Happiness or joy! what would you prefer? Both are positive emotions with similar mental states, yet they are distinct consciousness. Their presence through our livings signifies an active state of existence, a meaningful, fulfilled and worthy living.  Both are indicators of personal well-being.

Joy is everlasting happiness, where happiness is short-lived and temporary if it comes out of material pleasure alone. In that sense, both options are unavailable at your disposal simultaneously. One comes at the cost of another, as they manifest from different sources which are mutually exclusive. The source of happiness is external and associated with the material world. Happiness has to do something with fulfillment of material needs. Unmet needs causes sorrow or unhappiness. For example, you didn’t have a cell phone which you wanted for a long time and unexpectedly one day one of your relatives gifted one to you; so you became happy. Next day, you noticed that your neighbor friend was using Smart phone; so, suddenly your happiness vanished. Thus, happiness is a temporary state of mind which comes into and goes out of life with short notice. As the desire for material object is unlimited; the more you want it remains farther away from you. It discriminates between the wealthy and the have-nots.

 At times, you have to manufacture happiness in your consciousness where the imprints connect the state of being happiness to the condition of the material world. So, happiness remains conditioned to the fulfillment of material needs. Nevertheless, the state of joyousness is self-determined; its source is internal, and it comes from the within. It’s entirely spontaneous and present-to-present. The meaning of present-to-present is acceptance of the reality as you are encountering and  accepting yourself whatever you are to your present reality. How do you do it? The right way forward is independence from the bondage of your material want. By this, you do not become a desire-less person; rather, you cultivate renunciation-in-desire. Its a self discourse which is constantly communicating with the self-inside.

The joy is non-discriminatory; it does not discriminate between the rich and the have-nots. Once it becomes part of your life, it continues to cherish and incessantly flows between Muladhara Chakra (four-headed lotus) and Sahasradhara Chakra (crown chakra).  The joy is the source of the divine consciousness. The state of joyousness burns the past bad karma and is responsible for future good karma. As you burn your bad karma and accumulate good karma, so shall you meet divine consciousness. How do you make joy? Billows are ten types of internal purification that you need to do to meet  the state of joyousness.

10 TYPES OF INTERNAL PURIFICATIONS

 

1. The body gets purified

by *WATER & YOGA*

 

2. Breath gets purified

by *PRAANAAYAM*

 

3. The mind gets purified

by *MEDITATION*

 

4. Intellect gets purified

by *Spiritual KNOWLEDGE*

 

5. Memory gets purified

by *MANAN & CHINTAN*

 

6. Ego gets purified

by *SEVA (SERVICE)*

 

7. Self-gets purified

by *SILENCE (MAUN)*

 

8. Food gets purified

by *POSITIVE THOUGHTS*

(While cooking & eating)

 

9. Wealth gets purified

by *GIVING/DONATING*

 

10. Feelings get purified

by *LOVE N SURRENDER⁠⁠⁠⁠*

(Note: The source is unknown)

I do not break for work until I do it.  I do not go to sleep until I do it.

Your subconscious mind is stronger than the conscious one. To give it the power you need to meditate. An easy way to meditate is to sit in silence. Your primary goal here in meditation is real thinking nothing. If any thought comes to your mind, notice it and return to silence and no-thinking state. “No-thinking” is not action oriented active state; it’s rather an active state in calmness and relaxation.

What a wonderful way to harness the power of the mind!  While in meditation, your sole focus remains at thinking nothing. Sometimes your attention might shift to outside noise or inside breath. If it happens, turn your attention to a state of nothing-in-thinking.  You can stay in this state for some time. Practice it every day in the morning and night; you will notice a sea change in nature of your mind. The best time to do it is early in the morning when you get up from the bed and at night before you go to sleep. At any time you lose your peace of mind, practice it to feel good. If you are unable to do it, if your mind still becomes restless, then practice pranayama to come to a state of peace. I would say this is the best exercise for your mind. Initially, you might have difficulty in doing it; as you practice, it becomes part of your life. You would enjoy it the joyousness.

 

Below is a video of powerful music to calm your mind. For a better result, alternately practice the two techniques: listen to the music for some time and then switch to the  practice of thinking nothing.

