Art of Living: March 2006

Happy New Year (Ugadi / Gudi Padwa)!

Dear friends, wish you happy Ugadi (Telugu New Year Day) and happy Gudi Padwa (Marathi New Year Day)! Hope this new year will bring the best things to everybody's life.

DIVINE IS ALL CELEBRATION

A poor man celebrates the new year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment.

How rich are you? Do you celebrate once a year? Once a month? Every day? If you celebrate every moment, you are the Lord of Creation.
Review the year while you celebrate. This is your homework. What did you do? What did you achieve? How useful were you this past year? Sit for an hour and think about every week, one minute per week, and see the year's growth in less than an hour. With a flower, on New Year's Day, offer the whole year to the Divine.

- His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar

Just Happens!

By Nisha Solanki.

I remember the day when Guruji was in Bombay for a satsang a few weeks before the Silver Jubilee Celebrations. My mother (Henna Solanki) insisted that my brother and me stand in the crowd (even though it meant being pushed, crushed, stamped over and walked over) to get Guruji's darshan. We refused to struggle through the crowd to meet him. But somehow we got to meet him conveniently after the satsang when he blessed us all and asked if we were coming to Bangalore. We simply said yes. Certain answers just come impulsively like girlfriend asks boyfriend-do I look good? Yes; am I fat? No. And that is why I was in Bangalore.

And if I still had any reservations about attending the celebration, they were taken care of when I jus made it in the nick of time to board the train. (That is another much-talked-about story in our local group) It was an experience worth cherishing and learning from. The obvious lesson besides existence of Guruji's grace is that traffic in Mumbai is pathetic. And thus began the journey to the Art of Living Silver Jubilee.

Everything was so larger-than-life - the stage, the celebrities and dignitaries, the number of people, the variety of people. I couldn't even gauge how many people were present because my eyes couldn't capture the magnitude. All people present there and working for this event months in advance were doing so only out of love and faith for their Guru. Watching this phenomenon is an experience I cannot comprehend. And meditation just happens. All you have to do is close your eyes and take a few deep breaths..

Significance of Holi

Sri Sri Ravishankar on Holi

The word purana comes from the Sanskrit word `pure nava', which `that which is new in the city'. It is a new way of presenting things. Puranas are full of colourful illustrations and stories. On the surface they appear to be mere fantasy, but actually they contain subtle truths.

An asura king, Hiranyakashyap, wanted everyone to worship him. But his son Prahlad was a devotee of Lord Narayana, the king's sworn enemy. Angry king wanted Holika, his sister, to get rid of Prahlad. Empowered to withstand the fire, Holika sat on a burning pyre holding Prahlad in her lap. But it was Holika who was burnt, and Prahlad came out unharmed.

Hiranyakashyap symbolizes one who is gross. Prahlad embodies innocence, faith and bliss and joy. The spirit cannot be confined to love of material only. Hiranyakashyap wanted all joy to come from material world. It did not happen that way. The individual jivatma cannot be bound to the material forever. It's natural to eventually move towards Narayana, one's higher Self.

Holika stands for the past burdens that try to burn Prahlad's innocence. But Prahlad, so deeply rooted in Narayana Bhakti, could burn all past impressions (samskaras) and joy springs up with new colours.

Life becomes a celebration. Burning the past, you gear up for a new beginning. Your emotions, like fire, burn you. But when they are a fountain of colours, they add charm to your life. In ignorance, emotions are a bother; in knowledge, the same emotions add colour.

Each emotion is associated with a colour - anger with red, jealousy with green, vibrancy and happiness with yellow, love with pink, vastness with blue, peace with white,sacrifice with saffron and knowledge with violet.

So Holi should be colourful and not boring. When each colour is seen clearly, it is colourful. When all the colours get mixed, you end up with black.

So also in life, we play different roles. Each role and emotion needs to be clearly defined.

Emotional confusion creates problems. When you are a father, you have to play the part of a father. You can't be a father at office. When you mix the roles in your life, you start making mistakes. Whatever role you play in life, give yourself fully to it. Harmony in diversity makes life vibrant and more colourful.

