Our son is visiting for two weeks. He is on a vacation from work. Suddenly our quiet home is full of sounds again. I especially enjoy my son playing his guitar or passionately rapping one of his on the spot rap creations to himself. He is always busy. Either his girlfriend is Facetiming him, or, his childhood friends coming to meet him at off hours; or a work email is getting composed that must be responded to, he says, right when we sit down for dinner. Oh, how I missed the chaos only our children can joyfully bring to our quiet and otherwise, adult, orderly ‘sorted’ lives. My son’s body is in its peak of youth, all of 23 years old. His mind, a confident millennial, travelled, exposed, informed, not only of civil rights but also his civic duties, with social activism and liberal consciousness enlightening his beliefs. He has a mounting, expansive, yet universally unitive mindset and a globally progressive world culture informing his perceptions, which is apparently giving birth to lofty ideals. When I stand back and observe him, he appears to me to be no less than an intellectually evolved, mature and wise 30-year-old human (mind). Vedic Wisdom to the Rescue of Parental Dilemma Vedic wisdom tells me that my son is not a 23-year-old entity made up of matter (body), nor a 30-year-old intelligence (mind), charged with ideas. My son’s true Self (spirit), the invisible consciousness that is behind the material entity I proudly identify as “my son,” is none other than Atman, ageless, timeless, limitless…pure consciousness that animates his body and mind, but is never circumscribed, defined or confined by anything. The ancient Hindu Upanishads define our True Self, Atman, as “Aapnoti Iti Sarvam Atma…That which is boundless is who you are, Atman.” A question I constantly faced as a parent while raising my son was: Should I relate with my son as the bounded one, demarcated by a body made of matter and limited by the intelligence he can tap into (or not) in a given moment…exposing certain beliefs, ripe or unripe? Or shall I continue to trust his innermost nature, the non-material entity the Vedas point towards? The true nature that is entirely spiritual, infinitely intelligent, invisible yet animating his body and mind, permanent through temporarily manifesting from inside an impermanent container and appearing to be restricted and bound, but ultimately eternally unbounded? When I regarded him as body alone, a body I own, possess and claim as my child, I get bound in my mind to his body, in dense emotional attachment. Clouds seem to cover my inner sun of clarity. I get fearful and agitated at the same time, wanting to protect what I own, wanting to enjoy what I own…forever; yet, deep down knowing that all control is mere self-delusion. Clearly, as I clip his wings, I sabotage my own flight in a free sky, psychologically speaking. Control and love can never co-exist. They never have. They never will. The mental vines that bind me to him are thick with the glue of force and attachments and the control, compulsions, scripted roles and self-defeating expectations that arise from unexamined attachments in our mind, every single time. I suffer as a result and I make him suffer, pulling at his strings, making him an object to please my delusory ‘mom-hood’ unconsciousness parading as love, care and concern (control, panic and sheer ignorance)? But when I see him as the Unbounded One, as Atman, I gift myself the inner freedom to relate to my son in all new ways. The clouds seem to shed away spontaneously and my inner sun of happiness, poise and freedom begins to shine again (or rather, it was shining all along, it's just that clouds of self-ignorance had seemingly covered the sun). Then, in the right light of my own mind, I can see that we are not just another pair of worldly mom and son with rigid criteria defining and holding (but ultimately dividing) us by convention, seniority, age, generation gap, beliefs and power struggles. We become untethered spirit, no less, mutually co-existing, supporting, understanding, and celebrating both of our flights in pure potentiality. Bounded and Unbounded Relationships Bounded humans are psychologically dependent humans. They hold each other back. Unbounded humans fly and help others fly, too, spiritually speaking. Unbounded humans give each other much-needed and strength and support to be and become what their heart desires, but to always, first and foremost, be free inside. Emotional sovereignty, or what is called in Sanskrit as “Mukta”, is our inherent nature, after all. Any relationships (even our most valuable ones) that bind us in a web of expectations and obligations will sooner or later cause us to suffer. We must neither depend emotionally for our fulfillment, not encourage others to make us their crutch. The Vedas say that the Universal Self, Atman, is always one; body and mind are countless. Then, sharing such a splendid united Self, One Consciousness manifesting in diverse bodysuits, we both, mother and son, become united, unconditionally supportive, accepting and equal. Did you manifest to teach me a thing or two, oh son? When I first held my son in my arms, perhaps in the first minute of Great Spirit’s manifestation on earth in this tiny body, my heart knew his earth name…I called him Dhruva. His father liked that name, too. Thus, the invisible Truth, now bound in ‘form,’ acquired a ‘name’. The little bundle of mass, mind and consciousness in my arms became ‘Dhruva’ to the world. In Sanskrit, the language of my sage ancestors on earth, Dhruva represents that which is unchangeable amidst the changeable, permanent despite rampant impermanence, stable amongst the unstable. Dhruva represents that which is eternal, lasting and enduring. The ancient seers were once again referring to Atman, or shall we say not just your or my Atman but collective Atman of this entire known and unknown, visible and invisible, moveable and unmovable universe. But how do we parent such a grand entity showed up in a fragile few pounds filling out a tiny bodysuit? The only way is through Vedic Self-knowledge that reminds us of our first lessons in detached parenting. Remember, the Vedas says, the Great Spirit only uses your body to create another body, from the first cell to a full-fledged baby, that will grow into a teenager, youth, then full-blown adult body. Your child, like my child, has manufactured his or her own body, or rather directed its growth and cerebral capacities from inside out, through its inherent spirit intelligence, awareness and consciousness. This is because your child is, first and foremost, the Great Being, the One Spirit, Pure Consciousness, Atman, simply manifesting as a cute, clueless, helpless child for this moment in timelessness... but appearances can be deceptive. The more we trust, the more we will be happily surprised. You can till a flower bed, fertilize the soil, give water and prune occasionally, gently…but ultimately, like me, you too must await an inner, raw, entirely mystical spiritual power to emerge inside the seed and take over the process of manifestation from potential to actuality. The seed will become a plant or tree one day and you are but a cosmic spectator. Any semblance of control or feeling that you made the seed do what it did, become what it became, is again, mere self-delusion. You were simply a spectator, a helpful one albeit…but even without you doing any of the activities above…the seed has Atman in its womb…and it will become the tree, or even a forest…as Atman wills. Exploring the Nature of Self The Self is pure awareness, uninterrupted, eternal life principle, which manifests itself as the layers of mind, intellect, ego, body, etc., and is not itself the mind, intellect, ego, or body. In fact, our essence is “not-something,” and yet, it allows for the manifestation of “everything.” Below is a potent dialogue between a father and son, from the ancient Vedic/Hindu Wisdom Texts called the Upanishads, that presents this point beautifully. This dialogue, from the Chandyogya Upanishad, is between Svetaketu and his father, sage Uddalaka, regarding the identity of his inner Self. Father says to son: “Bring me a fruit of yonder banyan tree.” “Here it is, father.” “Break it.” “It is broken, father.” “What do you see there?” “These very tiny seeds, father.” “Break one open.” “It is broken open, father.” “What do you see there?” “Nothing, father.” Father said: “From that subtle essence, which you do not see there, my dear, grows this whole banyan tree. Believe me, my dear; all that exists has its Self in that which is the subtle essence. That is real. That is the Self. You are that, Svetaketu.” The son now sees what he would not have seen ordinarily with his physical eyes. He understands how the subtle non-manifest essence within the seed is the cause of the manifest tree. The father names and identifies that subtle essence as Atman, the Self. Self is pure consciousness, that which Svetaketu himself truly is. From the experience of nothingness sprouting an entire tree, the teacher points out to the disciple that the tree and seed are mere changeable, externalized projections (appearances) of the one reality. This reality appears as a “no-thing,” since it is not material but spiritual, and yet contains the potential of “everything.” Our children are our magical seeds. Let us become a garden where divine seeds can do their own magic. Let us allow the magic… and not fear it, suppress it, control it or claim it …shall we? I tried that, and I am seeing my son transform into an original, out-of-the-box musician, conscious political-social activist and a deeply caring person. Instead of arguing over small matters like we once did, we are talking like friends now. We are both learning from each other, since my son, like me, has had many lifetimes and wisdom is innate to Atman…it emerges like magical blossoms emerge in the right season. Why should I sit in supreme arrogance of being a know it all mom/gardner…I may know a few more worldly rules…but wisdom is bound in no rigid worldly book, body or mind. It emerges from within. It is our collective spirit endowment. A true gardener facilitates blossoming, never questions it, forces it, or decries it... and least of all gets attached to its blossoms! A true gardener does not expect rose blossoms on cheery blossom trees or vice versa. A true gardener witnesses the miracles of spirit with equal awe, tending to a blade of a grass or a prize-winning fruit tree… Atman is not less or more, better or less good, preferred or less preferred, right or wrong. It is always radically perfect, as it is manifesting in the moment. Parents and children are both non-worldly spiritual visitors in this material world Sure, one manifested sooner, the other, a few decades later, but parents and children are inherently made of the same spirit, light and star materials. Our fundamental spiritual substance (consciousness) plus our wisdom, intelligence, dreams and potentialities are all emanating from a common cosmic source, the Self. So, through internalized Vedic wisdom from my Guru, Baba Ayodhyanath, when I started looking at my son as Atman, I could only feel grateful, and finally relax as a mother, and enjoy our rides through a special spirit theme park for souls called planet earth. Slowly my parental angst, born from a solely material vision, dissolved….and with it my brain became free of a tirade of worry and tsunami of control……Dhruva you should, Dhruva you must, Dhruva how could you! Then a day came when I began to secretly smile to myself, even at times when my son was making decisions I did not approve of (my brain screamed blunder, stop, no way!)