Cold Showers, Yogi Tea, Parsley

It is not my projection that you are a human being. But you are. And as a human, you are what you are. Good, bad, right, wrong, happy, unhappy, sick, healthy, there are many facets. And if we look to all facets you have, in spite of all facet, there is a one fact. Are you, you? And that’s not true. You know when you deal with your life as you want to deal with your life, you have the right to deal with your life; the way you want to look, the way you want to eat, the way you want to be, the way you want to suffer, the way you want to be … Whatever you do and whether you are born to belong to God or God belongs to you, something like that, but are you, you? Are you a bunch of solidified, pasteurized ideas, which cannot change. Think about it.

All what you have become is, somebody which you are not. The circumstances, the experience, the sicknesses, the betrayals, the treacheries, the happiness, friendship, brainwash, whatever you are going to call it, I am not going to blame anybody. But, I am sixty-four year old and I have constantly fought. I had a big fight with this thing that “I am me, I am not an opinion, I am not an action, I am not a status, I am not a institution, I am not real, I am not, not real…” Beyond all what is imaginable, in existence, in feelings, in reality, in non-reality, still I hold myself as ‘me.’ Can you even think of it? But what is the idea? I mean to say what do you think you are? There is a one place for you, within you where you can hang in and not be touched! You do not know the joy of it, you do not understand. This is how it starts.

“I have a wife, I have children, I have a boyfriend, I have a sexual friend, I have a married man…”

What, whatever you, you think. Whatever you have is a gift. It’s not yours. Gift is never personal. Enjoy it, have it, do whatever you want to do with it, I am not interfering. I am not quoting ethics to you, but gift is a gift. If you ever take gift as yours, you will drift into a pit from you will never come out. If wife thinks husband is a gift, if husband thinks wife is a gift, they will never fight. Gifts don’t fight. Do they fight? Have you ever looked in the mirror how much you spend money on being beautiful? Have you seen on your behavior how much energy you spend being idiot? Have you, have you ever understood?

One day I was laughing, there was a doctor and she was a doctor. Husband and wife were doctors. And they came as my guests and they started fighting with each other. I didn’t say anything, I enjoyed it. It was a free movie. Soap opera! And she said, “You are stupid, you have come in the presence of a holy man, you shut up.”

He say, “You shut up, I want to ask question.”

And neither he asked question nor he shut up, nor she could shut him up and they had a half-an-hour the most beautiful show, free of cost. And I said, “Who gave them the degree? I mean, who made them PhDs?”

The lady was MD and man was PhD. Very successful people. He works for a very high classified post and she is a medical doctor. And they both had a quarrel with each other.

And today I ask one of my girl, I said, “May I ask….” Because I saw somebody having the bangs over the glasses, I mean to say it was just like the dog which can’t see. So naturally it created a curiosity in me and I said, “Could you tell me why people put these bangs?”

Because that creates fear in your personality. It’s a very psychological defective thing to cover your forehead. This area should never be covered, doesn’t matter what you do, and she said,

“To not show these wrinkles.”

Students: (Laughter).

Ha, don’t show wrinkles, but you will be always be phobic. Look at the exchange of price. Because this triangle is the porous bone, which is meant for light during the day and hairs are bad conductor of heat and electricity and both won’t go. It is amazing. The only first time in the world this psychology was used by Kublai Khan, to slave the Chinese population and he used this psychology that any, every Chinese woman will have like that, you saw the doll bangs? And every man will be shaved up to half head and if not, they can be slaughtered on the spot. It was used as a psychology, it’s a, what you call this, fear therapy. For generations! Now I didn’t know it was a fashion. I didn’t have to do anything with it, because I don’t have bangs. So what do I know?

But, you know, we want to hide things, what is wrong having wrinkles, tell me? What’s so bad about it? I mean you are forty-five year old and you have wrinkles. Think of those who died at twenty-two, without wrinkles.

Students: (Laughter).

Ha? They are dead and gone. Twenty-two. They never had wrinkles. And how much you can avoid wrinkles? And what is so bad dying? What is so bad getting old? That’s bad being you as you. You will never accept ‘you.’ You know, I mostly I don’t speak very frankly, because you will be hurt. Then I am supposed to say things in between, you know, read between the lines.

How more stupid a person can be in intelligence and in consciousness when you don’t accept yourself? I will never dress myself for anybody. Never. Never. I like to look beautiful to myself. I want to look beautiful to me, to my Guru, to my God, to my consciousness. I want to be excellent and elegant for myself. Not for anybody, who the hell is anybody can do me anything? If I don’t have ‘me’, everything else of mine for anybody is as wrong as a lie can be. And when you start, first step on untruth, how much you can make it?

Think sometime, just understand how stupid we are and how much false we live and then we expect everybody to be truthful! Then we expect everybody to love me and love us and so we can live happily thereafter! I mean, you have stories to believe but for God’s sake, understand where is the challenge. Challenge is just to be you. In the all hotchpotch of this planet and all teachings and feelings and, you know, somebody was telling me, “Today we are the pioneers in this and we are pioneers in this, and we are not selling ourself right,” and I said, “Thank God, we are not selling ourself right, wrong, even. We are not.” If we are not selling ourself, but, where they are going to go?

Where this humanity is going to go? They don’t have an answer. We have the answer. Why not do we wait? Have patience. One day everybody has to drink yogi tea, whether you like it or not. There is no way, there is no way ultimately to get rid of the stress and move your liver other than this formula, which is thousand and thousands of years old.

There was once a time, the Sikhs’ home you go, you smell yogi tea pot, from two blocks! Now not. Not at all. Now they drink coffee, I know. It’s not that, now they are rich. Now even yogi tea is a instant yogi tea, they don’t drink. Other people drink. But our people don’t drink. A one thing for centuries a man found out a formula, not I found it, I just thought it will be better for liver. Just for liver. It’s good, it’s tasty, it is nice, no, nobody drinks it. But in those days, when we were young in ’60s, we were totally over-rotten by drugs and dragged by those stuff, we wanted to recuperate, then we understood. We took it as a savior. But now we don’t. Now it shall always save you. Something is not to sell, not to sell, not to push, not to… It is something to have. Carrot juice have to have. You don’t like carrot juice, don’t like carrots, it’s fine. Nobody is going to ask you to like carrots. Zucchini, you have to have.