One legend talks about the time when Parvati was in tapasya and Shiva was in samadhi. In facilitating the divine union of the Two, Kamadeva, the Lord of Love, gets burnt to ashes by Shiva. Shiva had to come out of samadhi to join Parvati, for celebration to take place. `Parva' is festival and `Parvati' means `born out of festival' - celebration! For samadhi to unite with celebration, the presence of desire was necessary.

So, desire (Kama) was invoked. But again, to celebrate, you need to overcome desire. So Shiva opened his third eye and burned Kama. When desire in the mind is burnt, celebration happens.

A state of vairagya is not devoid of 'ras'or colours- Vairagya is often misunderstood as 'neeras' or monotonous. No.no.. actually it is 'navras', it has all the colours!

~~ Sri Sri Ravishankar

Empowering Women

Happy Womens Day!

International Women's Conference - 2005 @ Vishalakshi Mantap, Art of Living Ashram, Bangalore.

Begining of a new era for the world!

When the President of Indian Republic arrived we were all fresh and charged up with enthusiasm. The President Sri A P J Abdul Kalam along with Gurudev watered the Lakshmitharu plant (See the above picture) to mark the auspicious occasion. The President then presented an action-oriented three-dimensional solution for transforming the world into an enlightened society. He said value based education, religion with spiritual force and economic development to remove poverty would pave way for the enlightened society. The President made us repeat some paragraphs from his speech which touched our hearts. The musicians played .Enthronu Mahanu Baavalau. a fitting tribute to the dignitaries on stage. The pleasant evening continued with cultural programmes presented by the international participants and everyone captured our
hearts.

All the three days Gurudev with his captivating smile made all the distinguished guests and spiritual leaders do the talking and remained silent. Even in that silence he could effectively communicate his message of love and affection to all his devotees.
Even though I could watch him only in the large plasma screen I felt so close to him.

We are all really fortunate to have grasped this greatest opportunity and be part of this momentous occasion. Such a magnificent celebration happens once in many life times. .Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. the one world family, celebrated and shared the joy of Gurudev.s unconditional love and service to humanity.

(By M.Gopalakrishnan.)

Medical Conference Proceedings

Medical Conference Proceedings
Proceedings of the World Conference on Science, Consciousness and Spirituality, held at AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), New Delhi, on 24-26 February 2006.

From my friend Dr Belinda

The following are the key findings of the latest research done on Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) presented at the Conference held as part of the Art of Living Silver Jubilee Celebrations.

1. Dr Richard Brown from the USA discussed how the application
of newer technologies to basic research in Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY)
has thrown light on our understanding of how SKY works. He postulated
that SKY contributes to a state of alert calmness by its effect on
the vagus nerve which is the core of the parasympathetic system.
Recent studies have shown that the vagus nerve is crucial in social
bonding, empathy and love; it is the centre of our gut instincts and
is crucial to our ability to perceive, observe and make complex
decisions. Vagal activity is estimated from the respiratory sinus
arrhythmia as measured by heart rate variability.
Impaired vagal activity is found in people with depression, anxiety,
panic disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, violent adults,
fibromyalgia, post traumatic stress disorder, early Alzheimer's and
obesity. Nowadays, an instrument that artificially stimulates the
vagus nerve is being used to treat depression, epilepsy, early
Alzheimer's disease and is an experimental treatment for obesity.
Stephen Porges, the foremost expert on the activity of the vagus
nerve on reviewing the research done on SKY has suggested that the
different rhythms of breath in SKY may stimulate different diameter
fibers of the vagus nerve. This makes SKY unique and likely to have a
much wider range of effects than the currently available electronic
vagus nerve stimulator.
Dr Brown suggested that other mechanisms by which SKY works are by
calming of stress response systems, neuroendocrine release of
hormones, nitric oxide neurotransmission, fear conditioning circuits
(prefrontal cortex and limbic system), and thalamic generators. He
also discussed various knowledge points as articulated by Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar from a neuro scientific perspective for
e.g., `Enlightenment is innocence with intellect'. Interestingly,
brain wave rhythms during and after SKY are similar to those of
babies.