… choices that my mom brain wanted to veto with warlike urgency and ferocity. Instead, I observed more. I offered silent blessings, I kept our growing friendship alive, our silly funny conversation flowing, our little joys alive (like a shared cup of fresh brewed Indian ginger chai or playing with our Labradoodle). I offered laidback advise (only if directly solicited) without pressure and mostly continued to trust our common spirit, Atman. Next, I stayed by his side, albeit in the background, silently, even in his most risky life adventures (I did not give up on him, or more importantly forget about our common amazing, all-powerful Atman, because it is my ego’s way or no way). Remembering who he truly is… Atman, the Self, would fill me with hope, no matter what. He will fall, he will get up, he will learn and he will very soon grow and blossom into what he needs to blossom into; these misstarts are not missteps, but important soil lessons from this seed that will grow into a forest sooner or later, in this lifetime or the next. I have a few flowering vines growing in my backyard. In the past, I used to forcefully make them twirl around structures. They would often rebel. Some would die, or break. Now I just keep the structure around – close enough, but not in the face. No pushiness. No desperation in my gardening. The vines find their own way, sooner or later…Atman lives inside plant bodysuits like it lives in you and me…I trust Atman to find the way. It works every single time now. The separate self dissolves in the sea of pure consciousness, infinite and immortal. Separateness arises from identifying the Self with the body, which is made up of the elements; when this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate Self. This is what I want to tell you. I love remembering that we share One Amazing, Intelligent, Wise and Beautiful Spiritual Self…we can relax, trust each other and trust ourselves…and navigate the world with belief in our true Self, Atman…I can play the role of mom to my son, but I need not get too caught up in the role, or least of all lose my vital connection to spirit…I can enjoy how Atman wishes to express itself through him (differently) and through me (differently). The Love of the Soul  from the  Brihadaranyaka Upanishad In truth, it is not for the love of a husband that a husband is dear; but for the love of the Self in the husband that a husband is dear. In truth, it is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear; but for the love of the Self in the wife that a wife is dear. In truth, it is not for the love of children that children are dear; but for the love of the Self in children that children are dear. In truth, it is not for the love of riches that riches are dear; but for the love of the Self in riches that riches are dear. In truth, it is not for the love of power that power is dear; but for the love of the Self in power that power is dear. In truth, it is not for the love of creatures that creatures are dear; but for the love of the Self in creatures that creatures are dear. In truth, it is not for the love of the all that the all is dear; but for the love of the Self in the all that the all is dear. It is the Soul, the Spirit, the Self, that must be seen and be heard and have our thoughts and meditation, O Maitreyi. When the Self is seen and heard, is thought upon and is known, then all that is becomes known… [all this is understood]. Religion, power, heavens, beings, gods, and all will abandon us if we think that they are apart from the Self Because religion, power, heavens, beings, gods, and all rest on the Self. — Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I teach my students to love their children, but view them with spiritual eyes first, as Atman. Let them lead their own life, ultimately, and connect with the source of Divine Love inside themselves. They will not only find their way in this universe…but soon enough, show us all the way. Trust them. They are the Great Being, Atman, the Self. This deeper way of perceiving our kids is the surest path to detached parenting and emergence of true love, that never bounds or gets imprisoned, but is free and forever unconditional. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

Ten thousand years before Freud first forwarded the concept of psychoanalysis, the ancient Vedas from India were telling us to use the wisdom they impart, to self-analyze our own minds and tease apart the objective from the subjective, the rational from the irrational, the real from the non-real, and the actual from the shadow. Did you know there are two kind of worlds? One is the objective world, in which we all transact (called jagat in Sanskrit). It just is, and is commonly shared by all beings and objects, including you and me. The second is the virtual or subjective world, called samsara in Sanskrit. Thanks to our ego, which is estranged from our true spiritual nature or divine Self due to self-ignorance, each one of us is building and dissolving a private reality or ‘samsara’ in each moment, through our private subscription to myth-reality based thoughts, likes and dislikes, ideas, and deep-seated mental tendencies, propensities, and response patterns. Samsara is the kingdom of your ego. Its towers and turrets of misperceived notions in duality are farfetched and far removed from the non-dual reality of your true Self. If there are seven billion people on this planet today, for example, then we clearly have seven billion subjective worlds present alongside the one commonly shared physical, tangible, objective world we all share. In relationships, too, each one of us is an “object” for each other, and we elicit “subjective” responses. That is why, under similar circumstances, two people can have entirely different responses to any given situation. A simple example is when two people are laid off from work. These two people are pretty much in the same economical situations when they lose their jobs. One may take it as a sign from the universe to try something else, perhaps even change their life path; and another may need to get on antidepressants due to an ensuing sense of failure, shame, and sense of being a victim of the previous work authorities. Powerless or powerful; confused or all-knowing; stupid or smart; all of these dual states of your mind emanate from your attached and deeply colored ‘samsara.’ We are all walking around with our own sorrow-cookers attached on top of our spines, which are sending out hot steams of emotions, based upon the shifting, changing, transforming (sometimes-good, sometimes-bad) scenarios it is thinking about! Samsara is then, quite literally, a sorrowful prison that we manufacture with our own projected myth-reality, since it has no “objective” basis in the objective reality. It is simply our individual assumptions about the world, self, and god, at a given moment in time. The objective world, on the other hand, is neither full of pain nor joy. The world is simply an invitation to respond to it. The world becomes different things for different people depending upon what is going on inside their private samsara. The Vedic sages were asking us to see through our samsara simply to begin breathing through the self-created mental clutter. Without liberating Self-knowledge, we will surely remain trapped in our emotional samsara. One situation or the other would trigger our samsara. Be it the presidential election, boredom, a disagreement with a friend or partner, an unexpected sickness, a traffic jam, or a random negative memory. Our subjective reality gets agitated, and our samsara starts precipitating with out-of-control emotions. Even if we manage to free ourselves from one issue, the next one crops up. In the example mentioned above, say one person were to get a new job, but they then become preoccupied with getting promoted. Even though their employment issue got resolved, they are still not happy, because the money/status/title becomes the new craving in their samsara. Is there no end to this cycle? Fortunately, the ancient Vedas recognized that emotional and existential suffering sprouts from inside our own mind, in response to the circumstances outside us; but it doesn’t come from the outside per se. It is reassuring to know this at one level, because then we can hope to cultivate the wisdom to train our mind to respond differently. We can hope to find the strength within to do something about our suffering. We can hope to become free of suffering, if we so desire, and the Hindu Upanishads says, why not? Bliss is your true nature – find it. Live it. Share it. The connection of enlightenment, known as moksha in the Upanishads, with the end of subjective, self-projected emotional distress is evident from the word “moksha” itself. This word is comprised of two Sanskrit sub-words, namely moha plus kshaya. Moha means our mind-based delusions, misperceptions and erroneous judgments Kshaya means the end of those wrong beliefs or delusory thoughts due to rise of Self-knowledge from the great Vedic texts, such as the Upanishads Traditionally, moksha never happens in an instant. It is a process, over stages of learning and maturing emotionally. The first sign of the dawning of moksha is to gauge how you handle emotional conflict or sorrow-arousing situations in your life. Is your samsara overreactive? Delusional? Ready to fight or flee? Or have you begun to pause, discern, and then decide your emotional response? Emotional disturbances will not reduce or go away instantaneously. But don't let that disappoint you, as to be real, it has to be a slow and deep transformation; a gradual process. Through repeated application of spiritual wisdom in daily life, my students see reduction first in frequency, then length, next intensity of mental agitation. Finally, the recovery period from emotional disturbances is quicker and quicker. Ultimately, once moksha is achieved, one lives in inner directed joy, clarity and poise more and more versus losing one’s balance when faced with sorrow or challenges outwardly. Samsara free, you will have access to the infinite potential of your true Self - Atman, no less. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