There are certain things in this nature you have to have. You know I go to restaurants, it’s very funny. You ask any plate, doesn’t matter what, they put little parsley over it. Have you seen that little thing? And the first thing the idiot does, take that parsley, put it on the side. Can you believe this? Can you understand that? The idea is to pick the parsley and eat it, chew it first and then eat the dish. The parsley on the tip of the dish is the pre-demand of the dish. The maker knows it, the eater doesn’t.

I was that day eating with a person and dish came with a parsley on the top and he picked it up and I picked it up. He say, “You want it, sir?”

I say, “Yes.” And I say, “Give this whole dish to me.”

“Why?”

I say, “You can’t eat it. Because this parsley should be eaten first and then you eat the stuff. Because the parsley, this little parsley will go, it will stimulate the kidneys and this dish you are eating is heavy, it will clog the kidneys. Maker is not a idiot, you are an idiot. Parsley is for the health of the kidney. That’s what they put there. This, this is not a decoration piece.”

This little thing… Weren’t we all right without Siri Ved?

Students: (Laughter).

We didn’t have any problem. Now it is okay? Now. I think he doesn’t eat parsley at all. Okay? Now. I didn’t touch it, don’t worry. Now wait a minute now, this, you mean this is bad and that’s good? Is this guy American? Can you check his…? Can you check from which planet he has come? I mean, I can’t believe he is with me for twenty-two years, never one day he doesn’t do this. It’s amazing! Now you don’t hear it at all. First, there was something, no, no, no, no, it is all his, he seeks attention, you know this… It’s a psychological sickness, it’s nothing, nothing so wrong, it’s okay. Yeah, now what?

Siri Ved: (—-)

YB: Now something is wrong with your head, that’s the problem. There is nothing wrong with the system. System can always be put to order. Now what? Okay? No? Yeah? Little bit. See this is what he is going to do. Somebody went to pick up a girlfriend. He started, she started brushing the hair. This is what Siri Ved does. When the class time happens, this is what she does. Some wire is loose, something is not connected, so everybody knows who Siri Ved is.

Students: (laughter).

He is a funny guy. Are you married or divorced? Maybe some woman can change your head, God knows. Okay now? Is it okay? So now Siri Ved is recognized? Now give him a hand.

You have to have carrot juice and you have to eat carrot, if you need your teeth. There is no, no substitute for it. There is no substitute for zucchini. There is no substitute for yogi tea, there is no substitute for yogurt, there is no substitute on this planet for turmeric, the most sexiest, healthiest healing herb on this planet. There is no substitute for golden seal, not all. There is no substitute for 7R, doesn’t matter you jump up, down, hate it or like it. It doesn’t matter. It has the aspirin and it has the cinchona quinine, and which controls the nervous system and which controls the blood thickness and thinness, according to the (?). It’s very precise formula. There is nothing you can do.

There are certain things in life you have to have. You have to be your own doctor for a while. And then when something fails, go to a doctor. You can’t be waiting “All right, I blow up everything and then I go to a doctor.” It won’t happen. It will never work out, you have to have a cold shower whether you like it or you hate it, doesn’t matter. There is no medical human system that you can open up your capillaries other than cold shower. And cold shower means cold shower. Cold shower doesn’t mean huh, huh, hoohahhahoo, huh. This is not a cold shower. I saw somebody taking a cold shower; went in, huh, huh, hoohahhahoo, huh; I say, “What? What happened?”

“I have taken cold shower.”

I say, “This is no damn cold shower. Get in. And now, massage your whole body.”

“It’s very cold!”

“That I know. I follow the rule. Come on. And you massage your body under this damn cold water till your body tells you it is no more cold. That’s the cold shower.”

It means all the capillaries are open and…

Come on, I was waiting, where were you? Today is your birthday, you have to sit here and meditate by my side. Then look great. Right? And straight? Right? And look, and just like, like a yogi, right? Good. And let everybody do anything but you have to keep doing.

That’s a cold shower. It means all the organs in the body the capillaries are open and blood supply has been resumed and the blood has come to the outer skin, to fight out the cold, it means no wrinkle, no that cream, what they call it, A-something? (?).

Student: (——-).

YB: Rejine… something? All that money can be saved. There is no need to be stupid and spend those hours and hours and dollars and dollars. On one Saturday, when you are off, you have to take couple pounds of yogurt and lemon and turmeric and make a powder, like a paste. And put it on your body, let it dry. Let it dry. And ladies, inside out. You mean, you understand what I am saying? And then, you will use water and couple hours to take it off. And you will have a skin of a baby!

So there are certain rules. There are certain ways to life. Yeah, take narayan oil, massage your body. Right? Go under cold shower, you will be on fire. And avoid membrane, otherwise you will go to emergency hospital. No way. But if you can avoid that, and massage yourself with a narayan oil and go under cold shower, your body will be on fire, for couple minutes. But you will not hurt. You will not have millions of problems which you can otherwise get. Because it will penetrate into the whole system and take care of you. Be yourself, something for yourself. Mentally, physically, spiritually, these are the three things you have. If your spirit goes off, you will be depressed. If your mind does not provide the caliber, you, you will be tired. If your physical body doesn’t come through, you will look stupid. Doesn’t matter how dressed up you are something, moment you go to a certain place or certain talk or party, eh-eh-eh, and you will start falling apart. What is the use of that? I mean, what is this God, God you are all the time crying when you cannot handle your own things into one gear?

