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Samagra: An OverviewSamagra is a place and movement to explore and experience one’s body, emotions, intellect, spirit or soul and connect it to family, community and culture, country, earth and nature to create an integral wholeness.Samagra is committed to fostering awareness of, and respect for all beings, living and non-living, and exploring the interconnectedness of all things through dialogue, action and natural spirituality which includes a variety of approaches including yoga and meditation. The core philosophy of Samagra is one of Integral awareness, action and living. This allows each individual to pursue his or her own unique life path while attending to the needs of others and the natural world. Samagra is committed to spiritual growth and fulfillment. Samagra is not attached to any specific political, religious, economic or environmental dogma or ideology. It would like to explore, through free dialogue, areas such as politics, economy, education, and health, integrating perspectives which will help in establishing harmony and peaceful co-existence on earth. Vision statement:Samagra aims to create an integral institution and a movement composed of individuals, each pursuing their vision of a harmonious relationship with themselves, the earth and the cosmos at large. The work of Samagra will be centered on integral awareness, action and living, focusing on such areas as health, spirituality, the environment, education, complementary medicine, interfaith initiatives and mind-body approaches to health. Another focus will be on greater self awareness through dialogue on such topics as politics, the environment, the economy, and education from a global perspective.Overview:The core of Samagra’s philosophy is integral awareness, action and living. By this we mean each individual must actively pursue his or her own life path, leading them towards higher growth and evolution. This path, however, is not to be followed in such a way that it separates the person from the outer world and the earth. Attending to the needs of others, and to the needs of the natural world in which we live, is essential. An integral path encompasses both inner and outer effort and action. Each individual is born with his/her unique nature, and therefore the path that each person chooses will be different. For some, a primarily inward seeking spiritual path may be most important, while for another the focus may be on voluntary social work for the benefit of others. Samagra will be located both in Canada and in Uttaranchal, in the Himalayan foothills of India.In Canada, the focus is on dialogue and action that fosters greater global awareness. Of particular concern are the issues of poverty, environmental deterioration and religious extremism. The significance of each individual in the challenges of the current global crises is being explored. In an environment of increasing religious fundamentalism on the one hand, and a pervasive sense of existential meaninglessness on the other hand, Samagra engages in dialogue and commits to actions of spiritual fulfillment that do not depend on a particular religious dogma or ideology. In India, Samagra will be located in Uttaranchal, in the Garhwal Himalayas. The mountainous environment of the Himalayan foothills poses particular challenges for those who live there. Literacy rates are significantly lower than the national standard, and health indicators are similarly behind the rest of the country. Environmental deterioration due to deforestation and drying of water supplies creates living conditions which can be extremely harsh, particularly for the women. Poverty can be a crushing burden, and educational opportunities are limited. Yet Uttaranchal is also a place of great beauty and spiritual significance, the source of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, and home to the some of the mightiest snow covered peaks of the Himalayas. In this setting we are creating an institution that is deeply grounded and enriched by spiritual awareness. At the same time we wish to make Samagra a source of health and healing to the land and its people. Some initiatives which we envision include a health outreach program to the villages around the center. Led by deeply committed and experienced health workers, the program will incorporate the provision of basic health services including the treatment of common diseases and a comprehensive preventive program. In addition, a training program for health workers in the region will be developed to specifically reflect the educational needs of primary care workers in mountain villages. Acupuncture and Ayurvedic healing are valuable health modalities that are not well known in the area. We would like to facilitate the spread of this knowledge by developing a training program for health professionals and others who have a suitable educational background. There are many innovative ways to promote integrated health and we envision workshops and courses exploring mind-body medicine. In this program, affective (emotional) cognitive approaches to better health are combined with Yoga and meditation techniques. These programs have been shown to be effective for people suffering from a variety of conditions, and they promote a natural form of healing that honours the unique strength of each individual. Within the Samagra program, attention to environmental concerns will be given priority. On the campus itself, alternative energy sources will be used and healthy land use practices will be promoted. If qualified individuals join the program, an outreach environmental program could be developed that includes promotion of alternative energy sources in villages, garbage disposal programs, and water harvesting techniques. Since poverty is one of the most pressing concerns of the area, income generation programs will be developed in conjunction with the women of the area, linked to the health, environment and education work being undertaken. Once again, the nature of this program will depend on the particular interest and expertise of those who join the Samagra program. A program for international visitors (students as well as other interested individuals) will be an integral part of Samagra’s work. Through the Student International Health Initiative (SIHI), university students have already been visiting this area for the past 5 years. As Samagra evolves, this international visitor program will expand. Using an approach of appreciative inquiry, students explore a radically different cultural milieu. In this process, they have a unique opportunity to come to know the strengths of the people in this region, and to reflect on the problems they face. This fosters a process of self reflection, promoting greater awareness about the world and their place within it. In the Sanskrit language the word 'Dharma' has profound meaning. In English it is translated as religion but Dharma is not religion. Dharma is not Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism or a combination of these. Dharma is the ‘force and laws’ which hold our cosmos together. This force and these laws give the cosmos, including earth, its shape and form and maintain its dynamic balance. Dharma is the inherent nature of existence both at the micro and macro levels. Dharma nurtures and gives stability to all that exists, from atoms to galaxies, from microscopic cells to plants and trees, animals, humans, earth and nature. Dharma is the inner fabric and essence of everything both living and non living. Dharma is without beginning or end. Even if life on earth disappears and our universe collapses Dharma will continue. There are many ways to experience Dharma. Religion is one of the ways to have such an experience. The sciences, arts, and a lifestyle of moral and ethical living are also examples of the many ways which move humans towards indirect/direct experience of Dharma. In fact all paths lead to Dharma. Whether it be the way of the theist, the atheist or the agnostic, all paths merge in the all encompassing Dharma. No matter what we think or do in our lives, we relentlessly strive to explore and know the laws of nature, the universe and the cosmos, and to live in harmony, comfort and joy. Such exploration is the movement towards Dharma because Dharma is the force and laws that hold the cosmos together. Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Awareness-Bliss or Physical-Psychological-Spiritual) is the direct experience of Dharma. It is an experience of Bliss in becoming conscious of Life and the Laws and Force of Dharma. Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Awareness-Bliss) is embedded in the nature of Dharma. In our daily lives we experience fragments Sat-Chit-Ananda(Existence-Awareness-Bliss). That is why our thirst is never quenched and our hunger is never satiated. Once a goal is achieved, we are satisfied for a brief period of time, and then we seek to achieve more. We demand more and more, not realizing that what we want is actually a direct experience of Sat-Chit-Ananda, which will finally quench our thirst forever. With the exception of humans, all creations on this earth - mineral, plant and animal - are born, live and die according to their nature imparted to them by Dharma. These creations are complete within the boundaries given to them by Dharma. They do not long for a conscious change. Whatever changes happen in their lives are not through their conscious effort, but are brought about by nature. Does a rose ever try to become a lotus? Or does a locust long to transform itself into a butterfly? Water doesn't strive to become wind. They are all complete and remain whole and undivided in the place appointed to them by the nature of Dharma. Humans are different from all other components of nature. They are fragmented, incomplete and self-aware. Because of this awareness they are conscious of their fragmentation and incompleteness. It is through awareness of their incompleteness that they are propelled to become more and more complete and whole. Such striving puts them on the path of ‘becoming’. Humans are in a state of perpetual becoming, striving for more and more and never truly resting within. This striving, this longing and wanting and restlessness, is a conscious state because humans are self aware beings. Self awareness in humans is a cause of delight as well as torment. Delight is experienced because they are more conscious of vast vistas of nature and life than any other living being; torment is experienced because they are haunted by their fragmentation and unquenched thirst, and so they suffer and live in fear. Through this suffering and fear, because they are blessed with self-awareness, humans can choose to experience conscious growth and evolution. This is the extraordinary freedom available to all humans: freedom to explore, grow, evolve and move towards wholeness and Dharma consciously, in the light of full awareness. No matter where humans live or what they do, they always want to achieve this integral state of being. They strive to become fully aware and experience total freedom. In this process, however, they are often distracted and lost; they wander in the world and are taken further away from wholeness. Eventually they realize the futility of such repetitive cycles, the same distractions and the fruitless wanderings. Such realization is the beginning of the movement towards wholeness and integral life of Dharma. As we mentioned earlier, involvement in religions, sciences, arts, ethical living etc. are all human efforts to discover Dharma or the natural laws and force of cosmos. A scientist wants to discover the ultimate truth of physical existence, to observe and record the ultimate particles of matter and to understand the unified force which governs the universe. A religious person wants to experience the timeless divine and longs to merge in that endless light. An artist wants to