Baba once shared a significant story with his disciples. I was fortunate to be a part of that inner circle. The Sanskrit word “satsangha” refers to a gathering of seekers, specifically disciples, which collect around a great Guru, to receive the wisdom of absolute reality (Brahman). Typically, the master meets the students on a regular basis to not only impart this rare wisdom that gets activated through purified speech of the Guru alone, but also, clears the doubts students may have. However, depending upon the state of the mind of the student, and the degree to which the ego is full of itself, or empty of prior notions, the results vary. In the first type of mindset, the student’s mind is like a hot plate. The student’s personal consciousness is teeming with life agendas, and all types of vāsanās, (pertaining to the body, mind, or scriptures). In essence our ego is overstated, despite being in the company of a great teacher. So when rare wisdom (jñānam) comes through our ears, and enters our mind, it does not stay long enough with us to even make a dent in our consciousness. It simply disappears within moments, just like drops of water evaporate quickly on encountering a scorching surface. The greater the heat of the ego, the faster is the loss of wisdom. These students are entrenched in their inner-identification with worldly positions. They remain asleep to the opportunity of a living awakened Guru sitting before them in a body, even as the Guru is discoursing with them about the Ultimate Truth of Self, Life and existence. Perhaps this rare opportunity presents itself due to past life’s accumulated good karma (known as punyam). In this lifetime, they come to the satsangha (gathering), and they appreciate the Guru’s uplifting words in the moment. They may offer sevā (service to the Guru as gratitude) and even like to revere the Guru as God, but alas, they do not retain the teachings. That is a great loss due to worldly fires that grip their mind. No sooner do they leave the teacher’s presence then they are back to square one – sleepwalking in maya, chasing mirages and running away from others. Thus, their spiritual benefits are minimal and transient. The wisdom has simply evaporated. In the second type of mindset, the student slowly and steadily begins to recognize the value of rare Self-knowledge coming their way from the rare awakened teacher via the Upanishads. They recognize that the teacher’s body may not remain vigorous enough to teach forever (since the body of the Guru also is perishable), and perhaps their own karma can create future, unknown, obstacles in learning. Now, the student begins to esteem the study and learning opportunity and give it the attention it deserves. They become more focused upon their learning opportunity, value it as a priority, and give it their full attention. For this they may even have to sacrifice several privately held agendas. The student’s mindfulness begins to shows up in how much they value each encounter with the teacher (satsangha). The student’s entire personality becomes like a lotus leaf. Have you ever seen a lotus leaf and its response to water droplets, either from rain or a hose? When water drops fall on the lotus leaf, it holds them for a long time, as long as it can, like glistening beads. In our perspective, this represents being with the knowledge, deliberately, even when we are not present face-to-face with our Guru. This longer association with “drops of wisdom” from the teacher, leads to greater inner alignment with reality and true Self, and expedites remembering who we are. The leaf that holds droplets of divine wisdom with mindfulness gradually blossoms a lotus. Yes, the lotus of the disciple’s heart opens, and the disciple encounters the outer Guru dwelling in that inner lotus. This state, an evolved one, is known as the emergence of Shraddhā (faith), the surrender of the final remnants of ego, to the Guru and Guru’s message from the awakening scriptures. The students who make effort to retain and contemplate upon the knowledge received from the Guru, begin to enjoy positive spiritual clarity and innumerable life-benefits in due course. However, the lotus leaf may not always enjoy the bloom of knowledge. The disciple must remember to come back to the Guru, again and again, repeatedly, without break, simply for getting wet again and again in the shower of divine wisdom, since water-beads will disappear from the lotus leaf over time. So also, a mind that stops being exposed to the Guru’s wisdom rain for any reason, parches in the desert of māyā. Chances of the lotus blooming in due time, becomes another unfulfilled delusion. Without water, the lotus leaf turns yellow, then brown, and finally falls back into the filthy pond of māyā (the changing reality superimposed on the ultimate reality of Brahman) . Without the Guru’s wisdom and sustained exposure, even the most sincere student will regress back to sleep-walking behaviors. Unless the student makes it a priority to remain steadfast in discipleship, the wisdom that once shone in the eyes of the student gradually dissipates. Finally, it is a rare student who becomes a pearl of wisdom. The story goes this way, that there is a rare shell that waits with its mouth open for rain. But simply any rain shower at any time will not do. It waits to catch even one drop of the rain that falls in the Swati Nakshatra (a star constellation, considered spiritually potent as per the Hindus). Then, the shell closes it mouth and goes to sleep (to the rest of the world), but remains internally awake and active, with that celestial drop, as its entire universe. No one knows when the shell will re-emerge and how. When it does return back to the world, and opens it mouth again, the water droplet has become a pearl. It does not hoard the pearl for itself, but releases it into the ocean, adding a little more shine, to a self-shining existence. The droplet that became a pearl is the study of a disciple that first and foremost, discerns whose wisdom is worthy of waiting for and whose is not. The disciple does not get swayed for example, by the first person who declares “I am awake, I am a Guru, Come to me, I shall help you.” Clearly, the disciple is not gripped by deha vāsanā to get seduced by physical appearances alone. This unexamined desire for the body often makes an initial and lasting impression - such as attraction to the biggest spiritual gig, exotic mystical dress, or fancy advertisements (all contemporary examples of the kind of early discernment a pearl will do). "I patiently await the rare rain that drops in swati nakshatra, alone." Then, the disciple assigns extraordinary value to each drop of wisdom that emerges from the chosen Guru’s auspicious mouth, since often, for such a sensitive disciples, even one drop is enough. Upon receiving wisdom, it feels complete. This shows that the pearl disciple is clearly beyond shāstra vāsanā, or unexamined desire for learning from scriptures, blindly hoping to study and master yet more scriptures, and even memorize a few or all verses. Meanwhile never personally making the effort to assimilate the essence of wisdom, to try to live the first verse of the first scripture ever taught to them. The disciple boasts about how many scriptures they have gone through. The tradition comments, how many scriptures have gone through you? For the pearl, one drop is enough – less is more. So when they receive even one clear teaching from the Guru, such as the famous teaching in one statement, Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya, which means, “Self is the only Truth. All else is Appearance.” Then the disciple will spend their entire life, or a good part of it, threading this one statement apart in the laboratory of their own life, relationships, ashrama (stage of life), īshanā (valid desires of a human life), etc., until they become one with the wisdom that this 4-worded aphorism, unpacks. In fact, this statement is the quintessential essence of the Upanishads from the eyes of Advaita Vedānta, as forwarded by ancestral master teacher Adi Shankaracharya from the 8th century CE. How many Upanishads can one hope to receive in one limited lifetime (with transient health, vitality, body, failing memory, etc.)? How many texts can one memorize, unless the 4-word statement is heard, understood, and internalized as a part of one’s daily life by an assiduous Disciple. In fact this entire book simply confirms this one statement alone. Finally, the disciple shows extraordinary ability to turn inwards, away from the world and its māyā-mall of fame, name, popularity, accolades, and approvals. From past experience (in this life time or previous) or from the Guru’s counsel, the disciple already knows how unsubstantial is the drama of victory, name and fame earned in the world, won at such great cost, and how transient the worldly joy. We are always left unquenched; such is the nature of mirages in māyā. The disciple is now only in quest of the abiding bliss of the Self. So the disciple has no qualms in truly re-prioritizing their lifestyle to pursue Self-knowledge full-time. They may even change jobs, work part-time or seek early retirement. They may move closer to the Guru (geographically) and not leave any opportunity for satsangha with the Guru. They offer unbridled, an exceptional selfless service to the Guru, and take care of the Guru’s outer form, just so that the teaching and learning can carry on, unrestricted by life circumstances. In their private and public life, these disciples go progressively inwards (they stop talking about their spiritual experiences and insights for a start). Hermit-like inwardly, regular people outwardly. Moms, dads, sons, daughters, they curate a meditative contemplative lifestyle and value solitude, to remember the Guru, worship the Guru as incarnate Brahman, and contemplate on the teachings from the Guru. They are present in the world, amongst the web of worldly relationships, but still, they manage to present beautifully expressed, calm spiritual boundaries. Thus, the worldly waters (salty water from the ocean) cannot mix up with the single rain droplet (preciously received from the beloved Guru). This is how much they value the Guru – they become trustees of great wisdom, every drop of it. The disciple is ready to leave everything (not physically but in terms of their worldly egoic-attachments to things), in quest of the Ultimate Truth. And they value the “truth giver,” the Guru, over every other earthly relationship. False appearances and māyā promises no longer sway the disciple from staying engrossed in sadhanā (spiritual disciplines). The world says the student has become a hermit. In reality, the disciple is getting ready to be a citizen of the world - fully engrossed, active and dynamic. This time, the student sees with new eyes, the eyes of the knower, knower of Brahman, the Ultimate Supreme Spiritual Reality of One Being and Radical Bigness. The story is full of symbolism. Baba explained: The Swati constellation represents karmic or divine grace and spiritual forces that come together to set the right environment so the disciple encounters the master for future awakening. Then, the rain of good opportunity, to meet and study with the Guru, falls on many. Only the One who internalizes even a single droplet of wisdom, becomes the true disciple, and ultimately the awakened knower. The others simply get wet and sooner or later, dry back up. The outer shell is compared to the Guru’s protection, under which the disciple dwells, inwardly facing, (not outwardly facing the world) for a long duration (not a fixed amount of time). The disciple emerges from the shell only when the Guru releases the shell, not otherwise. So the true disciple does not self declare prematurely, I am a pearl. The Guru thinks with satisfaction, “Look another pearl, Oh Brahman; I give you back more of you. This one has now re-remembered.” When the disciple emerges forth as a pearl, he or she returns as a Knower (brahmajñāni), an Awakened One (jīvanamukta), who shines, with a sovereign inner light, the shine of the Self. One in a million disciples becomes a pearl. But we should all aspire to become one. And in this way, with a beautiful inner smile, Baba concluded his storytelling that changed my life. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