2. Dr Fahri Saatcioglu from Oslo did a controlled 6 week long
study of the effect of SKY on the relaxation response and feelings of
wellness on 109 subjects. 56 subjects went through the SKY course and
thereafter performed SKY yoga daily for 6 weeks. The control group of
53 subjects relaxed in an arm chair for 15 minutes daily for the same
period. Both groups were given questionnaires to assess changes in
depression, anxiety, dispositional optimism, stress, energy and
degree of altered states of consciousness before the instruction and
6 weeks later. Dr Fahri found a statistically significant increase in
the experience of wellness in the SKY group compared to the controls.
He found a significant decrease in degree of anxiety, depression and
stress and a significant increase in degree of optimism in the group
practicing SKY.

3. Dr Neeta Singh from New Delhi studied the effects of SKY on
the gene ex-pression levels of the genes that affect several stress
related pathways of the human body. She found an increase in
antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione
peroxidase and glutathione in the 26 SKY practitioners as compared
with 25 age and sex matched controls. The level of Glutathione was
three times higher in SKY practitioners as compared with controls. A
small increase was seen in hTERT in SKY practitioners which indicates
delayed senescence and perhaps a longer life span. The observed
decrease in bcl-2, C-Myc and C- Fos in SKY practitioners suggests
probable better protection against cancer. This study suggests that
subjects doing SKY regularly have a better antioxidant status and
better ability to cope with stress.

4. Dr Stephen Larsen from the USA studied neurophysiological
responses before, during and after SKY. The tests run were EEG
(recorded at 19 cortical sites), EKG, heart rate variability,
galvanic skin response, hand skin temperature, pulse plethysmography
and blood pressure. He found that SKY practices produced measurably
significant changes in ALL physiological measures. Beginning
practitioners of SKY had greater changes from their baselines
compared to more advanced practitioners.
He found that during the practice there is challenge, followed by
temporary disorganization leading to calming, regularization and
synchrony in such measures as heart rate variability and EEG. The
EEGs of beginners showed pockets of synchrony whereas in more
advanced practitioners the baseline pre- practice synchrony was
higher and a very high degree of "total brain synchrony" was observed
across all 19 channels during the breath practices and rest periods.
It appears that over a period of time, the practitioner's physiology
becomes more robust, flexible and able to deal with the challenges of
stressors and still is able to idle comfortably during quiescence.
This explains why regular practice of SKY is very important.
Dr Larsen also observed certain large waves in the EEGs during SKY
that resemble the ECT waves (electro convulsive therapy). Electro
convulsive therapy is an age old treatment that is very effective in
treating depression but is unpopular because of its side effects and
convulsions produced. He suggested that the effect of SKY on the
brain is like a subconvulsive dose of ECT without the side effects of
an ECT. This could explain why SKY is effective in patients with
depression.

5. Dr Lyulyakina from Russia studied the functional status of
the brain during and after the practice of SKY in 12 volunteers. She
found that all the participants showed statistically significant
improvement of EEG parameters proved by spectral, power and
topographic mapping and coherence analysis. She did not find any
statistically significant difference in the dynamics of
electrophysiological process between the long Sudarshan Kriya and the
shorter version of Sudarshan Kriya.
.
6. Dr Geetha from Bangalore studied the effect of SKY on
antioxidant enzyme activities in menopausal women. -There were 4
groups compared. One group of 40 women received hormone replacement
therapy, one group of 40 received 500mg of Vit E daily, a group of 60
women practiced SKY daily and 50 women served as controls. In all
groups, the plasma MDA levels (as an index of lipid peroxidation),
erythrocyte SOD (superoxide dismutase) and blood GSH (glutathione
peroxidase activity) were measured at the start and at the end of 30
days.
Dr Geetha found a significant decrease in the MDA levels and marked
elevation of GSH-px and SOD levels in the group that practiced SKY as
compared with the other groups. Hence the practice of SKY improves
the antioxidant power of menopausal women and is superior to the
beneficial effects seen with HRT or Vit E on anti oxidant levels.

