

If you can really be with Kailash even for a few moments, life will never again
be the same for you. It is a phenomenon beyond all human imagination.

- Sadhguru

Join this once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the Abode of Shiva.

+91 9488 111 555/333 india@sacredwalks.org www.sacredwalks.org
March 2016

ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 13

What is Initiation?
The following article is excerpted from a
darshan with Sadhguru at the Isha Yoga
Center on 27 December 2015.

Questioner: Pranam, Sadhguru. You said that

with Inner Engineering, you have established
an initiation process, and also that sitting at
the Dhyanalinga can initiate one into a spiritual
process. So, what types of initiations are there,
and what does initiation mean?

Sadhguru: There are a billion ways of doing

it. Every aspect of life can be used to ignite
something in someone. It is just that some
are conducted formally, the rest are done in
many different ways. What is happening here
now is called darshan. This is not a discourse,
but unfortunately, we end up talking, because
most people do not know how to simply sit. But
darshan means to just behold. In this culture, no
one goes to a temple to pray. They go for darshan,
because they want to imbibe that energy form.
They want to take that form into themselves so
that it stays with them and works for them from
within. Darshan is a kind of initiation.
To use an analogy, take an induction motor. It has
all the parts in it, but even if you put electricity into
it, it will not work. It needs induction. Actually,
there is no perfect scientific explanation for
what we call induction. It is a certain kick, and
suddenly it goes off. Similarly, whatever is there
in me is there in you, but it does not work without
induction. We can do induction in many ways. We
do it in gentle ways. If you dont get it, we will do
it in formal ways. If you still dont get it, we will
kick you in the butt. Yogaratova Bhogaratova,
Adi Shankara said. That means, somehow get it.

But still, there are hard nuts, so harder ways are

needed with some people. But actually, if you are
really, absolutely open, just sitting here should
be enough for an initiation, but it does not work
like that for everyone. People take things in
installments, so we do initiation in installments.
That is why there are so many programs Inner
Engineering, Bhava Spandana, Samyama, and
other kinds of initiations I am doing with different
types of people.
If you have just come for the first Inner
Engineering, we initiate you in one way. If
you come to Bhava Spandana, it is a series of
initiations three days, non-stop, so that you
cannot miss it. If you come to Samyama, we do
another, very powerful series of initiations. But
human beings do not just want to have a spiritual
experience they also want to be competent
of doing something in particular. Depending on
that, we will initiate you in a certain way. There
are initiations for brahmacharis, for Bhairagini
Maas, and many other varieties of initiations that
I am doing informally.
Many of you who have sat in various satsangs
with me would have noticed that every time, it
feels different, because depending upon what we
are doing that day, depending upon the time of
the year, the time of your life, and what is needed
right now, I will do it differently. As many forms
of life there are, that many kinds of initiations we
can do. When we first trained people to deliver
a spiritual process to other people, we started
formalizing the initiations. If it was only me, I
would not have done any formal initiations. But
we regulate the formal initiations to make them
manageable and repeatable. Formal initiations
became a necessity because we wanted it to
reach far and wide.

If life was a million years long, we could do it in

very aesthetic ways. But life is brief. Before you
know what happened, it will be gone. There is an
urgency. Because there is an urgency, we do it
in such ways so that you do not miss the point.
14 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

March 2016

Weaves of Grace
Poem by Sadhguru
As a Weaver strives to put
one thread upon another
Every thread as crucial
as the other, for bare threads
to evolve into graceful fabric.
So is life my Beloved
Every thread as crucial
as the one before and after.
Weave you should the threads
of life of complex texture and hue
into a fabric of beauty and grace
fit for the boundless Being Divine
Fabric not just a device to
cover the body of parts private.
Fabric that shall allow you to
touch the organic beauty of
Creation and become a passage
to privacy to cohabit the
Inner Divine. Threads of
love, threads of prudence, threads of
play and threads of work
Threads of closeness and distance
Threads soaked in sanity of
Sense and insanity of Bliss
Threads of such varied texture
and hue, to weave it all into
One graceful Garment.
Devotion my Beloved the
only way. Ungraced
by Devotion it can all
turn into messy knots.
Make life a weave of Grace
My Beloved
Love & Grace,

March 2016

ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 15

Food Allergies
Sadhguru on Causes, Prevention, and Cure
Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. I have a all these ingredients and put them in a test tube,
question about food allergies. For some people, a
single peanut can be life-threatening. And there
are children who get allergies early in their lives.
Why does the human system develop allergies,
and can yoga help?

you cannot make them into a human being. That

is not how it works. There is another dimension
of life that makes all this happen. If you have no
regard for that, you are bound to suffer.

Dont Mix Too Much

Sadhguru: This is basically because of our And above all, especially in the US, there is too
brilliant modern science the human system is
being messed up in too many ways.