Without taking care of the body and its nervous system and its circulatory system and its glandular system, you will never have a body. Without opening up the Chakras, without meditating, clear the subconscious becoming conscious of your whole system and being, you will have no caliber of mind. And without invoking in you the experience of ecstasy, you will never command the spirit when you need it, and you will fail. You will become a victim of your own scandal. You don’t need enemies. I don’t believe any enemy you need. I think you are your own enemy.

I am not interested in anything, I am very interested in the aura of a student. When I see the frequency and the arc line are man matching, I take a very personal interest, “Hey don’t do this, hey, don’t go this way; hey, stop, be yourself, hey.” You know. Sometime they listen, sometime they don’t. When they don’t, so be it. It’s not my responsibility. I don’t want to control anybody, because I don’t want to control myself. I want to be a free person, independent person. I want to elevate myself, I want to enjoy myself, what myself is. I want everybody to do it.

How come you start with a man and a husband and a wife and a beloved and a lover and whatever and after two, three, four, five, six years you draw knives at each other! Why? Because you lack communication. Because the development of you is you, him is him, her is her, it is never together. You do not know as human to develop yourself in unisonness. Develop. ‘I want to do what I want to do, I want to think what I want to think.’ And you know we feel that if I ask you to listen to me, and you listen to me, it’s a slavery. Why you go to college then? Just to learn. It’s always better to listen to a learned person and experience and become learned. Only listening is not enough. Experience it. If it’s wrong, go back and say, “You told me this, I did this, look this hell has created.” Face the person.

Learning is a experience process, learning is not a philosophy. It’s not a bookish knowledge. If it’s a, had it a bookish knowledge, there are libraries, you don’t need anything. You don’t need a teacher. And teacher is not to be worshipped. That is where you are most stupid western in the world. Teacher is not to be worshipped. Teacher is to be challenged. Teacher is to ask questions, teacher is to ask him, “Tell me.”

You western, God knows what has gone wrong with you! Oh Swamiji, heyheyhey; what heyheyhey will do for you? Nothing. It’s such a word I can’t believe it. Hey, hey, hey; I went to this World Parliament, everybody started touching my feet, I say, “I am going to fall, I am not perfectly healthy yet. Don’t do this.”

Just, oh it is, it’s a, it’s a, what they say, “It is a tradition to fall at your feet.”

I say, “No, no, no, no, no. It’s a tradition to fall at my feet to learn something, not to make me fall.”

You know, I am not that kind of a teacher. If you have met me, ask me question, I will give you the answer. We’ll be very lucky. I’ll teach you something to be a better person. That is my pleasure. This, this, too much for me, I say, I have my staff, I have my people, take care of me; I have come with ten, fifteen people, I am all well taken care of, there is no problem. I am very well organized person. Okay? You want to learn something? Learn from me and then experience it, and then enjoy it, and if doesn’t work, call me. You need to respect your teacher so that you can become learned. Not a slave. But here, either it’s a question, question, question, or it’s a hum-hum-hu hu, hu, both don’t work. Ask question, experience; ask question, experience; ask question, experience. If it’s wrong, ask further questions. Tell your thesis of life and say, “Well, you told me this, mister, I followed you and look, this has happened. It’s not working.”

That is the way to learn in spirituality. It’s not a matter of trust, it’s a matter of knowledge. That’s why lot of you freak out when I say, “Don’t trust me.” I say it very openly. Because moment you start trusting me, it is, the snake is on my neck, then you are free. That we don’t want. I want you to enquire, work hard and experience yourself. Why you are trusting me? Because you don’t want to do the homework. You want the easy path, “Ha, Yogiji said this, Yogiji…”

Yogiji said this, why he said it? Check it out. Does it work for you, it doesn’t for you, challenge him. Tell me I am a stupid. I’ll prove it to you I am very wise, in two second; I’ll nail you so bad you can’t believe it! Yeah. The relationship between a father and a child is for inquiry. But there is a difference. One day the son will challenge the father. And it’s, it will happen. The son will grow and the sun will set. Father will diminish, deplete and the son will grow. But in a teacher and student relationship, student will shine and the teacher will shine with it. So it’s a very futuristic investigation and investment. A real teacher, doesn’t matter what the temptation is, shall never betray you; never. If he betrays you for the sake of temptation, he is not your teacher. Take it granted. Because his investment is not in now, it is in his tomorrow. And mind you one thing, if you ever see your teacher, have some buffers around you. You are not going to have a good time. Very rarely you will expect a teacher to be nice. Because first thing is, he is going to see the defect and he will get on your neck, first thing. It’s a, as the stone and the chisel meet, comes spark! Moment the teacher will meet you as a teacher, forget he is a man or is a ceremony, that’s different, once the teacher will meet you as a teacher, he say, “Hey, what are you doing?”

“No I am fine.”

“No, no, you are not. What’s going on?”

And that’s how it starts. And then you will try to deny and he will try to coax you to death, finally you will say this is happening and then there comes the shower left and right, up and down! Because idea is either you will learn from time and the bitterness of it, or you can learn from a teacher and save the bitterness of it.

Life is a practical challenge. Life is not what you and I are relating like ‘okay, we go to the class, we pay few bucks and is over with.’ That’s not life. Life is to get rid of the garbage and come out clean. Get it, it is your right. Be free, be frank. Because teacher is today, you are tomorrow. Remember this: Teacher has no tomorrow. If he has no tomorrow, or he has a tomorrow without you, then he is a preacher, he is not a teacher. Then you are falling around guy for wrong purposes. Teacher is a investment, of his total ability in you and there is no relationship between you and teacher. Teacher’s job is to chisel you and your job is to not try to get chiseled and his job is or her job is to chisel you to your death! And your job is to give him run around and make all kind of excuses. And make a “No, no, no, I mean, na, na, na…” then it ultimately comes to such a first degree language that you won’t find a way out!

Remember one thing in your life. Everything around here is a teacher. Blossoming of the flower, fragrance thereof, opening of the bud, changing of the weather, everything which happens in the nature teaches you something. Every person you meet, you can learn something if you are sensitive and conscious. And let us see why we let that beautiful experience pass by? We have to be contemplate ourself into a kind of ecstasy, so that we can be intuitively sensitive to find out the truth. Just by the very touch. Understand? How we can develop that?

