Article-Woods

Normally, an Individual takes 10/15 breaths per minute. But as the stress starts his breathing rate increases and it may go up to 30/40 or more breaths per minute leading him to mental and physical problems. Yet nobody has time for oneself. Whenever I see the 'I. C. U.' in any hospital, the patients there have ample time and only doctors are giving them appointment. I see a number of people there. They are just waiting to be discharged. It is like a dentist. When we go to a dentist he asks us to take care of our teeth. Here, for a few days everybody takes care and consciously starts brushing the teeth properly. But afterwards they do not have time!

When we start our day, the first thing that comes to our mind is 'what is the time? 'Then we see our schedule. We rush to the toilet. At that time also we are thinking about our next activity i. e. breakfast. During breakfast, the newspaper comes. We start seeing the headlines. Then simultaneously we watch TV. Then again we are busy on mobile phone. Thus we are busy all the time. Then at the end of the day instead of resting the brain, again we start thinking. As there is nobody around to disturb us, we think it is a good opportunity to think. It is this system that is responsible for sending you to EEG and ECG machines, which are again created by man. Scientifically, frequencies of our brain can be measured on the monitor of EEG. The brain's palpitations per second are measured. If the palpitations are 0-4 cycles per second it is called Delta level - the person is in coma. If the brain frequency reaches 4-7 cycles it indicates Theta level. If it is 7-14 cycles it is Alpha level when one is resting the brain. And 14 to 22 cycles is Beta level when the person is in wakeful state and is able to see, hear, smell, touch and taste. The moment he starts thinking more and more this graph goes up and cycles per second increase from 22 to 24...25 - blood pressure...26 - diabetes...27..28..29....and regular fluctuation to this graph- one day it comes to zero. Thus zero to zero is this life. By that time we have seen many doctors!

Previously, the life expectancy was on an average 80 to 90 years. It has now drastically reduced to 45 to 60 years. Nowadays, we see some people get heart attacks even at the age of 25-30 years as a result of stress. Stress is caused by the excessive interaction of thoughts. On an average, an individual gets about one Crore thoughts per day. The moment one learns to sort the thoughts, automatically the mind gets controlled. It is therefore necessary to rest the brain by being in the restful alert state. Even in electricity there is a circuit breaker which switches off electricity for some time. Like that in our mechanism you should know when and how to switch off the thoughts. A person should think. Thinking is not harmful but stressful thinking is dangerous. How much time is wasted in analysing! Scientists have proved that a person uses only 7% to 8% of his brain. Imagine, if he uses his brain more than that, what will happen.

By practising Kriya Yoga one can switch off in a few minutes, even in a few seconds. It is like hardware and software. The body is hardware, the mind is software and the controlling power is in our hands. We can see by EEG machines how the brain graph goes down in Samadhi-avastha. It is absolutely scientific! The science of Kriya Yoga teaches us to do some Kriya. Kri means action and Ya means soul. When mind is doing the action, the soul should be behind it to control it. We should consciously witness the entire Kriya that happens. With the practice of scientific techniques of Kriya Yoga one is also able to stop ageing process. People ask about my Guruji Sri Sri Mahavatar Babaji and how he is immortal and 1800 years old. But it is purely science. People look at it in a glamorous way, as if it is a miracle. There is no miracle in the world. Miracle is that which cannot be scientifically proved. The capacity of an individual is remarkable. We do not recognise our own power. We waste our maximum valuable energy in the worldly stressful thoughts.

Spirituality itself is a science, the cosmic link is science. The human being can go even to various planets very speedily but takes a lot of time to come closer to himself. He travels very fast in the outer world but he forgets to come back Within! In the process when his body communicates to him he does not have time for her. Our heart always talks to us. We do not have time to listen. The liver always reminds, 'I am with you'. the kidney says, 'I am also with you'. We ask them to shut up by popping some pills in. Whenever there is any pain we think the shortest way is to take a pill, drink some water and rush to work. We are so busy! Again when we get some pain, we ask them to shut up, as we do not have time right now. Then comes a time when I see you in the 'I. C. U'. I don't want to see you in 'I .C. U'. The God also says, 'I see you but you do not see me'. But to see Him one should understand that Spirituality is not a fad or a style or a fashion. I feel that everybody is born with spirituality. Spirituality is, when one is aware of the soul existing in the body. One develops spiritual values in day to day life by bringing love towards oneself and everybody. When we see these planets, the sun, when we see the water, the Nature everywhere, the spirituality is present there. The only thing is, we have to fit into the system. Spirituality is not a religion. Every human being puts religious barriers. He collects information of different spiritual paths. But for practising them he puts a limitation and gives an excuse 'I do not have time for that'. According to liking one takes interest. That is why spirituality is nothing but taking interest in our own life. Spirituality is not complicated because everyone is born with a Soul. When there is a soul, it is a simple and easiest way - 'I shall sit for some time. I shall listen to my body because its existence nobody can deny!'

We get the thoughts because of five senses. Out of the five senses, the sight has the fastest registration. Then comes hearing, smell, touch and taste in that order. We often observe that while eating the food most of the people do not really register the taste because they are busy either talking to somebody or watching TV or reading newspaper etc. So it is only the action of eating. There is no registration of taste!

