Yagnas Performed during Navratri

Read more about significane of yagnas here.

Path of liberation explained in Bhagavad Gita

If you have the habit of drinking coffee/tea in the morning and if you do not drink it one day, you feel uncomfortable or restless. Though the habit of drinking coffee/tea is not giving you an ecstasy, you feel bound. When you feel bound by something or someone, the immediate thought that arises is – ‘How can I be free?’ This is a natural tendency of all the human beings.

 If you feel bound because of a disease or an ailment at the body level, you go to a doctor, take medicines, and feel relieved. When you feel bound by your own emotions and mind, you feel clueless. That is when you feel the need of a Guru because we never learnt how to handle our own mind.

The word liberation explained in the context of spirituality is nothing but the freedom all the distortions of love. The distortions of love are – attachment, entanglement, lust, obsession, greed, jealousy, anger, and arrogance. When we are troubled by these distortions, we feel bound. We seek liberation. In Bhagavad Gita, lord Krishna explained the path to liberation through the following yogas:

·         Karma Yoga: Often when we are tensed, we worry. If at all, we get into action and do needful, we can be free from worries. For example, if you are an employee and you are overloaded with work and stringent timelines, rather than working and doing whatever is possible through you, you tend to worry about the future. Your mind starts thinking –

• Will I ever be able to finish this work?
• If I don’t finish this work on time, what will be the consequences?
• Will I continue to have my job?

Your mind is bombarded with questions and you end up wasting time in worrying. In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna inspires Arjuna to get into action without worrying about the results. Krishna asks Arjuna to act spontaneously and do needful. This is very relevant even today for everyone – professionals, homemakers, students, and so on.

Bhakti Yoga: Life without love is very dull and boring. We all experience love but with an expectation. However, when you are in love with God or nature, you simply rejoice and stay happy. On the funnier side, you can’t be expecting God to come with you for a movie or party, answer your messages immediately and so on. So, love for God is hassle free.

Bhakti is synonymous to gratitude. Whatever you receive from the God or nature, you start nourishing it. Behind every pleasant/unpleasant event, you start seeing the love of God. All your complaints simply vanish in Bhakti. Grumbling is taken over by gratitude. That is Bhakti. Lord Krishna explained the different flavors of Bhakti in Bhakti Yoga. He asks Arjuna to surrender only to Him and have one pointed devotion towards Him.

·Gyana Yoga: Bhakti or love for God is very beautiful to experience. However, love which is devoid of wisdom causes all problems. So, Krishna emphasized the importance of Gyana or Wisdom in Gyana Yoga. Wisdom is nothing but seeing the origin of all happenings, thoughts, and feeling. Knowing more and more about the consciousness which is present all over and the reason behind all happenings. When wisdom dawns, the duality or dwaita disappears. For example, a goldsmith sees gold in all the ornaments. Rather than differentiating the ornament as necklace, bangles, ear ring and so on, goldsmith says this is all gold. In the same when you dwell in wisdom, you transcend all the opposites and start seeing everything as a part of one consciousness. Krishna explained this beautifully in Bhagavad Gita and said – though a devotee is very dear to me, a gyani (person with wisdom) is even more dear to me. In fact, there is no difference between me and a gyani because a gyani is never away from me.

Pondering the knowledge given in the Karma, Bhakti, and Gyan yogas, one can easily experience that there is no bondage in reality. It is advisable to read this knowledge in the presence of a Guru or an enlightened one who can interpret to you correctly.

How to lead a happy life?

Life is much more than whatever you can capture or define. It is so vast, so big, it can’t be encapsulated in a few words. When defining life you are limiting the scope of life. Happiness is a factor that we have to consciously pursue. Unconsciously we all are happy, but somewhere in the pursuit of happiness we get stuck and miss the goal. That is what spirituality is all about - bringing that one smile.

Once you are able to see the light, you see the entire past as a dream, move on. Wake up and see the present, you will find happiness is there, unconditional happiness. Then you are happy and not dependant on others for your happiness. Happiness depends only on your mind. When the mind is free of past impressions and future cravings, happiness is there.

There is Mullah Nasrudin story. He used to grumble all the time. He was a farmer, so he would grumble, “Oh, there is no rain.” There was no rain in California for so many years. He’d say, “Oh, there is no rain, no crops are coming, it’s so difficult and…” He was grumbling.