Tonight is a hard night. Anybody has to go early or has a babysitter waiting for you or something like that or you are going to stick around? What, up to what time you are available?

Student: (——).

YB: Nine. Okay. We will try to do whatever we can, okay? Yeah.

Student: (———-)

YB: No, no, no, no, no, no. Garbage you, you always find, there is, God cannot create one thing. And you therefore cannot create one thing. Whereas you are wise, there is unwise with you; where you are right, there is unright with you; where car is moving, there is a brakes there. So basically, how much you can control your emotions, commotions, your thoughts, because your thoughts are not under your control. Your intellect, intellect is not under your control. Your consciousness is under your control. So intellects leaves all the thoughts. Millions of thoughts, and those thoughts do become emotion, feeling, desires and your activity. You can’t kill yourself for that!

So you have to understand that you have three personalities: You have a real personality, you have a working personality and one is your fantasy, fantasy. So you have to see are you in too much in fantasy, or you are too much into your working personality, or you are too much in your reality. Can you bring balance if you can’t take help? Otherwise you will be off. You will be scattered, you can’t make it. Because practically life demands reality, practical working reality in balance. So, if you are too much thinking that bring it down, if too much scared and practical, you can’t match up to your working personality and every time your boss is saying you are not making it, then you try to see what you are doing is not right. You understand?

Student: I don’t understand what you said your consciousness should be kept under control. What do you mean by that? I don’t understand that, (?)…

YB: The conscience is an aware balance act, where you, the environment and you object, subject, environment are three, you can balance intuitively. That’s consciousness. It’s a mathematical formula. I, this other person, is another person’s environment and my environment must bring it to balance. It can’t be, I force him, or he forces me. It can’t be done. You have to come to a mutual understanding. And mutual understanding not in two. Mutual understanding in three. And that’s where everybody goofs. You, the object; you are the subject, there is a object, two and the environments.

Somebody called somebody on the telephone, “Honey, you love me?”

She said, “I do.”

“You do?”

She said, “Yes, I do.”

“So?”

“I am missing you.”

She say, “I am missing you too.”

And he said, “You come now. If you won’t be here in two hours, I’ll commit suicide.”

Telephone banged. She left. There was a storm. He knew it. But she just to prove it, started. Got stuck by avalanche, never made it! He never shot himself. That stupid lover should have known the environments are not cohesive. And she should have known the environments also have a vital part; if she has to go and meet him, environments must permit it to meet. So if two people are in mad love or real love or understanding or relationship, it is human to involve the environments into it. And those who do not involve environments are very unconscious people. Does it make it clear?

Student: (——).

YB: That’s okay. Little is enough.

So let us sit down please and balance our hands but our Saturn finger, the second finger must not touch, but should have about, it’s called plug difference. Plug difference is less than half an hour, per half an inch. You have to make your hands like this and very accurate, but must not meet, but it should not be too much away; it should be just they call plug difference. Plug difference is less half an inch. Seven time I am thinking of the hour, because see how much your psyche can affect! Because at that time there was half an hour of your going to meet your baby-sitter, right? Accurate?

Now. Bring your eyes and see how the body will give you what you don’t want to otherwise get. Now, bring your eyes to the tip of the nose. Down there, from there down there you will find a little blue space. It’s called ‘Blue Pearl’ or ‘Pearl of Life’ or ‘Pearl of ….’ there are so many things for this one little thing; it doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a matter of experience.

If your posture will be correct, your front lobe, the forehead, will start becoming heavy like a lead within exact three minutes. That means your posture is correct. Kindly look deep at your tip of the nose and below, keep your fingers and don’t let them meet, they will meet, mind you I am warning you. I’ve done it, so I know it. The fingers will meet. Let them not meet and let your eyes not change, let your spine be straight so that serum can start flowing, spinal fluid, they call it, and things start happening. And kindly concentrate.

I am going to go tonight myself and get rid of this cold of mine, just by a simple formula of having little parsley, blended and juiced, about an ounce with a lemon, drink it.

Look down the tip of the nose. Just think from the nose like water drops you are dripping something and you are seeing it falling into the blue cup down there. It’s very easy, if you cannot do it, try it. If whatever your body does, it shall have effect. Just be elegant, there is nothing more noble than your own physical control on your own body…

SIDE-B

…Don’t misunderstand me that your body is under your perfect control, that’s not true. This is a misunderstanding we all have. Our body and our nervous system is called stamina. Sometime our stamina, physical stamina, mental caliber and our spirit do not catch up to meet our demand. Try to understand. So this is just to develop and invoke in you that energy, you will start opening up your Chakras without your any hassle. And your frontal lobe will start becoming heavy like a lead, you will feel like an headache, but that’s not a real thing. It mean, it is happening. And just feel there is a halo of light, God with you, like Ang Sang Wahe Guru, that’s what actually Ang Sang Wahe Guru means; the sound, it’s a sound, it is not, it is a halo sound.

Today is a very day of festivity. You will feel every Jewish family walking around with Yamka and well dressed up and going through the synagogue. It is a new year. So in every religion you find certain time where you can tune yourself to a point you can go for something, you feel is real. You will find in every religion, but in yoga, it’s every time. You don’t have to wait.

Right now you are tuning yourself and exercise yourself control: Physical, mental and spiritual. Sit like a yogi, be like a yogi, act like a yogi and there will be a pain and there will be a painful pleasure, both. Rise above it. Your nerves will start kicking in and itching and either your lower back will start hurting or your neck will start going berserk. Either of the two things will happen in this exercise because all the five Tattvas, elements are now exchanging energy very heavily. I wish you should see the way I am seeing it.

Put that tape, “Meditate…” meditation, yeah. It is now five minutes to nine and you are being timed now. And please do your best to concentrate and whatever pain is happening, welcome it. Whichever nerve is bothering, welcome it. It is not bothering you, it is straightening itself, it is straightening its meridian, its straightening the flow of energy. It means that meridian is blocked. Either go to acupuncture, get a needle in or just do it yourself.