It is said that, for every human, there are three monkeys living in my hometown of Ayodhya. They live for generations in every temple and rooftop dotting this town in Northern India. As a little girl, I liked to act like a monkey. I would climb trees and try to match the amazing flexibility and hanging upside-down skills of the quick and furry creatures. When my father called me his monkey, and perched me on top of his shoulders, I felt as proud as any monkey sitting on the rooftop of any temple in Ayodhya. Monkeys visited our home on a regular basis—yes, the same large house that I shared with my father, mother, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmother, and of course, my grandfather, Baba. Some monkeys even had temporary homes on the rooftop. Their favorite activity was to sit up on the roof and peer below at my family members as they went about their day. They also often offered unsolicited advice, and they all spoke at the same time. The monkeys especially loved meal times in our home. This was because meals were always cooked ranging from several dozen people at lunchtime for family members and Baba’s students, to several hundred for dinner during the evening spiritual discourse. All day, the monkeys would wait and watch, scheme and plan. They would carry out amazingly organized meal coups. Fruits would disappear from the fruit basket; fresh-made chapattis would vanish from the large metal container. Once, an entire pail of freshly mulched milk disappeared from the cow shed, and everyone simply said, “The monkeys!” Then, there were days when the bolder male monkeys, showing off, would take up a challenge with each other and snatch an entire plate of food from any kid in the home (including me), right amidst the human activities, and take off to eat noisily on the roof. The monkeys were clearly able to do as they pleased. The only person the monkeys were afraid of seemed to be my grandmother, Baba’s wife. When she came charging through the kitchen, they scuttled off in a hurry. If they hooted at her, she hooted right back. She made amazing sounds, loud and authoritative, claiming her territory back every time. But Grandmother was Grandmother, and she could not bear to have the mamas with suckling young ones go hungry. So, she kept aside for them laddus (Indian sweets made with wheat, nuts, and sugar), bananas, and dates. They knew to look for her. They would come up to her in groups with their young ones, show their sad, smoldering, hungry eyes—and off Grandmother ran to get them food. Even at that age, I could see that Grandmother and the mommy monkeys had something special going on between them. All the same, the mother monkeys would not let Grandmother come too close to their babies. One extra step toward them and they would snatch their babies and run away while making terrible sounds and faces to warn her to keep her distance. The loud exchanges were normal, so I rarely got too concerned and merely enjoyed the spectacle with delight every time.Then, one day, there was lots of screaming and scuffling on the rooftop. It appeared that some rather large and mean-looking monkeys had arrived from a faraway neighborhood and were attacking the families that lived above our home! “There is an open war going on,” said my older boy cousin, who was the family’s expert on “monkey matters.” He and Baba’s older students made loud sounds and even took up sugarcane sticks to ward off the intruding creatures. We were now protecting “our” monkeys from those “other” monkeys! Eventually all the excitement settled down, and I figured the invading monkeys had left. That evening, when Baba was addressing his students in his evening discourse—sharing words of wisdom by which we can protect the health of our body, mind, soul, and planet Earth—one monkey came down close enough to watch. The humans did not like it and there were some whispers and quiet commotion at the back, until my grandmother and mother sighted a familiar face. It was one of the monkey moms Grandmother fed regularly, whose baby was at least eight weeks old by now. She clutched her infant rather wildly. The baby’s scalp was bleeding, and it looked limp, like a rag doll. My mother addressed the mother monkey with care and concern, “Oh no, what happened to your baby? Did the mean monkeys who came earlier hurt your baby?” Then Mother and Grandmother made lots of soothing human mommy sounds to show they understood her fear and pain. Hearing them, I myself was ready to cry. I imagined what the mother monkey must have been feeling—the same as my own mother and father feel when my sister or I get hurt. My mother almost always cries every time I cry. And Baba had said, “We are all One Self, though we exist in different bodies.” Then, something unexpected happened. Emboldened by the sounds from Mother, Grandmother, and the other women in my family who were sitting at the back, the mother monkey slowly crept forward. She approached where Baba was sitting. Baba had been completely still all along, watching silently. The mother monkey now sat barely a few feet away from Baba, looking directly at him, conveying something only Baba could understand. Then she spoke in her tongue and Baba responded. He responded by closing his eyes and bringing his hands together to his heart, since humans can understand monkey language by heart, not ears. Then, when she had spoken and Baba had heard, the monkey mother became quiet. She placed her baby, whom she had been clutching all this while, down on the earth and edged him towards Baba—as if handing her sick child to him. The humans uttered shocked noises of surprise….Baba took the baby monkey and cocooned it in his arms, as if they belonged together. The mother turned around and scrambled back up onto a higher perch, a safe distance from the rest of the humans. The whole audience was still. It was pin-drop silence. The eight-week-old monkey looked up at Baba with complete trust, a familiar light shining through his eyes. Baba looked at him reassuringly, shining that light back. Baba asked his students to bring Ayurvedic herbs and ingredients for a poultice. The rest of the evening was a spectacle of One Spirit manifesting across species, and body and language barriers. The baby monkey lived and played with my cousins and me as he healed over the next couple of weeks. Grandmother and Mother adored his every action. Special healing porridge, called khichidi, was made for him with a yellow healing spice known as turmeric; yams and fresh water chestnuts were brought to support the healing of the fresh wound and fill the scar naturally. The mother monkey would swoop down and take him away into the trees or rooftop to feed him from time to time. Otherwise, she watched him like a hawk as he lived below, under the watchful eye of Baba. When he was happily healed, the baby monkey returned to his rooftop family and never came down again, but often talked to us from there. With my little friend gone, I amused myself by dangling from some tree branches with my cousins. I heard the call of a cuckoo, the bark of a dog, the moo of a cow, and wondered what their hearts would tell me if I could understand. I wished that someday I could not only swing like a monkey, but speak with them, too, in their language of unconditional love. Just like Baba. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

I vividly recollect one summer evening in India. The breeze was gently blowing on my face. It was laden with the aroma of the bela flowers—Arabian jasmine and the night-blooming jasmine—that my mother grew in earthen pots all over the terrace. The whiteness of the blossoms was highlighted in the moonlight. The Indian laburnum that grew in the garden below spread its mass of grape-like bunches of yellow-gold fragrant flowers all over the terrace, and the “queen of the night” tree that blossoms at night and sheds in the early morning made a flowery carpet of its sweetly scented white flowers with a delicate saffron-orange stem, which were in full bloom that summer. I lay on the thick carpet of the fallen, ethereal-looking blossoms, and looked up at the few that chose to drop on my face. I remember an inner knowingness that I am a part of an interconnected fabric that is One. That is blissful. That is auspicious. I felt safe. Held and protected. On my terrace that summer night, my Inner Being was in communion with its own creation. I experienced unconditional love. An entire universe was teasing me and at play with me…come find yourself in me, just like I have found an entire existence inside you. Yes, the quest for a great Truth is universal. My Guru had shown me the vision of a grand, all-inclusive, all pervading truth that remains the same for all beings, things, and in-betweens. The sages knew and predicted that the search for Truth is none other but the search of the Self, which is none other than God. When a craving develops that will be satisfied with none else but Brahman—you develop a craving for your own Truth; you now demand answers that your own Existence has posed upon you; know it, that your life will change now. Filled with unconditional acceptance of my jasmine fragrance-filled infinite Outer Being, all blossoming forth from my Inner Being, I remember I started chanting the ancient hymn of gratitude for my Guru, My Baba that night…and the jasmines, the stars, and the sky joined me in a soul-stirring chorus. The Guru Stotram—A Hymn of Gratitude to the Guru The Guru Stotram is a traditional hymn chanted in the Vedic tradition by