Fasting and tapas will increase your resistance
Columns by Sri Sri Ravishankar - 124

Thought of the day :
While you are fasting, you are not pleasing God or going to heaven ..
What happens by practising all this?
Your senses become strong because the impurities in you are eliminated. Fasting and tapas will increase your resistance power

We were discussing about the five Niyamas or rules.

Cleanliness, happiness, penance, self-study and devotion to God are the five rules.

Kayendriya siddhir ashuddhikshyat tapasaha (Sutra 43)
Kaya = body;
indriya = senses;
siddhihi = strong;
ashuddhi = impurities;
kshayat = eliminated;
tapasaha = by penance.

By penance or purifying actions, the body and senses become strong because the impurities are eliminated.
While you are fasting, you are not pleasing God or you are not going to heaven or getting enlightenment!
What happens by practising all this?
Your body becomes strong.
Your resistance power increases and your senses become strong because the impurities in you are eliminated.

What is tapas?  Patanjali Maharishi says, Tapo vay dwandwa sahana
Tapo = tapas;
Vay = indeed;
Dwandwa = opposites;
Sahana = endurance
Tapas is indeed endurance of the opposites.
Life is full of opposites of pain-pleasure, heat-cold, good-bad, friends-enemies, praise-blame. These things do come in life. Just take them with equanimity. How much ability you have to endure the opposites, that much is tapas.
What does tapas do? This brings strength to your body and mind. Body gets prepared to hold the infinite consciousness. The body-mind complex gets prepared to emit the divinity that is there in everyone.

Swadhyayat ishtadevata samprayogaha (Sutra 44)
Swadhyayat = by self study;
ishta = desired;
devata = deity;
samprayogaha = presence is felt.

By self-study, the desired deity’s presence is felt.  Swadhyaya or self-study is usually mentioned as the study of scriptures and books. In a way it is correct, but it is not just that. The scriptures and books are only aids in the study of the self.  Just by reading scriptures without any experience is of no use.
By self study , by observing, by becoming hollow and empty, we become the Divine’s channel. You are part of the Divine. You are able to feel the presence of the divinity and all different forms of consciousness starts blossoming.

The last rule is Eshwara pranidhana which means letting go and surrendering to the higher self, to the divine.

Next sutra is Samadhisiddhir eshwarapran idhanat (Sutra 45)
Samadhi = the state of Samadhi;
Siddhihi = attainment;
Eshwarapran idhanat = by devotion to God.

The state of Samadhi is attained by devotion to God.  This means seeing life with context to the universe. This universe which is so vast and enormous has been here for billions of years and will continue to be here for billions of years.
Eshwara Pranidhana means offering or surrendering to that consciousness which is the substratum of creation.
Patanjali has mentioned about God very rarely. This is one such place where he mentions about devotion to God. He says that by surrendering to that consciousness which loves you so dearly and which is free from any imperfections or suffering, one attains Samadhi. This is the fifth rule or niyama.

Orzo Soup Recipe

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/orzo-soup-recipe.html

June 2, 2008 | by Heidi |

Orzo Soup Recipe

For some added flavor, or to take this soup in another direction, toss the tomatoes with somewhere between a teaspoon + of adobo sauce (from can of chipotles)….more or less depending on how spicy you like your food.

7 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups whole wheat orzo (or other small pasta i.e. pastina)
2 cups chard or spinach, chopped
1 14-ounce can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, well drained
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes.
good quality extra virgin olive oil
3 egg whites
fine grain sea salt

some grated Parmesan cheese (to finish)

Bring the broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until just tender - about ten minutes. Stir in the chopped spinach.

In the meantime, heat the tomatoes, red pepper flakes and a splash of extra virgin olive oil in a separate saucepan. Taste, and salt a bit if needed.

Just before serving, Slowly pour the egg whites into the soup, stirring quickly with a whisk. The whites should take on a raggy appearance. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve the soup in individual bowls, with each serving topped with a generous spoonful of tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, and dusting of cheese.

Makes 4-6 servings.

