Broaden your vision and deepen your roots

Answer: I am hearing a new word today! Well, don’t divide life: this is spiritual or this is materialistic. Take a holistic view of life. There is also food in a temple. In that sense both material and spiritual aspects are there. Music is both a form of entertainment and spirituality. We even put ornate clothes on our deities. Ancient people never separated the spiritual and material. They enjoyed putting precious jewels in temples.
In South India, in Madurai, kings gave away most of their precious jewels to the temples. Everything co-existed. In the same way, you can treat work as worship. Spirituality has entered our material life.

Lord Krishna says, “Janma karma samay divya”. All actions are divine. Lord Krishna himself was very much of the material world except for his discourse to Arjuna. All he did was materialistic. He ruled the country, advised as a minister, and so on. Life should not be compartmentalized. Materialism and spirituality are not opposed to each other.
However, money earned through unethical means is never spiritual. It will pinch your heart. The spirit is awake in you. It is your natural instinct. If you have a plate full of food and someone comes to you, you will not be able to eat it alone. It is such a natural part of your life that you cannot renounce one for the other. Charity is in very nature of humans. You want to be compassionate, but how can you be when you have nothing to give away. Charity cannot happen with an empty bowl.
Narayana is the pinnacle of spiritual life and Laxmi is the symbol of wealth. Both Narayana and Laxmi go together. In Indian mythology Narayana is married to Laxmi, which symbolizes if you are truly spiritual, you are definitely rich.
Saraswati, the visualization of Divine energy of Knowledge, sat on a rock. The knowledge that you have gained will always be with you. Laxmi sits on a lotus which floats on water. You can't rely on what happens in the share market, but the wisdom you have acquired is always part of you. Wealth is unsteady just as a lotus floating on water. These are the eternal symbols that convey truth. Grasp what is needed. This is very important.

Answer: Create a sense of belonging-ness with your juniors. You know that they respect you and you need to be cordial with them. Respect needs some distance, this distance is good but that should be of an arm’s length and not longer than that. Little bit distance is ok to keep the respect among your juniors, but too much distance will bring a breakdown in communication. You need to maintain that balance. A little bit distance needs to be there so that respect is maintained at the same time communication is cordial.

Answer: Skillfully! If your boss tells you to do fraud, avoid it skillfully. Finally, say that your consciousness does not allow you to commit fraud. The boss will escape if you do fraud, and you will be put behind bars. However, hundred percent truth is also not workable, it is only an ideal.
There is an ancient Indian proverb that says as much lies are allowed as there is salt in food. For example, if you want to sell your product, it may not be the best; still you can say that your product is the best. That much lies are permissible. Ancient people have said this, thousands of years back. It is fascinating how they handled the human mind.

Answer: Very good! Don’t accept them as they are. Take strict action, and handle them skillfully.
People don’t change overnight, yet people do change. Nobody will remain the same as far as imperfections are concerned. Perfection remains the same. Truth is always one, lies can be many.

Answer: Our likes and dislikes change so often! You like something and then dislike it, and so on. Life should not be swayed away by likes and dislikes, but well founded on commitment. You need some work to sustain your life. Any job that sustains your life, be committed to it and if you get something better, go for it.There is nothing like job satisfaction. Every job has some drawbacks. Earn your livelihood and then do service for satisfaction. That brings you maximum satisfaction. Nothing else can bring you the satisfaction that service brings.

Answer: The mind is full of sankalpa (intentions) and vikalpa (imagination, fancy). All our work gets done through sankalpa. Even the act of moving our arm is preceded by the sankalpa in the mind. If twenty sankalpas arise in the mind then nothing gets done. When the mind is peaceful and restful then our sankalpa is powerful.
The sankalpa of a weak mind is weak and that of strong mind is strong.
We can make our mind strong by sadhana (spiritual practices) and knowledge. Then the sankalpa will also be strong. The wise makes one sankalpa in fifty days whereas the ignorant makes fifty in a day.

Answer: To the degree you are aware, you imbibe knowledge. Some people teach you in positive way, yet some other people teach you what not to do. Sense of discrimination bestowed on humans is a great gift to the mankind.  

Answer: Don’t do too much of practice. Move ahead gradually and patiently. Do only as much as needed. Do that much to which your body gets accustomed to.

Answer: There are two schools of thought. One is you visualize dream and work for it. Other school of thought says surrender everything to God, whatever God gives you is the best, and God will take care of everything for you. Where is the compatibility? They appear to be completely opposite. One is your own visualization, your own dream and your perseverance, and another is having trust in God and leaving everything on God. They appear to be incompatible but I would say they are very much compatible. It is good to have an intention or a goal. You don’t keep on visualizing your goal 24*7, but continuing to work for that, you leave it to the Divine. Only the combination of two will work.

It is beautifully described in Scriptures: You take a vision or goal, and then you offer it to the Divine while working for that – “This is what I want and you know what is best for me. If this or anything better, I am ready to accept.”
Sometimes you don’t know what you want. If you know what you want, it is not difficult to get it. Half the time we are unsure of what we want. Often you find if you are persistent to get something, you don’t want the same thing the next week, the next month or the next year. So, before you take an intention, you expand your awareness.

So, put an intention in the universe - I want this or anything better.

Now, what is the difference between a desire and an intention? Suppose you want to go to Mumbai from Bangalore. You buy a ticket and travel for around three hours and go there. But you don’t keep chanting in your mind all this time that you want to go to Mumbai and you are going to Mumbai. You may even land up in a mental Hospital like this! Desire is the feverishness that clogs on to an intention. An intention is a desire free from feverishness. And then working towards your intention, this faith is to be there whatever nature brings back is for my growth.

Answer: Just do as much is necessary. There is no need to do too much. Meditation is like taking a bath. To wash the mind, you need meditation. And once the mind is clean, you will be well.
You take shower in the morning to clean your body. After that you do all the daily activities. You don’t have to keep on taking a shower throughout the day. It is like that. You meditate and calm your mind, then go on with other activities.

The term ‘Yoga’ is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘yuj’, meaning union; the union of the individual consciousness with the universal consciousness.

Yoga is not merely a form of exercise for the body, but a path towards total harmony of body, mind and spirit. It is an ancient wisdom for a healthier, happier and more peaceful way of living that ultimately leads to self-realization, the union with the Self.

Yoga brings the mind to the present moment, improving clarity, and alertness in the mind. The mind becomes peaceful, and is able to deal with day-to-day stress.

To know more about yoga, click here