When we get thoughts, in our neuro-system the Pituitary gland - an administrative gland gives order and the Pineal gland executes it. And like that all the time we get thoughts and the circuit is continuously on. In between there is Hypothalamus. You have to come back to this point and be an observer inside the body. Inner body is invisible from outside. In ordinary course nobody can see the brain except the doctors. But by closing our eyes we can open our feeling part. When we see the graph of a Loving person on the monitor, it is steady. The sight of a person who is full of Love is always pleasant. An angry person creates negative vibrations around him. There are only four types of major emotions - Anger, Fear, Sadness V/s Happiness.

An angry person is always stressful. He is angry with himself because he has not got solution either from himself or somebody else. A sad person is always disappointed and hurt because of frustration, as the expectations from the second living being are not fulfilled. A fearful person is always looking into the future fearfully, worrying about what the future holds for him and gets drawn by superstitions or always seeks support of something. Once I met a big businessman. He asked me, 'Do you think I am not spiritual?' I told him, 'How can I say you are not spiritual when you are holding a glass of spirit?' So, is it a solution to have a couple of pegs before going to sleep to dull your senses? If you think you are thus resting the brain it is cheating oneself!

Meditation is one of the best methods to calm down an individual. One becomes more introspective and focused. I would say that the business class does maximum meditations because meditation is nothing but observation. The businesspersons are definitely observing, the only thing is that they are more focused on financial Balance Sheets. I suggest that their graph of profits will rise more if they master the skill of switching off from time to time. Sometimes switching off is nothing but creating an interest in some other subject. This is what I mean by circuit breaker.

Thoughts come from different parts of one's life. My attention should be -'here and now. I am inhaling and exhaling. Why should I not consider myself the richest man in the world? Right now, in the hospital, there are so many, who are living on artificial respirators'. So, I thank God, 'because of you I am breathing, I could drink the water which was available!' One can survive for 7 to 8 months only by drinking water. We have the capacity to digest food and we want variety in terms of taste, quality etc. Then there is a need for shelter. I think definitely the survival issue is there and it becomes a priority. And may be, the first necessity - the air- becomes the last and in the process automatically stress starts.

You would observe that on the face of stressed people the eyebrows are drawn closer. God has made our facial muscles in such a way that you cannot be angry and laugh at the same time. Try bringing your eyebrows together as if you are angry and then try to smile. You can only do one thing at a time. So better be happy and smiling. You can look at a small child or at the beautiful Nature and feel Happy. A smiling person always spreads a pleasant feeling and smile on the faces of people around him. A stressful person always spreads negative vibrations around him. The power around us is energy. Spirituality is an energy, the 'chetana shakti'.

When a person gets into the habit of holding himself back, not opening up, the muscles become tight/rigid. Whenever he is supposed to open up, dance, express his joy, smile, he holds back, as it is bad manners. But if you laugh, your respiratory system will get more oxygen, the moment you lift your hands above the shoulder level, the 72000 meridians in the body would open up and the energy flow will improve. I have travelled far and wide and have conducted a number of seminars. I observed that many people make just the action of clapping without a sound. According to the science of Acupressure, the pressure points for entire body are on the palms. So when we clap we increase the energy flow in the body. So the science shows what you give, comes back to you. But because of stress, the body is at one place, mind is thinking something else and actually nothing is happening!

It is observed that if a person thinks continuously, his energy level is drained and his brain is tired. At such a time if he starts thinking again, he will not get good ideas. Instead, if he remains calm for 45 minutes and at the 46th minute if he starts thinking, his thoughts will be of much higher level. That is why it is essential to do meditation and switch off from time to time.

Everywhere there is a rhythm. There is a rhythm in our Heartbeats, a rhythm of water, a rhythm around our own people - their sitting, their walking, their standing - everything is absolutely rhythmic. The moment the rhythm changes the graph also changes. From the Beta level the graph just moves up. The doctors give medicine and bring the graph down. The medicines given by the doctors are chemicals. The Kriya Yoga Science teaches that in order to keep the physical body fit the body should move rhythmically.

I asked one businessman in Chennai, 'why don't you give some time to yourself?' He said, 'how can you say I am not giving time to myself. I give one hour daily to myself. I go for morning walk for one-hour everyday'. I said, 'then you should not be suffering from high blood pressure & diabetes'. I asked him if I could also accompany him. He agreed. I told him not to talk to me. 'You be with yourself and I will be with myself'. We went for a walk on the beautiful Marina Beach. When we were sitting at the breakfast table I said, 'you are very lucky. It is such a lovely beach. Did you see the colours of sand?' He looked at me, 'What colours of sand? Sand is sand.' I said, 'there was sand of three different colours. And what a fantastic garden was there with so many types of flowers!' He had not seen any garden. He asked me where it was. I told him that it was near the statue. He did not recollect any statue. He told me, 'I don't see all that. Everyday I walk planning what all things I have to attend and how to tackle them.' While the physical body is taking exercise, his mind is also racing fast. He is bound to get Heart problem. So, to be present at whatever you are doing, learn to switch off from time to time. In one of the sessions when I said, 'when I take leave of my wife for coming here, it is a 100% bye'. A lady looked at me angrily objecting to my statement. I explained to her, 'after leaving home if I continue to think of my wife there is every possibility that I may get knocked off by a vehicle on the road. My five senses should be alert'.

Spirituality is nothing but alertness of our five senses. And when we make the five senses alert and sharp then only we can awaken the sixth sense. The consciousness of one individual is very important. Life is very precious. How we live each and every moment of life is very important. We really put boundaries on our own existence. Boundaries of our religion, caste, country etc. If we remove these boundaries we will really progress without any bitterness towards any country or religion. With Unconditional Love and Unconditional Forgiveness we will be able to see a healthy, happy and harmonious world.