阿 育 吠 陀 帶 來 的

嶄 新 氣 息

生 命 有 四 個 特 質 ： 它 存 在 、 進 化 、 表 達 及 熄 滅 。  而 這些 特 質 的 發 生 則 取 决 於 五 個 元 素 ： 土 、 水 、 空 氣 、 空間及 火 。  這 些 元 素 與 五 種 感 覺 官 能 是 相 對 應 的 ： 視 覺 、嗅 覺 、 味 覺 、 聽 覺 及 觸 覺 。

阿 育 吠 陀 (Ayurveda) 是 生 命 的 探 索 及 學 問 – Veda 意 為 知 識 ，而 Ayur 是 生 命 。  根 據 阿 育 吠 陀 ， 生 命 或 存 在 並 不 是 剛 性 密 封 的 領 域  - 它 是 和 諧 美 妙 的 流 動 。  即 使 那 五 個 元 素 也 不 是 互 不 相 干 的 客 體 ， 而 是 相 互 流 動 交 融 的 。  每 一 個 元 素 都 蘊 含 另 外 四 種 元 素 。  因 此 ， 阿 育 吠 陀 對 生 命 的 取 向 是 全 面 、 整 全 的 。

我 們 內 在 最 精 微  的 元 素 是 空 間 ( 心 智 就 是 由 空 間 組 成 ) ， 而 最 具 體 的 元 素 - 土 ， 就 構 成 我 們 的 骨 骼 、 皮 膚 及 身 體 組 織 。  為 有 助 明 白 生 理 學 ， 其 特 性 及 生 理 在 心 智 上 的 反 映 ，人 體 系 統 被 分 為 三 大 能 量： 瓦 塔 (Vata)，皮 塔 (Pitta) 和 卡 法 (Kapha) …….

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Tomato Rice and Cheese Peas Pulav

Tomato Rice

This is a very gentle, subtle flavoured rice… i love it!

Take 5 generous handfuls of rice and soak in water for about an hour. Wash the rice well and bung it into a cooker.
Puree 7-8 tomatoes and optionally cook it for a while in olive oil. Add this to the rice. I find that cooking the puree before adding to the rice in the cooker somehow enhances the flavour.

Add to it some green peas (depends on how much you like them, I add about a small cup full of them). Peel 2 carrots and slice them into medium roundels. Add to the rice. You could also add a chunkily chopped potato (don’t remove the skin). Add a finely chopped chopped tomato as well. In the photo below i have also added a few chunks of mock meat that shilpa got for us from singapore… This is absolutely optional

Next add 10-15 fresh basil leaves. Also add lots of olive oil, I just let it glug out of the bottle for a bit ☺. Finally add a small blob of butter. Add salt to taste. Add water so that it completely covers the entire mixture. And pressure cook for three whistles and simmer for 10ish minutes after that. Wait for the cooker to cool down before opening it.

Serve piping hot. Tzatziki (recipe coming real soon) will go really well with it. As well as fresh dahi.

You could also change the flavour by doing a garlic tadka. (Heat Olive oil and add 2 mashed or very finely sliced garlic cloves. Add to the rice and mix it up well).

There is a variation to this. I call it cheese peas Pulav.
You don’t add the tomatoes and carrots to the rice. Just add lots of green peas and 2 chunkily sliced potatoes and depending on how many calories you want to watch out for heaps of grated cheese. Cheddar works best. And follow the recipe exactly as above.

Banana and Pecan Muffin Cake

Yogurt Potatoes

Here is a recipe for making the very humble potato in an easy and very different way:

Take 5 biggish potatoes, wash them throughly, if you have a scrapper, scrape em, otherwise just wash them well, do not remove the skin. Then plonk them into a pressure cooker with some water and salt and a dash of butter and cook until well done… typically 3-4 whistles and simmer for 10 minutes after. WAIT until the cooker has cooled down, and remove the cooked potatoes. (You can use the water to cook rice with a potatoey flavour :))

Mash them up, but dont make a paste of them, leave some of them chunky, use your hands to do it, just squeeze them…