capture the timeless beauty of creation in a poem, music, painting, and sculpture, while a moral and ethical person wants to live life according to specific ideals. From Dharma point of view there is no difference between a religious person, a scientist, an artist, or ordinary family person, whether theist or atheist, leftist or rightist. They all long for and try to move towards Dharma and live an aware existence full of delight. They are all travelers and pilgrims on the same path the path of Dharma and its direct experience of Sat-Chit-Ananda, a harmonious, conscious life of joy and delight. If they are all pilgrims on the same path, taking them to the same Dharma, all wanting to live a life of harmony and delight, then why is there this seemingly unbridgeable gap between them? Why do they become each other's enemy? Why do they inflict violence on each other and plan each other's destruction? They often wander away from their path. A scientist is lost in creating unnecessary technology rather than remaining focused on discovering new realties about nature and the universe; some religious people keep on repeating forever the same rituals and dogma rather than widening and deepening prayer and meditation. In the same way an artist becomes the victim of his/her eccentricities rather then moving towards the direct experience of that beauty and truth which he/she is depicting in a poem, painting or music. Also, people living ordinary lives remain prisoners to their families, work, culture and country which don't bring them any new insights and fresh life. The first reason for such wanderings is that the awareness which makes humans unique also makes them conscious of their own death. Humans are the only beings who are constantly conscious of their death. In order to escape from the fear of death, people want to hold on to something which can give them a sense of certainty, security and power. Life’s movement is unpredictable and constantly pushes us towards the unknown and death is an unknown. It feels safer to stay with the known at one level, to remain confined within the familiar territory, and to defend it at the cost of denial of growth and a new life. Another reason for this state of stagnation and wandering is that people may not be fully aware of their journey, and may not have an idea of their destination. They may not realize that no matter what path they take they are going to reach the same sacredness, wholeness, Sat-Chit-Ananda and Dharma. Such partial and fragmented awareness in humans creates a narrow vision in which one sees one's own path as the only path to Truth, and all other ways as either a deviation from truth or as being altogether wrong. Many scientists think of a religious person as superstitious, living in fantasies which can never be proved. Many religious people condemn the scientist as heretic and materialistic, as a lost soul, and the artist may deny the path of a religious person and scientist as insensitive, ugly and violent. And so, on it goes. But in spite of such difficulties and divisions it is possible to focus and move towards Dharma in which there are no divisions and which belongs to all. It is possible to live a life which will integrate all paths as the path towards Sat-Chit-Ananda. In such an integral path, the body, emotions, intellect and soul, as well as society, nation and the earth itself, are all components of the same sacred wholeness. In the past, many people have focused in this direction of integral living and many are currently bringing this focus into their lives. Samagra (Integral) is such a focus, an effort in which we would like to emphasize integral action based on integral awareness, leading to integral living. Such integral awareness will be all inclusive, affirming various fragments of truth, yet emphasizing the movement forward and upward, to break the boundary of old, narrow visions - visions which cause division, conflict and violence. The English translation of Samagra is Integral. Samagra, or Integral, means an awareness or action or state in which wholeness or totality is not lost in its components. Everything is perceived in their dynamic oneness, unity and harmony as well as in their diversity and individuality. Samagra, or Integral, will be a natural meeting place for people, ideas, resources and actions in which the energy of integral awareness will help in the living of an integral life. In integral living, all components of existence, (plants, animals, mineral or matter) including humans, are different but equal partners and, according to their intrinsic qualities, are given an appropriate place in life’s movement. Samagra movement will be based on an awareness of what constitutes a person – the body, emotions, intellect and wholeness or soul - and also all that which forms the universe outside of the person – the family, society and culture, country, earth and nature. Actions will be taken to promote the growth, evolution, and stability of all those constituents. When integral awareness initiates integral action, it leads to integral living. This takes an individual towards Sat-Chit-Ananda, the experience of Dharma. Sat- Chit-Ananda is the delight experienced in becoming aware of life. Such a state of bliss is not only experienced in an individual's body, emotions, thoughts and wholeness or soul, but also in the family, society and culture, country, and earth and nature. Eight components constitute the universe in which we live. Of these eight components, four belong to the person and four are outside of the person. Any movement whether it is political, economic, educational or religious would benefit from considering the impact of its ideas and action on these eight components. Back to the top of page Body: Experiencing Body’s WisdomThe body is the most neglected yet the most important component of human life. Nothing material or spiritual can be done, achieved or realized without a physical body. She is the base of all ideas, action and living; all progress, growth and evolution is possible because we have a physical body. But why then is the body neglected, ignored or even tortured? It is because the body can’t keep pace with our ideas, dreams, and grand visions. She is a slow moving, fragile and down to earth entity. She feels hungry, desires for sex, experiences pain, disease, old age, and death. She makes everyone equal – the king and the beggar; the ignorant and the wise; the powerful and the weak - all have the same basic body. The body is perceived as an obstacle in fulfilling mind’s search. While the mind seeks immortality, eternal life and the world of spirit, the body constantly affirms the existence of physical existence, real earth and death. That is why the mind despises and rejects the body. The mind tries to change the body in accordance with its ideas and theories which have an underlying obsession with never-ending life.In integral awareness, action and living, the body is understood as a wise component, as powerful as any other component or faculty in the person, including the mind. The body is as sacred as spirit, as sensitive as the feelings and emotions. The body is fully aware and alive but because of her oppression by emotions and intellect she is not able to express herself fully. She remains dysfunctional and becomes the victim of many ills and diseases. In Integral growth and evolution of the body, the first step is to become conscious of the distortions and pathologies that the body suffers due to the tyranny of the mind. This consciousness of the distortions and repression of the body will give us clear clues that the body’s basic functioning is not optimal. We recognize that the needs of the body, including hunger, thirst, sleep, sex and movement, are not being met. After we become conscious of the body’s disturbed state, the second step is to correct the distortion and repression, which would help in discovering the body's intelligence or wisdom. Such discovery will enable her to find her own natural rhythms and regaining her status as equal partner with the mind in daily living. In such a state of intelligence, the body not the mind regulates sleep, appetite, sexual needs and physical movements. The third and the last step in the body’s evolution is her communion with universal physical matter including earth. In this phase of the body’s evolution she finally communicates with her source, her mother and home, and she achieves a sense of immortality. This is Nirvana, Mukti (Freedom), or enlightenment of the body, where she, as a fully conscious entity, knows that there is no final death. Death is nothing else but the dissolution of form into its basic elements which are cosmic and universal. Basic elements never die. It is the form which changes. Emotions: Experiencing Emotional IntelligenceFeelings and emotions constitute the second component in a person. Integral living is not possible without fully developed emotions and feelings. Within an optimal limit no emotion or feeling is good or bad. They all help in the survival and protection of the person. Peace, anger, kindness, jealousy, hatred, love or attachment are all part human nature and have their place and significance in daily living. They may become a problem if one of these feelings or emotions dominates the mind, goes out of control and disturbs daily living or the social environment. Emotions and feelings not only give us orientation in space and time but also help in making life decisions, give color to our world and are necessary for the intimate relationships. When emotions work with intellect, emotional intelligence is born.Intellect: Insights Experiencing Cognitive or MindfulnessRational intellect is the third component in a person. Intellect is the human ability to think with reason, analyze, organize and systematize the world. Without intellect, systems of governance, science and organizing our daily life wouldn't be possible. While emotions help in making the world colorful and in establishing intimate relationships, intellect helps in organizing our daily needs, including food, shelter, clothing, and communication, and also in maintaining the rules of law within society. A person without optimally functioning intellect lives in constant external chaos.Spirit/Wholeness/Soul: Experience of Wholeness or SoulfulnessThe last component embedded in an individual is the spirit. In most people spirit is a potential or a possibility because it is not being experienced constantly. Although it is ever present in a person, it is experienced only occasionally. Spirit is the result of complete integration of body-emotion-intellect. Normally there is a deep divide between the body and the mind (emotions and intellect). Generally the mind dominates. This results in a fragmented state which clouds the soulful moments or the experiences of the spirit. As the body's intelligence is awakened and the dominance of the mind recedes, a point comes when the body regains its optimal status in the person, resulting in complete integration of body and mind. Such integration, which contains two primary qualities of spiritual/Soul experience and wholeness, is experienced as inner joy, spontaneous witnessing and meditation.Back to the top of page Four components outside the person:Family: Functional FamilyFamily is the first and most important component outside the person because it is immediate and intimate to the person. Usually, but not always, it consists of blood bonds. Family is the first concrete expansion of a person's consciousness where a person shares physical, financial, psychological and spiritual resources with others. In the family environment, a person not only receives but also learns how to give to others.Whether the family is nuclear or joint, traditional or modern, natural (made up of blood relatives) or created (with non blood relatives) until children are born into a human society, family is a fundamental need. Not only is family necessary for