 

 

Ensure that the rest of the day you spend not to disturb your mind. The mind is such a terrible thing to waste when it is the only avenue for a better life. It takes a  second to bother your mind while it takes longer to come to peace. There is no better way to control the mind than the meditation. Great people, saints, even the Tantric all they achieved is the power to control the mind. Once you gain the control over your mind, you can use the power for a better life.

We become what our impression of the world is.

Our impression takes its shape based on our beliefs and values. We have our values and beliefs that we have developed throughout the course of our lives. Our family, friends, associations, and experiences all are sources of our beliefs and values. Therefore, our beliefs and values contribute to the formation of our identity of who we are and how we view the world.

We respond to the external world according to the imprints we have in our subconscious mind.

We have both conscious and subconscious mind. Our conscious mind is our conscious experiences of what we see, hear, and perceive in our immediate world.  Our subconscious mind is a parallel formation to our conscious mind. Our dreams in the sleeping state are just activation of our subconscious mind where it runs the compilation of different sensory experiences as a movie. Our sense perception creates imprints of our experiences of our conscious world in our subconscious mind. We respond to the external world according to the imprints we have in our subconscious mind.

Our conscious mind just carries out the order of our subconscious mind instantly.

We react, positively or negatively, our anger, frustration, happiness, peace, and anxiety all our reactions are based on the imprints that we created in our subconscious mind. How we respond when our friend calls us, parents call us, and the teacher calls us, all it varies. For each, we already created a replica or movie in our subconscious mind. And our conscious mind just carries out the order of our subconscious mind instantly.

 

The more colorful are the pictures the bright and clandestine our thoughts and behaviors.

Our thoughts, even our actions, and behaviors are guided by the imprints or pictures stored in the subconscious mind. The more colorful are the pictures the bright and clandestine our thoughts and behaviors. To change our behaviors in the conscious world we have to alter the imprints in the subconscious world, that is, by erasing the old prints and replacing with new bold and colorful pictures. It is possible on the meditation platform. Like an artist, you have to paint your life with colorful pictures.

Kriya Yoga has been  a very popular concept recently. As the problems facing the man has become increasingly complex by the incessant propagation of materialistic view of the world, so the practice of Kriya Yoga has become indispensable. Usually, Monks practice Kriya to experience the divine consciousness. Now, it has become an essential tool for healing the problems of human sufferings. From a farmer to a scientist, the buzz is around taking a solid lesson in Kriya yoga.

The practice of Kriya Yoga has become indispensable.

Kriya yoga finds its origin in Bhagavad Gita. The Lord Krishna taught a lesson in Kriya yoga to Arjuna (The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter IV Verse 29). As the verse reads: Offering the inhaling breath into exhaling breath and offering the exhaling breath into inhaling breath, the yogi neutralizes both breaths; thus he releases prana from the heart and brings life force under his control. 

Kriya is offering your  inhaling breath into exhaling breath and vice-versa. 

It means that the Kriya yogi generates extra life force (Prana) by resting the heart and lungs from the work and reducing the decay in the body through the practice of prana (offering the inhaling breath into exhaling breath). And the practice of Apana (offering the exhaling breath into inhaling breath) helps the Kriya yogi  successfully control the mutations of growth in the body.  So, Prana and the Apana ensures steady cessation of both breaths. As a result, the heart takes a complete rest.

Kriya yogi generates extra life force.

The term ‘Kriya’ has Sanskrit root meaning regulation of thought, actions, and deeds. It blends the mind, body and soul (i.e. thought, action, and deeds) by embedding them in Pranayama; essentially receiving the cosmic power from the universal source (Muladhara).

Kriya helps  you to receive cosmic power from the universal source.

The Kriya practice flushes out carbon dioxide from the blood and refuel with oxygen. The extra oxygen accumulated in the body neutralizes the toxin in the blood and rejuvenates brain cells and spinal centers; eventually preventing the decay of tissues. The higher form of Kriya practice enables the yogi transmute the cells into energy and so  receiving the power to appear and disappear at wish (Yogananda, 1946).

Kriya flushes out carbon dioxide from the blood and refuel with oxygen.

You cannot force someone to love.

Positive attitudes are something natural and spontaneous. Take such as,  love. It’s not about love alone, all forms of gratitude take a similar shape. You cannot force someone to love. Love develops and spreads in pure form only when you become free. You are free only when you have freedom from the selfish and more worldly self. And it is something that you are only free to decide your own freedom, and nothing else would have any say on it.