(The tape, “Meditation… is played).

YB (talks over tape): Fix the eyes. Optical nerve must be controlling the brain….. There are two nerves which are very strong. The taste and the sight. Optical nerves and taste nerves. Faster. Third comes the skin, the touch. Now become yogi for five minutes. I am not expecting any miracle, I am expecting right you creating a miracle, for yourself. There is no philosophy in this. Left energy and right energy, ida and pingala will exchange itself at a very high velocity. If the optical nerve is totally controlled, then the action will be humongous…… Four more minutes. Become like a solid statue of Buddha. Be your best, nothing less….. Meditation is a answer to life, problems, hurdles, weaknesses. It makes you cross all pain, displeasures, weakness. It’s your pathway between man and God. Woman included…… You have one and a quarter minute to go. Concentrate… Inhale deep.

(The tape ends).

YB: Deep, deep, deep, hold it tight and stretch your spine vertebra by your physical actions from lower tail up to the neck. Consciously one, one, one, one… All the way up to the twenty-six of them and then let it go. Inhale again deep, hold tight and please squeeze all the muscular system of your body by the spine, just consciously, slowly, gradually all the weight to the up to the neck, chin in and then let it go. Once again inhale and do the same. One, two, three, four……. nineteen, twenty; one, two, three, four, five, six, let it go. Inhale deep again. One two, three four…nineteen, twenty; one, two, three, four, five six, let it go. Please relax. And shake your hand and body as wildly and fanatically and insanely you can. That’s the beauty of it. If you, if you will not do that, energy will not spread into all facets. Just go, go, go, go, just like craziest thing you can do is, and the wisest thing. Just you act crazy.

Move, move, move your body, just like wild as it should be. Whatever you can imagine, a wild action you can just by sitting do, just do it. Hurry up, hurry up. You have legs also, they need energy too. They have to carry you, the body, neck, face, you know, you go just into, it’s called causing a self-creative convulsion on the body. All right, now sit down nicely. Feel good? You are okay?

Run, run, run, nine o’clock, hurry up. It’s okay, it’s, it’s nice. Aa, this is what you can do with me; whenever you get a chance, you can live. With me, you can only do one thing. With me you can learn to live. I am not interested in your imaginations and in your wealth, and in your poverty and in your richness and whatever you go through. But, I can take your wheel of the wagon, out of the mud. That I can do. And that is what is called Kundalini Yoga. It immediately takes a person from mental stalemate to mental activity. Increases the caliber. There is no beauty of this yoga, I would never have tried it, if I don’t understand three things about it. One is, saves time; number two, it is spontaneous; number three, it deeply affects on all calibers of the human, all facets. That’s all.

And the wonderful thing in this is, we don’t initiate anybody, we don’t lay philosophy, nothing doing. Get a person into the mold, cook him, stretch him, wash him, clean him, kick him out, let him face his day. That’s how it works. It’s not a long okay, you come and do for me and I’ll do for you. There is no such thing, there is no little ragging, most of the people don’t like it. Then they want long emotional rap and satisfaction, that kind of relationship. In this, it can’t be. We don’t initiate anybody. Because if you are so stupid you can’t initiate yourself, why the hell we go to the trouble?

So it is not, it’s a, it’s a respect of your understanding, of your learning, of your grace; it’s not a respect by bound, by tying knots and tying those trips and going through all those ceremonies, no ceremony. There is only one ceremony that you get better ten times than your teacher. That’s your ceremony. Prove it. That is the only ceremony which is acceptable in this whole science. Become, become, healthier, happier and holier. And as everybody has nine holes is a holy, simply you should know what goes in and goes out. And that is called conscious control.

And now, a very simple exercise. Move your toes and move your fingers fast together for few minutes, so whatever you have achieved is balanced. That’s all. It will be a minute and a half, when we finish this, we will be free. Come on, come on, quick, fast. And see the toes are moving both sides. Because toes and fingers are the extremities. So, the movement little bit in them, it does complete the thing. All right. Now, fold your hands and sing.

“The Old Man and the Gun” – movie recommendation and review

This is a story of the “gentleman bank robber”,  Forrest Tucker who did his holdups in the early 1980’s.  Robert Redford plays Tucker.

In this story, Forrest Tucker leads a life well-lived.  He was charming and charismatic.  Many of his victims who were interviewed reported that they really liked him.  It seems no one held his profession against him or judged him for it, personally.  If anything, some expressed envy at Tucker’s contentment and love of his work.

I mention this movie precisely because of this.  I like him too.  I was moved at his profound satisfaction with his work and his kind, charming demeanor.

One could say that any bank robber is a flawed human being.  There is, perhaps, a dark side within him.  One could say that he kept it up, against all odds for a good outcome, out of some sort of addiction.  Perhaps the thrill.

The character himself expressed his motive as “just living”.    No separation between himself and what he is doing, the life he is living.  He expressed deep gratitude for the joy and pleasure that he experienced “just living”.

Taking a leap, I would take away two things from this story.

  1.  Forrest Tucker’s example is a prescription for living.  Of course, many things could go wrong.  He was on the wrong side of the law and what most of us consider to be proper behavior.  In this story, he leads a charmed life.  Robbing, getting caught, going to prison, escaping and doing it again.  Nothing really bad seemed to happen to him or his victims.  What he experienced seemed to be simple joy.
  2. I would go further out on a limb to suggest that the story was also autobiographical (of Robert Redford), who is expressing his gratitude for his life well-lived, motivated by doing what he was best at and what he loved the most.  If so, this takes the statement “I can’t believe they pay me to do this” to a new level.  If true, maybe he is suggesting that he got away as a thief would, with something for nothing.