the physical survival and growth of the child, but also for the emotional, intellectual and spiritual support of all family members, including the old, sick or disabled. There is no better place to mature spiritually than the family. The child develops the skill of connecting to the world and social skills within the family. The capacity to receive and give love comes from a stable family experience. There is no institution in our world that can replace family, and thus we have to strengthen the family and make it optimally functional. In an optimally functional family, not only do its members share material and psychological resources, but they also give and receive freedom to explore their individuality. However, although the family is a beautiful institution, we must not confine ourselves within its boundary. Doing so is not healthy and will lead to neglect of society, country and the world. Society/Culture: Integrated SocietySociety is the place where a person gets cultural roots. Such rooting leads to further expansion of a person's consciousness beyond personal ego and family. The person develops the ability to share resources with a wide variety of people who are not of his or her class, religion, colour or status.A person confined to the individual self will have narrow awareness. When a person is connected with the family, awareness expands and when the same person is connected with society and culture, there is further expansion of awareness which brings more depth and maturity to the personality. The connection with society should not be limited to theory or philosophy. It should inspire action based on love and compassion. Only when awareness is combined with action does integral living become a reality. On one hand a healthy person creates a healthy family and a healthy family creates a healthy society and culture. In the same way, a healthy culture and society gives birth to a healthy family and a healthy family to a healthy person. They all complement each other. Complete confinement to one's own society and culture leads to oppression, fanaticism and narrow divisions in the world. This in turn leads to conflict with other societies and cultures. Country: Dynamic CountryOutside the person, country is the third component in the human world. Country is the combination of various cultures and societies living together in a defined geographical area. It is also a political mechanism to ensure economic well being as well as protection of its people from unruly forces both inside and outside the country. Too much attachment with the concept of country may give rise to extreme nationalism which causes more problems then it solves, leading to war, destruction, occupation and enslavement of other countries and its people.Earth/Nature: Blossoming Earth and NatureThe last and most important component outside the person is Earth or nature, on which the survival and well being of person, family, society or culture and country depends. Since all these components depend on earth or nature all else is going to be damaged or destroyed if the earth is deteriorating. Earth or nature is the ultimate mother and nurturer. Integral awareness, action and living are not possible without giving earth and nature its sacred place. To protect and enhance elements of nature is true worship and prayer and that has to come through global educational, and political, social and economic unity. Unity here means a single movement including all the diversity.When these eight components of our world and universe exist in harmony, a dynamic state of Sat-Chit-Ananda expresses itself into life and the world. But how can these eight components within and without human beings live in togetherness and dynamic intimacy? Such togetherness, communication and intimacy are governed by three fundamental principles of living. Principle of Neha or Affection: Communication- Co-operation-Co-existence Neha, or affection, is a state of being affected by whatever happens within and without. In a state of affection we don’t isolate and insulate ourselves from the world, earth and nature. It is state of dynamic connectedness physically, mentally and spiritually, with all things both living and non-living and is the first principle of living. Neha expresses itself in the world as a feeling of compassion, of Love towards all that is, both within and without. This leads to co-operation culminating in peaceful co-existence. Neha integrates body, emotions and intellect within a person allowing spirit to expresses itself in its wholeness. When family, society/culture, country and earth/nature are integrated and harmoniously co-exist with the spirit/soul, intellect, emotions and body, then Sat-Chit-Ananda manifests in life and in the world. In the beginning, such integration is a conscious thought and an intentional effort in which we start contacting the components which we want to integrate. Contact leads to communication to understand the nature of the component which leads to co-operation and culminates in peaceful co-existence. Co-operation occurs when the four components within the person and the four components outside of the person are sharing, receiving and giving help in sorrows, joy, losses and gains. They remain ready to serve and to be served. After the conscious practicing of co-operation, a time may come when spontaneous affection emerges within us. Principle of Unity: Ignorance-Awareness-InsightUnity, or Ekatva, is the second principle in linking the eight components of existence. Ekatva, or unity, is a state of living where our actions and behavior match our words and thoughts. When the gap between thoughts, emotions and actions is minimal or nonexistent, then the state of Ekatva, or unity, is established. The person living in such a state becomes transparent and is a being of integrity. A gap between thoughts and actions is a corruption, which may lead to social, economic, political, moral or spiritual decay.This principle of unity begins by becoming conscious of a gap between our feelings, thoughts, speech and actions. Such gaps exist out of ignorance, or lack of consciousness. When the gap between word and action becomes minimal, insight or Prajna rises in the person. Ekatva, or unity, is movement within a person from Ignorance to Awareness and from Awareness to Insight. Once insight is firmly established, the person is saved from future corruption. Insight is the firm and stable bridge between words and actions which leads to a psychologically clear, clean and transparent individual. Movement:Horizontal-Vertical-IntegralQuestioning-Dialogue-New possibility New realization-Integration-Movement Movement, or Gatisheelta, is the third and last principle of existence. The cosmos is in permanent flux. Even when we perceive a thing as static, it is actually full of movement which our eyes can't detect. A stone seems to be a non-moving object but a physicist will tell us that its atoms are moving with lightning speed. All living and non-living things constantly move. In human life this movement occurs in two directions, either horizontally or vertically. Horizontal movement helps us grow, an essential part of living that brings quantitative widening within a person and outside. Humans desire to accumulate more wealth and knowledge, which are part of horizontal movement. Although horizontal movement is an essential part of living, at a particular point such a movement becomes an obstacle unless we have a clear goal to use that extra growth to enhance our vertical evolution and use it for others. Most people don't use the excess horizontal growth for moving vertically or for the benefit of others. Why do people put themselves in such a prison, which costs them the possibility of rising to new planes of evolution and realizations? One reason for such behavior is the fear of dying. Humans are self aware beings and they are conscious of the fact of their death. Fear of death pushes them to seek immortality and one of the ways to find this illusory immortality is to have more and more of the same - wealth, power etc. - which numbs their senses or mind to such an extent that they feel supremely powerful, protected and secure. This allows them to forget about their death. An excess of horizontal growth is a fear management device, but it results in the stagnation personal growth. More often people take their horizontal movement and stagnation as the wholeness and the truth of the life. They may not be conscious of the fact that a prison of stagnation takes away the vibrancy of life. In the process of sheltering themselves from the fear of death, they are also walled in and cut off from the movement and vibration of life. In spite of their best efforts, death slowly creeps into the security of their prison. As soon as an optimal point comes in horizontal movement and growth, one should move up in a vertical direction which is the direction of evolution. Transformation is a vertical movement which takes us to entirely new levels of consciousness and living until we reach Sat-Chit-Ananda. Sat-Chit-Ananda is the beginning of the endless Dharma. Vertical movement is a never ending journey. It is an endless pilgrimage into the boundless and infinite. Cosmic existence is limitless and no one can ever reach the end point of it, so no one can say that he or she has arrived at the last point of cosmos or consciousness. Mukti(Freedom), Moksha(Transcendence), Nirvana, Salvation or enlightenment is the ending of the known and limited living; it is the beginning of the endless, boundless and limitless. Enlightenment is the end of the one pilgrimage and beginning of another. There is no finality to it. To stop at any point that we may describe as Nirvana, Moksha or Salvation point is stagnation. If water stops moving and flowing it will stink and dry up. Flowing water will discover new levels and horizons of existence and life. When a glacier melts, a stream starts flowing. Streams form a river. Rivers merges into the ocean, the ocean evaporates into endless space to form rain or a glacier, and so the movement continues forever. No religion, science, society, law or culture can be accepted as the final word and final form. They have to move and flow, finding new directions and energy. If a system or institution, no matter how grand, is taken as the final and ultimate, it will lead to stagnation, decay, conflict and violence. All forms have to evolve according to the time and place. For instance, a stagnant religion brings a stagnant vision and violence to its followers. Violence in religion and politics is because of the lack of movement and this is also true with science. There is no final force or particle in the physical universe and nobody's god or God is the final god or God. Relentless questioning of existing concepts, practices, theories, rituals and forms of religion, science, arts, ethics, morality and culture contains the energy to initiate and maintain movement. Questions will initiate dialogue, dialogue will reveal new possibilities, new possibilities will bring new realizations, and the movement will continue forever. Thus the process of movement involves questioning, dialogue, new possibilities and realizations. It is important to understand that these new realizations don't reject, out of hand, all that is old, but incorporate and integrate the useful, core and essential truth. However, simply to have an awareness of the eight components and the three principles within and without the person is not sufficient. Concrete actions have to be taken to express and implement the integration of those components and to connect the principles within the person and in the outside world. Based on integral awareness, such integral actions will have the energy necessary to transform the person and the world at large, to establish integral living. Back to the top of page The following nine actions are the tools to initiate change in a person and in the outside world.
