Hypertension or high blood pressure is a common malady affecting people world over. WHO regards it as one of the most important risk factors for death. Literature suggests that around 57% of all stroke related deaths and 24% of coronary artery disease deaths in India are directly related to hypertension. And on top of that, it is a silent killer-often presenting with no overt signs or symptoms. Thus, the pressing need for increasing public awareness, access to early detection and treatment.

The mind is not a linear entity. It has deeper layers which ordinarily we are unaware of. The mind can be likened to an iceberg. One can see only the tip of an iceberg, the majority of which lies submerged below stretching way down to the bottom of the ocean. In the analogy of an iceberg, which is pyramidal in shape, the tip of the iceberg represents your conscious mind, the vast base of the iceberg represents the unconscious...

Yogis have explained that human body is an important vehicle, a tool for spiritual growth. They advised that if your body is not healthy for a prolonged period of time, then you would not even be able to meditate or do any sadhana – so first and foremost, keep your body healthy.

Q- In one of your recent talks I heard you say that meaning of yoga is not just limited to physical exercise but is much more divine. Can you please throw light on this aspect of yoga?

The real Self is our inmost being covered by multiple layers. It is our real ‘I’ hidden and camouflaged deep within. We see ourselves as the body. We love our body and use all our energies to make it stronger, more beautiful, agile and powerful.

The tendency of the senses is to go outward all the times. Sri Krishna says, ‘Your senses are always busy in going out to the objective world. And when you can’t obtain those objects then your mind obsesses over them. This outward driven tendency of your senses is stealing your wisdom.’

We need to understand that peace is not something which is different from us. It is not something we have to find. Our real Self is, peace. You are peace. Peace, which is distant from you cannot be called peace. Peace, in Sanskrit language, is called ‘Shanti’. We say ‘Om Shanti Shanti Shanti’. Om is your real name and Shanti means peace. The peace which is, you.

Once upon a time, there was a king in the ancient city of Kashi (Benares). He had a son, and the king loved him a lot. To commemorate his son’s fifth birthday, the king came up with an idea of getting his portrait done. A stage was set and a court painter was called. However, on this occasion, the queen who always wished to have a daughter instead, thought of dressing her son as a girl!

Today, a quantum physicist will agree on the statement that the whole gross world is manifested on the foundation of consciousness. A physicist will say that what we see as a building is just atoms moving at such high speed that it seems like it is still. If we go to the foundation of the building and inspect a tiny grain of sand with a microscope, there will be no sand, just atoms. The scientists are still debating whether...

The one who knows and who has realized the truth. The one who knows the scriptures and who has direct experience of the knowledge. The one who dispels darkness and breaks the shackles of bondage. Such an enlightened, liberated being is a Guru.

Grace happens not because of efforts but on its own. It cannot be created or controlled in any way. It is like a glimpse of the aspirant’s goal that’s meant to motivate him to keep treading the path, to keep internalizing the mind, to keep eradicating the vasanas and so on. But more often than not it is mistaken to be a doing – people think that have worked at getting this grace. What they don’t understand...

As per sage Patanjali, yoga is an eight-fold path. It is like climbing a staircase which has eight steps: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and the final step is samadhi. In order to become a yogi, the aspirant needs to follow these eight limbs, meticulously and step by step. To many people, yoga means just asanas. Thus, they jump straight into the practice of asanas without understanding what the word ‘yoga’, actually means. That is why even...