 

 

“Victoria and Abdul” – movie recommendation and review

Victoria and Abdul is the story of the meeting and friendship of an elderly Queen Victoria of England and a  young and handsome Abdul from Agra, India, who happened to visit the royal court on an official state visit to present a nondescript gift to Victoria from the colonial government of India.

The story is told from the points of view of Victoria and Abdul.  The story emerges from their relationship.  There are many complexities to the story, such as the imperialistic tendencies of the British empire, white racial dominance, and power seeking sycophants at the royal court.  Sound familiar?

In its telling, the intention is to distill the aspects of the experience that are important to the characters and express them in human terms that we can understand, for our benefit.  Many of the scenes are humorous, but real.

It is tempting to see the race relations and power structure portrayed in the movie in today’s popular terms, but only doing that limits the impact of the experience of the movie.  Those things are secondary in importance at best, though that seems to be mostly what the critics are hung up on and all they can talk about.

We, the audience, are not objective observers of a drama played out in a certain (maybe familiar) context.  We can actually share the characters’  experience if we allow the suspension of disbelief and merge with them.  What they see, feel and know is what we see, feel and know.  That is the virtue of how the movie is crafted.

We don’t emerge from the movie loving Victoria and Abdul.  We do love the love these characters found as it resonates in us.  After the movie we can go on with great satisfaction having had that experience, just as Abdul suggests to Victoria for her final journey as he recites Rumi’s poem.

“The King of Hearts” – movie recommendation and review

This is one of a few movies that I have been moved to recommend.  In my world view, it deserves everyone’s attention.

Many stories have been written about war and the consequences of engaging in it.  Here is a movie that strips away most of the consequential horror, leaving an experience of very absurd humor and pathos.  Not districted by all the graphic ugliness, the audience is allowed to experience some very profound truth about the mind and human behavior when anything is allowed to happen.  It resonates with and brings a fresh view to today’s world-scape of non-fact reality.  Enjoy.

Here is the review from the Los Angeles Times.

A significant Chapter in History

It is a small offering and the risk is enormous.  While it intends to give grace to a disgraced nation in a difficult time, Fire and Fury (Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House) by Michael Wolff shares some important background of the inner workings of the White house.  It’s important to know.
The details of the story so far are not disputed,  but it is controversial that they were shared at all.  The most opaque administration in history has come to light.  There will certainly be some pushback and reprisal.

Read and share (and buy)

 

 

 

Harry Dean Stanton – Review

Since Friday, with the passing of Harry Dean Stanton, I have been reading numerous accolades about the depth of his work as a character actor. I hadn’t taken notice of his work until about a week before his passing, when I watched an episode (#5, I think) of “Twin Peaks: The Return”. In that episode there is a scene that I count as perhaps the most profound that I have witnessed in this or any show.  It is a credit to all who produce Twin Peaks, but in particular to Harry Dean Stanton.
The gravity of the scene is captured nicely by Mark Butler in iNews.  Bravo.

Meditation: Kundalini Surjhee

On July 22, 2017

An immersion was held at Yoga West, led by Jagat Guru Singh. a long time student of Yogi Bhajan and Guru Dev Singh.

Its purpose was to introduce the Kundalini Surjhee Shabad to students in order to promote its recitation for their health and well being.

KundaliniSurjheeMantra

    introduction

Meditation: M060-901121-AWAKEN-KUNDALINI

     Kundalini Surjhee 63 min

     Kundalini Surjhee Live 2.5 hours

 

On this Fourth of July, 2017

Some of my friends and kindred souls are saying that the health of our democratic republic, America, has hit a new low.  I think that the real low was the Civil War, which, evidently, never ended completely, and hopefully, will not be repeated.  With all the diversity of our Nation, there are inevitably people who do want to go there and revive that tragic incident.  We know who they are.

As to why, the question is one of identity.  We can choose to identify with our self and God, or abdicate the elevated self to our ego, other egos, groups of people founded on ego and all the baggage of ego: misery, suffering, fear, hatred and a clinging to ignorance.

I brought this up earlier presenting  a reading from the I Ching for July 4.  Today, I am reminded that people whom we consider to be heroes are just people who remained themselves, no matter what the circumstances: forces, pressures, enticements, threats and dangers.

Today in the Los Angeles Times an article appeared which tells the story of a hero who is just a regular guy who knows who he is and what his duty is to himself, his friends, his nation and humanity.  It may be interpreted, as it is in the article, that certain ethnic or other groups are constantly having to prove that they are Americans.  I don’t see this guy as having any ideal outside of himself that inspired his bravery.  I see him as just a simple fellow from a nondescript place at a certain time under certain circumstances who found within himself the wherewithal to keep going.  In his moment of trial, he had faith.

 

 

 

 

Grokking Boston

My wife and I visited Boston last week.  We discovered that visiting the place resulted in revisiting events in our personal and collective psyches.

Visiting with our old friends Henrietta and Don rekindled our passionate love for exploring the landscape of current social drama and politics, Martin Scorsese’s movie Silence, John Oliver’s commentaries, etc.  Unlike the midwesterner’s comment in Alexandra Pelosi’s Journeys with Georgewho said, paraphrasing, “we all get along just fine because we all hate the same things“, we get along because we love the same things, e.g., our country and way of life.

JFK

Visiting the JFK library and museum transported us to another time that remains indelibly etched in our psyches.  To know it, we only need be reminded of it.  I remember it as the realization that anything is possible.  Camelot.

I also remember the dark passages of that time.  The Cuban missile crisis. I remarked to a woman next to me as we saw a recap of that October of 1962.  I commented, “I thought we were all going to die”.  She replied “We all thought we were going to die”.

It evoked the murder of the President.  The darkest day in living memory.

It evokes the contrast between a time when a politician loved his constituents and the present where many politicians cynically express abject hatred and contmept for them.

Kennedy remains the smiling young champion of justice and human rights.  That can never be tarnished.  Those who disparage him and his legacy only tarnish themselves.

