Is information the same as consciousness, and if so does that mean that all matter is conscious or divine in nature? Sadhguru explains:

What is consciousness?

You know that you are here only because you are conscious. Essentially, being conscious means that something more than the physical is happening to you right now. At different moments of your life, you are in different levels of consciousness. When someone dies, just the physical body is there, there is nothing conscious in it. If you are asleep, the physical body is dominant, but with a little provocation, it becomes conscious. When you are awake, it is much more conscious. So, consciousness can be toned up.

This can be taken to higher levels of consciousness. If you become fully conscious, everything that can be known is known to you. Consciousness essentially means that you are talking about life being on full voltage. If a light bulb is at low voltage, you can see only this much. If you increase the voltage, you can see more. If it is at full voltage, you see as much as you can see. This is just about getting this life process to its full voltage, so that it can perceive everything it is capable of perceiving.

When we say physicality, it means a separation. The reason why you and the person sitting next to you are two separate pieces of life is because of your physicality. Though that person may be inhaling what you exhale, you are still separate because of your physical boundary. What you call as consciousness is a non-physical entity. If it is non-physical, it is naturally a union. There are no “two”. There is only “one” – one consciousness.

That “one”, you may call it cosmic, you may call it God, and you may call it transcendence, because you transcended the many and became one. As you become more conscious, you become less physical, and as you become less conscious, you become more physical. Physicality is ruled by boundaries. Consciousness is not about a boundary. Consciousness is about boundlessness.

Storing information on energy

At one time, we had to carve whatever we knew on a stone. We transmitted knowledge through stone tablets. Once the printing machine came, we could put the information stored in a million stone tablets in a book. Later, we put what could be put into many books into a CD or a cassette. Today, we are putting that into a microchip or a nanochip. It is not far away that modern technologies will explore storing information in energy itself. From my experience of my system, information is stored in the physiology, the brain, the very chemistry, and the basic energy. Energy information is stored, so each person's energies behaves differently, depending upon the kind of software and information stored. The same can also be done outside, it is just a question of time and technology.

I have been practicing Isha yoga for the past nine+ years now and it has been a tremendous experience. I have been fortunate to be part of Mahima consecration, Linga Bhairavi consecration, Aadhi Yogi Aalayam consecration and the recent Suryakund consecration.

Mahima consecration showed the deeper mystical side of Sadhguru in the way the program was conducted.  Linga Bhairavi consecration was an extremely powerful experience and brought forth transformations of many sort with me. Shortly after this event our family had a fundamental life shift by moving to California with both my wife and myself landing in better positions and earnings. The first year had a huge financial impact on our life in a positive way.

With all these experiences of several consecrations I certainly did not want to miss the Suryakund consecration. Though I missed the first day's cleansing and sensitizing part, I was fortunate to be part of the second days' main consecration event. The consecration along with the mantra chanting took me to intense states. Especially the energizing of the seven chakras towards the end was intense, and I could feel the energetic impact on each of them. To me these events happen once in several lifetimes and I certainly don’t want to miss any. These events are truly timeless and spaceless.

Even when I am not in India, as long as I can witness it from the US ashram I derive the same opportunity. I could feel Sadhguru's presence very much in the Mahima hall. I am pretty sure in the next three months something much more intense will happen in my life. Consecrations are intense spaces of energy which will soak you and benefit you in a really quick way. What takes several years of Sadhana can be realized in a day's time. Consecrations have touched me fundamentally and very intensely and have brought forth many transformations in my life. After every consecration my senses have expanded more, more transformation has happened, more wonders have happened in my life.

 My yogic journey is unbelievably thrilling and interesting and only gets better. Several unimaginable and wonderful events have happened in the past 4-5 years which is beyond logic .

Have you been a part of a consecration process with Sadhguru, either at iii, at a home, or in India? What was your experience?

Cucumber and Peanut Salad -

At Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary School in Encinitas, California, a new controversy is flaring up surrounding the teaching of yoga poses to the young students. Some parents have expressed concern to school officials that the students' daily practice of yoga and asanas conflicts with their religious beliefs. Below, Sadhguru responds to a questioner, "I am practicing yoga. Is it against my religion?"

Sadhguru: “See whatever your religion may be, I don’t wish to comment on that, because it’s your personal thing. It’s a cultural thing. Yoga is a technology. Let’s say you’re following some religion…either Christian or Islamic or Druze…You may be one of them, so I don’t want to comment on any one of them because that’s your personal choice. Because you are Christian, or Islamic, or Druze, suppose you buy a BMW car. If you’re Islamic, it won’t work for you, right? Hmm? Maybe it works for Islamic because there is 'M' in it. It won’t work for the Christians. Is that so, I’m asking. If you do not know how to use it, it doesn’t work for you. Yes?

If you do not know how to drive the car, whatever religion you belong to, it could kill you. But if you know how to drive a car… This car, as a mechanism, is not making a distinction what the hell you are, what the hell is in your head. Whether you can drive the car or not, that’s all that matters, isn’t it? What you believe or disbelieve, this car doesn’t care. It only cares whether you know this mechanism, and can you drive it or not? So yoga is a technology. If you learn to use it, it works for you. If you don’t learn to use it, it does not work for you.