And that year, there was very good rainfall, and he had great crops in his fields. People thought, this year Nasrudin will not grumble, because his crops have come on so nicely, so good, and so high.

There’s no problem. They said, “He must at least be happy.” So people went to greet him, “Oh, Mullah, how are you? You seem to be doing very well, lots of crops. Your field is simply flourishing and so attractive.” But Mullah had the same long face. He said, “Yes, now we have so much work to do. All these years I didn’t have to do anything, with no crops. But now so many crops and I have to do this, go to market and sell them. It’s a big headache!” He was still grumbling. Whether there were crops or not, his grumbling continued.

It is the same way in your life. You are unhappy about things you have and you are unhappy about things you don’t have.

Develop the habit of being happy. You have to do it. Nothing else can give you that.

Nobody else can do it. If anybody else or anything else does it, it will only be very temporary. You take a step!

WCF- Kumbh Mela of Arts and Culture

Over 37,000 artists from around the world performed on the 7-acre stage, exhibiting their talent to echo the message of unity in diversity on the Art of Livings world cultural festival.

The World Culture Festival is a celebration of The Art of Living’s 35 years of ‘service, humanity, spirituality and human values’.Though the festival has come under fire for its ecologically-sensitive venue, it was given the go-ahead by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) saying that the Art of Living Foundation hasn’t done anything wrong.

The festival strives itself on creating a ‘stress-free, violence free-society, promoting peace, putting smiles on everyone’s faces and walking the path together’.

It aims to foster a deep understanding between different people and backgrounds, by showcasing rich cultural traditions of dance, music and the arts from around the world.

Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightfully mentioned in his speech at the World Culture Festival that festival of such scale is like the 'Kumbh Mela' of Culture. And just like Indians believe that anything holy and noble is performed on the banks of a holy river similarly the World Culture Festival. A vision of noted humanitarian and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the World Culture festival was perceived and implemented as a peace mission to bring the world closer.

Tips for Skin Glow Naturally

Here are few tips and tricks to follow with no burden on your pocket and achieve glow and fairness instantly

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• Clean your face: No matter even if you travelled just a walkable distance outside your home, ensure that you give your face a nice and clean wash because you have stepped outside to bear the brunt of pollution on your skin! Use a nice and trustworthy face wash product that will not wear your skin off moisture and natural shine.
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• Stay away from makeup as much as possible: A natural lip gloss and a thin coat of sunscreen with foundation has become a basic need today and are not counted under makeup these days. Therefore, using the most natural product for these needs and keeping it to a minimal will do your skin good. If you are dressed up for an occasion and had to load yourself with makeup, ensure that you get rid of it as early as possible. Once you have removed makeup, ensure that you moisturise your skin properly to bring back that suppleness and keep away from the harmful effect of those chemicals!
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• Hydrate yourself: More than the cream or pack you use on your face, it is essential to concentrate on what you feed yourself with for that natural glow to show up on your face. Drink plenty of water as frequently as possible. Shedding off extra cals from your body and keeping yourself fit with the help of exercises and yoga will do huge amount of goodness to you. Keep your body fit and fine to see your skin glow and shine!
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• Watch what you eat: If you lose in defeat in front of those tempting unhealthy dishes, it will be impossible to flaunt your glow and complexion. What more than self-control and determination to keep you off those extra energy foods! Keep them at bay and stick on the healthy fruits and veggies, which over a period of time will bring laurels for your beauty. Go ahead and try it with determination!
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• Scrub your face naturally: When you want to scrub off those dead cells from your facial skin, use natural scrubbers like oats powder or besan powder. These natural scrubs will not dry off your skin in the process of scrubbing and will prove to be natural and good for your skin.
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• Use those wonder ingredients from the kitchen: Make use of naturally superb ingredients like yogurt, rose water, honey, milk cream, fruits and veggies, besan powder, turmeric powder, egg etc. as face packs on your skin. Keeping away from those instant face packs loaded with chemicals will harm your skin badly. Using face packs made out of naturally available ingredients is easy to make in a jiffy and will last long for its glow and fairness.