Unhealthy Food
The fundamental mistake is that food is made
in a factory. Food should come out of the earth,
because this body is earth. As far as possible,
your body should be in tune with the earth.
Apart from that, food allergies are mostly found
among meat eaters. Particularly when you eat
mass-produced meat products, you do not eat
one animals meat you eat all kind of parts of
all kinds of animals, mashed and made into a
sausage. You cannot stay healthy eating such
food. But people eat it, as long as someone lists
out the amount of protein, and whatever else it
is supposed to have. Even in garbage or excreta,
you may find proteins and other nutrients, but
still, this is not the thing to eat.
When I was a child, they only gave us milk from
a particular cow. Today, the milk you buy in the
supermarkets is from thousands of cows all
mixed and processed. Particularly in the United
States, people are consuming a huge amount
of animal hormones through mass-produced
dairy, poultry, and red meat. To everything, all
kinds of additives are added. Your body is an
organism it is made to absorb organic nature of
the planet and make it a part of itself. You cannot
just add synthetic supplements and expect them
to become a part of the human being. We know
that the body consists of a certain amount of
amino acids, proteins, and so on. But if you take
16 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

much food everywhere. Because there is so

much food, you do not look at it and treat it with
the necessary respect and awareness. Even in
India, this unfortunate habit is on the rise. If you
go to affluent places, there will be lots of different
items on the plate, which people will mix and eat.
When we were children, if we mixed two things
and ate them, our parents and grandparents
would tell us, You are eating like a beggar,
because a beggar had to mix and eat whatever
he collected in his begging bowl.
You are supposed to eat each item separately,
because the stomach treats each item in a
particular way. If you mix everything and eat it,
your system will get confused, and consequently,
it will develop allergies over time. If I eat alone,
I only eat one item. I do that because I am
conscious about how food behaves in my body,
and how my body, not just the tongue, welcomes
and enjoys the food that I consume. This is not
being frugal, this is not being controlled this is
just being conscious. Without being conscious,
you cannot live well.

Allergies on the Rise

Unfortunately, in another two generations, people
will be allergic to half the things they eat. People
even develop allergies against rainwater and
sunlight. Where can you live in such a condition?
And what if you become allergic to the air that you
breathe? That may sound funny, but if people are
allergic to water or sunlight, becoming allergic to
air is not far away.
March 2016

Going to the doctor and he diagnosing what

kind of allergy you have is not a solution. You
need to look at it in a more fundamental way.
It is not just about being allergic to a particular
substance. Essentially, your body reacts to
life itself. Children are allergic to milk today.
It has never happened in earlier generations
that a child living in a village or a tribe had
lactose intolerance.

Lifestyle Choices
If you look at how people even in better parts of
US cities are eating well-dressed, successful
professionals stand on the roadside, stuffing
their faces with whatever food they got from
vendors there, you will see why. This is not the
way to eat. The way you consume your food
matters too. I feel really sad for such people
you do not see an element of joy on their faces.
They may have less than half an hour to go, eat,
and come back to work and make more money. If
you live like this, how can you not suffer? Even a
small groundnut is telling you, you are not living
properly. You must get the message.

Fundamentally, our bodies are reacting

to the way we live.

A groundnut allergy is a killer. Once I was traveling

an American airline and they announced, Today,
we will not be serving peanuts because there is
one person on this flight who is allergic to them.
You may wonder if he is allergic, why can you
not eat peanuts. But if you open the packet, just
the smell could cause him to die of suffocation.
Allergies can cause such violent reactions.
Hopefully, this wide-spread allergy against
groundnuts, which used to be one of the most
nourishing food items for previous generations,
will make people realize that it is time to stop
and look into why these allergies occur, and what
we can do about it. But instead, someone will do
a million-dollar research on it.
March 2016

How Yoga Can Help

So, what can you do about allergies? Yoga
can definitely reverse this process. There are
thousands of people who, by doing Shakti
Chalana Kriya or Shambhavi, have become
allergy-free, particularly from pollen allergy. If
there is someone around you with food allergies
and they are willing to do something about it,
one simple thing you could do is give them
some vibhuti, ask them to add one pinch of it to
one liter of water, and to drink five liters of this
vibhuti water every day. The body will cleanse
itself in a few months, and the allergies will go
down. If you do some yogic practices along with
that, definitely the allergies will disappear. That
is what it takes cleansing.

The Bodys Warning Signal

Another factor is the atmosphere you are living
in. If you are constantly inhaling toxins and
eating things that are bad for you, the body
will react. An allergy is a reaction of the body,
because you are not treating it as life but as a
mechanical thing. This is not only about being
allergic to a specific substance. It may happen
that in the manufacturing process of the body,
something went wrong and you cannot take one
specific item. If that is the case, you can simply
avoid that one thing. But now, allergies have
assumed epidemic proportions. Fundamentally,
our bodies are reacting to the way we live.
When the number of people who are getting
allergies is constantly increasing, it means we
are doing something fundamentally wrong.
Processed foods are ruining peoples health, but
it is a big industry.

ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 17

SADHGURU SPOT

Shani Shingnapur Controversy

Discrimination or Discretion?

Excerpted from Sadhguru Spot of 3 February 2016

Questioner: Sadhguru, why are women not being allowed into certain temples? For example,
now with the Shani temple. Why this discrimination?

Sadhguru: At Linga Bhairavi near the Isha Yoga Center, India, men are not allowed to enter the
sanctum sanctorum, but they never protest. They are married and domesticated they have been
trained not to protest against anything (laughter).
It needs to be understood that these temples are not places of prayer they are different types
of energies. Since we are aware that the planets in the solar system have an impact upon our
physiology, our psychological structure, and the context of our lives, we have created temples for
the different planets.
Based on the time and date of your birth, and the latitude and longitude of your place of birth, Indian
astrologers make complex calculations to see which planets have the greatest influence on your life.
These things are relevant to you to some extent. However, if you have access to inner technology, it
will level out these planetary impacts.
Shani or Saturn, which is a faraway planet, takes 30 years to complete one revolution around the
sun. Considering the revolutions of Saturn and those of the Earth, and your birth details, they can
calculate what impact Saturn has on you at different times of your life.
Shani is one of the sons of Surya, the sun the other one being Yama. Shani is the lord of dominance,
distress, depression, disease, and disaster. Yama is the lord of death the D company. These two
are brothers-in-arms, always working in tandem. Their mother, Suryas wife, is Chaya. Chaya means
shadow. This is science expressed in a dialectical way. The sun is the source of light for us. His
wife is Chaya shadow. Only because there is sunlight, there is shadow.
The seventh day, Saturday, is the day of Saturn. Seven being Saat, it is Saaturday or Saturday. Saturn
is the seventh planet or graha in the Indian astrological system. The word graha means to grasp
or to impact. Saturn as per modern astronomy is the sixth planet. But the Indian astrology looked
at celestial objects which have a strong impact on life upon this planet. In that context, Sun and
Moon are also counted as grahas, not to be understood as planets, making Saturn the seventh graha.
In the order of grahas that have a strong influence upon this planet Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn though Shani is the seventh, he is a very dominant force, as health and
happiness give you freedom of life, but disease and depression will seriously dominate your life. The
question is are you allowing external forces, such as the celestial objects, to influence or impact you,
or is your inner nature the only influence upon you. Hence, in this tradition, profound astrologers
refused to make predictions for those who are on the spiritual path or under the influence of a
spiritual Guru.
Because his is a 30-year cycle, once in 30 years, you become more susceptible to the influence
of Saturn. This phase, known as Saade Saati, or in Tamil, Yelarai Shani, lasts for seven and a half
18 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

March 2016

years. You may become more susceptible to disease, depression, disasters, and death, and more
vulnerable to external influences. In order to bridge the pits that may occur during a Saade Saati,
various processes and rituals are associated with Shani temples.
There are temples for Shani Deva, where Saturn is personified as a god. Currently, there is this
controversy about allowing women to enter a certain temple in Maharashtra, the Shani Shingnapur
temple. Very powerful processes are conducted at this temple. Shani temples are mainly used for
occult purposes and exorcism. People come there mainly to ward off occult influences or because
they feel they are possessed. Because occult processes are conducted there, the energies are not
conducive for women. As a woman is entrusted with the significant responsibility of manufacturing
the next generation, her body is far more receptive and vulnerable to certain types of energies
especially during pregnancy and menstrual cycles.
Should women not enter the sanctum at all? They could if they were appropriately trained for it,
but it would be much more difficult to train women than men for this purpose, simply because of a
few biological advantages men have in this area of life. In the very nature of female biology, occult
forces can have a deeper impact upon her system.
To remove occult influences and perform exorcisms, certain energies are used that are not nice for a
woman at all. Shani is not nice. But he is a part of our lives we have to deal with him too. Because
of these occult forces, women are asked not to enter the area where such things are done. It would
not be good for their physical wellbeing.
When certain things go wrong with life, you have to deal with them in a certain way, which may
not be pleasant. These temples were created for this purpose. Today, some people perceive it as
discrimination that women should not enter this space. It is not discrimination but discretion.
Maybe the way it is enforced is crude and seems discriminatory, and that is why these women are
protesting. If one day, men protest in front of Linga Bhairavi and want to enter the sanctum, I will lock
it. I will not let them into sanctum because it is not designed for men unless they are appropriately
trained for it. This is not discrimination it is necessary discretion. The space of Dhyanalinga, for
one half of the lunar cycle, is managed by men; for the other half, it is managed by women as that
is the nature of an inclusive consecration, which Dhyanalinga is.
At certain temples, like the Velliangiri hill temple, women are prevented from going up the mountain,
as the path goes through dense forest that was rich in wildlife in the past, and it was considered
unsafe for women to take this journey. But today, these rules can be relaxed.
In view of the demand to allow women entry to the Shani temple, we need to educate people about the
science behind these temples what they are about and why they were built. In todays democratic
fervor, we want to establish equality, but in certain contexts, this would work to the disadvantage of
women. Otherwise, we are one species and two genders. Except for a few areas such as this one,
the only places where gender should matter are bathrooms and bedrooms.
Love & Grace,