Little was accomplished directly during his presidency.  It was too short.  He did get the ball rolling.  Many years ago we visited the LBJ library in Austin, Texas.  What we saw there was astonishing.  The body of Johnson’s legislative accomplishments is enormous.  Human rights, social justice, voting rights and environmental protections owe their existence to this one man.  It seemed that he was all about fulfilling Kennedy’s dreams.  Successfully.

See JFK Library mages

Edward M Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate

We visited the institute, which shares the same grounds as the Kennedy library.  We were introduced to the history and the functioning of the Senate.  We participated in a mock debate in a replica of the senate chamber.  Very interesting.

See Institute images

The Freedom Trail

Boston seems to be unique in its long history as an American city.  It appears to be the real cradle of the American experience.  The Freedom Trail is a well marked path that winds throughout the city which visits many of the historic landmarks that led to what is now the United States.  Walking that path is a moving experience.  I was again transported to a time when events reflected the greatness of people who rose up against tyranny and formed a common purpose to eradicate injustice for all time.  Their call to unite is still irresistible.  I can see how this moves Bostonians to identify as patriots of a righteous cause with pride and defiance.  Even the Red Sox seems to be something more than just a baseball team.  It’s an identity of unity.

This creates a sharp contrast with the current state of affairs in our nation where members of one group of people with enormous power are lukewarm at best to the unity of the nation and who would willingly let go of the American legacy for short term political gain and personal wealth.

Sad.

See Freedom Trail images

 

 

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – Review

My wife and I attended an event last night at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, featuring a screening of the new film and an appearance by Al Gore, who gave in an interview and update of what’s been happening since the release of An Inconvenient Truth in 2006.  What I describe below are features and conclusions expressed in the film and by Al Gore during his interview.

The essential truth is that climate change and the warming of the Planet Earth is not a political issue.  It is not hypothetical.  It is not a projection for the future.  It is here.  It is reality.  It has been made a political issue in America by the fossil fuel industry and well-healed and powerful people who are being made richer by denying that reality.  It’s that simple.

The political ploys that they have used are nearly identical to those that were employed by the tobacco industry in the suppression and obfuscation of smoking related health data in the 1980’s.  The results have also been similar.  They have spent over two billion dollars on their campaign to sway public opinion on the issue.  Their efforts have have been somewhat successful.  A significant segment of the population has been successfully misled, which has produced a widespread apathy to to the urgency of the situation and to the issue itself.

Science is a major proponent of truth in our civilization.  It is not inherently wise, but it can tell us when something is broken, and often, how to fix it.  Climate science has already shown us how to fix the climate problem physically.  It has fallen short of helping enough people in power to develop the will to do something about it.

In order to fix that, it has taken a serious advocate, in the person of Al Gore, to champion the endeavor to educate and otherwise shift the awareness of people toward the truth.

The most prominent example of this is Gore’s negotiations with the Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi during around the time of the global climate conference in 2015.  Modi was reluctant to lend his support for a climate accord because he felt that the Indian economy was not strong enough to shift resources toward the development of new alternative energy technologies and industries.  The need for the developing nation’s increase in energy production was immediate, with no room for mistakes. Modi and Parliament were on the verge of authorizing the building of 400 new coal based generation plants.  Gore realized that that would be a climate catastrophe.  He also realized that it was not their fault for their thinking that way.  India was in a really tough spot.

So, Gore contacted Solar City’s CEO Lyndon Rive about negotiating an agreement with India for the transfer of solar photovoltaic technology to India that would benefit both India and Solar City.  After intense negotiations, the deal was done, and Modi agreed to join the Paris climate accord.  Now that’s deal making.

Gore admitted, both to the audience and in the film, that he was often on the verge of despair regarding the trend of American politics on the matter.  Still, he persevered.  The history of setbacks is long.

One of the first was the cancellation of the NASA DSCOVR project.  It was one of the first casualties of George W Bush’s new administration.  The project was intended to launch a satellite into a solar orbit that is synchronized with the orbit of the earth in order to observe the earth from a constant “full earth” perspective.  It could make make measurements of the earth 24/7 which could then be analyzed to yield useful climate data.  For example, it would be a constant monitor over time of the ratio of incident and reflected energy on the earth.  That would yield an accurate measurement of how much energy is being absorbed by greenhouse gasses and the rise of global temperatures.

Many setbacks have occurred in America with the election of climate denying politicians to government office, and most recently, the appointment of many of them to federal executive cabinet and other high ranking positions.

On the other hand, there seems to be a global trend for the adoption of renewable energy sources.  Even in the US, in Texas, no less, one town proudly touts its 100% reliance on these resources. Some states have nearly reached 100% fossil fuel independence.  Across the world, the adoption and use of renewable energy is accelerating dramatically.  In Chile, in the last year or so, the production of renewable energy has grown by several thousand percent.  China has committed to the movement.

When asked whether a tipping point has been reached in the industrial and political adoption of renewable energy, Gore did not state unequivocally that it has, but he indicated that he thinks it’s inevitable.  He remains hopeful.

There were many examples shown in the movie of devastating events that have occurred worldwide since the last movie that are directly and unequivocally attributable to temperature and climate. Amid all the massive devastation, one event really stood out as a surprising and disturbing data point.

In 2015 a massive deluge was recorded in Tucson.  It seemed to be an aerial view of clouds dumping water (billions of gallons?) on Tucson as if a giant barrel in the sky tipped over.  You could actually make out the splash  of the water on the ground. Not drops. Barrels.

I don’t recall any mention of tipping points with regard to climate change itself.  That is, the point at which the planet will not recover sufficiently to stop the warming progression.  This was a prominent topic earlier on in the discussion.

See movie trailer

See interview at Greek Theater (video shaky, audio good)

 

“Fargo” the Series – a short review

My wife and I just finished watching season 2 of Fargo.  I found it to be quite overwhelming.  It is unbelievably well written.  The story line was somewhat constrained by the actual events, but it was masterfully composed for maximum effect.  Only one event in season 2 showed the writers rebelling against their fate.  That was comical.