1. Seva or service with affection:The first and most important tool for integral transformation is Seva or service to others.Seva, or service with affection, is a complete action. Not only does it serve others but it also benefits those who are serving. Through the practice of Seva all are served. It provides the server with security, a sense of well-being, the giving and receiving of love, prestige, a healthy self-esteem and respect. The more we are connected to others through Seva, the more others will come to help us. It imparts to us a sense of fulfillment, meaning and purpose in life. Seva helps us to cope with loneliness, sufferings and fear. A person who is connected to a family, society/culture, country, earth and nature through Seva develops much broader vision and resilience to face life’s storms. This strength helps in his/her physical and mental survival, and spiritual growth. Seva is an act of inner purification. In the beginning Seva is effortful, intentional and may at times be inconvenient and uncomfortable. As the effort progresses, a point may come when Seva becomes natural and fills both heart and mind with spontaneous love and compassion. From that point on, Seva becomes second nature to the person. Seva becomes a spontaneous state of being in thoughts, in words and in actions. Seva is an act of sharing material, mental and spiritual resources with the family, society, country, earth/nature to help fulfill basic needs and provide stability. Water to a thirsty person, food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless, education to the ignorant, love and compassion to those experiencing fear and sorrow are some expressions of Seva. Seva also means to help maintain the rules of the laws which protect society and country from chaos and violence, and to increase the economic well being of the people. Seva also means not participating in corruption and not hoarding more than we need for the present, while allowing some savings for the future. To protect nature from destruction is Seva. But Seva is not only an action for others but for also for oneself. To be kind, loving, and affectionate towards one’s own body, emotions, thoughts and soul is Seva. In fact that is where Seva begins, with oneself. Seva for oneself:Seva for oneself can be seen as fivefold. First, the body needs appropriate food, clothing, shelter, sex and exercise for its optimal functioning. To give less or to provide these needs in excess is not of service to the body. The states of both deficiency and excess are harmful and create illnesses in the body. Seva for the body doesn’t mean to decorate it excessively with expensive clothes, ornaments and perfumes and or to try to change it through torture, molding or mutilating it in the image of some beauty myth. If bodily deformity is an obstacle to optimal functioning then that deformity should be corrected. But such correction should not be done because of any external criterion of beauty. Real Seva for the body is to become aware of her wisdom. The body has an inherent wisdom embedded in each cell and that wisdom is capable of telling us how much food, rest, sleep, sex, work and exercise are needed. If we fulfill those needs of the body she will give us immense pleasure because pleasure and peace are her nature. A complete pleasure system is embedded in the human body as in the body of all other living beings. She contains the unlimited source of her own joy.The second Seva within the person deals with feelings and emotions. Allowing our feelings and emotions to express themselves appropriately is a movement towards becoming emotionally intelligent. Denial and suppression of emotions causes both physical and psychological illnesses. The emotions of love, sex, hatred, anger, peace, jealousy, violence, pride, resentment, guilt, etc. are all part of being human, imparted to humans by nature. None of these emotions are abnormal or bad unless they accumulate, get out of control and spill over into the family and society, creating conflict, chaos and violence. Emotions are protective. They help humans in their survival and in the continuation in their environment. Emotions bring color, creativity and intimacy to human life. When emotions move to their peak fulfillment they are transformed into Bhakti, or devotion, which is a spiritual state of emotions. The third Seva within the person is for the Intellect or cognitive insights. Intellect is the capacity to think, reason, organize, systematize, communicate and record. Intellect complements emotions. Emotions without intellect are a state of raging storm and intellect without emotions is a barren land. Stimulation and growth of the intellect not only helps the person in his/her development and in the organizing of her/his life but also helps to lay down the social, cultural, national and global systems. With many billions of us living on earth, without good use of our intellect, we would fall into chaos. An individual or society or culture without the development of intellect will suffer from scarcity, exploitation, insecurity, disorder, and inequality. Finding and doing work according to the nature of our body, emotions and intellect is another Seva. Such action will not only help us in becoming creative and joyful in our work but also put us on a spiritual path. This brings us to the last Seva for oneself, Seva for the soul/spirit/wholeness. When arrive at the state of soulfulness, we have to carefully protect the experience and the state until such state is fully and irreversibly established in our life. Inappropriate indulgence in the external world may undo such an experience and may take us backwards on our path. Unless we are vigilant there are always dangers of regressing into lower states of fragmented living. protect nature from destruction is Seva. Seva is not, however, an action only for others but also for oneself. To be kind, loving and affectionate towards one’s own body, emotions, thoughts and soul is also Seva. In fact, that is where Seva begins - with oneself. Seva for others:Seva for others is twofold and includes family, society/culture, country and earth/nature. No matter who or what we are serving, there are two essential components of such Seva to remember.First, Seva should be done without ulterior motives. Ulterior motives may change the served individual or the community in such a way that instead of integral growth and evolution, conflict, violence and divisions may arise in the family, society or culture. This causes damage to or destruction of the earth and nature. Seva should be free from religious, political, cultural, ideological or economic gains. Although it may be difficult in the beginning to do Seva without the above motives, and we may have some selfish intentions, by checking and cross checking our Seva plans we can minimize such motives,and may stay on the right path. The process of such Seva begins with the cultivation of self awareness during the decision making where we can discover selfish reasons for Seva which we can let go of gradually. After such cultivated and intentional effort to make Seva less and less selfish, a point may come when Seva becomes spontaneously selfless. If selfish elements in Seva dominate then we may bring about such changes in a person, family or community which would alienate them from their cultural and natural environment. Seva done with love and compassion doesn’t intend to bring such changes. Seva helps the person or family to integrate deeper into their culture and environment. The second essential element of Seva is that any Seva given should be according to the needs of the person or component we are serving. It should not be based on what we know and feel like doing rather than what needs to be done. We should not confine Seva or dominate it according to our narrow vision, knowledge and expertise. That is why a team consisting of individuals from diverse fields of knowledge is complementary to such an effort. Seva is not a random distribution of goods and services in which one party gives and other receives passively. Seva is the full participation of both those who serve and those who are served. It is a process of service that reveals the strengths and needs of all. Such participation will tell us whether the served will accept our services or not and also how the services should be made accessible to the served. That is where the principle of contact----communication---co-operative partnership comes into play and becomes important. Seva for the family:Seva for the family is the help given to fulfill the basic needs of survival and create an environment in which all its members will get respect, freedom and an opportunity to express themselves creatively according to their nature. To have a single iron law in the family is not good for its members. Each person in the family is born with a unique nature at the time of birth and that person cannot feel fulfilled unless that nature is allowed to blossom. The family provides the firm rooting to its members by fulfilling their needs for food, shelter, clothing and emotional stability but it should also allow its members to develop wings of freedom and creativity.Seva for the society/culture:Seva for the society/culture stimulates the growth of religious and cultural traditions which connect people with their environment; help them to cope with physical, psychological and spiritual crisis; bind them into a coherent and cohesive group; and prevent conflict with other social or cultural groups. Simultaneously, there should be an effort to let go of those traditions which cause violence, oppression of the people within the group and damage to the earth and nature.Seva for country:Country is a geographical space, natural or artificial, with which we identify, which we root ourselves into and, in the time of crisis, we take shelter in its territory. Country also provides economic resources for its people to survive, and shelter where they can be protected from external invasions and violence, living peacefully with other social and cultural groups. Division of the earth on the basis of country seems artificial, but such a concept or idea is embedded in the psyche of all living beings. All living beings, as individuals or groups, want to define their territory. The human desire to have a country or nation is a more elaborate effort of the same basic feeling.Country is a way to have a sense of belonging and rooting oneself in some part of the earth. It can also be a place where many cultures and societies live, grow and evolve peacefully. When country is linked to a particular people, color, religion etc. conflicts will arise. When one country or nation starts thinking of itself as superior to all others, violence and war usually follow. To strengthen one’s own country is Seva, but if that Seva ignores other countries in need of help, then such Seva will create a bondage and prison for a person rather than integral awareness, action and living. Seva for the country is to maintain the rules of law, paying taxes, participate in political life, refuse to participate in corrupt practices, and take actions for the economic well being of the country. Such Seva also includes creating a more open and free system of governance and protecting the environment. Seva for Earth and nature:Nature is our primal and supreme mother who always serves and nurtures us. It is our duty to serve her too.Through nature we are born, through nature we live and in nature we return. We don’t have any other option except to live in harmony with her. Not living in harmony with her will threaten our survival. All of our science, religion, culture and creativity depend upon the generous resources of nature. We have to be kind and generous towards her, not neglectful, hostile and destructive. Since the beginning of life on earth, whatever we have achieved is because of the discovery of nature’s laws and her bountiful resources. Our religions, science, technology, creativity, society and culture are all alive because of life giving nature. She is the provider of all which we need for our sustenance. It’s true that sometimes we have to protect ourselves from her turbulent movements but that is almost negligible compared to what we get from her. Even in her destructive form she tells us to develop an understanding of her laws and to adapt accordingly. Planet earth is an example of her kindness. It is a perfect place for the infinite variety of life, including humans, to take birth, grow, live and fulfill themselves. Seva to earth and nature happens when we are protecting and helping all its beings, both living and non-living. Rocks, water, air, space, plants and animals are elements as important on earth as are human beings. They should be respected and allowed to live in harmony. To disturb the balance between elements of nature is an invitation for catastrophes which would destroy humans on a massive scale; to consider nature as our rival and try to get victory over her is a dangerous proposition and action. Back to the top of page 2. Study and ContemplationStudy and contemplation are necessary for integral awareness, action and living. Receiving secular and spiritual knowledge through literature or direct listening is essential to stay in intimate contact with the world outside and world within.By studying we know about the changing realities of the world outside and we also become acquainted with the inner world of body and mind. By contemplating we apply critical thinking to what was studied. To accept the teachings of science, religion or culture without questioning, without critical thinking, is an invitation to narrowness, fanaticism and blindness rather than to the development of wisdom. All knowledge has to go through the unbiased critical analysis test in our mind or, with other people, through questions and dialogue. Core truth in the world and within us remains the same, but its forms and interpretations change according to time, place and people. Without such changes there would be no progress and growth. A lack of change leads to psychological and spiritual decay and death. Many people continue, or are forced to continue, with those traditions which were appropriate for a certain time, place and environment, but now they are not only irrelevant, they are obstacles to human progress and new insights. Many of the followers don’t even know the meaning behind the rituals and traditions to which they adhere, but still, they follow them blindly. Such dying or dead traditions should be replaced by new and living ones based on new experiences and insight. 