every sincere disciple who has received life-changing knowledge of Brahman from his or her Guru. Hence, this hymn is, in effect, thanking the Guru for changing the student’s perception from one that could perceive only separation and separation-born mental suffering to one who can now perceive oneness and unity-born mental freedom. akhaṇḍamaṇḍalākāraṃ vyāptaṃ yena carācaram tatpadaṃ darśitaṃ yena tasmai śrī gurave namaḥ My reverential salutations to that Guru, who has revealed to me the Truth of Brahman, which is non-fragmented, all-pervasive, ever-full, and pervades the entire universe—movable and unmovable. ajñānatimirāndhasya jñānāñjanaśalākayā cakṣurunmīlitaṃyena tasmai śrī gurave namaḥ My reverential salutations to that Guru, who restored my vision by applying the divine medicine of Self-knowledge in my eyes, which were blinded by the cataract of ignorance. gururbrahmā gururviṣṇuḥ gururdevo maheśvaraḥ guruḥ sākṣāt parambrahma tasmai śrī gurave namaḥ My reverential salutations to that Guru, who is verily Brahman, the transcendental divinity itself; the timeless divine principle functions as Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the sustainer, and Shiva, the destroyer. Baba told me a great truth. Until we keep believing that the ego self, that is the “little person” who is born inside, and lives and operates from our ego, “exists”, it will continue to exist, and it will exist, always with an accompanying sense of lack. The little person is little – it is unaware that it is a mere reflection of the ultimate bigness of Brahman, the true you. Though the persona is merely a construct of thoughts, an illusory creation of bits and bytes from reflected consciousness, until we keep believing in this false self and its existence, we will also keep believing in the “inadequacies” and the ‘vasanas’ (unconscious, ego-driven desires) it experiences, non-stop. It is like when, in the bright sunshine of Self, the shadow on the wall, noticing its monochromatic single color exclaims, “Oh no, I am so dark, mono-chromatic, disgusting! I am not good enough!” And then the shadow spent all its life desperately finding shadow colors to make itself colorful, vivid, and likeable. Which color can amend this situation? How much color and what kind of color, material or spiritual, can address this fundamental lack? Can anything worldly – wealth, fame, sex, a loving partner, beautiful home, plush sofa, loving pets, health and stamina, or otherworldly – visions, angels, meditative trance, mantras, rituals, or pilgrimage color the shadow? The sense of inadequacy at the core of it all remains a shadow. And shadows can only be overcome with light, which is a bouquet of colors unto itself. Thus, until the fundamental illusion of the false self is not seen through, the sense of lack continues. Once knowledge of true Self arises in the mind, one realizes that one is a divine color palette, the painter and the portrait all along. I myself painted the sunset sky vivid red. Look how I colored each blade of grass an exotic green. See how I splash colors on the cherry blossoms this spring! We were never the shadow, all along. Negotiations for the ‘persona’ were pointless. Blaming another ‘person’, too, is ignorant behavior in maya (the self-ignorance created world of illusions). Ignorance of our identity was at the root of this suffering. The rise of Self-knowledge ends this pointless lamentation. Brahman is concealed by the phenomenal world. The Self is concealed by the ego’s woven personas. Our treasures of enlightened bliss consciousness lie concealed by maya in my own mind. “The Self is beyond all falsehoods.” Chandogya Upanishad, VIII, 3,3 Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

The Vedic society was not only one of the advanced civilizations of the world, but also one of the most open, liberal, and egalitarian ones. It embraced the belief in equal opportunity in education, profession, marriage, and the spiritual choices of males and females. For example, we find in the Vedas, the following injunctions towards women: Women should participate in war (Yajur Veda, 16,44) Women should take part in “legislative chambers” (Atharva Veda, 7,38,4) Women should take a lead role in leading nations (Rig Veda, 10,85,46) Women should take a lead role in social activities (Rig Veda, 10,85,46) Women should take a lead role in government matters (Rig Veda, 10,85,46) Women have the same rights as men in inheriting property (Rig Veda, 3,31,1) There was no societal prohibition on women’s secular and spiritual advancement whatsoever, since this goes against the spirit of the Vedas. Following this truly liberal path, Vedic sages were both male and female. Male seers were known as Rishis and female seers were known as Rishikas (seers of truth), or Brahmavadini, the knowers of Supreme Reality). No less than 27 women sages have authored sublime hymns in the Hindu holy book called the Vedas. That is a first. (See Appendix for references from the Vedas.) 1 The Vedas See Animals as Teachers: “One should be considered dear, even by the animal kingdom.” (Atharva Veda, 17.1.4) “The ascetic calls these animals as his teachers.” (Bhagvad Purana, 11.9.24) “Deer, camel, donkey, monkey, rats, creeping animals, birds and flies should be considered like one's own children, and one should not differentiate between one's children and these creatures.” ( Bhagavad Purana, 7.14.9) “One should not satiate his hunger and thirst without first giving water and food to one’s animals.” (Vishnu Dharma Sutra, 63.18) “He who does not seek to kill, cause pain, or tie up living creatures and desires the good of all attains everlasting bliss of liberation.” (Manu Smriti, 5.46) “Having no ill feeling for any living being, in all manners possible and for all times, is called ahimsa, and it should be the desired goal of all seekers.” (Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, 2.30) Hinduism is sometimes saddled with three pejorative terms: caste, cow, and curry Caste is a social evil that arose in India due to social/historical circumstances; and caste afflicted both Muslim and Hindu societies of India at one time. The Vedas and its major religion of Hinduism, however, do not sanction the caste system. In fact, the Vedas proclaim: One is my brother and the other is not – is the thinking of a narrow-minded person. For those who are broad-minded, liberals, or noble people, the entire world is one big family. No one is superior, none inferior. All are brothers marching forward to prosperity. Ahimsa Paramo Dharma, meaning the very first duty, ethic, and responsibility of mankind above all duties, ethics, and responsibilities are to maintain non-violence and peace in the world. Truth is One, the wise call it by different names. Let noble ideas come to us from all directions. May all beings be free of sorrow. Awakened souls act and go about in the world, not for their own sake, but for the welfare and wellbeing of everyone else. The knower of Self begins to own the joy as well as the suffering of other beings (humans, animals, and plants) as his own. Caste System was Born from Misunderstanding a Psychologically Driven Personality Categorization The modern caste system has no mention in the Vedas. In fact, the four categories of people were divided up based on inborn psychological propensities, called ‘varna’, towards certain kinds of vocations of pursuits; and were never genetically determined or ‘locked’ based upon birth. It was also recognized that our inclinations may change over time. The four personality types or psychological propensities, also known as Swadharma, are four root propensities or personality types described by the Veda. These propensities are aligned to your inborn, root, or original nature. These propensities are called Swadharma, or personal dharma. When we act from our swa-dharma (swa means self and dharma means value), we feel supported from within and more fearless going about our business. It makes us more authentic in all our interactions. We are also able to face related challenges since we are more adapted to a specific ‘propensity’. Pure Existence is our true nature. How does it want to express through your body, senses, mind, ego, intellect? The Vedas asks each one of us, what is your dharmic life purpose beyond personal survival? What did you come here to blossom into, and how can you become a gift to the universe? How can you be that, which existence celebrates and supports, since you have become of incredible “value” to the cosmos, through your upholding your deepest propensities (swa-dharma). By reading what I have shared below, you may identify with mainly one or even two propensities. You can use this knowledge to say yes or no inside relationships and clarify beautifully fragrant boundaries. However, keep in mind that even as we are upholding our swa-dharma, we will not neglect universal dharma at any time. In fact, both, flowing together from our mind by choice make for even greater clarity, within and without. Swadharma is a specific form of dharma, and points to you your deep-rooted nature and authentic traits, inclinations, and aptitudes. Uncovering swa-dharma reveals what upholds you deep within, and your sense of purpose evolves through this upholding. This mindful expression of an inner propensity becomes the basis for leading a much more deliberate, more conscious, and fulfilling life in the ‘worldly sense’ of choice of profession, vocation, inner seeking, partners, colleagues, setting priorities, etc., and for understanding your experience of the roles you take on. Let us briefly explore each propensity type below. The Mystic, Known as ‘Brahmin Varna’ You are a born mystic if you are a seeker of higher truth from a young age. It does not matter who your parents are. You are a mystic if, from childhood, you have wanted to know Self, God, Truth, and this desire has gone beyond a passing or occasional wish in your mind and translated into a full-fledged lifestyle, where you read spiritual books, seek out spiritual teachers, attend spiritual classes, or even have a deepening relationship with a living Guru (who you value above all human relationships). The goal of acquiring Self-knowledge is your top priority. The Guardian or Holy Warrior, Known as ‘Kshatriya Varna’ You are a guardian if you naturally experience the urge to protect the unprotected; stand up for just causes, and lend your voice for what is just, fair, and right. You should never suppress your voice, says the Veda. The Entrepreneur or Wealth Creator, Known as ‘Vaishya Varna’ You are a natural wealth creator when you ‘download’ ideas to create wealth not only for yourself, but for society, by creating jobs and opportunities to make a living. The Pleasure Seeker and Happiness Creator, Known as ‘Shudra Varna’ You are a pleasure seeker when you are content with life as it comes along; you give pleasure in your role as employee, caregiver, administrator