You are free only when you have freedom from the selfish and more worldly self.

It is a habit; the more you cultivate the higher it is likely to happen. So, it is more likely that love would be natural and spontaneous indicating unselfish love. It is possible only when you overcome the darkness and negativity, that is, anger, delusion, jealousy, hatred, and false ego etc. Eventually, you take the road not taken by many. You are on a path of light. Your senses, wisdom, emotion all they show unity and work in tandem. You become a yogi.

Your senses, wisdom, emotion all they work in tandem. 

People of this kind still exist and will continue to exist through the ages, who tends to show unselfish love and kindness, to whom we attribute a Godly figure. It is because they are not only invaluable  but also a few to find.

We attribute a Godly figure.

Aum (ॐ), the Cosmic Sound!

Aum is a song to praise the God.

 Aum  (or OM), in Sanskrit ॐ, the syllable is a symbol of sacredness and spirituality, used widely in marking the beginning of a Sanskrit Slokas and mantras (hymns)–the songs to praise the God. People invokes  Slokas and mantras (hymns) in prayer, puja (worship) and other rituals in religious and spiritual traditions of  Hinduism.

Aum is a creative force.

Aum is the beginning (Aadi) and end (Ananta) of the entire universe. It is the creative force behind the worldly creation and the creator, and an epitome of both the creation and the creator. Aum stands for the truth, consciousness, bliss, love, beauty, purity, and God, indicating the divine nature of the Atman (soul) as Brahman (the supreme consciousness), the God (Aumkara or Omkara) or the Ultimate reality in various text of Veda and Upanishads.

An epitome of both the creation and the creator. 

God takes the form as Aumkara (Aumkara Brahman). Various text of Veda and Upanishads describe the divine form of Aum. Recitation of ‘Aum’ is an important feature in Yoga and meditation. ‘Aum’ is recited to invoke the spirit of God in man.  As human beings are part of the creation, the internal (inner world) problems of the man, either self-inflicted  (Adhyatmika) or externally caused  (Adhibhautika); therefore, ‘Aum’ is part of the solution to the problems of the creation.

Aum is an important feature in Yoga.

The ‘Aum’  chanting calms our mind, and recharge our spirituality  to its original form. The sound of nature is Aum (ॐ)! You will be able to hear  Aum (ॐ) sounds by living in and through the nature. Go to a sea beach and try to hear the roaring sounds of the sea; its only endless vibrations of  Aum (ॐ)! Go to a forest and try to hear the sounds of the nature, its nothing else only Aum (ॐ). Once you become part of the nature,  you hear the sounds of Aum (ॐ) everywhere,  that’s your true nature, the sat-chit-ananda meaning truth, consciousness, and bliss.

Aum resides in nature. 

 

                                     Temptation makes us undisciplined.

Our enemy is temptation and our friend is yoga. The temptation is devil’s paradise. It makes us undisciplined, unruly, disorderly. It distorts our mind and emotion, and soon the effect is visible in our body. It is not to confuse with motivation or willingness. The temptation is a state of mind in anticipation or wild imagination of a result yet to meet. It manifests in low, moderate, and severe form. Its moderate form is healthy. Extreme temptation has many side effects. It accelerates the brain wave beta rays leading to anxiety.

Here comes the usefulness of meditation and yoga. It not only insulates our mind from the side effects but also improves our emotional quotient and intelligence quotient. Our mind becomes intelligible to triggers of temptation, not to fall prey to its evil design. The practitioners of meditation acquire the wisdom to check the triggers.

Our mind becomes intelligible to triggers of temptation. 

Yoga makes us a complete person of what we are as a human being. It restores our natural self as a prototype of the divine. It opens up the channels of self-expression, freedom, autonomy, and self-regulation. We become the master of our self that external stimulant and trigger have little effect on our being. It simultaneously teaches us our freedom and responsibility. We become self-conscious, self-guided, and self-chosen complete person. We listen to what our mind and heart say a response mix of both logic and emotion. In a way, yoga produces us a self-regulated and self-determined person.

Yoga produces us a self-regulated and self-determined person.

Yoga balances our tendency of introversion and extroversion. Yoga practices, such as focusing our attention on the breath and  hearing the sounds around us nurture qualities of both introversion and extroversion. So, we become blessed with the qualities of both introversion and extroversion.

Yoga balances our tendency of introversion and extroversion.