March 2016

ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 19

Date

Program

Place

Contact

46 Mar
2016

Yaksha A
Celebration of Culture
and Music

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

0422-2515300

7 Mar 2016

Mahashivaratri
With Sadhguru

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

0422-2515300
mahashivarathri@ishafoundation.org

913 Mar
2016

Ayur Rasayana
Intensive

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

0422-2515464 / 94890 45084

isharejuvenation@ishafoundation.org

913 Mar
2016

Yogasanas

Isha Life, Mylapore,

Chennai India

83000 11000 / 044-24981185

chennai@ishayoga.org

14 Mar
3 Apr 2016

Yoga Marga

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

0422-2515464
isharejuvenation@ishafoundation.org

1720 Mar
2016

Inner Engineering
Retreat

Isha Life, Mylapore,

Chennai India

94442 30403 / 90801 44320 chennai.

retreat@ishayoga.org

2123 Mar
2016

Surya Kriya & Bhuta

Shuddhi

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

83000 93555 / 0422-2515300

iycprograms@ishayoga.org

2427 Mar
2016

Inner Engineering
Retreat

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

94890 45164 / 0422-2515300

ieretreat@ishayoga.org

25 Mar 2016

Bhuta Shuddhi

Isha Life, Mylapore,

Chennai India

83000 11000 / 044-24981185

chennai@ishayoga.org

26 Mar 2016

Bhastrika Kriya &

Shanmukhi Mudra

Isha Life, Mylapore,

Chennai India

83000 11000 / 044-24981185

chennai@ishayoga.org

2730 Mar
2016

Yogasanas

Isha Life, Mylapore,

Chennai India

83000 11000 / 044-24981185

chennai@ishayoga.org

2831 Mar
2016

Angamardana

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

83000 93555 / 0422-2515300

iycprograms@ishayoga.org

31 Mar
3 Apr 2016

Inner Engineering
Retreat

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

94890 45164 / 0422-2515300

ieretreat@ishayoga.org

31 Mar
3 Apr 2016

Bhava Spandana
(Ladies)

Isha Yoga Center,

Velliangiri Foothills,
Coimbatore India

83000 93555 / 0422-2515300

iycprograms@ishayoga.org

910 Apr
2016

Shambhavi
Mahamudra Program
With Sadhguru

Marina Bay Sands, Expo

Hall F Singapore

+65 6100 4064

singapore@ishayoga.org

Current at the time of print, however subject to change. For full program schedules and updates,
please visit our website: www.ishafoundation.org.

20 | ISHA FOREST FLOWER

March 2016

ISHA RECIPE

PALAK AND FRUIT SALAD

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

For the Salad:

1. Put all the salad ingredients mentioned except

the orange pieces and raisins into a deep bowl.

3 Cups Baby spinach leaves (palak) washed,

chopped into medium-sized pieces
1 Cucumber, small washed, peeled (optional),
chopped into small squares
1 Apple, small washed, peeled (optional),
chopped into small squares
Cup Cashews chopped
Cup Roasted groundnuts chopped
2-3 Sprigs Coriander leaves, fresh chopped
1 Orange, small peeled, segmented, and cut
into small pieces
Cup Raisins

For the Dressing:

1 Orange
1 Lemon or lime
2 Tbsp. Honey
Cup Olive oil
Black pepper, coarsely ground, to taste
Salt to taste

2. For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk

together the juice of the orange and lemon along
with the honey, salt and pepper.
3. Holding the measuring cup of olive oil above
the bowl, pour the oil in a thin, steady stream,
whisking constantly until the mixture appears
slightly creamy and no whole droplets of oil can
be seen.
4. Mix the dressing with the salad ingredients in
the deep bowl.
5. Lastly, add the raisins and orange pieces.
Toss well and serve.

A version of this recipe is going to be published in Ishas new cookbook A Taste of Wellbeing
that is due for release on Mahashivaratri 2016. For further details, please see page 6.

March 2016

ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 21

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ISHA FOREST FLOWER | 23

March 2016

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Open a door and there is an

entire new world of possibilities and perceptions