3. Observation:Study and critical thinking should be complemented by observation. Observation is the process of developing awareness both within and outside of the person. To become intentionally aware of our own thought process, feelings, body state and also of the outer world with its politics, culture, social structure, and religion is an act of observation. While science’s observations are mainly quantitative, personal observations are qualitative and subjective. They complement each other and give an integral perspective.Through study, contemplation and observation a clearer picture of the world both within and without emerges, which helps create a comprehensive concept of the universe without following any particular ideology, teacher or system. Forming a concept which is in harmony with the person is the beginning of individuation. 4. Experimentation: Integration-Experiment-TranscendenceDharma as cosmic force, energy and law is boundless and without an end and so are its infinite expressions in the form of physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of being and living. That is why no scientist, psychologist or sage will able to say that they have arrived at, or understood, the whole Dharma. The scientist will never be able to comprehend the essence of the whole universe; the psychologist will never understand all which is contained in the mind; and the sage can’t claim that he or she arrived at the final Nirvana, Moksha, Mukti, Salvation or Enlightenment. They drink a hand full of water from the infinite cosmic ocean to quench their thirst and interpret it according to their understanding. There can’t be finality of understanding in any one of those matters because that will put limits on Dharma and, as we know, from matter to spirit there are no boundaries in the cosmos.Dharma as cosmic force has countless dimensions and one can keep on discovering them forever and ever without exhausting them. No body can ever know the whole Truth which gives the possibility of discovering, realizing ever new horizons of Dharma, and experiencing Sat-Chit-Ananda. Such possibility and endeavor needs both humility and courage to move forward, discover new paths and experiment. Humility is needed to pay homage and respect to the scientists, psychologists and sages of the past who explored and experienced new ways of being and living and arrived at new realities of the cosmos. Those insights need to be integrated before we experiment to find the new paths and vistas. Courage is needed, not to take their realizations and words as final authority, and to move on, to experiment and to discover the new dimensions of Dharma. Back to the top of page 5. Ceremony and Worship:Ceremony is a process of repeating thoughts, words and actions to achieve a well defined goal and can be performed at both the physical and mental levels. In a physical ceremony we let go of things, accumulations and wealth which will not be used in the present or future. To accumulate things and wealth for unforeseen future needs is in the nature of human beings but when such an act of accumulation becomes excessive it becomes hoarding. This hoarding creates an imbalance within the individual and society. In a physical ceremony, the person may take stock of the material goods and wealth which she or he possesses and plan how and when to distribute those goods and wealth for the well being of family, society, country and the world.A physical ceremony is also performed to affirm the changes and growth in life and includes festivals, birth, marriage, death and other ceremonies. In a mental ceremony, a person has to let go of that past which is a burden, occuping sacred space and consuming precious energy of mind and body. Memories carrying anger, violence, resentment, fear, hatred, and sorrow condition the mind. The conditioned mind doesn’t allow light and warmth of new life to enter into our being. We may become the victim of physical and mental pathologies and remain unfulfilled. When the mind’s cup is full of old, dark and stagnant memories, how can it be filled with the living sacred waters of the present? When the inner and outer clutter is gone, an empty space comes forth, where nature can play with more freedom both within us and within our home or where we work. Watch the moonlight coming into an empty room through the glass windows and playing freely around you, or a breeze flowing without obstacles through it. Then as morning comes, the sun fills the room with a magnificent orange glow. This is like the inner space after letting go. It is filled with something sacred and flowing that brings a fresh energy of freedom. Inner channels are unclogged and rejuvenated. While physical ceremonies bring well-being to the society, mental ceremonies create well-being within a person. When ceremonies are done with good intentions and awareness, then a time comes when ceremonies are performed within the person spontaneously without effort. They become a part of daily living, expressing connection and affection within and without. Prayer is the heart’s longing to unite and merge into the Dharma or cosmic laws through a known image, idol or deity, to which humanlike qualities have been attributed. Prayer cannot occur in a void or be offered to nothingness and the unknown. In prayer we need some image which may be of a god, goddess, angel, prophet, deity, ancestor, spirit, or elemental force to whom we can offer worship and seek either worldly or otherworldly rewards or freedoms. These images are embedded in our subconscious and so prayer is inwardly directed and fired by emotional energy. Devotion is prayer’s guiding force. In prayer, a person is moved by the desire to surrender oneself to some higher presence and that surrender is an act of transcending the ego or limited self; we become a non-entity before that power. In meditation we face the same transcendence by witnessing our own thoughts and mind, which is a path of intellect. Meditation is calm, non-judgmental awareness and comprehension of the inner and outer world. Discriminatory logic is the light on the path of meditation. Although prayer starts with emotion and meditation with logic, at their peak they meet and become one. In both cases one experiences ego-transcendence. In prayer, it happens in the form of the surrender of one’s self to higher force and laws and in meditation by coming to a point where witnessing is experienced. Both in meditation and in prayer, the light of awareness illuminates dark corners of the mind and burns memories cluttering it. The mechanical part of the memory remains, but the emotional contents of memories are gone. Once the emotional energy of the memories is gone, they can’t influence the person or excite any feeling, which would control the individual and create turmoil. Emotionally charged memories and thoughts are a bad investment of the brain’s precious energy. Those memories live like parasites, consuming more and more energy that could be used in living and solving life’s problems. When in the passion of prayer or the calmness of meditation the past is burnt, all that energy, which was trapped in the emotional part of memory, is released into the brain and body. It is a massive release of energy with which both brain and body vibrate and they are filled with delight. The brain is full of joy, which comes from within. Such a brain is full of affection and loving awareness and ever ready to solve the problems of life without being burdened by them or trying to escape from them. In the beginning, meditation and prayer are efforts of will, similar to any other mental activity, and are not entirely different from the process of self-hypnosis. Our mind lives in the hypnosis of culture, religion and traditions, so the first part of meditation/prayer is to replace religious/cultural hypnosis with our own to gain control over ourselves. It’s better to be hypnotized in our own way rather than by others. Society and culture’s programming is a deep hypnotic spell under the influence of which we may spend our whole lifetime and never know that we didn’t live our true life. Initially we can’t suddenly part ways from this deep hypnotic state induced by culture. The sudden withdrawal of cultural hypnosis would leave us in a meaningless dark void, which would be difficult to face and may paralyse us. That is why we replace culture’s hypnosis with our own thorough prayer and meditation. Once we replace cultural hypnosis with our own, then our own hypnosis is also replaced by surrender or witnessing awareness. On the ground of this surrender and awareness, true individuality emerges and expresses itself through the world, the mind and the body. Both in meditation and in prayer we choose particular words, images and movements, put them into a sequence, and perform them according to a plan. This is all mental and physical activity put together by the mind, but that is the only way to begin on an effortful path towards deeper awareness. We are using the mind in this activity, but now the mind, instead of being an undisciplined force, becomes a disciplined tool to help us arrive at a point where we experience ego transcendence. That is why in the beginning, meditation or prayer is mental, mechanical and repetitive. As we go deeper into them, the process becomes more alive, revealing the inner nature of the mind. When the breakthrough point is reached, it becomes a spontaneous activity. Then, instead of doing meditation and prayer, one becomes meditative or prayerful all the time. Our whole life becomes effortless meditation or prayer, whether we are eating, sleeping, working or making love. Meditation simply happens without a conscious focus upon it. That breakthrough point is actually the point where we experience ego transcendence. Integral PrayerMay the awakened body be hometo a tranquil mind soul blossoms on sacred earth May all live in loving harmony our kind actions bring the Bliss of Conscious Existence. Amen Asti – Asti - Asti The word Mantra comes from two Sanskrit words Man - means mind, and Tra – means transcendence. Mantra is a sound or combination of sounds to transcend the mind. Chanting Mantra is the most powerful tool both in prayer and worship, and also in meditation. Initially Mantra is chanted loudly and later on silently and ultimately it repeats itself without effort. Eventually Mantra leads to the silence which is the goal of Mantra chanting. Integral Mantra:Dharma Deham, Dharma Manas, Dharma Buddhi-AtmanDharma Priya Jan, Dharma Serva Jan, Dharma Desh, Dharma Dhara Dharma Neham, Dharma Ekam, Dharma Hee Gatisheelta Dharma Jeevan, Dharma Chetan, Dharma Hee Ananda Param. Amen Asti-Asti-Asti Back to the top of page 6. Asana or poses:Asana is not an ordinary exercise and after asana the person should not feel tired or drained.There are certain conditions that need to be met for a pose to become Asana.
