FOUNDATIONS OF THE TEACHINGS
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The vast benefits of Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga is probably the world’s most perfect form of exercise, because it cultivates cardiovascular health and musculoskeletal strength and flexibility, without the painful and damaging side effects of high-impact exercises.
It fine tunes every system within us: respiratory, digestive, endocrine, lymphatic, reproductive and nervous. It also cultivates the body’s capacity to relax and dramatically reduces the negative effects of stress. Through dedicated and regular yoga practice, we experience great benefits almost immediately and may even begin to recover from chronic illnesses over a period of time. Above all, we breathe better, we sleep better, we digest our food better and most of all, we experience moments of sharply increased mental focus and clarity, and heightened perceptual and intuitive powers. When we go deep into the practice we also experience a dramatic increase in vitality, as well as ecstatic states of bliss and optimum well-being. |
The immense value of Meditation
For our circumstances to reveal our magnificence, we must bring magnificence into our circumstances through all that we think, feel, say or do, because it is the only way in which we can attract and accumulate the greatly needed advantages and long-term support for our ultimate awakening.
However, for us to bring magnificence into our everyday reality, we need to heighten our power of observation so that we are able to see the ordinary occasions of our lives as extraordinary opportunities for perfecting ourselves. A regular practice of meditation is the time-tested means for developing such deep observation and an unwavering motivation to bring out our best on all occasions. We all exist in a world-wide web of advantages and inheritances, as well as disadvantages and lack. It is up to us to choose wisely so that we accumulate the advantages and inheritances that allow us to experience a deeply fulfilling life. Whatever we deposit into our Life’s Bank Account is what we withdraw from it – nothing more and nothing less. Meditation offers us the clarity to make the right deposits so that we withdraw the best that Life has to offer. One of the greatest things we can long for is to anchor ourselves in personal refinement, because we understand that the law of supply is a divine and exact law that is unfailing in meeting our heart’s desires when we live in alignment with it. Through regular meditation practice we share what is finest in us at all times which in turn qualifies us to receive even more of what is finest to share. |
What the Buddha Taught
Have you ever experienced a major setback or difficulty because you simply would not listen to good advice? Why do most people ignore good advice and rush straight into fiasco after fiasco?
There are many reasons, some of which are: being short-sighted, seeking instant gratification without any thought for the consequences and being ignorant of Natural Laws and processes. Can we really profit from being in “command” of a life that is poorly designed, and which is devoid of any substantial enjoyment? An undisciplined mind is no different from an uneducated one, both of which create disastrous consequences for us. It is only from an intuitive appreciation of life’s hidden dimensions that empowering potentials manifest and new capabilities are born. All of this requires the right life philosophy and time-tested methods for designing the quality of life we deeply desire. |
Recognising the Global Need for Healing
When we are truly committed to healing ourselves, we come into alignment with the truth of our true worth and our reality transforms for the better in astounding ways.
Most of us have a narrow and self-focused point of view. Even on the spiritual path, many people are so lost in ideas and their own point of view that they cannot see the grander design and the enormity of their interconnection with life in its fullness. There is so much mental debris, pain, ideological nonsense, and outright false beliefs percolating in our consciousness that it is amazing that any of us ever hack our way out of that dangerous jungle. But if we wish to be healed on all levels of our being, we definitely need assistance from those who have travelled the path before us and extricated themselves from the thicket of false views that had also engulfed them. The fulfilment of our deepest desires is always on the other side of ignorance. Without the courage, conviction and foresight to act on what we know is for our greater good and the greater good of many, a full and nourishing life is impossible. The good life is lived in a state of sustained joy and inspiration. This joy and inspiration is the deep experience of possibility. Every single day, all we ever face is possibility. This means the future is open before us and we can choose to make it what we will by acquiring the right means to do so. |
The vital need for Mindfulness
Our inattention towards being mindful in all that we do often comes at a tremendous price – obsessions, ill-health, loss of meaning, a deep conflict with life in general, addictions, relationship fiascos and ultimately abuse, violence and an overall anxiety regardless of our outer accomplishments.
To not choose mindfulness as a way of life is monumental folly because this not only deepens and prolongs our suffering on a grand scale, but like a virus we also inflict a vast amount of suffering onto others, as an inevitable consequence of being unwise and unloving. To really nurture the deepest matters of our heart requires making regular intervals each day to observe what is in front of us in a manner that is entrancing, for this allows us to pause and to breathe in the freshness and ecstasy of life’s unfolding miracles and blessings. To really observe and be deeply touched by the magnificence in even the smallest of things, or to do the common things uncommonly well, is to be transformed from the experience. This is how we nurture and cherish the deepest matters of the heart and all the amazing benefits this leads to. |
Building exceptional Relationships
Life does not play favourites – we receive from it only what we qualify for. When we qualify for little, we receive little; when we qualify for more we receive more. Whether we receive either much or little is determined by the kind of person we have chosen to be, nothing else. Through personal excellence we attract the better things in life to us instead of the bitter ones, because when we give value, we receive value. This is an unchanging universal law we need to respect and live by.
To qualify for a better reality, it helps to understand that from the moment we wake up to the time we go to sleep, we are displaying our personal qualities. And it is not just the people we relate to who see our advertisement, but life itself is sensing our resonance and calibrating and recalibrating the particular circumstances that crystallise around us in relation to the frequencies we transmit through the day. When I give or add value to every being and everything I come in contact with: from my spouse to the fellow at the cash counter; from my brother to the person I find irritating; and to the way I treat my belongings and all the inanimate things that make up my life – I receive value in return, often multiplied by compound interest! The more refined I am in my thinking and behaviour the greater my joy, because I qualify for it. There are only a few who embrace this law wholeheartedly. But by embracing it fully, in the way we perceive and respond to reality is the way to unlimited returns – of the yummy variety! So, what if you were to live in this refined manner daily? How would your life turn out then? |
A Note on Right Practice
Effective spiritual growth and practice requires mutual respect and understanding between the teacher and the taught. The students are also encouraged to interact with one another in the same reverential spirit.
If the teacher feels that a particular student is unable or unwilling to meet this essential requirement, he reserves the right to ask the student to seek guidance elsewhere. |