7. Dr Vedamurthachar from Bangalore studied the effect of the
AOL Course on occupational stress and anxiety among 60 software
engineers in Bangalore. At the end of a month, the 30 engineers who
took the AOL course showed a statistically significant reduction in
anxiety and improvement in stress coping skills as compared with the
30 controls. However there were no significant changes seen in the
stress symptoms and stress producer variables.

8. The oral microflora of SKY practitioners was studied by E G
Lyulyakina from Russia. She found that the number of micro organisms
in lacto vegetarians were 2-3 times less than that in non strict
vegetarians. Oral fluid samples of strict vegetarians did not show
any growth of microorganisms after SKY practices. The bacteria found
in oral cavity of non vegetarians were Gram negative Proteus which is
evidence of putrefactive processes in the mouth of non vegetarians.
She concluded that practice of SKY and a vegetarian diet reduces the
microbial content of the mouth.

9. Dr Chiplonkar from Pune studied the lifestyle, behavioral and
health aspects of 105 adults before and after undergoing the part I
Art of Living Course. She found that majority of micronutrients
showed a positive correlation with sattvic foods. After the practice
of SKY for 2 months, she found a significant reduction in anxiety
score, marginal improvement in patience score and no change in stress
score. She also found a significant increase in antioxidant capacity
(measured as SOD), reduction in triglycerides, and a marginal
reduction in oxidative stress (as measured by plasma MDA levels).
Practicing SKY regularly resulted in greater reduction of anxiety
score than less frequent practice. Subjects also reported a sense of
well being, improvement in sleep quality and more enthusiasm at work.

10. The psychospiritual benefits of SKY were studied in women
diagnosed with breast cancer by Arielle Warner in USA. The subjects
were evaluated 2 weeks before the Art of Living Course, 8 days after
the Course and after 5 weeks of regular practice. A statistically
significant improvement in quality of life, spiritual well being,
positive states of mind and perceived stress was observed after the
AOL course and was maintained 5 weeks later.

11. Dr Janis Carter from Australia compared the effects of
different modalities like Iyengar and Desikachar yoga, Qi Gong,
Sudarshan Kriya Yoga and a multicomponent yoga intervention (MCYI) in
treating Australian Vietnam war veterans with long standing Post
traumatic Stress disorder. She found that the interventions that used
many tools of yoga viz. Sudarshan Kriya Yoga and MCYI, showed the
greatest efficacy.

12. Dr Patricia Gerberg from USA discussed the effects of doing
the SKY program in a patient undergoing psychoanalysis since a long
time. She found SKY useful in healing negative past impressions and
the `dissociation' that rendered the patient unable to connect with
others and with his own feelings.

13. Janis Apted from the USA studied the effects of SKY on 48
highly stressed faculty members of the Anderson Cancer Centre in
Houston, Texas. The participants reported improvement in their mood,
anxiety, stress, ability to stay calm and levels of anger and
frustration.

14. Dr A M Huang from Taiwan showed how the serum levels of BDNF
(Brain derived neurotrophic factor) were increased after practice of
Pranayam and SKY. BDNF is lower in patients with depression compared
to controls. A rise in serum BDNF levels could be an indicator of the
beneficial effects of SKY on depression.

15. An electrophysiological study on the effects of SKY was
presented by Shruti Baijal from Allahabad. An EEG study was done on
SKY practitioners and age matched controls. Mismatch negativity
paradigm that provides an indirect physiological measure of the way
sensory information is processed by the brain was used for the study.
Her conclusion was that there is a more efficient process of
inhibition of irrelevant information and maintenance of focused
internalized attention for the SKY practitioners.

Studies on Nav Chetana Shibir (Breath Water Sound Course)

1. Dr Theresa Descilo from the USA did a controlled study on
survivors of the tsunami disaster. One group was given the Nav
Chetana Shibir, one group the Nav Chetana Shibir and Traumatic
incident reduction programme (another interventional method for
treating post traumatic stress reduction), and another group with no
interventional programme served as controls. Those subjects
undergoing the Nav Chetana Shibir showed significantly reduced
symptoms of post traumatic stress and depression and better general
health compared to the control group. This study suggests that the
NCS is a safe and effective intervention for rapid relief of
psychological symptoms following mass disasters.