Nidrasana: Nidrasana or sleep pose is the posture taken when lying in bed to go to sleep. It helps in preserving energy and meditation during sleep. In Nidrasana while lying on the back, legs are crossed at the ankle or shin, and hands are folded in prayer posture resting on the middle of the chest. 7. Pranayam or breathing exercise:Breathing is a unique phenomenon in humans because of its involuntary and voluntary aspects.First of all, breathing happens in the present so whatever we do with breathe is going to be connected with the present moment. Secondly, breathing is a bridge between body and mind and so it is different when we experience different mental and emotional states. If we are calm, breathing is deep and slow. If we feel a deep sense of love, breathing becomes deep and slow again. In anger, the breath is deep and fast while in fear, it is shallow and rapid. In extreme fear, we hold our breath. Thirdly, breathing is partly involuntary and partly voluntary which means that we can intentionally use it to achieve certain states of body and mind. A baby’s breathing is deep, natural belly breathing, whereas most adults breathe through the chest and not from the belly. So, the first goal of any breathing exercise is to achieve belly breathing to make the body and mind calm and relaxed. Ultimately we have to find the gap between inhalation and exhalation and in that gap we experience stillness. It is the same as with chanting or a sound meditation in which we initially chant or sing to calm down the body and mind, but eventually, that singing and chanting will take us to silence. The human mind can’t capture silence or stillness directly so chanting and breathing becomes a vehicle to take it to that end. Sivayama:At birth the breath is different and also when death is approaching it assumes a different type of characteristic pattern. If you watch a person dying the breathing takes a distinct form. A person who is dying breathes deeper and faster with progressively forceful exhalation, reaching a peak and then stops breathing for few moments. Again the cycle is repeated until the breathing becomes shallow and intermittent and then it stops.If this pattern of the breath-of-dying is practised by a normal and healthy person, it is possible to bring the feeling of dying and, by witnessing it, to go beyond that fear. This observation is based on the fact that if there is some inner physiological change in the body or mind, that change expresses itself in a certain type of behaviour; practising that behaviour brings about the same physiological or emotional change although not as deep, intense or as complete as the original inner change brought to the person. There are many examples of this phenomenon. If a person is happy within, then he or she may start dancing or singing, which are natural expressions of joy. But if a sad person starts dancing and singing it is possible to feel joy which may not be as deep and complete as the inner one, but enough to pull the person out of the stuck state. This applies to most human feelings which primarily emerge from inside and express themselves in different human behaviours. In sadness a person may slump down and the eyes may look downward. If a normal person assumed this posture for a few minutes, then that person may experience a feeling of sadness inside. If a sad person stands with a straight spine and neck and looks forward with power and energy, then he or she may feel less sad. The body and mind are connected. The mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, and this is what happens in breathing. This type of breath-of-dying exercise can be practised either in a lying down position or sitting comfortably on a chair. The person, after some period of relaxation, starts breathing progressively deeper and faster while the exhalation becomes longer and longer, coming to the peak of his or her capacity and then holding the breath completely for a few seconds to start the cycle over again. Another kind of breathing that can be practised is Kumbhak or holding the breath either after inhalation or exhalation. Kumbhak, or the period of holding the breath, is gradually increased to the extent of your comfort level. 8. Dhayan or Meditation:Meditation is the path and process of realization of one’s individual and universal biological potential.In this definition of meditation, biological potential means both the physical/physiological and psychological possibilities in a person. Such potential contains the dimension of both individual and universal life and existence. Once the person reaches the peak of his or her individual and universal experience, transcendence may occur. Transcendence is the merging of the individual and the universal into an undivided state, which is beyond any meditation effort or practice. Such a state is beyond time and space. It can only be inferred when the person’s awareness returns to the dual state where the individual and the universal are again separately experienced. Meditation is not a process of thinking although thinking may be used in the beginning as a technique to achieve a meditative state. Meditation technique is defined as the intentional and deliberate awareness of outer the world, sensations in the body and of ones feelings, emotions, thoughts and experiences. The experience of meditation is different at different levels of perception: at the level of the body it is the awareness of sensations of pain, pressure, touch, tingling, numbness etc.; at the level of feeling it is the awareness of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feelings; at the level of emotions it is awareness of waves of primary and secondary emotions; and at the level of thinking it is the awareness of a stream of thoughts and of different types of thinking. In essence, meditation always moves beyond the experience at any level. To begin with, meditation requires the use of techniques put together by the mind. Later on it becomes spontaneous and effortless. At this effortless point, life itself becomes the path and process of realization; in other words, life itself becomes a meditation. Whatever we think, speak or do, positive or negative, is a meditation because meditation is not a virtue, morals, good behavior or thinking; it is the awareness of all that exists. In its field of observation it includes darkness or light, life or death, moral or amoral and good or bad. The process of meditation is non-judgmental observation or awareness. Meditation is either a focus on a certain image, word, thought or point, or it is a calm, non-judgmental awareness and comprehension of both the inner and outer worlds. In both aspects meditation techniques are cognitive in nature. The word cognitive means a technique or process that is put together in a particular sequence by thoughts. It doesn’t contain emotions as its primary force. Discriminatory logic is the light on the path of meditation. Logical analysis is an important tool for meditation. There is no need to believe in god, God, or a creator, to engage in meditation, although most people who meditate do have such beliefs. The ideas of a void and nothingness are part of the meditation vocabulary. Ordinary consciousness is usually focussed selectively on the outside world, and there is little awareness of what is happening within the mind, although our behaviour in the external world is the expression of what lies in the mind. The mind is the root of all actions and reactions happening in the outer world. When we try to change our reactions in the outer world, we don’t look at our mind in its completeness. We focus on outer reactions and modify it, which in fact changes nothing. This is because we leave the mind, the root cause of such reactions or behaviour, untouched. This selective attention to the outside world, and almost no attention to the inner world of the mind, leads to a confused and confined state. Life is passive in this state and dependent upon external forces, with the centre of life lying outside the person. Because of inattention to the structure of our own mind, there is no centre within. This life of ignorance towards one’s own mind results in dependence on chaotic outside forces, which then leads to turmoil in a person’s life. As soon as attention is turned inward, without ignoring the outside world, the centre of activity moves within the person. The person is centred and is no more a passive instrument of external forces of the world and environment. Gaining consciousness of the inner world makes a person aware of the roots of his or her predictable reactions to the events. The motives of one’s behaviour are understood clearly. They are mostly an effort to escape fear, and are largely programmed by culture and society. The person discovers that what he or she thought of as his or her own new thinking or mind, was actually the old in guise of something new, and came from the past. Old programming was given to the person under a new name and form, and the person was in the hypnotic spell of this programming. By paying attention with relaxed awareness, a person discovers that his thoughts, beliefs and behaviour are mostly, but not wholly, programmed by forces outside of him. A person discovers that he is not centred within, and most of the actions taken are not his own. Their centre of origin is outside the person. The discovery that one’s mind is programmed, that one is not centred within, is the first sign of awakening and also the beginning of the meditation. Relaxation is an important part of this process of becoming attentive and meditative. A person living in stress doesn’t have the time or energy to pay attention or feel focussed within. She is too busy in the world solving external problems, an activity which is actually an escape from the deeper self. Various methods or meditations may help in bringing our attention to this culture’s programming or hypnotic trance. Although, in the beginning, the planned and intentional meditation itself is a form of self-hypnosis, it is under the control of the person who is doing it. To begin with, meditation is auto-hypnosis which is replacing the cultural hypnosis. In meditation, a person starts moving from focussing on the outer world to the universe of mind consciously. This conscious movement is meditation and awakening. As the meditation advances, the darkness of ignorance and unconsciousness is replaced by the light of consciousness. But meditation is still an intentional activity. A basic quality of the human brain is that it can never be conditioned completely. That is why the mind, although usually trapped in its prison-like universe, always has a door. Meditation is the action to find that door. If the mind was totally a closed prison without an opening, then all efforts would be of no avail and even meditation would not be useful. Early signs of meditation are relaxation and the appearance of more thoughts than usual. Relaxation comes from less stimulation of the senses, and more thoughts result from becoming more aware of parallel streams of thoughts running through the brain. These thoughts were always there but because of our inattention, we were not aware of them. During meditation some people see colours, visions, prophets, angels, gods and goddesses. Some may hear sounds or smell various aromas, or feel light or heavy, cold or warm. Some experience energy sensations that cause a sudden startle response or jerking of a limb. These experiences simply indicate that meditation is progressing. The person should not get attached to these experiences, or else they may become an obstacle to deepening the meditation. As the meditation advances, there may be brief moments of witnessing one’s own mind. During these moments consciousness becomes like a flame and burns the emotional contents of the mind. It leaves the ashes of the past, which contain only the sketches of the memories, but do not have any emotional energy. This brief witnessing releases a huge amount of energy that was invested in the emotional contents of memories. Those memories could be of grief, guilt, fear, hatred or resentment and also of joy, excitement, rewards and achievements. If meditation becomes deeper then a moment may come when the witnessing becomes spontaneous and continues all the time without effort. At this point, intentional meditation ends and life itself becomes an effortless meditation. This new spontaneous meditation is not of the mind, but goes beyond it and has the quality of non-judgement and silence. This silence of natural meditation dissolves the facade of the mind so that one is left with few or no thoughts, leading to the collapse of the structure of the mind. The mind is made up of thoughts, and if thoughts