Put a pan on the stove and add some ghee or oil and heat till nice and hot… quickly add 1 dried red chilly, some curry leaves (7-8), some whole jeera (2 teaspoons or more according to your taste) and some mustard seeds (2-3 teaspoons or more according to your taste) and wait until they crackle and pop… i remove the red chilly at this point, you can choose to keep it in … Add the potato mixture to this and mix well… some salt may be added as well… stir well so everything combines

The next step needs to be done just before serving:

Heat up the mixture (if not already hot) and add a full box (400 ml) of dahi (yogurt) to it. Lower the gas and stir in throughly… add some shredded coriander, decorate with some finely chopped pieces of tomato… Serve immediately with hot rotis or toasted whole wheat bread…

The dahi adds an enchanting subtle flavour to the whole thing… Its really nice! Dont add any red chilly powder or turmeric to it, then the dahi’s coolness is compromised…

102 Reasons to Go Veggie!

There were many requests from people who wanted more on why veg?
I have a few favourite websites I go to and will post things from them too by and by, but below there is a very nice article which i got off:

http://www.flex.com/~jai/articles/101.html

I have reproduced it word for word… please read, get warned, and spread it around… not just to read, but have people completely stop eating meat and related stuff…

Here according to me is the zeroth reason:

0. Guruji once said, that for a person who eats non veg food, Samadhi is very difficult, and progress on the Spiritual Path is almost impossible!

Here are 101 more reasons to go green…

PEOPLE

1. Every year in the UK we feed our livestock enough food to feed 250,000,000 people while in the world 30,000,000 people die of starvation
2. 20 vegetarians can live off the land required by one meat eater
3. Every 3 seconds a child dies of starvation somewhere in the world
4. If Americans reduced their meat consumption by 10% it would free 12,000,000 tons of grain - enough to feed 60,000,000 people (the population of Great Britain)
5. If all Americans became vegetarian, it would free enough grain to feed 600,000,000 people (the population of India)
6. Intensification in animal farming has displaced 1,000,000’s of people from their traditional lands - eg. indigenous people in south & central America, native Americans in north America & crofters in Great Britain - this is continuing today
7. People displaced from their lands into cities succumb to dietary deficiency, diseases, parasites & opportunistic diseases
8. In third world countries 1 in 10 babies die before their first birthday
9. The UK imports �46,000,000 worth of grain from third world countries to feed our livestock
10. Due to overgrazing 850,000,000 people live on land threatened by desertification & over 230,000,000 already live on land so severely desertified that they are unable to sustain their existence & face imminent starvation
11. 1,000,000,000 people in the west gorging on meat & dairy leave 1,000,000,000 to waste away & 3,500,000,000 teeter on the brink
    

    LAND

12. If they continue to clear American forests to raise cattle at the present rate, in 50 years there will be none left
13. 1 acre yields 165 lbs of beef or 20,000 lbs of potatoes
14. 8/10 of cultivated land in the UK is used to grow food for animals (14,732,000 hectares)
15. It takes 16lbs of high protein soya to produce 1 lb of beef
16. Since 1945 in the UK we have lost 95% of flower meadows, 50% of ancient woodlands, 40% of heathlands, 50% of wet lands & 224,000 km of hedgerows all due to animal farming
17. Pressure on land due to meat farming leads to soil erosion 6billion tons/year in the USA
18. If everyone went vegetarian up to 90% of land used for animal farming could be taken out of production & used to replant woodlands, leisure activities etc.
19. 25% of Central America’s forests have been destroyed for cattle grazing since 1960
20. Between 1966-1983 38% of the Amazon rain forest was destroyed for cattle grazing
21. 90% of cattle ranches established on cleared forest land go bankrupt in less than 8 years as the land becomes barren due to nutrient loss & overgrazing
22. Overgrazing by cattle is destroying the land & increasing desertification, nearly 430 million acres in the USA alone has suffered a 25-50% reduction in yield since first grazed
23. An inch of topsoil takes 200-1000 years to develop - yet in the USA they have lost around 1/3 of their prime topsoil in 200 years (around 7 inches) due to animal farming
24. Land will be lost due to rises in sea level due to global warming due to animal farming
    