or artist - and you become a source of spreading pleasure through your vocation, service, and presence. Thousands of year later, in medieval times in India, ‘shudras’ became shunned or looked down upon by the Brahmins, Kshatryas, and Vaishyas (and blame was laid upon the Vedas). This was a social evil born from prejudice and sheer ignorance of the Vedic worldview. The Vedas themselves never sanctioned this biased behavior and bigoted attitude. In fact, the word Shudras is mentioned in the Vedas about 20 times. It is nowhere mentioned in a denigrating or inferior way. The Vedas nowhere deny Shudras the right to read the Vedas. The Vedas nowhere consider Shudras as untouchables. The Vedas nowhere consider Shudras as inferior. In fact, let us look at the Vedas, and their truly integrative stand towards ‘shudras’: O! Humans I gift you with this blissful knowledge of the Vedas for all Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya,and Shudra. This knowledge is for the benefit of everyone. (Yajurveda, 26, 2 ) I pray to God that O God! Let all Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras glorify me. (Atharva Veda, 19,62,1) Thus, the Vedas do not discriminate between different classes. They consider everyone as equal:O God make me so gentle that all Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras have affection for me. (Yajur Veda, 18, 46) The Vedas speak of good relations with all four classes: There is no one superior or inferior in the Vedas. All are equal, just like brothers. All should help each other to attain the pleasures of this, as well as the other world. (Rig Veda, 5,60,5) Let us honor the truly expansive and inclusive Hindu seers and their sacred Vedas that have given the world its first body of systematic spiritual wisdom, including the original and mind blowing mystical teachings on the One Universal Reality that underlies all creation and creatures; along with the teachings of Ahimsa (nonviolence), Dharma (universal values), Advaita (non-dual truth), Atman (Self), Yoga (varied paths to spiritual freedom), Ayurveda (activating our inner healing using natural laws), Dhyanam (meditation), Kundalini (inner spiritual energy system), etc. that became the foundation for a world revolution in defining a spiritual movement without walls. The Vedas have always been valued by people who could appreciate them for their truly universal, progressive and unitive vision "Vedas are the most rewarding and the most elevating book which can be possible in the world." - Schopenhauer (Works VI p.427) “In all the world, there is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction…The only solution to this conflict insofar as any is available to us at all lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishad.” - Erwin Schrödinger “Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climates, and nationalities, and is the royal road for the attainment of Great Knowledge. When I read it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night."- Henry David Thoreau "I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad Gita. It was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which, in another age and climate, had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us." - Ralph Waldo Emerson We can look at the achievements of a spiritual tradition and its culture by examining what attitudes it has cultivated towards its more vulnerable sections of the society. Clearly, the Vedas have an edge over most modern societies. Thus, the wisdom of the Vedas that I expound upon is truly ahead of its time, liberal, universal, timeless, and highly effective in changing erroneous belief systems with the truth of One Self. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda. 1) 1. The Rig Veda (V. 7.9) clearly speaks of women completing education as spiritual scholars (Brahmavadinis) 2. Yajurveda (Vii,I) similarly state that a daughter who has completed her Brahmacharya should be married to one learned like her. 3. Atharvaveda (Xi, 6) clearly refers to women who have accomplished disciplined life of Brahmacharya and in x,5,16 – benefits of adopting Brahmacharya for girls is also clearly admitted. 4. The Rigveda speaks of the following women Rishikas in Rig Veda and Samaveda (see detailed list below) 5. The Brihadaaranyak Upanishad (Vi, 4,17) mentions an interesting ritual by which a person prays for the birth to him of a daughter who should be a Panditaa or lady learned in Vidyas. 6. The Kaushiitaki Braahmana (Vii, 6) recounts the tale of a lady Pathyaasvasti who proceeded north for study and obtaining the title of Vaak, i,e Saraswati by her learning. 7. Of the two wives of Rishi Yajnavalkya, one of them takes considerable part in discussions and disputations on philosophical topics (Brihad, iii, 4. 1; iv, 5,1) 8. Aitareya Upanishad (ii,1), refers to elderly women who are students of Vedanta and listen to its discourses (unclear if married or not) 9. The Ramayana contemplates women who were Bikshunis (Aranyakanda, 74, 9-33) – also, Shramani is described at Jatilaa, Taapasi, Siddha with her Ashram established along the river Pampaa and her own Guru is referred to as Rishi Matanga. 10. Janaka has a philosophical discussion with feale sage “Bhikshuni” Sulobha 11. In the Mahabharata, Rishi Ashtavakra converses with an old women who describes herself as a Brahmacharini 12. The daughter of Rishi Sandilya was also a Brahmacharini and so also the daughter of Rishi Gaargya. 13. In Harita (xxi, 23) Yama states that in times of yore, women were eligible for (1) Maunjibandana (upanayanam) (2) study of Veda, (3) Savitri Vachana (use of Savitri mantra) 14. Jamini’s Purva-mimamsa talks of equal rights of men and women in performing of sacrifices. In discussion of the adhikari –Vidhis or the eligibility for the performance of sacrifices Jamini clearly states that “women are as good as men in point of the desire and capacity for performing sacrifices”. 15. Madhavacharya (in Nyaya Mala Vistar) also agrees to the same. 2) Book – My View of the world pg 31- http://www.krishnapath.org/quantum-physics-came-from-the-vedas-schrodinger-einstein-and-tesla-were-all-vedantists/ 3) Ralph Waldo Emerson said this about the Bhagavad Gita: "I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us."[16]

Ashtavakra is the name of a revered Vedic sage who is said to have composed on of the greatest treatises of nondual Vedanta, known as the Ashtavakra Gita. The name “Ashtavakra” means one who has eight deformities. Indeed, the sage was born with a body that was twisted in eight places. Ashtavakra grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather Sage Aruni, who was a great seer and ran a traditional Vedic school, where Ashtavakra received knowledge of Self. One day, he learned that his father had met unfair treatment before he was not even born, so he set out to meet the king. When he arrived at the king’s court to ask for clemency for his punished father, he dragged himself across the court. The king’s men and ministers looked at him and started to laugh because of his physical deformities. Ashtavakra first looked on in silence and then broke into smiles. Everyone became shocked. When questioned about his identity and reason for his pleased expression, Ashtavakra responded that he was disappointed to find only shoemakers in the assembly instead of wise men, because shoemakers, invariably only look at the body made of matter (leather) and rarely enter into spiritual or metaphysical contemplations, to see what lies beyond the body. Ashtavakra told the king that his counselors were only seeing his body coated with leather everywhere (that is, his skin). They did not see his true Self. They had no realization of the soul and the Supreme Soul. They were making their judgments on this superficial basis only. This was the occupation of the shoemakers, was it not, to judge appearance by the smoothness or roughness of the skin? Ashtavakra concluded that perhaps he had wasted his time coming to the assembly. The king and everyone in the assembly became deeply affected and awakened from unconsciousness upon hearing the words of Ashtavakra. The king immediately recognized that this was no ordinary teenager; he was one awake to Brahman. The king bowed down to Ashtavakra, the realized being. He escorted Ashtavakra to his own throne and washed his distorted and twisted feet with tears falling from his eyes. Of course, Ashtavakra, the one who knew he was not his body, and was always free from what he was not, went on to become one of the wisest Vedic sages and inspired so many minds by challenging them to think differently. From the story above, let me, summarize two universal laws from the Vedas that my Guru Baba Ayodhya Nath (who was also my grandfather) taught me, and that I meditated upon non-stop. I am confident they will also help you step away from sorrow, too. Law 1: I am different from what I experience. The first law states that I am different from whatever I experience, so if I am experiencing suffering, I am not suffering. If I am experiencing thoughts such as, “I am so small, I am so bad, I am so horrible,” I am not that. If we can fully comprehend this important law that I am not what I experience, it will end our need for approval and assimilation at any cost, and end the feeling of being lost in the world when rejected. My body may be undergoing cancer or some other difficulty, but I will be fine because I am different from what I am experiencing. Then, my attitude will be amazing, exceptional, and perhaps inspiring to others. Why? Because I am not the body. Law 2: Whatever I am not, I am free from it. The second law states that whatever I am not, I am free from it. I can make my choices in freedom. I am free from it. At some point, every leader who has spoken up against abuse, victimization, and colonization must have said “I don’t buy that, and I am free.” When Nelson Mandela spoke up against apartheid, when so many were feeling small and powerless, he must have felt free the entire time. Despite 22 years of “imprisonment,” he walked out free and powerful. Twenty-two minutes of sitting quietly by yourself can break you apart, yet Nelson Mandela sat quietly for 22 years in jail saying, “I am free.” It is an internal movement: “I am free.” Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