are not there then there is no mind. “Thoughtless” means that there is at least one thought, which is the state of collapse or oblivion or psychological death of the mind. The technological mind or innate intelligence of the body, which is essential for the survival of the body, remains intact. Through thoughts that belong to the past and the future, the mind weaves the web of immortality. Thoughts are the safety castles in which the mind creates dreams and through those dreams it seeks its continuity. That is why unless the structure of thoughts collapse, a person cannot face the fact of death or mortality of oneself. Thoughts and dreams hide death under their veil to escape fear. During meditation when these thoughts diminish and then stop, the web of illusion is gone and the person experiences a void. A word of caution here: when we say “thoughtlessness” that means that still there is one thought which exists within a person. That thought is that there are no more thoughts or there is a void within. In that moment of one thought or thoughtlessness, all the person’s seeking and searching, which is nothing else but the constant process of becoming, also stops leading to the state of being. This stopping of the mind is a psychological event. The innate intelligence of the body was never a problem in life because it never created dreams of immortality. The innate intelligence of the body continues to function without interruption. In these moments of psychological death, the accumulated fear, jealousy, hatred, violence, attachment and anger come to an end, and only those feelings that are essential for survival are left. The body’s innate intelligence, to carry out the ordinary functions of day-to-day life, is left undisturbed. Finding food, seeking shelter, getting clothes, doing jobs and moving from one place to another is not hampered, though they may become more fluid and easy to perform. Innate intelligence or non-psychological awareness is part of life and is inseparable from it. This innate intelligence dies when the body dies. Meditation is a movement from less awareness towards more awareness. In this movement we may experience the following stages or states: relaxation, the beginning of awareness; healing; joy, mind-body integration and witnessing; and tranquillity or tasting the universe. Back to the top of page Neh or Love Meditation – The Theory: The world is a projection of the mind. If we are sad the world looks sad; and if we are happy the world feels like a happy place. If we are full of fear then people, places and events bring fear into our hearts; and if we are without fear, we experience freedom every where. Our heaven and hell are within us and we project them onto the world around us. A sunset may be beautiful for the person experiencing joy within and the same sunset may be sad for the person who has, for instance, just lost a beloved one. The same is true about love. If we love ourselves then the world is full of love. If we are hateful or fearful of our own bodies, emotions and thoughts, if we are negative towards ourselves, it is difficult for us to love other people. We project the rejection and resentment that we feel for ourselves onto our surroundings. We may act or pretend as if we love others. We may even have convinced ourselves of this love, but such love wouldn’t emerge from the depths of our heart. Such love would be the fulfillment of a need, or a social formality. We would use the word love but it wouldn’t carry the energy of intimacy and tender feelings. Neh means affection or love. This meditation is about loving our own self - our body, feelings, emotions and thoughts - and expressing affection toward ourselves. Is it possible to love ourselves through a technique? No. A meditation technique can’t create love but it can uncover or discover the love which is hidden deep within us. Love is the essential component for physical and psychological survival. It is always there although it may be buried deep within us, disrupted by social, cultural and religious conditioning. Religious, political, cultural and social institutions constantly talk about love and harmony within and without but through their actions they create divisions within a person. All cultures, religions, political points of views and societies congratulate themselves on having the answers, on being the best. They create divisions by labeling others - bad, old, outdated, inferior, evil, superstitious etc. Individuals are likewise subjected to cultural and religious rules, regulations and judgments. Such programming generates personal feelings of right and wrong, of good and bad, of judgment and fear. This results in much self-hatred and guilt about one’s own body, emotions and thoughts wherever they deviate from the cultural, religious, political or societal norm. This is not about narcissistic attachment to, or obsession with, our body or mind. In narcissism the absorption or attachment with self is so great that the person becomes completely oblivious to the needs or desires others. People become merely tools for one’s self-gratification. A narcissistic person lives in isolation away from the world and nature. Such a person is like a stagnant pool of water disconnected from the river of life. This person slowly decays and dries up. Rarely do we love ourselves totally. Sometimes we are attached to ourselves and become self-absorbed. More often however, we either don’t like ourselves, or we actively hate ourselves. We repress or ignore those parts of our being which, based on our programming, we feel are unworthy and ugly. This results in a fragmented self. Instead of feeling an integrated wholeness within, we divide our self into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ parts. These parts are in constant conflict with each other. The ‘bad’ part has to repressed, ignored and rejected by the ‘good’ part. This leads to fragmentation. A person with a fragmented self can’t live a full life. Neh meditation is a technique of non-judgmental loving of all the parts of self, which includes physical, emotional and thought components. Such an act of loving is a movement from fragmentation to wholeness, from self hatred and guilt to affection, and from surviving with self image to living with reality. It is action towards total self-acceptance. If we love ourselves and feel affection towards our body, feelings and thoughts then such love and affection will fill the vessel of our body and mind. This nectar of love will spill all around us. Our whole existence will be soaked in it. Then life’s nascent plant will grow, become a tree and flower, and give shelter to those who need it. If we go deeply into Neh meditation with our whole heart and energy then the technique will become our nature, a drop of water will become the ocean and a moment will become eternity. In such a transformation, self-love and self-affection becomes love and affection for all. Neh or Love Meditation – The Technique:Sitting comfortably in a chair or on the floor, remember some moments when your body and mind were filled with love and affection.You are not an observer of these moments but are re-living them. You are feeling the love and affection of those moments, here and now. Allow that love and affection to fill you and to flow from head to toe. This feeling of love and affection is filling your
Allow your whole being to merge into that feeling of love. Now feel the energy of love and affection in your body, particularly in the area of your heart. Allow the energy in your body and heart to flow towards your hands, fingers and thumbs. Your hands, fingers and thumbs are vibrating with loving energy. With your hands, fingers and thumbs, slowly and tenderly touch, and gently press:
The same meditation is to be done if you are healing or loving another person. In most traditional meditations the emphasis is on transformation of thoughts and emotions, not on the lower centers of the body and brain. The following five meditations are used to energize the body and awaken cellular consciousness or the mind of the cells which are normally neglected. Avtaran Meditation: Avtaran means descending from above. In this mediation in walking/standing or sitting posture, visualize and feel the energy and vibrations that form a vast light source above the head. Light, whether golden, blue or white, liquid or ordinary, is slowly descending into your head space filling it up. From there it flows down to your neck and chest, filling them. Then two streams of light branch out, to the left and right upper limbs, filling them to the palms and fingers. Then the light fills the abdomen and pelvis, branches out into two streams to flow through the thighs, knees, legs and feet, and finally through the soles of the feet making its way into the ground. The flow of the light is dynamic and continuous from above your head into the ground, flowing through each cell, organ and system of the body, washing and cleaning them with fresh energy. Each cell of the body is lit from within and the body glows from within. This light also surrounds you, extending six inches to one foot around the physical body. Sound meditation: Om Deham Asti Asti AstiWith closed eyes, feel and visualize that the body is hollow and empty. Then chant the above mantra silently and let the vibrations fill the emptiness. Allow the body and its cells to vibrate with the mantra.Inner Yajna meditation: Om Deham Asti Asti SwahaWith closed eyes, visualize and feel that the body is hollow and empty. Allow a smokeless fire to fill up the emptiness. Focus on this fire while chanting the above mantra.Inner light meditation:Let a smokeless white or golden flame burn within the emptiness of the body and allow the mind to focus on it. The light will fill up the emptiness and the body will glow. Allow the body to be surrounded by the glow.Virat Meditation:Allow the body’s boundary to expand until the whole universe and its structures are contained within it.Back to the top of page 9. Pilgrimage and Fasting:Travel and a pilgrimage are two different experiences. Traveling is a pleasure movement. While traveling, many people not only want to maintain the comforts and distractions which they had at home, but they actually want more heightened experiences in a short period of time. It may be food, entertainment or sightseeing. They don’t want to stay long enough in one place to develop a better understanding of the place and people. A physical, emotional and intellectual status quo is maintained and there is little possibility of inner change. Old boundaries stay intact and there is little inner growth. Sometimes surface sympathy is experienced towards people, which may be accompanied by criticism and comparison.Pilgrimage is traveling, not for pleasure or comfort, but to challenge the self physically, emotionally and intellectually. Pilgrimage is done with humility and with an open mind, and one is ready to face the unknown any moment. Pilgrimage brings strain on the person which may take him/her to a point where old boundaries and limits are broken. Such breaking of the boundary of old self bring changes, transformation and the emergence of a new layer of self or new self, which is deeper and broader than the old one. It may lead to the union of body and mind (emotions, intellect) by which spiritual self or soul is born. In Samagra movement, fasting has two aspects. The first aspect is more important and relates to withdrawal from what we don’t need. Every day we consume an excess of food, water, space, energy and wealth; this creates sickness, either to the consumer, or to some near or remote non-living and living beings who suffer from lack because of what we have taken in excess. With our limited planetary resources, excess is compensated for by a deficiency for someone, somewhere. The second reason for fasting is to simply withdraw from the basic requirements of food, water, space, energy and wealth. Such fasting helps in breaking the comfortable and pleasurable boundaries which we have experienced and built on since the beginning of our life. This fasting has the same effects as pilgrimage - bringing new insights into our own being and breaking down the structure of the old self to take us to new dimensions of living. Seva (service with affection)Implementation: Mainly in IndiaIn Samagra (Integral), an integral perspective in thinking, action and living will be maintained. At all levels of the program, whether for the workers, the trainees, the visitors or those served in the field, an integral perspective and action would be the basic founding principle for Samagra work.To maintain such integral perspective five basic concepts will be applied at different levels of Samagra program.