    AIR

25. The destruction of the rain forest by cattle farmers is destroying the lungs of the planet & reducing the worlds capacity to replenish our oxygen supply
26. The 1,300,000,000 cattle in the world emit 60,000,000 tons of methane per year (methane is a greenhouse gas & leads to global warming)
27. Burning of forests, grasslands & agricultural waste associated with animal farming releases 50-100,000,000 tons of methane per year
28. Combining these figures, 25% of methane emissions are due to animal farming (not including the billions of sheep, pigs & poultry so the real figure is much higher)
29. Fertilizer used to grow crops to feed to animals releases nitrous oxide - thought to account for 6% of the greenhouse effect
30. Fertilizer, weedkiller & pesticides sprayed on crops enter the atmosphere creating a noxious carcinogenic cocktail
31. CFCs are released into the air from refrigeration units used to store decomposing flesh (meat), milk & butter - CFCs are destroy the ozone layer
32. Ammonia from animal urine also pollutes the atmosphere
33. CO2 is released by burning oil & petrol in lorries, ships, abattoirs, dairies, factories etc. associated with meat & dairy production
34. Emissions from large chemical plants which produce fertilizer, weedkiller & other agricultural chemicals are also poisoning our air
    

    WATER

35. 25 gallons of water to produce 1lb of wheat & 2500 gallons to produce 1lb of meat
36. UK farm animals produce 200,000,000 tonnes of slurry (liquid excrement) every year, the majority of which ends up in our rivers
37. Bloody waste water from abattoirs ends up in our rivers
38. In the USA every second humans produce 12,000 lbs of effluent while farmed animals produce 250,000 lbs
39. Nitrates & pesticides used on crops grown to feed livestock end up in our rivers
40. Meat & dairy farming uses 70 litres of water per day per animal in the UK or 159,250,000,000 litres per year in total
41. The water used to produce 10 lbs of steak is equivalent to the average consumption of water for an entire household for an entire year
42. Depletion of groundwater reserves to grow crops for animals & to supply abattoirs will lead to greater water shortages
43. Aquafers (stores of underground water) in the San Joaquin valley in the USA are being drained at the rate of 500,000,000,000 gallons/year to produce meat
44. 18% of all agricultural land in the world is irrigated & as global warming increases (partly due to animal farming) it will cost $200,000,000 to keep these systems going
45. The water used to produce a 1000 lb beef steer is enough to float a Destroyer battleship
46. The liquid waste from the various parts of the meat & dairy industry flow into the rivers & from there into the seas polluting them & encouraging huge algal blooms to grow
    

    EFFICIENCY

47. To produce 1calorie of energy from meat takes 60 calories of petrol, whereas growing grains & legumes to directly feed people produces 20 calories for each calorie of fuel used ( thats 1200 times more efficient)
48. Meat & dairy farming uses billions of gallons of oil to run tractors, fuel ships & lorries (to move animal feed & animals), pump billions of gallons of water to irrigate fields & run slaughterhouses, power refrigeration units to prevent the corpses from decomposing & to power sewage plants to clean up some of the pollution produced
49. Cattle convert only 6% of their energy intake (mainly grains & soya) into flesh, the remaining 94% is wasted as heat, movement (which is why they keep many animals in very close confinement), hair, bones, faeces etc
50. 1lb of beef takes 1 gallon of petrol to produce
51. A family of four eating beef for a year uses enough petrol to run a car for 6 months (obviously depending on how far you drive!)
52. If the full ecological cost of meat was passed onto the consumer - the price would be quadrupled (at least)
53. The EC spends �100,000,000’s to subsidise animal production resulting in lakes of unwanted milk & mountains of unwanted meat & butter. This money could be better spent encouraging organic fruit, vegetable & grain production
54. In the USA in 1979 145,000,000 tons of crops were fed to cattle resulting in only 21million tons of animal bodies - the cost of the wasted crops was $20,000,000,000
55. Between 1950 & 1985 grain production in Europe & the USA increased massively but 2/3 was fed to animals
56. 70% of all grain is fed to animals
57. Eating vast quantities of animal flesh, eggs, milk & butter is a luxury that most of the planet can not afford
    