Fear of darkness is fear of the unknown. Fear of Light is fear of the known. Fear of the unknown is stupidity. Fear of the known is absurdity. The Vedas hark upon our ego to come out of the shadows and align with its highest truth by remembering its true, invincible Brahman nature1: As Heaven and Earth are not afraid, and never suffer loss or harm; Even so, self, fear not thou. As Day and Night are not afraid, nor ever suffer loss or harm; Even so, self, fear not thou. As Sun and Moon are not afraid, nor ever suffer loss or harm; Even so, self, fear not thou. As Spiritual Force and Mundane Power fear not, nor ever suffer loss or harm; Even so, self, fear not thou. As Truth and Perfect Frankness fear not, and never suffer loss or harm; Even so, self, fear not thou. As Past and Future fear not, and never suffer loss or harm; Even so, self, fear not thou. Yes, I am fearless. Hence, I am now at peace with myself and with all my relationships, from the past and in the present. I now see the good characters who gave me joy in relationships and the so-called evil characters who, in the name of relationships, only sucked me deeper into self-ignorance and perpetuated my unconsciousness (that induced yet more suffering), all worked equally sincerely in their scripts to awaken me irrevocably. 1. Atharva Veda, Hymns 235-240 Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

My Guru and grandfather Baba recounted an incident from his father Acharya Shanti Prakash’s life. My great-grandfather was a renowned Hindu sage, whose service to awakening humanity deserves a book devoted to recounting it. I call my great-grandfather Bade Baba, or Elder Baba, in my native language. Once, when Elder Baba sat down to his lunch after his morning meditations and teachings, his disciples served him hot fluffed chapattis (Indian bread, made of non-fermented wheat dough). Just at that time, when Elder Baba’s eyes were closed because he was chanting a mantra and offering his respect to the food, a street dog appeared in our open courtyard out of nowhere and slyly slicked the chapatti off the plate and ran for his life! Elder Baba opened his eyes just in the nick of time and realized in an instant what was happening. He saw the escaping dog’s back, its short and stiff tail wagging happily in the air at its triumph. Elder Baba lost his poise. He picked up his entire plate and ran after him, and it looked like he was going to throw it on the dog with rage! People said only a yogi like him could run like an athlete at his age. And yes, he caught up with the dog all right, since that rogue was cornered in a narrow alley that came to a dead end! Elder Baba’s disciples caught up with Elder Baba and were surprised to see what they saw! Elder Baba had flung himself on the ground, next to where the dog was now cowering. Elder Baba started talking to the dog. “O dear one, you are hungry, you ran with the bread alone, but you did not take any ghee (clarified butter), so here, have this…eat this…You must not eat chapatti alone without adding ghee and vegetables to it—it is not good for your doshas (bio-humors per Ayurveda); you must also eat this eggplant, too, today. See if you like it…it is great for this season.” Elder Baba chatted with love overflowing from his speech, eyes, and heart at the flea-infested street dog, gradually winning her trust and then feeding her with his own hands every morsel on his plate. Tears were flowing down both of their eyes. The dog then remained around our home for many more years and gave birth many times, and her descendants still live in and about my home in Ayodhya. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

My seventh-year manifesting in form was significant, when I look back. One day, when my entire family was basking the warmth of the winter sun on the terrace, an old man, a beggar with tattered clothes, came to our door asking for any help, food, warm clothes, maybe a blanket, a few rupees. Given who my Guru was, and his large heart, our home always served the destitute of our city. But that day, since all the grown-ups were either upstairs, or out and about (including Baba), It was left to me to do what I could. For some reason, it did not strike me to go fetch my mother from the terrace. Seeing how cold he was, I fetched the man my blanket from my own bed. But when I came back, two more men, who looked exactly like the first (in tattered clothes) stood at the door. They blessed me, beseeching me for blankets for themselves, too. So, I pulled off my father’s and mother’s blankets this time, from their beds, for them. But now, there were two more old men waiting for me again, who looked exactly like the other three. I was so perplexed. But I had a plan. This time, I took my sister’s and aunt’s blankets, too. I knew they would understand, too, as they were both so kind, after all. It was quite something, a seven-year old going back and forth through the different rooms and back to the front gate on the first floor, where the five old men stood shivering in the biting cold, huddled together, (And they looked exactly alike, but I was so busy, that I could not tease that puzzle apart just yet.) But it never struck me that I should ask permission (or ask for help, as I have always been a self-sufficient soul from very early on). Besides, ever since Baba had said (Atithi devo bhava), meaning The visitor is God, I could see no options. At night, when everyone decided to retire after dinner, there was quite a commotion. Five blankets were missing in action. When I explained, my mom became quiet, not quite knowing how to respond. I suppose she was proud of me, as ‘acting from heartfelt generosity’ is called Dharma, meaning heart-based concern for other beings who are less fortunate than us. This was something Baba taught us from the Vedas, and role modeled for us day and night; and at the same time, my mother was speechless, because more blankets were present in our house, but sealed inside a big old iron trunk, upstairs in the attic. Who could go there at this hour, what with the giant rats and all? (Our house was 200 years old by then.) How would everyone sleep in the cold and foggy winter night? What should she do? Just then, my grandfather, Baba, walked in from his road trip to the nearby big city of ‘Lucknow’, four hours away from our home town ‘Ayodhya’. In Lucknow, Baba had addressed a convention on Advaita, the nondual teachings from the Upanishads, on behalf of the ‘Swami Ram Tirtha mission’, where Baba had often been requested to lecture. A few of Baba’s disciples returned with him, along with a new person who had come from Lucknow to stay at our home for a few weeks (and meditate and learn Self-knowledge, or atma jnanam, at the feet of Baba, as per our tradition). The new guest was holding onto some bundles packed in newspapers. He was an owner of a clothing mill in Delhi, and these were his humble gifts to his Guru’s family, who would kindly host him. He gifted us five woolen blankets, not one less, not one more. Because we all looked shocked, he felt he needed to explain himself. He said he was going to bring fruits and sweets, but at the last moment, he felt he must take the blankets to us instead - he hoped we would accept them. Everyone laughed out loud - my mother’s laughter was full of visible relief. My eyes met Baba’s eyes. I knew and he knew, that Ishwara (all-pervading God presence) had paid a visit to our home as 'beggars' – asking for blankets. But God would never leave us out in the cold either! That night, I slept in the all new blanket, extra protected, cocooned in divine protection of divine giving and receiving. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

Due to avidya (ignorance of our true Self), we don't really like our self. That is why we have relationship – vasanas, or excessive attachments towards objects and people, to make ourselves more pleased with ourselves and our lives. But here is a suggestion: with acquired Self-knowledge, maybe you can try to attempt a new, but vital relationship with your pre-existing inner perfection, the Self? And how do you do this? By contemplating upon Self-knowledge and then making effort to manifest a teacher who can help you in your Self-inquiry. A Guru always appears when the student is ready. A living Guru who can speak to us, like Lord Krishna spoke to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, would be ideal to impart you Self-knowledge. We may not even be looking for a Guru per se, but somehow, a specific Guru’s teachings will reach you, ending in you ultimately owning your own inner beauty, sovereign and divine light. I also sincerely hope that my voice will start you on a journey of radically accepting yourself more, by recognizing that there are hidden aspects of yourself and you have an infinite potential to not only be happy, but share this happiness with all beings. In this sense, all my teachings are about learning to accept ourselves at our innermost level, that is autonomous and independent of the other two types of relationships – with objects and people, because they begin and end in time. But our own Self is always with us, unconditionally. Which self will you want to accept, since inside you right now, one part is real, and the other unreal? Since we have projected our essential self-hood onto the jiva (ego based personality), we begin to fixate on it to somehow become more perfect. It is like an attempt to claim ourselves back by fixating on our own image in the mirror, and controlling its every move, while forgetting our own pre-existing inner perfection. This is the irony. No matter how beautiful, how learned and how shiny the reflection in the mirror is, it still-remains a virtual image of the original Self, which is here all along. We are simply looking in the wrong direction. In my own life, there came a turning point where I simply stopped decorating, promoting and edifying my ego self (jiva) beyond what is reasonable. Interestingly, when I accepted myself radically, I was surrounded by people who wanted to be with me. Yes, my outer egoic personality, too, I am sure has gaps; I can’t be everything for everyone. But inside me, I am everyone. So how does it matter how many times I change my outer wardrobe? I invite you, come meet me, once you can see with your inner eyes, who I am. Come meet me where the moon, sun and stars hang out, all shining with the same light of Brahman (Supreme Reality), and there, I shall smile and sparkle for you. Come meet me as my guileless student, the forgotten old woman, the lonely bird with broken a wing who sat outside my window, the snake who died on my door peacefully, the animals who found me deliberately or a simple weed in my garden who dazzles and delights in my love, and you shall know who I am and how I care. I host the inner light of all beings, stay awake, and awaken them, too. Yes, you will find a whole different Inner Being, that you won’t find in my outer being. You will find you. You will find love. You will find our common truth. Thus, Self-acceptance comes from our familiarity with our true Self and our inner agreements with our Self, that we will no longer seek acceptance in the world of objects and people alone, but be willing to turn inwards to quest our own inner hidden potential. There is no greater mission than your own Self-discovery mission, because the ones who become fulfilled from within, having drank from the cup of abundance that overflows in divine consciousness, come back as gifts for the rest of the universe. Such embodied