    

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• Naturals oils and juices: When it comes to skin massage, use natural products such as almond oil, olive oil etc. to keep your skin naturally supple and beautiful. Drink a lot of natural juices without sugar and use citric fruits like lemons and oranges in your face packs to bring about that freshness and shine in your skin.
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• With all these handy tips which are not definitely rocket science, maintaining your skin will be as easy as a child’s play! Follow these natural tips and let us know how they worked on you!
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Source: Vopecpharma.com

Art of Living Testimonials

Share some of the experiences people encountered from Art of Living courses.

Source : Art of Living facebook

The Art of Living just brought living to my life.It has transformed my life and thanks to Guruji and all the people associated with The Art of Living.I am a happy being and I radiate love happiness and joy.Sudarshan Kriya has changed my life and I have been practicing it daily since last 5 yrs.It has affected all the areas of my life and I have blossomed into a new being.I dont think A mere Thank you can express what it has done to my life.

Thank You so much ��

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Vaibhavi Nautiyal 

Art of Living Programs have changed my Life. Sudarshan Kriya "Breathing Technique" reduces stress level which results in better health and better life style. One learns how to tackle Mind, reduce thoughts, fall in deep meditation and finding the Freedom and being Happy despite of chaos around one's life. One must must attend the Happiness Program and Learn Sudarshan Kriya !!

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Seema Jain

One of the amazing place in the world to be in, where you can experience the peace and bliss that you are.

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Dinesh Choudhary 

Art of Living changed my life. <3 Sudarshan Kriya and the advance course gave me the one thing i was searching for here and there my entire life - Happiness. Anybody who wants to succeed in life must do the Happiness Program. Jai Gurudev!

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Varun Vijaykumar

AOL has wonderful programmes to provide and has proven to be the best. I love practising the techniques i learned from Art Of Living, i would strongly recommend to experience these programmes without any doubts or fear, everyone will definitely enjoy and i assure you will never ever regret instead will thank everyday.

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Sreeja Ramachandran

The much needed way to lead a healthy and happy life. Helps you to lead a balanced life both professionally and personally. Teaches you a way to eliminate stress, enjoy increased levels of energy, enthusiasm and dynamism; and care for & share with people around us.
Simply adds fizz to your life.

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Rajagopal Venkatachalam

:)

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Showcase ethical business: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said it's necessary to create visible role models of those engaging in ethical business and still making a profit, thus demonstrating how ethics can become an important competitive advantage. Sri Sri — which aims to promote peace and harmony. Over a lakh from city are expected to attend the event.

Corporate culture & spirituality

"Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji's aim is to spread peace and happiness in every corner of the world. He travels to reach out to people with his message," added Hathi. The belief here is that positive vibrations and serenity in the environment will be an antidote to the large-scale violence and terror the world has been witnessing, most recently in Iraq and France.

"We have seen many dotcoms and Satyams going the unethical way and crashing down. It has become a lesson to our young people. But it's appalling to see how smartness got linked to unethical ways of doing business. When I was talking to young business people, entrepreneurs thought ethics is something naive. They felt if you want to be successful, you need to be smart. We need to showcase to the world those doing ethical business," said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

He was speaking at the Corporate Culture and Spirituality conference organized by The Art of Living in association with the World Forum for Ethics in Business in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Ravi Shankar said ethical behaviour makes good business sense. "It's smart to be ethical and service-oriented. One thing with ethics is you can have a good sleep and smile from your heart."

Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, Juan Carlos Losada, youngest member of Parliament, Columbia, South African high commissioner to India F K Morule, Daljit Singh, president of Fortis Healthcare, Soumitra Bhattacharya, joint MD of Bosch India, and other corporate bigwigs participated in the event.

Losada said following ethics in business not only increases profits, but also weans youth away from violence. The event will be held between 6pm and 8pm and will be part of a worldwide marathon-chanting effort in which about 3 million people in 100 countries will be participating simultaneously. Held across several time zones, they will chant Sanskrit mantras, including Om Namah Shivaya, said Darshak Hathi, international director at the Art of Living.

This will be followed by a music event 'Venunaad – Music for Peace' on Monday at 6pm on the banks of river Godavari in Nashik. As Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, "Spirituality and music together can uplift people, get them out of depression and help them start a new life with enthusiasm. For a stress-free life, you have to embrace both these facets — spirituality and music."