2. A study of the effect of Nav Chetana Shibir on heroin users
was done by Dr Anju Dhawan in Delhi. 15 heroin addicts were compared
with 14 controls and showed significantly more motivation and
positive changes in the quality of life within 2 weeks after a Nav
Chetana Shibir.

Guruji made all the doctors present at the Conference take a vow to
discourage sex determination tests and abortion of female fetuses. He
asked all the doctors to attend at least 3 free medical camps every
year. He also encouraged all the doctors to keep abreast with all the
latest developments in their fields.

Jai Gurudev,
Belinda Vaz

Melting Pot!

"Life is sacred. Celebrate life. Care for others and share whatever you have with those less fortunate than you.
Deepen your roots and Broaden your vision for the whole world belongs to you." - His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri encourages people from all over the world to nurture their own culture while honoring others' cultures.

The Art of Living Silver Jubilee Celebrations showcased Indian Culture as well as the Cultures of all the representing countries, their music, dance etc. Art of Living is truely a melting pot of world cultures! The above picture shows the Danish perofoming at the Art of Living Silver Jubilee Celebrations.

Magnificent!

This was the magnificent Dias of the Art of Living Silver Jubilee Celebrations!

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's speech at Art of Living Silver Jubilee!

President Kalam gave an inspiring speech at the Art of Living Silver Jubilee Celebrations sharing his vision for the One World Family and happy, peaceful society.
Transcript of president's speech http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/sllatest1.jsp?id=738

Vaaaaaast!

Photo: Karnatic music perfomance during the Art of Living Silver Jubilee Celebrations!)

By Dr. Pragati Mukhopadhyay
Dr. Pragati is a scientist at Advanced Centre Research in Electronics, IIT Bombay
and Professor at Dept of Materials Science & Metallurgical Engg, IIT Bombay

Back to my scientific world after the great event of
silver Jubilee and I am still fumbling with words to
express my thoughts
-it is difficult to express what it was to be a part
of this great event. It was not a feeling of
attending a big function but
more like being a witness to a vast happening which
was JUST HAPPENING!!

The word VAST became so clear with countless "Vah"s
from my lips.
'How' and 'Vow' kept recurring so many times that it
came as-
Oh! So, HE showed HIS Voh form!
what form? Vishal..Vast consciousness form!!

Ah! Sitting on that huge stage a small humble, caring,

loving, smiling figure showed his VAST form so
simply-it is amazing and there goes the mind again-
but HOW did it happen??

I don't know!!
Mind still questions, "Was it a dreaming or was it a
real play?"
He was monitoring all events in Ashram as well the
ones in the airfield and then attending them with
fullest care, love and honor! Greeting each guest and
being with all. He even walked down to meet the
musicians and the camera persons.
Unbelievable but it did happen-He made the ancient
sutra- 'Vasudhaiv kutumbakum'come live!
Making 25 lakh people come together from all corners
of the world !
1000 or more saints sat and shared the same stage
together smiling at each other!
3800 different musicians played together in harmony!
Scientists, politicians, policemen, artists - all sat
on one stage!
Different media officials, journalists, photographers
- all covering the great event side by side laughing
and joking ( even shared the seats with each other!)
People sat there silently with smiles in that dusty
field when He led the mass meditation, covering all in
one big soothing wave of love and peace.
All lost their identity and became one big happy wave
of love and devotion with the ocean of Love!
It would have been difficult for the small mind to
understand or visualize what is meant by- 'vishal
roop' or expanded consciousness so this was the live
demonstration!
Ah! I am still out of words.. just had this experience
of what i said-
Many can experience and be with their experiences-
and there are few chosen ones who come to make others
experience the inexpressible experience!

I have no words to express the gratefulness I feel
for the Master except to say-Oh Master! Thou art
THAT!!
luv
Jai Guru Dev
pragati
iit-bombay