spirits become the path showers to self-ascension, and role models of the way to live, love and let go in transcendent inner fullness. Thus, in the Vedic tradition, the core of your being is an infinite life principle, which is variously called Brahman, Purusha, Atman, Sakshi or Chaitanyam in Sanskrit.” In the English language, it is called soul or spirit, but do not purposefully use these words, since Brahman is very different from the Judeo-Christian usage of soul and spirit. That is different for each human being and attached to the material body, whereas Brahman is an impersonal Ultimate Reality, Pure consciousness that is all pervading and transcends individuals, worlds and god. Consider exploring a whole new possibility of your Self. The Upanishads declare: “The wise know that the Self is bodiless, all-pervading and supreme (even though) it dwells in perishable, impermanent bodies.” (Kathopanishad) In the beginning of our inquiry, we all seem to possess two selves – the one we are all too familiar with, which has a given recognizable name by parents, and has an earth-bound residence with an address and recognizable marks on body and face; and the other, which is eternal but invisible, all pervasive, and dwells inside us, like fragrance dwells inside a flower. Fragrance cannot be seen, or touched, or located exactly in which cell it resides, yet its presence cannot be denied, nor mitigated, and always experienced, especially if we quiet our mind. A silent mind reveals a beautiful quiet blessing presence. And with that recognition comes an infinite sense of peace, familiarity, knowingness and contentment with all that is. Yet, in our day to day lives, we live in estrangement with our own Self. We do not seek it, let alone trust it. Instead, we seek externalized peace and all that is beautiful and complete in the world. But whatever we grab hold of outside us (in the world) always escapes us invariably, as the external world keeps changing – that is its nature. If only we were to make friends with the invisible eternal being that dwells in our inner world, and never changes, always remains constant in the highest state of self-expression – then all will be well. Dear Self: Pass the ocean. Sit by it sometime. Lose yourself in the ocean. Come back an ocean. Spread your drops everywhere. Let the ocean live through you. The waves will rejoice on greeting you. The joy is felt in your heart, which is the core of your large ocean body. You wonder if you are them or they are you. It does not matter. Once when you were calm and still within, an ocean came by and sat quietly next to you and became you. Now the ocean speaks of you in every wave, every drop, and every rise and every fall. Thus, our spiritual nature is primary, existing independently as pure consciousness, while our psychological and biological nature is secondary, and dependent upon our spiritual nature. An expansion of the self-concept is helpful. When we do not know our true being, our spiritual Self, we pretend to be what we are not. That is painful at every level – personal, social, existential. Rarely do we intend to pretend in this way; it is simply a situation that must be addressed with the right kind of knowledge. Worldly labels can only describe our body and mind, and since both are locales of ceaseless change, one never really knows with certainty who one is! So, this is the essential inquiry: Who am I? Awakening to the Self and receiving the answer to this question from within is a life-changing event. This inner enlightenment is every human’s birthright – it is not magic or a super state, as it is often made out to be. Realization of Self leads to resting in our true nature, even while our mind and body are active in the world. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.

Biologically-rooted Consciousness This is the first type of consciousness that is bound and locked in the body, which reveals the biologically rooted consciousness (prana ishana) that we all possess from the first moment of birth. This consciousness leads us to stay alive to participate in this drama called life. Now, the actor is on stage at last – let the story unfold. Thanks to this instinct, we protect our health, participate in health-increasing measures like Ayurveda, and value our biological life dearly, over and above everything and everybody else. When this consciousness is disturbed, it can lead to self-destruction and self-sabotage via neglect or disease, self abusive choices, over-eating or even under-eating, etc. Wishing for death, eating disorders, self-hurting, etc. are the manifestations of the disturbed playing out of a divinely placed instinct. If all living creatures, from the smallest ant to the great human being, were not animated by this instinct, the world would come to a dead halt. The business of life would seem so contrived and superficial because we all would just curl up and await our end. But instead, prana ishana makes us run from doctor to doctor, work hard to earn money for food, and stay alive every which way we can. We plead, bargain, threaten, and pray just to play out this gut instinct as long as we can. Ayurveda celebrates this consciousness and invites its healthy unfoldment via Ayurvedic measures that promote positive living and health promoting measures. Materially-bound Consciousness The second type of consciousness (dhana ishana) is bound up with the material universe and it connects the biological self to the phenomenal world. The self is now reflected in the material glories of the world. We chase objects of pleasure, clothes, large houses to stay in, land, property deals, hefty savings accounts, etc. Together, this pursuit of external objects, yearnings, wishes, desires, and dreams make up an important part of our life. We live through them and these material pursuits give purpose to our life, in a day to day sense. In a healthy way, this consciousness motivates us to work hard, labor, become creative and entrepreneurial to achieve the basic necessities of life, and upon achieving our material goals, we make our biological life more comfortable. In an unhealthy sense, this inner drive can drive us out of control. The need for wealth and comforts can turn into a slavery of wealth. This is the case of money for money’s sake, while we live like misers and paupers inside our heart. Ayurveda invites each one of us to indulge our instinct for accumulation in a healthy and happy manner. Ayurveda does not preach some staid chastity or morality of abstinence that prevents you from enjoying this world and its pleasures while you are journeying through it. Ayurveda actually validates it by recognizing it as a rooted instinct that needs expression - a healthy one. Liberated Consciousness Lastly, the third instinct, paraloka ishana or moksha, is the playing out of an evolved consciousness that has surpassed the body and this dazzling, phenomenal world in its search for transcendence and release from any bonds that the first two may impose. This is why the wandering ascetic cares not for the body and the wealth of the material world; driven by his divine instinct or consciousness, he sings of that which is beyond. We are all born with all three instincts, or levels, of consciousness, but we may play them out one by one, or all at the same time. It is often the healthiest people who are ultimately, in the long run, able to accumulate the maximum wealth (ill health imposes poverty and other limitations), and in due course, even this tremendous wealth is not enough. Now, begins the playing out of a third type of consciousness, which fuels the striving and searching for that elusive something, which lies out of reach of the healthy body and the fat wallet. That is the instinct of paraloka ishana, or the impulse to seek wholeness, activating itself. The Goal of Self-Realization This is the law of life. Whether we are awake through this process, or asleep, it does not matter. We are born with all three instincts, and sooner or later, this last instinct of Self-Realization or God-Realization will get activated fully and kick into action, all of a sudden or gradually, in this lifetime, or in the next few. This is why people with completely non-spiritual backgrounds (even a history of shunning it) do a complete 360 in their life, and check into ashrams, seek gurus, sign up with churches, live on the footsteps of mosques, meditate on the steps of temples, wander away in forests and mountains, and write ethereal odes to free birds and lonely sunsets. Others may comment upon this ‘weird’ behavior, counsel them to return to sanity, but this crazy one is, indeed, on another trip altogether. In spite of, and against all odds, galvanized by his or her own deeply imbedded instinct for wholeness, this ‘strange’ but resolute one has set out to realize his or her own divine inner self, which is none other than God. This is the completion of the third instinct – paraloka ishana. Our spirituality is inbuilt - not a fashion statement, new age trend, or even an escapist fantasy. To question a spirit’s spirituality, is like asking an ocean if it knows about water. The spirit shrouded in a body is, at last, compelled to seek its own spirituality, to break free from its beautiful and marvelous body suit and see itself everywhere and in everything. The body is the vehicle. The world of experiences and contrasts is the medium. The goal is Self-Realization. As the spirit journeys through life, different instincts get activated, at different times, based upon the embodied spirit's unique journey and evolution of consciousness. This is why, for some people, the last and loftiest instinct, namely, that of Self-Realization, gets activated from childhood itself. This instinct almost seems to dominate, or put the first two instincts into the shadow. Many monks, saints, sages, renunciates, nuns, priests, humanitarians, social workers, and other selfless beings, along with several Self-Realized Gurus and God-like beings belong to this category. The timing of when which instinct will get activated, or which of the three will come to dominate the other two cannot be predicted at all, as each journeying souls’ course is uncharted, unique, and moving along perfectly in its own singular path. The dominant instinct in any given time will activate related desires, thoughts, actions, and fruits of such actions (karma). Through the playing out of the instincts, we can intimately know and heal our biological, material and spiritual self. Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta and Yoga. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017) and forthcoming second book with Sounds True to be released in 2020, Sovereign Self. Acharya Shunya is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga. Receive her free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month. Study Ayurveda with Acharya Shunya in her online course, Alchemy through Ayurveda.