Problem based learning:Problem based learning’s objective is to focus on a specific problem related to any activity or area. It may be within the organization or outside in the field area and may be in health, education, income generation or in the field of environment. Priority will be given to a problem that is urgent and needs rapid solution.PBL is a group exercise that allows a whole group to analyze the problem and after adequate discussion to try to find an integral solution. Each member of the group will have an opportunity to speak and express his/her view fearlessly. Because such learning is integral, the facilitator will make sure that the shy or hesitant person will get an opportunity to fully participate in the exercise. In PBL there is no dominant force and the group’s analysis and solution will be acceptable to all. The role of the facilitator is not to dominate the discussion but to help the discussion and dialogue move in the right direction. The facilitator helps the weaker members of the group to speak and, whenever needed, sums up the main points and suggests further research about the topic if more information is needed to find the solution. Interactive dialogue:Interactive dialogue is a free discussion revolving around a specific problem and its solution. Such dialogue is based on the principle of equality. The difference between PBL and IAD is that for PBL a group of people is needed but IAD could happen between two individuals or in the group setting.Participatory assessment:PA is done with the people who are going to be benefited by the program. Those people can be within TS or outside in the village, town or city. For PA assessment people can either be approached directly (in individualistic societies) or through elders or influential people (in traditional communities). PA is an informal conversation or dialogue which takes place in the natural surrounding of the people about whom we want to get information. It is designed to help us to understand the problem, its possible solutions, mode of implementation of the program to solve the problem and also to assess the contribution of the people for whom the program is going to work.PA should happen at such a time, day and season when there will be least disruption in the routine life of the people. During PA, the facilitator can give a helping hand in the work the people are doing. Although the conversation will be focused on a specific topic or problem, if people don’t want to focus on that particular topic then the direction of the dialogue can be changed, to come again to the topic whenever the environment is appropriate for such dialogue to take place. Participatory study and observation (PSO): Canada/IndiaPSO will be for the visitors both from India and abroad who would like to visit Samagra, go to the field area to observe the work done, or study the general environment and culture of the place. These people will be new to the region and culture, so their participation in the program will be limited. However, they will be encouraged to make keen observations of the work in progress and to study the culture with some participation in the daily lives of the people they are studying and observing. Visitors will be allowed to do volunteer work appropriate for the region but without any fixed targets. Samagra will ensure their participation in activities will be within the norms of the region and culture.Participatory work:Last, but not the least in importance, is the participation of those people in the program activities who are going to directly benefited from it. Without a contribution of some kind, which may include provision of space, labour or goods, the program wouldn’t be implemented. Without active participation, people may become passive recipient of goods and services, which would increase their dependence on charity rather than encourage them to become self reliant in the future.After these five concepts underlying the T/S program, we would like to explore the implementation of the program at four different levels. The first level is the apex of the program where administrators, planners, contributors etc. meet and begin to lay down the foundation of the specific program. At this apex level the integrity of the program will be ensured by going through the following check lists: a. It will be ascertained that the program doesn’t have such forces and elements within it which may have vested interests or ulterior motives and who may try to influence the direction of the work. Such motives may be
And the last check list is to find a balance between
The second level is at the level of the workers. At the level of the workers it is be important that they be well trained in what they do. If they don’t have enough knowledge or skills for the work they are given, then the program will arrange for training both within Samagra and/or in an outside institution. A standard of knowledge or skills will be maintained amongst workers to produce excellent integral results. Training and expertise in particular work doesn’t mean that a person has only good professional knowledge and training. Such expertise and skill also includes how much one knows about the working area, can connect with people and speak their language and communicate with them according to their culture and religion. It is possible that a person may not have a college or university training but be very good in his or her work because of connecting to the local people and inspiring them to participate in integral work. Workers will go through Integral awareness, Action and Living workshops to become familiar with the concepts of how various components in a person (body, emotions, intellect and soul) are intimately connected with the family, society/culture, country and nature/earth and how harmony of all components leads to the experience of Sat-Chit Ananda which is the essence of Dharma. In these interactive/PBL workshops they will become familiar with how their own development and growth is intimately connected with the growth and development of others. Workshops for the people outside Samagra will also be based on the same core ideas of Integral awareness, action and living. Whether the workshops are for health training, income generation program or spiritual in nature, we would explore the interdependence and interconnectedness of the economy, environment, health, education, politics and spirituality. In essence, the message will be conveyed that everything is dependent on everything else, and for the growth and well being of one the well being of all other components is necessary. One other group contacting Samagra will be visitors and guests from other parts of India or the world. These groups and people will be allowed to do participatory observation and study in the program. No research will be permitted in the Samagra program unless such research becomes the objective of Samagra. There would be certain rules for the visiting groups and individuals based on local culture and traditions so that local population will be comfortable. Hostile reactions should be avoided as they may affect the Samagra program adversely. And lastly, concerning the people outside of the organization for whom the program is put in place. As we emphasized, before the program is be finalized, there will be a detailed participatory assessment in the field with the people who will decide about what problem they want to deal with, how they want to solve it according to the local culture and traditions, and to suggest the mode of implementation of the plan. The whole program will include participatory action in which beneficiaries will directly or indirectly be involved in the program. Targets or goals of the program will be flexible and change according to the priorities identified by both workers and village people. There wouldn’t be any pressure to spend resources in a specified period of time or finish the program in a hurry while compromising its quality. Back to the top of page Samagra will function at many levels:Resource center:Samagra resource centre will plan and conduct various training workshops depending on Samagra needs and demands from other organization. Most of these workshops will be organized within the campus of Samagra (Integral) but occasionally, if needed, could be arranged in peripheral working areas or at the campus of another organization. Samagra resource centre is also going to be a place for the Integral movement (Awareness, Action and Living) which may be facilitated by organizing informal or formal gatherings, meetings, discussion groups and producing appropriate printed material about the movement. Samagra is going to be a focal point from where a new practical vision of development, growth and evolution may emerge.Through the resource center, the following training workshops may be arranged: Health: India only
Physical Health:Health training workshops will be primarily for village health workers and village midwives who may belong to Samagra or come from other organizations. Depending on the need of the workers and the feedback given by the organizations sending their workers for the training, health training will include generational awareness or health education on many topics including mother and child health, diarrhea, TB and nutrition. In training, emphasis will be placed upon preventive health care - immunization, food, water hygiene - and remedies for basic problems such as common infectious diseases, pain, injuries and other emergencies.Mental health:During mental health training participants will learn the basic concepts of emotional and cognitive/intellectual health, how to recognize some major mental health problems including depression, anxiety and schizophrenia, and how to refer them to the appropriate centers or healers.Spiritual health:Spiritual health training will make participants aware of the importance of maintaining cultural traditions which are contributing to the well being of the people, without seeing them as superstitious, as labeled by others. They will also experience gentle yoga, prayer, meditation and breath work.Income generation:In income generation workshops, trainees will learn to form co-operatives, arrange small scale loans, manufacture specific quality products and do the book keeping. Specific emphasis will be given to finding a market for finished products and to ensuring that the income generation program is not damaging the local environment.Acupuncture:As per the recommendation of the WHO, a 300 hour training program will be organized to train health professionals or others who have a biology background, in the science and art of acupuncture. Training will also include concepts of Prakirti (body-mind constitution) from the Ayurvedic (Indian Healing system) tradition. There will also be components of mind-body medicine including gentle Yoga, Breath work or Pranayama (Breathing exercises) and Meditations. The training program may be completed either in small workshops scattered over several months or through a six week long intensive training. Local material will be used for the training.Yoga, Meditation and Authentic Self: Canada/IndiaThese workshops will be appropriate for health professionals who want to familiarize themselves with the theory and practice of integral health, for those who are sick, and for those who want to explore mind-body connections. These workshops will include an intensive training in yoga, breathing exercises, meditation, emotional and cognitive work. The total duration of the program may be between 5 to 7 days per course.Integral evolution workshops: Canada/IndiaThese workshops may be of 5 to 7 days duration, during which the meaning of Dharma and the experience of Dharma as Sat-chit- Ananda (Existence-Awareness-Bliss) will be explored through an interactive dialogue.Through a theoretical and experiential session, an understanding of the body, emotions, intellect and soul (as constituents of a person or microcosm) and family, society/culture, country and nature/earth (as the components of the macrocosm outside the person) will be given. A particular emphasis will be placed on the exploration of the linkages between the micro and macro cosmos through the principles of Harmony, Unity and Movement. Other Workshops: both Canada/IndiaFreedom from Fear:Path of Self Actualization: Chakra (Energy centers) & Kundalini (Energy) Meditation: A Path of Healing & Transformation Energy medicine: Joy of Healing Archetype and Constitution: A Journey into Self-knowledge Pilgrimage: Canada/IndiaBack to the top of page Back to Books | Being and Becoming | Meditation | Freedom from Fear | To The Unknown | Being and Becoming
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