    ANIMALS

58. Fishing with drift (and other modern) nets weakens & destroys ecosystems by indiscriminately killing billions of sea creatures & disrupting the sea bed
59. Fishermen’s nets kill 10 times as many other animals as the fish they are hoping to catch
60. Fish caught in nets die an agonising slow death of suffocation
61. Each year 15,000,000,000 land animals are slaughtered for food & an unknown but much larger number of sea creatures (including 1000’s of dolphins caught accidentally)
62. Chickens are crammed into battery cages with up to 3 other birds, they are unable to even spread their wings & many can not even stand up
63. Unwanted male chicks (because they can’t lay eggs) are gassed or pulped while their sisters go to the battery sheds
64. Chicks are debeaked without anaesthetic to prevent them injuring each other in the unnaturally confined conditions they are kept in - this is equivalent to having your fingernails pulled out without anaesthetic
65. Modern farming methods using growth hormones & artificial lighting mean that many chickens out grow their bones, resulting in fractured & broken legs
66. Sows are kept tethered in stalls 1.3 x 1 metre on concrete or slatted floors - they can not even turn around
67. Poultry raised for meat are kept in windowless broiler sheds, with around 20-30,000 in each shed, they live in an area of 10-20 cm square - fighting due to overcrowding is common & like battery hens they commonly suffer from supperating bed sores
68. Broilersheds are artificially lit 23 hours a day to produce rapid growth
69. Animals travel between farms & to slaughter in overcrowded transporters with no food or water - resulting in stress, injuries & deaths - legal requirements are widely ignored
70. 95% of poultry suffer injuries before being killed & 30% suffer broken bones
71. Problems with stunning practices mean that many animals have their throats slit while still conscious (around 6% of cattle or 200,000 per year) & are then dipped in tanks of scalding water (to loosen feathers, bristles etc.) again while fully conscious
72. 4000 animals die spurting their blood out every minute in a British slaughterhouse
73. Calf leather comes from animals killed at just 2 weeks old
74. Cows were fed on the ground up remains of other cows & sheep - the result is thought to be BSE (mad cow disease) in the USA cattle are fed partly on recycled plastic pellets
75. Cows only give milk for 10 months after they have a calf - so they are routinely artificially inseminated (ie. mechanically raped) to keep them pregnant & milking - their calves are taken away (usually at 12 hours old) for meat or export to veal crates
76. Cows would naturally live up to 20 years but are slaughtered after 5-7 years when their milk production begins to fall
77. In the UK animals are killed by first being stunned with electricity or a captive bolt gun (ie. a bolt is fired into their heads) before having their throats slit & being plunged into boiling water - all this happens on a production line with the animals being hung upside down from a moving conveyor belt - this is factory farming
78. “Animals are those unfortunate slaves & victims of the most brutal part of mankind” - John Stewart Mill (philosopher)
79. Veal calves are confined in stalls in the dark, unable to move & are fed on pigs blood , chocolate & dried milk (we are drinking the rich fresh milk of their mothers)
80. Cows naturally produce 5 litres of milk per day for their calves - under the intensified systems of modern farming they produce 25-40 litres per day - resulting in swollen & inflamed udders - at this rate they are soon worn out
81. Large areas of land are under monoculture to grow crops to feed to animals - these areas are wildlife deserts supporting fewer & fewer species.
    