So whatever religion you are, if you learn to use it, it will work for you. If you do not learn to use it, it doesn’t work for you. It’s just like your car, your cell phone, your computer. If you learn to use it, it works for you. It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t put up a password, “give me the Christian password” otherwise…poof. No such thing, isn’t it? So this is just a technology. You just learn to use it.

Because it’s subjective technology, it is of a certain kind…It is not that there have not been mystics in other parts of the world, they have been everywhere, but generally they chose to keep their mouths shut. If they opened their mouth, they got killed. Generally that’s been the history of this world. Anywhere if they opened their mouth, they got stoned to death, they got crucified, they got killed, so many horrible things happened to them.

But in the East, we preserved them. We revered them. You can come and sit in a temple and question the fundamentals of the temple. Nobody will throw a stone at you. They’ll debate with you, they’ll argue with you, but nobody will throw a stone at you. Because we created this culture, mystics grew. It is not that they wouldn’t have grown elsewhere, they would have grown elsewhere also, but because of beating down and chopping down, even if there are, they didn’t open their mouth. If they opened their mouth, they’re dead.

So mysticism does not come from the East. It comes from within. Wisdom does not come from the East. It comes from within. Knowing this life will not come from the East, it comes from within. So what comes from within cannot be against anything, isn’t it?”
 

The House of Lords in London, the United Nations headquarters in New York City and the World Economic Forum are hardly the places one might expect to find a yoga mat.

However, Sadhguru—the yogi and humanitarian behind the Isha Foundation and Isha Yoga—has presented his teachings in each of those political arenas, and this weekend, his teachings come to Chattanooga.

Members of the Isha Institute of Inner-Sciences in McMinnville, Tenn.—all of whom are volunteers at the center—will hold a workshop and community event this Saturday, Jan. 12, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at Homespun in Warehouse Row.

The schedule of music, meditation and food is part of the Isha Utsav event and will serve as an introduction to a yoga practice known worldwide but unfamiliar to many in the Scenic City—despite being located a little more than an hour away.

“The mission [of the Isha Foundation] is raising consciousness and creating more inclusivity, whether it's through business, politics, economics or social structures,” said Kathy Campbell, outreach volunteer for the Isha Institute of Inner-Sciences. “The basis of the yoga meditation training has been so valuable in terms of helping people refocus and deal with stress.”

The Isha Foundation serves as the originator and the umbrella organization for global and local environmental, educational, and health care philanthropic projects, in addition to the multiple retreat centers across the world.

At the core is the practice of inner engineering, the teachings developed by Sadhguru. The guru has been a beloved leader for more than 25 years and is now shifting his attention more toward the U.S.

Inner engineering involves a mix of the more familiar "asanas," or yoga poses, followed by breathing, meditating and sitting techniques that Campbell explained have “genuine depth” and, thus, genuine ability to improve memory and concentration and reduce levels of anxiety—something that everyone from retirees to world and business leaders have been interested in.

“The workshop will basically focus on mindful living—what it is to eat mindfully, what it is to practice yoga mindfully,” said Ayesha Reynolds, who co-owns Homespun with her business partner, Kelly Brown. “I think there are a lot of people in Chattanooga who will connect with that.”

Isha Utsav is free and open to the public. The event will include a musical performance from Sounds of Isha, a band from the McMinnville center, a vegetarian lunch and a guided meditation using a DVD featuring Sadhguru. There will also be a local artist sale, from which 10 percent of the profits will be donated to Isha Cares—an organization for those in the McMinnville area with no or limited health insurance.

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Sadhguru : (After the Invocation) “So, the first question that comes to your mind, what prayer is this? Well, that’s not prayer, it’s an invocation. What is an invocation? Prayer means you’re essentially trying to talk to somebody. An invocation means you are trying to tune yourself to a particular type of activity in a certain way. For different dimensions of activity that you are about to perform, your body, your mind, your emotions, and your energies, need to perform in a certain way like this happens to you, you go home and you’re still in office mode. Trouble. Yes or no? Trouble or no? You go to the office and you’re still in home mode, trouble. Yes or no? So, getting your mind, your body, your emotions and your energies, at tune to any particular activity you wish to do at that moment to invoke your system, to bring out the best for that particular activity is an invocation. So it is not a prayer, it’s an invocation….It essentially means that you’re aspiring to move from untruth to truth."

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For more information on Isha USA Rejuvenation, please call 931 668 1900.

"Kalpavriksha" is a mythic wish-fulfilling tree. It is held as a metaphor for a well-established mind. The Kalpavriksha meditation is a guided process, designed and led by Sadhguru, which reveals how you can transform yourself from being just a piece of creation to becoming a Creator.

Kalpavriksha meditation is available from Isha Shoppe online. 

What are your goals for the New Year? Let us know in the comments!