The two seasons tell the story of two generations of Sheriffs and their families in Minnesota who encounter the most outrageous and unlikely circumstances in their work.  The characters are interwoven seamlessly with the plot. They came alive.  No cartoons.

Prominent in their development was the portrayal of the choices they made in the face of outrageous circumstances.  Their moral fiber, loyalty, integrity and personal ambitions were challenged at every turn.  What they did in each instance was compelling to watch and made one wonder what would happen next.  Every choice was followed by consequences that became ever more complex and difficult to navigate.  The question became “who would survive life?”.

There were many stories within the story, a few of which went on to a rather predictable fate.  I was satisfied.

The Teacher

Dear Blessed Healers,

It is a good time to assess and tune our relationship with our teacher.  However you perceive that relationship personally, there is only the question of identity that seems to matter.  Guru Dev Singh identifies as a teacher, as did Yogi Bhajan before him and so on through the lineage.  It is a commitment of love, sacrifice and endless service.  In order to hold a proper relation with him, Yogi Bhajan and the Guru, it is important to clarify that aspect of identity in our awareness.

The Guru is not inherently our friend, nor is any teacher.  The teacher has delightful personality, which we love.  That is not the basis for the relation.  It is an attraction that gets our attention.

Neither will the Guru, nor any teacher, save us directly.  Only indirectly.  That obligation is on us.  It is our duty, upon receiving the grace of God through the Guru and through the teacher, that we apply the teachings to our personal circumstance. We must focus beyond all distraction, including our own and our teacher’s personality, to the source of grace.  Then we must commit to keeping it up, beyond all circumstance.  That is how we are saved.  If we identify as a teacher, then we can also promote the flow of grace to others through the teachings.  Rather than our friend, the teacher is our benefactor who facilitates our salvation by enlightening our ignorance.

It is a time for healing.  Our teacher, and ourselves.  We are healers. Rather than objectively “healing” our teacher, we should go to the core of the relation where we all can merge with our common intent and so heal all.

Here is a meditation that I suggest will help in that endeavor.

Meditation: NM0380 Ecstasy and Joy

 

 

Don’t worry about the future

Last night my wife and I watched an interesting movie that has a resonance with what is happening.

In class last night we did a meditation about this.
Meditation: 881026 Removing Fear of the Future
The meditation removes fear of the future by freeing us of the endless mental contrivances we construct in order to avoid fear and pain.

The movie is The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

The man is portrayed in various stages of a very colorful and eventful life. He lives by his mother’s dying admonition not to worry about the future.  She said that worry will always make things worse.  She suffered greatly, even in dying, but knew the secret of happiness, even if she never realized it in her life.  She said to Allan, her son (the now 100 year old man) it always is what it is, and will always be what it will be.  He took her up on that, which made all the difference.  He led a happy and charmed life.  Even at 100, he wasn’t finished.

The story is similar to Forrest Gump.  He also led a charmed life.  Forrest’s secret was innocence.  Allan’s was living in the moment, flowing like water.  Both were lucky, seemingly making their own luck.  Both were free of fear of the future.

A Recipe for living in interesting times – a meditation and healing class at Yoga West (review)

On 02/01/2017, we held a meditation and healing class at Yoga West:

A recipe for living in interesting times

When we are anxious, at odds or even depressed with the way external events are going, often we are unsure that we can contain or meet the challenges that are presented to us.  This can come from self denial.  We doubt our strength, endurance, wherewithal to keep up and our ability to lead.  Self denial can also cause chronic insecurity and crushing self doubt.  We worked on mitigating that with the meditation  https://www.harinam.com/meditation-nm0394-live-above-denial/.

If we can repair our inner projection and feel comfortable in our skin we can then modify how we are trained to relate with externals.  Where we have withdrawn or checked out from what is going on around us and separated from other people we can reengage and participate again in reality.  For that we performed the meditation
https://www.harinam.com/meditation-for-faculty-of-self-engagement/

When the circulation between our self and the outer world is reestablished and flowing, then we can ask the universe for good things to happen.  This meditation addresses that.
https://www.harinam.com/meditation-for-prosperity/

We performed healing exercises that reestablish the flow of prana between the hara and the heart chakra.  Prana from the earth enters the hara.  The flow through the heart supports our intentions and stamina.  This can resolve obstacles in our life.  Balancing the hemispheres of the brain also supports this.

Yesterday, an extraordinary thing happened…

Yesterday, millions of people spontaneously came together, transcending rational behavior. Why? because it felt right.

That is the ultimate test of whether you are on the right track or are doing the right thing.  Felt good? Maybe.  But it felt right.

All of the physical dimensions that separate people were suspended yesterday: distance, geographical location, race, sexual identity, social strata, group identity, opinion, age, fear, doubt, suspicion and all forms of personal individuality.  People came together in many places, in many ways.  For what purpose?  Simply, to be together. Continue reading “Yesterday, an extraordinary thing happened…”

Revised comments on “Citizen Kane”, the movie

Citizen Kane is often touted as the greatest American movie.  It is studied in virtually all film schools. Its construction, by all measures is impeccable.

Having seen the movie again, it appears to me that Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Wells, who wrote the screenplay,  were prophets.

The 1941 story was ostensibly about the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. He held a conglomerate of newspapers and used them to build an empire of wealth and destroy his enemies.

It was largely a story about the main character Charles Foster Kane as told to a reporter through interviews by other characters who knew him.  Through everyone’s eyes Kane was described as a shameless self promoter who loved no one but his own image of himself and believed in nothing except his own wealth.  He dragged along his close supporters with his own success.  He used his newspapers to intimidate his rivals and to seduce and influence the masses to give him the love he never knew as a child.  The core elements are the character’s ambition that propels him to the limelight and his flaws that eventually lead to his undoing.  He touted himself as a champion of the people, trying to get himself elected to public office.  He had limited initial success but was eventually defeated by scandal of his own making.  You could argue that the movie had a happy ending. Continue reading “Revised comments on “Citizen Kane”, the movie”