    HEALTH

82. Vegetarians have a 20% lower rate of mortality from all causes (ie. they live longer & don’t get sick as often)
83. Meat is full of traces of antibiotics, hormones, toxins produced by stress & pesticide residues that become concentrated from all the crops they have eaten
84. Fish contain heavy metals & other pollutants -many of which originated on farms
85. The World Health Organisation recommends a diet low in saturated fat, sugar, salt & with plenty of fibre - exactly what you get on a vegan/vegetarian diet
86. Farmed animals contain up to 50% saturated fat in their bodies
87. Vegetarians have 24% reduced risk of getting heart disease & Vegans a 57% reduction (heart disease is the biggest killer in the UK accounting for 50% of deaths)
88. Obesity is rare in vegetarians, obesity is related to many diseases
89. Vegans & vegetarians have lower blood pressure & cholesterol levels - high levels are associated with heart disease, strokes & kidney failure
90. Vegetarians have a 50% reduced risk of dying of diabetes
91. Vegetarians have a 40% reduced level of cancer than the general population thought to be because they have a higher intake of vitamins A,C & E
92. Vegetarians have a reduced risk of developing gall & kidney stones
93. 80% of food poisoning is due to infected meat (faeces, bacteria etc.) after all meat is decomposing flesh - most of the rest is due to salmonella in eggs
94. Osteoporosis due to calcium loss from bones is mainly due to the sulphur content in meat & casein protein in milk that cause calcium to be lost in the urine - the countries with the highest meat & dairy consumption are those with the highest levels of brittle bones
95. 50% of people do not have the enzyme to digest milk properly & milk allergy is related to asthma & eczema
96. Meat eaters have double the rate of Alzheimers disease as Vegans & Vegetarians - some people also think that Parkinsons disease is also linked to meat eating
97. Egg yolk is a dense concentration of saturated fat & the white is high in albumin protein associated with leaching calcium into your urine. Butter is 80% saturated fat, cream is 40% saturated fat & cheese is 25-40% saturated fat
98. Meat eaters are two and a half times more likely to get bowel cancer than Vegetarians
99. The cling film used to wrap meat in supermarkets & butchers contains chemicals linked to falling sperm counts in men
100. Chinese people (living mainly on a vegetarian diet) consume 20% more calories than Americans but Americans are 20% fatter
101. Of 2,100,000 deaths in the USA in 1987, 1,500,000 were related to diet (ie. meat & dairy)

AND I COULD GO ON !

If you’ve read this far, I hope that you are beginning to see that the Meat & Dairy industry is a major contributor to misery on this planet. It is destroying the health of people in rich countries, starving those in poor countries, it is torturing & killing billions of animals every year and in the meantime it is one of the major factors in the destruction of the environment - so what does the meat & dairy industry have to say in it’s defence?

Well their only real point is usually “Meat is tasty” - fair enough a lot of people enjoy the taste of meat - but there are plenty of delicious alternatives (just consider the huge range of vegetarian dishes in Indian cooking - one of the oldest & most sophisticated cuisines in the world) and if you really crave meat & dairy, nowadays there are plenty of healthy non animal alternatives - just look in the supermarket & health food shop. So I hope you will agree it’s pretty pathetic to consider all the evidence & then say “well I know you’re right about the environment & health & the animals - but I just love my meat”

Books by John Robbins would be great to read for more on this subject…

Jai Gurudeva!

Bawa

The last class has said that:

“You owe it to yourself to experience Sri Sri Yoga. This is a course for everyone.  Begin from where you are and see how much you have grown by the end of the course.”

“Not only did my mind become quieter but my body stronger.  That  quietness spilled into everyday life and everything we did.”

“The class has reminded me of the voice within that guides.  I’ve become more receptive to the love of others.  I’ve decided to be more gentle with my mind and work with my present self.”

“I had fallen and hurt my hip.  My range of motion was limited and that has improved.”

“The physical aspects of yoga have been demanding, however now towards the end of the course I seem to have taken pleasure in the discomfort of some of the difficult postures -  a real sense of goodness and well being present at the end of the stretching sessions, plus a cessation of thoughts.  My body has become more toned.”

“The course is really a collection of such practical knowledge.  It is a transformation for both the body and mind.  This is Yoga with knowledge and not just physically but mentally and spiritually.”

“Just 10 days of a little touch of exercise has brought much better flexibility and energy and stamina.  Most importantly the course has refreshed my joy and confidence in life.”

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